Flagging!

Heysham Obs
Two observers and one ringer produced 2-3 new Yellow-browed Warblers and we were a bit disappointed!  There just wasn't the number of birds around today with the possible exception of Chiffchaff on the wastelands to the south of Ocean Edge.  The Yellow-browed Warbler caught at Middleton had a fat score of 4, indicating off passage but couldn't obviously be related to any we had found previously.  It is perhaps significant that NONE of the birds ringed this year (eight) have given any indication of their presence prior to capture and all the 'in the field' finds have been away from the nets, notably Middleton

Vis over MNR/Pontins :
Redwing 11 E
Skylark 7 E
Brambling 1 SE
Pink-footed Goose 244 N
Meadow Pipit 16 SE
Lesser Redpoll 3 E

Grounded MNR/Pontins :
Yellow-browed Warbler 1 (either moved c300m or two birds)
Siskin 2 then E
Blackcap 5
Chiffchaff 5
Goldcrest 5
Meadow Pipit 4
Blackbird 13

Heysham Head (too windy?) :
Tree Sparrow 1
Goldcrest 4
Meadow Pipit 1
Chaffinch 2 E

Outfalls/Red Nab
Med Gull - 1CY
Wigeon - 114
Black-tailed Godwit - 2

Ringing Middleton
Yellow-browed Warbler (1), Coal Tit (4), Redwing (5), Goldcrest (4), Chiffchaff (2), Wren (1), Reed Bunting (1)

Vis mig Hey NR
alba Wagtail - 14 SE
Redpoll spp - 1 SE
Meadow Pipit - 16 SE
Brambling - 1 SE
Chaffinch - 14 S
Mistle Thrush - 1 S
Jackdaw - flock of 33 west then NE
Carrion Crow - 3 S

Grounded HNR
Poor
Song Thrush - 6
Blackbird - 2!
Goldcrest - 11
Chiffchaff - 1
Redwing - 1!

More YBWs and three Crossbill

Heysham Obs
Ringing today was split between Middleton (having an 'off' day) and an attempt below the old Obs tower which was rather successful.  Question:  how many Yellow-browed Warblers would we have recorded if we had been able to use our office net site this autumn?  As it is, this attempt saw our first ever example of two in a mist net on the same day (John Mason) in an area which was well-searched and blanked yesterday by two observers

The third YBW bird allowed the comment "almost certainly the same as the previous day" for this first time during this influx.  Heard calling along the northern boundary of the reserve from the alder copse boardwalk, so necessary to check it wasn't someone messing with playback as this was a 'known site' from yesterday!  It wasn't.

Three fly-over Crossbill heading SW were the first of the year I am aware of.

Grounded and intermittent vis mig Heysham NR 0740-0900
Goldcrest - c20
Yellow-browed Warbler - 3 (one for second day and the other two ringed)
Chiffchaff - 3
Redwing - 16
Song Thrush - 5
Blackbird - just 10
Rook - 4 north
Jackdaw - 26 N
alba Wagtail - 11 S
Meadow Pipit - 14 S
Skylark - 2 S

Middleton
Redwing - just 10 ringed first thing
Otherwise seemingly dead apart from
Jackdaw - c40 N/NE
Reed Bunting - 1E

Outfalls area
Wigeon - 126

No Yebwas at Middleton NR

Yet another Yellow-browed Warbler at Heysham today (yawn!) but none at Middleton where there was, however, a slight boost in Chiffchaff and Blackcap numbers.  Fewer thrushes though.

