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| The 2008 Annual Report is now available and costs £6.75 (inc. p&p) | ||||||||||||||
| 1st | A very windy day with a spell of heavy rain made observations of anything other than the sea virtually impossible. During the worst of the weather from mid-morning this produced 490 Gannets, ten Great Skuas, an Arctic Skua, two Mediterranean Gulls and 21 Kittiwakes all flying east. | |||||||||||||
| 2nd | A surprisingly fine and sunny morning resulted in a trickle of birds passing overhead and including a Wood Lark, two Swallows, a House Martin and two Bramblings. Five Firecrests were seen in the bushes. | |||||||||||||
| 3rd | Two Great Skuas flew west during the morning but there was very little else to be seen. | |||||||||||||
| 4th | Very quiet. An adult Mediterranean Gull was lingering offshore and there was just a trickle of finches overhead during the morning. | |||||||||||||
| 5th | Very
little to be seen in the Observatory area.
On the RSPB Reserve, a Cattle Egret (re)appeared and the Great White Egret and two Glossy Ibis were still present. |
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| 6th | A
trickle of finches through the morning included 20
Chaffinches, a Brambling, 12 Siskins
and 30 Redpolls and 1200 Starlings
also came in from the east. Eight Chiffchaffs
and four Goldcrests were also seen in the
bushes.
On the RSPB Reserve, the Great White Egret was seen at Dengemarsh and the two Glossy Ibis were seen at ARC during the morning. |
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| 7th | A
seawatch during the morning produced the first
decent movement of Kittiwakes of the autumn
with 280 flying west along with 85 Gannets
and an adult Mediterranean Gull.
On the land, a Dartford Warbler was found and a finches continue to trickle through in small numbers. On the RSPB Reserve, the Great White Egret and the two Glossy Ibis were seen. |
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| 8th | A
Great Skua and a Mediterranean Gull
were seen offshore whilst a Woodcock and a Firecrest
were of note on the land.
On the RSPB Reserve, the Great White Egret and the two Glossy Ibis were seen. |
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| 9th | The trickle of finches coming in continues and there was a Blackcap in the moat. A party of six Long-tailed Tits was seen in the trapping area along with a single Chiffchaff. It was extremely quiet offshore. | |||||||||||||
| 10th | Finches and Starlings continue to trickle through but there was very little else to be seen. | |||||||||||||
| 11th | A
few Kittiwakes moved west offshore but it
was otherwise very quiet.
On the RSPB Reserve, the Great White Egret and the two Glossy Ibis were seen. |
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| 12th | A
fine morning with a few birds passing overhead and
even a few birds in the bushes for a change. The
best of the grounded migrants were a Woodcock,
four Fieldfares, a Dartford Warbler
and six Firecrests whilst visible migrants
included a late Swallow, ten Siskins
and 20 Redpolls and 12 Reed Buntings.
There were a few Kittiwakes feeding offshore and passing to the west and a Great Skua was also reported. |
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| 13th | Very little to be seen on an increasingly stormy day. | |||||||||||||
| 14th | A
day which began with near gale-force winds and got
progressively worse with Hurricane force winds and
heavy rain for a time around mid-afternoon. A few
birds battled their way south during the morning
including a Black-throated Diver, a Red-necked
Grebe, 200 Gannets, seven Red-breasted
Mergansers and a Great Skua.
Coverage of the land was not an option. |
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| 15th | Lighter
winds during the morning produced singles of Black-throated
and Great Northern Diver, Red-necked
Grebe, Velvet Scoter and Great Skua
along with 120 Common Scoter, 100 Gannets,
35 Kittiwakes and 66 auk sp.
On the RSPB Reserve, two Penduline Tits made a brief appearance (just 75 seconds) in front of the Hanson Hide at ARC - one of which is shown below. The Great White Egret and the two Glossy Ibis were also seen.
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| 16th | Still
very windy but today there was very little sign of
any movement offshore.
On the RSPB Reserve, the Penduline Tits increased to three and showed well during the late afternoon in front of the Hanson Hide at ARC. The Great White Egret and the two Glossy Ibis were also seen. |
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| 17th | A calmer morning allowed for a small diurnal movement with a very late Swallow, 27 Skylarks, 150 Goldfinches and 35 Redpolls of note. A Chiffchaff was seen at the Long Pits. | |||||||||||||
| 18th | Another
very windy day and no birds to speak of.
