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On Sunday 19 May 2013, our third 'Photography: Day of Discovery', we enjoyed the most gorgeous warm and sunny spring weather one can imagine, after a worrying week of watching daily changes on the very unsettled and sometimes frightening weather forecasts. Everyone arrived in time for the early...

As the breeding season begins to enter the final furlong, it’s time for an update on this troubled breeding season. Unfortunately, there is rather more bad news than good news. Starting with the bad news. Common gulls are having a disastrous year, for the first time in two years the...

This I believe is meant to be springtime? However it doesn’t feel much like springtime, in fact if it wasn’t for the presence of the breeding birds I would say that the weather has felt more like October. What has this meant on the ground for the birds on Havergate? Well, the terns...

The results are in, 99% of all birds have fledged and after a changeable summer, the 2011 Havergate island breeding bird story is ready to be told. The final counts of the large gulls where 460 herring gulls and 1030 lesser blacked backed gulls , a grand total of 1490 large gulls, how does...

The weather finally took a turn for the better on Havergate this week after what seemed like almost daily thunder showers, lightning strikes, torrential downpours and a nagging wind. Now as the season starts to enter its final lap we can start to make some early estimates on how things have gone...

By mid June the results of the breeding season start to come in, although how successful it proves to have been in terms of chick production will have to wait for next month. Starting with the good news Common Terns continue to strengthen there foothold on the island with the colony increasing...

Arctic Skua? kittiwake? little tern? All good guesses but since the year 2000 the two fastest declining seabirds are the much less heralded herring gull and lesser black backed gulls. This is according to the SMP (seabird monitoring programme) data recently released by the JNCC. This...

Aside from the glorious weather in the last week on Havergate, what else has been going on? The breeding season is starting to gather momentum. The gulls have taken a little while to get going but both the lesser black backed gulls and herring gulls are now on eggs, though there is still less...

Late March has seen the island begin to don its breeding season cloak. Big numbers of gulls have arrived at the last Webs count 624 Lesser Black backs had returned to the lagoons and 518 Herring gulls. This count doesn’t include the salt marshes or the long shingle bank at an estimate...

Despite the lack of blogs recently its been a busy time on Havergate Island. The last two weeks have seen a flurry of activity, some great birds and a real sense that the seasons are once again on the change. Going back a couple of weeks to a cold February morning myself and the now sadly departed...

If visitor trips where football or cricket teams then the trips out to Havergate would be described as being in a bad run of form! The last three trips have all had to be cancelled due to a combination of factors. The December visit due to snow, ice and freezing conditions and the January and February...

It feels now that winter has truly arrived, the temperatures are plunging and the nights are drawing in and the clocks are about to go back. A chilling sentence for anyone who lives in the British Isles. It was therefore nice to get an update on the movements of the ringed gull chicks on Havergate...

As the year rolls on thoughts begin to turn from breeding birds to passage birds. However, If I was asked to use just one word to sum up the breeding season, I’d say long. The gulls were on eggs by Mid March with the first chicks hatching in mid April. Then we had the encouraging signs of 23...

First, I’m going to start with a correction from the last blog. The number of barn Owl fledglings is in fact three. This was only found out last Sunday when the Landgard ringing group came onto the island to do their annual ringing of the large gull chicks and as aside ring the Barn owl chicks...

Earlier in the season we had the disappointment of the Avocets being predated. However, this week’s blog entry should go some way to alleviating this sense of disappointment. This week I get the rare pleasure of reporting, not just one bit of good news but two bits of positive news. Those who...

The breeding season continues a pace on the island. However, firstly I must break some bad news. In my last blog piece I reported that the island was playing host to 23 Avocets the highest breeding number in some time, however between the dates 14 th to the 16 th of July all the nests where predated...

Finally, just after I was about to give up on them, the Common gulls have swung into action. Laying there eggs in some fabulous locations. I was expecting them to lay out in the open, in a big dense colony, like their close cousin the Tern. However, they’ve completely taken me by surprise by nesting...