For the sake of completeness.
6 birds of 4 species : 3 Blackbird, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Wood Pigeon.
Thursday 31st December 2020
Final sunrise of the year on a crisp frosty morning.
Offshore prior to the "currant bun" blinding ones vision southbound 14 Black-headed Gull & Gannet with northbound 3 Common Scoter. Single Purp was on the point & a young male Sparrowhawk decreased the Dunnock population by one.
Ringing: 1 Wood Pigeon.
Wednesday 30th December 2020
The only sightings of note were 36 Common Gull in the river mouth & the arrival of a different female Kestrel. Single Purp was on the concrete wall behind the cottage this afternoon.
Tuesday 29th December 2020
An hour starring out produced southbound 12 Common Gull, 8 Black-headed Gull, 8 Kitts & 6 Shelduck with northbound 15 Common Scoter & 2 Red-throated Diver plus 2 Common Scoter sat on the sea. 118 Cormorant went out fishing but the melee that have been coming in from the north were not seen. What is presumably the same returning Great-spotted Woodpecker has paid another visit.
Monday 28th December2020
Flat calm with almost nothing on the move during an hours observation looking offshore apart from 2,100 Cormorant heading for the feeding grounds from the north. Apart from that it was just a couple of Brent & Red-throated Divers coming & going. 2 Purps on the point are the first off their kind we have recorded so far this month. Apart from this the reserve just contains the few species that live here all year.
Sunday 27th December 2020
This evening's Moon looking as stunning as ever.
Overnight heavy rain & gale force winds peaked at 40.6 knots at 0500 hrs cleared and subsided not long after dawn. Half an hour starring out produced northbound 2 Red-throated Diver & drake Eider with southbound 7 Shoveler, 3 Wigeon & 2 Kitts plus the usual mass of Cormorants out on the feeding grounds. 5 Ringed Plover & 3 Sanderling on the beach departed at the sight of the first lycra brightly coloured joggers of the day.
Saturday 26th December 2020
Southbound 16 Red-throated Diver, 8 Black-headed Gull, 7 Teal, 4 Shelduck, Brent & Long-tailed Duck with northbound 35 Red-throated Diver, 18 Common Scoter, 2 Brent & 2 Gannet plus 12 Kitts & 7 Gannet behind shipping. 104 Cormorants flew out fishing from inland with a little later on 3,425 flying into the feeding grounds from the north
Friday 25th December 2020
Southbound 32 Red-throated Diver, 10 Shelduck, Goosander & Common Scoter with northbound 15 Red-throats, 4 Common Scoter & Brent Goose plus at least 5 Red-throats & Guillemot offshore. Single Woodcock on site signifies colder weather elsewhere as species like this move to the milder coastal regions.
Thursday 24th December 2020
A Manx Shearwater heading south was most unexpected as we only have a grand total of 85 birds logged on 53 dates over 38 years with all previous records in the period 18th April to 3rd November and no winter records al all at a time of the year when this individual should have been somewhere off the coast of Brazil ! Apart from this wayward creature also southbound 7 Red-throated Diver, 4 Common Scoter, Brent Goose & Marsh Harrier with northbound 17 Common Scoter, Brent & Red-throat. 2,500 Cormorant came in from the north to the feeding grounds offshore. 7 Ringos were on the beach early on but soon shifted by humans.
Wednesday 23rd December 2020
More rain & poor visibility made for a grim morning enlivened by the mince pies. Amongst a paltry set of observations southbound 2 Golden Plover & Teal with northbound 15 Common Scoter. The Greater spotty Woody Woodpecker paid another visit.
Whilst waiting for the kettle to boil a quick sortie into the bowls of the building produced the first site record of Bloxworth Snout which I understand is only the third for Suffolk. Formally a rare immigrant to our shores it has colonised the south coast of Britain and, as the climate changes, will presumably invade the county.
Tuesday 22nd December 2020
2 Mipit south are today's migrants. Offshore southbound 10 Brent, 4 Brent & 3 Red-throated Diver with northbound 10 Brent, 9 Common Scoter, 2 Red-throats & Mallard. 2,750 Cormorants came in from the north to the feeding grounds. Rock Pipit still on the point, Song Thrush singing at the north end & the regular Great-spotted Wood paid a visit late morning.
