A morning ringing session in East Dunes produced 14 new birds: 7 Willow Warbler, 2 Linnet, a Robin, a Blackcap, a Reed Warbler, a Whitethroat and a Song Thrush; and 11 retraps: 2 Robin, 3 Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, a Blackcap, 3 Dunnock and a Wren.
August 19th. Moderate westerly wind, brief light rain mid morning.
Around was a Marsh Harrier, a Wood Sandpiper and a Redstart. On Tennyson Sands was a Mediterranean Gull.
The eleventh session of CES was done this morning. The 23 new birds were a Wren, 6 Willow Warbler, 4 Blackcap, 3 Whitethroat, 2 Great Tit, a Blue Tit, a Robin, 4 Dunnock and a Song Thrush. The 10 retraps were a Blackcap, 2 Whitethroat, 6 Blue Tit and a Great Tit.
August 18th. Moderately strong westerly wind.
Birds around included 2 Hobby, 2 Green Woodpecker, 2 Ruff, a Wheatear and a Marsh Harrier. On Tennyson Sands was a Mediterranean Gull. Moving south were 65 Swallow, 10 Sand Martin and 4 House Martin.
A restricted morning ringing session in East Dunes yielded 13 new birds: 8 Willow Warbler, a Robin, a Sedge Warbler, a Linnet, a Lesser Whitethroat and a Whitethroat; and 4 retraps: a Linnet, a Robin and 2 Dunnock.
August 17th. Increasingly strong north westerly wind, brief light rain shower mid morning.
Around were 8 Marsh Harrier, a Greenshank, 3 Wheatear and a Whinchat. Going south over land were 75 Swallow, 8 Sand Martin and a Yellow Wagtail, and north offshore 168 Manx Shearwater, a Sooty Shearwater and 15 Gannet.
A restricted morning ringing session in East Dunes provided 13 new birds: a Wren, a Willow Warbler, a Robin, 5 Linnet, a Reed Warbler, a Sedge Warbler, a Whitethroat, a Lesser Whitethroat and a Blackcap; and 7 retraps: 4 Whitethroat,a Robin and 2 Dunnock.
August 16th.
Birds around included 3 Whinchat, 60 Willow Warbler, a Spotted Flycatcher, a Peregrine, 5 Marsh Harrier, a Buzzard and a Spotted Redshank. Flying south were 3 Tree Pipit, 8 Sand Martin, 3 Swift and 5 Swallow.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes produced 28 new birds: 17 Willow Warbler, 5 Robin, a Blackcap, 3 Whitethroat, a Dunnock and a Blackbird; and a retrap Dunnock.
August 15th. Increasing north-westerly wind.
Around were a Wood Sandpiper, a Greenshank, a Whimbrel, 2 Marsh Harrier and a Peregrine. South went 150 Swallow, 50 Sand Martin, and 15 Yellow Wagtail. This evening at sea a Sooty Shearwater flew north, and south a Great Skua, 4 Gannet, 50 Common Scoter, a Red-throated Diver, 1500 Sandwich Tern, 2 Arctic Tern and 1029 Common Tern.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes, with James Siddle, was reasonable. The 27 new birds were 15 Willow Warbler, a Blackcap, 2 Robin, a Linnet, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, a Sedge Warbler, a Reed Warbler, a Dunnock and a Blackbird. The 9 retraps were a Blackcap, a Wren, a Willow Warbler, 3 Dunnock and 3 Whitethroat.
One of the retrap Dunnock was ringed as a 3J (juvenile) on 8 July. Today, expectedly, it showed a dull eye and remnants of yellow gape flange (both juvenile features), and was replacing juvenile feathers in head moult. However, unusually, it was in main wing and tail moult. The left wing was almost completely symmetrical with the right wing shown in the photograph.
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| First-year Dunnock in main moult. Notice how fresh the outer, unmoulted primaries are. Retrapped 15 August 2015. Photo - George Gregory |
A morning ringing session in East Dunes was productive. The 55 new birds were 33 Willow Warbler, a Wren, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Reed Warbler, 7 Whitethroat, a Reed Bunting, a Goldfinch, 4 Dunnock, a Skylark and a Mistle Thrush; and the 3 retraps were singles of Lesser Whitethroat, Wren and Dunnock.
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| Juvenile Skylark, ringed 14 August 2014. Photo - George Gregory |
Around, including birds trapped, were 3 Tree Pipit, 2 Whinchat, 2 Wheatear, 7 Yellow Wagtail, 4 Marsh Harrier, a Hobby, a Greenshank and 8 Whimbrel. The Marsh Tit was still present in the Plantation. On Tennyson Sands were 2 Mediterranean Gull and a first winter Yellow-legged Gull. Going south were 40 Swift, 100 Sand Martin, 200 Swallow and 25 House Martin.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes yielded 8 new birds: 4 Willow Warbler, a Whinchat and 3 Whitethroat; 2 retraps: singles of Dunnock and Whitethroat; and a control (ringed elsewhere) Whitethroat.
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| Whinchat, ringed 13 August 2014. Photo - George Gregory |
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| High tide near Bird Observatory, 13 August 2014. Photo - George Gregory |
A White-rumped Sandpiper was discovered on Greenshanks Creek. Birds around included a Marsh Tit (rare here), 4 Wheatear, 4 Redstart, 6 Whimbrel, 4 Common Sandpiper, 3 Green Sandpiper, 2 Wood Sandpiper, 20 Greenshank, 2 Mediterranean Gull, a Green Woodpecker, a Hobby, a Peregrine, a Pink-footed Goose and a Kingfisher. Flying south were a Spoonbill, a possible Pectoral Sandpiper, a Marsh Harrier, 3 Shoveler, 30 Whimbrel, 300 Swift, 500 Sand Martin, 200 Swallow and 30 House Martin.
A restricted morning ringing session in East Dunes provided 6 new birds: 3 Sedge Warbler, 2 Whitethroat and a Lesser Whitethroat; and 4 retraps: singles of Blue Tit, Wren, Dunnock and Blackcap.
August 11th. Strong south-westerly wind.
Around were a Whimbrel, 3 Greenshank, 2 Marsh Harrier, 10 Mistle Thrush, 2 Mediterranean Gull and a Coal Tit. Gradually heading south were 800 Sand Martin, 200 Swallow and 15 House Martin.
No ringing was attempted.
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| One of many southbound juvenile Sand Martin taking a break Photo - Nige Lound |
