Saturday 5th November 2016

The rather chilly winds from the west and north produced very few new migrants. Today was a day when nothing much was on-site.

Totals include 19 Linnet, 15 Blackbird, 11 Goldfinch, 2 Meadow Pipit, 2 Chaffinch, 1 Fieldfare, 1 Skylark and 1 Marsh Harrier.

Sea watching produced 401+ Herring Gull, 91 Cormorant, 6 Gannet, 5 Common Gull, 4 Brent Geese, 1 Mediterranean Gull, 1 Eider, 1 Great Skua, 1 Common Scoter and 1 Turnstone.

Ringing: No birds ringed were ringed today.

Friday 4th November 2016

A slightly quieter day today for the observatory but still a trickle of birds moving through during the morning before the rain set in during he afternoon.

Migrants came in the form of  40 Blackbird, 29 Goldfinch, 26 Woodpigeon, 15 Linnet, 7 Pied Wagtail, 7 Chaffinch, 5 Skylark, 4 Meadow Pipit, 3 Lesser Redpoll, 3 Siskin, 3 Song Thrush, 2 Greenfinch, 1 Redwing, 1 Fieldfare (above), 1 Firecrest, 1 Woodcock and 1 Rock Pipit.

Sea watching produced 1,265 Cormorant, 57 Common Scoter, 21 Brent Geese, 7 Gannet, 6 Wigeon, 5 Mediterranean Gull, 4 Red-throated Diver, 4 Dunlin, 2 Little Egret, 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Golden Plover, 1 Curlew, 1 Common Gull, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Teal and 1 Goldeneye.

Ringing: 29 birds ringed this morning including 23 Blackbird, 2 Wren, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Song Thrush and 1 Redwing.

Thursday 3rd November 2016

Today has been a very entertaining day, not just for visual migration but for ringing as well. Observers were kept busy until mid afternoon until the action came to a halt. The cold weather overnight and throughout the day made quite a few birds push on with their migrations.

The best of the rest came with a small arrival of thrushes from the continent. Totals are as follows - 100+ Blackbird, 45 Fieldfare, 42 Starling, 16 Redwing and 2 Song Thrush.

Other new arrivals that appeared include 53 Woodpigeon, 38 Goldfinch, 20 Linnet, 20 Robin, 14 Chaffinch, 13 Redpoll sp, 12 Greenfinch, 12 Siskin, 10 Long tailed Tit, 9 Skylark, 5 Meadow Pipit, 3 Woodcock, 3 Reed Bunting, 3 Rock Pipit, 2 Mealy Redpoll, 1 Mistle Thrush, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Firecrest, 1 Blackcap and 1 Common Buzzard.

Sea watching was very good with the best of the rest that came with 8 Little Auk (above - 2 north, 4 south and 2 sat on the sea). Other totals include 921 Cormorant, 130 Wigeon, 82 Brent Geese, 48 Teal, 45 Common Scoter, 38 Dunlin, 12 Pink footed Geese, 9 Lapwing, 5 Shelduck. 4 Mediterranean Gull, 3 Mallard, 2 Goldeneye, 2 Pintail, 1 Gannet, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 1 Oystercatcher and 1 Red-throated Diver.

Ringing: 56 birds ringed during the day which include 37 Blackbird, 9 Long tailed Tit, 2 Mealy Redpoll, 2 Song Thrush, 1 Redwing, 1 Robin, 1 Firecrest, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Blackcap and 1 Greenfinch.

Wednesday 2nd November 2016

A distinctly cooler start with a north-westerly airflow followed by a glorious sunny morning. Very few migrants on site. 3 Fieldfare, 2 Stock Dove, Grey Wagtail & a Woodcock paid brief visits with overhead and offshore movements very quiet. A Goldeneye offshore was the first of the autumn and a Black Redstart was present by the tank blocks. 947 Cormorants went out fishing early on which was impressive and further signs of the approaching winter was an increase in gull numbers offshore.

Very few moths but they did include the first Feathered Thorn of the autumn.

Ringing: 1 Chaffinch

Tuesday 1st November 2016

It certainly did feel like the 1st of November this morning and throughout the entire day. Thick and heavy fog and cloud, feeling rather cold and a chilly breeze made for rather quiet day. Despite this a few niceties had arrived.

