Saturday 10th February 2018

Clear frosty start with 1,317 Cormorants going out fishing early although might of missed some as first light on these clear mornings is getting earlier. Female Stonechat still on the Butts & at least 4 Med Gulls scrounging off fishermen on the beach but that's your lot.

Friday 9th February 2018

Wet morning. 1,717 Cormorants went out fishing early on. Offshore southbound 5 Red-throated Diver, 2 Brent & Fulmar with northbound 6 Red-throated Diver & 2 Teal plus 15 Kitts following shipping. Bit grim so no one has walked around the reserve yet.

Recent Ringing Recoveries

Lesser Redpoll ringed Landguard 7th October 2010 retrapped 243 km away at Westmalle, Antwerpen, Belgium on 14th October 2010. Lesser Redpoll ringed Landguard 21st November 2010 retrapped 239 km away at Brecht, Antwerpen, Belgium on 5th November 2011. Lesser Redpoll ringed Landguard 7th October 2017 retrapped 225 km away at Opwijk, Brabant, Belgium  on 25th October 2017. Just in case you are thinking there are some typos above, then no, it's just taken a long time since the first two of these birds were caught in Belgium for the recovery information to get back to us !

Thursday 8th February 2018

1,770 Cormorants went out first thing. Today's "migrants" are 2 Long-tailed Tits. Female Stonechat on the Butts but apart from that very much a case of the usual birds in the usual places.

Wednesday 7th February 2018

2,150 Cormorants went out fishing this morning from 0700 hrs which is far to early to be here on these chilly mornings with a light dusting of snow covering the ground first thing. Offshore southbound, 9 Red-throated Diver & 3 Shelduck with northbound 24 Common Scoter, 4 Red-throats, Great-northern Diver & Shelduck. A quick wiz around the reserve produced the Rock Pipit. A couple of male Chaffinch are singing to, or against, each other now the days are lengthening despite the wintry weather conditions.

Tuesday 6th February 2018

2,250 Cormorants went out fishing this morning with 2,200 of these in one flock at 0713 hrs which is impressive to witness with Cormorant events like this being one of the stunning highlights of Suffolk ornithology. Starring offshore a waste of time except for a female Sparrowhawk going past at a reasonable range out to sea. On site Mrs Stonechat survives on the Butts, Purple Sandpiper on the point and a single Fieldfare on site.

Monday 5th February 2018

2,238 Cormorants went out fishing with the vast majority from 0711 hrs to 0718 hrs. A Lapwing on the reserve is todays migrant on a morning with a light covering of snow and cold wintry showers all morning. Despite promising looking conditions starring offshore for a couple of hours produced just southbound 5 Shelduck & northbound 2 Shelduck plus 25 Kitts following shipping. Exceptionally low tides at the moment with a brief sortie onto a very cold exposed jetty exhibiting several species of seaweed that normally remain covered by the sea and a couple of Brittle Star (probably Common Brittle Star Ophiura fragilis, but with a couple of thousand Brittle Star species worldwide then please correct us if you know different).

Sunday 4th February 2018

2,232 Cormorants went out almost on mass at 0710 hrs. Offshore southbound 7 Red-throated Diver, 5 Brent, 3 Shelduck, Great-crested Grebe & Common Scoter with northbound 11 Red-throated Diver, 10 Brent, 2 Eider, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull & Turnstone. A fine adult Yellow-legged Gull appeared late morning, Purple Sandpiper was on the point & Rock Pipit was along the riverbank.

Ringing: 1 Chaffinch.

Saturday 3rd February 2018

Late blog as your blogger was at the AGM of the Bird Observatories Council at the BTO headquarters at Thetford. Only records on the pad for the day worth a mention are a single Fieldfare and a Great-crested Grebe south.