October 5th. Partially cloudy, with increasing south-easterly wind.
A Yellow-browed Warbler was trapped and ringed at Aylmer Avenue. Birds around included 8 Brent Geese and a Marsh Harrier.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes, with Jenni Godber, resulted in 31 new birds: 5 Goldcrest, 5 Wren, a Chiffchaff, 6 Long-tailed Tit, 4 Robin, a Cetti's Warbler, 3 Reed Bunting, a Garden Warbler, 4 Blackcap and a Greenfinch; and 13 retraps: 2 Robin, a Goldcrest, a Garden Warbler, 6 Long-tailed Tit, a Dunnock, a Blue Tit and a Great Tit.
A morning ringing session at Aylmer Avenue by Christine Flint and Carole Lunn resulted in 30 new birds: 2 Long-tailed Tit, 10 Goldcrest, 2 Chiffchaff, a Yellow-browed Warbler, a Wren, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Great Tit, 3 Chaffinch, 3 Blackcap, 3 Robin, a Dunnock, a Redwing and a Song Thrush; and retraps: Blackcap, Dunnock and Long-tailed Tit.
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| Lesser Whitethroat, ringed 5 October 2024. Photo - Christine Flint |
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| Yellow-browed Warbler, ringed 5 October 2024. Photo - Christine Flint |
October 4th. A perfectly still start to the day with just scattered broken cloud continuing like this all day.
Overnight clear skies doubtless led to the departure of some of yesterday's birds. However, there were still at least 5 Yellow-browed Warblers present along the west side of the Reserve, including two singles around Sykes Farm/Plantation, another at the north end of the Cycle Track, and another couple along the roadside as you drive onto the reserve. There were still high numbers of Robins and Reed Buntings with a scattering of Song Thrush, Redwing, Goldfinch and a few Swallows.
A Coal Tit was in North Carpark. Around were several Brent Geese, a Marsh Harrier, a Kingfisher and a Short-eared Owl. On Tennyson's Sands from Fenella Hope hide were 2 Whooper Swans and a Cetti's Warbler with Bearded Tits calling there early afternoon. On Tennyson's Sands, late in the afternoon were 2638 Teal, 3 Ruff and the Bearded Tits (numbering at least 2 birds) calling this time, from near Harvey's Hide.
This morning's ringing session in East Dunes provided 55 new birds: 8 Goldcrest, 4 Wren, 11 Long-tailed Tit, 4 Blackcap, 9 Robin, 2 Cetti's Warbler, 3 Chaffinch, 3 Great Tit, a Goldfinch, a Blue Tit, 3 Dunnock, 2 Greenfinch, a Redwing, a Song Thrush, a Blackbird and a Jay; 7 retraps: 2 Wren, a Goldcrest, a Dunnock, a Great Tit, a Robin and a Long-tailed Tit; and a control Blackcap with a BRUSSELS ring.
A late morning start ringing session at Aylmer Avenue by Christine Flint and Carole Lunn provided 11 new birds: 3 Goldcrest, a Willow Warbler, a Chiffchaff, a Long-tailed Tit, a Meadow Pipit, 2 Blackcap, a Goldfinch and a Robin; and 2 retraps: a Great Tit and a Robin.
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Water Rail, 4th October 2024. Photo - Paul Neale |
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Cetti's warbler, 4th October 2024. Photo - Paul Neale |
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Cetti's warbler, 4th October 2024. Photo - Paul Neale |
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| Jay, ringed 4 October 2024. Photo - George Gregory |
October 3rd. Partially cloudy, with light to moderate north-easterly wind.
There was a further arrival of Redwings, Song Thrushes, Reed Buntings, Bramblings and Chaffinches from early morning with many birds passing south along with Meadow and Rock Pipits and Swallows. There was no sign of yesterday's Olive-backed Pipit in the East Dunes but a possible OBP flew south over the West Dunes.
Two Ring Ouzels were in West Dunes and another arrived over East Dunes with Song Thrushes. The first Woodcock of the autumn was flushed from the Plantation. There were probably at least 9 Yellow-browed Warblers on the Reserve, with one in the Sallows around the Mere Hide, another in West Dunes, two in East Dunes, and others in the hedge opposite Aylmer Avenue, North Building Ridge and Halfway Sycamores and two along the Cycle Track near the Jackson's Marsh Entrance. There were 2 Jays in between North Car Park and Mill Pond. The Blyth's Reed Warbler showed briefly and called from the Sleeper Track at 8.50am. Also in the East Dunes, a Barred Warbler was along the Storm Ridge with a Firecrest, Garden Warbler and Reed Warbler. Another Firecrest was seen along the road edge.
