The recent spell of warm sunny weather and light southerly winds has held migration up a little bit, with very few reports of birds such as redwing or brambling that we'd usually expect to arrive in late September. That's not to say that there aren't any winter migrants here yet. Two snow buntings have taken up residence in the dunes, and a Lapland bunting was present for a few days earlier in the week. Also in the dunes today was a wheatear, heading off towards Africa.
There has been a steady passage of brent geese south offshore this week. You can keep up to date with the progress of geese arriving in the UK by following the #goosewatch tag on Twitter.
Yet another pectoral sandpiper has been commuting between the wader trail and "Lucky Pool" (south of the sluice bushes) for the last three days. It was joined by a curlew sandpiper today, while other waders this week have included knot, bar-tailed godwit, greenshank and ruff. A jack snipe was near the konik Field yesterday. Fiona was seen yesterday, but has been seen on RSPB Havergate Island and Orfordness this week too.
The reedbed trail has provided some great views of bearded tits this week, while bitterns and marsh harriers have been seen from Bittern Hide. Hobbies are still present, hassling migrant swallows and house martins.
There are lots of butterflies and dragonflies still on the wing, and the red deer are showing extremely well from the Westleton Heath viewpoint.