A coastal passerine day

Heysham Obs
The hoped for Snow Bunting was not found but a rather unexpected Chiffchaff consorted with Wrens in the bits and pieces of bramble around the harbour waterfall.  Pity the winter atlas isnt still in operation as it would have been new for SD35Z!   Part of the moning was also spent addressing the niger seed with a whoosh net and hoping the Goldfinch hordes would move on and leave the food for the Twite.  A control Goldfinch of the Y484 sequence was of interest

Thanks Janet for these,all taken by the waterfall on the south harbour

 





North wall
Twite - 4 flew in-off, but didnt linger, 3 new ones were ringed along with four retraps
Linnet - 2 ringed
Goldfinch - 21 new ones and a few retraps plus the abovementioned 'control'
Med Gull - 2 adults

Moth
Feathered Thorn in the trap   



Few birds but more wasps!

Heysham Obs
Amazingly, today saw the highest registration this year on the nuisance index by worker social wasps.  One appeared in the office and blundered around the computer screen, two visitors were buzzed, one visited the ringing (or ringingless (see below)) station outside the front door.  A belated nest must be breaking up.  This all provides a rather feeble attempt at creating interest on what was a pretty birdless, mothless and butterflyless day.  Normally Red Admirals brighten things up on sunny early November days, but there have been hardly any this year and no late ones

Heysham NR office area
Vis mig comprised two late Meadow Pipits heading SE together and 6 Chaffinch heading SW.  Ringing was fairly dismal with virtually nothing on the feeders and new birds amounting to about one per hour (Dunnock, Greenfinch, Goldfinch)

North harbour wall
Goldfinch - c40
Twite - 4-5
Med Gull - 2 adult

Not a great deal

Heysham Obs
First of all two alerts today where visitors were warned that this site was unsafe to visit because of the Fatbirder web link.  I googled this and found the Cornwall bird society site had faced this problem a few months ago.  Most odd.  If anyone can explain, please email me privately on PMrsh123@aol.com.  In the meantime, I've removed the link. 

Thanks go Ian for inshore stuff which was unfortunately limited to the two adult Mediterranean Gulls

A short tour of the reserve was similarly quiet with just 10-15 Blackbird and 6 Redwing of note

No moths

Unstable polar air

Heysham Obs
Thundery hail-showers are not the best recipe during the rush hour and conditions remained wild and woolly for the rest of the day.   Whether or not the weather caused my computer hard drive to fail is uncertain buit probably pure coincidence.  Winter fare bird-wise

Coastal sites
Little Gull - 2 ads offshore and an ad-type on the outfalls, the latter looked too pale under-winged to be the moulting adult present on and off since the end of July
Med Gull - 2 adults roosting on Fisher's roof by the harbour
Twite - 3
Goldfinch - 15 with above  (45 on feeding area at around 15.30 keeping their distance from a large Rabbit also taking the nyger)
Linnet - 1 with Goldfinches
Ringed Plover - 24 Ocean Edge
Inner harbour/waterfall and wooden jetty checked & nothing of note

Ringing
Eddie Maguire was kindly in touch yesterday informing that all his Twite had left Machrihanish, 300 of them bearing rings

Ringing totals for October reflect several things, notably the massive Coal Tit irruption where the behaviour of many of the birds did not bring them anywhere near the mist nets - in this respect, the ringing total "only" equalled the maximum day count.  The rest of it was all a bit negative other than the coverage being rather good thanks to John Mason's availability, although Middleton was too wet and messy and the wind was rarely light enough.  Perhaps the most negative specific thing was the awful passage of Reed Bunting as determined by the lack of birds in early morning mist nets at Middleton and also the paucity on vis mig. More generally, there was not one single morning comprising a nice mixture of easterly wind and poor visibility - all the easterlies involved 'useless' medium-high cloud.  Therefore Chiffchaff and Blackcap just about struggled into double figures, the Goldcrest total was an accumulated trickle, Robin numbers were low and nothing unusual was found in the nets.  Totals for October in order of magnitude:  Coal Tit (161), Greenfinch (108), Goldfinch (95), Goldcrest (57),  Lesser Redpoll (39), Blue Tit (36), Chaffinch (32), Redwing (23), Long-tailed Tit (22), Wren (20), Robin (18), Blackbird (15), Blackcap (13), Great Tit (12), Twite (12), Chiffchaff (10), Dunnock (9), Song Thrush (8), Bullfinch (6), Grey Wagtail (5), Reed Bunting (5), Meadow Pipit (3), Linnet (2), Great-spotted Woodpecker (1), Treecreeper (1)

More northbound pink-feet and a November wasp

Heysham Obs
Social wasps have been almost mega-alert status this year and to find one (late worker) making a nuisance of itself in the office this lunchtime was most unexpected.  A loose flock of c420 Pinkfeet headed over at lunchtime and looking at postings elsewhere there was a much larger gang heading similarly over the Lesser Yellowlegs site on the Lune estuary earlier in the morning.  What is happening?

Office area
Mostly work this morning, so just about 15 minutes of vis mig before a heavy shower put the lid on it
Chaffinch - 8 SW
Lesser Redpoll - 1 SW
Hardly any thrushes in the bushes and no obvious vis mig
Post-rain, a short spell of mist-netting saw a huge "foreign" male Chaffinch, a similarly large and long-winged female Blackbird and a handful of Green and Goldfinches

North wall
45 Goldfinch, 7 Linnet, 6 Twite, 4 Meadow Pipit

Middleton
At least 18 Tufted and 2 male Pochard

Goldfinch plague

Heysham
Hopefully they will clear off south soon and leave some food and room for Twite.  

