April 14th. Another clear blue sky start to the day with a light southerly breeze, then increasingly cloudy.
Early news involved the first Cuckoo of the year back on the reserve, and a Woodlark flying south. In West Dunes was a Jay. On Tennyson's Sands were 5 Great White Egrets.
April 13th. A clear blue sky day again with a light westerly breeze clouding over during the day.
There was no sign of the Subalpine Warbler today, with it seemingly having moved on overnight.
In East Dunes at the North End there was a Ring Ouzel, a Green Woodpecker and a male Stonechat. Then a Hooded Crow headed north up East Dunes at 8.20am and was relocated on Greenshanks Ridge an hour later before flying south again shortly there after with another bird moving about the east side also. A Common Sandpiper was on the River Steeping.
Visible migration was evident as the morning warmed up with birds heading south, including at least 8 Red Kites, 12 Buzzards, a Marsh Harrier, a Peregrine, 5 Jays and a Raven along with good numbers of Sand Martins (30+), smaller numbers of Swallows and House Martins and 9 Yellow Wagtails. A male Hen Harrier was hunting up and down the foreshore as was a Merlin.
Great White Egrets had increased to 5 on Tennyson's Sands where there was also a Little Ringed Plover, 28 Avocet, 11 Black-tailed Godwits, 4 Pintail and another Marsh Harrier. On Croftmarsh was a pair of Ruff. At least 6 Grasshopper Warblers were singing, whilst there were 3 Wheatears, 3 Willow Warblers, 7 Sedge Warblers, 5 Blackcaps, and increased numbers of Chiffchaffs and Whitethroats. A Woodcock was noted and a Jack Snipe was flushed during the late evening from Measures.
 |
| Sedge Warbler, 13th April 2025 Photo - Stuart Ainsworth |
 |
| Raven, 13th April 2025 Photo - Stuart Ainsworth |
 |
| Common Sandpiper, 13th April 2025 Photo - Ste Taylor |
 |
| Wheatear, 13th April 2025 Photo - Ste Taylor |
Two Mediterranean Gulls flying south past the Visitor Centre were just a pre-cursor to a red letter day for the Bird Observatory. A male Redstart was in the Ringing Hollow from the Observatory Building platform, whilst on Rock Ridge there was a male Wheatear. Clearly a fresh arrival of migrants had taken place overnight.
Then at 09.40hrs a 2cy male Western SUBALPINE WARBLER was found showing well in scrub along the footpath between the Observatory Building and the Tern Wardens Hut. The bird continued to show well to an constantly refreshing assembled crowd of admiring onlookers until 18.55hrs at least, showing all day down to 5 metres and giving occasional subsong and calls whilst feeding in the sunshine seemingly oblivious to the assembled bird watchers etc.
During the day, other birds included a Tree Pipit, 2 Yellow Wagtails, a Redwing, a Swallow, 3 Sand Martins and a Jay, all south. Also about during the day were 3 Whimbrel, 2 Hen Harriers (a distant ringtail out to the south and another male), several Whitethroats and 2 Wheatears in the East Dunes and 5 Egyptian Geese in the gull roost on Millennium Ridge. On Tennyson's Sands were 3 Great White Egrets in the afternoon.
The Western Subalpine Warbler is just the second for the reserve. An unassigned Curruca sp. female was ringed on 7th May 1983 and stayed for 8 days. The first Western "proper" was a 2cy male which was found on 20th May 2013 and stayed for 4 days. There has also been an Eastern Subalpine Warbler which was ringed on 29th April 2019 and stayed until the next day, its taxon being confirmed later by DNA analysis of dropped feathers. Hopefully today's bird will stick around for a few days to allow birders to see it who were unable to get there today.
Thanks to the video below we can see that today's bird showed all the characteristics of a 2nd year bird, with two replaced tertials and 2 replaced inner secondaries, very sun-bleached primaries and outer secondaries and an iris not as bright as one would expect in an older bird, still showing hints of olive in the orange colour of the eye.
A morning ringing session at Aylmer Avenue, with Owen Beaumont, yielded 6 new birds: a Chaffinch, 4 Goldfinch and a Robin; and 2 retraps: a Long-tailed Tit and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.
 |
| Male Western Subalpine Warbler, 12th April 2025 Photo - James Siddle |
 |
| Male Western Subalpine Warbler, 12th April 2025 Photo - James Siddle |
.jpg) |
| Male Western Subalpine Warbler, 12th April 2025 Photo - James Siddle |
 |
| Male Western Subalpine Warbler, 12th April 2025 Photo - James Siddle |
 |
| Male Western Subalpine Warbler, 12th April 2025 Photo - James Siddle |
 |
| Male Western Subalpine Warbler, 12th April 2025 Photo - James Siddle |
 |
| Record shot of a Redstart in extreme heat haze, 12th April 2025 Photo - Kev Wilson |
On Jacksons Marsh were 3 Great White Egrets and a Snipe. On Tennyson's Sands were a Spoonbill, 62 Tufted Duck, 31 Shoveler, 7 Gadwall, 3 Pintail, 37 Avocet, 5 Black-tailed Godwit, a Grey Heron, a Kingfisher, a Sedge Warbler and 8 Fieldfares (south-east at 0810hrs). Two more Fieldfares were in West Dunes later on in the morning. On the high tide there were 330 Redshank, 900 Grey Plover and 12400 Knot.
Elsewhere on the reserve there were a Red Kite, a Barn Owl, a Yellowhammer, 9 Chiffchaffs, a Black Redstart, a Blue-headed Wagtail, 2 Willow Warblers, a Jay and a Woodcock. A group of 8 Sand Martin went south over Sykes Farm in the late afternoon and a Firecrest in the plantation.
 |
| Avocets, 11th April 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
 |
| Great White Egret, 11th April 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
 |
| Great White Egret, 11th April 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
 |
| Speckled Wood Butterfly, 11th April 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull and Black-headed Gull, 11th April 2025 Photo - Tom Baker |
 |
| Three Great White Egrets on Jacksons Marsh, 11th April 2025 Photo - Nigel Lound |
 |
| Distant Red-legged Partridges, 11th April 2025 Photo - Nigel Lound |
.JPG)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
