Saturday 13th February 2016

Red--necked Grebe north at 1015 could well be the same bird as seen going south at roughly the same time yesterday. Also noted southbound 24 Red-throated Diver, single Great-crested Grebe, Gannet, Common Scoter, Oyk & an Auk with northbound 14 Red-throats, 9 Gannet & Guillemot with a Bonxie that came in from the north giving a Greater Black-backed Gull some grief. Never featured photos of Feral Pigeon on the blog before but times are hard with these birds part of a small group that regularly visit the area near the point for any left over Sea Pea seeds. As we know how birders love Feral Pigeons here's two photo's - you lucky punters !

Friday 12th February 2016

Red-necked Grebe flying south at 1020hrs was not expected as next to nothing offshore and not many of their kind in the East Anglia this winter. Also noted southbound 38 Black-headed Gull, 7 Red-throated Diver, 4 Shelduck, 3 Brent, 2 Wigeon & Goldeneye plus northbound 6 Brent with a solitary Guillemot noted offshore. Gull numbers declining with the bulk of the Common Gulls & Kittiwakes having departed to nearer their breeding grounds. 10 Pied Wagtail is the best count of the year so far.

Thursday 11th February 2016

A couple of Ringos have been returning to check out their patch more regularly from the last day of January onwards. Other signs of "spring" are the odd Linnet returning plus a Skylark heading north. Shouldn't really be talking about spring as there was a frost this morning but as the days get longer the Great Tits & Songies are singing their little hearts out, the Little Owls are courting and Mr Peregrine is on guard early morning. The only other thing of note is 4 Canada Geese heading south. Most of our Canada records are in the spring as they wander around looking for new sites to infest but, as records of this species have been declining in recent years, maybe beautify may be a kinder word as that is why they were introduced to this country in the first place.

Wednesday 10th February 2016

Cormorants are getting up at silly o'clock as about 650 were sitting on the Cork Sands as it got light this morning ! 2 Siskin were today's migrants & are the first of their kind this year. A Stock Dove came and had a look at the observatory watch point this morning but was deterred from entering by those starring out. Offshore southbound 15 Red-throated Diver, 7 Brent, 2 Shelduck, Wigeon & Guillemot plus northbound 14 Brent, 2 Red-throated Diver, 2 Common Scoter & Guillemot with a Great-crested Grebe sat on the sea.

Tuesday 9th February 2016

Relocating shingle along the river bank should take two to three weeks. Very much the calm after the storm with the local gulls no doubt confused by the Stenna Britannica going out 3 hours late as it plays catch up. 733 Cormorants went out fishing & 328 Golden Plover went south. Other offshore movements are barely worth a mention.

Monday 8th February 2016

Back to normal (whatever normal is) as your blogger was attending the annual meeting of the Bird Observatories Council at Portland Bill this past weekend. Tad windy this morning gusting Force 8 by mid/late morning although that wasn't stopping 4 different Songies from singing. Southbound 814 Golden Plover, 60 Kitts, 7 Shelduck, 2 Great-crested Grebe & 2 Pintail with northbound 2 Red-throats & Brent Goose. No other meaningful coverage.

Sunday 7th February 2016

Southbound 148 Golden Plover, 13 Shelduck, 4 Red-throated Diver, 3 Brent, 2 Wigeon & Oyk with northbound 27 Red-throats.

Saturday 6th February 2016

Southbound 369 Golden Plover 38 Guillemot, 13 Red-throated Diver, 10 Shelduck, 7 Brent, 2 Wigeon, 2 Gannet, 2 Turnstone, Red-breasted Merganser, Oyk, & Knot plus northbound 48 Red-throats, 10 Guillemot, 4 Common Scoter & Gannet plus 140 Kitts & Bonxie offshore.

Friday 5th February 2016

No Coverage.