Saturday 27th June 2020

Wind increasing with occasional light showers during the morning. Southbound 20 Curlew, 14 Great Black-backed Gull, 11 Swift, 4 Med Gull, 2 Fulmar, Black-headed Gull & Oyk with northbound 10 Swift, 8 Shelduck, 7 Common Scoter, 3 Med Gull, 2 Sandwich Tern & Gannet. A Chiffchaff in the bushes will be a dispersing juvenile from somewhere nearby.

Lozotaenoides formosana is a good looker that lives on Scots Pine so, consequently, is an infrequent guest in our traps.

Ringing: 1 House Sparrow.

Friday 26th June 2020

A brief sunny spell this morning, before the giving way to a thunderstorm and a downpour before returning to its sunny state.

It was rather quiet on the bird front, the storm brought a few swifts in its wake and 5 Barnacle Geese headed south.

The moth traps have been pretty busy lately due to the warm humid weather which has encouraged plenty of species out on the wing.  In the trap this morning was a Langmaid's Yellow Underwing,  formerly a migrant but in the last few years it has probably colonised to the point and we are now quite blase about them.

Ringing: 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Blackbird, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Dunnock, 1 Wren

Thursday 25th June 2020

A hot and breezy morning, with the temperature staying above 17 degrees overnight. 

There have been plenty of baby birds moving around as usual, although somewhat unexpectedly a Woodlark was feeding by the Seawatch hide early this morning. Previous records of woodlark at Landguard tend to be between the 15th February and the 12th May in the spring and the 3rd September to the 17th November in the autumn with no records in between. Its likely that this individual is a dispersing juv although its still an unusual record!

A juv Coal tit and a Great Spotted Woodpecker were the best of the more unusual dispersing juveniles in the bushes this morning.

The Muntjac have reappeared again around the fort, whether these secretive creatures have been here the whole time or whether they've wandered back again is unknown.

The Delicate is an immigrant species that we record in most years but usually later in the autumn.

Ringing: 5 House Sparrow, 2 Linnet, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Dunnock, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Great Tit

Wednesday 24th June 2020

Six-spot Burnet are now coming out.

More baby birds is all we have to offer including another dispersing juvenile Great-spotted Woodpecker.

Eucosma conterminana has become regular the past two years but with only one record prior to this twelve years back.

Ringing: 5 Linnet, 3 House Sparrow, 2 Dunnock, 2 Whitethroat, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1 Great Tit.

Tuesday 23rd June 2020

As usual the number of baby birds turning up at the Obs is increasing daily with the highlight this morning being a pair of juvenile Great Spotted Woodpeckers, one of which was ringed while the other decided that it would rather try its luck in Essex and headed off high over the Orwell.

As usual a group of 12 Swifts were hawking round the Observatory this morning and 3 Swallows headed south over the reserve. A juvenile Chiffchaff was at the Butts Ponds, presumably the result of a nearby pair and 3 Rook headed high and north.

On the sea 8 Curlew, 3 Mallard, 3 Oystercatcher, 2 Avocet and a Fulmar headed south.

Palpita vitrealis is a regular scarce migrant but not usually seen until later in the Autumn.

Ringing: 4 House Sparrow, 2 Linnet, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Great Tit, 1 Robin

Monday 22nd June 2020

A breezy start, with the wind eventually dropping a couple of notches by mid-morning.

The surprise of the day was a Spotted Flycatcher feeding in front of the observatory this morning. The run of Coal Tits has continued, with another individual calling loudly from the Holm Oaks.
Vis-Mig included 61 Swifts, 4 Swallows and a Sand Martin all heading south.

On the Sea, 2 Golden Plover and 4 Curlew headed south and a Sandwich Tern headed north.

Agapeta zoegana is one of the better looking micros. The larvae feed on Common Knapweed and only rarely visits us, despite being listed as a common species.

Ringing: 5 House Sparrow, 3 Linnet, 1 Pied Wagtail

Sunday 21st June 2020

Southbound 74 Curlew, 46 Swift, 25 Common Scoter, 8 Black-heads, 2 Fulmar, 2 Gannet, 2 Great Black-backed Gull, 2 Swallow, Golden Plover, Oyk & Ringed Plover.

True Lover's Knot is common enough on areas of Heather across the UK but only rarely wanders down here to pay us a visit.

Ringing: 8 Linnet, 3 House Sparrow, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Pied Wagtail, 2 Wood Pigeon, 2 Wren, 1 Dunnock, 1 Robin.