Gibraltar Point Bird Observatory Blog

June 8th. Overnight rain carried on throughout the day until early evening accompanied by a moderate southerly wind. A brief seawatch resulted in a few Gannets, Sandwich Terns and Common Scoter and a Guillemot.

June 7th. A day of sunny intervals, staying warm with a moderate westerly wind becoming southerly later on bringing overnight rain by dark.

Highlights on the water bodies today were 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Pintail, 1 Little Gull, 2 Spoonbills, a Great White Egret and a Cetti's Warbler.

Birds around included 2 Grasshopper Warbler and a Turtle Dove which flew west.

Today's news mostly concerns moths. A successful moth event for visitors was run by Nige Lound. 260 moths of 63 species were trapped including the first record of Striped Hawk Moth for the Reserve. A Porter's Rustic was only the second here. Later, Sam Wilson found a small colony of Currant Clearwings - another first record for Gibraltar Point.

Little Gull on Tennyson's Sands,
Photo - Jack Hood

Avocets on Tennyson's Sands, 7th June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

Female Pintail, 7th June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

Whitethroat, 7th June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

Chiffchaff, 7th June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

Striped Hawk Moth & Lime Hawk Moth, 7th June 2026
Photo - Nige Lound

Striped Hawk Moth, 7th June 2026
Photo - Nige Lound

Currant Clearwing, 7th June 2026
Photo - Sam Wilson

June 6th. Another cloudy day throughout with occasional rain in a building south south easterly wind, becoming strong by midday and dying down later on.

On the water bodies around the reserve today, there were 64 Shelduck, 3 Shoveler, 8 Gadwall, 35 Mallard, 1 female Pintail, 4 Teal, 7 drake Pochard, 28 Tufted Duck, 12 Little Grebe, 3 Oystercatcher, 61 Avocet, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Ringed Plover, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 141 Black-tailed Godwits, 7 Redshank, 1 Common Tern, 1 2nd calendar year Little Gull, 2 Spoonbill, 1 Great White Egret, 1 Grey Heron and 1 Cetti's Warbler.

Also around today were 600 Swift (South) and another 80+ over the Aylmer Avenue area early on, 1 Cuckoo and 30 House Martins.

An overnight Moth trapping session at Syke's Farm resulted in 146 Moths of 48 Species with the highlight being a Ghost Moth.

Black-tailed Godwits roosting, 6th June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

Greenshank and Little Egret, 6th June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

Spoonbills (Youngster begging for food), 6th June 2026
Photo - David Nutt

Grey Heron, 6th June 2026
Photo - David Nutt

Great White Egret, 6th June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

Drake Pochards and Tufted Ducks and 5 other species, 6th June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

Cuckoo, 6th June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

Ghost Moth, 6th June 2026
Photo - Nige Lound

June 5th. A cloudy day with sunny intervals, staying dry with a strong westerly wind slowing through the day.

Swifts were the main theme of the morning again with a swarm over c580 feeding over the length of the West Dunes from early on, and others arriving form the north and moving through with over 1000 passing through during the morning. A calling Hawfinch flew high south over the West Dunes at 0615hrs and a female type Golden Oriole arrived form the north and flew down the East Dunes at 0830hrs. A Spoonbill arrived form the north-east. 800 Sanderling and 300 Knot were seen distantly on the Haven. Flying north was a Red Kite, and west off Storm Ridge was a Turtle Dove.

A Little Gull was on Tennyson's Sands throughout the day and a Glossy Ibis arrived around mid-day, paused briefly on Jackson's marsh and then flew off south. Also on Tennyson's Sands were 3 Little Ringed Plovers, 141 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Spoonbill, 1 Great White Egret, a female Pintail, 3 drake Pochard. Also around the wash viewpoint was a Yellow Wagtail.

A morning ringing session in East Dunes provided 4 new birds: a Robin, a Great Tit, a Blue Tit and a Dunnock; and retraps: a Dunnock, a Whitethroat, a Wren and a Blackcap.

One of over a 1000 Swifts heading south through the reserve today, 5th June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

Little Ringed Plover, 5th June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

Pintail, 5th June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

Spoonbills, 5th June 2026
Photo - Jack Hood

Roe Deer and fawns on the water bodies, 5th May 2026
Photo - Jack Hood

An over wintered Painted Lady Butterfly, 5th June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

June 4th. A moderate breeze and occasional rain through the day.

A light Swift passage during the morning recorded 330 moving south. Offshore 1 Eider, 2 Auk sp, 2 Fulmar and 3 Gannet were seen in a brief sea-watch along with 16 Turnstone (South).

