Saturday 16th December 2017

Offshore southbound 9 Brent, 6 Common Scoter, 5 Red-throated Diver, Shelduck, Wigeon & Pintail with northbound 11 Common Scoter, 8 Red-throated Diver & 5 Brent. The Stonechat is still with us but apart from that just the regular winterers.

Friday 15th December 2017

Big turnout for the Puffin this morning which failed to appear with the only auk noted being a fine Razorbill. On the move southbound 18 Red-throated Diver, 4 Teal,2 Brent, 2 Shelduck, Oyk & Kittiwake with northbound 23 Red-throats, 2 Oyk, Gannet & Great-crested Grebe. Nowt else to report.

Thursday 14th January 2017

"A" or "The" Puffin put in an appearance again this morning - surely the same bird as this is such a rare species here. Offshore movements poor but did include a Shag going south then into the estuary. 1,795 Cormorants went out fishing this morning. Only passerine migrant was 1 Mipit south. A walk around the reserve was extremely predictable with the highlight being 3 Turnstone. Not that long ago counts 10 to 20+ were the norm on a winters walk but sadly nowadays very few winter with us. Not a lot has changed here for Turnstones as far as feeding opportunities are concerned but declining population numbers is having an impact on a species that is as home scavenging in the car parks and around fishermen as it is on the tideline or rocky areas.

Wednesday 13th December 2017

The third record of Puffin in recent weeks is unprecedented as next to no auks being seen at the moment. Northbound 36 Red-throated Diver is the best count of the winter so far, 9 Shelduck, 6 Common Gull, 5 Common Scoter, 2 Mallard, 2 Gadwal & Brent Goose with northbound Red-throat, Gannet & Kittiwake. Passerines on the move southbound 7 Mipits & 2 Mistle Thrush with an additional 10 Mipits on the reserve where there have been none in recent days. Single Rock Pipit has returned to the point having abandoned us in the rough weather. 1,631 Cormorants went out fishing and at least 1 Goldcrest is surviving tucked up in the Holm Oaks.

Recent Ringing Recoveries

Chiffchaff ringed Landguard 18th September 2017 trapped & released by a poacher 1769km away at Lebrija, Seville, Spain on 12th November 2017. Song Thrush ringed Landguard 7th November 2017 taken by a cat 14km away at Stutton. Lesser Redpoll ringed Thorpeness 12th October 2017 retrapped 33km away at Landguard 27th October 2017. Robin ringed Buckton, East Riding of Yorkshire 14th October 2016 retrapped 267km away at Landguard 7th November 2017. Herring Gull ringed Harwood Whin, York 20th May 2016 colour ring read Landguard 18th September 2017.

Tuesday 12th December 2017

2,837 went out fishing this morning. Some minor cold weather movements in the form of southbound 4 Lapwing, 2 Golden Plover, Skylark plus at least 4 Song Thrush, Redwing & a Snipe on site. Offshore movements almost non-existent but included southbound 11 Brent, 9 Teal & 6 Shelduck. Good to get a walk around the site following a couple of days of horrendous weather produced Snow Bunting, Skylark & the female Stonechat. Only in one previous winter has a Stonechat ever wintered here since records began so this one looks like it's attempting to achieve this. Just after this blog was written a Great White Egret went south at 1225hrs.

Skylark amongst snow patches will be escaping the snow inland.

Monday 11th December 2017

Wet & windy morning. Having been redundant this century the old radar tower is being demolished this morning - not a pleasant task in these weather conditions. 2461 Cormorants heading out fishing is the highest count so far this winter but with the choppy conditions yesterday several of them must have gone without and were pleased to get out fishing this morning. On the move northbound 11 Kittiwake, 9 Wigeon, 7 Red-throated Diver, 2 Common Scoter, 2 Dunlin, Great-crested Grebe, Brent, Goldeneye, Sanderling, Turnstone & Little Gull with southbound 18 Wigeon, 8 Brent, 5 Kittiwake, 4 Common Scoter, Gannet, Teal & an unidentified Skua on the range of visibility. A Jack Snipe came in off the sea which is an exceptional record for this time of the year. 3 Redwing on site will be cold weather refugees from somewhere.

Sunday 10th December 2017

South-easterly gale with either heavy rain or blizzard conditions veering north-easterly with the wind dropping late morning. A bit grim for both birds & observers. 1,940 Cormorants headed out into the gale but several of them chickened out once they realised how choppy the sea was. Most birds on the move were just offshore although in these conditions anything further out would have gone unnoticed. Northbound 46 Kittiwake, 8 Gannet, 5 Red-throated Diver, 3 Common Scoter, 2 Guillemot, Little Gull & Little Auk that pitched in plus southbound 2 Red-throats & 2 Common Scoter.