Report on the Birds of Kessingland 2005 - 2006

Since 24 March 2005, 75 visits havebeen made to  Kessingland sewage treatment works, the adjoining Parish Council amenity land and the reedbed and fishing pit owned by John Briggs, for the purpose of ringing and recording birds. Occasional extensions to the rough ground owned by Mike Kiers have also been made.

On each visit, bird species and numbers recorded were reported in the Birdtrack database operated nationally by British Trust for Ornithology and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. This information is also supplied direct to the Suffolk Bird Recorder for county purposes.

118 species were recorded in the 2year period. Notable records were Goshawk. Little Egret, Pied Flycatcher and Dusky Warbler. The area is primarily a summer nesting ground for common species, especially warblers such as Whitethroat and Blackcap, and a winter feeding station for garden and woodland birds. However winter also sees the arrival of good numbers of wagtails on the sprinkler beds of the treatment works, with up to 40 Pied being present, and up to 5 Grey Wagtails - in fact it is arguably the most reliable place in Suffolk to see a Grey Wagtail. The origin of these birds may be indicated by the trapping of a male ringed the previous autumn in Zeeland Netherlands the first such record for the UK.

In Spring, numbers of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps arrive, and from September onwards there is some migration by departing summer visitors and arriving wintering birds. The Garden Warbler is an unexpectedly common autumn migrant and two ringed birds have been retrapped at Kessingland, from Goring (Oxfordshire) and Isle of May (Firth of Forth - 3 days later!) respectively. Winter visitors include Blackbirds, Robins, and Goldcrests from Scandinavia, and the coincidence of retrapping of a Robin and a Blackbird from Kessingland in successive Springs at Heligoland Bird Observatory suggests the route back to their nesting grounds.

Ringing totals are part of this report - the lower numbers in 2006 partly reflect reduced effort due to studies elsewhere on Swallows and Barn Owls, but are mainly due to the lack of migrants in autumn 2006 (cf 172 Goldcrests ringed in 2005 v 8 in 2006).

Ringing and recording sightings in Birdtrack, continue in 2007 and a further report will follow after the end of the year.

We would like to express our grateful thanks to Anglian Water, Kessingland Parish Council John Briggs and Mike Kiers for allowing access to their land and for the interest in out studies.

Colin Carter.