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 - 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

LANDGUARD - 18th April

 Not my ringing day so I walked down to Trimley Marshes via Loompit; there was nothing too exciting but it was very pleasant in the calm and sunny conditions, birds seen included a single, lost-looking first-winter White-fronted Goose on Loompit with the Greylags, 4 Red-breasted Mergansers displaying in the river, at least 6-7 Whimbrel dotted around along the shore, 12 Black-tailed Godwits, 35 Avocets, the Little Gull still on Loompit, at least 6 Mediterranean Gulls, 8+ House Martins, an increase to 17+ Blackcaps along the route, a Whitethroat, a Yellow Wagtail and a Lesser Redpoll.   

Back at Landguard, late afternoon produced 200+ Brent Geese moving north far out at sea in three big flocks, the singing Black Redstart, a Wheatear and at least 4 Mediterranean Gulls offshore.

Whimbrel

Mediterranean Gulls

Brent Geese

Avocet

Lesser Redpoll

White-fronted Goose

Peacock

(just) LANDGUARD - 11th April

 A morning spent away from Landguard, so I walked to Trimley Marshes via Loompit in the lovely and sunny conditions which would have been marvelous if not for the still very cold NNW wind; migrants comprised 3 Yellow Wagtails (two at Loompit and one at Trimley), a Whimbrel which flew upriver, 2 Willow Warblers, two singing Sedge Warblers, 150+ Sand Martins, 30 Swallows and a House Martin over Loompit on the way back and the usual spread of singing Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps.   

Other birds included a little northward passage of at least 9 Mediterranean Gulls going over in pairs (plus a single 2cy) with others heard regularly but not seen, an increase to 29 Pochard on Loompit where the female Goldeneye was still present, the Marsh Harriers very active picking up grass and reeds, 37 Avocets and 6 Black-tailed Godwits at Trimley and the usual spread of singing Cetti’s Warblers.   

A little seawatch from Landguard in the afternoon produced 2 Whimbrel south.

Yellow Wagtail (shame about the framing in the last picture!)

Mediterranean Gulls amongst other things

Brent Geese

Backlit Kestrel

Redshank

Turnstone

Dark-edged Beefly

LANDGUARD - 22nd March

Lovely and calm again with the wind having moved into the SW, cloudy at first becoming glorious, warm and sunny in the afternoon; there were a few migrants through the morning as befits the slight change in wind direction including some more new Blackbirds, 4 Chaffinches, 2 Chiffchaffs, a Fieldfare, 10 Redwings, a Goldcrest, 3 Greenfinches, 4 Meadow Pipits, a Reed Bunting, a Robins, a Rock Pipit, a Rook, a Siskin, 2 Skylarks and a Woodcock flushed at dawn.   

A look at Trimley Marshes in the lovely, sunny afternoon produced the usual suspects with another increase to 45 Avocets, 4 Chiffchaffs, a Grey Wagtail, a Jay (the first I’ve seen in Suffolk so far!), 3 Goldcrests, an increase to 125 Shoveler and the Marsh Harriers being very active, especially the fine adult male who was one second carrying clumps of grass around and then suddenly chasing another near-adult male away across the river.   

My first two Butterflies of the year were also seen with a Small Tortoiseshell and a Peacock.

The wonderful Trimley adult male Marsh Harrier

Another Marsh Harrier

Brent Geese

Peacock

LANDGUARD - 6th March

 Another similar day with light but chilly NNE winds and hardly any new migrants; the sea was quiet as well with the highlights comprising a Shelduck, 19 Red-throated Divers, 3 Greylag Geese and a total of 2,455+ Cormorants again coming in from the north to head to their fishing grounds.   Birds on the land included a Rook south, presumably the same Firecrest calling in the compound but remaining elusive, a Greenfinch and 5 Goldfinches.   

An afternoon jaunt to just the other side of the docks to Trimley Marshes was very pleasant in the calm, bright conditions and produced a nice array of wintering Geese with a single Tundra Bean Goose, 2 Pink-footed Geese and c31 European White-fronted Geese, at least 4 Marsh Harriers including a fine adult male, plenty of ducks, 30 Avocets on the river, single Grey Plover and Knot, 4 Black-tailed Godwits and a singing Cetti’s Warbler.

Little Egret

Brent Geese

SWEDEN - 13th October

 A very similar day to yesterday but calmer, sunnier and warmer which meant that the nets were again fairly quiet with the usual spread of Goldcrests, Robins and Wrens, highlighted by another Norwegian ringed Chiffchaff.   

The fine conditions meant that plenty of birds were heading south again but today they were extremely high up so I didn’t actually see very much just lots of specks up there in the blue; once I got my eye in though most notable were 950+ Woodpigeons zooming south in big flocks very high up along with a Sparrowhawk, a Grey Wagtail, a Hawfinch and lots of Greylag flocks arriving from the north.   

Also of interest were several hundred Cranes which, instead of heading off to feed at first light as normal, hung around until mid-morning until leaving purposefully to the south – a very distinctive change in behaviour prior to the next leg of their migration.   

Cycled south down the coast in the afternoon as far as Gamla Köpstads where migrants included 4 Wheatears, 2 Grey Wagtails, a White Wagtail, 20+ Twite, 2 Brent Geese and 3 Bar-tailed Godwits while numerous flocks of Barnacle Geese, Greylag Geese and Cranes moved south and there were some big kettles of spiralling Buzzards extremely high and in the distance totalling at least 88 birds.

Tree Sparrows

Brent Goose

Wheatear

Twite

Barnacle Geese heading south