Monday 21st December 2020
Yesterday's Iceland in glorious sunshine.
Grim this morning for the winter solstice with the wind & rain making the shortest day of the year feel even gloomier than it should be. Oh well - it's all uphill from here onwards. Awful viewing conditions with a Shag heading overhead and into the river the only sighting worth a mention.
MOTUS Detection
The Motus tower at Landguard has noted a Starling. Originally fitted with a nanotag at Dan Helder in the Netherlands on 8th November this bird has many detections after being tagged. It was recorded by six different Dutch towers on 6th December before being detected by the Landguard tower on the same date. The tag was fitted by Wageningen University & Research who will have exact timings of how long the bird took to cross the North Sea and directions of the various detections which will be available in due course. For more information on Automated Radio Telemetry please go to motus.org
Sunday 20th December 2020
Southbound 11 Red-throated Diver, Goldeneye, Great-crested Grebe, Oyk & Red-breasted Merganser with northbound 6 Brent, 5 Red-throats & Red-breasted Merganser plus 2,640 Cormorant that came in from the north to the feeding grounds a long way out. Two groups of Starling totalling 18 birds went south. Rock Pipit is still at the point & a Great-crested Grebe was in the river. Afternoon update - second-winter Iceland Gull just inside dock fence at bottom of View Point Road flew over the car park into the river.
Saturday 19th December 2020
Offshore southbound 14 Brent, 6 Common Gull, 6 Kitts, 2 Shelduck, Shoveler & only the third Goldeneye record this year with northbound 5 Common Scoter & 5 Red-throated Diver. No Cormorants went out but 2,080 came in from the north well out to feed around the sandbars. Rock Pipit was on the point and a Turnstone flew over the reserve.
Ringing: 1 Sparrowhawk.
Ringing Recovery
Blackbird ringed Greifswalder Oie, Ostorpommern, Mecklenberg-vorpormern, Germany 16th March 2017 retrapped 879 km away at Landguard 29th November 2020. The locality is an uninhabited island in the Baltic part of the former GDR. Presumably this is a bird originating from further east ringed on spring passage then caught here in late autumn.
Friday 18th December 2020
34 Kitts following a wind turbine boat coming in plus 25 south is easily the highest count of the winter so far. Also southbound 74 Great Black-backed Gull, 11 Brent, 3 Red-throated Diver, 3 Velvet Scoter, Gannet & Wigeon with northbound 11 Red-throats, 9 Common Scoter & 2 Brent. 1,560 Cormorant came in from the north a long way out heading for the feeding grounds with a mere 3 heading out to sea from inland over here. On the reserve a single Turnstone plus a flock of 60 Starling over towards the View Point car park notable for recent times.
Thursday 17th December 2020
2 Fieldfare are today's migrants. A pleasant morning for a good look around the reserve produced the first Rock Pipit sighting for nearly three weeks on the point, 17 Linnet & a Goldfinch. Offshore a Shag flew south then across towards Dovercourt. The mild conditions were probably responsible for Mr & Mrs Peregrine flying around the observatory indulging in a bit of display and interactions just as it was about to get light which is a bit early to be getting down to that sort of malarkey which normally begins in January.
Wednesday 16th December 2020
Southbound 107 Brent, 13 Common Gull, 7 Wigeon, 1 Common Scoter & 1 Guillemot with northbound 18 Brent, 14 Red-throated Diver & 2 Teal. 16 Kitts were feeding offshore.
Tuesday 15th December 2020
14 Linnet south is getting late in the season to be still migrating with no other migrants noted. Offshore southbound 13 Brent, 9 Common Scoter, 3 Wigeon, 2 Oyk & Red-throated Diver with northbound 6 Red-throats.
Monday 14th December 2020
A Great-northern Diver flew north just offshore, female Eider is still in the river & a return visit by a Great Spotted Woodpecker are this mornings notable sightings. Down to just 91 Cormorants, next to none offshore movements & a walk around the reserve basically confirmed that there is nothing of even marginal note out there.
