Thursday Evening Sightings

Here are the sightings from the evening of Thursday 29th September:
18:35 - Max 8 House Martin
18:37 - Passage of about 200 Gulls flew West!!!
18:44 - 1 Carrion Crow flew West
I now have a new record with the gull passage!

I am now going of to do more spotting from the observatory.

Thursday 29th September morning highlights!

This is the very short list of highlights from Thursday morning:
7:22 - Kestrel flew West
7:34 - Lesser Black-backed Gull circling
7:41 - 4 Ducks (presumed Mallard) flew East

Wednesday Evening Highlights!

With an action-packed morning, I decided to do a watch in the evening as well. Here are the sightings from Wednesday 28th September evening:
07:54 - 12 Jackdaws flew West
18:13 - Passage of 23 Gulls
18:14 - 4 House Martin circling
18:19 - 10 Jackdaws flew West.

Sightings from Thursday morning to come very soon.

Wednesday Highlights! Glossy Ibis and more!!!

After a successful Monday, I didn't know what to expect! However, it was better than expected! Here are the highlights from Wednesday morning:
07:31 - 12 Starling flew East
07:31 - 5 Greenfinch flew East
07:32 - 2 Duck flew South
07:36 - 2 Redwing flew East (either the individuals reported in Horstead a few months ago or some of the first here for the winter)!!!
07:44 - GLOSSY IBIS flew South-West!!! More information on the Glossy Ibis is below.
I was not expecting much when I saw a rather large duck/goose flying along over the village; maybe a Canada Goose at most. However, when I looked at this bird through my binocular, I noticed a curved beak. Then, I saw the bird was brown and I instantly shouted GLOSSY IBIS. Everyone in the household at the time ran to the window and I quickly pointed out the bird before it dropped below a rooftop. A Glossy Ibis, presumably the same one, was seen at Strumpshaw Fen at 15:01 later in the day. Also, make sure to look out, maybe you might see a Glossy Ibis glide over your home as well!

Sightings from Wednesday evening are to come.

Monday's Sightings. The First Day!

After deciding to bird watch from my house, I didn't know what to expect but I was impressed with my sightings with a minute (quite literally).

Here are the highlights from my sightings from 17:37 - 18:44 on 26th September 2016:

17:37 - 2 Starling flew South (not highlights but my first sighting!!!)

17:42 - 1 Goldfinch perched on tree

17:47 - 1 Greenfinch flew West

17:53 - 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull flew West(could of been more but one of the only Gulls I could identify)

18:18 - Max of 12 House Martin circling

18:23 - 1 Jay (or similar bird) flew West

18:32 - Max of 8 Blackbirds perched in various trees

18:36 - Passage of 122 Gulls flew East!

18:41 - Passage of 61 Gulls flew East!

Welcome!!!

Hello, my name is Louis and I run the Horstead Bird Observatory. I have always loved birds so decided to find out what I can see from my house at the Horstead Bird Observatory that I set up on Monday 26th September 2016. It was only going to be temporary but after lots of success in only 90 minutes of bird watching from the observatory in three days, I have decided to make the observatory permanent. When I say lots of success I mean, at 7:37 two Redwings flew West (they were either early or the same individuals that were seen a few months ago). Well if that wasn't enough, seven minutes later at 7:44 was a GLOSSY IBIS flew South-West!!! Like you probably are, I was surprised with all these sightings so am continuing the observatory. I will report all sightings common and rare and will sometimes focus on one species. More info on the GLOSSY IBIS will be posted later as well as all my sightings so far.