Saturday 30th July 2016

Feels more like autumn when the odd Willow Warbler is coming through. Other migrant passerines on site this morning include a couple of Reed Warbler & Wheatear. The Treecreeper is still with us with a Sparrowhawk paying a brief visit (only very rarely see Sparrowhawks here in mid-summer). Offshore movements almost non-existent although a small group of Sandwich & Common Terns were loitering off the point.

Webb's Wainscot is a nationally scarce species frequenting reed beds that is only rarely noted here. Also worth a mention is The Gem which is a migratory species we usually only see later in the autumn.

4 birds ringed: 3 Linnet, 1 Reed Warbler.

Friday 29th July 2016

A little breezy this morning but the wind soon died out enabling a few birds to show themselves.

New arrivals out to sea were 6 Oystercatcher, 6 Common Tern, 3 Sandwich Tern, 1 Greenshank, 1 Fulmar, 1 Whimbrel, 1 Grey Plover and 1 Common Sandpiper all on the move.

Land birds resumed with 9 Common Whitethroat, 7 Swallow, 3 Goldfinch, 3 Sand Martin, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Treecreeper, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 House Martin and 1 Wheatear which is a juvenile and still looking rather downy, (above).

The second emergence of the Chocolate-tip moth has started to appear.

Ringing: 4 birds ringed this morning including 1 Goldfinch, 1 House Sparrow, 1 Linnet and 1 Sedge Warbler.

Recent Ringing Recoveries

Blackbird ringed here 3rd December 2013 retrapped 506km away on Helgoland, Germany 17th March 2016. Meadow Pipit ringed here 17th September 2015 retrapped 196km away at Semmerzake, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium 3rd Ocober 2015. This Sanderling on the beach last week is a tad frustrating as, despite all the colour rings, it has lost a leg flag. It is ringed by a Dutch project at one of nine localities between Greenland and Ghana but due to losing its leg flag the exact individual is not known - it is possibly an old bird that was marked in Mauritania but we can not be sure. Despite some people thinking July is summer as far as Sanderling are concerned the beach at Landguard is a place to attempt to feed and rest on the long haul between the Arctic breeding areas and wintering grounds in West Africa.

Thursday 28th July 2016

Cloudy with sunny intervals and further signs of the approaching Autumn today. Warblers being the order of the day.

Resident and migrant warblers came in the form of 10 Common Whitethroat, 3 Lesser Whitethroat and the first Willow Warbler of the Autumn along with Sedge Warbler. Others include 7 Swallow, 1 Treecreeper and 1 Wheatear.

Sea watching produced 3 Cormorant, 2 Sandwich Tern, 1 Common Tern, 1 Redshank and 1 Whimbrel.

Butterfly numbers on the reserve have been very poor this year, the reasons for which are not fully understood.

Anacampsis populella is apparently a common enough micro but we have only noted it here previously in 2001.

Ringing: 6 birds ringed this morning which include 2 Linnet, 1 Wren, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Lesser Whitethroat and 1 Sedge Warbler.

Wednesday 27th July 2016

A breezier day with occasional light drizzle did nothing to improve the birding a great deal, but a few things are trickling through. Not least, yet another Tree Creeper, the third in a month, where are they coming from. Apart from that, 140 Swifts went south, heading back to their winter quarters in Africa, just 1 Wheatear on site and extremely low numbers of waders considering the time of year, with only 7 Whimbrel and 4 Turnstone passing offshore.

On a much brighter note, there were 24 Pied Wagtails out on the reserve today, many of them juveniles, they have clearly had a very good breeding season around here.

3 birds ringed; 1 each of Tree Creeper, Blue Tit and House Sparrow.

Tuesday 26th July 2016

Lighter winds this morning, picking up into the afternoon. Cloudy with sunny intervals made for a lovely day and a nice new visitor to the site.

A few migrants were on the move this morning which include 23 Swallow, 14 Sand Martin, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Common Tern, 1 Mediterranean Gull, 1 Swift, 1 Blackcap and 1 Green Woodpecker.

Best of the rest this morning came in the form of a Black Kite that drifted South mid morning but didn't hang around long at all. This being the first site record for this species for the observatory.

This Pempelia genistella moth is a nationally scarce species that feeds on Gorse and was noted here in several previous years, (above).

Red Twin-spot Carpet is a common moth throughout Suffolk but only rarely turns up here.

Ringing: 8 birds ringed today which include 3 Linnet, 1 Blackbird, 1 Wren, 1 House Sparrow, 1 Blackcap and 1 Green Woodpecker.

Monday 25th July 2016

A breezy start with plenty of sunshine, clouding over into the afternoon. Still rather quiet.

Birds on the move involved 38 Sand Martin, 30 Swift and 1 Swallow heading South. Also of note -  1 Blackcap and 18 Sanderling, 1 Dunlin and 1 Oystercatcher.

This foreign ringed Dunlin on the beach was probably done in one of the Baltic states but it is not possible to read the ring combination, (above).

Common Darter out in small numbers at present on the nature reserve and in the observatory.

Ringing: 1 bird ringed this morning in the form of 1 Linnet.

Sunday 24th July 2016

Sanderling regularly turning up on the beach with a quick turnover of individuals as they head south for Africa. Other migrants thin on the ground but included a couple of Blackcap. Juvenile Black Redstart still with us.

Udea fulvalis is the first site record of this rare immigrant that is known from just a handful of locations on the south coast of the UK.

2 birds ringed: 1 Blackbird, 1 Whitethroat.