July 20th. Quite sunny, with light southerly wind, becoming very warm.
Again, Sandwich Terns were a feature, with internationally important numbers present on the Haven and fishing offshore with others moving south into the Wash. Some very good news came from the Little Tern colony where 15 juveniles have now fledged. We are grateful to the dedicated team of staff and volunteers that cover all aspects of the Shorebird Protection Scheme at Gibraltar Point NNR.
Gull numbers are building up and the first juvenile Mediterranean Gulls (3) and juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls (2) were noted today. 8 Arctic Skuas were seen, and a first-summer skua initially in the company of an Arctic Skua was thought to be a Long-tailed Skua. It flew inland towards the lagoons.
Two Cattle Egrets flew south into the Wash early morning. Flocks of Knot, Sanderling and Bar-tailed Godwit were passing south with over 300 Swallow and 100 Sand Martin. The highlight of vis mig though was a male Hen Harrier that passed south-east over the Wash towards Norfolk.
Later in the morning presumably the same two Cattle Egrets was with the Cows on Croft Marsh with one showing very well around Moat Scrape early afternoon. Jackson's Marsh held 5 Snipe, a Green Sandpiper, a Great White Egret and a Grey Heron. An impressive Whimbrel passage in the evening involved flocks of 80 and 60 heading south 10 minutes apart, having been tracked down the coast from Mablethorpe.
A good day for insects involved a Tawny Wave trapped overnight, a Brown Hawker in East Dunes and White-letter Hairstreaks feeding on Ragwort flowers in West Dunes.
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Common Tern, 20th July 2024. Photo - Ste Taylor |
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Golden Plover, 20th July 2024. Photo - Ste Taylor |
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Tawny Wave,20th July 2024. Photo - Nige Lound |
July 19th. Mostly sunny, with light south-easterly wind, becoming warm.
An excellent morning for birds moving overland and over the sea with a total of 90 species being recorded in two hours, mostly from Mill Hill up to 0830hrs, although on the negative side, the seemingly early departure of many adult Swallows was witnessed.
During the morning the Wash held 3500+ Sandwich Terns with 2 Mediterranean Gulls, while hunting them were 2 Peregrines. 3 Marsh Harriers were also over the saltmarsh. Also, flying into the Wash were an adult Pomarine Skua, 600 more Sandwich Tern, a Shoveler and 4 Wigeon. The Scaup was again present with the Scoter flock before flying North and one or two Cattle Egrets were reported in long vegetation around the cattle on Croftmarsh.
The Green Woodpecker was again in the Plantation, whilst, somewhat unusual at Gibraltar Point nowadays, a House Sparrow was at the Yacht Club. Also around were a Great White Egret, a Water Rail (Fenland Lagoon), a Grey Wagtail, 6 Arctic Skua, 2 Grasshopper Warbler and 5 Greenshank. On Jackson's Marsh in the trees by the pumping station there were 11 Little Egret and another Great White Egret.
During the evening a strange sight was witnessed on the Mere where a Common Tern was seen repeatedly trying to get 2 Black-Headed Gull fledglings on the water to take a small white bait fish from it. The over powering maternal feelings of the Tern appeared to be making it mistake the 2 gulls for its own nestlings.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes provided 8 new birds: 3 Wren, 2 Chiffchaff, a Blackcap and 2 Whitethroat; and a retrap Wren.
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Arctic Skua, 19th July 2024. Photo - Ste Taylor |
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Little Tern, 19th July 2024. Photo - Ste Taylor |
July 18th. Mostly sunny, with light southerly wind, becoming warm.
During the morning there were 17 Spoonbill on Tennyson's Sands.
From Mill Hill on the afternoon high tide there were no roosting terns due to somebody sunbathing on the Greenshank's Creek roost site. The Common Scoter flock didn't seem to mind though and although the flock had reduced to 80 birds, the male Scaup was still amongst the raft. Greenshanks Creek held 17 Spoonbills and 4 Little Egret. Sandwich Terns were moving south offshore and attracting up to 3 Arctic Skuas. A Water Rail was vocal and eventually seen along the Mill Pond Road drains.
Tennyson's Sands over the high tide in the afternoon held another 9 Spoonbill at the same time making 26 on site. There were also 225 Black-tailed Godwit, 120 Avocet, 113 Lapwing, the usual moulting Spotted Redshank and a Common Tern, while the usual Water Rail was vocal from Harvey's Hide.
