Similar weather, different species to the fore

Heysham Obs
This weather is great - just missing a scarce or two.  This morning saw another still slightly hazy session with the sun covered up the majority of the time by low cloud to the east.  A much better cross-bay corridor today with Grey Wagtail and Meadow Pipit soon on the move, but the big difference vis-wise this morning was the number of Swallows.  Had to cut the session short today and missed some Grey Wagtail!


Middleton dawn to 1000hrs
Grey Wagtail - 20 SE (7 ringed - the last four birds flew over after the net taken down and three missed due to extracting retrap Blue Tits!)
Meadow Pipit - at least 268 SE - some missed whilst at on mist net rounds
Swallow -  180 SE (as above)
House Martin - 6 SE
Jay - one high and purposefully SE
Reed Bunting - 3 unringed birds caught perhaps the sum total this morning
Tree Pipit - just one SE
alba Wagtail - just 11 SE - not got going here yet
Dunnock - see below - appeared from NW with heavy Meadow Pipit passage - not the first time this has been recorded here


Grounded
Willow Warbler - surprising and a sign of north European origin? - 5 ringed and at least another three seen/heard.  Only seen odd ones/day recently
Chiffchaff - 4 ringed
Robin - a lot of ticking early on and 4 ringed
Reed Warbler - single juv ringed
Blackcap - 4 ringed
Dunnock - its that time of year - three presumed migrants landed and were caught and ringed
Lesser Whitethroat - one ringed at nearby Heysham NR on 2/9 was caught and showed a weight loss (10.3g as opposed to 11.3g).  Seemed healthy enough


Heysham NR
Whitethroat - one retrap - first caught as moulting adult on 7/8.  Odd it is still hanging about.
Grey Wagtail - 2 out of just three recorded ringed
Two each of unringed Dunnock and Robin plus single unringed Chiffchaff
Ocean Edge foreshore area
Whinchat - 1
Stonechat - one male


Red Nab
Rock Pipit - 1 (IOA)

Another hour in bed?

Heysham Obs
GREY WAGTAILS. 
We have colour-ringed 78 Grey Wagtail so far this autumn, mostly in the last fortnight.  Please do keep an eye out for these.  The left leg is a single colour and metal and it is important to note in which order these two rings are.  The right leg has a unique combination of two colours and again it is important to note which order these are in.  Part-reads will be very useful, especially right leg, and you may be fortunate enough to find a combination which only applies (as yet) to one bird!  If any ringers want to know how to catch these, please get in touch.  We usually catch around 50% of the vis mig birds passing over, more on cloudy still mornings, less on sunny ones with a very slight breeze.  Meadow Pipit 'triangles' don't work - just provide more perches for the birds!


Middleton NR
The routine this week has been to set a net for Grey Wagtail passage by 0600hrs, along with various other mist nets to hopefully ring night migrants, Reed Buntings and Meadow Pipits.  By 0630 hours, not a lot going on!   Then looked out west and there was a wall of murk which undoubtedly nullified the power station's greatest environmental asset - a landmark providing a concentrated flight-line of cross-bay vis mig (go over to e.g. Foulney/Walney too see why this happens).  These conditions also seem to slow down the inland trickle of coastal landfall by night migrants.  Things started to liven up around 0730 with quite a pulse of Meadow Pipit, but Grey Wagtails remained thin on the ground with just 4/10 ringed in (by then) sunny conditions.  More Reed Bunting on the move this morning than so far this autumn but the main 'feature' was the complete dearth of any hirundine passage with TWO Swallows in 3.5hrs!!


Vis mig 0600-0930
Meadow Pipit - 322
Grey Wagtail - 10
Linnet - 3 SE
Cormorant - high flock of 4 SE
Tree Pipit - 1 SE
Reed Bunting - 11 SE
Grey Heron - one high to south
alba Wagtail - just 7 SE
Swallow - TWO SE - unbelievably low numbers over here this last couple of days
Sparrowhawk - male high to south
Raven - one north
Common Buzzard - one circling SE (not very common here & usually migrants)


Grounded
Night migrants ringed comprised:  2 Lesser Whitethroat, 5 Blackcap, 3 Chiffchaff (& at least three others), one Willow Warbler, 3 Robin, 2 Goldcrest i.e. not particularly dramatic.  In addition, a Reed Warbler was seen/heard

Middleton Nature reserve this afternoon

Raven just outside our area near the Lune estuary and Overton.

Full moon fall!

Heysham Obs
Another session at Middleton this morning and it was very good, if a little puzzling.  It was as clear as a bell first thing yet, for example, there were five un-ringed Blackcap in a mist net well before dawn.  We have caught nearly 50 Blackcap at Middleton this week without a single re-trap.  Indeed, despite ringing for the last four mornings, the number of re-traps has been really low with, for example, just a Wren (and local nestbox Great Tit bearing a B ring) out of 60 odd birds this morning!  


