Little Gulls pile in

Heysham Obs
No time to do much birdwatching today which was a shame, but Tom and Janet were on the prowl:

Thanks for these Janet

Inshore areas
Little Gull - 6 adult/3CY behind freight ferry and up to 10 adult/3CY and 3 2CY outfalls
Kittiwake - 6 behind freight ferry, 5 on outfalls
Med Gull  - at least one ad, 3CY on sea by heliport
Linnet - 8
Twite - only 7 seen
Goldfinch - 6
Guillemot - 3, one in harbour mouth
Rock Pipit - 1

Missed the IOM passenger ferry yet again! 

Little Gulls trickle in

Heysham Obs
A few short sorties today in between a lot of work.

North harbour wall
Med Gull - 2 adults, 3CY on heliport briefly but ring still unreadable as it 'faced left'!

Thanks Janet

Twite - c95 but in the blinding sunlight part of the morning!
Great-crested Grebe - 7 'out' in 5 mins
Red-throated Diver - one 'out' as above
Guillemot - one 'out' as above

Stage 2 outfall
Little Gull - 3 adult type and 2 2CY by lunchtime

No Kitts, ferry sneaked in unseen!

Middleton model boat pond
Mute Swan - JZ6 2CY lying dead and headless by the model boat pond - thanks Carol for letting us know - I've disposed of it as it was upsetting a lot of people leaving it 'to nature'
Pochard - increase to 4 males
Tufted Duck - 7
Goldeneye - female

Elsewhere
It might seem beyond belief listening to the howling wind, unless you are familiar with the sheltered Millhouses site, but I've seen 60 moths today........:  40 Pale-brindled beauty, 12 Spring Usher, 2 Early Moth, 5 Dotted Border and a Tortricodes alternella.  A big-enough sample to say that the speciality of this site at/from this time of year, Small Brindled Beauty, is not out yet.  Note lack of hibernators: Chestnut/Satellite/Red-green Carpet which were regular during the mild first week of January

Full house of the more regular late winter specialities

Heysham Obs
Apart from perhaps Shag, although these are not traditionally regular in late winter unless remaining from an earlier influx

North wall early morning and lunchtime
Kittiwake - ad following IOM ferry as far in as red buoy, but then left to follow outgoing ferry
Med Gull - 2 adults
Rock Pipit - one along base of seawall at lunchtime
Twite - max 72 at one time, including green/white, red/white Machrihanish bird.  There were 5 unringed out of 67, then 4 birds arrived from the south with a Meadow Pipit, circled round for about 5 mins before eventually landing on the fence with the flock.  Two of these definitely unringed and the behaviour also suggested new arrivals 
Linnet - 1
Goldfinch - 2
Song Thrush - 1
Purple Sandpiper - 1 along base of seawall
Guillemot - one harbour entrance, one briefly further out - first for a bit
Red-throated Diver - 2-4 around offshore
Meadow Pipit - one flew along harbour wall, then inland (with 4 Twite - see above)

Stage 2 outfall
Little Gull - no sign of yesterdays adult but 2CY present

Inshore Little Gull at last

Heysham Obs
The only previous ones this year were a very distant flock of five in Cumbrian waters on new year's day

North harbour wall 0830-0900hr
Twite - 96, 7 unringed
Linnet - 5
Goldfinch -7
Purple Sandpiper - one along base of seawall on incoming tide
Red-throated Diver - one 'out'
Pink-footed Goose - 63 NW (none obviously in the bypass filds, but plenty of fields not visible!)
Med Gull - 3CY sat on the sea off the heliport at high tide, Czech-ringed adult on seawall railings, another adult on Fisher's roof
Careful check for 'the' Shag has failed to produce either yesterday or today

Outfalls check late afternoon
Little Gull - adult on stage 2

Anywhere but above the knee on the right leg!

