Reasonable variety but no great numbers, other than perhaps Wheatear

Heysham Obs
Another dawn start with the persistent and irritating moon still a prominent feature in yet another clear sky - we have been very unlucky this week

Grounded highlights
Wheatear - max of 21 Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Black Redstart - rather abraded female-type Red Nab early morning at least
Sedge Warbler - one singing briefly by HNR office and increase to 7 on Middleton
Reed Warbler - increase to 7 singing males Middleton
Willow Warbler - a trickle of migrants, mainly presumed females (7 ringed)

Vis mig and sea
Lesser Redpoll - just 3
Meadow Pipit - just 4
alba Wagtail - just 5
Swallow - very few early morning - just 8 seen!
Sand Martin - on north
Carrion Crow - flock of 5 north
Whimbrel - 5+3+H+1+1 north
Sandwich Tern - 6 blogging
Gannet - adult out
Arctic Tern - 7+12+3 in
Red-throated Diver - 2 sp birds out together
Common Scoter - pair in

Full Middleton list from Malcolm & Pete:

Mute 4 (including two sitting)

1 Stock Dove
8 tufted

7 gadwall

1 female mallard with 12 new chicks

2 shelduck

2 greylag

5 coot + 3 chicks

4 moorhen

2 little grebe

1 pheasant

5 linnet

5 reed bunting

1 wheatear

5 swallow

1 stoat

The reeds and scrub was awash with warblers. The following is just a list of individual birds heard in song.

10 Willow warbler

4 Chiffchaff

2 lesser whitethroat

11+ common whitethroat

7 sedge

7 reed

1 grasshopper (only heard on return trip)

 

Ocean Edge miscellany

2 little egret

28 Linnet feeding in short grass early am

285 Dunlin along the saltmarsh creek or on red nab

 

Crow mystery

Heysham Obs
Went through the motions this early morning, despite the wind being a bit too southerly for here, and, unlike yesterday, where we were a bit of a migrant-free oasis under the dawn clear slot by all accounts, the early fare was better than expected. 




A corvid headed high to the north at 0745hrs - probably higher than I've ever seen one fly here!  It certainly had a grey belly but no more detail could be seen.    One Lesser Redpoll was caught early on and it was a control - D287 sequence. 




The nets were furled for a bit of a run-round as the sun was shining directly on to them (0700-0740), most of which was spent staring at an empty sea, but did include a gang of 16 Wheatear on Ocean Edge, a few looking really wet and bedraggled and the first Whimbrel of the year




A mixture of work/net-checking/listening for gull alarm calls beckons but I cannot see anything dramatic happening..................and it didn't.... but a few odds and ends added since the first post




Seawatch - 0700-0800
Gannet - 1
Sandwich Tern - 14 in 6 blogging
Arctic Tern - 9+3+5 in
Common Scoter - 5 (f) in


Seawatch 1000-1015
Arctic Skua (dark morph) - 1 harrying Sandwich Terns
Common Scoter - 5m, 1f on sea offshore
Sandwich Tern - 16 (8 on yellow buoy, 8 out)

Gannet - adult fishing close inshore!


Grounded
Wheatear - 16 Ocean Edge, one mound, 4 Middleton
Whimbrel - one Red Nab (IOY)


Vis mig
Pretty non-existent with the only two Lesser Redpolls registered both caught and one was ringed elsewhere
Meadow Pipit - c15
Swallow - just 10 seen


Miscellany
Gadwall - pair and single male Middleton
Little Grebe - definitely pair on no swimming pond
Grasshopper Warbler - 3 singing male (as yesterday)


Insects
First (12) Large Red Damselfly at Middleton (IOY)
Orange Tip - c40 Middleton
Brown Silver Line - one by office (IOY)

Potentially decent morning spoilt by extensive clear skies at dawn

Heysham Obs
Unlucky this morning as dawn saw a great big clear slot complete with the lingering moon after travelling from home thorough some tasty 'fall' weather.  It was also too windy for the office nets


Vis mig, including an hour on the sea
Tree Pipit - 4
Meadow Pipit - 18
Grey Wagtail - 1 (very late)
Marsh Harrier - dark bird north and inland over Middleton 1100ish (missed it c/f patch challenge!!)
alba Wagtail - 6 NE
Swallow - relatively few with just 25 noticed
Sandwich Tern - 13
Gannet - adult in
Siskin - 1+ NE
Redpoll - 2 NE
Auk spp - one out
Carrion Crow - flock of 5 north