On the RSPB Reserve, the three Penduline Tits were seen in front of the Hanson Hide at ARC and the Great White Egret and the two Glossy Ibis were also seen. |
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| 19th | Still
very windy and still no birds to speak of. On the RSPB Reserve, the three Penduline Tits were seen in front of the Hanson Hide and from the end of the boardwalk at ARC where a Cattle Egret also appeared in the afternoon. The Great White Egret was still at Dengemarsh and the two Glossy Ibis were also seen along the main entrance track to the Reserve. |
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| 20th | Still
windy and with rain all day and still no birds.
On the RSPB Reserve, the Great White Egret was still at Dengemarsh and the Glossy Ibis were also seen along the main entrance track to the Reserve but there was no sign of the Penduline Tits. |
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| 21st | A
slight drop in the wind and a general improvement
in the weather encouraged a reasonable movement of
finches during the morning with five Chaffinches,
460 Goldfinches, 37 Siskins and 14 Redpolls.
Two Chiffchaffs were also seen.
On the RSPB Reserve, the Great White Egret was still at Dengemarsh and the Glossy Ibis were also seen along the main entrance track to the Reserve. |
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| 22nd | A
return to awful weather with gale force winds and
frequent torrential rain. A seawatch during the
morning revealed a steady westerly movement of Gannets
and the first Fulmar for some time but very
little else.
On the RSPB Reserve, the Great White Egret was still at Dengemarsh and at least one Glossy Ibis was seen along the main entrance track to the Reserve. |
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| 23rd | Yet another day of strong winds and heavy rain and making observations very difficult. The only birds of note were 180 Gannets, a Red-breasted Merganser and a Great Skua flying west offshore and a Chiffchaff in the Observatory garden. | |||||||||||||
| 24th | A
Balearic Shearwater, an immature Shag
and an adult Little Gull were feeding off
the fishing boats and 90 Goldfinches flew
south.
On the RSPB Reserve, two Penduline Tits made another appearance in front of the Hanson Hide, the Cattle Egret and two Glossy Ibis were seen along the main entrance track to the Reserve and the Great White Egret was still at Dengemarsh. |
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| 25th | A
Balearic Shearwater and a
Great Skua flew west and a sickly-looking immature Shag
was seen on the beach. There was also a small
increase in the numbers of Kittiwakes
feeding offshore.
A very small arrival of grounded migrants included three Black Redstarts and two Fieldfares around the Observatory and a Blackcap at Southview Cottage and visible migrants included 200 Goldfinches and 35 Linnets passing through. |
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| 26th | A
few Gannets and Kittiwakes flew west
during the morning along with two Velvet
Scoters, three Fulmars, a Great Skua
and an adult Little Gull and a few Goldfinches
also passed through.
The two Glossy Ibis were showing very well along the entrance to the RSPB Reserve. |
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| 27th | Very
quiet with just three Red-breasted Mergansers
and an adult Little Gull of interest.
On the RSPB Reserve, a new first-winter Penduline Tit was seen along the Willow Trail at ARC (with a second bird calling). The two Glossy Ibis were showing very well along the main entrance track to the Reserve and the Great White Egret was still at Dengemarsh. |
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| 28th | Very
quiet offshore with just a trickle of Gannets
and Kittiwakes flying west.
On the RSPB Reserve, two Penduline Tits were seen in front of the Hanson Hide at ARC. The two Glossy Ibis and Cattle Egret were showing very well along the main entrance track to the Reserve and the Great White Egret was still at Dengemarsh. |
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| 29th | The
seemingly constant stormy weather eventually seems
to be having some effect on the birds offshore.
The wind backing into the south encouraged a
westerly movement of birds with singles of Balearic
Shearwater and Sooty Shearwater and 13 Great
Skuas of note along with the unlikely sight of
a party of three Ruddy Shelducks. Numbers
were provided by 633 Gannets, 14 Fulmars
and 541 Kittiwakes. Other bits and pieces
included 15 Red-breasted Mergansers, an
adult Little Gull, two Mediterranean
Gulls and an adult Yellow-legged Gull.
On the RSPB Reserve, two Penduline Tits were seen in front of the Hanson Hide at ARC and the Great White Egret was still at Dengemarsh.
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| 30th | Another
stormy morning meant more seawatching and at last
a Leach's Petrel flew past at 0940hrs.
Other notable birds included a Black-throated
Diver, two Shags, 21 Red-breasted
Mergansers, two Great Skuas, 230 Little
Gulls and 14 Mediterranean Gulls whilst
numbers were provided by 42 Red-throated Divers,
522 Kittiwakes and 485 auks sp.
Three Peregrine Falcon were hunting over the power station and three Chiffchaffs were found at the Long Pits. The two Glossy Ibis and the Great White Egret were seen on the Reserve. |
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