Saturday 12th November 2016

A change in the winds today from the South and East, we were hopeful for a new arrival of migrants and we were not disappointed.

Migrants came in the form of 60 Blackbird, 20 Robin, 1 Mistle Thrush, 17 Goldfinch, 4 Chaffinch, 2 Starling, 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Lapwing and 1 Woodcock.

Sea watching produced 1,181 Cormorant (above) 59 Brent Geese, 58 Dunlin, 27 Common Scoter, 25 Teal, 20 Shelduck, 17 Common Gull, 12 Red-throated Diver, 12 Black headed Gull, 8 Red breasted Merganser, 8 Avocet, 6 Gannet, 4 Curlew, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Great Skua, 2 Pintail, 1 Turnstone, 1 Mediterranean Gull and 1 Eider..

Ringing: 34 birds ringed this morning which include 27 Blackbird, 4 Robin, 2 Chaffinch and 1 Goldfinch.

Friday 11th November 2016

Still we feel a chill to the air today with a drizzle shower mid morning. It certainly turned out to be a glorious afternoon. A few niceties were on show throughout the day.

This Short-eared Owl (above) showed really well on-and-off during the day and even posed for it's picture to be taken out on the nature reserve. Other decent birds involved 2 Waxwings that flew South late morning and a total of 3 Snow Buntings, of which one on the nature reserve and two that didn't stop long, from the North and flew out to sea.

Other migrants include 1,005+ Starling, 22+ Goldfinch, 18 Linnet, 12 Meadow Pipit, 9 Chaffinch, 8 Long tailed Tit, 7 Siskin, 7 Skylark, 3 Greenfinch, 3 Goldcrest, 2 Song Thrush, 2 Stock Dove, 1 Rock Pipit, 1 Bullfinch, 1 Carrion Crow, 1 Snipe and 1 Common Buzzard.

Sea watching produced 1,428 Cormorant, 210 Common Scoter, 90 Brent Geese, 5 Red-throated Diver, 2 Great Skua, 2 Mediterranean Gull and 1 Gannet.

Ringing: 8 birds ringed this morning including 3 Blackbird, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Woodpigeon and 1 Bullfinch.

November Litter Pick

Litter pick this Saturday 12th November 0930hrs start. Usual arrangements on the events page of www.lbo.org.uk

Thursday 10th November 2016

It felt slightly warmer today but not by very much. The heavy rain yesterday seemed to put many birds off from moving anywhere, despite this though there were a few new arrivals present.

Migration this morning involved 69 Starling, 51 Goldfinch, 20 Chaffinch, 18 Meadow Pipit, 14 Linnet, 9 Siskin, 4 Skylark, 3 Song Thrush, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Greenfinch, 1 Yellowhammer, 1 Mistle Thrush, 1 Jackdaw (above), 1 Stock Dove, 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Lesser Redpoll.

Sea watching was fair game with totals of 1,208 Cormorant, 136 Brent Geese, 20 Common Scoter, 13 Red-throated Diver, 13 Common Gull, 10 Dunlin, 8 Teal, 5 Shelduck, 2 Eider, 2 Goldeneye, 1 Little Egret, 1 Turnstone, 1 Pintail, 1 Long tailed Duck and 1 Goosander.

Ringing: 7 birds ringed this morning including 5 Blackbird, 1 Chaffinch and 1 Robin.

Wednesday 9th November 2016

After 5 days of no moths at all in the traps, this migrant Pearly Underwing was a pleasant surprise.

A day of non stop rain, so staring out to sea was the order of the day, with mostly ducks on the menu including, 102 Common Scoter, 78 Teal, 23 Wigeon, 7 Shoveler, 4 Tufted Duck, 3 each of Pintail, Shelduck, Goldeneye and Gadwall all south along with 3 Red-throated Diver, 1 Little Auk, 1 Red-breasted Merganser, 4 Lapwing, 58 Dunlin and ones and twos of other common Waders, plus 1 Long-tailed Duck that went north early on.

1 Blackbird was the only bird ringed.

Tuesday 8th November 2016

Thick and heavy cloud and a very cold feel to start the day brought a good arrival of birds to the observatory, both on land and offshore.

Land migrants came in the form of a fall of thrushes which consisted of 1,391+ Starling, 110+ Blackbird, 30+ Fieldfare, 8 Song Thrush, 6 Redwing and 1 Mistle Thrush. Others involve 17 Linnet, 16 Goldfinch, 4 Chaffinch, 3 Skylark, 2 Woodcock, 1 Brambling, 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Short Eared Owl, 1 Black Redstart and 1 Goldcrest.

This female Bullfinch (above) turned up in one of our mist nets early morning. This species is very scarce here and this is only the second individual that we have trapped and ringed in just the last two years.

Sea watching was very entertaining today with lots of birds on the move and a decent variety. These include 840+ Cormorant, 45 Brent Geese, 44 Wigeon, 35 Common Scoter, 17 Lapwing, 14 Dunlin, 10 Teal, 8 Shelduck, 5 Goldeneye, 4 Eider, 3 Mallard, 3 Tufted Duck, 3 Turnstone, 2 Purple Sandpiper, 2 Snipe, 2 Long tailed Duck, 2 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 Black throated Diver, 1 Red-throated Diver, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Gannet, 1 Curlew and 1 Sanderling.

Ringing: 65 birds ringed throughout the day which include 60 Blackbird, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Woodpigeon, 1 Robin, 1 Chaffinch and 1 Bullfinch.

Monday 7th November 2016

A rather cold, windy and wet morning for the observatory today. Most folk were keeping warm inside whilst viewing from some comfort as sea watching was the order of the day.

It was very quiet on the visual migration front, as expected. Totals included 25 Linnet, 6 Pied Wagtail, 2 Meadow Pipit, 2 Redwing, 1 Fieldfare, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Woodcock, 1 Siskin and 1 Redpoll.

Starlings started to arrive in-off the sea from late morning totalling 102 birds.

Sea watching was pretty decent with birds moving in all directions due to the weather. Totals were 573+ Cormorant, 49 Wigeon, 47 Brent Geese, 13 Common Scoter, 12 Gannet, 11 Eider, 11 Common Gull, 4 Curlew, 4 Shelduck, 3 Guillemot, 2 Gadwall, 2 Little Auk, 2 Great Skua, 2 Turnstone, 1 Dunlin, 1 Sanderling (above), 1 Redshank, 1 Mediterranean Gull, 1 Kittiwake, 1 Teal, 1 Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, 1 Goosander and 1 Great Crested Grebe.

Ringing: 2 Blackbird ringed this morning.

Sunday 6th November 2016

In recent years it has been very mild at this time of the year whereas this year it feels more like mid-winter. Offshore not a lot but worth a mention are southbound 3 Gannet, 2 Lapwing, Long-tailed Duck, Little Egret, Grey Heron plus northbound Guillemot & Purple Sand (although the Purp may just be moving from the point to one of the groynes along the prom). 4 Swallow south need to get a move on if they are to make Africa as in these cold conditions feeding opportunities for them will be limited. Migrants in the bushes and on the reserve were almost non-existent with one Skylark the highlight !

Moth traps have been "mothless" for the last three nights and no birds were ringed.