Sunday 13th December 2020
With very few Cormorants seen in recent days it was good to see 540 head out fishing 0735 hrs then between 0805 & 0830 hrs several large flocks came in from the north heading to the sandbar plus some smaller groups close inshore heading south bringing numbers up to over 2,600 so difficult to know what's going on. It may be linked to legal/illegal culling/disturbance at the roost site inland forcing them to go elsewhere but, as we know, Cormorants are well used to altering their behaviour in response to human activities but then revert to old habits in response to fish stocks. Whilst watching Cormorants also offshore southbound 5 Wigeon & 4 Common Scoter with northbound 2 Brent, Tundra Bean Goose & Guillemot. Finally the female Eider is still crabbing along the river having no difficulty finding victims.
Saturday 12th December 2020
Last century winter records of Linnet were very unusual but nowadays a walk around the site it is not difficult to come across a small group.
Another dull murky morning but with a bit more of interest compared with recent days with 4 Redwing, 3 Ringos on the beach, Skylark that flew inland, Little Egret along the riverbank, female Eider on the river & Great-spotted Woodpecker in the observatory compound. Song Thrush singing on the Butts also worth a mention. Offshore movements southbound 2 Red-throated Diver & Shelduck with northbound 2 Common Scoter & 2 Red-throats.
Friday 11th December 2020
With all the rain a large quantity of Jelly Ear Auricularia auricula-judae on Elder at the moment which is a common & widespread fungi that has had a couple of English vernacular name changes in my life time due to political correctness.
Rain & poor visibility up to late morning. An hours purgatory looking out early on produced no Cormorants & very few gulls with the bulk of the Great Black-backs having moved on to different feeding grounds at the moment. Southbound 2 Brent, 2 Gadwal, 2 Teal, 2 Sanderling plus a Red-breasted Merganser that flew into the river & a Common Scoter north later in the morning. 10 Kitts were following shipping including 2 juvs. The female Eider is still with us on the river. As it has stopped raining if anyone gets the enthusiasm to walk around this afternoon then this blog may be updated later.
Thursday 10th December 2020
An Eider was crabbing along the river & a Snow Bunting was heard calling whilst watching it. Offshore a handful of Red-throated Diver & Gannets coming & going but little else.
Wednesday 9th December 2020
The highlight was 6 Kitts offshore with numbers being dire this autumn/winter so far. An hour and a half starring out produced southbound 3 Lapwing & 3 Red-throated Diver with northbound 4 Red-throats & 3 Common Scoter plus a Great-crested Grebe fishing. Gull & Cormorant numbers very low. On site 9 Linnet, 2 Redwing & Chaffinch but very little else seen on a walk around.
Tuesday 8th December 2020
A reasonably calm start with the sun starting to break through and then the thick fog rolled down the river mid-morning. Worth a mention are 6 Greenfinch, 2 Redwing, 2 Song Thrush & a Little Egret that flew inland amongst a fairly predictable winter bird list.
As far as photos go we will have to stay with the leaf mines theme on Bramble with Stigmella aurella a common species with the flying moth a tiny tot barely identifiable from its congeners in its adult form.
Ringing: 1 Song Thrush
Monday 7th December 2020
Thick, damp, cold fog that thinned out a bit by midday quelled the enthusiasm this morning with the variety of species noted so far probably the lowest in the observatories history. Site Management & paperwork the order of the day so far.
Whereas yesterdays micro moth is never seen except as mines today's, Copotriche marginea, is common in the traps May to September but only infrequently encountered in its "mining form" here for some strange reason.
Ringing: 1 Blackbird
Sunday 6th December 2020
Dull start clearing to a fine winters morning limiting offshore observations to 11 Red-throated Diver north. On site very basic bird wise with a Woodcock the highlight. Single Blackbird trapped was on the obese side so obviously hadn't come far to reach us.
Ectoedemia erythrogenella is a nationally scarce leaf mining moth that is fairly common here although we have never seen the adult moth. Is it as rare as records suggest or is it just a lack of recorders out looking for it ?
