June 18th. Mostly cloudy, with light variable wind, becoming easterly.
On the water bodies around the reserve were 23 Gadwall, 41 Mallard, 2 Pochard (Drakes), 24 Tufted Ducks, 107 Avocet, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 18 Lapwings, 94 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 Green Sandpiper, 34 Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 1 Dunlin, 11 Spoonbill, 9 Little Egret and 2 Grey Heron.
Also around were 4 Swift, a Cuckoo, a hunting Barn Owl, a Kingfisher and 100 Jackdaw!
A morning ringing session in East Dunes produced 15 new birds: 2 Chiffchaff, a Long-tailed Tit, a Willow Warbler, a Robin, 4 Whitethroat, a Goldfinch, a Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Great Tit, a Coal Tit and a Dunnock; and 6 retraps: a Chiffchaff, 4 Whitethroat and a Wren.
Insects of note included two Red-veined Darters and the first Humming-bird Hawk Moth of the year,
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| Avocets, 18th June 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
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| Black-tailed Godwits, 18th June 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
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| Greenshank, 18th June 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
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| Spoonbill trio arrival, 18th June 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
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| x11 Spoonbills together on Tennyson's Sands, 18th June 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
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| Black-tailed Skimmer, 18th June 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
Birds around included a Cuckoo, a Barn Owl and a Grey Wagtail. On the water bodies around the reserve were a Common Sandpiper, 6 Spoonbill and a Dunlin.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes yielded 14 new birds: a Wren, a Chiffchaff, a Robin, 5 Whitethroat, a Great Tit, a Blackcap, a Blue Tit, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Dunnock and a Magpie; and 2 retraps: a Wren and a Whitethroat.
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| Lapwing in flight, 17th June 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
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| Avocet guarding Shelduck chicks whilst mum sleeps, 17th June 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
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| Avocet still guarding Shelduck chicks, 17th June 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
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| Common Sandpiper, 17th June 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
On the water bodies around the reserve today were 2 Egyptian Geese, 33 Gadwall, 2 drake Pochard, 114 Avocet, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 92 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 2CY Mediterranean Gull, 6 Spoonbill, 6 Little Egret, 2 Great White Egret (North over Croft Marsh at 6.40am) and 1 Grey Heron.
Other birds around included 22 Swift (South), 1 Cuckoo, 1 Red Kite (High North at 7.57am), 1 Buzzard, 1 Barn Owl, 3 Kestrel, 14 Skylark, 30 House Martin, 1 Mistle Thrush, 1 Grey Wagtail (On the river near the Visitor Centre) and 1 Yellowhammer.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes provided 10 new birds: 2 Wren, 2 Chiffchaff, a Linnet, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Reed Bunting, 2 Dunnock and a Sparrowhawk; 5 retraps: a Great Tit, 2 Dunnock, a Dunnock and a Chaffinch; and a control Blackcap.
Ringing Control: Blackcap ringed as a juvenile male at Fordham, Norfolk on 7th September 2024 and controlled today at the Observatory 16th June 2025. A movement of 61km over 282 days although it is likely that this bird has migrated a considerable distance somewhere to the South in between these two captures.
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| 2CY male Sparrowhawk in early primary and tail moult, ringed 16 June 2025. Photo - George Gregory |
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| Juvenile Grey Wagtail on the river near Visitor Centre, 16th June 2025 Photo - Nigel Lound |
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| Juvenile Grey Wagtail on the river near Visitor Centre, 16th June 2025 Photo - Nigel Lound |
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| Male Yellowhammer, 16th June 2025 Photo - Nigel Lound |
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| Little Ringed Plover, 16th June 2025 Photo - Mike Watts |
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| Egyptian Goose, 16th June 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
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| Egyptian Geese, 16th June 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
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| Lapwing, 16th June 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
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| Reed Warbler, 16th June 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
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| Juvenile Avocets, 16th June 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
Around the reserve were a reeling Grasshopper Warbler (and another one ringed), a Hobby, a Barn Owl and a Cuckoo. Heading south were 13 Crossbill, 8 Swift and 13 Starling.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes, with Mike Polling, produced 25 new birds: 2 Wren, a Willow Warbler, a Robin, a Chaffinch, 10 Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 6 Great Tit, a Blackbird and a Woodpigeon; and 2 retraps: a Dunnock and a Great Tit.
