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Saturday 10th September 2016


Slightly stronger south westerly winds today and an even quieter day than yesterday with very few migrants around.

Notable new arrivals and regulars came in the form of 36 Swallow, 8 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Wheatear, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Spotted Flycatcher and 1 Meadow Pipit (above).

Sea watching was pretty good with totals of 39 Teal, 25 Common Tern, 22 Golden Plover, 21 Sandwich Tern, 20 Dunlin, 12 Grey Plover, 10 Oystercatcher, 2 Wigeon, 2 Curlew, 2 Ringed Plover, 2 Shelduck and 1 Gannet.

Ringing: Very poor totals at the moment with 1 Robin and 1 Lesser Whitethroat ringed all morning.

Friday 9th September 2016


A rather blustery day today at the observatory with a few new arrivals but still fairly quiet.

South bound were 105 Swallow. Other migrants evident were 25 Pied Wagtail (above) and 19 Yellow Wagtail out on the nature reserve. These numbers are very good since most days we usually see them migrating South instead of on the ground.

4 Willow Warbler, 4 Sand Martin, 2 Wheatear, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Lesser Whitethroat and 1 House Martin also.

Sea watching produced 10 Common Tern, 5 Oystercatcher, 3 Sandwich Tern, 2 Dunlin, 2 Grey Plover, 1 Knot, 1 Shelduck, 1 Fulmar and 1 Cormorant.

Ringing: 2 birds ringed this morning in the form of 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Willow Warbler.

Thursday 8th September 2016


Clear skies overnight and a hot, sunny, breezy day. It proved to be a little quiet at the observatory. Still, a few new arrivals and a few things of note.

Migrants on land were few and far between with 25 Pied Wagtail, 13 Yellow Wagtail (above), 6 Wheatear, 4 Willow Warbler, 2 Whinchat, 2 Meadow Pipit, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Common Redstart.

Hirundines put on a good show with totals of 228 Swallow and 25 House Martin moving South.

Out to sea was rather dead with 10 Sandwich Tern, 4 Cormorant, 2 Oystercatcher, 1 Common Tern and 1 Ringed Plover.

Ringing: 3 birds ringed this morning which were 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Robin.

Wednesday 7th September 2016


Another humid and overcast night with very light south to south-easterly winds, brought lots of hope but not much more in the way of migrants than in recent days. However, having said that, Migrants are beginning to appear in better numbers, with Warblers, especially Willow with 10 on site along with lesser numbers of Chiffchaff, both Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler  and Blackcap all putting in appearances. Also, 10 Wheatear, 3 Whinchat (above), 9 Yellow Wagtail and 25 Pied Wagtail on site, as well as 110 Swallow and 4 Sand Martin heading south for the winter. Offshore, not much to see due to the murky conditions, but a few Terns included a couple of Arctics. Only 30 Teal seen today and waders were well down, but did include 2 Avocet south.

Insect wise, huge numbers of moths in the traps overnight (or rather mostly trying to get in), especially the micro moth Agriphila geniculea, with almost 3000 alone counted, and 4 more species reaching 100 or more.

14 birds were ringed; 3 Willow Warbler, 2 each of Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Lesser Whitethroat and Great Tit and 1 each of Sedge Warbler, Robin and Blackbird.

Tuesday 6th September 2016


The overnight thick and heavy cloud with small amounts of fine drizzle was expected to produce an arrival of migrants. This was not the case but none the less a very productive day.

Sea watching was the order of the day with decent totals of duck on the move with 429 Teal, 61 Wigeon, 5 Shoveler, 2 Gadwall, 2 Tufted Duck and 1 Pintail heading South.

Waders included 17 Ringed Plover, 17 Turnstone, 6 Oystercatcher, 5 Grey Plover, 4 Knot, 4 Dunlin, 2 Bar-Tailed Godwit, 2 Redshank, 1 Curlew, along with 17 Common Tern, 16 Cormorant, 7 Great-Black Backed Gull and 3 Sandwich Tern.

Land migrants were very thin on the ground with records of 19 Swallow, 9 Yellow Wagtail, 6 Wheatear, 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Lesser Whitethroat (above), 2 Common Whitethroat, 2 Meadow Pipit, 1 Common Redstart and 1 Blackcap.

Ringing: 2 birds ringed this morning which were 2 Willow Warbler.

Monday 5th September 2016


Persistent thick and heavy cloud with a few drizzly showers made for a decent day of observatory work with a good selection of birds on offer, both on land and moving through.

Migrants on the warbler front were very quiet. These came in the form of 4 Willow Warbler, 3 Common Whitethroat, 3 Blackcap, 2 Lesser Whitethroat and 1 Chiffchaff.

Others involved birds such as 15 Goldfinch, 12 Yellow Wagtail, 7 Wheatear, 7 Meadow Pipit, 4 Grey Wagtail, 3 Sand Martin, 1 Common Redstart, 1 Tree Pipit and 1 Hobby.

A decent number of Pied Wagtails are seen daily on the nature reserve. This individual was part of the 21 seen.

The sea was a little busy with totals of 78 Teal, 25 Great-Black Backed Gull, 18 Sanderling, 7 Barnacle Geese, 6 Common Scoter, 5 Ringed Plover, 5 Sandwich Tern, 5 Grey Plover, 3 Dunlin, 3 Oystercatcher, 3 Knot, 2 Turnstone, 1 Common Gull, 1 Great Crested Grebe and 1 Fulmar.


Feathered Brindle is a nationally scarce species that comes out in the Autumn.

Ringing: 12 birds ringed today which include 3 Blackcap, 3 Goldfinch, 2 Grey Wagtail, 1 Robin, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat and 1 Common Redstart. 

Sunday 4th September 2016


Strong west to south-westerly winds are not normally great for migrants, and so it proved with minimal numbers of migrants about, the best being 10 Wheatear, 5 Yellow Wagtail and 1 or 2 Warblers seen. The same applied offshore as only very small numbers of waders passed south, including 6 Knot, 5 Turnstone and a Greenshank along with just 1 Common Scoter, whilst a lone Fulmar went north.

1 bird was ringed today, and that was a Blackcap.