Seawatching bits and bobs

Heysham Obs
Another 30 mins of seabird coverage produced a few rewards today

North harbour wall 1020-1050hrs
Guillemot - 2, possibly 3 on sea
Red-throated Diver - one 'out'
Little Gull - 2 adults slowly out very distantly
Kittiwake - adult 'in'
Finches - a flock of c50 in flight was the best on offer - impossible to  view the feeding station due to vehicle traffic
Med Gull - 2 adult

Unproductive scan

Heysham Obs
Spent the time today on a seawatch instead of 'power walking' around 36V and what a waste of time!

North wall 1030-1115hrs
Med Gull - just a single adult fisher's roof
Turnstone - 16 wooden jetty and no purps
Twite - c40 but not settled due to  people
Linnet -  at least 3
Goldfinch - c12
Offshore - absolutely zero in 20 mins continuous scanning

One hour of warm and misty miscellany

Heysham Obs
Still have not felt the need to wear gloves or wear a coat since christmas, despite theoretical wind 'chill' doing the north harbour wall circuit. 

North harbour wall & seawatch 1015-1045hrs
Twite/Linnet/Goldfinch -  too much disturbance to spend time checking them - c50 mixed finches seen, possibly more
Rock Pipit - one along the seawall between the gate and harbour mouth
Med Gull -  THREE  adults, two in the harbour and one headed south during a seawatch.  Also presumably the 2CY on the old Fisher's roof but at a bad angle to see wingtips
Red-breasted Merganser - 3 south
Guillemot - 2  on sea - one close inshore
No sign of any Purple Sandpiper on wooden jetty nor any incoming ferries to check

Heysham Nature reserve
Whilst helping to search for a lost teenager (thankfully found), a single Siskin flew south.  Incidentally the missing dog posted the other day turned up just before dusk, having played a round of golf over the road

Seabirds starting to stir

Heysham Obs
Nothing out of the ordinary during a brief visit to the north harbour wall other than two Twite with metal rings on the right leg but no colour rings on the left leg.  Will be interesting to see where these are from - one was a 1CY on gc details.  Birds a bit restless due to centrica yard activity and not time to examine the whole flock on the ground.  However, an hours seawatching by Ian on the incoming tide revealed a Guillemot influx and some distant Common Scoter, the first of the latter since the spring!  Howling onshore gales now seem to be an option for the three days prior to New Year, so there might be some storm-driven seabirds after all for the year-listers

North wall circuit 0900-0945
Twite - at least 65, at least 7 unringed out of about 30 examined, two  with metal-only rings
Linnet - at least 6
Goldfinch - at least 9
Starling - 20 on seed
Pied Wagtail - one on seed
Robin - two
Med Gull - adult, 2 adults later
Red-throated Diver - one on the sea in a sweep

North wall seawatch 1000-1100hrs (thanks Ian)
Guillemot - 3 definite & two auk prob this spp, one very close inshore
Common Scoter - distant flock of 12
Pink-footed Goose - c80 SE
Red-throated Diver - one close inshore

And then there were two

Heysham Obs
A rather belated visit coincided with a dog walker walking the 'twite corridor' and the (remaining?) birds were very restless. The first record of more than one Kittiwake for ages!

North harbour wall
Kittiwake - 2 adults behind a supply boat, just possibly a third
Med Gull - 2 adults
Twite - only 17 seen on seed, others heard but nowhere near yesterday's numbers (2 unringed)
Linnet - at least one
Goldfinch - 12 together on seed
Red-throated Diver - 2 offshore

Moths
Another Mottled Umber

Shirt-sleaved christmas

Heysham Obs
Happy Christmas!

A nice mildish morning saw little need for coats or even jumpers whilst doing the circuit of SD36V after feeding the Twite.  Trouble is that this weather does not produce a great deal, but finch numbers reached a new height this morning with c90 down on the seed at once. Oddly, no Meds seen.

