Equinoxial weather day one

Heysham Obs
A good working (as opposed to distractions) week coming up, I suspect.

Ocean Edge incoming tide afternoon
Med Gull - 2 juv, 7 2CY, 1 3CY, 6 ad
Little Gull - ad
Sandwich Tern - two early morning only
Waders included 2,700 Dunlin, 1750 Knot
Wheatear - 1
Linnet - 47

Moths
Highlight the first Pink-barred Sallow of the year

Thanks to Sandra and John Truran for the following selection taken around Ocean Edge/Middleton & Heysham NRs

Vis mig to the fore in clear conditions

Heysham Obs
The first decent movement by Grey Wagtail and Meadow Pipit was unfortunately not reflected in the ringing effort where sun on the nets was a major problem.  Finch passage was also noticeable, but very few hrundines by 1000hrs other than a 'wadge' of House Martins.  The vis was almost certainly underestimated as multi-tasking was the order of the day (plus a late start!).  Grounded birds amounted to a rather surprising Redstart but very little else.

Walney are individually colour-ringing Goldfinches.  Please could you keep a lookout and make sure you record the single colour ring on the left leg (with metal) and the two single-colour rings on the right leg.  A bit easier than Twite where we have had to use split two-colour rings.  Please email any sightings (even if you don't manage to decipher all the colour-rings) to colin@walneyobs.fsnet.co.uk

Office vis mig 0645-1000hrs onwards
Meadow Pipit - 145 SE
Grey Wagtail - 22 SE
House Martin - 16 S
Swallow - 7 S
Chaffinch - 29 S
Tree Pipit - 1 SE
alba Wagtail - 4 SE
Starling - flock of 6 high to S
Jay - 1 possibly 2 thought to be passage birds
Goldfinch - 18 SE

Middleton
Raven - 11+2 moving south.

Ringing
5 Grey Wagtail colour-ringed was a pretty poor return from a major migration morning - there were more birds sitting on top of the nets than in them!  Very little else but did include a Sedge Warbler and four Reed Bunting

Moths
Mainly Treble Bar and Square-spot Rustic with nothing of note other than perhaps Agriphila geniculea

Butterflies
A late Gatekeeper by the office, also 2 male Common Blue

Crossbill but no cross bay vis

Heysham Obs
A murky morning with lowish cloud saw all the movement from the direction of Heysham Head and it contained two conspicuous absences which normally feature more regularly in 'cross bay vis' (Meadow Pipit and Grey Wagtail).  The poor visibility led to nothing from that direction unless it went south of the power station

Late news
The Swallow roost at Middleton contained at least 350-400 birds but seemingly very few Sand Martin this evening.  70 juvenile Swallow and one juvenile Sand Martin were ringed during a carefully controlled operation which saw the net closed before dusk and catch dealt with by 2025hrs.  You have to be so careful not to overstretch when roost-ringing this species.  Thanks to Jean and Louise for help.
Pink-footed Goose - smallish flock flew south after dark (2030hrs ish) as heard from Heysham NR carpark

Office area 0700-0930
Crossbill - two together SW at 0830hrs - both 'greenish'
Chaffinch - 22 SW
Swallow - c45 south - started moving quite early
House Martin - 9 south
Goldfinch - 6 SW
Siskin - 2 SW
Linnet - one SW

Grounded: at least one Willow Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, two Goldcrest and at least one 'new' Chiffchaff.  Ringing produced very little in the 1.5hrs available, not helped by the feeders being empty all day yesterday! (single Goldcrest & Chiffchaff the highlights)

One that got away
Here is a record shot from Phil Slade of a Marsh harrier heading for our recording area on 3rd September. Does it count?!  Thanks Phil

Moths
July Highflyer and Dun-Bar were late, otherwise mainly Treble Bar, Silver Y and Common Marbled Carpet with low double-figures of each.  Two Light-brown Apple Moth were my first of the autumn

Butterflies
Here are some excellent pics taken by Janet yesterday.  Don't forget to vote for one of Janet's pics in the local newspaper (Guardian and Visitor) photo competition!  Thanks Janet

A week is a long time in weather forecasting

Heysham Obs
As soon as I write a load of rubbish in my local newspaper column about how useless indian summers in September are for 'proper' migrant birding, at least XC Weather suggests that the high will now be collapsing and the result will be sending a load of fresh-gale westerlies our way next week.  The trouble is that they dont look vicious enough for a decent Leach's influx but we will see (Thursday being the flagged -up day).  Make the most of this weekend if you are a fan of late butterflies, dragonflies and other creepy-crawlies.