Keep an eye open for Ivy Bee amongst the hordes of social wasps and drone flies etc on ivy.  One was seen at Sunderland Point 3 days ago and there is a report from Heysham on the database but these are two of only ??three in the north west

Heysham Head :
Song Thrush 7
Blackcap 3
Chiffchaff 1
Goldcrest 4
Mistle Thrush 1 then N
Meadow Pipit 4

Nuthatch 1
Coal Tit 2
Heysham Head visSkylark 5 N
Redwing 6 NE
Meadow Pipit 36 E
Lesser Redpoll 3 E
Rook 4 NE
Pink-footed Goose 49 N
Grey Wagtail 1 E
alba wag 5 E

The Legendary 'Tank Farm' (no general access)
Goldcrest 1
Chiffchaff 2
Blackcap 2
Redwing 5
Song Thrush 5
Bullfinch 1
Meadow Pipit 11 E
Grey Wagtail 2 NE

Grounded Heysham NR
Yellow-browed Warbler - noisy one in the willows near the alder copse, then moved to and 'went quiet' in the alder copse before calling again once.  A Yellow-browed or Pallas's seen very briefly near the dipping pond but we couldn't dig it out again and it may have been the small silent silhouette which shot across the road into the dog-walk screening.  Not a peep from it in an hour or so and only the  size/jizz, underparts (white with no obvious yellow anywhere) and a bit of a supercilium seen.
Coal Tit - 6+4 through rapidly south
Chiffchaff - 2-3
Blackcap - 2
Song Thrush - 6
Blackbird - 11 - all near dipping pond
Redwing - 1
Goldcrest - 20

Vis at Middleton 0630-1030
Meadow Pipit 11
Redwing 30
Pink-footed Goose - flock of 49
Jackdaw 43 ( and 70 more seen later at Overton)
Alba Wagtail 1
Goldfinch - a flock of 24

Ringing at Middleton
Redwing 2
Wren 3
Goldcrest 7
Reed Bunting 5
Pied Wagtail 2
Blackbird 2 new, 2 retraps
Blackcap 4
Blue Tit 2
Grey Wagtail 1
Long-tailed Tit 3
Dunnock 1
Chiffchaff 5
Goldfinch 9
Linnet 1

Three more Yellow-brows!

Yellow-browed Warblers
1) By the ex-observation tower pond Heysham NR - an area not checked yesterday along with another bird and two distant calls I would have liked a better view of.  No access possible.
2) Ringed Middleton (pic)
3) Found by Malcolm along the SE perimeter willows on the golf course; access from Middleton

Heysham NR
Chiffchaff - 2
Brambling - flock of three over first thing
Song Thrush - c12
Redwing - just two
Blackbird - 15
Goldcrest - 15
Blackcap - 1

Vis Middleton
GreyWagtail 3
Redwing 28
Brambling 1
Pink-footed Goose 31
Siskin 1
Jackdaw 9
Alba Wagtail 5
Song Thrush 2
Skylark 7
Meadow Pipit 47
Great spotted Woodpecker 1

Ringing
New: Yellow-browed Warbler 1, Robin 1, Redwing 4, Grey Wagtail 2, Goldcrest 6, Blackcap 3, Blackbird 3, Water Rail 1, Reed Bunting 4, Chiffchaff 2, Coal Tit 1, Long-tailed Tit 1, Blue Tit 2

Yellow-browed Warbler fest

This morning took Yellow-browed warbler to a new level with at least 5 and quite possibly 6 birds involved

1) Two with Long-tailed Tits below HNR classroom heading southish through the bushes
2) One with Chiffchaff in willows next to alder copse - almost certainly headed for the NE corner with Blue Tit or just went quiet as they can do - quite difficult to watch these bushes
3) One ringed Middleton NR
4) One calling a lot by the gun club, Middleton - just possibly the ringed bird but no ring noticed
5) One in the newly christened dog-infested 'chavvy scrub' inland from the half moon bay car park (found after a nice break at the excellent half moon bay café)

Bird 5) - photo Dan Haywood

Bird 3) Middleton NR

 



Heysham Head and scrub behind car park at half moon bay (Dan)

Blackcap 2-3
Yellow-browed Warbler 1
Chiffchaff 1
Goldcrest 6
Redwing 10 then N

Coal Tit 2 gorse-hopping N
Long-tailed Tit 10 as above
Song Thrush 2

Swallow 2 E
Redwing 36 N
Mistle Thrush 5 N
Meadow Pipit 143 mostly E (but also N & NE)
Skylark 45 E
Lesser Redpoll 10 E
Siskin 8 + E
Goldfinch 5 SE
Greenfinch 4 E
Chaffinch 12 SE, E
Pink-footed Goose 14 N, 35 SE
alba wag 6 N, 4 SE

