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Saturday 16th January 2021

Filthy weather starting with wet snow, then sleet, then heavy rain plus a fair wind making offshore visibility very poor with nothing noted apart from seagulls & a handful of Cormorant. A British race Songie caught whilst checking out the bird feeders will be one from inland moving to the relatively milder coast. 

Ringing: 1 Song Thrush

BOC NEWSLETTER

The latest edition of the annual Bird Observatories Council newsletter is now available on - 

http://online.anyflip.com/lmyq/teij/mobile/index.html

You may need to copy & paste the above if the link doesn't work.

RINGING RECOVERIES

Sparrowhawk ringed LBO 24th January 2019 found dead 13 km away at Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex 3rd January 2021.

Goldfinch ringed LBO 4th July 2019 found freshly dead 182 km away at Bours, Pas-de-Calais, France 3rd January 2021. Ringed as a youngster here and presumably wintering in Northern France.

Lesser Redpoll ringed LBO 28th September 2020 retrapped 16 km away at Hollesley 4th November 2020.

Goldcrest ringed Westkapelle, Veere, Zealand, The Netherlands 7th November 2020 retrapped 153km away at LBO 9th November 2020. Trapped just two days after ringing in Holland its always good to get a rapid movement across the North Sea.

Friday 15th January 2021

One doesn't think of Pied Wags coming to bread crumbs in the car parks but when times are hard.

Deluge abated. 136 Cormorant headed out early on. Offshore southbound 4 Shelduck & northbound 3 Red-throated Diver, 2 Common Scoter, Brent & Gannet plus 24 Kitts following the Stenna Britannica. On site single Fieldfare, Redwing & Woodcock.

Thursday 14th January 2021


Totally unpleasant weather with an onshore wind, rain & poor visibility. An increase in Common Gull to 100+ following shipping with the other gulls. Single Snipe & Woodcock on site. Abandon ship - via car parks with some bread to look for seagulls wearing rings.

Wednesday 13th January 2021

This glutton is often the nearest gull to the car when one turns up with some bread.

We have migrants in the shape of 2 Fieldfare, Skylark heard flying south plus a new Blacky. 78 Cormorant headed out fishing with 1,246 coming in from the north later. 2 Common Scoter went north & a Great Crested Grebe south. 1,000+ gull following ships including 10 Kitts.

Ringing: 1 Blackbird.

Tuesday 12th January 2021


83 Cormorant headed out fishing plus 1,371 flying in from the north later. Whilst Cormorant counting a couple of Red-throated Diver went back & forth but literally nothing is moving offshore. Pleasant enough for a walk around the site produced single Ringed Plover, Rock Pipit & Turnstone on the beach. The only other thing of note were 3 Collared Dove noted for the first time this year - this despite the fact that 20 + frequent & roost in the area just north of the gate to the Custom's House along View Point Road but avoid the recording area at this time of the year.

Monday 11th January 2021

Common Gull numbers have been pathetic this winter. 

140 Cormorant went out fishing plus 1,670 came in from the north. Hour & a half starring out produced southbound 7 Red-throated Diver, Eider, Shag & Shelduck with northbound 9 Red-throats & Brent plus a couple of hundred assorted seagulls including 14 Kitts.

2020 Ringing

Ringing totals plus an updated summary of ringing recoveries are available on -

https://www.lbo.org.uk/ringing-totals/

Total number of birds ringed is a third down on 2019 but more in par with 2018. Numbers have been declining for years with the drought and hot in spring bringing record low returns. The "day record" for Pied Flycatcher had stood since 1984 was beaten which was a record we never thought would go. Lesser Redpoll had a record autumn. Species diversity was more than acceptable with the recoveries producing some absolute crackers including a pullus Wood Pigeon retrapped in Germany plus a Lesser Whitethroat ringed in France. 

Sunday 10th January 2021

Tough learning curve for young Grey Seals once they leave the colonies.

Cold morning with the mist & fog slowly clearing. Only half the number of yesterdays Cormorants noted heading out to fish but in the poor visibility that's hardly surprising. 9 Gadwal headed south close inshore but no other sightings of note.

2021 SEASONAL WARDEN VACANCY

 SEASONAL WARDEN LANDGUARD BIRD OBSERVATORY

Applicants need to be competent birdwatchers and have a BTO bird ringing ‘C’ permit with a mist net endorsement as a minimum requirement. An interest in other aspects of natural history and biological recording is also needed.

The position runs from Mid-March until mid-November 2021. A job description is available on request. If you require any specifics, please don’t hesitate to ask. Please e-mail landguardbo@yahoo.co.uk