More south-easterly and a different package of migrants

Heysham Obs
Love this time of year if you have just a bit of time pre-work.  With or without scarcities, each morning has a different character, sometimes a negative 'clear out', unfortunately the latter usually 'perfect ringing/staring at empty motionless nets' weather.  This morning was dodgy for ringing as per forecast, but would have been quite manageable and productive on the evidence of the wander round.  As is often the case on Thursday, I was a lone observer (with limited time) and plumped for a bit of bush coverage/'mobile' vis migging as opposed to mist nets by the office

Vis mig 0800-0930 (first half hour concentrated, final hour whilst on the prowl)
Great-spotted Woodpecker - in the right place to see one coming 'in-off' and heading high to SE
Chaffinch - 78 SW
Meadow Pipit - 5 SE
Jay - flock of 5 high to south
Coal Tit - more 'cascading from the sky' birds - 2+17+27 heading south after dropping down once
Long-tailed Tit - 3 flocks, two of them 'fast moving' single species with unringed birds (6+8) - suggesting birds in transit which had not gathered an entourage
Siskin - heard once
Reed Bunting - 1 S
alba Wagtail - 16 SE
Goldfinch - 21 SW
Greenfinch - 45 SW
Redwing - 51 SW (largest flock 32)
Snipe - 4 together S
Linnet - 5 S
Starling - flock of 15 S

Grounded
The LTT flock below the obs tower (assuming the same) was accompanied by single Blue and Great Tit and just one Goldcrest.  No sign of yesterdays YBW but a lot of the habitat is out of bounds if it has 'settled' somewhere
Chiffchaff - 2 together NE corner (both unringed)
Song Thrush - notable increase with at least 25 grounded
Blackbird - at least 30 grounded
Redwing - a slightly late arrival so may have missed dawn birds heading inland but 'only' 10 located grounded this morning
Goldcrest - just 6 located - scattered around
Treecreeper - 2
Water Rail - first of the autumn in the marsh
In addition a tack call coming from the reedbed bushes could not be identified and the bird fell silent (sounded like Blackcap)

Moths
Mottled Umber was new for the year

Yellow-browed Warbler at last!

Heysham Obs
Arrival at Heysham NR saw a cessation of the driving rain, a few Redwing calls, a note of the east of south wind and a search of the sheltered areas below the observation tower, some of which are within the licensed nuclear zone and cannot be advertised as public access.  The Yellow-browed Warbler was at the base of a path which has had to be closed due to an unsafe boardwalk and imminent removal of the old Observation Tower.  Apologies for having to use the "no general access" phrase on the pager, but there is no way round it for this area until the observation tower is taken down and the access track down to the Power Station made safe.  YBW found during about the 101st hour of searching during the potential arrival period so far this autumn!

Grounded
Yellow-browed Warbler - a bright individual seen for about 15 seconds at c0830hrs with a small tit flock below the observation tower - it seemed to move towards the old quarry but may have crossed the road into a copse within the power station area as the flock could not be relocated after a quick dash back to the office.  No calls heard definitely ascertained to be this species but there were quite a few Coal Tit scattered around.  However the brightness of the plumage seemed to rule out Hume's.  No further sign by 1030hrs
Goldcrest - c10, including gang of 8
Redwing - perhaps 25 grounded
Blackbird - 25-30 around - definite arrival
Song Thrush - 5+ grounded
Chiffchaff - one NE corner

Heysham Head - St Peter's Churchyard and surrounding trees/scrub
Mega habitat - should be compulsory to check this area on east winds - like next week?  Totally sheltered
Crossbill - two south
Meadow Pipit - 3 south
Chaffinch - 13 south
Blackcap - male
Chiffchaff - ordinary-looking one
Goldcrest - 3
the lower three species with a LTT flock

Vis mig
Grey Wagtail - 1 but may have been off-passage
Lesser Redpoll - 1E
Reed Bunting - 1S
Brambling - at least one SW
Chaffinch - c30 SW
Meadow Pipit - 5 SE
alba Wagtail - 6 SE
Goldfinch - flock of 11 SW
plus grounded thrushes flying inland

Windy webs and disrupted waders

Heysham Obs
A completely different morning to many recently, indeed since the last time we tried to run a coastal event!  This time we didn't cancel and the people who didn't turn round and go home were treated to a wader spectacular in the car park at Potts's Corner!

