Saturday 29th October 2016

A mild, flat calm morning today with a very warm feel to it. A decent amount of migrants on the move throughout the morning and a better day for ringing.

Best of the rest was a male Hen Harrier that flew south mid morning but didn't hang around.

Totals on their migrations were as follows - 163 Goldfinch, 115 Chaffinch, 40 Starling, 36 Meadow Pipit, 26 Lesser Redpoll, 21 Skylark, 16 Greenfinch, 12 Long tailed Tit, 11 Linnet, 10+ Reed Bunting, 8 Siskin, 5 Grey Wagtail, 4 Woodpigeon, 4 Goldcrest, 3 Rock Pipit, 3 Swallow, 3 Song Thrush, 3 Redwing, 2 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Brambling and 1 Fieldfare.

Sea watching produced 233 Cormorant, 21 Gadwall, 9 Brent Geese, 7 Shelduck, 5 Gannet, 4 Turnstone, 3 Common Gull and 2 Mediterranean Gull.

Ringing: 25 birds ringed including 7 Long tailed Tit, 7 Lesser Redpoll, 4 Blackbird, 2 Blackcap, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Wren, 1 Goldcrest 1 Redwing and 1 Dunnock.

Friday 28th October 2016

A rather quiet day today with very little of note. This may be due to the milder weather that we are having at the moment?

New birds today include 113 Goldfinch, 32 Linnet, 29 Lesser Redpoll, 28 Meadow Pipit, 18 Chaffinch, 8 Goldcrest, 6 Pied Wagtail, 4 Skylark, 3 Greenfinch, 3 Rock Pipit, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 Siskin, 1 Stock Dove, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Redwing and 1 Blackcap.

Sea watching only produced 96 Cormorant, 13 Black-headed Gull, 6 Brent Geese, 1 Gannet, 1 Turnstone and 1 Purple Sandpiper.

This juvenile male Common Redstart (above), turned up in one of nets mid morning. this should actually be in Africa at the moment so hopefully it will get a move on with it's migration very soon.

Ringing: 5 birds ringed this morning which include 2 Blackbird, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Grey Wagtail and 1 Common Redstart.

Thursday 27th October 2016

A changing wind direction today from the West and South, which brought us a mixed bag of new arrivals. 

Arrivals came in the form of 125 Goldfinch, 93 Starling, 37 Fieldfare, 37 Linnet, 36 Blackbird, 25 Robin, 21 Meadow Pipit, 18 Redwing, 10 Greenfinch, 8 Song Thrush, 8 Chaffinch, 7 Skylark, 6 Goldcrest, 5 Lesser Redpoll, 4 Rock Pipit, 2 Short-eared Owl, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Lapland Bunting, 1 Purple Sandpiper, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Swallow, 1 Reed Bunting and 1 Woodcock.

Sea watching produced 86 Cormorant, 10 Mallard, 7 Teal, 6 Brent Geese, 6 Goosander, 5 Turnstone, 2 Shelduck, 1 Gannet and 1 Knot.

A Black-throated Diver flew in from the North and headed into the river mouth early afternoon.

Two alert adult Brents plus a youngster not concerned and why would you be with mum and dad to look after you, (above). 

The Mallow is a common species but only noted here occasionally.

Ringing: 30 birds ringed today including 13 Blackbird, 4 Robin, 4 Goldcrest, 4 Wren, 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Song Thrush and 1 Woodcock.

Wednesday 26th October 2016

A day with an arrival of Thrushes, including 30 Fieldfares like the one pictured, also around 40 Blackbirds, 11 Redwing and 6 Song Thrush. also on site were 2 Black Redstart, 10 Goldcrest, 2 Grey Wagtail south and about 8 Redpoll, 3 of which lingered long enough to be identified as Mealies.

Ringing totalled 35 birds:  15 Blackbird, 5 Robin, 3 Song Thrush, 3 Goldcrest, 2 Chaffinch, 2 Goldfinch and 1 each of Wood Pigeon, Redwing, Grey Wagtail, Wren and House Sparrow.

Tuesday 25th October 2016

A flat clam morning today produced a small fall of migrants along with another little eastern gem.

Finding a Pallas's Warbler yesterday was levelled by finding at least another two individuals today. These hung around for most of the day with one individual showing really well in the observatory.

Other birds noted include 65 Starling, 31 Meadow Pipit, 25 Robin, 22 Goldfinch, 20 Blackbird, 16 Dunnock, 15 Goldcrest, 15 Song Thrush, 13 Long tailed Tit, 12 Pied Wagtail, 11 Linnet, 10 Chaffinch, 8 Skylark, 5 Siskin, 5 Redwing, 4 Reed Bunting, 3 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Fieldfare, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Rock Pipit, 2 Pallas's Warbler, 1 Black Redstart, 1 Brambling, 1 Mistle Thrush, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Swallow, 1 Blackcap.

Sea watching produced 20 Cormorant, 8 Brent Geese, 3 Common Gull, 1 Common Scoter, 1 Shelduck, 1 Turnstone and 1 Dunlin.

A male Pheasant appeared briefly mid afternoon which is not a very common bird we see here, despite living not very far from farmland fields.

Ringing: 53 birds ringed today which include 13 Robin, 10 Blackbird, 9 Goldcrest, 8 Long tailed Tit, 5 Wren, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Great Tit, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Woodpigeon and 1 Pallas's Warbler.

Monday 24th October 2016

We were greeted with a very nice wind direction overnight and into this morning. Easterly winds continued throughout the day so there was the hope that something decent might to be around.

We were not disappointed as this fine Pallas's Warbler (above), turned up in one of our nets mid morning but unfortunately only showed on and off throughout the morning and briefly in the afternoon.

Other birds of note included 70 Starling, 22 Linnet, 20 Robin, 15 Goldcrest, 10 Meadow Pipit, 10 Pied Wagtail, 7 Goldfinch, 3 Song Thrush, 3 Skylark, 3 Blackcap, 2 Redwing, 2 Fieldfare, 2 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Rock Pipit, 1 Brambling, 1 Greenfinch and 1 Chiffchaff.

Shorelark is still here.

Sea watching revealed a small movement of Common Scoter with 20 heading South and 6 North. Others were 78 Wigeon, 56 Brent Geese, 48 Cormorant, 35 Teal, 3 Red-throated Diver, 3 Common Gull, 2 Gannet, 2 Mediterranean Gull and 1 Curlew.

Ringing: 23 birds ringed during the morning which include 9 Goldcrest, 6 Robin, 2 Wren, 1 Pallas's Warbler, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Blackcap, 1 Dunnock, 1 Redwing and 1 Woodpigeon.

Sunday 23rd October 2016

A very small arrival of new birds in today including a Firecrest. The first Snow Bunting of the autumn put in a brief appearance before departing north over the docks. A Sandwich Tern heading south is late in the season with other offshore movements almost non-existent. Late morning onward small numbers of Starlings were starting to arrive in off the sea. The Shorelark is still with us and a couple of Rock Pipits are loitering around the point.

In the moth traps a Pearly Underwing was the only migrant.

17 birds ringed: 4 Goldcrest, 4 Robin, 3 Blackbird, 2 Redwing, 1 Firecrest, 1 Wren, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Grey Wagtail.