Saturday 2nd October 2021

Sir David Attenborough on its way out for presumably more sea trials. 

Pleasant enough start with the weather deteriorating to a southerly gale & heavy rain from late morning. A lot of effort was put in for a Long-tailed Skua at 0945 hrs, 2 Sooty Shearwater north at 1030 hrs & a Leach's Petrel south at 1615 hrs. Offshore the supporting cast was southbound 71 Black-headed Gull, 19 Brent, 17 Common Gull, 14 Gannet, 4 Grey Heron, 2 Arctic Skua, 2 Red-throated Diver, 2 Sandwich Tern & 2 Shelduck with northbound 3 Gannet, Bonxie, Guillemot & Red-throated Diver. Passerines on the move south before the weather deteriorated were 146 Mipit, 24 Linnet, 14 Chaffinch, 3 Grey Wagtail & 2 Siskin. On site 5 Blackcap, 5 Wheatear, 3 Chiffchaff & a Jay. 

Beaded Chestnut is another classic autumn flyer.

Ringing: 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Grey Wagtail, 1 Blackcap, 1 Dunnock, 1 Robin.

Friday 1st October 2021

Meadow Pipit

 Overcast and windy first thing with a heavy band of rain lingering for a while mid-morning after which, the SW wind eased and the sun tried to break through; a limited selection of birds were offshore before the rain hit including 3 Razorbills, 18 Brent Geese, 16 Wigeon, 2 Gannets, a Curlew, a Grey Plover and a Red-throated Diver.

A first-winter Caspian Gull was on the common and a/the Ring-necked Parakeet squawked over in the afternoon.

Ringing: Nil

Sallow is an autumnal flyer living on the Poplars

Recent Ringing Recoveries

Chiffchaff ringed LBO 2nd May 2021 found dead (c.1 week) 506 km away on Helgoland, Germany 8th May 2021. Looks like this one flew direct from here to Helgoland dying on arrival. There are only a few Chiffchaff reported going to & from Germany so difficult to know what this one was up to.

Blackcap ringed Zurich, Sudwest Frysian, The Netherlands 8th May 2021 retrapped 304 km away at LBO 29th May 2021. As this is right at the end of spring Blackcap passage and we know that many late spring arrivals are failed breeders from elsewhere, it is quite likely this was also failed breeder going walkabout but as it was a male it could also be a bird who had not attracted a mate in Holland wandering in search of a vacant territory and available females.

Whitethroat ringed LBO 26th July 2021 retrapped 5 km away at Trimley Marshes 16th August 2021 will be a local juvenile wandering around locally prior to emigrating. 

September Ringing Totals

Wryneck - the month's highlight

This September's ringing total of 282 birds is unsurprisingly the worst September total since records began....not much more to say really!

Grey Wagtails were pretty good - the second highest monthly total for this species but literally everything else appeared in super-low numbers.

Thursday 30th September 2021

Mute Swans

 Overcast and increasingly breezy through the day with the odd spot of rain here and there; another quiet one bird-wise with 50 Brent Geese, 7 Teal and 2 Wigeon south offshore, 235 Meadow Pipits and 11 House Martins south overhead (and a bit over the sea), 2 Chiffchaffs in the bushes and 5 Wheatears on the common.

Ringing: Chiffchaff 2

Wednesday 29th September2021

A good old autumn westerly wind increasing throughout the morning. Offshore southbound 120 Wigeon, 47 Common Scoter, 23 Teal, 11 Cormorants, 6 Sandwich Tern, Oyk & Red-breasted Merganser with land birds heading south 52 Swallow, 38 Mipit, 20 House Martin, Grey Wag & Siskin. On site 5 new Blackcap (fitted with MOTUS tags), Chiffchaff, Jay & a Sanderling on the shore amongst the mass of washed up Ulva lactuca following the recent strong winds.

Following a wet & windy night rather than a featured moth of the day here's a Clouded Yellow on a sheltered bit in the sun early afternoon.

Ringing: 5 Blackcap.

Tuesday 28th September 2021

L-album Wainscot has become established over the course of this century and is slowly moving north up the east coast.

 A fine and pleasant morning with some sunshine and lightish WSW winds (well, compared to yesterday anyway) but like a lot of 'pleasant' days there wasn't too much on the bird front; offshore, bits of note comprised a Razorbill north, 54 Teal, 2 Red-throated Divers, 8 Gannets, 6 Wigeon, 4 Pintail, 2 Shoveler and 10 Brent Geese.

On the land migrants included 3 Blackcaps (all fitted with new MOTUS tags), 2 Chiffchaffs, a Yellow Wagtail, 2 Rock Pipits, a Wheatear and a Common Sandpiper whilst 115 Meadow Pipits and 31 Swallows went south.

Ringing: Chiffchaff 1, Blackcap 2, Magpie 1

Monday 27th September 2021

Lunar Underwing is a regular September / October visitor to our traps

 Overcast and windy first thing and it wasn't long before the increasing SSW wind brought the first spots of rain which continued through until the main spell of rain mid-morning; this soon swept through though leaving a bright and sunny but still windy afternoon.   All of the morning's interest was offshore as birds passing by comprised 502 Brent Geese, 69 Wigeon, 44 Teal, 7 Pintail, a Red-breasted Merganser, 7 Common Scoter, a Shoveler, 55 Dunlin, a Little Stint, a Purple Sandpiper, 6 Knot, a Snipe, a Redshank, 3 Red-throated Divers, 37 Sandwich Terns, 26 Common Terns and 3 Arctic Terns.

Ringing: Goldfinch 2, House Sparrow 2, Blue Tit 1

Sunday 26th September 2021

Some vis mig in the shape of southbound 376 Mipit, 89 Swallow, 9 Chaffinch & House Martin. Offshore southbound 120 Teal, 56 Wigeon, 32 Brent, 6 Black-headed Gull, 5 Dunlin, 3 Cormorant & Black-tailed Godwit with northbound 2 Gannet & Guillemot plus an Arctic Tern loitering for a while. Migrants on site included 5 Blackcap, 5 Chiffchaff, 3 Wheatear, Skylark plus a visit from a Jay. A Black Redstart is probably the same one seen on several dates over the last week. Worth a mention is that the Goldfinch & Linnet flock on the reserve is declining as it is won't to do as autumn proceeds merrily along.

Deep-brown Dart is a classic end of September & October moth in low numbers here.

Ringing: 14 Meadow Pipit, 4 Goldfinch, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Robin, 1 Blackcap, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Jay.