Saturday 28th October 2023

 

Fairly typical late October mixture to be had with southbound 420 Goldfinch, 131 Brent, 80 Starling, 56 Siskin, 35 Skylark, 33 Black-headed Gull, 29 Mipit, 25 Linnet, 15 Chaffinch, 8 Redpoll, 6 Common Gull, 6 Brambling, 6 Redwing, 6 Swallow, 3 Red-throated Diver, 2 Gannet, 2 Mistle Thrush, 2 Rook, 2 Wigeon, Curlew, House Martin, Mallard & Rock Pipit. 158 Cormorant headed out east to the fishing grounds plus another 360 coming in from the north which is the first notable movement of the winter. On site a small handful of migrants with, worth a mention, 35 Mipit, 2 Goldcrest, Ring Ouzel, Rock Pipit, Wheatear & a Swedish ringed Blackbird. 4 Cetti's this morning including a new one.

Still a few butterflies, like Common Blue, lingering on - but for how much longer ?

Ringing: 2 Blackbird, 2 Goldcrest, 1 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Robin, 1 Song Thrush.
 

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Friday 27th October 2023

 A misty start saw a few new birds in. Robins were the highest they've been for while, with 30 around the compound and reserve during the morning. A couple of new firecrests, a few goldcrests and a selection of song thrush and blackbird. A couple of goosander south were of note, as were 5 eider north. A woodcock landed behind the kitchen door briefly was the only one seen all morning though a snipe moved south earlier. 

Birds Ringed: Blackbird 4, Blackcap 1, Chaffinch 1, Firecrest 1, Goldcrest 3, Great Tit 1, Meadow Pipit 1, Robin 10, Song Thrush 3, Wren 1. 

Thursday 26th October 2023

 

Common Darters still hanging on despite the weather.

Light south-easterly and rain all morning. Southbound 2,426 Brent, 1,004 Dunlin, 71 Teal, 66 Black-headed Gull, 46 Golden Plover, 40 Knot, 37 Wigeon, 25 Common Gull, 12 Gannet, 5 Snipe, 4 Common Scoter, 4 Pintail, 3 Curlew, 3 Turnstone, 2 Redshank, 2 Shelduck, Red-throated Diver & Ringed Plover. A few thrush's on site including 12 Blackbird, 11 Redwing, 8 Fieldfare & 8 Song Thrush which is nowhere near the numbers we should be getting in such weather conditions.  Also noted 8 Long-tailed Tit, 4 Skylark, 3 Lapwing, 2 Goldcrest, Redpoll, Short-eared Owl & Wheatear. At least 2 Cetti's still with us although having personally spent the last 33 autumns here this feels very incongruous to me & maybe their explosive outbursts is something we may have to get used to - we shall see ?

Only the second Red-green Carpet noted all autumn which is a poor showing so far.

Ringing: 2 Song Thrush.

Wednesday 25th October 2023

 Frustrating morning with odd bits of drizzle plus the forecast predicting a deluge that failed to happen. New arrivals included about 20 Blackbird, 6 Chaffinch, 4 Fieldfare, 2 Woodcock, Goldcrest, Snipe, Yellowhammer, Yellow-legged Gull plus a Barn Owl which is a species remarkably scarce here considering how common they are in Suffolk. Offshore movements nothing to write home about but included 5 Eider, Common Tern, Little Gull, Razorbill (+ another dead one half eaten presumably snacked on by foxy loxy). At least 2 Cetti's still with us and 6 Long-tailed Tit paid a visit. 20 Sanderling & 16 Ringos on the beach early morning suggest that dogs don't go out for a walk in the rain!

Red-line Quaker is an autumnal flyer only occouring infrequently down here.

Ringing: 1 Goldcrest.

Motus Detections

 

Dutch motus tagged Yellow-browed Warbler  on 8th October left the Dutch coast at Heemskerk infiltratiegebied Kieftewvak on 16th October travelled the 232 km to LBO in 4 hours at 58 km/hr passing over before midnight.

German motus tagged Blackcap ringed Mobil.2 near Flemsberg 27th September was noted on several Dutch towers leaving via Der Helder Vuutoren on 17th October travelled the 257km to LBO in 4 hours 2 minutes at 64 km/hr passing over at 0220 hrs on 18th October.

For more information on Motus please see Motus.org

Tuesday 24th October 2023

Unexpectedly wet this morning, but much like yesterday, the unsettled weather didn't seem to produce any migrant birds. The usual suspects passed at sea, with 2 shag joining the 47 black-headed gulls, 13 common gulls and 166 brent geese going south. 

72 starling did come in from the east, though whether they crossed the sea, or just circled round from further north or south is hard to say. Redwing still have not arrived in numbers, with only 14 heard or seen over the observatory all morning. 

Birds Ringed: Robin 2. 

Monday 23rd October 2023

A promising easterly produced very little in the way of new birds in. 3 shag south, and a little passerine vis mig were the main highlights. Finch numbers were pretty low, despite the direction, with only 113 goldfinch, 1 brambling and 17 siskin heading south with 11 redpoll. One Cetti's was still singing on the reserve. 

The Cosmopolitan is a migrant noted on 5 previous occasions.

Birds Ringed: Blackbird 5, Blackcap 1, Blue Tit 1, Chiffchaff 1, Lesser Redpoll 9, Long-tailed Tit 4. 

Sunday 22nd October 2023

 

Calmer benign weather conditions meant a much more pleasant morning which stimulated some vis mig with southbound 800 Goldfinch, 87 Mipit, 72 Linnet, 72 Skylark, 61 Redpoll, 29 Swallow, 19 Chaffinch & Snipe. Offshore fairly quiet although 3 Barnacle Geese in off are worth a mention. On site migrants include 40 Mipit, 20 Blackbird, 9 Goldcrest, 5 Chiffchaff, 4 Reed Bunting, 3 Blackcap, 3 Brambling, 3 Song Thrush, Jay, Redwing & Wheatear. At least 2 Cetti's are still with us.

Ringing: 29 Lesser Redpoll, 6 Goldcrest, 5 Blackbird, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap, 2 Robin, 1 Jay, 1 Sparrowhawk.