Ringing: 1 Blackbird.
Ringing Recoveries
Lesser Redpoll ringed Deer Park Forest Croft, Highland, Scotland 10th October 2020 retrapped 720 km away at Landguard 11th November 2020 is a good indicator of how far away some of this autumns Redpolls have come.
Starling ringed Landguard 9th August 2019 retrapped 15 km away Ipswich 18th November 2020.
Blue Tit ringed Landguard 9th September 2020 retrapped 12km away Alderton 22nd November 2020.
Three Long-tailed Tits ringed Landguard 6th November 2020 retrapped 17 km away Holywells Park, Ipswich 2nd December 2020.
Saturday 5th December 2020
Poor offshore but when a Black-throated Diver goes past one shouldn't really bemoan the lack of birds. Also southbound 14 Red-throated Diver, 20 Teal, 4 Black-headed Gull, 3 Wigeon, 2 Common Gull, 2 Curlew Bonxie, Brent & Mallard with northbound 17 Red-throats & 2 Shoveler. Deadly quiet around the site with a Greenfinch the best one could muster.
With the moth traps put away for the winter if one is suffering from moth deprivation delving around the buildings will produce the Herald. The moth traps are lucky to see them throughout the year (just one this year) but the buildings always hold a few hibernating in the winter months.
Friday 4th December 2020
Bit grim early on with rain, sleet, snow and the temperature not much above freezing and when the wet stuff stopped the birding wasn't much better. At least 902 Cormorants headed out fishing into the snow & when the weather improved at least 1,000 big gulls were seen following shipping. What other movements there were consisted of southbound 8 Red-throated Diver, 3 Common Gull, Gannet & Golden Plover with northbound 7 Red-throats & Guillemot plus a Lapwing in off the sea. 21 Goldfinch went south to show that migration hasn't finished in this species yet, but as we know, they can keep trickling past up to xmas and even into early January some years.
Thursday 3rd December 2020
Confident this is Stubble Rosegill Volvariella gloiocephala whereas the fungi on the blog for 27th November may have been a variety of Oyster Mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus, not as captioned but that's the trouble when us novices dabble in fields of natural history outside their skills base.
Weather grim & cold. 800 Cormorants went out fishing. Offshore very poor with southbound 6 Common Gull, 4 Red-throated Diver plus northbound 19 Red-throats & 2 Common Scoter. Little effort put in to site coverage in these conditions.
Wednesday 2nd December 2020
880 Cormorants headed out to sea fishing early doors. Took all the mist nets down for the winter this morning which restricted observations. On site singles of Chaffinch, Fieldfare & Mipit plus southbound 3 Goldfinch & 3 Skylark. That's your lot !
Moth traps still getting the occasional moth. Light Brown Apple-moth is an Australian adventive that can occur in large numbers in the autumn but is still out & about despite the cooler conditions.
Tuesday 1st December 2020
Feeling more like winter with a cold northerly. 1,150 Cormorant went out fishing early on. Southbound offshore 30 Teal, 13 Red-throated Diver, 4 Gannet, 4 Shelduck & 2 Oyk with northbound 16 White-fronted Geese, 6 Gannet, 4 Common Scoter, 3 Red-throats, Brent & Scaup. A Buzzard came in then south late morning. Migrants on site consisted of a couple of Blackies & a Fieldfare.
Ringing: 1 Blackbird
November Ringing Totals
327 birds of 25 species. Lesser Redpoll is now a record ringing year & always good to get some late autumn Blackbirds. 3 Pallas's Warbler is a decent haul.
Monday 30th November 2020
Single Tundra Bean Goose with group of Brent.
Just when you think autumn is over the Blackies are still arriving with 40 present this morning with a back up of 10 Fieldfare, 3 Redwing, Snipe & Woodcock. Despite belts of poor visibility and fog restricting viewing 6 Whooper Swan in off very early on is only the 15th site record. Offshore southbound 236 Shelduck returning from the Wadden Sea, 149 Brent, 126 Lapwing, 16 Black-headed Gull, 15 White-fronted Geese, 7 Red-throated Diver, 4 Goosander, 2 Teal, Bean Goose, Gannet, Great-northern Diver, Grey Plover & Wigeon. Loitering Firecrest & yesterdays Chiffchaff still present.
