by John Horton | Sep 15, 2016
Overnight NE winds offered great potential but it rained through the early daylight hours preventing ringing until 0730. A good day of 114 new birds ringed then followed, with our first falls to speak of concerning Blackcap (21) and Whitethroat (21). Also amongst 19 species ringed were a Garden Warbler, 10 Reed Warblers, 4 Sedge Warblers, 11 Willow Warblers, 10 Chiffchaffs 1 Stonechat and 4 Meadow Pipits. Towards mid-day we caught our first Grasshopper Warbler of the Autumn and an unusual mid day catch of 11 Swallows, 4 Sand Martins and a House Martin.
Late addition: Swallow roost ringing this evening added 111 new birds 105 Swallows and 6 Sand Martins bringing the days new ringed birds total to 225.
On the golf course this evening at high tide were 18 Bar-tailed Godwits and amongst them 4 Grey Plover and a Knot. On Longis beach today singles of Dunlin, Sanderling, Whimbrel and Greenshank. This morning some 200+ Swallows gathered on the sea wall near the Target Wall and the flock of Greenfinches feeding on Longis common has reached at least 120 birds.
1st yr Grasshopper Warbler – Longis Nature Reserve – Photo -ABO
1st yr Sand Martin – Longis Nature reserve – photo – ABO
by John Horton | Sep 15, 2016
Highlights a Common Redstart in Mannez quarry. 2 Teal, 1 male Shoveler, 5 Water Rail and 2 Snipe at Longis Pond. 2 Whinchats and 2 Wheatears on Longis common
A very blustery day but winds dropped right off at about 6pm so we ringed the Swallow roost as Longis reserve processing 62 Swallows and 8 Sand Martins.
by John Horton | Sep 13, 2016
12th – A bit of catching up to do but not much to report for the 12th. We again had overnight southerly winds which made for a pleasant but uneventful ringing session of just a handful of birds at our Essex farm site.The Bar-tailed Godwit flock continued to commute between Longis Bay and the Golf Course with 22 birds present both yesterday and today. There were a couple of Wheatear on Longis common and a Kingfisher briefly over Essex fields that was later (if it was the same bird) observed catching palmate newts by Robert Manzano Rubio on Longis reserve pond in the afternoon. I received this super shot of two Sanderling feeding on Braye beach.
Sanderlings – Braye Beach – Photo – Emily Richens
The 13th offered a short window of opportunity to ring ahead of a huge weather front approaching us from the south. We managed to ring 26 new birds and get the nets all furled just before the heavens opened in conjunction with some impressive thunder and lightning. There are plenty of Water Rail and Snipe present around the pond at the moment and we are regularly seeing the former flushed from the public footpaths, the latter hurtling along our net rides and today again into a mist net. The very low winds gave us another opportunity to open our net in the open grasslands and it was again productive with 9 Meadow Pipits, 2 Stonechat and 2 Whinchat. Other species processed today included Garden, Sedge and Reed Warblers, Whitethroats and Blackcaps. 1 Wheatear was on Longis common and just prior to the onset of the storm about 80 Swallows passed over in a single flock.
1st Yr Whinchat – Longis Common – photo- ABO
by John Horton | Sep 11, 2016
With first light 5 Wheatears were conspicuous on top of the anti tank wall along Longis bay. The Bar-tailed Godwit flock, around for nearly a week now moved from Longis bay at early high tide onto the golf course where numbering 22 they were joined by a Whimbrel. About a dozen Wheatear were seen along the south cliffs and there were 6 this evening at Mannez lighthouse along with 30+House Martins and 5 Yellow Wagtails (over). Around 100 Swallows roosted on Longis reserve as did small flocks of Starlings and Greenfinches the latter two species sharing a roost site. There were 4 Snipe on Longis pond this morning and a Kingfisher zipped past headed towards fort Albert. 2 Sanderling were reported from Braye beach.
The ringing was a bit more like it today after the winds turned to come from the North for a spell last night bringing new birds in. We ringed 72 new birds from 14 species including a Pied Flycatcher, Garden Warbler, 2 Stonechat (now 30 this year) 8 Meadow Pipits, 20 Willow Warblers, 6 Sedge Warblers, 5 Robins, 7 Blackcaps, 4 Whitethroats and 11 Swallows.
by John Horton | Sep 10, 2016
Save a couple of hours after day break and the last hour before dusk it is easy to sum up today in one word ‘RAIN’.
This evening I walked from the Obs across Longis nature reserve and back via the golf course during which I had 50+ Swallow, 2 Sand Martin, 2 Whimbrel, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Wheatear and on one of the course fairways 29 Bar-tailed Godwits. Winds continued today between W & SW turning NW and dropping overnight.
Today we welcome Emily Richens visiting from the UK volunteering at the Obs for a week.
