Saturday 17th September 2016

Another wet and blustery day today with a nice selection of birds on offer. A major Landguard rarity today was the 6th site record of Little Grebe on the sea offshore and when you consider that the previous site records include two washed up dead on the riverbank plus one that was released having been found in Hamilton Road then it could even be deemed to be only the third record ! Previous records are in October 1986, February 1991 (two dead plus one released in severe winter weather) & November 1992.

Migrants either grounded or heading south included 236+ Meadow Pipit, 99 House Martin, 19 Swallow, 6 Wheatear, 4 Common Whitethroat, 3 Chiffchaff, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Blackcap, 2 Willow Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Spotted Flycatcher (above), 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Goldcrest and 1 Lapland Bunting.

Sea watching kept us busy with totals of 125 Black-headed Gull, 104 Wigeon, 70 Teal, 31 Gannet, 28 Cormorant, 8 Sandwich Tern, 7 Brent Geese, 5 Oystercatcher, 3 Arctic Skua, 3 Common Tern, 3 Grey Plover, 2 Whimbrel, 2 Common Gull, 1 Sanderling and 1 Mediterranean Gull.

Ringing: 20 birds ringed today which were 20 Meadow Pipit.

Friday 16th September 2016

A brilliant day for observatory work with lots of coverage throughout the morning. Winds from the South and West and thick and heavy cloud with the approaching bad weather produced a good amount of species diversity.

Migrants at the observatory and on the nature reserve consisted of 228 House Martin, 138 Swallow, 103 Meadow Pipit, 7 Chiffchaff, 5 Wheatear, 4 Blackcap, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Garden Warbler, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Common Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Reed Bunting and 1 Goldcrest and all of which to soon be heading southwards.

Sea watching was very entertaining with totals of 193 Wigeon, 105 Teal, 33 Brent Geese, 24 Sandwich Tern, 19 Black-headed Gull, 17 Dunlin, 13 Common Tern, 10 Grey Plover, 8 Pintail, 7 Golden Plover, 7 Gannet, 7 Knot, 5 Oystercatcher, 4 Shoveler, 3 Mediterranean Gull, 3 Shelduck, 3 Sanderling, 1 Turnstone, 1 Gadwall, 1 Common Gull, 1 Common Scoter, 1 Cormorant, 1 Red-breasted Merganser and 1 eclipse male Garganey that flew south with a flock of Teal.

Another Porter's Rustic moth caught this morning which was a nice surprise,

Ringing: 21 birds ringed this morning before the bad weather arrived consisting of 6 Chiffchaff, 5 Meadow Pipit, 3 Blackcap, 2 Garden Warbler, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Wren, 1 Robin and 1 Grey Wagtail.

September Litter Pick

Litter pick this Saturday 17th September at 0930hrs. Usual arrangements.

Thursday 15th September 2016

Winds from the North and East today produced a small arrival of migrants but nothing to shout about really. Albeit very quiet.

Arrivals were 36 Meadow Pipit, 9 Swallow, 6 Wheatear, 4 Chiffchaff, 3 Grey Wagtail, 2 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Blackcap, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Willow Warbler and 1 Sparrowhawk.

Sea watching produced 40 Wigeon, 11 Common Tern, 6 Sandwich Tern, 5 Teal, 2 Pintail, 2 Ringed Plover, 2 Gannet, 1 Cormorant, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit and 1 Gadwall.

Wheatear on the sun baked parched nature reserve today.

Ringing: 9 birds ringed this morning including 3 Meadow Pipit, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 Chiffchaff and 2 Blackcap.

Wednesday 14th September 2016

The incredibly hot weather and southerly air flow is perfect for migrant insects as these 2 photographs show. The Convolvulus Hawk Moth (top), is a regular migrant from southern Europe and North Africa, but this Porter's Rustic (above) is an extremely rare immigrant from Southern Europe that has only been recorded in Suffolk on a very few occasions.

