Nominate race Guillemot Uria aalgae aalgae from up north in the river. Offshore southbound 43 Red-throated Diver, 9 Teal, 2 Common Scoter, Great Crested Grebe & Great Northern Diver with northbound 11 Common Scoter, 9 Red-throats, 2 Gannet, Curlew & Guillemot. Grounded migrants limited to a single Redwing with nothing going over with a walk of the reserve producing just the birds that will winter with us, Purp & Turnstone included.
Ringing: nil.
Blackcap ringed Svanker, Bedsted, Thisted, Viborg, Denmark 26th October 2021 retrapped 710 km away at LBO 9th November 2021. This is only the ninth Danish Blackcap ever caught in the UK & will be a bird coming into the UK for the winter.
Robin ringed Kilnsea, Yorkshire 3rd October 2020 retrapped 202 km away at LBO 15th November 2021. This will be a continental bird coming into the UK for the winter via two different routes in subsequent years coming in via a shorter sea crossing and later in the autumn this year.
Chaffinch ringed Dalen, Luster, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway 13th August 2019 was killed by a Sparrowhawk 1121 km away at LBO 24th November 2021. We have four previous Norwegian Chaffinch movements to & from the region of Vest-Agder but this location is 300 km further north.
Grim morning with cooler conditions, rain to late morning and an increasing wind making it feel like a bit like winter should. Offshore movements very poor although a single Kittiwake amongst the mass of big gulls was good to see (can't believe I wrote that considering the numbers we used to get last century). Southbound 11 Red-throated Diver & 2 Gannet with northbound 3 Red-throats & 2 auks. In this weather no enthusiasm to walk around the reserve although a Turnstone, at least, is on the point.
A Grey Shoulder-knot lifted the gloom as it is not annual here and to have any moths at all in these conditions in late November is uplifting.
Ringing: nil.
An immature Night Heron calling as it flew overhead at 0640 hrs was most unexpected - our only previous record is back in August 1996. The only other migrants on site were a couple of Blackies & a Songie plus a visit from a Great Spotted Woodpecker. No overhead migrants with offshore very quiet with southbound 4 Red-throated Diver, 3 Common Scoter & Guillemot and northbound 6 Red-throated Diver, Curlew & Gannet. A turnstone was in the View Point car park and a Purp was on the point.
Ringing: 1 Blackbird, 1 Song Thrush.
Flat calm andmuch colder with some fog first thing. Couple of new Blackies, single Redwing & Siskin on site plus a Chaffinch with a Norwegian ring. A Great-northern Diver flew over the obs and went into the Stour. Southbound 4 Common Scoter, Avocet, Brent, Gannet, Guillemot & Razorbill plus northbound 4 Brent. Purp was on the point. Cormorants have been devastated by control methods at the roost inland so it was pleasing to see at least 4,000 coming in from the north on the horizon to the feeding grounds at the Cork Sands.
Ringing: 2 Blackbird.
Handful of new Blackies this morning with 30 ish present plus 3 Mipit, 2 Chaffinch, Black Redstart, Redwing & Siskin. A Snow Bunting did a whizz around early on & a Purp is on the point. Southbound 5 Goldfinch, 4 Mipit, 2 Skylark & a Rock Pipit. A few Starlings were starting to arrive from late morning. Offshore quiet but southbound 5 Eider, 5 Shelduck, 5 Red-throated Diver & Gannet with northbound 8 Common Scoter, 7 Brent, 5 Teal, 5 Red-throats, Guillemot & Puffin. Finally a Common Darter is worth a mention.
Odd examples of adult Acrocercops brongniardella are seen in the summer but we only rarely see the mines as they tend to occur towards the tops of the Holm Oaks.
Ringing: 5 Blackbird, 1 Sparrowhawk.
More interesting this morning (certainly compared with yesterday!). We have a dismally poor showing of only 7 Goldcrests all autumn so it was good to get this positively obese young male which, by its weight, hadn't come far to reach us. Other migrants included 30 Blackbird, 2 Song Thrush, Brambling & a Woodcock sitting on View Point Road pre dawn. At least 556 Starling in off the sea headed inland during the morning with the only other passerines noted on the move were southbound 4 Chaffinch, 2 Skylark & a Mipit. Offshore southbound 24 Black-headed Gull, 14 Red-throated Diver, 12 Shelduck, 9 Brent, 4 Eider, 4 Greylag, 3 Goosander, 3 Teal, 2 Gannet & Common Scoter plus northbound 13 Gannet, 5 Common Scoter, 4 Eider, 4 Red-throats, 3 Common Gull & a Pomarine Skua at mid-day. The 2 tame Purps were on the point and a Guillemot in the river.
Ringing: 13 Blackbird, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Robin, 1 Song Thrush.
No grounded migrants apparent with visible migration limited to southbound 4 Redpoll & 2 Skylark. Offshore equally riveting with southbound 11 Red-throated Diver, 9 Shelduck, 5 Brent, 5 Wigeon & Oyk with northbound 3 Red-throats, Common Scoter, Guillemot & Shelduck plus at least 9 Gannet with gulls behind shipping although looking out into bright sunshine not encouraging prolonged observation. The daily census of the nature reserve was also enthralling and could have been completed without binoculars.
Still the odd migrant moth like Dark Sword-grass showing up - although with the night time temperatures forecast to drop the number of moths, per se, will do likewise.
Ringing: Nil.