Webs and other coastal birds
Little Gull - a 1CY on the outfalls, joining the long-staying adult
Med Gull - 5-6 1CY outfalls, 2CY and at least one ad north harbour wall
Kittiwake - 1CY outfalls
Ringed Plover - 21 Ocean Edge, 13 heliport
Turnstone - exactly 60 on Ocean Edge grass, c10 on heliport
Pintail - 19 'out'
Auk spp, probably Razorbill - 10 out (3+7)
Linnet - 17 on seed north wall
Goldfinch - 22 on seed
Twite - one Ocean Edge saltmarsh edge (none seen north wall)
Oystercatcher - 5,500 heliport

Dawn downpour fails to deliver

Heysham Obs
A really 'messy' morning with the routine disrupted by a torrential downpour just after dawn, followed by some moderately reasonable 'vis from about 0800hrs, but nothing 'scarce' on a circuit of the reserve plus dog walk pond area (c/f Knott End and Fleetwood cemetary!)

Vis mig 0800-1000ish
Pink-footed Goose - 29 S
Grey Wagtail - 1
Jackdaw - 8 S
Skylark - 8 SE
Meadow Pipit - 9 SE
Siskin - 8 SE
Linnet - 3 SE
Chaffinch - 26 SW
alba Wagtail - 9 SE
Redwing - 65, mainly SE (& heard pre-dawn)
Song Thrush - 4 S
Redpoll - 1 S
Brambling - 2 S (see grounded)
Curlew - 2 S
Bullfinch - 5 S
Woodpigeon - 2 S
Coal Tit - just 4

Grounded
Brambling - 4 - sorry forgot to enter yesterday
Redwing - 13
Song Thrush - 10
Goldcrest - 11
Chiffchaff - 1
Reed Bunting - 1
Treecreeper - 1
Robin - 2 unringed (migrants) caught - one very orange-breasted

North harbour wall
Twite 9 (one ringed here last autumn) & 55 mixed Linnet/Goldfinch

Mammal
Grey Squirrel NE corner

Moths
Epirrata spp new for the year - all those checked here have been November Moth

Clear weather routine plus a few Chiffchaff

Heysham Obs
Higher and more tricky vis mig this morning in clearer conditions with Chaffinch & Redwing comprising the vast majority of the records and 5 Tree Sparrow the 'highlight'.  Grounded-wise, four Chiffchaff were perhaps unexpected given the conditions and recent paucity.  The vis continued steadily until at least the early afternoon with small numbers of Chaffinch and Redwing noticeable throughout

Vis mig by the office until 1015hrs
Redwing - 281 SW in dribs and drabs with quite a few grounded
Song Thrush - 6 SW as singletons
Carrion Crow - 11 S
alba Wagtail - 11 SE
Chaffinch - 336 SW
Meadow Pipit - 7 SE
Linnet - 4 S
Coal Tit - dribs and drabs, possibly no more than 25-30 (15 ringed during morning)
Goldfinch - 38 S
Rook - 9 NE with Jackdaw
Jackdaw - 4 NE
Raven - 2 S
Greenfinch - very few this morning - no more than 10-15 perceived flying SW and very few around feeder
Grey Wagtail - 1 SE
Mistle Thrush - 3 SW
Tree Sparrow - flock of 5 S
Pink-footed Goose - 78N & flock heard only to west
Jay - 3 S
Reed Bunting - 1 SE
Skylark - 17 SE

Grounded
Blackcap - 1
Chiffchaff - 4
Goldcrest - c5 new
Great Tit - a ringing total of 6 for the day is very high for here - obviously a bit of movement

North wall
About 50 small finches around, mainly Goldfinch but also including 10+ Linnet and at least 4 Twite
Rock Pipit - 1
Chaffinch - one grounded on mound
Meadow Pipit - 4 on mound

Ringing
New birds:  Redwing (17), Coal Tit (15), Wren (1), Goldcrest (4), Chaffinch (13), Chiffchaff (2), Blue Tit (2), Great Tit (6), Dunnock (1), Blackbird (1), Greenfinch (just 3 - conspicuous by absence this morning), Goldfinch (1),

Moths
Catoptria stigmatella and a single Green-brindled Crescent

A nice varied morning by the office

Heysham Obs
This was very much a 'big sit' list this morning as I was "tied" to mist nets and vis mig, as well as having to deal with a heavy shower mist-net-wise.  Going to have to work this evening as spent far too long on coverage today!