Ringing: 14 Blackbird, 1 Sparrowhawk.
Sunday 29th November 2020
Winter moth is a very common species, but not here, as this is only our 4th record in 30 years of trapping.
Ringing: 5 Blackbird, 1 Chiffchaff.
Saturday 28th November 2020
Ringing: 5 Blackbird.
Friday 27th November 2020
Ringing: 24 Blackbird, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker.
Thursday 26th November 2020
Fairly benign , weather wise. On site migrants included 3 Chaffinch, Fieldfare, Redpoll, Redwing & Woodcock with vis mig just southbound 23 Goldfinch, 2 Siskin, Mipit & Skylark plus northbound 2 Siskin & Little Egret. Offshore not worth mentioning although at least 2,240 Cormorants headed out fishing just to the north of us.
Ringing: 1 Blackbird, 1 Goldfinch.
Wednesday 25th November 2020
Ringing: 1 Blackbird
Tuesday 24th November 2020
A Woodcock flushed a couple of times first thing is today's migrant in the bushes which, were otherwise, deadly quiet. 40 Ringed plover were attempting to roost on the beach at dawn but were shifted by the first dog of the day. Southbound vis mig consisted of just 13 Starling & a Mipit. Offshore not much better with southbound 11 Brent, 10 Shelduck, 5 Common Scoter, 3 Knot, 2 Common Gull, 2 Red-throated Diver, Curlew, Gannet, Kitt & Lesser Black-backed Gull with northbound 15 Red-thoats, 9 Gannet & 8 Common Scoter plus 7 Gannet that followed ro-ro ferry in late morning.
Ringing: nil.
Monday 23rd November 2020
Glorious sunny frosty morning with the pollution from the funnel of "Stinky Stenna" leaving Harwich hanging in the air - nice for all you asthmatics ! An alien female Peregrine was winding up the local pair just as it was getting light which is entertaining for the observers & quite possibly for the female Peregrines who do seem to enjoy a good talon fight. On the move southbound "ringtail" Hen Harrier & a late Swallow of note plus 31 Goldfinch, 19 Shelduck, 19 Starling, 13 Brent, 11 Siskin, 8 Redpoll, 5 Chaffinch, 3 Linnet, 3 Mipit & 3 Skylark. On site migrants included 2 Redwing, Chiffchaff & Fieldfare. Finally a Purp was on the point.
Ringing: 1 Blackbird.
Sunday 22nd November 2020
Ringing: 7 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Blackbird, 1 Song Thrush.
Saturday 21st November 2020
Hard work but somehow one has to "keep the faith" and one will be rewarded. A Great-northern Diver came in from the north-east and pitched in by the point for quite a while. Although 2 Goosander south are historically far rarer than 3 Goldeneye south our only previous Goldeneye record so far this year is of one in early August. Also southbound 98 Brent, 21 Knot, 13 Shelduck, 7 Common Scoter, 2 Common Gull, Dunlin, Grey Plover & Red-throated Diver with northbound 10 Common Scoter & Gannet. Passerine passage limited to southbound 7 Starling, 2 Redpoll, Siskin plus a Sparrowhawk that bottled it half way across the mouth of the Orwell.
Ringing: Nil
Friday 20th November 2020
A chill in the air this morning with a bit of Vis-mig for the first few hours.
A few Thrushes had dropped into the bushes at first light including 9 Fieldfare and 5 Redwing before heading inland. Also in the bushes were a couple of Goldcrest, a lingering Firecrest and a Chiffchaff.
A Woodcock was out on the point this morning before dropping into the vegetation behind the Obs and 2 Rock Pipits were down by the Jetty.
A Lapland Bunting circled overhead before disappearing from view while a few Finches were heading south including 34 Redpoll, 16 Goldfinch, 6 Chaffinch and a Siskin. Also on the move were a couple of Skylarks and 4 Meadow Pipits.
