Saturday 15th July 2017

Migrating summer plumage Sanderling on the beach heading to West Africa for the winter are always well received. Autumn wader passage well underway plus the usual passerines that depart early or the juveniles disperse in the summer to find new areas to colonise. Southbound 19 Whimbrel, 7 Curlew, 6 Oyk, 3 Black-headed Gull, 2 Teal, 2 Kittiwake, 2 Sand Martin, 2 Mipits, Little Egret, Common Scoter & Redshank plus northbound 15 Common Scoter & 4 Barnacle Geese.

Dog's Tooth is only rarely encountered in our moth traps despite being fairly numerous in traps run elsewhere near saltmarsh and damp coastal areas.

No birds ringed.

Friday 14th July 2017

Skylark have not bred here this century so its always good when a dispersing juvenile from elsewhere turns up. On the move southbound 282 Black-headed Gull, 13 Whimbrel, 10 Swift, 6 Swallow, 5 Curlew, 5 Oyk,  4 Sand Martin, 3 Med Gull, 2 Curlew, Grey Heron, Shelduck, Redshank, Knot, Sanderling, Sandwich Tern & Common Tern with northbound 2 Sandwich Tern, Sand Martin & Swallow plus 3 Little Egret straight in off the sea. Another dispersing Great-spotted Woodpecker turned up as did a young Blackcap.

Langmaid's Yellow Underwing are having a good year so far having failed to put in appearance last year. The smaller darker right hand individual is definitely one but the left hand one is a bit more problematical as Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing should be starting to appear although this larger individual still looked like a Langmaid's on the hind wing pattern when it was disturbed. Not all of the differences between these two similar species are clear cut !

4 birds ringed: Great-spotted Woodpecker, Blackcap, Dunnock, Linnet.

July Litter Pick

Litter Pick this Saturday 15th July 0930hrs start. Usual arrangements on Events page of www.lbo.org.uk

Thursday 13th July 2017

Heading in and south as autumn progresses 12 Swallow 8 Black-headed Gull, 7 Curlew, 3 Whimbrel, 3 Med Gull, Sand Martin & Grey Wag plus 2 Sandwich Tern northbound.. Juvenile dispersing Great-spotted Woodpecker & Grey Wag on site again suggesting that both these species have had a good breeding season (hopefully !).

Plenty of Six-spot Burnet & Cinnabar up on the Butts.

7 birds ringed: 3 House Sparrow, 2 Wren, 1 Robin, 1 Grey Wagtail.

Wednesday 12th July 2017

Rain first thing, then brisk winds kept bird activity to a minimum. With only 1 Sand Martin lingering with the resident pair of Swallows, and 1 first summer and about 6 adult Med gulls floating about the river mouth, that was about it, although it is good to see that at least 1 pair of Greenfinch has bred successfully locally, (a rare thing these days).

The familiar larva of the Cinnabar moth, that are now starting to emerge and feed up on the Ragwort around the reserve, (well something needs to).

4 Birds ringed: 4 House Sparrow.

Tuesday 11th July 2017

Heading south 12 Redshank, 12 Black-headed Gull, 9 Swift, 5 Oystercatcher, Curlew, Whimbrel & Sand Martin.

The first Oak Eggar of the year (top). Water Veneer (above) is an odd moth species as the bulk of the females are flightless and the males only survive in the flying stage for a maximum of two days so it is a surprise that they bother turning up here at all.

No birds ringed.

Monday 10th July 2017

On the move southbound 215 Black-headed Gull, 11 Curlew, 14 Sand Martin, 9 Swallow, 3 Whimbrel, 2 Oyk, 2 Teal, 2 Swift, 1 Common Gull & 1 Grey Wagtail plus northbound 3 Sandwich Tern. A juvenile Great-spotted Woodpecker (or two) paid a visit. 4 Med Gulls were offshore & both Mr & Mrs Peregrine were noted (they often get very secretive once they start to moult which will not be long if they haven't started already).

Apodia bifractella (top) pops into the moth traps on occasions at this time of the year. The ghostly white Palpita vitrealis is a notable migrant that we see most years later in the autumn but this one is early in the season.

5 birds ringed: 1 Goldfinch, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Wren, 1 Blackbird, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker.

Sunday 9th July 2017

On the move heading south a handful of Black-headed Gulls & an Oyk. Also worth a mention is the odd Common Gull starting to reappear after being absent for the bulk of the summer. Apart from this its baby bird time with another dispersing juvenile Blackcap turning up (Blackcap has only nested here once ever a couple of years back).

Crassa unitella (top) doesn't get recorded here very often and it is always good to get Monopis monachella which is a scavenger in old birds nests and animal carcasses.

5 birds ringed: 2 Linnet, 1 Blackcap, 1 Wren, 1 Whitethroat.