Saturday 8th October 2016

Bit of drizzle and a belt of rain today was not ideal but at least the wind had eased. Another dose of new birds in today as evidenced by the ringing figures. Worth a mention were 30 Robin, 20 Song Thrush, 20 Swallow, 15 Wren, 6 Blackcap, 6 Chaffinch, 6 Chiffchaff, 4 Wheatear, 4 Brambling, 3 Redwing, 3 Ring Ouzel, 2 Rock Pipit & Short-eared Owl. It's always interesting to speculate as to where new Wrens come from. The species is largely sedentary in this country although some populations contain individuals that wander widely in the autumn. Offshore southerly movements included 197 Wigeon, 150 Brent, 10 Teal, 7 Pintail & Black-throated Diver with northerly bound 6 Eider, Grey Plover & Grey Heron. 6 Sandwich Terns loitered off the estuary mouth for a while.

44 birds ringed: 6 Song Thrush, 6 Robin, 6 Blackcap, 6 Wren,  5 Chiffchaff, 4 Blackbird, 4 Goldcrest, 1 Swallow, 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Dunnock, 1 Redwing, 1 Ring Ouzel

Friday 7th October 2016

A slight drop in the easterly winds today produced a few new migrants but in slightly smaller numbers than the previous few days. The Siberian Stonechat (Stejneger's) is still with us showing well on and off throughout the day.

Migrants on offer include 50 Robin, 35 Goldcrest, 20 Song Thrush, 10 Chiffchaff, 8 Blackcap, 8 Chaffinch, 5 Goldfinch, 3 Brambling, 2 Yellow-browed Warbler, 2 Black Redstart, 2 Rock Pipit, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Ring Ouzel, 1 Fieldfare, 1 Mistle Thrush, 1 Hawfinch, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Wheatear, 1 Swallow, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 1 Golden Plover (above) and 1 Jack Snipe.

Sea watching was rather quiet with totals of 339 Brent Geese, 42 Wigeon, 41 Common Scoter, 29 Teal, 13 Common Gull, 5 Cormorant, 4 Mute Swan, 4 Gannet, 3 Pintail, 2 Mediterranean Gull, 1 Black Tern, 1 Arctic Tern and 1 juvenile Sabine's Gull.

Ringing: 53 birds ringed during the day which include 16 Robin, 8 Blackcap, 6 Chiffchaff, 6 Goldcrest, 6 Wren, 3 Song Thrush, 2 Redwing, 2 Blackbird, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Brambling and 1 Hawfinch.

Thursday 6th October 2016

The easterly winds continued to produce for us today throughout the whole day with a great deal of birds on offer and several rather nice examples, including a real rarity.

The best of the rest came in the form of this Siberian Stonechat, (above) and this looks likely to be the Stejneger's race from the far East. A very rare bird indeed. It was later trapped and ringed in the afternoon after being found mid morning.

A Radde's Warbler was seen albeit briefly in the morning but no further sign during the day.

Other migrants include 50 Robin, 40 Goldcrest, 20 Song Thrush, 15 Redwing, 11 Meadow Pipit, 10 Blackbird, 10 Blackcap, 8 Goldfinch, 6 Chiffchaff, 5 Brambling, 5 Chaffinch, 1 Ring Ouzel, 1 Rock Pipit, 1 Common Stonechat, 1 Yellow-browed Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Peregrine Falcon and 1 Woodcock.

Sea watching produced 263 Brent Geese, 92 Wigeon, 39 Black-headed Gull, 23 Teal, 13 Mute Swan, 7 Cormorant, 4 Shelduck, 2 Mediterranean Gull, 2 Sandwich Tern. 1 Common Tern, 1 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 Red-throated Diver and 1 Golden Plover.

Ringing: 93 birds ringed throughout the day which include 32 Robin, 28 Goldcrest, 9 Blackcap, 9 Song Thrush, 3 Redwing, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackbird, 2 Dunnock, 2 Wren, 1 Brambling, 1 Chaffinch and 1 Siberian Stonechat (Stejneger's).

Wednesday 5th October 2016

The easterly gales are still in full swing so autumn migrants are still dropping in in good numbers. Top of the list was the Great grey Shrike, but there was plenty more in the shape of at least 1 Yellow-browed Warbler, Ring Ouzel, 25 Goldcrest, 8 Chiffchaff, 6 Blackcap, 2+ Brambling, 1 Garden Warbler, 2 Merlin south, Marsh Harrier and Avocet south, Grey Heron out then south, and Golden Plover, Brent Goose and this ringed adult White-fronted Goose(above) all hanging about on the common recuperating. Offshore the sea was still productive as the Brent Geese are still passing south in good numbers with 1547 today along with 528 Wigeon, 143 Teal, 12 Barnacle Geese, 4 Arctic Skua and 5 Sandwich Tern with 3 north + Black-necked Grebe and a cracking juv Sabine's Gull that surprised its finders early afternoon.
Insect wise a Camberwell Beauty butterfly was seen late afternoon.