Ocean Edge and area
Little Gull - adult showing well - seems to have completed its primary moult
Med Gull - 4-5 juvs, 2 adults
Waders - "a lot", Dunlin and Barwits both over 300.  Didnt have time to study due to appointment at the opticians to discuss post cataract op 'floaters' - a real pain when trying to do a vis mig session during blue skies!  A proper wader count will take place on Sunday or Monday afternoon

Moths
6 Treble Bar, single Silver Y and Agriphila geniculea highlighted

One of those days

Heysham Obs
Ringers will be familiar, hopefully not very often, with the sort of morning where the early start is negated by two of the loops being wrong way round in the middle of three nets, the one Tree Pipit caught escaping just as it was about to be extracted and about nine rather later than usual Grey Wagtail easily avoiding the sun-drenched nets.  We need another strategy on sunny mornings as this was a potentially decent morning for the Grey Wag colour-ringing project completely wasted.  Were 12 Greenfinch and a Dunnock or two worth a 0530am start?

Office buddliea
Painted Lady late afternoon - looking quite pale and worn and 'primary migrant'

Moth trap
Spruce Carpet is not common here, the rest of the catch was

No time for any coastal coverage

Second Centre-barred Sallow

Heysham Obs
Centre-barred Sallow is a late year moth which is common enough in my home area of SD66 but scarce on this part of the coast in the absence of long-established ash trees.  This morning saw just the second record for the Heysham trap which has been operating pretty continuously since 1989, the first was in 2006.  The rest of the catch was very poor in numbers with just 3 Silver Y and a small influx of Garden Rose Tortrix of minor note

Office vis mig early morning
Too windy for any mist-netting first thing and very little on the move with just 5 Grey Wagtail, 4 alba Wagtail, 5 Chaffinch and 6 Swallow noted between 0630 and 0930hrs.  One Grey Wagtail was colour-ringed as a vaguely sheltered mist net was belatedly set as the wind dropped

Ocean Edge area high tide mid pm
Med Gull - 5 juvs, 4 ads and a 2CY
Little Gull - ad
waders mainly too far away

Butterflies
Still about 6 Common Blue next to the office mist net ride and c15 Small Tortoiseshell around the buddlieas

Reed Bunting moves sideways

Heysham Obs
Not a lot of activity today other than work and this resulted in no checks being made of the coastal sites.  Rhomboid Tortrix in the moth trap was about the best on offer until a late afternoon Painted Lady graced the remains of the office buddleia flowers.  A Scarce Bordered Straw was in a trap just a few metres north of the recording area at Heysham village last night

Ringing recovery
A Reed Bunting ringed as a young male at Middleton on 1/10/11, was rather surprisingly caught by another ringer at Ripon Park North Yorkshire, 91 kilometres to the east.  Most movements of Reed Bunting, both visually and in the form of ringing recoveries, show north to south or vice-versa movements, not across the Pennines.  This is presumably a wintering bird but could just have been an early passage migrant in the context of the mild winter and the usual early spring passage of this species

Yesterday's 'leftovers'
Med Gull - two juvs joined the older birds anting above the office late afternoon
Swallow roost:  c600 in the roost including a 'significant number' of Sand Martin.  A sample of 79 Swallow, 4 Sand Martin (all juvs) (and a Goldfinch!) were ringed but the net had to be rapidly closed just before dusk as per personnel available

Brilliant wader spectacle

Heysham Obs
The day started well soon after dawn with 5 Grey Wagtails colour-ringed on the first round.  Then the sun followed by a niggling wind led to the remaining 5 passage birds which were noted sitting on the net, hovering in front of it etc etc before departing.  Grey Wagtails are a bit 'all or nothing' - either you seem to catch most of them if the weather is a little dull and calm or none if there is any hint of sun on the nets.  Unfortunately the latter cannot be avoided on clear days during the early morning by the office.