Sorry about the lack of proper migration postings the last two days - home computer playing up.


Middleton dawn to mid morning  
Vis mig (couldn't concentrate on this the whole time)
Meadow Pipit - c270 SE
Grey Wagtail - 13 SE (8 ringed, a high ratio on a sunny morning)
Tree Pipit - 1 SE
Grey Heron - one high to east
Jackdaw - flock of 4 S
alba Wagtail - 14 SE
Chaffinch - 3 S
Jay - 2+1 west
Swallow- only 2+1+14 SE!!!   No perceived ex-roost birds, implying there wasn't one!
Reed Bunting - just one, passage seems to have 'dried up'
Common Buzzard - one soaring around might just have been a local wanderer


Grounded migrants Middleton
Blackcap - 8 ringed
Chiffchaff - 5 ringed, plus at least 4 others
Lesser Whitethroat - single ringed
Robin - fewer than yesterday with just 3 ringed
Goldcrest - good number for here (HNR usually much better) with 8 ringed and at least 5 additional birds
Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, any acros - negative


Butterfly
Clouded Yellow Middleton bottle dump area

8th and 9th September

8th September

Red Nab
At least 82 Sandwich Terns
Little Egret - 1
Mediterranean Gull - 13 x 1CY
Grey Wagtail - 1 south
Robin - 1 grounded

Middleton nr
Good numbers of grounded warblers, especially blackcap  and robin with on the other hand less vis mig than of late. Details tomorrow

9th September
Middleton saw fairly good vis mig including two tree pipit, c120 meadow pipit and 16 grey wagtail  more detail tomorrow

Invisible blue sky

Heysham Obs
Vis mig was high and tricky to see today and judging by the clear unambiguous call, something reasonably good was missed.  What's missed is mystery and what doesn't get specifically mentioned doesn't get any damning Chinese whispers on personal blogs and forums!


Heysham NR office area
Vis mig to 0930
Grey Wagtail - 13 over, 5 ringed, two escaped!
Chaffinch - 22 S - the first really obvious vis of the autumn
Meadow Pipit - 46 min
alba Wagtail - 9
Sparrowhawk - one high to south
Cormorant - flock of 8 high to south-east
Swallow - just 11


Grounded
Goldcrest - 4
Robin - 7 unringed birds caught
Dearth of warblers with just one Willow Warbler and one Sedge Warbler ringed and two Chiffchaff heard - implicitly the first sylvia-free day around the office for a bit


Misc
Green Woodpecker juv seen and heard

Chatty show

Heysham Obs
The highlight this morning was the presence of 25 Wheatear on the north harbour wall - an excellent, possibly unprecedented, total for autumn (more like a good day in spring).  No other sites checked.


Office area
Grey Wagtail - 7 SE (4 ringed either side of a net closure due to rain)
Meadow Pipit - 1 SE!!
alba Wagtail - 2 SE
Robin - plenty with 4 new ones ringed
Blackcap - gang of three migrants caught
Goldcrest - at least 3
Chiffchaff - only two seen!
Willow Warbler - one ringed


Middleton late morning
House Martin - 11 SE
Swallow - 2 SE


Moths
Silver Y and second brood Burnished Brass &, more unusually, Large Fruit Tree Tortrix


Butterflies
Clouded Yellow Middleton NR this pm - thanks Malcolm.  At least two Red Admiral 'in-off' heading south and at least 10 around the HNR office area

Another pre-dawn start at Middleton

Heysham Obs
.............the last for a day or two


Middleton NR 0545 onwards
A more open morning saw some early vis mig from especially Grey Wagtail and then steady stuff  until about 1000hrs


Sparrowhawk - 1CY male high to SE
Tree Pipit - 7 SE
Meadow Pipit - c140SE
alba Wagtail - 14 SE
Reed Bunting - 12 perceived migrants (5 ringed)
Grey Wagtail - 14 SE (6 ringed)
Skylark - one SE (IOA)
Sandwich Tern - two SE!!!
Common Buzzard - one of unknown status, but probably local, circling east of the site
Green Woodpecker - passed through early morning along the golf course edge
Carrion Crow - 10+5 on the move, heading east
Jackdaw - single high to the south, 4 with second lot of Carrion Crow
Redstart - female yesterday by model boat pond
Goldcrest - 2
Lesser Whitethroat - 2 ringed
Whitethroat - 2 ringed
Chiffchaff - 3 ringed
Willow warbler - one ringed
Blackcap - just one ringed
Robin - 5 ringed


Ocean Edge quick visit at low tide
Med Gull - c10
Wheatear - 1


Moth trap
Rusty Dot Pearl

Red Darter at MNR

Swallow at MNR

Young Swallows at MNR

Blocking cloud spoils the early morning effort

Heysham Obs
A bit frustrating this morning with a great wadge of cloud out to the west blocking any cross-bay vis, certainly across the Middleton site.  Then as soon as the batteries went on the 'machine', the skies cleared across the bay and three of the main ringing target species - Grey Wagtail - flew through!