Meanwhile over in the West Dunes a total of 68 new birds and 12 retraps were processed with the fifth session of the Constant Effort Site completed, which resulted in 48 new birds: 1 Wren, 2 Willow Warbler, 8 Chiffchaff, 1 Swallow, 6 Robin, 9 Great Tit, 6 Blue Tit, 2 Reed Warbler, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 5 Whitethroat, 2 Chaffinch, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Dunnock and 1 Greenfinch; and 8 retraps: 3 Chiffchaff, 1 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Great Tit, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Chaffinch and 1 Dunnock.
The West Dunes feeding station was also opened and resulted in 18 new birds: 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Long-tailed Tit, 3 Great Tit, 1 Blue Tit, 11 Chaffinch, 5 Goldfinch and 2 Greenfinch; and 4 retraps: 2 Blue Tit, 1 Chaffinch and 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker.
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| Juvenile Grasshopper Warbler (With outside tail feathers still growing), 15th June 2025 Photo - Michael Briggs |
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| Juvenile Grasshopper Warbler, 15th June 2025 Photo - Michael Briggs |
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| Colour Ringed Spoonbill ND9L was back on Tennyson's Sands previously mentioned on the blog on the 10th June after being present on the May 30th. Photo - 15th June 2025 Bethany McGuire |
A sea watch produced 15 Gannet (South), 10 Common Scoter (South), 4 Little Tern and 2 Sandwich Tern (North). On Tennyson's Sands were 8 Spoonbill. Birds around included 22 Swift (South), a Barn Owl, 2 Cuckoo, 1 Grasshopper Warbler and 1 Kingfisher (Mill Pond).
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| Sedge Warbler, 14th June 2025 Photo - Mike Watts |
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| Roe Deer and family, 14th June 2025 Photo - Mike Watts |
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| Roe Deer with family trailing along behind, 14th June 2025 Photo - Mike Watts |
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| Roe Deer and family, 14th June 2025 Photo - Mike Watts |
On the water bodies around the reserve were 2 Egyptian Geese, 26 Gadwall, 101 Avocet, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 22 Lapwing, 86 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Green Sandpiper, 7 Redshank, 1 2Y Mediterranean Gull, 6 Spoonbill, 12 Little Egret, 1 Great White Egret and a Grey Heron.
Also around the reserve were 5 Sandwich Terns, 24 Swift (South), 1 Barn Owl, 2 Cuckoo, 2 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel, 16 Starling (South), 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 Stonechat and 11 Pied Wagtail.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes resulted in 10 new birds: 2 Wren, a Blue Tit, a Goldfinch, a Great Tit, a Robin, 2 Whitethroat and 2 Dunnock; and 4 retraps: 2 Great Tit, a Wren and a Whitethroat.
Ringing Control: A colour-ringed Avocet that was present on Tennyson's Sands with 102 other Avocets on the 11th June 2025 has been found to have been originally ringed on the 10th July 2019 in Dehesilla, Cadiz, Spain. So has travelled at least 1972km to get to Gibraltar Point! After being seen in southern France just North of Biarritz on the Bay of Biscay Coast on the 25th August 2022. It was next seen in Lincolnshire on the 6th and 8th May 2023 near Mablethorpe and again on the 14th April 2024 near Saltfleetby before now turning up at Gibraltar Point on Tennyson's Sands.
Again this life history from a simple set of colour-rings show the power of colour-ringing birds that are likely to be seen through binoculars and telescopes repeatedly so building up a life history of an individual. Amazing to think then that even the Avocets that we take for granted on the reserve as local birds are actually not all local birds and may indeed have travelled for many years and huge distances to get to where they are now! Many thanks to our colour-ring recorder Nigel Lound for this series of records.
June 12th. Mostly clear, with increasing south-easterly wind.
