White bread failure

Heysham Obs
The unread ringed 3CY Med was on Fisher's roof at high tide, but remained unmoved by half a loaf and a large collection of gulls along the north wall

North harbour wall high tide
Med Gull - 3CY Fisher's roof, Czech adult to  bread - the ring is getting very worn with the penultimte '1' of the EX78711 number very hard to decipher, as is the top line of the address - the 'eum' bit  of museum
Guillemot -  one harbour mouth
Twite - c35
Goldfinch - c8
Linnet - c2
No waders along the base of the seawall

Yet another day - the third in succession -when all the waders were flushed from the heliport seawall by a single dog walker

50 metres worth of birding

Heysham Obs
Anything further away was virtually unidentifiable in today's fog

North wall
Purple Sandpiper - one below the red gate again early morning
Rock Pipit - same place
Twite - c45
Linnet - c7
Goldfinch - 15

Moth
One Mottled Umber

Purp and Parsnip

Heysham Obs
A Parsnip Moth in the trap kicked off the microlepidoptera season

Heysham north harbour wall
Purple Sandpiper - one on the rocks below the red gate for at least 30 minutes mid-morning
Rock Pipit - one by harbour mouth
Song Thrush - one mound
Twite - not many - c25 in flight
Goldfinch - 17
Linnet - 7 with Goldfinch
Med Gull - Czech-ringed adult

Moth
Parsnip moth in office trap

Purple Sandpiper

Heysham Obs
Failed miserably to entice the 3CY Med in to read the ring - spent a "fortune" on grotty white sliced bread and didnt see a single Med

North harbour wall
Purple Sandpiper - one below the gate (thanks Jim)
Twite - c50 but very flighty
Linnet - 5
Goldfinch - 2+
Red-breasted Merganser - 6 offshore

Elsewhere
3 Waxwing south end of Clarendon Road 0830hrs - flew 'inland'.  Anyone interested in moths:  Millhouses (SD66D) last night saw:  1 Winter Moth, 3 Early Moth, 25 Mottled Umber, 10 Pale-brindled Beauty, one Dotted Border, 2 Red-green Carpet, 15 Spring Usher and a Tortricodes alternella.  However, I suspect the party is over for a bit on the forecast

Scoter Surprise

Heysham Obs
A flock of 420 Common Scoter were seen from the North Harbour Wall late afternoon both on the water and flying about-unprecedented at this time of year since 1960's.
Also Guillemot -1
Pink-footed Goose - 34 S
Med Gull - 2 adults & 2CY

A brief lunchtime visit to top up the seed didn't see any finches coming to it with views of them just on the tops of the bushes. They comprised 27 birds, mainly Twite with a few Linnets, but no Goldfinch.

Red Nab/Ocean Edge Late Afternoon
A bird photographer flushed everything off Red Nab as the tide was coming in.
Wigeon - 215

Brent Goose highlight

Heysham Obs
Brief visit to north harbour wall
Dark-bellied Brent Goose - two flying out at 1255hrs
Common Scoter - 3 very distantly out
Guillemot - 6 floating in
Twite - 13+
Linnet - 2
Goldfinch - at least 5
Med Gull - Czech-ringed adult on the railings, 2CY following ferry out
Kittiwake - 3 adults behind ferry

Thanks for the reccords Ian

Influx of unringed Twite

Heysham Obs
Sorry this posting is late - its taken me 20 minutes to access the site from the ""broadband"" at my home address - so much for BT 'connectivity' in rural areas

As I understand it, 36 unringed Twite were caught today and of the 22 ringed birds, two were previously unrecorded individuals ringed at Machrihanish seabird observatory on the Mull of Kintyre

At least one Med Gull around the north wall

The 3CY Med is ringed!

Heysham Obs
Twite numbers reached a new high this morning and the 3CY Med Gull was attracted in by bread and found to be ringed above the tarsus on the right leg, just like the Czech adult.  Anyone able to get an address or any of the numbers, please let me know and we'll try and (probably gradually) read it and find out the details.  Could year-listers please avoid the Twite feeding area tomorrow am as there will, drizzle permitting, be a ringing session and they are easily spooked by new vehicle arrivals.  Thanks.

North harbour wall and harbour area
Med Gull - 2 usual inshore adults (one Czech-ringed), ringed 3CY and the usual large adult following the IOM ferry before flying out of the bay along the shipping line
Twite - 87 (11-15 unringed)
Linnet - 7
Goldfinch - 7
Meadow Pipit - one on south side (35Z)
Rock Pipit - usual bird along the harbour-side jetty along the mound
Kittiwake - just 2 adults behind IOM ferry

Heysham PS non-op land
Meadow  Pipit - 2 (45E)

Moth
One Mottled Umber in the trap kicking the year off   

Twite numbers reach a new high

Heysham Obs
Miserable drizzle this morning with poor visibility, especially offshore - however this is a precursor to some pretty decent moth trapping weather over the next few nights.  Even in last night's rather colder temperatures, the Heysham trap held about 15 assorted 'wintery gnat-type' things and a lot of spiders waking up from their winter slumbers

North harbour wall
Twite - 73, including at least 12 unringed and two with metal-only rings
Goldfinch - 5
no Linnet - they have often been staying as a separate flock in recent days
Med Gull - adult on beach

A bit more effort reaps rewards

Happy new year

First bird today was a Moorhen calling by my house just before Tawny Owl & "Mallard" - cant remember this kicking off any previous new year.

Heysham Obs
Coverage in December, other than Twite-related activities, was pretty poor, especially any persistence as regards the sea.  A decent westerly suggested the sea was worth a bit of coverage today and, albeit often distantly, there was a reasonable haul by recent standards 

North wall/harbour area, including about 2 hours of sea coverage at various times prior to 1100hrs, then a 'ferry check' at 1200hrs
Purple Sandpiper - one on rocks below red lighthouse pre-tide, then flew to the other side of harbour but birds flushed by cyclist before could be checked. 
Med Gull - 2 adults
Twite - 52
Linnet - 5-8
Goldfinch c6
Song Thrush - 1 mound/flew to sandworks - amazing choice of wintering site for the second successive winter (surely the same rather eccentric bird which likes living 'on the edge')
Rock Pipit - 1
Red-throated Diver - 1 'out' distantly, one out fairly close
Auk spp - at least 5 distantly
Guillemot - at least 7, including 2 together and one very close inshore
Little Gull - flock of 5 adult/3CY 'out' then appeared to land on sea
Kittiwake - 1+11+7+2+3+1+2+1+2, all but the flock of 7 heading 'out'.  32 behind the IOM ferry, but many flew back out before it turned into the harbour mouth (c50% 2CY)
Pink-footed Goose - flock of 115 NW

Middleton NR
Mute Swan - 2 ad no swimming pond, 2 ad & 5-6 juvs model boat pond
Goldeneye - female mb pond
Pochard - 2 males mb pond
Tufted Duck - at least 12 scattered around
Reed Bunting - one western marsh