Saturday 27th February 2016

A pair of Greylag's paying a visit is a sign of spring as they wander around looking for new sites to colonise. However the cold north-easterly doesn't feel spring like at all. Offshore northbound 82 Cormorant, 45 Red-throated Diver, 6 Kitts, 4 Brent, 4 Gannet, 2 Great-crested Grebe & Guillemot plus southbound 18 Red-throats. Only migrant on site was a Fieldfare although a new Chaffinch is probably a spring migrant.

Ringing: 1 chaffinch

Friday 26th February 2016

8 Siskins briefly on site quickly departed north, 6 Long-tailed Tits wandered through the site down to the cottage then back & 2 Fieldfare were on the reserve. 32 seals were hauled out on the sand bars well offshore but at that distance it's impossible to work out what flavour. The morning was spent putting the mist nets out ready for the spring season so that's your lot.

Ringing: 1 collared dove

Thursday 25th February 2016

Arrived on site this morning to find we have been targeted for the second time in a week and suffered some more vandalism & criminal damage. Unfortunately the came equipped with a tin of spray paint this time. These sort of incidents tend to take up ones time so observations limited to 2 Jackdaw heading south with a Fieldfare & at least one Goldcrest lingering on site.

Wednesday 24th February 2016

Sharp frost. Handful of migrants including 2 Skylark south, 2 Mute Swan south then inland, Jackdaw north, Mipit, Fieldfare & Siskin.

Tuesday 23rd February 2016

Where's Wally ? - or more precisely spot the Red-breasted Goose that went south amongst a total of 228 Barnacles in a 10 minute period. Also moving 22 Siskin & a Skylark south but the bulk of the morning spent repairing yesterdays damage so few other observations. Finally 3 Turnstone & Rock Pipit were at the Point.

Monday 22nd February 2016

Not a good morning as we had unwanted visitors overnight that did quite a lot of vandalism & criminal damage to the site. They even came tooled up with a Mattock. Consequently the bulk of the day spent with the Police then starting repairs & tidying up. Bird wise can't offer much although the mild conditions prompted 2 Redwing & a Mistle thrush to turn up plus the first Grey Wagtail of the "spring" went south. Despite the depressing situation today this Med Gull tried to cheer me up in the car park.

Sunday 21st February 2016

After two yesterday, another Great-northern Diver flew south just offshore at 0735hrs before turning up river. Next to nothing moving offshore although 2 Guillemots were on the sea & a Gannet followed a ship in. A Great-crested Grebe was on the river immediately behind us. Plenty of gulls following ships including at least 2 Yellow-legged Gulls (adult + 2nd winter) and a few more Lesser Black-backed Gulls knocking about brought in by the milder south-westerly conditions. Jelly Ear is a common fungus on rotting Elder and was previously known as Jew's Ear or Judas's Ear back in the day when I was a lad before the politically correct brigade got there hands on it. Apart from the religious history behind it's name this fungi has a number of beneficial medicinal qualities and is also used in Chinese cooking as it has a wide ranging distribution.