Ver little was moving on the sea except for 5 Shelducks heading south and a Female Eider heading up River.
The moth traps produced a December Moth, which as the name suggests is a winter flyer, often moving on calm nights.
Ringing: 5 Fieldfare, 4 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Blackbird, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Redwing
Thursday 19th November 2020
Some early morning vis mig before the showers with southbound 100 Redpoll, 92 Goldfinch, 11 Linnet, 7 Siskin, Skylark & Swallow. Offshore, apart from Cormorants, very poor with southbound 27 Black-headed Gull, 5 Brent, 5 Common Gull, 2 Shelduck & Mute Swan. New migrants on site consisted of 3 Mipit, Blackcap & Redwing plus a loitering Goldcrest.
Ringing: 1 Blackcap.
Ringing Recoveries
Pullus Wood Pigeon ringed at Landguard 4th August 2013 was retrapped 506 km away at Helgoland, Germany on 1st August 2020. Why a Suffolk born & bred Wood Pigeon should be at the world famous bird observatory on Helgoland in early August seven years later is difficult to explain and open to conjecture. An educated guess is that it got caught up with migratory Wood Pigeons going over Landguard in its first autumn and joined up with one of the eastern populations. In early August it should be nesting as migrations of populations in Germany will not be moving at this time of the year.
Blackbird ringed Landguard 29th March 2020 was retrapped 268 km away at DeCocksdorp, Texel, The Netherlands on 9th November 2020. Easier to explain this one as a bird wintering in the UK caught here on spring migration then trapped on its autumn migration into western Europe this autumn.
Lesser Redpoll ringed Landguard 9th October 2020 was found dead 69 km away at East Wrentham, Thetford, Norfolk 4th November 2020.
Wednesday 18th November 2020
It's the Cormorant counting season.
Some vis mig with southbound 87 Siskin, 85 Goldfinch, 57 Redpoll, 26 Chaffinch, 20 Linnet, 8 Skylark, 5 Mipit, 4 Greenfinch & Starling. Grounded migrants were a Skylark first thing & yesterdays Goldcrest still with us.
Ringing: 1 Lesser Redpoll
Tuesday 17th November 2020
A bit of vismig again for the first few hours this morning with 56 Goldfinch, 17 Linnet, 15 Redpoll, 11 Chaffinch heading south along with 2 Meadow Pipits, 2 Rock Pipits and a late Swallow. Migrants in the bushes were again limited to a loitering Firecrest, a Goldcrest and a few finches including 7 Greenfinch.
There was a bit more offshore with a Razorbill heading north, a Great Skua continuing to harass gulls offshore and a few waterfowl heading south including, 8 Common Scoter, 7 Shelduck, 4 Brent, 2 Wigeon and 2 Mallard. On the beach 3 Mediterranean Gulls were watching the fishermen for scraps of bait and a Rock Pipit was at the Jetty.
Ringing:6 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Blackbird, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Goldcrest
Monday 16th November 2020
Jersey Cudweed Helichrysum luteoalbum has been recently added to the plant list. It was, until recently, exceedingly rare in the UK and is listed as a "Schedule 8" plant giving it legal protection. However, in the last couple of years it has been found at several sites in south Felixstowe. Its not often that additions to the site plant list are made as the number of species recorded here is huge.
On the avian front the roosting Cormorants that head out to sea from inland have been going out to the north of us more often than heading out over here so it was good to count at least 3,100 early morning (although this figure suggests that the roosting numbers inland are higher as we no doubt don't count them all).
Some southbound vis mig in the first couple of hours with 196 Goldfinch, 111 Redpoll, 34 Starling, 26 Siskin, 8 Mipit, 6 Chaffinch & 3 Skylark. Offshore plenty of seagulls plus a handful of Gannets but almost nothing moving. Migrants in the bushes limited to a loitering Goldcrest along with the locals that will now be attempting to spend the winter here. Finally a Shag was sitting on the wooden jetty mid-morning before departing up river.
Ringing: 6 Lesser Redpoll.
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