Stuttering morning other than grounded thrushes

Heysham Obs
A ringing session plus vis mig at Middleton this morning never really got going with a weak front bearing variable cloud neither producing a burst of rain nor allowing many diurnal migrants through other than in very limited fits and starts.   On the other hand, two species excelled in different ways - grounded Blackbirds and extremely noisy newly arrived Water Rail sorting out the territories


Vis mig Middleton NR dawn onwards, S/SE unless stated
Reed Bunting - at least 10 with a high proportion (8) ringed
Meadow Pipit - 31 in three small widely spaced 'lots' (4 ringed)
Grey Wagtail - two perceived migrants (one ringed)
Redwing - just 235, mainly first thing -all heading inland
Chaffinch - scarce this morning with just 31
alba Wagtail - 20
Siskin - 1+13+11+2
Jackdaw - 29+16
Rook - 5 with first lot of Jackdaw
Carrion Crow - 6 perceived migrants
Skylark - at least 28 mainly E
Jay - two very high flying birds
Song Thrush - 14 inland high
Blackbird - 20 inland high
Goldfinch - 7
Greenfinch - 6
Linnet - 15
Bullfinch - 5
Pink-footed Goose - 60
probable Ring Ouzel - one flew high inland, then 'leaf-fell' on to the rubble mounds but could not be confirmed or relocated - flashing silvery wing panel and structure only two things to go on with a high-flying bird


Grounded Heysham and Middleton circuit
Yellowhammer - female/imm on the rubble mounds
Goldcrest - 15
Blackbird - 72
Song Thrush - 26
Bullfinch - 17 - a really high count (inc flock of 5)
Redwing - just 9
Treecreeper - one dipping pond
Chiffchaff - one and one Phyllosc spp Middleton
Coal Tit - 3
Blackcap - 2
Water Rail - absolute minimum of 7 calling birds Middleton
Gadwall - 10


Ringing
42 new birds at Middleton in pretty perfect ringing conditions a bit below par with no significant tit flocks (and what was eagerly anticipated to be with them!) and rather sporadic appearance of migrant Reed Bunting in the hit and miss vis mig conditions.   A Grey Wagtail was a welcome unexpected bonus so late in the passage season taking the annual total to a creditable 160


Negative
No sign of yesterday's Yellow-browed Warbler in dipping pond area


Insects
Two Silver Y in trap and Speckled Wood HNR yesterday.  Small White and 10 Red Admiral seen today.  At least two Migrant Hawker and three Common Darter Middleton

Living up to the prediction?

Heysham Obs
A Ring Ouzel was seen (and the first Brambling of the autumn overhead) and later a 1CY Yellow-browed Warbler was caught in the net by the offices.  This had rather dull wingbars on the right wing and the pale tips to the tertials were also worn away.  The 'left hand side' was more typical.  No sign of yesterdays Black Redstart in a brief search.

Vis mig - a bit intermittent
Redwing - 362, many heading north
Brambling - 1
Chaffinch - just 31
Bullfinch - 4
Meadow Pipit - 12
Song Thrush - prominent again by west coast standards - 27
Reed Bunting - 4
Starling - 38+16 high to south
Linnet - 5 (f) SE
Siskin - 10 (f) SE
Ring Ouzel - fem/imm, probably 1CY male low inland
Goldfinch - 17 SE
Greenfinch - 3 S
alba Wagtail - 3 SE
Coal Tit - flock of 3 S

Grounded
Yellow-browed Warbler - one caught by the offices at 0900, showed on release in willows by the dipping pond to 0930, then seen in same place by visiting birder (thanks Lou) at 1250hrs (at least)
Chiffchaff - one by office, one Middleton NR
Goldcrest - just 6 on extensive check
Treecreeper - two HNR, one by dog-walk pond (and one Heysham head) - a good showing for here
Blackbird - 17, mainly Middleton, absent HNR
Redwing - 75 - all Middleton, none HNR circuit
Blackcap - female ringed by the office
Robin - unringed bird caught

Miscellany
Green Woodpecker - HNR again
Little Egret - two on shore to north of harbour

Redwings arrive!

