Planned trip to Cornwall has been dashed by the weather being too nice! Predicted calm conditions made the long journey not worth it. Going to stay in the county as sea watching conditions look good for a trip to Cromer on Sunday and with a few things turning up today a look in some bushes could be productive.

Nutchtch (178) calling around the visitor centre while emptying the moth traps on Wednesday was a very good bird to get and hopefully a blocker for some of the others. Several arctic skuas (179) offshore today were the only other birds of note.

Things have been pretty manic since for most of the month with visitors, work and a lack of Internet access (again). Not had much time for ringing and the garden has been quiet. A nice tit flock through the garden ( including several long tails and a chiffchaff) but only a coal tit managed to stumble into a net. A hummingbird hawkmoth was around briefly on Sunday and a hedgehog was wandering around in broad daylight this evening.

Work on the reserve is mad at the moment with things changing dramaticaly on a daily basis. The freshmarsh improvements have been finished and the habitat is looking peachy. Nothing good has been seen but a flock of 300 dunlin have been present for most of august and has included 3 little stint (177) and 2 curlew sandpipers.

Off to Cornwall sea-watching this weekend so hopefully plenty of news next week.

Bit of a mixed bag this weekend to say the least.

After about a month of monster ringing catches it had to end eventually and it truly did on Saturday. Although overall numbers were good, over 80% of the birds were re-traps from recent weeks. A couple of re-trap chiffchaff and 2 juvenile goldcrests were nice.

Ended the weekend sat in the chair very groggy after recieving a half inch gash to me head from having a fight with a post banger. Even had an ambulance out but they spoilt it by not having their lights or siren on!! For those who care (I am sure someone does), no further damage has been inflicted.

Been a bit of a busy couple of weeks now the Coastal Project has started. The reserve has changed loads and it is amazing what a digger can do in a few hours.
Not done much birding other than ringing and that has been pretty good. Got a few tree sparrows a few days ago and a nice immature tawny owl, complete with downy head, at the weekend.

Hobby hunting over the garden and male bullfinch at the weekend. Also hummingbird hawkmoth briefly on Sunday.

Two species added to the yearlist this week with treecreeper (175) on Wednesday and pectoral sandpiper (176) this evening.
The strangest sighting of the week was 14 common cranes west yesterday morning. While I was walking back to the office I noticed 14 large birds flying away from me I thought they may be cranes or storks but didn't have bins with me. later in the morning, 2 visitors came in and said they had seen the flock and they were cranes. Amazingly they were never seen again!

Thanks to a sharp eyed reader (thanks James) I need to correct one of my moths from the other day. The gallium carpet is actually a sharp angled carpet.

Muggy, cloudy and still - perfect moth trapping weather. Put my heath trap on last night for the first time in a while and had a decent catch. Minimum count of 89 moths of 34 species. Highlight for me was my first marbled clover but galium carpet and olive were things I don't see very often. Most of the numbers were made up of dark arches (14) and uncertain (11).

top, marbled clover, middle, galluim carpet

bottom, olive

Found this image of the buff breasted sand on the camera, no better than the other one but it give you an idea.

Hobby over the garden this morning.

Doing the Snettisham WeBS count is not always my favourite pastime. It is not easy to ID waders at 1km range in the heat haze when half the time you can only tell if they are a big or small wader!!
Despite a soaking from a sharp shower, this months count on Saturday wasn't too bad. The saltmarsh had a couple of green sands and a greenshank and there were just over 4000 knot on the mud. A change on the day before as we had only had one knot on my guided walk!
The challenge is to be able to count the saltmarsh and then get to the hides for high tide. Sounds simple until you factor the hour walk to the start point before you start. Anyway, got back to the hides and there were already lots of dunlin and oycs present. As I counted the dunlin I picked up a slightly larger bird with them. Thankfully it was near the end of the flock and I could check it quickly. Pale yellowish legs, heavily streaked breast sharply ending on the lower breast, it was an adult pectoral sandpiper. I managed to get Dave and his guided walk onto to it before the flock flushed and it was lost. A good find at the end of a long morning.

Whimbrel over the garden this evening and a cracking white admiral butterfly at our ringing site on Sundau morning for the 2nd week running.