LANDGUARD - 28th May

 The wind was finally coming out of the SE and with a bit of cloud cover there was a smidgen of hope that there might be a couple of birds but it was another quiet morning with another 377 Brent Geese heading out of the river along with 18 Common Scoter, 2 Fulmars, 2 Common Terns, 3 Kittiwakes, 3 Mediterranean Gulls and 9 Sandwich Terns whilst the first fledgling Linnet appeared in the nets.   

A walk down to Trimley Marshes via Loompit in the afternoon produced the highlight of 2 BLACK-WINGED STILTS on the Summer Flood – probably a pair as the male did a little display flight whilst I was there, calling away to the female who ignored him completely; other birds comprised 5 Ringed Plovers, 5 Black-tailed Godwits and 4 Little Egrets.

Black-winged Stilts

Brent Geese heading over Landguard

Little Egret

LANDGUARD - 27th May

 Light NW winds and some misty murky cloudy conditions produced a little smattering of migrants across the area including a Blackcap, 3 Chaffinches, 2 Chiffchaffs, 4 Lesser Whitethroats, a Reed Warbler, 4 Spotted Flycatchers, a Wheatear, a Whitethroat and 2 Willow Warblers.   

Other birds comprised 2 Black Redstarts, another 163 Brent Geese coming out of the river, 17 Common Scoters north, 3 Fulmars, 4 House Martins, 9 Swallows and a Swift north, 2 Kittiwakes and a Mediterranean Gull.   

A little walk upriver from Felixstowe Ferry in the afternoon just produced 4 Hobbies, 4 Avocets, 3 Marsh Harriers, 23 Swifts and plenty of distant soaring Buzzards.

Redshank

(not) LANDGUARD - 26th May

 A walk from East Lane, Bawdsey up to Shingle Street and a bit beyond in the morning didn’t really produce any surprises with a Hobby which came in off the sea to flop knackeredly onto the beach the only hint of any migration going on.   

Other birds comprised 2 Corn Buntings and 2 Cuckoos at Shingle Street, at least four pairs of Stonechats up the coast with all of them alarming or carrying food, a Yellow Wagtail and all the usual singing warblers including Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat, Blackcap and Lesser Whitethroat.

Gadwall

Swallow

Corn Bunting

Sedge Warbler

Hares

LANDGUARD - 25th May

 Clear first thing but a band of drizzle moved in disrupting the morning and leaving a breezy, sometimes cloudy, sometimes showery rest of day; another good total of 469 Brent Geese came out of the river before turning north and was migration spectacle of the morning.   

Other birds included 2 Black Redstarts, a Chaffinch, a Chiffchaff, 16 Common Scoters north, a Common Tern, 2 House Martins south, a flock of 7 Kittiwakes south, a Mediterranean Gull, a Redshank on the beach before flying across the reserve and up the river – a Landguard tick, a Reed Warbler, a new Robin from somewhere, 13 Swallows south, 15 Swifts also south and the day’s highlight of a Turtle Dove which shot through, heading north at a rapid rate of knots.

LANDGUARD - 23rd May

 Pre-dawn cloud soon dispersed leaving a good sunny, calm spell early morning but it wasn’t too long before the wind started to pick up, bringing more cloud cover for a breezy, overcast afternoon; the morning’s highlight was a Roseate Tern which flew north close inshore at 06:00 while the main feature of the day was a good movement of 351 Brent Geese coming out of the river before angling north, heading for their breeding grounds in the far north – awesome to see some migration in action!   

Other birds through the day comprised 2 Black Redstarts, a Blackcap, a Chaffinch, 3 Chiffchaffs, 18 Common Scoter north, 2 Common Terns, 2 Fulmars, 2 Gannets, an Avocet south (a Landguard tick!), a Kittiwake, 2 Lesser Whitethroats, a group of 16 Little Terns lingering off the beach, a Mediterranean Gull, 2 Peregrines hunting Pigeons over the river, 3 Sandwich Terns, 11 Swallows south, 2 Turnstone, 3 Wheatears, 2 Willow Warblers and a Shag which flew north close inshore – always scarce here.

Brent Geese

(not) LANDGUARD - 22nd May

 A relaxed day with a walk down to Trimley Marshes via Loompit from mid-morning producing the highlight of an Osprey which flew downstream and high over Trimley (it was later picked up over town and then heading north over Havergate); it was very quiet elsewhere along the walk with a Hobby hunting over Trimley, the Great White Egret still at Loompit, hundreds of Swifts over both sites and still 200+ Brent Geese along the river.

Osprey

Swifts

Little Grebes

Great White Egret

LANDGUARD - 21st May

 Very windy throughout with a blazing WSW gale dominating the proceedings; naturally most of the days birds were offshore and comprised 2 Manx Shearwaters (I missed three more – the total of five is a spring record count here), 5 Common Scoter, 21 Common Terns, 12+ Fulmars – with birds milling around all over the place , including up the river, 18 Gannets, 5 Kittiwakes, a Little Egret south along the beach, a Red-throated Diver, a drake Pochard south (a Landguard tick!) and 9 Sandwich Terns.   

Also of note were 2 House Martins, a Sedge Warbler, a Spotted Flycatcher, a Swallow, 2 Turnstone and a steady southbound trickle of 136 Swifts with birds often far out at sea.

Pied Wagtail

LANDGUARD - 20th May

 The stunning, sunny, clear, calm morning quickly clouded over with the rapidly increasing SSW wind; birds seen included 3 Spotted Flycatchers, 3 Chiffchaffs, a Blackcap, 4 Wheatears, 6 Brent Geese down the river and out, 6 Turnstone and a Sanderling on the beach, 7 Common Terns, 3 Sandwich Terns and a Marsh Harrier south at sea.   