Heysham obs
First of all a warning . A wind farm is proving very profitable before it's even constructed with the associated cones and 30mph limit on the Heysham bypass being visited with relish by the mobile speed camera- so far all on the approach to Heysham.

Black redstart in inaccessible area this pm - f/imm

250 redwing grounded on tank farm but nothing else of interest in the bushes.

Vis 0800-1100hrs:
Meadow Pipit 3
alba wagtail 6
Redwing 291 some heading north, others heading east but all arriving from the south
Chaffinch 9
Greenfinch 23
Goldfinch 12
Linnet 2
Bullfinch 1

Grounded:
Chiffchaff 1
Goldcrest 6
Coal Tit 1

Waiting for Redwings

The forecasted Redwings didn't materialise. In fact not much materialised in the F3 NE wind with 6/8 cloud cover. A shame as visibility was excellent.

Heysham Obs
Vis
Grey Heron - 1
Merlin - 1
Grey Wagtail - 3
Siskin - 4
Jackdaw - 110
Greenfinch - 10
Skylark - 3
alba Wagtail - 54
Chaffinch - 61
Goldfinch - 90
Meadow Pipit - 24
Redpoll sp - 1

Grounded:
Coal Tit - 2 at HNR
Chiffchaff - 1at Middleton NR
Meadow Pipit - 5 at Middleton NR

North Harbour Wall
Linnet - 22 on seed
Chaffinch 1 on seed

Chaffinch exodus continues

Heysham Obs

Vis 0730-1000
Chaffinch - 225
Reed Bunting - 6
alba wagtail - 61
Goldfinch - 10
Meadow Pipit - 67
Grey Wagtail - 6
Bullfinch - 8
Blackbird - 3
Song Thrush - 14
Coal Tit - 5
Dunnock - 2
Skylark - 24
Greenfinch - 2
Redpoll sp - 2
Blue Tit - 5 (first irruptive behaviour of the year)
Linnet - 1
Tree Sparrow - 1
Pink-footed Goose - 60 (32,6,22)
Swallow - 1
Jackdaw - one flock of 170, two other flocks of about 30-40 each

Grounded
Coal Tit - 3
Goldcrest - 4
Chiffchaff - 2

More birds were recorded on vis over Middleton but I lost my notebook (Jean). Will add on data if I or someone else finds it.

Middleton NR
Barn Owl
Water Rail - 2

A bit of vis and that

Heysham Obs

Vis from the hut 07:30 - 09:00 and intermittently after that to 14:00
Pink-footed Goose: 224 (Thanks to the ELOC group)
Sparrowhawk - 3
Skylark - 4
Swallow - 5
Meadow Pipit - 74
Grey Wagtail - 5
alba wagtail - 32
Blackbird - 2
Song Thrush - 8
Carrion Crow - 11
Starling - 22
Tree Sparrow - 8
Chaffinch 389
Greenfinch 32
Goldfinch - 71
Bullfinch - 3
Reed Bunting - 6

Grounded:
Goldcrest - 11
Chiffchaff - 6

Bits and bobs from the south of the site

Heysham Obs

South section of the recording area vis mig 0745-1200
Meadow Pipit - 209
alba Wagtail - 21
Chaffinch - 10
Linnet -28
Greenfinch - 54
Goldfinch - 2
Grey Wagtail - 1
Reed Bunting - 4
Skylark - at least 5
Whooper Swan - flock of 9
Pink-footed Goose - 40
Jackdaw - 3
Rock Pipit - 2
Starling - 12

Grounded
Wheatear - 2

Miscellany
Common Scoter - 22 into bay - very unusual this time of year

Linnet - 20 on NH Wall feeding site nyger today

Jamming in down the road

Heysham Obs
To the annoyance of the regular bush thrasher, who has put hours in this autumn (but not today) a visit to a moth trap at Sunderland Point scored with a vocal Yellow-browed Warbler in a sheltered walled garden nearby.  It disappeared with two Blue Tit but was seen well again nearby mid-afternoon.  This delayed the intended vis mig slot at Heysham and there was absolutely nothing over head by the time we arrived at 1000ish (c/f Bryan Yorke's Chaffinch)

