Saturday 24th June 2017

Breezy. Heading south 90 Swift, single Sand Martin, House Martin, Curlew & Little Tern plus a Gannet north. Apart from this it's baby birds.

10 birds ringed: 6 Linnet, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Great Tit, 1 Whitethroat, 1 House Sparrow.

Friday 23rd June 2017

Lady's Bedstraw has bloomed over the last few days giving a yellow carpet to Landguard, the herb earned its name bedstraw when it was traditionally used to stuff mattresses, believed that the scent would keep fleas away.
Very little passage noted this morning with 1 Grey Heron going out East and 2 Swift going South. The Juvenile bird population continues to increase with new Dunnock, House Sparrow, Linnet and Whitethroat being seen, plus new dispersing juvenile birds not bred on Landguard with Blue Tit, Chiffchaff, Great Tit, Greenfinch and Goldfinch. The Starling Roost had increased to 150 individuals in the Holm Oaks last night.

Doing quite well for editions to the site list this year. Marbled White Spot is a spreading species that has taken its time getting here as it is described as "reasonably widespread and common" in Suffolk!

27 birds ringed: Linnet 11, Goldfinch 4, Greenfinch 3, Great Tit 2, House Sparrow 2, Whitethroat 2, Blue Tit 1, Chiffchaff 1, Dunnock 1

Suffolk Armed Forces Weekend

This weekend a whole range of activities are taking place across Felixstowe including a re-enactment between the Dutch & English at Landguard Fort with cannon, muskets & swords. On the Sunday the car parks around the Fort will be closed. There is no access down View Point Road for a couple of hours around mid-day whilst the "battle" takes place. The gate into the Bird Observatory in the moat will be closed whilst the "battle" takes place. Any Bird Observatory members on site during the "battle" will have to remain on site until the event finishes. It is recommended that members stay away during the "battle" - unless you like to watch people in fancy dress making a lot of noise with gunpowder then please park off site and walk down over the nature reserve. For a full programme & timings of this event please visit www.visitfelixstowe.co.uk  If any of our members wish to be in the Bird Observatory around mid-day on Sunday please drop me an e.mail at landguardbo@yahoo.co.uk for more details.

Thursday 22nd June 2017

Probably the warmest night in many years followed by a hot morning but with the wind swinging south-west some thunder & lightening has just passed over us. Migrant birds consisted off southbound 34 Swift, 2 Curlew & a Sand Martin.

Moth traps currently time consuming having up to 2,000 individuals of up to 120 species a night at the moment. Nephopterix angustella is described as "very local" on Spindle so this one could be an immigrant.

11 birds ringed: 5 Whitethroat, 2 House Sparrow, 2 Linnet, 1 Robin, 1 Greenfinch.

Wednesday 21st June 2017

There were no Spurge Hawk-moths in the traps this morning, but there was still plenty to see, including this fine specimen of a Cypress Carpet, a recent colonist to Britain, mainly along the south coast.
Bird-wise, it appeared very quiet early on, but approaching midday things livened up briefly, as first the Greenish Warbler reappeared behind the kitchen, soon to be followed by a Black Redstart. However, it was very short lived as they both quickly melted away into the greenery, not to be seen again, despite a lot of searching. The Muntjac is still here within the compound.

Ringed 10 birds today:  3 Whitethroat, 2 House Sparrow, 2 Collared Dove, 2 Ringed Plover and 1 Pied Wagtail.

Tuesday 20th June 2017

Muntjac don't turn up here very often and when they do they have been known to have got themselves jammed in the rifle fencing. Tight squeeze but this one just about managed to get through.
New birds seen on the reserve this morning have been juveniles of 1 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Whitethroat and a slight increase of the Goldfinch flock from 8 to 12. Gathering offshore with the Herring Gulls were 11 Little Tern, 6 Med Gull, 5 Common Tern and 2 Common Gull. Passage noted this morning going South 20 Common Scoter and going North 45 Common Scoter, 5 Sandwich Tern and 2 Gannet. Early evening update: Greenish Warbler seen at 1515hrs.

Another Spurge Hawk-moth this morning - we are starting to get blase about them. Maple moth only occurs a couple of times a season presumably due to its main food plant not being here.

14 birds ringed: Linnet 6, Goldfinch 2, Whitethroat 2, Blackcap 1, Blue Tit 1, Chiffchaff 1, Wren 1

Monday 19th June 2017

Another hot one with a Serin putting in a brief appearance at c.0720 hrs. Handful of birds heading south including 20 Black-headed Gull, 8 Swift, 3 Redshank, 2 Curlew & Grey Wagtail plus northbound 5 Sandwich & a Common Tern. 2 Sand Martin also put in an appearance. Apart from this it's baby bird time. Worth a mention is that out of the 5 or 6 pairs of Whitethroat present 4 pairs have churned out a brood and out of the 3 pairs of Lesser Whitethroat present at least 2 pairs have young out & about. Plenty of time for more broods or second broods.

Moth traps hectic with the warm calm sultry nights. Only one Spurge Hawk-moth this morning with today's featured moth Hemp-agrimony plume. The regular Pyramidal Orchid is out on the Butts looking as stunning as ever.

4 birds ringed: 1 Wren, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Robin.

Sunday 18th June 2017

Small Skipper has been out in recent days on the Butts.
A clear bright start to the day with very little wind, new birds on the the reserve this morning were 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Lapwing and 1 Coal Tit, very little passage noted offshore but 2 Curlew came in off the sea plus another individual that flew South and a Grey Heron also came in off the sea.

Another 3 Spurge Hawk-moth this morning but as you've seen enough photos of them over the last week here is todays Rosy Footman

12 birds ringed: Blue Tit 4, Chiffchaff 3, Dunnock 2, Coal Tit 1, Goldfinch 1, Wren 1