Tasty gull influx

Heysham Obs
Good coverage this morning but quite a strong wind impeded searching.  A good number of immature gulls on and around the outfalls area - good magnet - worth keeping tabs on or seeing what comes and goes over an hour or so, as per todays 3CY Med.  Usual overhead trickle went up a notch and a Chiffchaff in the brambles along the sheltered west harbour wall was a definite migrant

Thanks Janet - all taken at Middleton

Vis mig 0810-0930
Meadow Pipit - 128
Pied Wagtail - 24
Grey Wagtail - 1
Whooper Swan - flock of 5


Outfalls
Kittiwake - two adults still
Med Gull - 3CY for about 15 minutes, then south
Wigeon - 107
Common Gull - 71
see above


Grounded
Chiffchaff - west quay in brambles, then flew into power station grounds (IOY migrant)
Redwing - flock of 6 Middleton
Stonechat - male and female together along west side of recycling centre road


Ducks etc
Coot - pair Tim Butler pond, singleton no swimming pond - back from the brink!
Little Grebe - another blank
Tufted Duck - just 7
Gadwall - 5 (3 males)
Mallard - 6
Water Rail - 2

Barn Owl quartering Middleton last Monday at dusk (thanks Paul)

Bits and bobs from the south of the area

Heysham Obs
Sean Sweeney, Jean Roberts and Justine Patton:

Coastal
Kittiwake - 3 ad following ferry in
Meadow Pipit - 18 N pre-rain
Redpoll - one north pre-rain
Pied Wagtail - 8 N pre-rain
Wigeon - 92
Peregrine headed from shore with a wader in its talons and landed on the power station.

Middleton NR
Stonechat - female
Fieldfare - 5 - mega in spring!
Tufted Duck - 13
Gadwall - 5 (3 males)

Mammal
Squashed hedgehog Middleton

A nice day with a few birds

Heysham Obs

** Cetti's Warbler (relocated?) along northern boundary of the wetland area.  Gave the dry rapid 'rattle' plus 3 sharp calls - very brief view showed unringed right leg at least

** Purple Sandpiper resurfaces along with a

** Guillemot - first healthy one of the year (both per Mark Nightingale)

**  Eider - record count of 777 off the north harbour wall at low tide

** Tawny Owl new for the year list at Middleton NR (calling just after dark)

Low single figures of Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail north during the morning in very clear conditions

Kittiwake - 2 adults still Heysham one outfall
Red-throated Diver - single offshore
Goldcrest.  One - probably an early migrant:

Thanks Janet

Insects
Red-tailed Bumble bee and Peacock along northern boundary of the Hey nat reserve.  17 Agonopterix heracliana at Middleton NR and area at dusk

Mammals
Two fresh sets of Roe Deer prints HNR northern boundary

Migration in full trickle

Heysham Obs
Pre-frontal thrash this morning shamed by the Stonechat count to the south of here yesterday and theoretically decent weather for a bit of movement.  The best in terms of clear cut migration was five Song Thrushes in sparse vegetation in SD35Z - three together in the grotty bramble by the steps leading over the seawall by Heysham one outfall (!) and two on the approach route.  All dark olivy continental-types.  At least one, probably two further wary high-flyers were seen on a Middleton circuit, but no evidence of any other thrush species on the go - hardly a perceived major feature here in spring


The other landmark was the Eider count passing the National Importance threshold (550) for the first time I am aware of in this area of the Bay.  580 were counted in one sweep from the north harbour wall and surely King is a possibility in the new reduced Lancashire, having had to remove it from my county list when we lost Furness


Vis mig 0700 to 0930
Meadow Pipit - 17 N
alba Wagtail - 17 N
Grey Wagtail - 2 N
Carrion Crow - flock of three north
Redpoll spp - 2 together N (IOY)


Grounded
Song Thrush - at least 6 migrants (see above)
Stonechat - males on the north wall mound (flew inland) and by the bottle dump at Middleton (IOY - no wintering birds)


Others
Kittiwake - 2 adult still on outfalls
Little Egret - one Middleton
Gadwall - 6 mbp
Tufted Duck - 13 fence/mbp
Mute Swan - ads chasing off 6 young from mbp (time to stop feeding them)
Wigeon - pair mbp  unusual, possibly unprecedented!
Jackdaw - 2
Med gull - fsp ad red nab at ht
Whooper swan - one on sea by saltmarsh

