Access Update: The Mill Pond Road leading from North Car Park to Mill Hill is still flooded and wellies are advised.
Ringing Recoveries and a Ringing Control:
Kestrel, ringed GPBO 17 July 2023, found dead Eakring, Nottinghamshire 26 January 2024.
Starling, ringed GPBO 23 June 2021, ring read in field Colchester, Essex 15 February 2024.
Blackcap, ringed Eban-Emael, Belgium 8 August 2023, controlled GPBO 6 October 2023.
17th April. A calm and sunny start to the day that became progressively wintery; colder, windier, with cold rain showers and then thick hail! One Cattle Egret was around the lagoons in the morning before flying off inland. Other birds around included a Great White Egret, Peregrine, 2 Redwing and the regular Goldeneye. A Harbour Porpoise was offshore.
16th April. Strong west-north-west wind with occasional rain showers. Good visibility over the sea and again a fair number of Sandwich Tern, 4 Commic Tern (probably Arctic), 6 Fulmar, 6 Gannet and a Pintail. The highlight though was a close, southbound Bonxie. 2 Cattle Egrets were on the Old Saltmarsh, a Water Pipit was on Croftmarsh and the Goldeneye remained on Tennyson's Sands.
15th April. Strong south-westerly wind, with occasional rain, sometimes heavy. An hour's sea-watch before a heavy rain shower early morning was productive with 164 Sandwich Tern, 2 Arctic Tern, 7 Fulmar and 8 Common Scoter moving south with at least 400 Common Gulls. 2 Merlin and 2 Red Kite also moved south. A pair of Mediterranean Gulls were on Tennyson's Sands. Another 8 Fulmar went south in 40 mins late evening.
14th April. A good migration of Finches and Corvids again and plenty of birds singing in the dunes this morning. Most of yesterday's Wheatears had moved on. Linnets were predominant on passage with good numbers of Siskin, Goldfinch, Chaffinch and Yellow Wagtail, with the first Tree Pipit of the year. A Spoonbill came in off the sea and circled high over the East Dunes whilst an Osprey also came in off the sea and went during a good raptor passage that included 6 Sparrowhawk, 3 Kestrel, 3 Marsh Harrier, 2 Buzzard and a Red Kite. The Glossy Ibis had returned to the Freshwater Marsh after its visit to Anderby and it was probably seen heading inland late morning. A Common Sandpiper was on the River, 55 Sandwich Tern moved south at sea and other birds around included Woodlark and Brambling.
A morning ringing session at Aylmer Avenue by Liam Andrews and Sam Goddard provided 2 new birds: a Cetti's Warbler and a Sedge Warbler; and 2 retrap Long-tailed Tits.
13th April. The weather was pretty much the same as yesterday. The main theme of the morning was an arrival of Wheatears with an initial wave of 10 birds, mostly on the seaward dunes but quickly moving inland to the West Dunes, with 5 being seen on Rock Ridge later, before another arrival of 22 along the beach and outer dunes including 13 together, again most moving quickly inland. A Ring Ouzel was another new arrival that quickly disappeared and there were several new warblers in including the first 3 Lesser Whitethroats of the year.
Visible migration involved fair numbers of the regular Finches and Corvids with a scattering of Meadow Pipits and Yellow Wagtails and a Red Kite. A party of 16 Crossbill left the North Car Park Pines and headed south, and a group of 5 Greenshank arrived. At least 1 Woodlark was around the east side of the Reserve ranging over a large area.
A morning ringing session at Aylmer Avenue by Mike Polling produced 2 new birds: a Chiffchaff and a Blackcap; and a retrap Sedge Warbler.
Green Hairstreak butterflies are now on the wing in the dunes.
12th April. A fine morning, dry with bright sells and a cool, increasing south-westerly breeze. The migration of Finches and Corvids continued overland including 3 Jays and there were 3 Woodlarks today. One remained on the East Dunes from yesterday, another flew high south over the Freshwater Marsh and Old Saltmarsh and another arrived from the North and was vigorously pursued by a Merlin over the East Dunes. Fortunately for the Woodlark, the Merlin then became distracted by two passing Peregrines! - a pretty spectacular display all round ! The Glossy Ibis remained on the Freshwater Marsh floods with 15 Curlew, 25 Black-tailed Godwit, 250 Black-headed Gull, 4 Med Gull and a variety of dabbling duck. It was fairly quiet offshore, with a few Sandwich Terns and Common Scoter and a Red-breasted Merganser, but a southbound Black Tern was quite a spring rarity. A Great White Egret also flew south over the sea. Other birds around included Hen Harrier, Greenshank, 2 Grasshopper Warbler and a Water Pipit. After feeding well during the afternoon, the Glossy Ibis left the Freshwater Marsh, circled, gaining height and then left high north around 1720. Also at this time, several flocks of Curlew were leaving the Wash and flying out high north-east.
During the fine weather a range of insects were seen including several butterflies; Speckled Wood, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Orange Tip, Green-veined White and Holly Blue.
11th April. A bright morning with a cool breeze initially but becoming quite warm. A fairly light early morning migration largely involved Siskins, Chaffinches, Linnets, Goldfinches and Corvids but a flock of Thrushes involved 5 Fieldfare and a Ring Ouzel and there were at least 2 Woodlarks, one moving south and another mobile around the Reserve in full song. A Ring-necked Parakeet was seen around the Plantation. Later in the morning raptors started to move, including 4 Common Buzzards, 2 Marsh Harrier, 3 Red Kites, 2 Kestrels, 6 Sparrowhawk, a Peregrine and a remarkable 7 Merlin. The Glossy Ibis was seen again around the Freshwater Marsh during the afternoon and early evening, where at least 9 Med Gulls were associating with the Black-headed Gulls. Yesterday's Common Redstart remained in the East Dunes, calling and singing regularly. Other birds around included Caspian Gull on the beach again and a Spoonbill.
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