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Arctic Skua and Sandwich Tern, 18th July 2024. Photo - Ste Taylor |
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Arctic Skua, 18th July 2024. Photo - Ste Taylor |
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Arctic Skua, 18th July 2024. Photo - Ste Taylor |
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Red-tipped Clearwing moth, a NEW species for the reserve 18th July 2024. Photo - Nige Lound |
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| Very young Weasel, found on the Cycle Track, released in a safe place nearby, 18 July 2024. Photo - George Gregory |
July 17th. Mostly sunny, with light variable winds, becoming warm.
Birds around during the morning included a Marsh Harrier, whilst a Wood Sandpiper was showing well but elusively from Fenella Hope Hide. From Harvey's Hide there were 23 Spoonbill, 209 Black-tailed Godwit, 120 Avocet, 10 Redshank and the remaining moulting summer-plumaged Spotted Redshank. A Grasshopper Warbler was reeling and showing well from the West Lagoon Hide at 1100hrs. A Great White Egret was reported on Jackson's Marsh during the course of the day.
Interestingly one of the Spoonbills on Tennyson's Sands was the colour-ringed bird first seen on Tennyson's Sands on 24th June that was originally ringed in the Netherlands in May 2018 as a pullus. Since its last visit to us it had travelled up to Fairburn Ings, Yorkshire (30th June and 8th July). It has now come to be known that it was first seen in the UK at Goldcliff Pools, Newport, Wales two days before it arrived at Gibraltar Point - quite the wanderer! These records easily demonstrate the usefulness of colour-ringing such a species to build up a picture of movements.
A look at the sea from Mill Hill late afternoon produced 250 Sandwich Terns in the roost on Greenshanks Creek along with 300+ Knot and 100+ Dunlin. On the sea the raft of Common Scoter had increased to 100 and now included the male Scaup last seen on the 13th and 14th July. It showed well for over 45 minutess and was seen by several observers. Also 2 Spoonbill flew out towards Norfolk.
Fenland Lagoon held 5 Avocet and 3 Greenshank, while on Tennyson's Sands from the Fenella Hope Hide there was an increase in the Black-tailed Godwit flock which had increased to 285 birds, whilst conversely Avocet numbered just 61.
At least 10 Little Tern juveniles have now fledged form the colony.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes produced 9 new birds: a Wren, 2 Blackcap, a Goldfinch, 3 Whitethroat and 2 Dunnock; and 4 retraps: a Lesser Whitethroat, a Wren, a Whitethroat and a Dunnock.
The spell of warm, sunny weather has started to see a more encouraging number of butterflies on the wing including newly emerged Gatekeepers and a Painted Lady.
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Little Tern, 17th July 2024. Photo - Ste Taylor |
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Wood Sandpiper, 17th July 2024. Photo - Paul Neale  Wood Sandpiper, 17th July 2024. Photo - Paul Neale  Black-tailed Godwit, 17th July 2024. Photo - Paul Neale  Gatekeeper, 17th July 2024. Photo - Paul Neale  Painted Lady, 17th July 2024. Photo - Rob Watson |
July 16th. A very wet start with prolonged rain in the morning including some heavy downpours, with a very light breeze from the south-south-west.
A number of Swifts flew south when the rain eased. At the north end of Tennyson's Sands there were 4 Greenshank early in the day. Late afternoon on Greenshanks Creek there were 200+ Sandwich Terns and 300+ waders - mainly Knot roosting, while on the sea just North of Mill Hill there was a group of 80+ Common Scoter, and another group of 30 flew north out of the Wash. At the Wash Viewpoint a Short-eared Owl hunted briefly.
Also late afternoon from Harvey's Hide there were 119 Black-tailed Godwit, 52 Lapwing, 30 Avocet, 30 Redshank, a Spotted Redshank, 3 Common Sandpiper, a Green Sandpiper, a Common Tern, 2 Cormorant, a female Pintail, and a large increase in Teal to 117. Also a Marsh Harrier hunted the reedbed before moving off towards the estuary. A Grasshopper Warbler was reeling half way along the golf course in the East Dunes.
During the evening the Green Woodpecker was again vocal in the Plantation whilst a Spoonbill went north over Old Saltmarsh.
