August 10th. Around, including birds trapped, were a Marsh Harrier, a Sparrowhawk, a Pied Flycatcher, a Spotted Flycatcher and 15 Willow Warbler. On Jackson's Marsh were a Water Rail and a Greenshank; on Tennyson's Sands a Green Sandpiper and a Ruff; and on the Mere, 2 Green Sandpiper, a Common Sandpiper and a Water Rail. Going south were 900 Sandwich Tern, 25 Common Tern, 30 Commic Tern, 4 Greenshank, a Green Sandpiper, an Arctic Skua, 13 Spoonbill and 8 Little Egret.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes, with Liam Andrews, produced 3 new birds: a Willow Warbler, a Sedge Warbler and a Song Thrush; and 2 retraps: a Dunnock and a Chiffchaff.
In the evening the Mere held 5 Greenshank, a single Spotted Redshank and 4 Black-tailed Godwit, whilst a couple of Cetti's Warblers were calling from along Millpond Road just east of the Mere hide. Tennyson's Sands held 9 Greenshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 4 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Green Sandpiper and 13 Spoonbill.
Common Toads and Frogs occur here at very low densities - so it was great to find a Common Toad today.
Common Toad 10th August 2022. Photo - Jim Shaw
Rock Sea Lavender. Photo - Kev Wilson
August 9th. Birds around, including those trapped, were a Whimbrel, 4 Willow Warbler and a Greenfinch. On Tennyson's Sands were 4 Snipe, a Common Sandpiper and 4 Dunlin. A Black Tern flews south.
In the evening there were 4 Black Tailed Godwit, 1 Green Sandpiper and 8 Greenshank on the Mere whilst on Tennyson's Sands there were 2 Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpiper, a single Curlew Sandpiper, 6 Greenshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 6 Black Tailed Godwit, 7 Snipe, a Ruff and 28 Avocet. There were several small family groups of Whitethroat much in evidence along both the east and west dunes and also along mill pond road all seemingly fresh out of the nest with a couple of similarly young family groups of fledgling Reed Warblers along the cycle track
A morning ringing session in East Dunes resulted in 17 new birds: 4 Willow Warbler, a Linnet, 10 Whitethroat, a Blackcap and a Greenfinch; and 9 retraps: a Dunnock, a Great Tit, 3 Long-tailed Tit, a Blackcap, a Chiffchaff, a Whitethroat and a Wren.
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| Greenfinch, ringed 9 August 2022. Numbers here are still very low following the Trichomonosis epidemic. Photo - George Gregory |
A morning ringing session in East Dunes provided 4 new birds: 2 Willow Warbler, a Grasshopper Warbler and a Dunnock; and 4 retraps: 2 Wren, a Robin and a Willow Warbler.
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| Grasshopper Warbler, ringed 8 August 2022. Photo - George Gregory    Photos - Tom Baker |
A morning ringing session in East Dunes, with Liam Andrews, produced 12 new birds: 5 Willow Warbler, 3 Linnet, a Whitethroat, a Reed Warbler, a Sedge Warbler and a Sparrowhawk; and 6 retraps: a Blackcap, a Chiffchaff, a Dunnock, a Linnet and 2 Wren.
Willow Emerald Damselflies can be seen often perched on dead branches around the Plantation.
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| Sparrowhawk, ringed 7 August 2022. Photo - George Gregory  Photo - Richard Brown   Photos - Steve Clipperton  Photo - Steve Clipperton |
A morning ringing session in East Dunes resulted in 7 new birds: a Willow Warbler, 2 Linnet, 3 Whitethroat and a Robin; and 5 retraps: a Blackcap, 2 Wren, a Great Tit and a Whitethroat.
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| Robin, ringed 6 August 2022. Photo - George Gregory  Photo - Ste Taylor  Photo- Steve Clipperton |
August 5th. A quiet morning for passage over land and sea. Around, including birds trapped, were 3 Whimbrel, 9 Lesser Whitethroat, 25 Willow Warbler, a Tree Pipit and the first Merlin of the autumn. On Tennyson's Sands were 20 Spoonbill, 4 Greenshank and 8 Dunlin.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes provided 4 new birds: 2 Wren, a Willow Warbler, a Blackcap and a Whitethroat; and 5 retraps: 3 White, a Dunnock and a Willow Warbler.
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| Willow Warbler, ringed 5 August 2022. Photo - George Gregory .jpg)   Photos - Steve Clipperton   Hoverflies, 5th August 2022. Photos - Steve Clipperton |
In the evening the Mere held 21 Black tailed Godwit, along with singles of Green Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper. Jackson Marsh had 2 Green Sandpiper and a single Common Sandpiper along with 65 Avocet. A juvenile Cuckoo was taking grief from Avocets in-between Jacksons Marsh and Tennyson's Sands whilst on Tennyson's Sands there were 4 Snipe, 2 Green Sandpiper, 3 Common Sandpiper, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 4 Black tailed Godwit, 28 Avocet, 3 Greenshank and a Spotted Redshank. The East Dunes had a group of 12 Long Tailed Tits accompanied by 6 Willow Warblers with various areas of both Dune systems holding further small numbers of Chiff Chaff and Willow Warblers. 6 Kestrels were hunting on the reserve.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes produced 14 new birds: 5 Willow Warbler, a Wren, 4 Whitethroat, a Garden Warbler, a Linnet, a Dunnock and a Blackbird; and 4 retraps: 2 Chiffchaff, a Whitethroat and a Dunnock.
