November Ringing Totals

348 birds of 23 species. The Long-tailed Tit numbers are exceptional and without them the months total would have been poor.

Long-tailed Tit	171
Blackbird	58
Goldcrest	30
Robin	19
Redwing	9
Song Thrush	9
Chaffinch	8
Wood Pigeon	8
Blue Tit	5
Blackcap	4
Goldfinch	4
Bullfinch	3
Chiffchaff	3
House Sparrow	3
Dunnock	2
Greenfinch	2
Sparrowhawk	2
Wren	2
Yellowhammer	2
Firecrest	1
Great Tit	1
Meadow Pipit	1
Ring Ouzel	1

Saturday 30th November 2019

Handful of new Blackies on site are just as likely to be birds moving from inland to the coast following last nights sharp frost across the country as newly arriving late autumn incomers from the continent. Other migrants were southbound 5 Chaffinch, 2 Mipit & Goldfinch. Offshore southbound 32 Common Scoter, 17 Teal, 9 Red-throated Diver & 5 Brent with northbound 12 Common Scoter, 9 Brent, 4 Red-throats, 3 Greylag & 2 Gadwal. An immature Shag was in the river mid-morning, Rock Pipit on the point & Stonechat on the Butts.

Ringing: 4 Blackbird.

Friday 29th November 2019

A Swallow heading south mid-morning is a record breaker beating the previous latest Landguard records on both 26th November 2011 & 2012. A Brambling calling in the Poplars early on plus 3 Goldfinch & 2 Mipit south is the only other hint of any migratory activity. The Chiffchaff is still with us looking like it might attempt to overwinter apart from which the compound is largely birdless. Offshore movements almost non-existent although 650 Cormorants headed out to sea to go fishing.

Ringing: nil.

Thursday 28th November 2019

Never managed to get a photo of a Goosander going past on the blog before and looking at the standard of this one you will all be hoping that if we can't do any better than this then it doesn't happen again ! A damp, desperate, despondent, dire, dreary and dull sort of morning with about as much happening that one would expect in these conditions at this time of the year although a fine drake Goosander going past is always going to lift the mood. Southbound 27 Goldfinch, 3 Common Gull, 2 Lesser Blacked-backed Gull & Shelduck with northbound 5 Common Scoter, Gannet & Red-throated Diver. 2 Purps are on the point, 2 Ringos on the beach, 2 Mipit on the reserve & Chiffchaff in the compound.

Ringing: 1 Goldfinch.

Recent Ringing Recoveries

Blackbird ringed Landguard 18th March 2018 found dead 613 km away at Oksbøl, Ribe, Denmark 6th November 2019.

Two Long-tailed Tits ringed Landguard 5th November 2018 retrapped 11 km away at Nacton 13th November 2019.

Goldcrest ringed Landguard 15th October 2018 retrapped 140 km away at Wilston Res, Tring Herts on 3rd November 2019.

Robin ringed Landguard 15th October 2019 retrapped 15 km away at Holland Haven, Essex 27th October 2019.

Robin ringed Overdinkl, Overijissel, The Netherlands 4th October 2019 retrapped 291 km away at Landguard 7th October 2019.

Starling ringed Ipswich 23rd May 2019 retrapped 18 km away at Landguard 8th August 2019.

Blue Tit ringed Trimley 12th October 2019 retrapped 4 km away at Landguard 15th October 2019.

Blue Tit ringed Hollesley 12th September 2019 retrapped 16 km away at Landguard 19th October 2019.

Great Tit ringed Hollesley 7th October 2019 retrapped 16 km away at Landguard 20th October 2019.

Long-tailed Tit ringed Hollesley 30th October 2019 retrapped 16 km away at Landguard 3rd November 2019.

Wednesday 27th November 2019

Rain to late morning. Offshore movements southbound 9 Shelduck, 3 Wigeon, Goldeneye, Great-crested Grebe, Mallard & Velvet Scoter with northbound 5 Common Scoter & Red-throated Diver. Passerines still moving were southbound 8 Goldfinch, 3 Mipit & 2 Skylark. On site migrants were 2 Song Thrush, Lapwing & Redwing plus the loitering Chiffchaff. 38 Linnet is a reasonable count for this time of the year.

Mottled Umber is a common early winter flyer in woodland that we only record very occasionally.

Ringing: 1 Song Thrush

Tuesday 26th November 2019

2 White-fronted Geese went out then north & a Lapwing was on the reserve after which struggling to find much to write about in these damp dreary conditions. Southbound 18 Wigeon, 9 Common Scoter, 3 Brent, 3 Curlew, 3 Mipit, Common Gull & Red-throated Diver with northbound Lapwing & Red-throat. Not sure whats on the point or on the Butts as no one has had the enthusiasm to go out to record "the usual birds in the usual places".

Blastobasis laticolella accidentally found its way to this country from Madeira just after the second world war and can be numerous here and out & about late in the season.

Ringing: 1 Blackbird.

Committee Meeting

All members are invited to attend committee meetings. Any member interested in attending the next meeting to be held in Felixstowe on Tuesday 3rd December is asked to e-mail landguardbo@yahoo.co.uk after which they will be sent an agenda plus the minutes of the last meeting.

Monday 25th November 2019

The one great thing about Purple Sandpipers is that they allow close scrutiny. The near bird is a small adult & the far bird is a chunky immature. Birds originating in Iceland & Canada are generally larger than those from Greenland & northern Scandinavia and both races winter together but without in hand biometrics it is difficult to be sure what is what with these two. Differences in the brightness of bill and leg colour is also obvious in these birds but whether this means anything or not I do not know.

New migrants today are singles of Blacky, Songie & Robin. Southbound 26 Goldfinch, 9 Siskin, 5 Mipit, 3 Chaffinch & Reed Bunting. Offshore viewing tedious with southbound 6 Brent & northbound 5 Brent & Red-breasted Merganser. Only 170 Cormorant went out fishing early on. At least 4 Gannet with the mass of big gulls following shipping. Finally Rock Pipit on the point & Stonechat on the Butts.

Ringing: 1 Blackbird, 1 Robin, 1 Song Thrush.

Sunday 24th November 2019

Some late autumn passage with a few passerines on the move with southbound 61 Goldfinch, 54 Mipit, 40 Starling, 16 Linnet, 11 Chaffinch, 5 Siskin & 4 Greenfinch. On site 4 Redwing, Brambling, Lapwing, Redpoll plus a couple of new Blackies, Robins, Chaffinch with the first new Blue Tit & Chiffchaff for a couple of weeks definitely late on the move. Yet another flock of Long-tailed Tit passed through. On site 2 Purps plus Rock Pipit on the point, Stonechat on the Butts & Snow Bunting along the beach. Offshore southbound 40 Wigeon, 27 Brent, 15 Teal, 11 Common Gull, 9 Red-throated Diver, 6 Black-headed Gull, 5 Shelduck, 2 Red-breasted Merganser & Great-northern Diver.

Running out of moths to show you but I can't remember featuring Angle Shades so far this year so here you go. Its one of those species that can put in an appearance at any time of the year.

Ringing: 11 Long-tailed Tit, 4 Blackbird, 3 Wood Pigeon, 2 Robin, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Greenfinch.