Finches galore, including some ringing recoveries

Heysham Obs
***Chiffchaff calling several times by the office at 1440hrs - sounded like collybita but not seen

Good numbers of finches on the north harbour wall today, courtesy of lack of any obvious disturbance prior to my arrival

North wall late morning
Twite - 34, at least 9 unringed (9/14 examined were unringed, this group also included Machrihanish-ringed bird with red/white right leg and metal over green/white left leg)
Linnet - 6 (3 ringed, 2 ll, one rl)
Goldfinch - 19, at least 7 unringed
Robin - ringed bird plus unringed 1CY briefly, another on mound
Song Thrush - usual bird
Wren - 1
Meadow Pipit - just the one located
Med Gull - adult and 2CY
Rock Pipit - one heard over the south side of harbour

Ringing recoveries
The most interesting feature here was the mode of recovery of the Greenfinch - very mid-20th century or earlier

Greenfinch
Ringed:  Heysham Obs                3F                13/10/11
Dead in coal shed:  Thoralby, Leyburn, N Yorks  25/10/12  66km ENE

A typical origin for migrant Greenfinch ringed at Heysham in October

Goldfinch
Ringed:     Port e vullen, Isle of Man       4F            16/10/12    1500hrs
Caught:     Heysham Obs                                          19/10/12   1200hrs  98km ESE

This could have made it from the IOM on vis mig setting off as late as early morning of 19/10, but is highly unlikely to have left there after ringing as late as 1500hrs on 16/10.  I suspect the bird moved to Cumbria on 17/10 or 18/10 and thence to Heysham.  It was caught there at the feeder, not tape-lured on vis mig.

Goldcrest
Ringed:   Heysham Obs                          3M                1/10/12 (0800hrs)
Caught:  Embley Wood, Hants                                     13/10/12 (0800hrs)  354km SSE

Was it still on migration?   The last time we asked this question with respect to a Heysham-ringed Goldcrest caught later in the autumn (Doncaster), the bird was retrapped in midwinter, answering the question

Moths
Mottled Umber & Winter moth in trap, 2 Winter moths between res gate and traffic lights last night (one in SD45E, the other in SD46A)

December windchill

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Chickened out of doing the circuit in a skinny jumper as a cold north-westerly blasted in from the sea
Twite - 33, at least 6 unringed
Goldfinch - 17
Linnet - 1
Meadow Pipit - 1
Med Gull - 2CY and adult

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Wigeon - 99
Med gull - ad

Heysham NR circuit
Blackbird - 2
Very mid-wintry!

Twite Influx

Heysham Obs
A visit to Ocean Edge saltmarsh saw no small finches and the impression that a lot of the available food might have been frozen in.  This might explain the increase in birds on the north harbour wall, this despite the usual Sunday 'traffic', albeit without any anglers in residence actually by the feeding station

North harbour wall lunchtime
Med Gull - 2 adult, 2CY
Linnet - 1
Goldfinch - 9
Twite - 31 with 10 unringed, one Machrihanish-ringed bird and the rest seemingly Heysham-ringed
Meadow Pipit - 1
Dunnock - 1

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Thousands of waders along the foreshore towards Potts Corner - THE best wader spectacle in the Bay
Wigeon - 101 Red Nab
Med Gull - ad Red Nab
Litle Egret - 1 Red Nab

More north wall forays

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Song Thrush - 1
Meadow Pipit - 1
Rock Pipit - 1
Twite - 24
Goldfinch - 9
Linnet - 1
Wren -1
Robin - 2
Starling - 16
Med Gull - 2 Ad and 2CY

Mainly Harbour fare and more Waxwing

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall and south harbour
Twite - 21, including at least 6 unringed, probably more
Goldfinch - 16
Linnet - 2
Meadow Pipit - 1
Rock Pipit - 1
Med Gull - 2 adults
Song Thrush - 1
Robin - 2
Wren - 1

Thanks Janet - taken south harbour today

Heysham Nature Reserve

Pink-footed Goose - flock of 485-495 NW at 0745hrs

Goldcrest - 3 by the office early morning

Meadow Pipit - 3 by the office again as yesterday

Borrans Lane

Waxwing - 4 feeding on hawthorns by the road works





Short-strawed Field Vole

Heysham Obs
A Short-tailed Field Vole was running about on top of the north harbour wall mound in bright sunlight this morning looking rather lost.  Obviously the prestige of being a new dot on a mammal atlas (is there one?) was worth the effort and the serious predation risk (SD36V, the rest of this 10km square is under the sea/intertidal)

Adult Med Gull north harbour wall.  Thanks Janet

North harbour wall SD36V blitz
Twite - 14
Goldfinch - just 2
Rock Pipit - 1-2 (seen on both harbour and seawall side)
Meadow Pipit - 2
Med Gull - 2CY conspicuous, two adults
Red-throated Diver - 2 sat on water together offshore in "heat" haze
Song Thrush - 1
Robin - 2 (one mound, one sandworks)
No Wren or Dunnock seen/heard

Heysham Nature reserve
Meadow Pipit - flock of three around - probably wintering birds from non-op land

Mammal
Frst known record of ST Field Vole for SD36V

Cold but fairly productive

Heysham Obs
A walk around the north wall circuit was quite bracing - need to get the woolly hat, coat and gloves out

Purple Sandpiper - TWO on the seawall below the gate then flushed and flew towards the wooden jetty with about 5 Turnstone
Med Gull - adult and 2CY together
Rock Pipit - 1
Meadow Pipit - 2
Robin - 2 including the usual bird in the mound gorse
Song Thrush - one mound gorse - elusive returning wintering bird at this strange location?
Twite - at least 6 with 2+ unringed at lunchtime
Goldfinch - just 3 early am, 14 at lunchtime

Twittering

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
A Twite-ringing session saw 6 new birds, 7 retraps and two ringed at Machrihanish on the Mull of Kintyre, one a new bird, the other a regular visitor during both this (so far) and last winter period

Also a decent number of Goldfinch but just 3/14 were unringed birds as you would perhaps expect at this time of year

Rock Pipit - 1
Meadow Pipit - 3
Linnet - at least one - one unringed bird was caught
Med Gull - adult

minimal stuff

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Goldfinch - 20
Twite - 2

Reserve circuit late pm
Blackbird - 5
Song Thrush - 1

Med masterclass and more Waxwing

Heysham Obs
Red Nab high tide
Med Gull - 1CY, 2CY and 2 adults

North harbour wall
No finches at 1040hrs

Reserve circuit
Song Thrush - 2
Blackbird - 11
Redwing - 1
Waxwing - flock of 6 flew into the tank farm at 1400hrs, seemingly from the direction of the power station, then headed across the golf course just to the south of the 'cream store' 

Moth
Another single Winter Moth was a bit of a surprise, given the conditions