Saturday 14th May 2016

It was warmer than this back in January ! The number of new migrants arriving in a cool northerly wind is minimal. Loiterer's from recent days include the long staying Ring Ouzel, Tree Pipit, Garden Warbler & Wheatear. Very little new in although it's always good to get a Turtle Dove on site. Of note was at least 80 Common Terns, Little Tern plus a dose of assorted seagulls feeding at the point as the tide turned to go out early on.

3 birds ringed: 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Tree Pipit

Friday 13th May 2016

A beautiful hot and windy day today at the observatory with a small selection of new migrants on show. 

New arrivals include 4 Swallow, 1 Swift, 1 House Martin, 4 Blackcap, 4 Chiffchaff, 3 Willow Warbler, 4 Goldfinch, 1 Stock Dove, 1 Rook, 1 Ring Ouzel, 1 Tree Pipit, 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Wheatear, 1 Yellow Wagtail and 1 Spotted Flycatcher.

Sea watching produced 16 Common Tern, 6 Little Tern, 10 Common Gull, 4 Cormorant, 3 Whimbrel and 2 Curlew. 

Several Green Hairstreak butterflies seen today (3), enjoying the warm weather. 

A male Crossbill went North around lunchtime.

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

Thursday 12th May 2016

Breezy, warm and sunny conditions today provided a good selection of birds on offer throughout the day. A good days observations..

Today, c.7 Goldfinch were on the move along with 6 Swallow, 5 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap, 1 House Martin, 1 Wheatear, 1 Ring Ouzel, 1 Stock Dove, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Tree Pipit and 1 Whinchat.

A sea watch proved fruitful with 3 Oystercatcher, 2 Kittiwake, 1 Gannet, 1 Shelduck, 1+ Greylag Goose, 1 Turnstone, 6 Little Tern, 4 Sandwich Tern, 3 Cormorant, 1 Common Tern, 1 Common Scoter, 1 Common Gull as well as a flock of 5 probable Arctic Terns but too distant to confirm their identification.

Several Diamond-back Moths noted in recent days. Although a well known migrant it is thought that this micro also breeds at Landguard.

Ringing: 2 birds ringed today including 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Blackcap.

Wednesday 11th May 2016

A slightly cooler day today at the observatory. Yesterday and today have been some what damp, so as well as the overnight rain and misty conditions, a few migrants were grounded but nothing out of the ordinary.

The first baby Starlings have appeared today, (above).

Migrants came in the form of 13 Goldfinch, 10 Common Whitethroat, 4 Chiffchaff, 2 Garden Warbler, 1 Blackcap, 8 Swallow, 4 Yellow Wagtail, 4 Wheatear, 1 Tree Pipit, 1 Siskin, 1 Ring Ouzel, 5 Common Tern, 3 Common Sandpiper, 1 Lapwing, 1 Oystercatcher, 1 Sanderling and 1 Cormorant.

A nice group of 4 Black Tern headed out of the river early am.

The first Turtle Dove of the year turned up, possibly two individuals.

Ringing: 7 birds ringed this morning including 2 Garden Warbler, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Dunnock and 1 Common Whitethroat.

Tuesday 10th May 2016

Easterlies and rain can be good but as it has either been raining fairly hard or drizzling with occasionally very poor visibility then it's difficult to know exactly what is here. At least 2 Spot Flys are the first off their kind so far this year (no apologies for the standard of the photo of one of them taken in this mornings conditions).  Also in the compound 2 Chiffchaffs, 3 Wheatear on the reserve plus 2 Common Sands on the point. Apart from these migrants the only other birds noted are those that live here with most of these keeping their heads down.

Monday 9th May 2016

May certainly has been entertaining so far on the birding front and today was no exception. These easterly winds and warm weather continue to bring several decent species to us..

Arrivals today came in the form of this male and two female 'flava' wagtails looking nearer to Blue-headed Wagtail than anything else. Other birds of note include 18 Swallow, 4 Chiffchaff, 1 Sedge Warbler, 7 Common Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 4 Wheatear, 9 Goldfinch, 1 Siskin, 1 Lesser Redpoll. 2 Yellow Wagtail, 1 White Wagtail, 1 Ring Ouzel and 1 Sparrowhawk.

Sea watching produced 11 Little Tern, 2 Common Tern, 4 Sanderling, 2 Oystercatcher, 8 Cormorant and 6 Common Gull.

Several micro moths starting to appear including Monopis weaverella whose caterpillars have the delightful habit of feeding on dry animal carcasses, faeces and owl pellets!

Also, the first Brimstone, Red Admiral and Green Hairstreak butterflies have been seen over the last few days.

Ringing: 6 birds ringed this morning including 4 Chiffchaff, 1 Sedge Warbler and 1 Great Tit.

Sunday 8th May 2016

Migrant wise hard work which is the norm for us. Visible migration limited to 6 Swallow and 2 Yellow Wags south plus 2 Swallows and a Lapwing north with a Redpoll knocking around early on soon clearing off. A handful of grounded new birds on site as evidenced by the ringing figures. At least 14 Whitethroat which includes what is hopefully going to turn into at least 5 or 6 pairs mostly on the northern half of the reserve. Also on the reserve 3 Wheatear plus the female Ring Ouzel on her fourteenth day here. Botanically the place is starting to look good but with a drying easterly breeze and no rain it won't take long until the site becomes parched.

With warmer nights the mothing is finally starting to pick up with several species putting in their first appearance of the year including Large Yellow Underwing (which is one of the commonest species here). On the migrant front both Diamond-backed Moth & Silver Y noted.

8 birds ringed: 2 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Dunnock, 1 Great Tit, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Willow Warbler.