56 birds were ringed:  24 Robin, 11 Goldcrest, 6 Chiffchaff, 6 Blackcap ,4 Song Thrush, 2 Brambling, 1 Great grey Shrike, 1 Yellow-browed Warbler and 1 Garden Warbler.  

Tuesday 4th October 2016

A strong easterly wind has been blowing for the last 24 hours and today it showed exactly what this direction of wind can bring in the form of eastern migrants.

We've never featured Wren on the blog before, so here you are.

Migrants moving through, on the nature reserve and at the observatory include 60 Robin, 30 Goldcrest, 25 Song Thrush, 25 Swallow, 20 Chiffchaff, 18 Goldfinch, 10 Chaffinch, 10 Blackbird, 9 Skylark, 8 Meadow Pipit, 7 Rock Pipit, 5 Blackcap, 3 Wheatear, 3 Redwing, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Tree Sparrow, 1 Brambling, 1 Greenfinch, 1 Peregrine Falcon and 1 Sparrowhawk.

Sea watching was rather entertaining throughout the day with totals of 2,864 Brent Geese, 660 Wigeon, 195 Teal, 131 Black-headed Gull, 31 Common Gull, 18 Gannet, 16 Pintail, 7 Eider, 6 Mediterranean Gull, 5 Red-breasted Merganser, 5 Cormorant, 5 Common Scoter, 4 Dunlin, 4 Arctic Skua, 4 Gadwall, 3 Grey Heron, 3 Pomarine Skua, 2 Shelduck, 2 Golden Plover, 2 Red-throated Diver, 2 Sandwich Tern, 2 Leach's Petrel, 1 Guillemot, 1 Lapwing, 1 Common Tern, 1 Turnstone and 1 Shoveler.

At least one, probably two Yellow-browed Warblers were on-site on and off throughout the day and possible the Great Grey Shrike was seen albeit briefly mid afternoon.

Ringing: 88 birds ringed from dawn until dusk which include 43 Robin, 16 Goldcrest, 11 Chiffchaff, 9 Song Thrush, 3 Chaffinch, 2 Blackbird, 2 Blackcap, 1 Wren and 1 Grey Wagtail.

Monday 3rd October 2016

The winds from the north overnight and into this morning brought a very cold feel to the air. Still a nice variety on show.

Land migrants included 74 Goldfinch, 49 Meadow Pipit, 20 Song Thrush, 15 Chaffinch, 12 Skylark, 13 Redwing, 10 Greenfinch, 8 Rock Pipit, 7 Reed Bunting, 6 Swallow, 6 Blackcap, 4 Chiffchaff, 2 Goldcrest, 2 Snipe, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Tree Pipit, 1 Brambling, 1 Wheatear, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Sparrowhawk and 1 Yellow-browed Warbler which showed well late morning and into the afternoon.

Just 2 Tree Sparrow were seen today, part of our regular group.

Late news of a Great Grey Shrike out on the nature reserve in the afternoon, photographed by one lucky observer. Let's hope there's more of these to come in the next few weeks.

Sea watching produced c 15 Mute Swan, 14 Cormorant, 10 Pintail, 5 Common Gull, 2 Grey Heron, 1 Great-Black Backed Gull and 1 Sandwich Tern.

Ringing: 14 birds ringed this morning including 4 Song Thrush, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Robin, 2 Goldcrest, 1 Blackcap, 1 Dunnock and 1 Grey Wagtail.

Sunday 2nd October 2016

Autumn migration is now well underway as this flock of Redwings dropping in off the north sea shows. In total we had at least 50 drop in briefly along with a Ring Ouzel, around 15 Song Thrushes and a cracking Hawfinch that only stayed for a very short time before heading off inland with the bulk of the Redwing. Also seen were 15 Chiffchaff, 6 Blackcap, 10 Chaffinch( now coming in for the winter ), 3 Reed Bunting south, 1 Rock Pipit, 1 Wheatear both on site and a Marsh Harrier south offshore.

 Insect wise the Wall Brown butterfly is still about, while very few moths were in the traps overnight, but they did include another Convolvulus Hawk and 2 Black Rustic(above).

20 birds were ringed: 9 Chiffchaff, 4 Song Thrush, 3 Blackcap, 2 Collared Dove and 1 each of Chaffinch and Wren.