 

Heysham NR wetland area and surrounds

Yellow-browed Warbler - 2 together as above and a singleton (0800ish)

Chiffchaff - 4

Redwing - 400 inland - all in first 15 mins

Blackcap - 1

Goldcrest - c15

Coal Tit - flock of 5 headed south

Brambling - one east first thing (IOA)

Blackbird - 10 - less than yesterday

Middleton NR vis 0930-1130
Meadow Pipit 36
Skylark 30
Siskin 5
Lesser Redpoll 1
Song Thrush 1
Chaffinch 1
Redwing 76
Fieldfare 9
alba wagtail 3
Grey Wagtail 1
Blue Tit 5
Linnet 1
Goldfinch 2

Ringing
Sparrowhawk (1), Grey Wagtail (1), Wren (1), Robin (2), Redwing (13), Yellow-browed Warbler (1), Chiffchaff (2), Goldcrest (6), Chaffinch(2), Reed Bunting (10)

 

         

An early snow bunting and a late willow warbler

A Snow Bunting flew se over Heysham head this morning and two Yellow-browed Warblers were found in fairly quick succession at lunchtime. On the warbler front, a late Willow Warbler was more unexpected than YBW.  Of more long term significance than these fly by day/nights was a singing Cettis warbler in a new area

Grounded
Heysham NR
Chiffchaff 8, Yellow-browed Warbler  1 (in willows next to south side of entrance road - settled and present 1.5 hrs at least), Goldcrest  c20, Redwing 5, Song thrush 7, Blackbird 25, Siskin 2, Jay 3, Coal Tit 5

Middleton NR
Cetti's Warbler - singing male SW corner near caravan site boundary
Yellow-browed Warbler - one (unringed)  in bushes alongside caravan site SW corner
Vis:
Song Thrush 2
Redwing 79
Reed Bunting 6
Snipe 3
Goldcrest 1
Meadow pipit 5
Chaffinch 1
Grey Wagtail 6
Mistle Thrush 2
Greylag 9
Linnet 6
and a Little Egret flew north.
 

 

Heysham Head

Blackcap 2
Chiffchaff 4
Goldcrest c10
Grey Wagtail 1
Coal Tit 4 hopping south
Blackbird 8 continental-looking
Song Thrush 2

Vis mig

Middleton details with Jean

 

Heysham Head

Snow Bunting 1
Reed Bunting 1
Swallow 2
Chaffinch 3
Grey Wagtail 3
Pink-footed Goose 9
alba wag 17
Mistle Thrush 18
Skylark 27
Meadow Pipit 32

Middleton Ringing
Ringing was quite slow this morning with birds caught in small numbers throughout the five hour session.  There were 40 captures in total:
Redwing - 5
Blackbird - 1 (a large, probably continental, bird)

Song Thrush - 2
Reed Bunting - 9
Wren - 2
Goldcrest - 2 + 1 retrap (the only retrapped bird of the day after 8 consecutive days' ringing at this site)
Blackcap - 3
Great Tit - 1
Blue Tit - 2
Grey Wagtail - 1 (the only one captured of a number of passage birds today)
Pied Wagtail - 4
Chiffchaff - 1
Goldfinch - 1
Siskin - 1
Willow Warbler - 1 (a very late individual whose identification was scrutinised carefully by three ringers

ajd

More easterlies and migration...and a bit of cloud

The key things today were cloud cover with drizzle just inland of us and this dropped a few more Yellow-browed Warblers with two in the recording area and one just outside to the south and a really big gang of alba Wagtails (at least two very obvious adult White) on Ocean Edge foreshore............but the juv Sabine's Gull was nowhere to be seen after a good innings

Ocean Edge foreshore grounded
alba Wagtail - 125
Meadow Pipit - 30
Skylark - 2
Linnet - 16
Med Gull - the only interest on a prolonged long range scan of the outfalls was a single 1CY

More grounded migrants
Yellow-browed Warbler - one seen and heard by the pond along the footpath to Red Nab (Brian Tollitt) and one caught and ringed at Middleton NR (thanks to Joanne for the pic who was then inspired to go and find her own just to the south of the recording area (see pic LDBWS sightings thread))!