North harbour wall
Twite - 79-81, including Machrihanish-ringed bird with metal above green/white and a metal-only ringed bird of unknown origin (c11 unringed)
Linnet - 7 (2 unringed)
Goldfinch - 6+
Mistle Thrush - one spooking the finches
Pink-footed Goose - 52 NW
Red-throated Diver - 2 on sea offshore, one very distant
Robin - 2

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Wigeon - 135
Lapwing - 330

Middleton NR circuit
Jack Snipe - one in mown wet area near Tim Butlers (NE corner) - the only snipe spp seen
Teal - at least 10 Tim Butler pond
Tufted Duck - 14 scattered around
Pochard - 2 males model boat pond
Goldeneye - female model bpat pond
Mute Swan - 4 juvs
Coot - just 4
Little Grebe - unusually none
Mallard - none
Grey Wagtail - 1 (unringed)

Moth
Mottled Umber - 1

Trilling frustration

Heysham Obs
Did the usual bracing wake-up call of the mound north wall circuit this morning and I had just got back to the car when a familiar trilling noise was heard just the once, seemingly from up in the sky in the harbour direction.  However, just couldnt find anything so the record has been binned (there are a lot of extraneous noises around the harbour) and an opportunity to add to the iconic SD36V list missed

North harbour wall/mound area 0910-0940
Twite - 56-58 with 9 or 10 unringed - definitely no more, c/f the 15/60 reported the other day
Linnet - 5
Goldfinch - 2
Red-throated Diver - 2 flew 'out'
Pink-footed Goose - 320 NE
Med Gull - 2CY Fisher's roof roost
Bad news on Meadow Pipit - none seem to be left - sandworks searched

strong wind fails to deliver

Heysham Obs
....................as perhaps is usual on the first day.  I cannot see any sustained onshore winds likely to produce a variety of waifs like last back end for any new year's day listers.  Last year 100 species in this area was a 'doddle' - easily achieved on 1st Jan without even trying i.e. didnt do any of the north fylde, courtesy of shag, guillemot, kittiwake, little gull (missed glaucous but jammed in on rock pipit) bonuses at heysham and glossy ibis/great white egret/marsh harrier bonuses at the leighton roost. You only need 6-7 or so 'guaranteed extras' over and above the usual fare and the usual difficult stuff like treecreeper to easily make 100.  I cannot see where they are coming from this time round (although marsh harrier looks like being available again), so anyone havng a go will need some careful planning and luck. 

North harbour wall
Nothing offshore or inshore with a gang of turnstone below the north wall failing to 'deliver' any purple sandpiper and, as far as I know, there have been no december sightings to date

Twite - 13 (one unringed)
Goldfinch - 8
Linnet - 4 ringed birds

Moths
One winter moth (trap at Millhouses, nr Wray held pale brindled beauty, red-green carpeet, chestnut, satellite, 6 winter moth and 43 mottled umber)

Kittiwake famine is over

Heysham Obs
Very easy to take Kittiwakes for granted during the usual regular incidence of sustained periods of onshore winds.  Even though the winds may not always be strong enough to produce a motley collection of inshore storm-driven waifs, which usually find the 'waterfall' food supply in the harbour, they usually 'encourage' birds to follow boats to within visual range of onshore observers.  However, when these winds are absent or not quite sustained enough, as has been the case this autumn, Kittiwakes can be completely absent for lengthy periods.  This happened during the freezing weather in early 2010 (none between 1/1 and 12/3) and this autumn has been similar with none since 16/10

North wall brief car-based visit
Kittiwake - adult following an orange 'rescue boat' as far as the wooden jetty
Med Gull - adult as above
Twite - 10 on seed and others heard (2/10 unringed)
Goldfinch - 1+ heard

Awful weather!

Friday fare

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall SD36V power walk
Song Thrush - 1 mound
Wren - 1 mound
Twite - 61 in a 'pure' flock, then probably 11 different birds mixed in with:
Goldfinch - 5
Linnet - 1
Wigeon - solitary female on the sea - nothing else of note on single 'sweep'

No chance to see Twite ring details (food put out 0900hrs)

Moth
Winter Moth in the trap - looks quite productive for moths if you have shelter this next few days!