High Tide

This was the first tide for a few weeks high enough to completely cover Ocean Edge salt mash. Flushed:
3 common snipe
1 jack snipe


Also on Red Nab
1 rock pipit (petrosus)


Male blackcap still visiting feeder in Heysham garden

Subtle migration

Heysham Obs
We haven't really got our act together yet with the vis mig, but the mist net put up for a short time by the office produced 6 new birds out of 6 caught - indicating something was happening to the odd Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit and more routine Goldfinch and Greenfinch.

Middleton NR
It does seem that as soon as the Cetti's Warbler got its act together with its song, having been calling intermittently all winter, it then promptly cleared off to its breeding grounds

Pochard - just the one male today
Water Rail - 1+

Office area
New adult Blue Tit and new Long-tailed Tit in the mist net were the "highlights", along with a single Hebrew Character in the moth trap.  Best of the rest were a single new Goldfinch and three new Greenfinch

North wall
Goldfinch - 5
Linnet - 8

Wooden Jetty
Cormorant - 54
Herring Gull - 7
Great Black-backed Gull - 4

Near Naze
Knot - 1850
Oystercatcher - 120
Curlew - 6
Redshank - 2
Black-headed Gull - 1
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 1



Moth
Hebrew Character

Rock Pipit surprise

Heysham Obs
Two new year ticks for the area, Rock Pipit (in unusual location) and Stock Dove

Middleton NR (Malcolm)
Rock pipit - one was showing well Middleton NR, probably littoralis coming into s.p.
Stock dove - 2 
7 adult + 2 Imm Mute Swan,  2 male pochard, 2 gadwall, 12 tufted duck,  3 mallard, 13 teal, 1 little grebe, 1 snipe

North wall
Eider - 64
Linnet/Goldfinch/?Twite - 35-40 briefly

Saturday 5th

Heysham Obs
An attempt to see what was offshore at low tide produced a surprise but little else

Offshore north wall
Kittiwake - tightly bunched flock of 18-20 on water - all adults
Eider - only 42 in or around Heysham skeers and between there and wooden jetty
Carrion Crow - one on a sandbank in Cumbria!

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Two girls, no birds

Outfalls
Completely dead - outage??
(2 reactors in service on both stations, must be just no birds! ajd)

Moths in the snow

Heysham obs
Two dotted border were a surprise in the moth trap. Only had time to check the model boat pond

Middleton model boat pond
Pochard - 2 males
Tufted duck - 5
Coot - 2
Mallard - 2
Mute swan - 2 ad and 2 2cy

North Harbour Wall
Mixed flock of 20 Goldfinch and Linnet seen briefly on feeding area.

Bits of migration

Heysham Obs
This was the first morning which looked like it might produce a bit of land-bird migration, but unfortunately arrived rather late.  There were two unringed Goldcrest (together) around the office for a short time, two northbound Meadow Pipit and a flock of about 70 Pink-footed Geese, all after an c0945hrs start!

Also a few unringed finches in the net (7 Goldfinch, 5 Greenfinch), along with an unringed adult female Blue Tit

No coverage of coastal areas I am aware of

Moth
Parsnip Moth was better than nothing (just!)

Tuesday 1 March and Wednesday 2 March

Tuesday 1 March
North Harbour Wall feeder
Linnet - 13
Goldfinch - 5
Robin - 1

Ocean Edge grass
Pied Wagtail - 7
Mistle Thrush - 2
Linnet - 2
Oystercatcher - 10
Starling - 2

Middleton NR - model boat pond
Coot - 2
Herring Gull - 5 adults, 2 x 3W, 1 x 2w, 4 x 1W
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 5 ads, 1 x 2W
Mute Swan - 1

Middleton NR - no swimming pond
Mute Swan - 2 head bobbing at each other
Tufted Duck - 1 male
Coot -1

Wednesday 2 Mar
A full troll of Middleton Nature Reserve revealed a few extra teal and tufted otherwise little change.
2 adult + 2 immature mute swan
5 coot
8 moorhen
18 tufted
1 male gadwall
2 male pochard
34 teal
0 mallard!
1 little grebe
1 goldcrest

35 linnet - Ocean Edge
128 wigeon - south wall1 great crested grebe - harbour mouth

Lunchtime head count

The following are the result of quick check of Middleton ponds just after lunch. No sign of cetti's.
 2 male gadwall
 2 male pochard
 7 tufted
 2 mallard
 8 teal
 1 little grebe


2 little egret feeding in Half Moon bay rock pools.

Detailed coverage of Heysham NR wetland

Heysham Obs

Heysham NR, mainly wetland area
No Cetti's in residence

Water Rail - 2
Mallard -prospecting pair
Bullfinch - 2 pairs and extra female
Goldcrest - 1
Coal Tit - 1

Just a handful of new birds on the feeder - one Chaffinch, one Goldfinch and two Greenfinch

Cetti's in song

Middleton Nature Reserve
6 adult + 2 2CY mute
5 coot
7 moorhen
1 male gadwall
2 male pochard
5 mallard
7 tufted
14 teal
1 little grebe (fence pond - heard only)
Minimum 2 water rail (western scrape - heard only)

Cetti's warbler no sign mid morning but singing quite regularly at 11:40. In scrub on road side of Fence pond

Red Nab
Wigeon - 136

Office HNR
Pink-footed Goose - 85 N
A few finches on the move with 8 new Greenfinch and 5 new Goldfinch ringed