Saturday 17th December 2022

Another cold frosty morning with 163 Cormorant heading out fishing just as it was starting to get light. Offshore southbound 5 Shelduck, 4 Shoveler, 3 Teal, 2 Golden Plover, Red-throated Diver & Snipe with northbound 30 Red-throats & a Brent. On site a single Lapwing plus a Turnstone on the beach.

Ringing: 1 Blackbird.

Friday 16th December 2022

 No Coverage.

Felixstowe Town Council Grant Funding

 

Landguard Bird Observatory gratefully acknowledge this grant awarded from FTC of which we have just been notified -

Your recent application to Felixstowe Town Council for grant funding was considered on Wednesday 14 December 2022.

There was a high demand for funding at this round and Committee decided to make a ring-fenced award of a grant to Landguard Conservation Trust (Landguard Bird Observatory) of £1,500 towards LBO ringing and data collection.

Thursday 15th December 2022

Sunny with a sharp frost. Considering how cold it has been inland recently very few refugees have moved down here to the relatively warmer coast. 13 Golden Plover briefly on the short turf by Manor Terrace car park & a Snipe trying to find an unfrozen patch by the Butts pond are just the sort of species one would expect in such weather conditions as were 13 Lapwing & a single Skylark heading south. Also southbound 4 Shelduck, 3 Common Scoter & a Curlew with northbound 6 Red-throated Diver. 2 Song Thrush in the compound will also be fleeing the frozen conditions inland with one individual weighing in at a fairly normal arrival weight for a migrant of this species here with the other one a right little porker 30 % heavier.

Ringing: 2 Song Thrush.

Wednesday 14th December 2022

 

Bending the boundary of the recording area slightly a Barn Owl just north of the Customs House was a surprise at 0655 hrs this morning as they don't live down this way. Offshore southbound 38 Red-throated Diver, 19 Shelduck, 6 Teal, 2 Red-breasted Merganser & Gadwal with northbound 2 Common Scoter, Curlew & Red-throat. 2 Buzzard paid a visit late morning much to the chagrin of the local Crows that were only able to pick on one of them at a time. 3 Turnstone were on the beach & a single Kitt was offshore.

Ringing: 1 Blackbird.

Tuesday 13th December 2022

 

Our Magpie numbers have fallen throughout the autumn and it is highly likely that none of this years young plus a couple of the adults are no longer with us. It is normal here for the young of the year to remain with their parents in social groups throughout their first winter but none are around. The communal roost, just outside our recording area, in the conifers in the grounds of the Customs House appears to not be present this winter. No dead birds have been seen but the loss of any birds is not a good sign. Also the three pairs of Carrion Crow that frequent the site appear to have lost all but one of their young in recent months. Again the young stay within their parents territory throughout their first winter.

Enough doom & gloom. Offshore southbound 31 Teal, 19 Red-throated Diver, 15 Shoveler, 9 Shelduck, 4 Black-headed Gull & Common Scoter is a slightly better return than recent days. 17 Common Gull is worth a mention as counts this winter have been very low. On site a Rock Pipit was on the jetty.

Monday 12th December 2022

No frost for the first time in days but a chilly onshore breeze. 449 Cormorant headed out fishing. A couple of hours sea watching revealed southbound 5 Teal, 4 Common Scoter, 2 Brent with northbound 4 Common Scoter, 4 Red-throated Diver & a Gannet plus 5 Kitts pulled in behind the Stenna going out. No indication of any migrants on site.

Sunday 11th December 2022

 

Single Redshank & Rock Pipit flew south & 2 Turnstone were along the shore. Yesterday's moribund Little Egret was dead under the Holm Oaks. Last century when cold frosty conditions were more normal this was often the fate of Little Egrets that attempted to overwinter in Suffolk whereas milder winters have got them into bad habits of not leaving for warmer climes.