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Grasshopper Warbler. Photo - Bob Derry |
Birds around included a Sparrowhawk, whilst 2 Kingfishers were reported on the Lagoons. On the Mere there were 6 Tufted Duck ducklings with their mother. At Sykes Farm 4 White-letter Hairstreak Butterflies were again showing during the morning. Offshore up to 650 Sandwich Terns were in the tern roost whilst a Green Woodpecker was first in the East Dunes before probably the same bird was later in the Plantation, before flying towards the West Dunes. This was presumably the same bird that was ringed early on at the Observatory (see below).
Later in the day up-to 70 Common Scoter were on the sea just north of Mill Hill. In the late afternoon Tennyson's Sands and Moat Scrape held 96 Lapwing, 11 Avocet, 4 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Oystercatcher, a Common Tern, a Pochard, a Spoonbill, a Little Ringed Plover, a Greenshank, a Green Sandpiper and a Spotted Redshank, which is now moulting its summer plumage.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes resulted in 11 new birds: 2 Wren, 2 Blackcap, 3 Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, a Dunnock and a Green Woodpecker; and 7 retraps: 2 Wren, 2 Whitethroat, a Great Tit and 2 Dunnock.
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Sparrowhawk, 15th July 2024. Photo - Tony Foster |
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| Green Woodpecker, ringed 15 July 2024. Photo - George Gregory |
July 14th. Continuous low cloud with intermittent drizzle and comparatively cold.
Coverage was mostly limited to sea-watching in the poor weather but this proved productive. The male Scaup was still with the Scoter flock close in and a further 50 Common Scoter headed north. Three Arctic Skuas arrived from the north and settled on the beach while another 2 were on the sand bars and three more passed south into the Wash. Sandwich Tern numbers were as yesterday but there as an increase in Gannets fishing and moving south offshore. During the morning on Tennyson's Sands there were 17 Spoonbill, 151 Avocet, 171 Black-tailed Godwit, a Spotted Redshank and a Common Gull. Later on 8 Spoonbill arrived from off the sea and landed on the River Haven viewable from the Wash View Point.
July 13th. Another overcast day within intermittent drizzle/rain with a slight breeze from the west-north-west.
There was a noticeable increase of Sandwich Terns, with up to 130 roosting on the beach and others moving offshore with several Common Terns and 4 Arctic Terns. 2 Roseate Terns were found within the tern roost before they moved north, calling frequently. A male Scaup joined the raft of 60 Common Scoter on the sea with further flocks of Scoter totaling 130 moving north. 30 Gannet and 2 Arctic Skua also headed north.
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Roseate Tern in flight with Sandwich Terns, 13th July 2024. Photo - Kev Wilson |
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Barn Owl, 13th July 2024. Photo - Jack Hood |
July 12th. Another cloudy day with outbreaks of drizzle with an increasing northerly breeze.
During the morning on Tennyson's Sands there were 8 Greenshank present, whilst in the afternoon there were 76 Lapwing, 38 Black-tailed Godwit, 6 Redshank, a summer-plumaged Spotted Redshank, a Snipe and a Dunlin. Up to 50 House Martins were hawking in between the cold drizzly showers. 2 Common Tern were also reported on Tennyson's Sands during the day. Around was a Barn Owl.
The eighth session of CES was done this morning. The 4 new birds were 2 Chiffchaff and 2 Dunnock; and the 2 retraps were a Blackbird and a Wren.
July 11th. Drizzly spells, with light northerly to north-easterly wind.
25 Common Scoter were reported flying south into the Wash during the day. Jackson's Marsh held a Green Sandpiper and a Snipe mid afternoon. Later a visit to Harvey's Hide during the afternoon revealed that wader numbers had dropped somewhat with just 17 Redshank, 17 Black-tailed Godwit, 26 Avocet and 4 Greenshank left but Lapwing had increased in number to exactly 100. A Marsh Harrier appeared hunting the Jackson's Marsh side of the river bank at about 1730hrs, whilst a Common Tern was still feeding on the lagoon, and up to 100 House Martins were hawking at the same time. Later the Montagu's Harrier was seen hunting over New Saltmarsh towards the Outer Ridge at 1820hrs.
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Great Spotted Woodpecker, 11th July 2024. Photo - Jack Hood |
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Greenshanks with Mallards, 11th July 2024. Photo - Jack Hood |