Saturday 19th December 2015

Kitts have been scarce all autumn so it's good to note 80 southbound this morning. Also on the move 222 Golden Plover, 6 Brent, 5 Teal, 3 Shelduck, 2 Red-throated Diver, 2 Wigeon, 2 Common Scoter, 2 Common Gull, 2 Bonxie, 1 Oyk, 1 Grey Plover & 1 Redshank plus north bound 50 Teal, 13 Red-throats, 6 Brent & Common Scoter. A Mistle Thrush is the best of the birds on site.

Ringing: 1 greenfinch, 1 goldfinch.

Friday 18th December 2015

Ridiculously mild. 330 Cormorants headed out this morning with the first ones from 0740hrs when it's barely getting light. Apart from that not a lot with 2 Siskin, Meadow Pipit & a Golden Plover heading south. Otherwise it's the usual birds in the usual places with the warm conditions meaning that the 2 Goldcrests attempting to overwinter in the Holm Oaks shouldn't have any difficulty finding enough to eat despite the short day length at this time of the year.

Thursday 17th December 2015

Still some visible migration with 9 Goldfinch, 7 Siskin & 2 Chaffinch heading south. This years ongoing Siskin movements have been unprecedented with birds noted in every month except January begging the question - why ? 40 Golden Plover flew south over the obs with offshore movements barely worth a mention. Rock Pipit on the point is presumably one that is attempting to overwinter here.

Wednesday 16th December 2015

Sea watching up to 0930hrs produced southbound 124 Wigeon, 111 Golden Plover, 87 Teal, 48 Shelduck, 32 Lapwing, 29 Brent, 14 Red-throated Diver, 6 Tufted Duck, 4 Knot, 4 Common Gull, 2 Mallard, 2 Shoveler, 2 Goldeneye, Great Northern Diver, Red-breasted Merganser, Pomarine Skua & Bonxie, northbound 8 Red-throated Diver & an Oyk plus 268 Cormorants heading out to sea from inland. The highlight of a perambulation around the peninsular produced a Rock Pipit on the groynes in front of the Butts.

Ringing: 1 greenfinch

Tuesday 15th December 2015

Damp and dreary old morning with poor visibility deteriorating into rather unpleasant drizzle as the morning went on. A few bits noted moving offshore despite the inclement conditions including southbound 15 Black-headed Gulls, 10 Common Scoter, 8 Red-throated Diver, 7 Brent, 3 Snipe, Great-crested Grebe, Shelduck & Oyk. Only 186 Cormorants flew out to go fishing this morning and in this murk they didn't bother going out until 0930hrs. 2 Fieldfare were here first thing & a Mipit flew north. The Collared Doves are looking a bit furtive so one suspects they may have started nesting in these mild conditions.

Monday 14th December 2015

After the dismal showing of recent days offshore movements were positively riveting in comparison. Although it's mild here Northern Britain has seen some cold weather which is probably responsible for the following trickling southbound movements of 154 Wigeon, 150 Teal, 132 Shelduck, 101 Brent, 53 Red-throated Diver, 46 Black-headed Gulls, 21 Kitts, 16 Mergansers, 14 Pintail, 14 Shoveler, 14 Goldeneye, 14 Common Gull, 14 Dunlin, 12 Common Scoter, 9 Knot, 6 Mallard, 6 Pochard, 3 Oyks, 2 Curlew, 2 Bonxie, Great-crested Grebe, Tufted Duck, Velvet Scoter & Redshank plus northbound 20 Brent, Shelduck & Guillemot. It just goes to show that it's not necessarily the weather here that matters but the weather elsewhere where the birds come from that matters. 2 Redwing were here first thing before departing inland & a flock of 30 Linnet is notable for December. The "inner ridge" buoy is not very close to the observatory watch point so you will be excused if you fail to identify the above.

Ringing: 1 wood pigeon, 1 chaffinch.

Sunday 13th December

Flat calm and raining is not conducive for much enthusiasm - in theory it should be good to pick up anything sitting on the sea if there was anything out there. Offshore movements limited to southbound 17 Shelduck, 7 Brent, 4 Red-throated Diver, Common Scoter & Barwit plus northbound 15 Common Scoter & 3 Wigeon. A Grey Heron in off was a bit more notable as it makes it's way to the UK for the winter. Even the gulls were not very active this morning and the bulk of the Cormorants didn't go out fishing until 0930hrs. Maybe it's not just us that don't like dull wet dreary mid-December days. Now where's the Valium kept ?