Middleton NR dawn onwards
Reed Warbler - two migrants ringed
Grasshopper Warbler - a short burst of song from a passage bird
Grey Wagtail - 5 or so (one off-passage bird?) - only one ringed today
Tree Pipit - 4 (one ringed)
Meadow Pipit - c70, mainly mid-late morning
Swallow - 50-100 again mainly late morning
House Martin - at least 30 as above
Whinchat - one early morning
Blackcap - 4 new birds ringed
Whitethroat - just one ringed
Robin - 4 ringed
Garden Warbler - a retrap from a couple of days ago had not put on any appreciable weight/fat
Sedge Warbler - as above species
Raven - 2
Starling - lots of small parties of young birds touring the place but rarely landing
Just 35 new birds ringed this morning

Middleton evening
Greylag - flock of 25 flew over - unprecedented in autumn I think!
Hobby - adult targeted the Swallow roost and seemed to catch one
Swallow - c150 roosted


Insects
Middleton central/western marsh area: Common Hawker, 5+ Migrant Hawker, 2+ Brown Hawker, c20 Common Darter, Clouded Yellow

Marsh Harrier surprise

Heysham Obs
13 Grey Wagtail were colour-ringed this morning courtesy of the lack of sun on the nets.  Please do keep an eye open for these birds - both legs need to be in view to trace to an individual bird but any information will be of value


Two surprises this morning.  One was receipt of a grammatically-challenging leaflet including a piece where the king of the photo-op, local MP David (Canute) Morris, had "Saved (spelt Save's) Sunderland Point" by creating "rock amour".  The other was a juvenile Marsh Harrier flushed from an area of reed at Middleton Nature reserve - it headed off south with a larid entourage. 


Middleton first light to mid morning
Marsh Harrier - see above
Green Woodpecker - one on a brief noisy tour of the periphery
Kingfisher - 1CY male ringed
Grey Wagtail - c16 SE (7 ringed)
Meadow Pipit - c65 SE -  fewer than yesterday
Tree Pipit - one SE
alba Wagtail - c15 SE
Swallow - impossible to categorise but probably no more than 100 passed through
House Martin - 14 SE
Very few grounded warblers with only a single Sedge Warbler, three Willow Warbler, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap and a Chiffchaff newly ringed.  Four migrant Robin were ringed


Heysham NR first light to mid morning
Grey Wagtail - 16 SE (6 ringed) - these were not the same birds as at Middleton other than perhaps two - the Middleton birds seemed to come ashore south of the power stations
Robin - 8 migrants ringed
Green Woodpecker - probably the same as at Middleton (heard only)
Only a few warblers, as at Middleton comprising one Sedge, one Lesser Whitethroat, 5 Blackcap and single Willow Warbler


Moths
A Rush Veneer was in the Heysham toilet trap and a Pinion-streaked Snout in an actinic at Middleton

More early morning coverage

Heysham Obs


Heysham NR
A small amount of ringing included four migrant Robin and a Lesser Whitethroat


A Green Woodpecker, views suggesting a juvenile, was by Heysham NR office mid-afternoon




Middleton NR
Despite rather clear conditions with a variable, mainly northerly, then north-east wind, a reasonable chunk of birds on and over Middleton this morning where the raised road between the western and central marshes gives a really good vantage point.

Vis
Meadow Pipit - c100 SE
Tree Pipit - just one heard SE
Grey Wagtail - 7 SE
alba Wagtail - 25 SE
Reed Bunting - 5 perceived migrants SE
Swallow - difficult as high flying birds circling a lot but at least 57 SE
House Martin - 3 SE
Raven - 2
Skylark - 1 E (early migrant?)

Jay - flock of 3 east - at least on dispersal. I read recently about the lack of acorns in some areas this autumn. Could this be the start of a Jay autumn at vis mig sites?

Grounded
Redstart - female
Blackcap - 20-25
Garden Warbler - at least 2 - doesn't breed here
Sedge Warbler - just 2
Reed Warbler - seemingly zero
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Whitethroat - 5
Robin -at last 3 migrants
Chiffchaff - not many - about 5 migrants
Willow Warbler - tailing off now with just 3-4 seen
Goldcrest - two migrants - all records of this species here are migrants


Moths
Not a bad night, despite the cold early morning - the first part of the night had a veil of cloud.  In the office trap the highlights were Toadflax Pug, Grey Chi (outside wall) and Rusty Dot Pearl.  The Middleton actinic held an Autumnal Rustic - rare here - and the first Large Wainscot of the autumn plus a pretty late Drinker