Saturday 16th April 2016

A wet and windy start today, feeling very cold. Still a few migrants, but on the quiet side today.

Black Redstart singing along Viewpoint Road the last few days is rather nice, (pictured above).

Migrants came in the form of 5 Swallow, 7 Wheatear, 2 Black Redstart, 5 Blackcap, 5 Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Goldcrest, 3 Goldfinch, 1 Siskin, 1 Reed Bunting, 10 Cormorant, 8 Brent Geese, 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Dunlin, 2 Whimbrel, 1 Gannet, 1 Fulmar and 1 Sparrowhawk.

Ringing: 11 birds ringed this morning including 5 Blackcap, 4 Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler and 1 Wren.

Friday 15th April 2016

A calm and warm, but rather wet and cloudy day at the observatory today with a few new arrivals having dropped in overnight and during the spells of rain throughout the day.

Totals of 4 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Common Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap, 7 Chiffchaff, 4 Willow Warbler, 2 Goldcrest, 5 Swallow, 6 Wheatear, 2 Black Redstart, 3 Goldfinch, 2 Siskin, 1 Fieldfare, 1 Sparrowhawk, 29 Cormorant, 15 Oystercatcher, 7 Whimbrel, 6 Common Gull, 1 Fulmar, 1 Gannet, 1 Sandwich Tern and 1 Tufted Duck were all either on-site or moving offshore.

A rather nice surprise was a Tree Pipit late morning that had obviously dropped in with the rain that showed briefly and then flew north over the caravan site. The first record for us this spring and hopefully more to come.

Ringing: 2 birds ringed this morning including 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Siskin.

Thursday 14th April 2016

The morning started with thick and heavy cloud with a very calm feel, later turning into a bright sunny and hot day. A good variety of birds on-site.

Migrants involved 6 Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warbler, 4 Blackcap, 3 Common Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Sedge Warbler, 3 Goldcrest, 4 Goldfinch, 12 Meadow Pipit,  6 Wheatear, 5 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Black Redstart, 1 Common Redstart, 11 Sand Martin, 10 Swallow, 2 House Martin, 4 Sparrowhawk, 2 Jackdaw and 1 Rook.

Sea watching produced 46 Common Gull, 33 Black-headed Gull, 3 Mediterranean Gull, 1 Common Tern, 1 Sandwich Tern, 1 Fulmar, 24 Cormorant, 5 Canada Geese, 2 Greylag Geese, 4 Oystercatcher, 1 Curlew, 1 Whimbrel and a very, albeit brief Little Ringed Plover.

Ringing: 9 birds ringed this morning including 2 Wheatear, 2 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Goldcrest and 1 Linnet.

Wednesday 13th April 2016

After the early morning fog cleared it turned into a beautiful day. And the hope was for lots of good birds to turn up. As it turned out there were a lot of birds, but they were usual fare comprising of 15 Blackcap, 10 Chiffchaff, 5 Goldcrest, 1 Firecrest, 2 Willow Warbler, 3 Black Redstart, 2 Redstart, 2 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Lesser Whitethroat and 2 Wheatear.

25 birds were ringed; 8 Blackcap, 6 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackbird, 2 Goldcrest and 1 each of Lesser Whitethroat, Firecrest, Willow Warbler, Robin, Wren, Linnet and Great Tit.

Tuesday 12th April 2016

Heavy rain overnight continued into today and up until late morning, producing a rather decent, albeit small fall of migrants with some being rather stunning.

New arrivals came in the form of this stunning male Pied Flycatcher, a bird we see annually but very rarely in the spring. Alongside this, 9 Swallow, 8 Goldcrest, 1 Common Redstart, 4 Blackcap, 4 Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 5 Goldfinch, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Sparrowhawk, 13 Meadow Pipit, 1 Grey Wagtail and 2 Wheatear.

Sea watching produced c.40 Curlew, 21 Cormorant, 7 Shelduck, 7 Oystercatcher, 5 Greylag Geese, 2 Whimbrel and 4 Teal.

Ringing: 10 birds ringed this morning including 4 Blackcap, 2 Willow Warbler, 1 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Linnet and 1 Wren.

Monday 11th April 2016

A strong easterly wind and clear, sunny skies produced a few new arrivals to the observatory this morning.

Migrants include 5 Whimbrel, 3 Goldcrest, 1 Firecrest, 4 Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Swallow, 4 Meadow Pipit, 2 Wheatear, 1 Black Redstart, 4 Jackdaw, 1 Sparrowhawk and 1 Stock Dove.

A rather nice Lesser Whitethroat (above), our first of the spring, which is quite an early individual, turned up this morning. The first Common Whitethroat of the year was also noted just south of Manor Terrace Car Park.

Shoulder Stripe is a common enough moth inland but a species that we have only noted here in three previous years.

Ringing: 7 birds ringed this morning including 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Goldcrest, 1 Willow Warbler and 1 Sparrowhawk.

Sunday 10th April 2016

Only a few expected early summer migrants here this morning including 5 Wheatear, 5 Swallow, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 White Wags, 2 Yellow Wags, Firecrest & Black Redstart. Not a lot else to report although we have at least 3 Little Owls on-site causing much vocal consternation between individuals.

4 birds ringed: 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Wheatear, 1 Wren.