Obs recording area
A circuit of the reserve in challenging wind conditions saw one Chiffchaff and 4 Goldcrest whilst a similar circuit of Heysham head produced one male Blackcap, one Goldcrest and a gang of 6 Blackbirds behaving like early continentals

The Heysham moth trap held a Red-line Quaker whilst the aforementioned Sunderland moth trap was full of wasps!

Not quite good enough

Heysham Obs
Before another tale of a missed opportunity to clinch a decent bird, some interesting stats on Grey Wagtail.  The vis mig total for September was 261 and the ringing total was 132 which gives a decent enough sample to say that you catch half of them!


Instead of being in situ on the chair with optics at the ready, grabbing a cup of coffee saw me 3-4 metres from my optics when what appeared to be a Richard's Pipit was heard calling in the sky to the NNW.  Unfortunately, by the time I had grabbed the bins, the bird was in the 'eastern sky' and silhouetted as well as heading progressively further away.  It was quite vocal with 5 calls heard and the undulating "large Pied Wagtail" silhouette obviously ruled out House Sparrow!  However rare flyovers require at least a little bit of plumage and this was not possible by the time it hit the eastern sky.  So its an 'almost but not quite' as regards a submittable Lancashire record


Vis mig by the office 0830-1000 - not a lot after the wind got up at 0920.
Chaffinch - 80 S
Bullfinch - 3+2 high to south
Tree Sparrow - 2 grounded then S
alba Wagtail - 26 SE
Meadow Pipit - 17 (forgot to enter first time round!)
Jay - one south
presumed Richards Pipit - see above ESE at 0902hrs
Siskin - 4
Carrion Crow - flock of 5 south
Linnet - 6 S
Greenfinch - 3 S
Goldfinch - 18 S
Skylark - 3+H+2 SE
Pink-footed Goose - flock heard to the west


Grounded HNR
Chiffchaff - at least 6
Goldcrest - 4

NH Wall
Linnet - 11 on nyger at the feeding station.


Moths
A blank for the first time since the late winter days

Common migrants pile through

Heysham Obs
A nice bonus with some latterly forecasted slack air allowing a ringing session at Middleton along with some vis mig away from the racket at the harbour


Vis mig dawn to midday
Meadow Pipit - 709 SE with several probably missed on mist net rounds
Skylark - at least 96 SE with several (H) just counted as one
alba Wagtail - 83 SE
Goldfinch - 53 S
Swallow - 4 SE
Chaffinch - 160 S
Grey Wagtail - probably at least 5 but also at least two local birds doing the rounds
Jackdaw - 13 + (H) + 3
Carrion Crow - at least 18 migrants to south
Rook - one solitary adult south
Reed Bunting - at least 30 SE
Pink-footed Goose - 351 S/SE
Sparrowhawk - male high to SE
Linnet - 15 SE
Stock Dove - a group of 3 flew east but may have been local
Little Egret - one high(ish) to west
Grey Heron - 1 SE


Grounded
The only things over and above the ringing totals were 13 Song Thrush - a good number reflecting several recent mornings.  The only Chiffchaff encountered was in a mist net with no calling birds and the same goes for the single Goldcrest.  The Blackcaps were interesting - two separate slight increases in wind/change of direction produced 3+2 lightweight and fat-free birds together in the net


Ringing at Middleton
Pretty perfect conditions with variable cloud managing to cover the sun for the whole morning.  New birds:  Meadow Pipit (26), Reed Bunting (16), Wren (6), Blackcap (5), Robin (4), Chaffinch (4), Blue Tit (3), Grey Wagtail (2) and singles of Chiffchaff, Goldcrest and Swallow - the latter caught before dawn and must surely have been ex-roosting on its own,