Saturday 8th December 2018

Windy morning then sunny spells with showers in pm. Offshore a couple of Red-throated Diver & a Bonxie offshore but glorious sunshine not conducive to starring out. Just 415 Cormorant went out fishing early on. On site 6 Linnet & Sparrowhawk but with the bulk of the morning spent beach cleaning apart from 2 Turnstone nil else of note.

Friday 7th December 2018

Filthy wet morning. At least 4 Bonxie offshore or going south but sightings were on & off all morning so this figure is probably a minimum. Apart from this also noted 6 Kitts, 3 Red-throated Divers plus heading north 5 Common Scoter and Guillemot plus southbound single Lesser Black-backed Gull & Ringed Plover.

Light Brown Apple Moth is an accidental introduction from Australia that first arrived in the UK in the 1930's. It can be a very common moth in the summer & autumn but is normally finished by this time of the year - but not this year.

December Litter Pick

Litter Pick this Saturday 8th December 0930 hrs start. Usual arrangements on the events page of www.lbo.org.uk

Thursday 6th December 2018

Offshore southbound 57 Teal, 4 Turnstone, 2 Common Gull, Brent & Red-throated Diver with vis mig singles Goldfinch & Linnet south. On site 2 Meadow Pipit, Rock Pipit & Turnstone with 2 male Collared Doves singing against each other suggesting that they will be getting the girls down on eggs fairly soon (often find the first eggs of the nesting season around Xmas time).

White-speck is a renowned long distance migrant and looking at how worn this one is it may well have come a long way to get to us. Considering the number of times it has visited us in the past it is surprising that this is our first since 2011.

Wednesday 5th December 2018

Between the belts of drizzle as the rain eased up sea watching produced the best diver return of the winter so far with southbound 17 Red-throated Diver, 14 Teal, 3 Brent, 3 Shelduck, 3 Turnstone, 2 Guillemot, Bonxie, Dunlin & a drake Goosander with northbound 13 Red-throats & 9 Brent plus at least 3 Red-throats feeding on the sea & a Kittiwake loitering for a while. Not a lot of effort put into land based observations although a charm of 17 Goldfinch is notable.

Common Plume is a bit delicate to be living down here in the winter months considering the bleakness of the site.

Tuesday 4th December 2018

Presume that's Venus looking absolutely stunning opposite the Moon early morning but celestially a bit of an ignoramus so hopefully someone will correct me if its a different planet.

Glorious winters morning with migrants consisting of 2 Fieldfare plus a wandering Great-spotted Woodpecker. Some vis mig with southbound 13 Skylark, 2 Mipit & Goldfinch. On site 2 Stonechat, 2 Turnstone & Rock Pipit worth a mention.

Ringing: 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker.

Monday 3rd December 2018

c.80 Ringed Plover were on the beach first thing at high tide but were soon shifted by early morning dog walkers. 930 Cormorants went out fishing early on. Heading south 7 Mallard & 6 Brent plus north 4 Brent. The next couple of hours spent taking the mist nets down for the winter during which time half a dozen Goldcrest were noted around the compound but nowt else of note.

Sunday 2nd December 2018

1,750 Cormorants went out fishing on mass just prior to 0730 hrs. Over an hour starring offshore produced southbound just 3 Shelduck, 2 Brent & 2 Mallard. The only evidence of land based migrants were 2 Skylark heading south. On the reserve the highlights are 9 Mipit, 2 Stonechat & a Chiffchaff that is presumably the individual seen a couple of days ago. On the plus side it did stop raining not long after dawn.