A little look at Loompit in the very windy afternoon produced a nice summer plumaged Great White Egret complete with plumes, a Hobby startling the Swifts and hirundines and just one singing Nightingale.

Sand Martin

(just) LANDGUARD - 19th May

 An overcast, sometime drizzly morning spent at Minsmere, there wasn’t too much in the way of passage migrants with a 2cy Little Gull on East Scrape and an adult Spoonbill which flew north the highlights.  

It was great as always though with lots of booming Bitterns – plus four sightings of birds in flight, plenty of Bearded Tits, especially around Island Mere, lots of breeding Avocets, a few sitting and loafing Common Terns, Sandwich Terns, Little Terns and Mediterranean Gulls on the scrapes with the Black-heads, a Little Ringed Plover, 9 Black-tailed Godwits, a Common Sandpiper, 60+ Kittiwakes calling and chattering to each other as they collected mud for their nests just down the coast at Sizewell, Marsh Harriers cruising around, a Hobby, plenty of singing Blackcaps, Reed, Sedge and Garden Warblers and a pair of Stonechats with fledglings.    

Also of note were a few colour rings which I managed to read which comprised a Norwegian ringed 2cy Great Black-backed Gull ringed in Oslo last year, a Norwegian ringed 2cy Common Gull also ringed in Oslo last year and seen on the Gann Estuary in South Wales in December, a French ringed Mediterranean Gull, also seen in Sussex last autumn and a Cormorant ringed at Abberton Reservoir in Essex in 2013.  

The long-overdue first Spotted Flycatcher of the year was caught back at Landguard in the afternoon.

Stonechat

Bittern

Kittiwake

(not) LANDGUARD - 16th May

 A morning spent on the coast on the other side of the Deben; a couple of hours walking around Bawdsey Quay first thing produced the highlight of a singing Firecrest at the picnic site whilst other birds comprised a Little Owl flushed out of an appropriate looking hole in a building, a pair of Mistle Thrushes chasing off a Sparrowhawk, 3 Marsh Harriers, a Little Tern on the river, 3 Bullfinches and plenty of singing Sedge Warblers, Reed Warblers, Whitethroats, Cetti’s Warblers etc.   

Birds around East Lane, just up the coast then included 3 Cuckoos, 6 Stonechats including a couple of fresh fledglings, plenty of hirundines over the pools, a Garden Warbler and a Yellow Wagtail.

Cuckoo

Swallow

LANDGUARD - 15th May

 Grey and chilly with an increasing SSE wind bringing an extended spell of drizzle from mid-morning; a Cuckoo which gave a little burst of song halfway through the morning was the highlight on the land while offshore a few bits comprised 38 Common Scoter, 2 Whimbrel, 32 Common Terns, 2 Sandwich Terns, a Red-throated Diver (the first one for ages) and 9 Gannets.   

A productive little walk down to Trimley Marshes in the afternoon produced an adult Spoonbill roosting on the Summer Flood along with a little selection of waders including 3 Little Ringed Plover, a Whimbrel, 14 Black-tailed Godwits, 6 Common Sandpipers, the long-staying Spotted Redshank and a Greenshank (an overdue year-tick), 2 Yellow Wagtails and hundreds of Swifts, Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martins low over the reserve in the still drizzly conditions.

Pochard

House Martin

LANDGUARD - 11th May

 A stunning, flat calm morning, soon becoming warm and sunny with a gentle SSE wafting breeze; there were a few new migrants scattered around and overhead comprising 3 Blackcaps, a Chaffinch, a Chiffchaff, a Grey Wagtail south (slightly late here), a House Martin, 2 Jackdaws, some new Lesser Whitethroats and Whitethroats, 2 Redpolls, a handful of Swallows south, 2 Swifts, a Tree Pipit, 9 Wheatears, a Whinchat and a Willow Warbler.   

Over the sea birds included 12 Barnacle Geese, 3 Common Terns, a drake Gadwall south, a Gannet and 4 Kittiwakes – an unusual number still offshore here this late into May, interesting to speculate concerning displaced birds from the Lowestoft colony which have been on social media recently.

Lesser Whitethroat

Whinchat

LANDGUARD - 10th May

 Overnight rain lingered an hour or so after dawn, delaying the start of the day; the main feature came straight after the rain with a good but short-lived southerly movement of 432 Swallows, 53 House Martins, 3 Sand Martins and a Hobby which continued for under two hours before stopping suddenly.   

Other birds comprised 2 Black Redstarts, 3 Blackcaps, 2 Chiffchaffs, 4 Common Scoter north, a Curlew south, a Gannet north, 7 Goldfinches south, 10 Lesser Whitethroats, a Swift, 8 Wheatears and 5 Whitethroat.

Painted Lady

LANDGUARD - 9th May

 A walk round Felixstowe Ferry first thing in the slightly breezy conditions was fairly quiet just producing 2 Little Terns at the river mouth, 22 Whimbrel mainly on the golf course, 3 Avocets, 4 Wheatears and the regular spread of singing warblers.   

Back at Landguard there had been a little arrival of migrants including the first Whinchat of the year in the compound along with an obvious increase in singing Lesser Whitethroats.   

In the afternoon I walked down to Trimley Marshes via Loompit where the highlight was finally catching up with the 2 Temminck’s Stints on the Summer Flood that have been here for over a week; other birds comprised a Spotted Redshank, a Hobby, an adult female Peregrine, a Common Sandpiper, 150+ Swifts, 5 Whimbrel, at least five singing Nightingales around Loompit and 60+ Brent Geese still.

Common Tern

Pochard

Mute Swan being all territorial