Highlight of the day involved one lucky observer who found 2 Bee-eaters heading South down the East Dunes at 12.53hrs. He managed a couple of distant photos for the record and a short audio recorded. On the water bodies around the reserve were 91 Shelduck, 19 Gadwall, 24 Tufted Duck, 14 Little Grebe, 105 Avocet, 51 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Spoonbill, 1 Great White Egret and 1 Grey Heron.
Elsewhere around the reserve there were a Green Sandpiper (Flying over the West Dunes during the evening), 5 Swift (Trickling South), 2 Cuckoos, 1 Buzzard, 1 Barn Owl, 1 Kestrel, a Spotted Flycatcher (North end of West Dunes during the evening) and a Siskin (In the Plantation).
A wind-shortened morning ringing session in East Dunes provided 2 new birds: a Whitethroat and a Dunnock; and 2 retrap Dunnock.
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| Bee-eater, 12th June 2025 Photo - Dan Langstone |
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| Bee-eater, 12th June 2025 Photo - Dan Langstone |
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| A sun bathing Wren, 12th June 2025 Photo - Mike Watts |
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| Meadow Pipit, 12th June 2025 Photo - Mike Watts |
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| Grey Squirrel, 12th June 2025 Photo - Mike Watts |
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| Four Spotted Chaser Dragonfly, 12th June 2025 Photo - Mike Watts |
This morning the Observatory ringer-in-charge George Gregory was blessed to find a second calendar year male Eastern Subalpine Warbler in a net during ringing operations in the East Dunes early morning. The bird was released quickly after ringing as it was clearly freshly arrived. Unfortunately no other birders managing to see it.
Incredibly this follows on from a Western Subalpine Warbler which was present for one day, just around the corner from the Observatory building in mid April. This is the 2nd Eastern form of the species ringed at the Observatory following on from the first one back on the 30th April 2019 which was confirmed from DNA analysis. It is the 5th occurrence of Subalpine Warbler on the Reserve. With just 13 Lincolnshire records, it would seem Gibraltar Point is cementing itself as the best place in the county to find one of these incredible rare warblers.
On the water bodies around the reserve were 75 Shelduck, 21 Gadwall, 34 Tufted Duck, 101 Avocet, 12 Lapwing, 1 Whimbrel, 90 Black-tailed Godwits, 7 Redshank, 5 Spoonbill, 4 Little Egret and 2 Great White Egret.
Also around were 4 Swift, 4 Cuckoo, a Hobby (South over the Mere at 14.10), a Barn Owl, 16 House Martin and 1 Mistle Thrush.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes produced 21 new birds: a Wren, 6 Long-tailed Tit, an Eastern Subalpine Warbler, 2 Great Tit, 3 Whitethroat, 3 Blue Tit, a Robin and 4 Dunnock; and 4 retraps: 2 Dunnock, a Whitethroat and a Long-tailed Tit.
Ringing Control: Lesser Whitethroat, ringed near North Somercotes, Lincolnshire 21 July 2023, controlled GPBO 27 April 2025. a Movement of 41km over 646 days. However, then you have to factor in that this bird has travelled to sub-Saharan Africa twice for its winter holidays and back again without getting on a plane. Incredible! Now it has to try for a second time to breed successfully to propagate its genes.
Ringing Control: Barn Owl ringed at Rutland Water as a chick on the 7th July 2022 was caught on the 18th May 2025 on CES session no3 (See pic on the blog). Having moved 86km from its original ringing site and survived 1046 days. This is amazingly the same bird that was originally controlled on the reserve on the 5th June 2023 after being found whilst checking nest boxes. It is now in its 3rd breeding season on the reserve after its unusually long journey from Rutland Water. If you look back through the blog to the 7th June 2023, you can see a picture of the bird with its siblings and parents near to where it was hatched at Rutland Water.
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| Second-year male Eastern Subalpine Warbler, ringed 11th June 2025. Photo - George Gregory |
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| Second-year male Eastern Subalpine Warbler, ringed 11th June 2025. Photo - George Gregory |
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| Avocet chick looking nearly fully grown! 11th June 2025 Photo - Jack Hood |
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| Spoonbill and Avocet, 11th June 2025 Photo - Jack Hood |
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| Spoonbills preening, 11th June 2025 Photo - Jack Hood |
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