Volunteers needed

A lot of work has been carried out on the nature reserve recently. Volunteers are urgently required to assist with installing a boardwalk across the site near the Point. If anyone is able to help over the next couple of weeks please can you get in touch with Sarah Wynne, the Landguard Ranger, on 01394 675283 or sarah.wynne@suffolkcoastal.gov.uk Many thanks if you are able to help.

Tuesday 15th to Monday 21st February 2011

More Barnacles on the move this week with 40 south 18th, 10 out then north 19th & 38 south 21st - we would love to work out what they are doing. The male Pheasant has been around all week as have up to 30 Ringos, 5 Sanderling & 2 Purps. Plenty of gulls still following ships including at least 9 Meds. A Snow Bunting on 17th and 21st is presumably the same bird. On the 18th 3 Curlew and a Red-breasted Merganser went south with a Fieldfare on the reserve plus a Woodcock in the observatory compound. The 19th brought a single Brambling which is very unusual for this time of the year. On the 20th 2 new Blackies were trapped, one thin & one fat so i can only presume the thin one had been trying to migrate and the other one has fattened up to do so. Also on the 20th single Skylark and Fieldfare. The 21st saw 7 Skylarks on the reserve which constitutes a "fall" and the best count of grounded skylarks for some time. Also today a new Robin - very few new Robins have been caught here in February. In conclusion it would appear that with some new migrants about some birds think spring is on the way.

Tuesday 8th to Monday 14th February 2011

Please bear with us folks with the new recent reports/blog type system & re-vamped web page as its an ongoing process at the moment. The 8th brought us a flock of 8 Waxwings flying south, a single Skylark south plus one on the reserve, 7 Meadow Pipits and the second Pheasant of the year. On the 11th 4 Shorelarks on the beach, 2 Redwings, a Skylark north then south and a single Curlew south. On the 18th the Pheasant seen again, 2 Fieldfares and single Shore & Skylarks. The 13th saw a pair of Eiders north then south. Apart from this its more of the same with a few waders on the beach (with the odd Ringed Plover starting to perform their display flight already !), the occasional Red-throated Diver offshore and plenty of seagulls. For those of you with an interest in the history of the site and an old map showing the location of the recently enlarged pond on the Butts then can I divert you to Sarah's blog on the Landguard Partnership website for some interesting information?

Tuesday 1st to Monday 7th February 2011

Tuesday 1st to Monday 7th February 2011

A fairly predictable week. 9 Shelduck south on 1st, 6 Long-tailed Tits on 3rd, 2 Gadwall south on 6th, 19 Brent's, 6 Teal & a Wigeon south on the 7th. Waders as per January below with 3 Purple Sands on Groyne 19 on the 6th (this is the preferred groyne although they are not always present within our recording area and presumably can be found on any groyne along Felixstowe promenade). Gull numbers again impressive this week with up to 8,000 Common, 3,000 Herring, 700 Black-headed, 150 Great Black-backed and the occasional Lesser Black-backed, Kittiwake & Med Gull present amongst the melee following shipping. As in January, more time is currently being put into site maintenance than birding - if you visit Landguard and see anything that you think we might have missed please let us know so that records can be added onto the site log. Finally please note plenty of work is currently being undertaken on the nature reserve. Visitors are requested to keep clear of areas where men in bright overalls with machines are working - your co-operation is appreciated.

January 2011

JANUARY 2011

Welcome to the new style LBO website & blog. Apologies for the delay in the first few entries for 2011. This is a one off monthly summary for January to catch up. The rarest bird of the month was a female Pheasant on the 2nd & 3rd - we have very few site records of this species. Of greater interest were the 2 Shorelarks from December 2010 noted again on the 1st & 3rd. A solitary Golden Plover was present on the reserve on the 2nd. On the 4th a Little Egret flew south and it's nice to know that some of its kind that stayed in Britain throughout the cold spell last month have survived. The 8th saw 7 Lapwing and a single Great-crested Grebe moving south. A flock of 325 Knot went south on the 14th, an exceptional count for a species that we only rarely see outside the main migration periods. Also on this date 2 White-fronted Geese and a Black-throated Diver flew north and 4 Long-tailed Tits gave us a rare mid-winter visitation. The 15th brought 3 Shelduck and 2 Wigeon south, a Common Scoter north plus a Pomarine Skua offshore. The next day produced 3 Pink-footed Geese north, 37 Wigeon south, 5 Teal north plus 12 south, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers north plus a single Skylark on site. 8 White-fronted Geese moved south on the 19th with a single Fieldfare on site. On the 20th a solitary Bean Goose flew south low over the observatory calling its head off looking for friends before going up river. Also on this date 5 Eiders and 3 Pintail north, 4 Fieldfares on the reserve and a solitary Waxwing sitting on a Hawthorn bush by the observatory gate. Gull numbers have been impressive on many occasions throughout the month with a peak count of 5,000 Common, 750 Herring, 300 Black-headed & 100 Great Black-backs on this date. Kittiwake numbers, in contrast, have not exceeded 20 all month. The 22nd produced 15 Teal and 2 Mute Swans north. On the 24th 58 Barnacle Geese went north, 2 White-fronted Geese north plus one south and a single Yellowhammer flying around calling before departing into Essex. The next day another 61 Barnacle Geese went north, so what's happening in the Barnacle Goose department to cause these mid-winter movements is a bit of a mystery. Cormorant numbers have been increasing in recent years and this winter birds seem to be going offshore to the sandbanks to feed, particularly at low tide. The feeding must be good as something disturbed them all on the 27th with at least 270 flying around - a site record count by some considerable margin. Also on this date 4 Great-crested Grebes moved south. On the 30th 3 more Long-tailed Tits showed up. Throughout the month small numbers of Red-throated Divers, Brent's, Wigeon & Teal noted on several dates moving offshore. Along the shore up to 13 Turnstone, 5 Sanderling, 3 Purple Sands and the occasional Redshank & Grey Plover with Ringed Plovers occasionally attempting to roost at high tide peaking at 46. The bushes are fairly predictable in mid-winter with just a handful of common species tolerating the bleakness of the site. On occasions they were joined by Fieldfare and Redwing in small numbers with, unusual for us at this time of the year, up to 7 Linnets. The usual male Peregrine was noted on just two dates and the Little Owls on not many more. Finally the best day count for Med Gull was 7.