Middleton vis mig
Redwing 30
Song Thrush 1
Snipe 2
Pied Wagtail 24
Siskin 33
Grey Wagtail 3
Meadow Pipit 13 (a lot more over Ocean Edge)

Sabine's remains and another Middleton vis/ringing session

The juvenile Sabine's gull switched outfalls this morning as Heysham two's food source seemed to be temporarily suspended as per 'outage'.    Three rock pipit were along ocean edge foreshore but nothing else of interest eg no meds.

Middleton saw the following
Field fare - singleton IOA
Redwing - 44
Most of the trickle of vis consisted of pied wagtails (40) and a slight upsurge in meadow pipit (58), Song Thrush (2), Snipe (16), Lesser Redpoll (2), Chaffinch (1), Siskin (4), Skylark (1), Grey Wagtail (4), Reed Bunting (3).

Ringing included 5 Redwing, 8 Pied wagtail, 15 long-tailed tit, two chiffchaff, one blackcap and three reed bunting

Sabine's stays and Ring Ouzel arrives.

The juv Sabine's Gull was feeding on Outfall 2 again and sometimes resting on the sand nearby. Here are a couple of superb photos by Mark Nightingale showing all the plumage details and comparison with Black-headed Gull:

 

Also on the Outfalls was an adult Little Gull and 2 x 1CY Mediterranean Gulls.
Two Rock Pipits and 6 Siskin passed through the Red Nab area.

It was a calm start this morning at Middleton Nature Reserve but by 10am the ESE wind was up to force 4 so ringing proceedings had to come to halt.

Pre-dawn a number of Blackbirds were chacking and shortly after dawn, 4 Redwing rose from their roost. A Cetti's Warbler gave a short burst of song and a Water Rail squealed. The 7 o'clock Grey Wagtail evaded the nets once again. A bit of excitement was afforded by the sudden arrival of a Ring Ouzel which disappeared just as quickly somewhere behind the small brick building on the north side of the reserve.

Visible migration was far more meagre than the last few days and consisted of the following:
alba wagtail 62 (largest flock = 17)
Reed Bunting 2
Swallow 3
Chaffinch 1
Goldfinch 7
Meadow Pipit 29
Song Thrush 2
Siskin 1
Skylark 4
Grey Wagtail 3
Snipe 1

Ringing consisted of:
Blackcap 2
Goldcrest 1
Blue Tit 1
Reed Bunting 3
Blackbird 1 (a fine young male continental Blackbird with long wings and a black bill)
Pied Wagtail 3
White Wagtail 1

JR

Same again minus the geese!

Outfalls/Red Nab
Med Gull - 1 x 2CY, 1 x Ad, 1 x 1CY
Sabine's Gull - juv until at least 1305 and there were birders watching it when I left, so any update?
Little Gull - ad

Thanks for the pics Jim

Middleton vis mig
Reed Bunting - 2
Meadow Pipit - 25 at least
Alba Wagtail - 39
Snipe - 1
Grey Wagtail - 9 (2 ringed)
Linnet - 2
Swallow - 2
Siskin 2 lots heard
House Martin - 1 over Heysham nr later

Grounded
Yellow-browed Warbler - TWO calling at the same time Heysham NR dipping pond area early am then one called twice in 50 minutes along the nearby golf course screening planting c1320 and c1345
Chiffchaff - one ringed Middleton
Blackcap - one ringed Middleton

Ringing at Middleton:  Grey Wagtail (2), Pied Wagtail (5), Goldcrest (2), Chiffchaff (1), Wren (1), Blackcap (1), Coal Tit (1), Robin (1) and 'some' Blue Tit!

Mink seen Middleton NR (per Dave)