LANDGUARD - 30th July

 Weirdly calm at first light but the SSW wind quickly ramped up, eventually peaking at around force 7 in the afternoon bringing a series of sometimes heavy squalls which swept through but also equal spells of bright sunshine.   There was again, a steady trickle of waders heading south at sea, never very many but enough to keep us staring at the sea; totals comprised (through the morning and another seawatch in the evening) 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, a Curlew, 5 Dunlin, 2 Greenshank, 11 Grey Plover, 2 Knot, 47 Oystercatchers, a Redshank, 3 Turnstone and 17 Whimbrel.   

Also over the sea were 7 Common Scoter, 11 Common Terns, 3 Gannets, a juvenile Kittiwake, 2 Mallards (always scarce on seawatches!), 3 Mediterranean Gulls, 24 Sandwich Terns, 8 Shelduck and a good total of 371 Swifts – mainly out over the sea.

Grey Plover

Whimbrel

Oystercatcher

Common Tern

LANDGUARD - 29th July

 Clear and sunny pretty much throughout the day but with a hefty force 5 westerly wind somewhat spoiling things; a little trickle of random waders heading south at sea was the day’s highlight which included 16 Black-tailed Godwits (given the hundreds that are currently up the nearby rivers and on wetland reserves, they are surprisingly rarely seen at Landguard), 3 Curlews, a Whimbrel, 3 Dunlin, a summer plumaged Golden Plover, a summer plumaged Grey Plover, 7 Oystercatchers, 2 Sanderling and 7 Turnstone.   

Other birds comprised a Grey Wagtail, 11 Sand Martins, 88 Swifts and a Yellow Wagtail.

Willow Warbler (from 28th)

Holly Blue

Southern Hawker

Copper Underwing

Marbled Clover

Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

(not) LANDGUARD - 27th July

 A good morning spent at Minsmere produced a nice array of birds around the scrapes and along the beach; the scrapes were again full of waders including my overdue first 2 Curlew Sandpipers of the year, 250+ Avocets, a Little Ringed Plover, 350+ Black-tailed Godwits, a Turnstone, a Knot, 9 Ruff, 4 Sanderling, 180+ Dunlin, 2 Snipe, 6 Common Sandpiper, 4 Green Sandpiper and 6 Spotted Redshank along with 15 Little Gulls, 60 Little Terns and a couple of good fly-past Bitterns.   

The other highlight was excellent views of 3 Dartford Warblers singing and chasing each other in the gorse just south of the Sluice Bushes.

Bittern, Dartford Warbler and Stonechat from Minsmere; the camera settings were all wrong so they are not as good as they should be!

Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank from Melton

(not) LANDGUARD - 21st July

 A walk round Wyke / Benthall first thing produced all the expected bits and pieces including successful Little Grebe breeding on Benthall Pools again with two large chicks seen where there was also single Lesser Whitethroat and 5 Mistle Thrush.   

After getting my second vaccine (where there was a Norwegian ringed Black-headed Gull in the carpark!) I immediately drove up to Anglesey where, at Cemlyn Bay the long-staying ELEGANT TERN flew off the main island straight away as I walked along the shingle to have a little bathe in the bay before flying back to the lagoon to show brilliantly on the near side.   

It was ace there as always with thousands of Sandwich, Arctic and Common Terns making a hell of a noise as they fed hundreds of big chicks all across the islands and shore; other birds included a single first-summer Black Guillemot in the bay, a monster-big juvenile female Peregrine, 7 Little Egrets, 4 Mediterranean Gulls and a steady stream of Manx Shearwaters mainly heading west close into shore – it was very hot though so I didn’t walk around too much!

Elegant Tern

Norwegian ringed Black-headed Gull in the Telford International Centre carpark - it was ringed as a chick near Oslo in June 2015, amazingly then I re-sighted it at Horsehay Pool in January 2016, it was then seen in Sheffield in June 2018 and Sandwell Valley in February 2021.   I'm not sure whether it returns to Norway to breed, I would guess not as the June and July sightings are maybe a bit early for returning birds.

Sandwich Tern

(just) LANDGUARD - 20th July

 After a quiet morning at Landguard where the overdue fledgling Whitethroat of the year found the nets and a Yellow Wagtail flew over I drove back to Shropshire for my second jab.   

Look at a very hot Chelmarsh late afternoon produced 2 Common Terns, 2 Common Sandpipers, 4 Herons, a Grey Wagtail and at least 5 Yellow Wagtails gathering around the dam with 31+ Pied Wagtails.   Also of note and great to see were seemingly good numbers of Butterflies, especially Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers and Ringlets with a single Marbled White on the dam – I can’t recall seeing them in Shropshire before, although I haven’t really been there at this time of year for ages!

Nuthatch

Common Tern (taken the other day at Trimley but they looked pretty similar to the ones at Chelmarsh!)

LANDGUARD - 18th July

 Walked to Trimley Marshes first thing via Loompit and while there wasn’t too much different it was very pleasant in the fine, sunny conditions; birds comprised a good total of 309 Black-tailed Godwits, 4 Whimbrel, 5 Dunlin, a Common Sandpiper, a Greenshank, 33 Avocets, a good total of 36 Little Egrets roosting at high tide, a Kingfisher at Loompit (actually the first one I’ve seen in Suffolk since I’ve been here!) and a noticeable increase in ducks at Trimley since I was last there including c55 Gadwall, 9 Shoveler, c19 Pochard and 52+ Tufted Ducks.   

Also of note was a male Lesser Emperor hawking over Loompit.   

