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Saturday 16th January 2016



A couple of wanderers around this morning presumably as a result of the colder conditions including a Mistle Thrush, Reed Bunting & a Buzzard in off the sea. Offshore watching hard work due to bright sunshine but included southbound 11 Red-throated Diver, 9 Teal, 9 Common Gull, 7 Black-headed Gull, 4 Kitts & Guillemot plus northbound 19 Brent & 3 Red-throats with 450 Cormorants going out fishing early on. The Chiffchaff & at least one Goldcrest are still in the Holm Oaks along the front.

Friday 15th January 2016



Jackdaw was today's highlight although what makes a single Jackdaw turn up here at dawn & fly around calling for 20 mins is open to speculation. The only indication of colder conditions is a flock of 17 Lapwing south. Next to nothing moving offshore and apart from that it's the usual birds in the usual places. Makes a change for a sky at dusk rather than dawn photo - red sky warning !

Ringing: 2 greenfinch, 1 wood pigeon, 1 chaffinch

Thursday 14th January 2016


Glorious sunny start to the day encouraged 772 Cormorants to go out fishing. A "grey goose" went south but as we only briefly caught the back end of it before it disappeared from view then it eluded identification. The bright sun deterred any meaningful sea watching & it wasn't long before the weather deteriorated into overcast conditions with fine drizzle. 2 Goldcrest & the Chiffchaff are still here but a perambulation around the site prior to the drizzle getting to bad produced just what's resident and wintering here. 75 House Sparrows are worth a mention.

Wednesday 13th January 2016


It must be getting colder somewhere inland as two new British race Songies turned up, 29 Lapwing went south & a Marsh Harrier heading south offshore must have decided "enough's enough" and decided to move to milder climes. Also heading south 129 Red-throated Diver, 72 Common Gull, 11 Wigeon, 8 Kitts, 3 Brent, 2 Mallard, 2 Pintail & heading north 32 Brent, 12 Red-throats & 8 Common Scoter. 589 Cormorants went out fishing early on, Mrs Collared Dove is doing ok with her chicks despite the cooler conditions, the pair of Little Owls were sitting side by side, and, finally, the Chiffchaff is still here.

Ringing: 3 greenfinch, 2 song thrush.

Tuesday 12th January 2016

Distinctly cooler weather. A group of 3 White-fronted & 2 Greylag Geese came in off the sea before turning south-west into Essex before they hit the shore. Also noted southbound 160 Golden Plover, 71 Common Gull, 10 Brent, 7 Shelduck, 7 Kitts & Red-throated Diver with northbound 19 Brent & 3 Red-throats although in glorious sunshine not easy viewing conditions first thing. 297 Cormorant went out fishing this morning with us no nearer to working out what makes a Cormorant go out to sea in the morning - is it weather, tidal, how well they fed the day before or a combination of these ? Finally the Chiffchaff is still with us.

Ringing: 1 greenfinch

Monday 11th January 2016


A Bean Goose went out low over the observatory then north causing speculation as to whether its the same individual noted here a couple of days ago ? It was a fairly grim morning so the sea got more attention than it probably deserves producing some returns in the shape of southbound 17 Kitts, 14 Shelduck, 11 Common Gull, 6 Red-throated Diver, 5 Brent, 3 Guillemot, 2 Little Gull, Gannet & Oyk plus northbound 21 Brent & 6 Red-throats with 2 Bonxies offshore clobbering the big gulls whenever they got peckish. Chiffchaff is still here and a new adult male Chaffinch turned up on site. A Little Owl has been sat on this perch in the Holm Oaks a couple of times recently & we are beginning to wonder if we have more than one male on site judging by the amount of vocalisations in the evening as it's getting dark.

Ringing: 1 chaffinch

Sunday 20th January 2016


Collared Doves are due to hatch about now - she's done well to keep sitting on them considering the winds & rain recently. Perseverance staring offshore produced southbound 500 Golden Plover, 53 Brent, 31 Kitts, 22 Red-throated Diver, 19 Guillemot, 12 Common Gull, 11 Shelduck, 4 Bonxie, 3 Gannet, 3 Little Gull, 2 Great-crested Grebe, Pintail & Dunlin plus northbound 63 Brent & 35 Red-throats with a Razorbill flying south and pitching in offshore mid-day. The Guillemot count is the highest count for some while. In the bushes Chiffchaff & at least one Goldcrest are still with us.

Ringing: 1 greenfinch, 1 house sparrow