A Red-breasted Flycatcher was reported in the East Dunes on the Bird Information services - it would be good if this can be confirmed - any details to kwilson@lincstrust.co.uk please.
A Dusky Warbler was discovered calling and was audio recorded and seen mid afternoon along the road edge in-between Aylmer Avenue and North Car Park. A lot of Robins were on the reserve and continued to build throughout the day. As dusk came, there were clearly new Goldcrests beginning to arrive fresh on to the reserve.
A morning ringing session in East Dunes, with Liam Andrews, produced 65 new birds: 5 Chiffchaff, 4 Wren, 10 Goldcrest, 10 Blackcap, 16 Robin. a Brambling, 2 Cetti's Warbler, 5 Reed Bunting, a Chaffinch, a Blue Tit, 3 Dunnock, 5 Song Thrush and 2 Redwing; and 3 retraps: 2 Wren and a Robin.
An afternoon ringing session at Aylmer Avenue by Liam Andrews produced 9 new birds: 4 Goldcrest, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap and a Robin; and 2 retrap Dunnock.
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Ring Ouzel, 3rd October 2024. Photo - Stuart Ainsworth |
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Ring Ouzel, 3rd October 2024. Photo - Andy Sims |
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Ring Ouzel, 3rd October 2024. Photo - Rikki Clark |
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Redwing, 3rd October 2024, Photo - Rikki Clark  Song Thrush, 3rd October 2024. Photo - Tom Baker  Common Buzzard, 3rd October 2024. Photo - Rikki Clark  Common Buzzard, 3rd October 2024. Photo - Rikki Clark  Great White Egret, 3rd October 2024. Photo - Jeremy Eyeons  Little Grebe, 3rd October 2024. Photo - Jeremy Eyeons |
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| Brambling, ringed 3 October 2024. Photo - George Gregory  Kingfisher, 3rd October 2024. Photo - Rikki Clark  Blackcap, 3rd October 2024. Photo - Nige Lound  Chaffinch, 3rd October 2024. Photo - Jeremy Eyeons |
October 2nd. A cloudy day with limited early morning rain, with a strong north-north-easterly wind.
A very busy day in the strong winds with grounded migrants across much of the reserve. Five Yellow-browed Warblers were still present, with 1 around Mill Hill and a further 2 around Sykes Farm, another along the Sleeper Track mid afternoon and another in Army Swathe. There were also 10+ Brambling, 3 Grey Wagtail, 30 Song Thrush and 300+ Redwing south over Sykes Farm early morning, most of which were dropping out of the low cloud and heading for cover in the strong winds having clearly just arrived from foreign lands. At Aylmer Avenue there were another 150 Redwing around. The Blyth's Reed Warbler was calling occasionally on the Sleeper Track mid morning in its original position but very difficult to see. There were 6 Ruff on the Old Saltmarsh.
An Olive-backed Pipit was found in East Dunes and was mostly concealed in deep cover mid afternoon. Also newly arriving Goldcrests were arriving on the Reserve during the afternoon along with 6 Ring Ouzels that dropped into the Sleeper Track area. A large Pipit seen and photographed in flight was most likely the long-staying Richard's Pipit.
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Olive-backed Pipit, 2nd October 2024. Photo - Sam Goddard |
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Olive-backed Pipit, 2nd October 2024. Photo - Sam Goddard  Photo - Daniel Langston  Blyth's Reed Warbler, 2nd October 2024. Photo - Daniel Langston |
Sea watching was the only option for much of the morning, although visibility was poor. A Great Skua and a Long-tailed Skua were the highlights. On the lagoons, there was a noticeable arrival of wildfowl with over 2000 Teal being a very high count for the Reserve. Five Ruff were again on Tennyson's Lagoon whilst a Spotted Redshank flew over the New Saltmarsh. Two Marsh Harrier were around.
Three Yellow-browed Warblers were still around with 2 in the Plantation/Sykes Farm area and another was around Mill Hill late afternoon - possibly a new arrival, with a small number of new Song Thrushes and Redwings also having arrived. An evening sea watch produced 6 northbound Arctic Skuas, 3 Arctic Tern and 180 Common Scoter but the main event was the arrival of waders at the evening roost - c80,000 Knot.
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Marsh Harrier, 1st October 2024. Photo - Jack Hood |
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Marsh Harrier with Black-tailed Godwits, Redshank and Teal, 1st October 2024. Photo - Jack Hood |
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| Marsh Harrier with Black-tiled Godwits, 1st October 2024. Photo - Jack Hood |