There was then a good gathering of birds off the point back at Landguard in the evening which included a good 27 Mediterranean Gulls (with the first six juveniles in amongst them) and 10 Common Terns while 7 Sanderling flew south.

Broad-bodied Chaser

LANDGUARD - 17th July

 A fine day from the start, wall-to-wall sunshine becoming very warm, albeit with a cooling onshore breeze later on; offshore, this morning were 17 Sandwich Terns, 9 Mediterranean Gulls, a Common Tern, a Common Gull and a tight flock of 9 Little Egrets which flew upriver.   

On the land a few random birds comprised a Great-spotted Woodpecker, a Grey Wagtail south, 2 Sand Martins, 3 Swallows and a Yellow Wagtail.

Swifts

LANDGUARD - 16th July

 Overcast first thing and even a bit chilly with the light northerly breeze but the cloud broke up by 9am producing a warm, sunny day although the wind had switched into the SE cooling things down as it came in off the sea.   Most of the day’s limited bird action was over the sea which included 38 Black-headed Gulls, 12 Common Terns (including the first juveniles), 4 Knot, 11 Little Terns and 19 Sandwich Terns (also including the first juveniles).   

The only other bits of note comprised 3 Common Sandpipers on the jetty and 7 Lapwings on the common – both good counts for the reserve.

Juvenile Carrion Crow

Small Copper, Brown Argus and Essex Skipper

(not) LANDGUARD - 14th July

 A few hours at a grey and blustery Minsmere was pretty productive as the scrapes were jam-packed full of birds, dominated by seemingly good numbers of Common Tern chicks being fed and taking their first flights (minus the one that was snatched by a Marsh Harrier of course!).    

Waders were the main draw which included a good 21 Spotted Redshanks (mainly blotchy, moulting birds but a couple were still fully black stunning ones), 10 Ruff (all colours of moulting males mainly – black, white and ginger), 400+ Avocets, 210+ Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Turnstone, 4 Knot, 3 Sanderling, 41 Dunlin, 5 Common Sandpipers, 5 Green Sandpipers and a Greenshank.   

Other birds comprised an adult Roseate Tern, 5 Little Gulls (adults), 2 Bitterns seen well in flight, a female Shoveler with two small ducklings, 75+ Teal (along with much reduced numbers of Gadwall since last time) and 2 Mediterranean Gulls (one juvenile).

LANDGUARD - 13th July

 Overcast first thing with a light northerly breeze but soon enough it was a fine, warm day; there was some evidence of early adult dispersal away from their breeding grounds with single Willow Warbler, Reed Warbler and Robin finding their way into the nets – slightly unusually starting to wander just as they were starting primary moult (not the Reed Warbler who will wait until it gets to Africa), you would think that they would just keep their heads down whilst moulting.    

It was quieter offshore as birds just comprised 11 Common Terns, a Gannet, 6 Mediterranean Gulls and 5 Sandwich Terns whilst a Great-spotted Woodpecker also showed up briefly.   

The day’s dubious highlight though was a Common Myna which flew south, landed on the mine station for a while before heading off high north again – classic passage migrant behaviour but it spoiled the effect an hour later by reappearing (one of the world’s most invasive species having conquered most of Australia and South Africa amongst others from its Asian homeland).

Common Myna

LANDGUARD - 10th July

 Almost flat calm first thing with cloud gradually building through the morning but with none of the forecasts agreeing if and when the rain would arrive (it eventually did around 11:00) I opened limited nets in anticipation!   All of the day’s interest was again offshore with a steady southerly passage of birds, dominated by a good total of 1,462 Black-headed Gulls along with 11 Common Gulls, 16 Mediterranean Gulls, 7 Sandwich Terns, 8 Common Terns, 6 Common Scoter, a Tufted Duck, 14 Curlew, a Heron, 38 Oystercatchers, a Sanderling, 4 Teal and 6 Whimbrel.   

A Grey Wagtail and 20+ Swifts over the point were the only other birds of note.

Magpie Moth

Dune Bee Fly

LANDGUARD - 9th July

 A gorgeous first few hours of the day calm, clear and warm before a little onshore breeze sprang up producing a bit more cloud and a slight cooling effect – still nice though!   Today’s offshore southerly movement comprised 322 Black-headed Gulls, 8 Mediterranean Gulls, 9 Common Gulls, 8 Common Terns, 2 Bar-tailed Godwits, 23 Curlew, 2 Dunlin, 6 Oystercatchers, a Gadwall, 4 Shoveler and 12 Teal.   

Other birds through the day included a Chaffinch, 3 Chiffchaffs (all re-traps), 2 Great-spotted Woodpeckers, 24 Sand Martins south, 5 Swallows south and 5 Swifts.

Mating Hornet Moths

LANDGUARD - 8th July

 A decent day with a moderate WSW breeze, overcast at first but with spells of warm sunshine from mid-morning; there was a trickle of birds offshore through the morning including a nice variety of waders heading south, consisting of 3 Bar-tailed Godwits, a Common Sandpiper (a Landguard tick!), 47 Curlew, 2 Dunlin, 5 Oystercatchers, 2 Redshank and 5 Whimbrel along with 41 Black-headed Gulls, 6 Common Gulls, 9 Common Scoter, 2 Common Terns, 2 Gadwall, 7 Mediterranean Gulls, 9 Teal, 18 Sand martins, 3 Swallows and 6 Swifts.   

Also of note were the Black Redstart family still, the lingering Chiffchaff and a confiding juvenile Stock Dove.

Stock Dove

Woodpigeon and chick