Today's motley crew at the feeding station

Eider fest and nearby migrants

Heysham obs

Coastal stuff
Eider 507
Kittiwake - 2 adults Heysham one outfall
Twite - 6 - 3 white ringed, two dark blue over pale blue, one dark blue over red
Chaffinch - 1
Linnet- 5
Goldfinch - 10

Model boat pond
Pochard - 1
Tufted - 7

Nearby
7 migrant stonechat Potts corner to Sunderland

Mammal
Grey seal n h wall

Pelagic trickle

Heysham Obs
No seawatching as such today but still Little Gull and Kittiwake noted in short time periods so probably some Kittiwake flocks at least missed in the wind

BEWARE: There is still about 100m of road cones on the bypass and as a result they have kept the whole stretch from the Overton roundabout to the recycling centre roundabout on 30mph.  Apparently loads of people were done either today or yesterday thinking the limit had been lifted as no obvious hazard for the vast majority of this stretch and the signs at the Overton roundabout end look a bit dumped to one side and 'derelict'.  Every respect for their job in necessary 30 mph  limits, but covering the whole of this stretch is taking the xxxx, presumably because they cannot be bothered to move the 30mph signs to a relevant/reasonable distance either side of the cones

Outfalls area (thanks Malcolm)
Wigeon - 67
Cormorant - 14 feeding on Heysham 2
Kittiwake - 3 adults Heysham one
Snipe - 8 Ocean Edge
Reed Bunting - 1 Ocean Edge

Offshore etc north wall very briefly
Little Gull - two adults on sea, both lifting off briefly
Black-headed Gull - 110 Fishers roof
Herring Gull - 72 Fishers roof
LBBG - 29 Fishers roof
Finches - about 25 - at least 3 Twite

Heliport
Seriously disturbed over the high tide according to angler
Peel Energy have promised to get the fencing sorted over the summer at latest as a planning condition of their single turbine application which has been passed.

Small brown moth time

Heysham Observatory
Agonopterix heracliana appeared in the moth trap this morning along with a Dotted Border - the first moths for a bit in what has been a rather slow spring with too much wind and unremarkable temperatures

Thanks to Anne for another Grey Wagtail sighting on 4th March along the Bridgewater Canal at Worsley, Manchester.  Ringed on 11/9/13 at Heysham NR.   The number of reports have quadrupled since we started using red/metal combinations for the left leg as opposed to a mixture of pale blue or white over metal.

Nothing of individual note

Heysham Obs
Counting again today - nothing individual worth noting

Heliport - birds included
Knot - 2250
Ringed Plover - 20

South of harbour
More monoculture on the outfalls - i.e. Black-headed Gulls - never known a winter with so much westerly wind and so little variety
Wigeon - 72 ish
Snipe - one flushed out of OE saltmarsh

Finches
4 unringed Linnet and 2 unringed Twite were caught

More coffee-coloured year-ticking

Heysham Obs
A Barn Owl hunting the western and central marsh areas late morning - must be hungry.  Not an obviously common bird here - reported occasionally by dog walkers but not a feature of recent consultancy vigils, or evening swallow roost ringing here.  Interestingly it came from the direction of the proposed gas fired power station...................further emphasising the incomplete nature of the ecological survey which seemed to borrow far too heavily from a previous wind turbine survey which, of course, was weighted towards vantage point flight registrations, not habitat removal

Definitely no Med Gull along north wall/Fishers roof

Excellent show on the heliport this morning with 3k Knot, 4k Oystercatcher, 19 Ringed Plover and a 'heap' of Redshank etc at the far end I didn't have time to check

Unproductive onshore winds

Heysham Obs
Just a Red-throat to show for about 40 mins staring at the sea this morning on the incoming tide.  Better news on the finch front.  Absolutely no sign of the Czech Med Gull despite careful searching through the Fisher's roof stuff ie BHG cluster at HT.  Gone?

North wall
Red-throated Diver - one flew out
Finches - 45 in total with about 20 each of Twite and Linnet

Heliport
Knot - 3500
Ringed Plover - 11
Rest n/c - no time to go to café end