Vis mig dawn to 1030hrs
Redwing - 325 SW, including flock of 140
Mistle Thrush - 3 heading SW with a flock of Redwing (definitely MT!)
Goldfinch - prominent this morning with 57 S and 3-4 grounded flocks
Meadow Pipit - 29 SE
Grey Wagtail - one heard in the distance early on
Reed Bunting - 5 SE
Chaffinch - 168 SW
Greenfinch - an attempt to isolate vis suggested c84 SW
Song Thrush - 10 on vis mig, heading SW in ones and twos, 14 grounded birds headed inland
Bullfinch - a prominent passage this morning with 17 heading S/SW at considerable height, including a flock of 5
Brambling - one SW with an early group of Chaffinch
Coal Tit - at least 35 south in flocks of up to 6 (19 ringed)
Starling - ignoring the ex-roost west to east birds, 63 flew south in four flocks
Blackbird - 4 high to SW and c15 grounded and heading inland just after dawn
Lesser Redpoll - 2 S
Golden Plover - one south (rare here)
alba Wagtail - 25 SE
Skylark - 14 SE
Common Buzzard - one high to the east heading south
Sparrowhawk - 1 S
Kestrel - one low to south may have been on vis mig
Curlew - 5 S
Siskin - 15 SE
Carrion Crow - at least two southbound high-flyers
Jackdaw - one flock of 6 S
Pink-footed Goose - 25 SE
Cormorant - 2 S
Yellowhammer - a female/imm flew low from the north, landed for about 10 minutes before heading SE

Grounded
Bear in mind that all this was from by the office - no reserve circuit (yet)
Stonechat - female (IOA) - headed off the plateau towards the tank farm
Treecreeper (one ringed)
Chiffchaff - 1 (ringed)
Blackcap - one very heavy off-passage female ringed and another calling
Goldcrest - 10
Robin - two lightweight birds ringed
Wren - 3 ringed
Song Thrush and Blackbird see above

Ringing
Not too bad considering limited to nets by office & disrupted by shower:  New birds:  Coal Tit (19), Robin (2), Goldfinch (6), Goldcrest (5), Greenfinch (7), Blackcap (1), Wren (3), Blue Tit (1), Chiffchaff (1), Treecreeper (1)

A further 18 'blogging" species were seen from the office vantage point, giving a 'big-sit-type' total of 52 species with no wetland or intertidal stuff within visual range to give 'easy' additions.  Linnet was the unexpected absentee from the vis.

Was anything missed?

Heysham Obs
The early morning received no coverage today as a late night and unfavourable forecast (especially for mist-netting) took its toll.  A quick whizz round suggested that perhaps a bit of effort might have been worthwhile as there were plenty of breaks between short showers

Vis by the office 0830-0845
Meadow Pipit - 2
Chaffinch - 6

North harbour wall area
Twite - 2 (couldnt see whether ringed or not)
Linnet - 21
Goldfinch - 8
Rock Pipit - one
Meadow Pipit - 11 grounded
Razorbill - flock of 4 'out'
Med Gull - adult

Red Nab area
Little Gull - adult
Med Gull - 2 1CY
Knot - c6,500

Moths
Light-brown Apple Moth in the trap & amazingly still a Nettle Tap moth in the mist net ride next to the office

Pre-frontal trickle

Heysham Obs
A few bits ahead of the weather front this morning.  A horse and trap racing around on Middleton shore pushed all the waders up to the Ocean Edge end, 'allowing' location of a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper.

Heysham NR circuit/vis mig to 0930
Chaffinch - 36 SW
Goldfinch - 17 SW
Siskin - heard once
Reed Bunting - one S
Bullfinch - 1+2 high to south
alba Wagtail - 6 SE
Woodpigeon - 8+5 S
Coal Tit - 7+8+12 S first thing, then no further movement (none(!) seen during circuit of reserve)
Curlew - one high to south
Meadow Pipit - 17 SE, all just before the rain in two groups

Song Thrush - 16 grounded first thing, then inland
Blackbird - at least 12 behaving like migrants first thing, then inland
Redwing/Fieldfare - no sign (c/f east of here)
Goldcrest - small influx with c15 seen (4 ringed)
Blackcap - just the one  seen (& ringed)
Tawny Owl - one with a halo of Great Tits and the like in the eastern woodland - flew across the road on to golf course

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
First visit for a few days!
Med Gull - just two adults
Wigeon - 45
Shelduck - 81
Knot - 6,500
Bar-tailed Godwit - 395
Dunlin - 2,200
Curlew Sandpiper - juvenile