Grounded/newly arrived territorial birds
Wheatear - 14 scattered around, including 6 on Red Nab
Redstart - 1 female
Reed Warbler - 3 singing males Middleton
Sedge Warbler - increase to 6 singing males Middleton
Common Sandpiper - 1
Willow Warbler - no great evidence of arrival - far less than yesterday in clear conditions - 3 ringed during very short mist netting session
Grasshopper Warbler - additional singing male by office/obs tower pond (as well as tank farm bird)


Miscellany
Turnstone - 187
Gadwall - still at least one pair Middleton

Todays photos from Red Nab and the Harbour

Early morning sampling

Heysham Obs
Could do with another early morning birder this week as we are a bit short-handed if I'm tied down by mist net supervision.  Grasshopper Warbler retrap by the office of last year's territorial male the highlight




Vis mig on and off plus two sessions on the sea
Arctic Tern - 3+14 'in'
Kittiwake - one adult in
Swallow - early movement with 92 between 0600-0700, fewer later with blocking cloud to the south
alba Wagtail - 17 NE
Meadow Pipit - 4 NE
Tree Pipit - one NE
Carrion Crow - flock of 4 NE
Redpoll - just the one NE
Sparrowhawk - possible migrant high and purposeful but to the south!




Grounded
Willow Warbler - probably about 30 grounded by office
Whitethroat - at least two extras by the office
Grasshopper Warbler - migrant singing male by classroom briefly early am
Whinchat - male Middleton afternoon (IOY)
Common Sandpiper - one model boat pond shore afternoon (IOY)
House Martin - one Middleton pm (IOY)
Snipe - late one central marsh Middleton

Retrieval of sorts highlighted by another Osprey

Heysham Obs
Another early morning no-show due to other commitments, but, even if the bulk of a promising morning was missed in a mixture of tasty cloud cover and light easterly (contra forecast), some decent odds and ends were seen later


Grounded
Arrival at 0900hrs saw the last 15 minute or so of the cloudy murky light winds and a couple of hastily-erected nets caught a couple of Willow Warbler.  Then, as often happens as soon as (especially late) nets are set, the conditions suddenly went 'mid-morningish' with bright sunlight, a developing breeze and melting away migrants


Redstart - female by office 0910 at least, probably another at south end of tank farm 1200hrs
Whitethroat - at least 3 moved quickly through 0900-0920
Willow Warbler - c6 migrants by office in the first half-hour
Grasshopper Warbler - singing male in the tank farm to mid-morning only


Vis mig
Very little post 0900 other than hirundines and a trickle of Meadow Pipit (no redpoll recorded)


Arctic Tern - 3+2+1 'in' 0845-0900 but no others seen
Arctic Skua - dark morph on then in at c1030
Osprey - one high up the Bay chased by gulls at 1125
Meadow Pipit - c15 north
Swallow - reached 120/hr north by late morning
Siskin - one NE

Middleton NR
Grasshopper Warbler - four singing males this evening
Reed Warbler - singing male this evening -first of year

 A very difficult to photograph ringed grasshopper warbler at MNR

Two hour window missed

Heysham Obs
Decided to enter the national Patchwork Challenge.  This reflects the activities of several people who extensively cover Middleton NR and Heysham EDF Energy land on a regular basis, notably Malcolm and Janet.  The challenge is limited to 3km square or a shape equating to 3KM square or less.  Bearing in mind the design includes any possible vantage point for offshore 'seen-froms', the remainder reflects the likely hot-spots which are visited as part of a circuit.  