On the water bodies around the reserve were 81 Shelduck, 4 Shoveler, 12 Gadwall, 22 Mallard, 2 Teal, 16 Tufted Duck, 5 Pochard, 12 Little Grebe, 58 Avocet, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 131 Black-tailed Godwits, a Little Gull, 2 Spoonbill and 1 Great White Egret.

Other birds around included a Red Kite, a Cuckoo and 2 Cetti's Warblers (Mill Hill and North Hide), 1 Grasshopper Warbler (Mill Pond Road). Also the breeding Shoveler pair still have three chicks on Tennyson's Sands.

Little Gull on Tennyson's Sands, 4th June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

Avocet family enjoying the sunshine, 4th June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

Great White Egret, 4th June 2026
Photo - Jack Hood

Spoonbill wolfing down something big! 4th June 2026
Photo - Jack Hood

Drake Pochards with Shelducks and Tufted Ducks, 4th June 2026
Photo - Nige Lound

Shoveler with Chicks, 4th June 2026
Photo - Nige Lound

Swift heading through towards the south, 4th June 2026
Photo - Jack Hood

June 3rd. A cloudy day with sunny intervals after a patch of rain overnight. A strong westerly wind was blowing throughout the day.

A young male Golden Oriole was singing and showing at times in the East Dunes.

On the water bodies were a Ruff, 8 Redshank, 3 Little Ringed Plover, 4 Pochard and 2 Spoonbill. 8 Swift went south. A Little Gull was on Tennyson's Sands during the late afternoon. On the beach 8 Turnstone were about with 2500 Sanderling, 1500 Oystercatcher, 500 Knot, 80 Bar-tailed Godwits and 40 Dunlin.

Southern Marsh Orchids and Bee Orchids are now in flower.

A morning ringing session in East Dunes produced 6 new birds: a Blackcap and 5 Dunnock; and 3 retrap Whitethroat.

Male Golden Oriole in the East Dunes, 3rd June 2026
Photo - Kev Wilson

Avocet and Little Ringed Plover, 3rd June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

Drake Pochard and Mute Swan, 3rd June 2026
Photo - Tom Baker

Overnight moth trapping at Syke's Farm resulted in this Pale Shouldered Brocade Moth.

3rd June 2026, Photo - Jade Haddon

Southern Marsh Orchid, 2nd June 2026
Photo - Kev Wilson

Bee Orchid, 2nd June 2026
Photo - Kev Wilson

Bracket Fungus near Syke's Farm, 3rd June 2026
Photo - Jack Hood

June 2nd. A cloudy day throughout with light rain/drizzle for much of it in a light south-westerly breeze. An impressive thunderstorm rolled through in the early evening.

Few people were venturing out around the reserve today due to the prolonged rain so records were few and far between. However on the water bodies were 2 Little Ringed Plover, 1 drake Pochard, 2 Spoonbill, a Great White Egret and 6 Reed Warbler.

A thunder storm rolling through the reserve just before evening, 2nd June 2026
Photo - Jack Hood

Great White Egret being chased off a by a Coot, 2nd June 2026
Photo - David Nutt

Avocets, 2nd June 2026
Photo - Jack Hood

Avocet in flight, 2nd June 2026
Photo - David Nutt

Redshank, 2nd June 2026
Photo - Jack Hood

Black-tailed Godwit, 2nd June 2026
Photo - Jack Hood

A Speckled Wood Butterfly, 1st June 2026
Photo - David Nutt

A Common Blue Butterfly, 1st June 2026
Photo - David Nutt

A Brimstone Butterfly, 1st June 2026
Photo - David Nutt

A Red Admiral Butterfly, 1st June 2026
Photo - David Nutt

June 1st. A bright start to the day, clouding over later on and staying warm in a light southerly breeze.

Early news concerned the Golden Oriole singing again early morning only, a very late Redwing calling close to the reserve entrance and a Hepatic Cuckoo seen over Fenella Hope Hide flying towards the West Dunes. Also around was a Turtle Dove.

A morning ringing session in East Dunes resulted in 2 new birds: a Chiffchaff and a Linnet; and 3 retraps: 2 Whitethroat and a Blue Tit.

The fourth session of CES was done this morning by James Siddle and Ian Thompson. The 10 new birds were a Chiffchaff, a Long-tailed Tit, 7 Robins and a Whitethroat; and the 11 retraps were a Robin, a Long-tailed Tit, 5 Chiffchaff, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Blackbird, a Blackcap and a Wren.

From the Archives.

Some old monthly reports have come to light. Interesting to read the following highlights from May 1975

- The top two species ringed during the month were Tree Sparrow (33) and Redpoll (20) - prior to going full circle with Redpoll taxonomy. The rarities section features Rustic Bunting but also a single record of Sparrowhawk that month when they were still extremely rare.