Nasal double

Heysham Obs
The easterly didn't seem to have a lot of fetch on it and dawn saw a layer of cloud at the 'useless' level for dropping any great numbers of migrants and at the same time inhibiting clear-weather tit movements.  We ended up with reasonable vis, much easier to record than yesterday, a few extra grounded and a reduced, but still significant Coal Tit passage with 20 ringed and no large flocks.  The blog title refers to singleton Twite and Brambling, the first of the autumn.  The morning also provided an object lesson in how not to assume high-flying small thrushes are Redwing - all were heard and all went 'tick'

Vis to 1000hrs (Greenfinch ignored - certainly no obvious vis mig)
Grey Wagtail - 4 SE
Chaffinch - 79 SW
Bullfinch - 1+1+1 high to south
alba Wagtail - 45 SE
Cormorant - one high to SE
Song Thrush - 1+1+1+2+1 high to S/SW
Blackbird - 2 high to SW, then u-turned and landed
Meadow Pipit - 89 SE
Goldfinch - scarce this morning with just 6 S/SW
Lesser Redpoll - 2 S
Linnet - 2 S
Brambling - one SW
Reed Bunting - 1 SE
Twite - one 'in-off on the north wall, landed on mast then headed low over the harbour
Carrion Crow - 3 SE
Jay - one high to east and a call, probably this spp from very high in the sky but couldn't locate!
Coal Tit - just one irruptive flock of 8 birds which avoided the mist nets, all the rest were more sedate ones and twos (20 ringed)
Great-spotted Woodpecker - one high inland which may have come in-off - seen to fly over the golf course without dropping - most unusual here

Grounded (circuit of reserve)
Slightly better than yesterday but no obvious migrant Robin
Goldcrest - 6-8
Blackcap - at least 3
Chiffchaff - new arrival by office, then inland
Blackbird - 6 in NE corner
Song Thrush - 3 in NE corner
Wren - at least 2 new birds (ringed)
Rock Pipit - 2 north wall together
Meadow Pipit - 5 north wall (& 21 Linnet and 7 Goldfinch)

Ringing
Coal Tit (20), Wren (2), Grey Wagtail (2), Blue Tit (1), Blackcap (2), Goldcrest (2), Chaffinch (2), Greenfinch (2)

Moths 
Rhomboid Tortrix and the usual suspects in the form of Pink-barred Sallow and Red-line Quaker

Cold clear Coal Tit irruption

Heysham Obs
The largest Coal Tit irruptive movement since 1985 took place during the first 2 hours of the day with a significant trickle for the rest of the morning.  The count is likely to be an underestimate as I had to leave the vis mig operation to help with mist net extractions at the key time

Vis mig by the office dawn to c1030hrs
Coal Tit - 164 logged flying south, largest flocks being 32 & c40.  Only small numbers after 0830hrs
Long-tailed Tit - one unringed flock of c11
Blue Tit - single figures of unringed birds - more than usual this autumn!
Great Tit - no sign of any movement as usual here
Dunnock - at least two southbound migrants
Skylark - 12 SE
Reed Bunting - 2 SE
Chaffinch - 108 SW, but significant underestimate as they were very high and not 'casually' recorded during mist net rounds
Goldfinch - 15 & comment as above
Jackdaw - 11+16+1 south - really high!
Pink-footed Goose - 60+39 SE, second flock stratospherically high
alba Wagtail - just 4 SE
Jay - 3+2 south
Carrion Crow - 6+2+1 high to south
Sparrowhawk - one south
Bullfinch - 3 high to south & c5 others moving through bushes
Raven - 2 south
Meadow Pipit - just 11 noticed, comment as Chaffinch
Mistle Thrush - 5+1+1 SW
Greylag - 2 south together c1130hrs
Peregrine - large pale bird flew ESE with quite slow wingbeats at c1145hrs (!!) - no fine detail seen

Grounded
Wren - 5
Robin - 13
Chiffchaff - singing male, the first for a few days
Blackcap - 1 female
Goldcrest - 2
Jay - 2
Bullfinch - 7
Mistle Thrush - 1
Coal Tit - 13 (including a flock of 7) seen on a walk round the reserve at 1030am

North harbour wall
Rock Pipit - 1-2
possible single twite on the food but silent in bad light and flew off

Ringing
Coal Tit (39), Greenfinch (4), Blue Tit (9), Long-tailed Tit (10), Wren (4), Chaffinch (2), Great Tit (1), Robin (4), Goldcrest (2), Blackbird (1), Bullfinch (1), Goldfinch (1), Dunnock (2), Lesser Redpoll (9)