North Harbour Wall
Goldfinch - c55
Med Gull - adult and 2CY

Large thrush fall

Heysham Obs
Change of plan (c/f yesterdays notice) and a decision to cover the early morning - this was 'scientific' and nothing to do with leaving my computer glasses in the office yesterday!  Well worth it - you just never know what to expect in wet conditions at this time of year, irrespective of wind direction - it often depends whether the birds are kick-started earlier in the night by favourable overnight migration conditions at their previous landing.  The rain must have 'dropped' large numbers of thrushes at Heysham this morning and I think I just about got there in time to witness most of the 'heading high inland' phase.  This was assisted by an unknown disturbance 'clearing out' the tank farm.  Good morning to possess a Heligoland trap!

Coverage of Heysham NR only - mainly round office, incl vis from 0710 onwards to 0825
Blackbird - 160-180 scattered around - "in every bush"
Redwing - 67 flew inland, 20-30 still grounded
Continental Song Thrush - a lot - at least 27 flew inland and at least another 20-25 grounded
Meadow Pipit - still moving - 3 SE
Siskin - heard once
Greenfinch - a lot on the move - perhaps 35 straight over high to SW with others dropping in to feeders which were inundated with finches (30-40 Greenfinch, 20-30 Goldfinch........and no food left!)

Quick walk around the reserve at 0930hrs
Amazing - hardly any sign that there was a major thrush arrival, confirming that even the usually more sedate Blackbirds were restless and wanting to head inland.  c15 Goldcrest, c25 Blackbird, 14 Redwing, 8 Song Thrush were logged with the onlt 'notable' being a Water Rail calling near the dipping pond

North harbour wall
43 Goldfinch (17 ringed), 4 Linnet (1 ringed), 7 Twite, with the 5 unringed ones soon flying off towards the harbour mouth.  Dog-walker on the heliport flushing Oystercatchers

Moth
Red-line Quaker

late autumn migratory dribble

Heysham Obs
Perhaps the last of the pre-dawn starts this morning.  A smattering of Redwing, at least one early Redpoll, a small flock of Brambling, three irruptive Coal Tit and a minor 'fall' of Goldcrest

No coverage tomorrow from usual people - can anyone help, please? 

Vis dawn to about 0830hrs
Redwing - 60 SW (no Fieldfare of Mistle Thrush)
Song Thrush - 5
Lesser Redpoll - 2
Meadow Pipit - 3
Goldfinch - at least 8 on vis
Greenfinch - 10-15 thought to be on vis (e.g. 13 new ones ringed to back this up, plus control from TS061 sequence)
Chaffinch - at least 18 SW on vis
Brambling - flock of 4 SW
Coal Tit - flock of 3 high to south very early on, plus one unringed bird caught later
Bullfinch - 1 high to S
Carrion Crow - 1 high to south
Siskin - 2 SE

Grounded
Blackbird - 25-30
Redwing - 14
Song Thrush - at least 6
Chiffchaff - one in NE corner
Blackcap - male ringed
Goldcrest - at least 15 new birds (7 ringed, 8 unringed birds in rest of reserve)

Moths
Mottled Umber, Red-line Quaker, Pink-barred Sallow

Mobile hide birding

Heysham Obs
Had to resort to a little bit of mobile hide i.e. sat in the car birding today as short breaks from work and give myself just a tiny amount of time on what looks like a promising morning tomorrow.  I don't think anything was missed flying overhead today in what was mainly driving rain!

Bits and pieces
Razorbill - two out
Twite - Just two plus 23 Goldfinch and 1 Linnet
Med Gull - 1CY outfalls, ad north wall
Tufted Duck - 18+ model boat pond
Pochard - 2 males model boat pond

Moth
Angle Shades

Wintry chill

Heysham Obs
A dawn start saw a gradually increasing and progressively colder wind correlating with fewer birds until going back indoors and getting on with work seemed a better option.  Then the thrushes got going again!  Brief visit to north harbour wall, then work-related spot counts of waders may produce something to add to this lot:

Vis 0730-0830
Fieldfare - flock of c350 north, then east(ish) plus another 570 in three flocks all heading north on a line to the east of us by 0930 (very intermittent checks)
Redwing - dribs and drabs totalling about 30 in the half-light, including flying inland(see reserve circuit for leftovers). 16 with the first lot of Fieldfare, plus another c45 scattered amongst the later vis mig Fieldfare
Song Thrush - 3 migrants headed inland
Chaffinch - c15 SW
Brambling - heard on two separate occasions but could not see them - very high!
alba Wagtail - 5 SE
Jackdaw - 41 S
Rook/Carrion Crow - 4 with above but not seen very well
Meadow Pipit - 1 SE mid am
Grey Wagtail - one heard mid-am - blogger?

North wall
9 Twite (later 10), 14 Goldfinch (later 23), 8 Linnet on/around feeder, 6-7 Meadow Pipit scattered around

Reserve circuit
Not bad for thrushes in the sheltered NE corner but no more seen flying overhead
Blackbird - 30-40
Song Thrush - 8-10
Redwing - 8-10
Treecreeper - one NE corner
Woodcock - i flushed from eastern woodland
Goldcrest - 6, including group of 5 unringed birds

Ocean Edge
Med Gull - adult and 1CY outfalls but no sign of long-staying adult Little Gull at a stage of the tide it is normally visible
Bar-tailed Godwit - 1,350 along tideline
Whooper Swan - 7 very distantly and high to ESE

Moth
Light-brown Apple moth.  No butterflies or dragonflies on circuit of the reserve 1100hrs, including checking the NE corner ivy which was sheltered in full sunlight and covered in drone flies etc