Saturday 29th February 2020

Heavy rain all morning, gale with occasional hail between glorious sunshine in the afternoon. Coverage not good due to the weather but gobsmacked to have the first Chiffchaff of the year putting in an appearance which was most unexpected considering the inclement weather conditions. Reed Bunting only other migrant. 2 Snow Bunting & a Purp still with us.

Librarian Required

Landguard Bird Observatory require a Librarian. If you are interested in books, journals & files and are interested in this voluntary position please e-mail landguardbo@yahoo.co.uk for a job description.

AGM Reminder

This years AGM is on Tuesday 3rd March. All members should have received an agenda plus a copy of last years minutes. If not please check your e-mails & if not please e-mail landguardbo@yahoo.co.uk 

Friday 28th February 2020

5 Stonechat feeding in a loose group on the Butts continues the excellent spring passage so far for this species. On the point 3 Rock Pipit plus the 2 Snow Bunting nearby. 3 Barnacle Geese went north but the wind has picked up and its been raining (again) for the last hour that's your lot. Abandon ship !

Thursday 27th February 2020

This morning started almost flat calm - hooray ! Unfortunately it rained all morning and was cold enough for snow for a while - boo ! This afternoon it cleared and we had fine sunshine - hooray ! Unfortunately it was blowing a bitterly cold north-westerly gale - boo ! Coverage poor, although a quick  "Billy Whizz" around the point at high tide late afternoon produced a roosting Purp.

Wednesday 26th February 2020

4 Stonechat, 3 Rock Pipit & Reed bunting, all classic early season migrants. Purp on the point plus an increase of Linnets to 28 are the only other offerings.

Ringing: 1 Stonechat.

Tuesday 25th February 2020

303 Cormorant went out fishing. 4 Mipit headed south. Spent the morning getting the nets put up ready for the spring so no coverage on the reserve so if anyone saw anything out there please let us know on landguardbo@yahoo.co.uk

Monday 24th February 2020

We have Frog spawn which, if my memory serves me right, is the first ever in February here. The drought of 2018 devastated the frog population in the Butts pond and with very few frogs or spawn seen in 2019 it was a bit of a surprise to see this small patch this morning.

Today's migrants are 3 female Stonechat scattered about the site, Skylark & a Rock Pipit heading south over the observatory. Rock Pipits typically start heading back to Scandinavia in the last week of February so this one is dead on cue. Adult Yellow-legged Gull again present.

Sunday 23rd February 2020

No electricity here today so no kettle = little coverage. Another windy day. 247 Cormorants went out fishing early. 2 Purps and 2 Snow Bunting at the point. What is presumably the same adult Yellow-legged Gull as last Monday paid a visit although at this time of the year it's difficult to be sure. Blog done via the mobile phone so no photo which saves you looking at more of the same.