A frosty start at home was accompanied by redpoll flying overhead but unfortunately as soon as the single mist net was set at Heysham at 0700 (with a flock of 5 Redpoll passing over), the forecasted cloud cover arrived, the wind got up and nothing happened.  The net was soon taken down






In the meantime a text received from Janet re-two singing male Grasshopper Warbler on Heysham Moss following yesterday's male Pied Flycatcher passing through there.   This prompted a circuit of both Middleton and Heysham NR and the results indicated that there was a significant male Willow Warbler passage, in contrast to yesterday, and also Middleton hosted two singing male Grasshopper Warbler




Another seawatch prior to midday as a heavy cloud was approaching from the south produced a flock of 7 Arctic Tern, which appeared to drop out of the sky before heading up the Bay


An osprey was seen heading past Heysham low over the sea at about 1635hrs





Vis mig on and off from 0700
Redpoll spp - flock of 5 NE at 0700 and no more
Meadow Pipit - 11
Swallow - 41
Sand Martin- 2
Arctic Tern - 7 in about 1140hrs
Osprey - one watched flying low over the sea towards Heysham along the west side of Middleton saltmarsh c1630hrs



Grounded
Willow Warbler - two quick circuits revealed 11 singing males on Heysham NR and 15 singing males on Middleton, way above the local breeding population
Common Whitethroat - one singing by HNR office new in
Wheatear - one north wall
Grasshopper Warbler - two presumed territorial birds arrived at Middleton


Misc
Guillemot - one harbour mouth
Common Gull - 115 outfalls

Red-lister back from the dead

Heysham Obs
Following a second-hand report last year, two Grey Partridge were discovered in the recording area on Middleton this morning.  Hopefully they will nest successfully.  A male Yellow Wagtail also flew over Middleton but the downside this morning was almost unbelievably bad fortune intercepting the Lesser Redpoll passage, but at least one of the three already bore a ring from elsewhere = Rishton Bird Observatory near Blackburn!  It was ringed on 16/2 and retrapped there on 19/3 and 10/4




Vis mig (from three sites with no duplication (also low tide)) 0700-1000
Lesser Redpoll - c35 NE
Meadow Pipit - 37 NE
alba Wagtail - 11 NE
Goldfinch - 3 NE
Swallow - 8 NE
Sand Martin - 2 NE
Yellow Wagtail - male N
Sandwich Tern - 6
Red-throated Diver - one
Linnet - 6 NE


Middleton NR (thanks Malcolm and Pete)
Whitethroat - 5 singing males
Sedge Warbler - 2 singing males (neither of them early morning arrivals/songsters)
Lesser Whitethroat - 3 singing males
Little Grebe - 2
Greylag - up to 11 blogging
Grey Partridge -  two at the south-western end


Grounded migrants
No evidence of anything other than a surprising 6 'new' Blackcap Heysham NR.  Migrant Willow Warbler 'non-existent' with just territorial birds seen and it is very unusual to get Blackcap moving without simultaneous larger Willow Warbler movements

Seen one birdless sunrise...................

Heysham Obs
Not a lot happening in freezing cold, moonlit conditions this morning with a rising sun untroubled by any cloud cover.  Vis mig did not get going in any form until about 0700 and then only a trickle


Grounded
Willow Warbler - at least 6 passed through by the office very early on
Lesser Whitethroat - one as above
Redstart - male by office very briefly as chased by Robin


Vis mig
Lesser Redpoll - 8 (6 ringed) NE
alba Wagtail - 16 NE
Meadow Pipit - 9 NE
Goldfinch - c15 NE


Miscellany
Greylag Goose - two visited the pond above the office


No chance of me checking anywhere else today

A very poor distant shot of Redstart in HNR and a Blackcap.

Comma and Female Orange Tip at HNR

Stock Dove highlight

Heysham Obs
Not a lot today


Middleton MB pond
Stock Dove - one on spit
Jackdaw - two collecting material on spit
Gadwall - two males


Offshore
One over the horizon adult Gannet


Ocean Edge
Wheatear - one

There is only one Brent

Heysham Obs
........and not a lot else either as a niggling wind was probably a bit too far to the south and soon became too strong for effective use of mist-nets


Sea
Brent Goose - one dark-bellied on offshore sandbank at low tide
No passage


Vis mig 0630-0930 on and off
Meadow Pipit - 47 NE
Redpoll spp - at least 19 (6 ringed were all Lesser) NE
alba Wagtail - 17 NE
Linnet - 12 NE
Goldfinch - 3 NE


Grounded
Very few Willow Warbler this am (only 2 ringed), 4 Blackcap ringed, one Chiffchaff ringed.  Two Wheatear along north wall.  Nothing else obviously new in