Saturday 29th June 2019

Today' migrants are Great-spotted Woodpecker and Reed Warbler plus a Curlew heading south. Good selection of insects on site including Brown Hawker dragonfly which we only noted for the first time ever a couple of years back.

Bordered Beauty has only been noted here on a couple of previous occasions despite it, apparently, being listed as common inland. It is noteworthy that several of the commoner species from inland are often a bit worn & tatty by the time they reach us.

Ringing: 4 Linnet, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Great Tit, 1 House Sparrow, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Robin, 1 Wren.

Friday 28th June 2019

Chiffchaff of the race Phylloscopus collybita tristis was not on the radar for this morning but late spring easterlies can turn up some surprises. Only other migrants were offshore with northbound 11 Gannet, 2 Common Scoter & Med Gull.

Moth numbers and variety very much reduced due to the overnight wind.

Ringing: 4 Goldfinch, 3 House Sparrow, 2 Dunnock, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Linnet, 1 Robin.

Thursday 27th June 2019

Baby Whitethroats barely big enough to be out of the nest.

Offshore northbound 3 Gannet, 2 Common Scoter, 2 Kitts, 2 Sandwich Tern & Oyk with southbound 9 Black-headed Gull. No new grounded migrants although Cuckoo still with us and a singing Greenfinch late morning is worth a mention.

Striped Wainscot has only visited on a couple of occasions from its reed bed homes.

Ringing: 6 House Sparrow, 5 Starling, 1 Linnet.

Committee Meeting

A committee meeting is to be held next Tuesday evening 2nd July. All members are welcome to attend these meetings and if anyone is interested please e-mail landguardbo@yahoo.co.uk for further details, agenda & minutes of the previous meeting.

Wednesday 26th June 2019

Is this the last Green Hairstreak of the year as they normally finish about now ?

2 Reed Warblers will be late spring migrants whereas 2 Lapwing will be autumn migrants. Heading north & in 60 Swift plus a Curlew with southbound single Redshank. Baby Peregrine left the safety of the nest platform during the morning but has probably not gone far.

After yesterdays "micro madness" in the traps this morning saw a large emergence of 644 Large Yellow Underwing. Clancy's Rustic status has gone from vagrant to scarcity to quite probably breeding here in a few short years.

Ringing: 5 Linnet, 1 House Sparrow, 1 Wren.

Tuesday 25th June 2019

Bird observations a bit neglected this morning as with an overnight low of 18.6 centigrade the moth traps were heaving and took 5.5 hrs to sort out. Cuckoo still with us & a juvenile Skylark was on the reserve.

Crazy days indeed with another 3 additions to the site list which were Boxwood Moth (which didn't want its photo taken), Brown Oak Tortrix & Dioryctria simplicella. A mere 1,122 Diamond-back moths counted this morning.

Ringing : Nil

Monday 24th June 2019

Baby Herring Gull about to be entered for a beauty competition - or maybe not !

2 Bee-eater south then over the river into Essex at 1025 hrs is the biggest group recorded here (we have five previous records of singles). Other migrants are Reed Warbler & 5 Curlew south.

Eucosma metzneriana is yet another 1st site record on the busiest morning of the year so far which also included 744 Diamond-back Moth with probably the same number again in the bushes around the traps.

Ringing: 10 Linnet, 3 Blue Tit, 2 Dunnock, 2 Great Tit, 2 House Sparrow, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Wood Pigeon, 1 Wren.

Sunday 23rd June 2019

Viper's Bugloss is stunning at the moment.

Hoopoe for a couple of hours this morning was unexpected before it flew across the River Orwell to Dovercourt. A female Eider was offshore before drifting out to sea when it went into the current in the shipping lane which carried it out. Cuckoo again this morning is presumably a loiterer. 4 Coal Tit continues the excellent run of dispersing juveniles passing through this summer.

Eucosma conterminana has only been noted previously in 2008.

Ringing: 4 Blue Tit, 4 Great Tit, 3 Linnet, 1 Coal Tit, 1 Dunnock, 1 Goldfinch, 1 House Sparrow, 1 Starling, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Wood Pigeon, 1 Wren.