Saturday 29th August 2015

Still the south westerly breeze stays with us and varying amounts of cloud cover this morning made for an interesting day at the observatory. A few migrants around today.

New migrants today included 4 Sandwich Tern, 1 Common Tern, 2 Grey Plover, 1 Whimbrel, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Gadwall, 13 Willow Warbler, 3 Reed Warbler, 3 Blackcap, 12 Common Whitethroat, 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 49 Yellow Wagtail, 4 Grey Wagtail, 386 Swallow, 15 Sand Martin, 8 House Martin, 1 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Common Redstart, 2 Whinchat, 2 Wheatear and 13 Goldfinch.

Beautiful Marbled is a rare immigrant moth that was first recorded in the UK in 2001 - we have had one here previously in 2012.

Ringing: 18 birds ringed during the course of the morning including 3 Common Whitethroat, 3 Blackcap, 2 Reed Warbler, 3 Willow Warbler, 3 Grey Wagtail, 3 Robin and 1 Blue Tit.

Friday 28th August 2015

A slight south westerly breeze this morning, staying with us for the rest of the day proved to be productive again today for migrants.

Migrants today included 40+ Willow Warbler, 8 Common Whitethroat, 6 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Blackcap, 3 Reed Warbler, 43 Swallow, 32 Sand Martin, 2 Swift, 20 Yellow Wagtail, 12 Goldfinch, 6 Tree Pipit, 4 Wheatear, 3 Whinchat, 2 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 6 Common Tern, 3 Sandwich Tern, 16 Knot and 4 Redshank.

Purple Bar is a common enough moth, but one we don't see here very often.

In the early afternoon, a Black Stork drifted over the Observatory, being mobbed by the local gulls from the docks, before drifting south on the afternoons thermals towards the western end of Walton-on-the-Naze and then lost to view. This being the first record of this species for Landguard.

Ringing: 18 birds ringed during the morning which included 7 Willow Warbler, 3 Blackcap, 2 Reed Warbler, 1 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Starling, 1 Robin, 1 Great Tit and 1 Sparrowhawk.

Thursday 27th August 2015

A cool south westerly wind today with intermittent heavy spells of rain produced a few new migrants for us.

Migrants today included 6 Sandwich Tern, 2 Common Tern, 1 Golden Plover, 1 Pied Flycatcher, 10+ Willow Warbler, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Garden Warbler, 1 Goldfinch, 2 Swift, 1 Swallow, 3 Wheatear, 1 Whinchat, 1 Common Redstart, 3 Yellow Wagtail and a superb Osprey that headed over the docks out to sea and carried on its southerly migration.

Several young Kestrels are about at the moment, messing about on the nature reserve and some proving to be good photographic value.

Ringing: 14 birds ringed during the morning including 10 Willow Warbler, 3 Greenfinch and 1 Garden Warbler.

Wednesday 26th August 2015

A strong southerly air flow greeted us this morning, turning stronger throughout the day and into the evening with light spells of rain. A rather choppy sea today. Very few migrants were evident today at the observatory with most of yesterdays birds having already cleared out, carrying on with their migrations further south.

New migrants today included 3 Pied Flycatcher, 3 Whinchat, 4 Willow Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Swallow, 1 Swift, 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Grey Plover, 1 Dunlin, 1 Turnstone, 8 Fulmar, 1 Gannet, 1 Kittiwake and 1 Sandwich Tern.

Ringing: 5 birds ringed during the morning including 1 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Woodpigeon, 1 Robin and 1 Greenfinch.

Tuesday 25th August 2015

A rather strong westerly wind had arrived overnight and greeted us at dawn and throughout the rest of the morning, slowly changing to a southerly air flow in the early afternoon. This had a rather welcoming effect for a small fall of migrants to the observatory with a variety of species being found and ringed.

New migrants today during our small fall consisted of 15 Common Tern, 2 Sandwich Tern, 2 Common Gull, 5 Cormorant, 11 Oystercatcher, 9 Golden Plover, 7 Redshank, 4 Knot, 4 Dunlin, 4 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Turnstone, 1 Sanderling, 3 Pied Flycatcher, 2 Common Redstart, 7 Tree Pipit. 3 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 10 Wheatear, 5 Whinchat, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 50+ Willow Warbler, 1 Common Whitethroat, 9 Goldfinch, 48 Swallow, 8 Sand Martin, 5 Swift and 1 Short-Eared Owl.

Several Sparrowhawks are hanging around the observatory at present including this stunning individual.

Ringing: 32 birds ringed during the course of the day which included 26 Willow Warbler, 2 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Common Redstart, 1 Robin, 1 Greenfinch and 1 House Sparrow.

Monday 24th August 2015

The continuing easterly winds keep producing new migrants with a few niceties mixed in today.

New migrants today included 127 Teal, 6 Common Scoter, 1 Shelduck, 20 Common Tern, 11 Sandwich Tern, 49 Oystercatcher, 1 Greenshank, 1 Whimbrel, 4 Willow Warbler, 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Garden Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff, 17 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Wheatear, 1 Tree Pipit, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Coal Tit, 3 Swallow, 2 Swift and 5 Goldfinch.

Monopis imella is the first site record of this species that is described in the literature as being ''very local'' and is known to occupy vegetated shingle habitat.

Ringing: 6 birds ringed during the course of the morning including 2 Kestrel, 1 Wren, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Blackcap and 1 Chiffchaff.

Sunday 23rd August 2015

Cracking south-easterly winds but very few signs of any eastern promise with just singles of Pied Fly, Garden Warbler & Willow Warbler on-site. The "currant bun" deterred any meaningful sea watching although 5 Wigeon & 5 Teal went south. Ni Moth is an immigrant that has been noted in only three previous years. Warm weather equals plenty of butterflies including a Clouded Yellow.

2 birds ringed: 1 wood pigeon, 1 garden warbler.