A morning ringing session at Aylmer Avenue, by Mike Polling, produced 14 new birds: a Chiffchaff, a Willow Warbler, 4 Whitethroat, a Cetti's Warbler, a Blackcap, a Dunnock, a Song Thrush, 3 Blackbird and a Great Spotted Woodpecker; and 3 retraps: a Goldcrest, a Blackbird and a Dunnock.
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| Garden Warbler, ringed 4 August 2022. Photo - George Gregory  Photo - Steve Clipperton  |
Highlights of an early morning seawatch were a flock of 6 Goosander moving south and 5 Arctic Skua moving south close in: two dark phase adults together followed by three pale phase adults.
Around were 2 Whimbrel and 2 Spoonbill (beach). On Jackson's Marsh were a Common Sandpiper and a Spotted Redshank; and on Tennyson's Sands a Little Ringed Plover, 2 Green Sandpiper, a Greenshank, a Common Sandpiper, 4 Snipe, 8 Dunlin and 21 Spoonbill. Heading south were good numbers of Swift and Hirundines.
In the late afternoon/early evening there was a build up of Hirundines, peaking at 500 Swallow over the Old Saltmarsh, 750 Swallow over the freshwater bodies and West Dunes with small numbers of House Martin mixed in with them. Whilst a further 500 Swallow were to be found on the foreshore down from Mill Hill, this group could be found often relaxing in the late afternoon sun on the shingle in one big flock before occasionally being disturbed by a menacing Larid. A single Spoonbill was feeding in Greenshanks Creek. The Mere meanwhile held a single Green Sandpiper and 14 Black-tailed Godwit. Over on Tennyson's Sands there were 4 Snipe, 4 Black-tailed Godwit, 22 Avocet, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Common Sandpiper, a single Spotted Redshank and 4 Spoonbill.
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Lots of flying ants emerging in the afternoon sun were the reason for the build of Hirundines on the Reserve with the South Marsh Road being covered in them early evening. Photo - Michael Briggs |
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| Swallows in Hawthorn in West Dunes late afternoon following a flying ant emergence. Photo - Michael Briggs |
August 2nd. Moderately strong south-westerly wind, with mid morning rain.
Birds around included 2 Whimbrel. On Tennyson's Sands were 2 Snipe, a Green Sandpiper, a Greenshank and 30 Spoonbill. Flying south early morning were 500 Swift.
In the evening there were small parties of Swift (20) and Swallow (40) moving south through East Dunes between 8pm and 9pm. On the Mere there were 8 Black-tailed Godwit and singles of both Wood Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper. Tennyson's Sands held 4 Little Ringed Plover, 3 Green Sandpiper and 2 Common Sandpiper, 3 Snipe and 3 Greenshank.
August 1st. Another very good morning for waders arriving and moving south along the shore during the early morning; 478 Knot, 358 Oystercatcher, 317 Dunlin, 186 Redshank, 181 Sanderling and 102 Whimbrel being the main species involved. 7 Little Ringed Plover south was a notable count - a further 10 were feeding on the waterbodies. Additionally, on Jackson's Marsh were a Common Sandpiper and 2 Green Sandpiper; and on Tennyson's Sands, 3 Common Sandpiper, a Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Green Sandpiper, 5 Greenshank and 16 Spoonbill.
At sea, 520 Sandwich Tern moved south with single Arctic Skua and Grey Heron whilst 22 Manx Shearwater and an Arctic Tern moved north.
In the evening the very dark juvenile Marsh Harrier was hunting over the Old Saltmarsh, whilst on the Mere there were singles of Common Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit and Greenshank.
A morning ringing session at Aylmer Avenue, including the tenth session of CES, with Liam Andrews and Kyle Campbell, was done this morning. The 46 new birds were 5 Wren, 2 Chiffchaff, 8 Blackcap, 9 Whitethroat, a Linnet, a Goldfinch, 6 Great Tit, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Cetti's Warbler, a Reed Warbler, 4 Dunnock, a Song Thrush and 6 Blackbird; and the 16 retraps were 2 Blackcap, 2 Wren, 2 Whitethroat, a Blue Tit, a Blackbird, 2 Great Tit, 3 Chiffchaff, a Robin, a Dunnock and a Sedge Warbler.
A White-letter Hairstreak was photographed along the Cycletrack.
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| Juvenile Cetti's Warbler, ringed 1 August 2022. Photo - George Gregory  Photo- Steve Hibbard  |