Heysham Obs
The 3CY Med Gull was sitting on the heliport seawall facing into the wind - surely an opportunity at last to read the ring?   However, the seawall is relatively low, the right leg was the furthest away from the observer and the above tarsus area holding the ring was the only external part of the bird which could not be seen,  despite a lot of different scope angles tried from the road

The other more tangible key feature of the morning was a pair of Scaup flying 'out' with the other Heysham year tick involving two Pintail, also heading out

North harbour wall late morning seawatch
Kittiwake - a distant swarm of gulls, partially obscured by a hail shower were picked up at JBP and confirmed as c50 of this species.  Flock of 22 'in', then 'on' c1400hrs
Pink-footed Goose - 55 SE
Scaup - male and female 'out'
Pintail - 2 'out'
Med Gull - 2 ads, later sitting on Fisher's roof, 3CY by the heliport
Twite - c60 early morning
Goldfinch - 15 late afternoon
Linnet - 5 late afternoon

Heysham NR
Redwing - 2

A nice day after dodgy early-morning roads

Heysham Obs
Thanks to Ann and Pete for a donation to the Twite-feed. 

North harbour wall
Twite - 60+
Goldfinch - 1+
Med Gull -  2 adults, one the Czech-ringed bird
Purple Sandpiper - 1
Red-throated Diver - 1 offshore and presumed the same flying in later on the dropping tide

Heysham NR
Woodcock - 1
Long-tailed Tit - flock of 11

The windchill of the weather change

Heysham Obs

North harbour wall
Evil outside this morning with the Twite ringing session successful courtesy of the ability of hatchbacks to block out most of the wind.  The metal-only ringed bird was caught and proved a bit of a puzzle as it was assumed that it was one of the later Machrihanish-ringed birds from last autumn when they ran short of colour rings.........but it is not the same sequence as the rest of the Mach birds = L974510.  The early arrival of the precipitation curtailed the session but almost certainly a majority of the current unringed birds were caught, assuming at least some of the same birds each day (11 ringed; max seen recently 15).  A couple of unringed Goldfinch were a bit unexpected. 

Med Gull - adult on railings

Crossbill surprise

Heysham Obs
The geese appeared over the reserve again at just after 0800hrs, in similar numbers to yesterday, but were fragmented and continually disturbed by shots coming from the area of the mast just south of Heysham Moss.  Eventually 2,300 were visible and gone through with just a single Barnacle Goose

Heysham NR
Common Crossbill - red male and a green bird flew in from the northwest and landed on the bush next to the (ex)-obs tower pond briefly before heading south (thanks John)
Geese - similar numbers to yesterday but only one Barnacle located from persual of about 70%

North harbour wall
Twite - 108 on seed, c15 unringed, one metal-only ring
Goldfinch - 1
Rock Pipit - 1
Song Thrush - 1
Purple Sandpiper - 1
Med Gull - 2 adult

Heysham village
Male Blackcap in garden at SD411610 (thanks Maalcolm)

Loadsa geese

Heysham Obs
A quick block-count at 0805hrs saw a single straggling flock of 3,900, perhaps just topping 4,000 Pink-feet/goose spp heading from the roost off the south Lune across the recycling centre area to land in fields just west of the Overton roundabout on the bypass and this estimate was confirmed by counts 'on the deck'.  These were visible looking east from the nature reserve office and apparently did the same route yesterday morning but flying a little closer to the office

Heysham NR office area
Pink-footed Goose - c3,900 from roost to feeding area as described above (one orange-legged bird located on the ground)
Barnacle Goose - two located on the ground when the flock was checked along the bypass
Possible Bean Goose seen briefly and distantly (structure and billshape/colour, not legs or e.g. tailband)
Dabbling duck spp - flock of 17 on the same line as geese (not Teal) - most unusual!
Redwing - 3 by office first thing
Greenfinch - quite an influx of unringed birds so far

North harbour wall
Purple Sandpiper - one
Twite -  at least 67
Goldfinch - 5
Song Thrush - 1
Rock Pipit 1
No sign Shag

Middleton NR
Jack Snipe flushed from side of model boat pond during sea buckthorn clearance programme

Purp & Meds

North Harbour Wall

Purple Sandpiper
Shag (briefly)
Twite 50+
Med Gulls 2 adults
Rock Pipit
Song Thrush