Thin pickings

Heysham Obs
The only remote sign of any new action today was a single Lapwing on territory on the model boat pond and two Meadow Pipit seemingly 'in-off' at the north harbour wall this morning.  Offshore visibility very poor.

North harbour wall
Twite - 84
Goldfinch - one ringed bird
Meadow Pipit - 2 in -off, then on to mound
no Meds seen

Middleton NR
Lapwing - one on territory

Perils of discarded fishing line

Heysham Obs
Fortunately there was a Twite-ringing session this morning...fortunately for the 3CY Med Gull which ended up with a barbed hook in its mouth with the weight at the other end jammed into a crevice on the seawall:

The hook was successfully removed and the bird seemed none the worse, so we added a darvic ring to the above-tarsus Belgian metal ring as follows:

This should make individually identifying this returning bird much easier when it comes back as an adult.....assuming it doesnt swallow some anglers bait away from assistance......and maybe it will be recorded on passage/on its future breeding grounds
Twite - 29 caught, including 4 unringed, the metal-only bird ringed elsewhere which was caught in January (origin unknown as yet) and the regular Machrihanish bird 
Med Gull - no obvious sign of any adults today

Insects
The first butterfly of the year - a Small Tortoiseshell at Red Nab

 Thanks Janet

 

Stonechat migrant and returning Purple sandpiper

Heysham Obs
Dont know what happened with yesterdays posting but its is now below this one - maybe it was such inconsequential rubbish, the blog refused to post

Red Nab
Stonechat - adult female - pics later (thanks for the info Janet -first successful twitch of the year!)

Thanks Janet for this and the Gadwall pic below

North harbour wall
Purple Sandpiper - one just the south side of harbour on rocks with Turnstone
Eider - c153
Twite - 95, 7 unringed, one Machrihanish bird and at least 18 with rings pre-winter 2012/3
Med Gull - remaining wintering female (unringed), new male displaying to her with not much summer pluameg on head & 3CY trying to muscle in and indicating that he is also a male.  NO sign of Czech-ringed adult, presumed gone (as usual by now)

Heysham NR
Small influx of thrushes with 5 migrant Blackbird, 2 Song Thrush and 3 Redwing
Jay - plucked feathers from this species in eastern woodland - Sparrowhawk?

Middleton NR
The usual quota of ducks, including:

Chimney pot Jackdaw sensation

Heysham Obs
The first ever Jackdaws sat on chimney pots for the Heysham (as opposed to Middleton) area today by the Trumacar stores - a very strange absence in this area which is good for determining migratory flocks in autumn

Late news for yesterday - a Red-legged Partridge of obviously dubious (but arent they all) origin by the office yesterday afternoon

Trumacar stores early morning
Jackdaw - two on chimneypot over the road

North harbour wall
Hazy early morning so just c200  Eider noted offshore
Twite - eventually 102 but very flighty - 6+ unringed, later 4/60 unringed

Moths
An Acleris hastiana of the stripy form was disturbed by the office and a Dotted Border was in the trap

Springtime for Greylags

Heysham Obs
The first incursion this year on to Middleton NR ponds

Middleton NR (thanks Malcolm)
Snipe 5
Mute Swan - 6 (2 juv)
Coot - 9
Moorhen - 8
Teal - 46
Little Grebe - just 2
Tufted Duck - 18
Greylag - 2
Mallard - 5
Gadwall - 5
Pochard - 3
Goldeneye- 1
Pink-footed Goose - 147 north 0847hrs

Red Nab area
Wigeon - 126
Little Egret - 1

North wall offshore at low tide
Eider - 210
Red-breasted Merganser - 16

North wall inshore
Med Gull - Czech adult and Belgian 3CY
Mute Swan - 2CY by near naze
Twite - 102, including usual Machrihanish bird and 6+ unringed
Goldfinch - 1

Ringing by office
Unringed Goldfinch (2), Greenfinch and Blackbird plus four retrap Long-tailed Tit

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant

St David's Day in case you were wondering.

As you can see, St David was a keen birder and always went round with a white dove on his shoulder.  No white doves at Heysham today but the following birds were seen from the
North Harbour Wall
Red-throated Diver - 2 distantly on the water
Great-crested Grebe - 6 floating in with the tide and a couple of them displaying to each other
Red-breasted Merganser - 9 also floating in and doing a bit of ducking and diving at the same time
Eider -  76 visible
Peregrine - 1 staking out some waders
Mediterranean Gull - 1 adult with an almost full black head
Twite - 72
Vis?
Greenfinch - 1 NE
Canada Goose - 9 N

Heysham Nature Reserve
Another unringed Long-tailed Tit caught
Great-spotted Woodpecker near the entrance gate
Negative news on daffodils and leeks.

Waxwings again

Heysham Nature Reserve
3 Waxwings flew NE over the reserve at 1315hrs, heading towards Heysham village
Further evidence of birds shifting around came in the form of the following unringed birds caught:
Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Dunnock and a dozen Greenfinches.
A Common Buzzard flew NE at midday.

North Harbour Wall
Twite 45 - at least 5 unringed
Red-throated Diver - 1 offshore
Knot 1700 - below the heliport

Sorted

Our international correspondants have now sent details of Med 3CY.  This Belgian youngster was ringed as a chick in Antwerp on 17/05/2011 with ring no. E929291.

Other news from the North Harbour Wall today:
Mediterranean Gull - one of the adults around
Turnstone have increased to 150.
Twite 17 at 10am

That was it 2 hours before high tide (unless you want to include the 13 Cormorants, 1 Magpie, 7 GBB Gulls and 2 Herring Gulls on the wooden jetty).

The Great Med Mystery - almost solved

Super sleuths Packham and Cook continued to track down the 3CY Med and, armed with no more than slices of cheap bread and rather expensive cameras, took more covert photos of its leg ring to, hopefully, reveal the secrets of this bird. 

Here we can see the the first letter and number very clearly.

And here are the last three numbers.

When enlarged this appears to read 9291 but it's not really clear enough to clinch it.

Attractive though its legs might be, here's the rest of the bird showing its attached body and wings!

 

 

Investigations continue via our international contacts and we hope to bring the results soon.

 

 

The usual adult Meds were on the railings at the north Harbour Wall.

Visit to top-up nyger seed at lunchtime but only c20 Twite seen flying across the harbour.   



 

Excellent visibility

 Excellent visibility but nothing unusual about (up to 1310hrs anyway).

North Harbour Wall
Twite 60, Goldfinch 2, Robin 1, Dunnock 1, Pied Wagtail

Harbour
Mediterranean Gull 1 adult, Black-headed Gull 124, Herring Gull 46

Wooden Jetty
Turnstone 127, no sign Purp Sand.
Great Black-backed Gull 12, Cormorant 26

Red Nab
Redshank 10, Curlew 86, Shelduck 37, Wigeon 68, Lapwing 48, Knot 1, Black-headed Gull 52, Lesser Black-back 2, Oystercatcher 290

Outfalls
Black-headed Gull 30

The only other bird of "note" was a Siskin which flew over the dogwalk track.

Middleton NR
1 stoat in full ermine
5 mute (3 juvenile)
9 coot
4 moorhen
7 gadwall (1 "spare" male)
3 tufted
2 pochard
1 goldeneye
17 teal
10 mallard
1 little grebe
4 snipe
10 redwing