Best of the rest came in the form of a Turtle Dove that was watched mid morning. This is a rather late record but we do get late migrants now and again. Other migrants include 355 Starling (above), 45 Blackbird, 25 Robin, 16 Linnet, 8 Pied Wagtail, 8 Skylark, 7 Fieldfare, 4 Chaffinch, 4 Greenfinch, 4 Goldfinch, 4 Song Thrush, 4 Meadow Pipit, 3 Redwing, 2 Blackcap, 1 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Siskin, 1 Black Redstart, 1 Yellowhammer, 1 Rock Pipit and 1 Peregrine Falcon.

Sea watching revealed 29 Cormorant, 2 Oystercatcher, 1 Common Gull, 1 Mediterranean Gull and 1 Snipe.

Part of the flock of 315 Starlings that were seen coming in-off the sea and heading inland, (above).

Ringing: 15 birds ringed this morning including 9 Blackbird, 3 Robin, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Wren and 1 Blackcap.

October Ringing Totals

A total of 1,022 birds of 39 species ringed in October. This is slightly down on last year, from 1,324 but it has certainly made up for the quiet start that we had for the Autumn. Highlights include 2 Pallas's Warbler, 1 Yellow-browed Warbler, 1 Hawfinch, 1 Great Grey Shrike, 1 Siberian Stonechat (Stejneger's) and 1 Blyth's Reed Warbler.

Robin	230		Swallow	3
Goldcrest	148		Ring Ouzel	3
Blackbird	110		Meadow Pipit	2
Chiffchaff	86		Garden Warbler	2
Song Thrush	85		Greenfinch	2
Blackcap	70		Fieldfare	2
Wren	59		Sparrowhawk	2
Chaffinch	45		Woodcock	2
Long-tailed Tit	32		Collared Dove	2
Lesser Redpoll	31		Pallas's Warbler	2
Redwing	21		Common Redstart	1
Dunnock	16		Siskin	1
Grey Wagtail	13		Willow Warbler	1
Goldfinch	11		Lesser Whitethroat	1
Great Tit	8		Hawfinch	1
Brambling	7		Great Grey Shrike	1
Woodpigeon	6		Siberian Stonechat	1
Firecrest	4		Blyth's Reed Warbler	1
House Sparrow	4		Yellow-browed Warbler	1
Blue Tit	4

Monday 31st October 2016

Part of the mass of Cormorants flying out over the estuary on a glorious sunny morning. Very much a hiatus in the bird migration front with migrants that have been lingering on site having departed to be replaced by not a lot of new arrivals. Murk and mist offshore and to the north of us has prevented any sea-watching and knocked any visible migration on the head. Half a dozen Skylark & Lesser Redpoll plus a Siskin went south but that's about it. A couple of winter thrush's were noted as were singles of both Rock Pipit & Black Redstart. Mr Peregrine had a go at a pigeon to provide brief entertainment (not that the pigeon found it amusing !).

A worn immigrant White-speck is the first of it's kind to pay us a visit for five years - but considering it could have come a long way before reaching us then it will be forgiven for looking a bit worn. Oops - obviously not having a good morning as this moth is actually the second site record of the Cosmopolitan and not as originally posted above. Oh well we are all prone to errors especially with worn specimens - well that's my excuse and I am sticking to it.

9 birds ringed: 3 Chaffinch, 3 Blackbird, 1 Robin, 1 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Song Thrush.

Sunday 30th October 2016

Foggy start not ideal but at least the regular Purp along the riverbank has found a friend. Also on the beach a single Sanderling. Signs of winter were at least 853 Cormorant heading out to sea on mass to go fishing as the fog cleared. Vis mig almost non-existent in these conditions although mid/late morning some Starlings started to arrive in off the sea suggesting that the departure weather on the continent was more favourable than here. A small arrival of new Blackies in today plus a couple of Redwing and Fieldfare amongst a fairly predictable selection of late October fare. A Black Redstart was in the moat and a Woodcock late morning could have been fresh in off the sea or just shifted from it's resting site on the reserve.

23 birds ringed: 10 Blackbird, 4 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Goldcrest, 2 Robin, 2 Chaffinch, 1 Wren, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Fieldfare.