Saturday 19th February 2022

Plenty of fallen branches of various sizes, snapped Elders, collapsed Brambles & Privet bushes to tidy up this morning but, fortunately, only a small amount of damage to the Helgoland trap to repair. Assorted gale, wind and wave damage to structures across the rest of Landguard plus plenty of wind blown debris & litter. Heavy rain & blowing a minor gale this afternoon - as if we haven't had enough wind over the past week !

Friday 18th February 2022

Storm Eunice is gathering pace as the morning progresses and just had a gust at Storm Force 10 (but possible worse to come). There is a Skylark on the reserve although a quick Billy Wizz around the site earlier before the wind really got going produced nowt else. In mild conditions Skylark passage can start towards the end of February.

Early evening update - gust of 57.5 knots at 1530 hrs is Violent Storm Force 11 and quite probably the strongest gust of wind here since October 1987.

Thursday 17th February 2022

7 Sanderling, 3 Ringed Plover & 3 Turnstone on the beach. Wind gust of 46.23 knots at 2010 hrs yesterday evening from Storm Dudley is a bit naughty and just a wee tad short of Beaufort force 10 in old money. Its blowing a 'hooley' out there already in advance of Storm Eunice due to hit tomorrow. For those unaware detailed wind data is available to one & all from the HHA anemometer on site at https://hha.co.uk/live-data/wind-speed/ and by clicking on the Landguard Wind Speed icon accurate readings are given every 10 minutes with the highest gusts in the previous 10 minutes also detailed. Some minor vegetation damage already following Storm Dudley & its just a case of battening down the hatches until it all calms down.

Wednesday 16th February 2022

Nothing new to report with the winds increasing to a minor gale in the afternoon. I am informed that the 2 Purps were at the point earlier.

2022 AGM

 This years AGM will be held at 11 am on Saturday 12th March 2022. Members have been e-mailed an agenda & minutes of last years meeting . If you have not received this please e-mail landguardbomembership@g.mail.com for details which will allow us to update your e-mail if it has changed or we have an incorrect one on the system.

Many thanks to all of you who have renewed your memberships for this year to help support the work of the observatory. If you have overlooked this please renew as soon as possible to save being sent a reminder.  

Tuesday 14th February 2022

Fairly predictable with the 2 Purps back on the point plus an adult Yellow-legged Gull worth a mention. Usual ringed gulls in the usual car parks plus a lot of time spent reading the ring combination on a Magpie only to find that it was ringed as recently as last autumn. Rain plus increasing wind from mid-am onwards.

Monday 14th February 2022

A Golden Plover was on the reserve with a single Greenfinch a first of the year. 54 Cormorant headed out to the fishing grounds plus another 137 came in from the south. Heading south 4 Shelduck & 2 Red-throated Diver in an hours seawatch sums up how little is out there on the move at the moment.

Sunday 13th February 2022

68 Cormorant headed out fishing with only low numbers on the feeding grounds recently. Offshore southbound 15 Kitts, 7 Red-throated Diver, & Great Crested grebe with northbound 12 Red-throats. With the tide running high plus the wind behind it none of the expected regulars were seen at the point although 4 Ringos were on the reserve.