Office area (vis very intermittent due to multitasking!)
Grey Wagtail - 11 SE (5 ringed)
Tree Pipit - 2 SE
Meadow Pipit - c6 SE, possibly more
Swallow - c20 SE
Chiffchaff - c5
Sedge Warbler - one ringed
Whitethroat - one ringed
Goldcrest - just the one around which was ringed
Med Gull - ad and 3CY anting over the office late afternoon

Ocean Edge-Potts Corner waders
In my opinion, this is the best wader spectacle at (at least) this time of year on the east side of Morecambe Bay and grossly neglected by birders apart from our long-range scans from Ocean Edge foreshore.  Today's fare included:
Grey Plover - 525, many in full summer plumage
Sanderling - 14
Dunlin - 370
Knot - 480 - several in full summer plumage
Bar-tailed Godwit - 320 - several in full summer plumage
Black-tailed Godwit - 1 (rare here)
Ringed Plover - 37

Miscellany
Mute swan - 2 flew in as seen from the north harbour wall
Grey Heron - one off north wall
Wheatear - 3 north wall, two Ocean Edge, one by Pontins
Eider - 18 off north wall

Insects
21 Small Tortoiseshell and 4 Peacock & one Red Admiral round the office buddlieas
2 Migrant Hawker in the mist net at the same time - spooking a Grey Wagtail!
Bulrush Wainscot was the star of the moth trap

A red theme

Heysham Obs
Red arrows and red butterflies were the order of the day plus a few Wheatear and the usual fare on Red Nab/outfalls.  Three jet-skiers went around the outfalls along the shipping lane and headed towards Morecambe.  A Spotted Flycatcher was by the Heysham NR office early on but no other sign of new arrivals

Red Nab/outfalls
Med Gull - 4 juv and one adult
Little Gull - adult
Sandwich tern - adult
Wheatear - 2

Office buddlieas
Small Tortoiseshell - 16
Peacock - 1

North wall SD36V
Small Tortoiseshell - 5
Small White - 1
Wheatear - 2
Ringed Plover - 45 flew towards half-moon bay

Swallow roost Middleton 1900-2045hrs
Greenshank - one flew SE just after dusk
c450-500 in roost with 'good numbers' of Sand Martin - at least 20.  81 Swallow and 2 Sand Martin ringed along with a Sedge Warbler

Moths 
An unusual autumn record of Turnip moth but nothing else of real interest

Working weather

Heysham Obs
Do not think a great deal of the weather synopses coming up.  Too windy for ringing, too westerly for migrants, not windy enough for seabirds.  Good for getting on with some work!  Little evidence of anything new around this morning save the odd coastal Wheatear

Outfalls early morning
Med Gull - 9 juvs with 8 together seaward end Heysham one, at least 2 adults and at least one 2CY
Little Gull - adult

High tide
Cormorant - 55 on wooden jetty and surrounds

Wheatear
2 Red Nab, one mound, one heliport seawall

Ringing in August
We put as lot of effort in during August and perhaps the most telling statistic (other than the Swallow/Sand Martin roost) is the capture of just 13 Blue Tit   and just a single flock of Long-tailed Tit.  None of us have recorded a Blue Tit flock as such this autumn at either Middleton or Heysham - quite extraordinary. The other species which is dramatically below par is Blackbird with just 5 ringed during the month.  The tit numbers contrast with an excellent total of 98 Willow Warbler - a species at this time of year you normally associate with tit flocks.  Other warbler species were  below par in relation to effort, although Whitethroat was not as bad as thought due to 13 being ringed on a Middleton date I was not involved in.  Totals for August: Chaffinch 11, Song Thrush 2, Greenfinch 100, Willow Warbler 98, Blackcap 18, Garden Warbler 2, Robin 18, Dunnock 4, Chiffchaff 14, Sedge Warbler 20, Whitethroat 34, Reed Bunting 5, Reed Warbler 9, Grasshopper Warbler 2, Great Tit 15, Blackbird 5, Long-tailed Tit 10, Wren 10, Blue Tit 13, Bullfinch 2, Lesser Whitethroat 9, Swallow 518, Goldfinch 11, Coal Tit 2, Linnet 2, Sand Martin 17

Moths
A bit more variety than of late with an influx of 9 Silver Y, late Yellow Shell and four rather late pristine Common Rustic.