The clear skies and light easterly wind has not helped drop in too many migrant birds, most have gone straight over. What little there has been is just usual fare for the time of year, including 6 Wheatear, 2 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Willow Warbler, 1 each of both Chiffchaff, Blackcap and 1 Grey Wagtail and 1 Whinchat that dropped in very briefly.

5 birds ringed: 2 Robin, 1 Linnet, 1 Goldfinch and 1 Whinchat.

Tuesday 13th September 2016

Winds from the South and East today and sufficient amounts of cloud gave us a lovely autumnal feel.

New arrivals comprised of 51 Swallow, 20 Goldfinch, 12 Yellow Wagtail, 11 Grey Wagtail, 7 Wheatear, 6 Meadow Pipit, 6 Blackcap, 5 Chiffchaff, 5 Willow Warbler, 24 Pied Wagtail, 4 Chaffinch, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Tree Pipit and 1 Sand Martin.

Sea watching was half decent with totals of 39 Teal, 19 Sandwich Tern, 17 Common Tern, 12 Dunlin, 7 Pintail, 6 Wigeon, 5 Shelduck, 5 Gannet, 4 Shoveler, 3 Mediterranean Gull, 3 Turnstone, 2 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Cormorant, 2 Common Scoter, 2 Knot, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Arctic Tern, 1 Common Gull and 1 Arctic Skua.

Palpita vitrealis is an immigrant that we have noted in seven previous years since the first in 2006 which is possibly indicative of warming global conditions.

Ringing: 14 birds ringed this morning comprising of 5 Grey Wagtail, 4 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Dunnock, 1 Robin, 1 Blackbird and 1 Chaffinch.

Monday 12th September 2016

This wader dropped in for c.15 seconds this morning seen by three observers with several features indicative of Buff-breasted Sandpiper which would be the first site record. Apologies for late release of the news until the distant photos could be put onto a larger screen and commented on by third parties.

Clear skies overnight with a few patches of cloud, followed by a rather hot day did produce a very good day today with a good variety on show.

Best of the rest was this Wryneck (above), which was seen mid morning by a few observers and hasn't been since it was originally located. This is the first sighting in the last two years after having none last year.

Migrants elsewhere included 110 Meadow Pipit, 65 Swallow, 31 Yellow Wagtail, 10 Sand Martin, 8 Blackcap, 6 Willow Warbler, 3 Wheatear, 3 Common Whitethroat, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Common Redstart, 1 Hobby and 1 Sparrowhawk.

Sea watching produced 39 Wigeon, 15 Teal, 8 Cormorant, 6 Shelduck, 6 Common Tern, 1 Red-throated Diver, 1 Common Gull, 1 Mediterranean Gull, 1 Kittiwake and 1 Oystercatcher.

This Hummingbird Hawk-moth on Bramble. 

After yesterdays sighting of Wall Brown butterfly, another two individuals were seen today so maybe we are to see more of this species locally? 

Ringing: 17 birds ringed this morning including 4 Blackcap, 3 Grey Wagtail, 2 Robin, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Woodpigeon and 1 House Sparrow.

Sunday 11th September 2016

This Wall Brown butterfly photographed today, is now a rare site in the county. This is the first siting at Landguard for 11 years. 

The overnight rain, although not a lot, was enough to bring about a bit of action migration-wise. An upturn in the numbers of Warblers with at least 20 Willow Warblers and 6 Chiffchaff as well as 1 each of Spotted Flycatcher and Whinchat + 2 Wheatear and 12 Long-tailed Tits along with the first real push of Meadow Pipits with 25 going south, along with 6 each of both Yellow and Grey Wagtails and Common Buzzard south.

Ringing totalled 38 birds: 12 Willow Warbler, 7 Long-tailed Tits, 4 Chiffchaff, 3 Blackcap, 3 Blue Tit, 2 Grey Wagtail and 1 each of Wood Pigeon, Spotted Flycatcher, Dunnock, Blackbird, Meadow Pipit, Whitethroat and Goldfinch.