Not much coverage today

A quick seaduck check on the choppy sea saw:

Common Scoter - flock of five female/imm about half way out to the main Eider line and a drake on its own beyond the Eider line
Eider - c420

Blackbird - gang of 10 migrants by hnr office car park

Mute swan - flock of six juvs along coast
Rock pipit - at least one

Middleton NR
Gadwall - 11 model boat pond + 6 no swimming pool
Shoveler - 2 no swimming pool (m+f)
Raven - 1 calling from transmission tower
Snipe - 1 western marsh

Late darters

Malcolm saw a Male and photographed a female Common Darter at Middleton today

Also at Middleton, the pair of Shoveler, 22 Gadwall, a Chiffchaff, single Coot

Five female Conmon Scoter off Heysham Head

Seaduck day

Just a bit late this am and missed some of the Eiders which float rapidly in on the fast Kent channel

Lower Knowlys VP
Cumbria
Scaup - flock of 3 - male, female and what looked like juv - way beyond the outer Eider line
Scoter spp - drake on sea on its own - not convinced it wasn't Velvet but it didn't flap/fly - absolutely miles away - then floated behind the trees

Lancs
Eider - 445 min
Common Scoter - 3 females together fairly close inshore
GCGrebe - 5

No swifts in lee of Head!

 

Sunday 11th November

Fairly quiet on the Heysham front today due to a band of rain moving through in the morning.

Blackbird - 15 munching through hawthorn berries in the Reserve

Cettti’s Warbler - singing Male in the scrub bordering the marsh

Water Rail - in the marsh again

Chiffchaff - 1 

Pink-footed Goose - 52 south at midday

On the sea:

Common Scoter - 5

Low-key highlights

Only a fleeting visit today. Luckily Wigan RSPB group had spent a bit more time in the area so thanks to them for the coastal sightings:

Common Scoter - at least 5
Snipe - 40 in the high tide roost at the heliport seawall today
Cetti’s Warbler singing in the scrub at the back of the car park for Half Moon Bay cafe and area.

Grounded migrants on Heysham Nature Reserve:
Blackbird - at least 12
Chiffchaff - 1
Goldcrest - 1

Water Rail squealing in the marsh

Yellowhammer

The vis was quite good for so late in the year:

Heysham NR
Vis 0700 - 1000. SE F5 gusting 7, 6/8 cloud, dry
Sparrowhawk - flock of 3 high flew south
Chaffinch - 80 SW including a flock of 35
Brambling - 2
Yellowhammer - 1
Redwing - 43 SW
Starling - 27 SW
Goldfinch - 12 S
Kestrel - 1 SE
Blackbird - 3 S
Meadow Pipit - 2 S

Other birds of note:
Raven - 1 on the pylons again
Teal - 1 male by the boardwalk
Goldcrest - 3
Water Rail - 1 calling in the marsh

Middleton NR
Shoveler - male and female
Gadwall - 20
Coot - 1
Redwing - 10
Meadow Pipit - 7

Scoter still in situ

Common Scoter - flock of 5 off Heysham Head on drop tide
Ringed plover - 36 heliport roost
Rock Pipit - two half moon bay beach, one by harbour
Lots of Blackbird Hey NR

High tide roost spectacle

The operative word was "high" in the high tide roost - high numbers of Oystercatchers which stretched all along the heliport sea wall along with other waders.  Another "high"light was a young Merlin chasing the Starlings in the horse paddock.

Heliport sea wall
Oystercatcher - 9600
Redshank - 460
Turnstone - 38
Ringed Plover - 36
Snipe - 21

Ocean Edge
Jack Snipe - 2

Horse paddocks north of Heysham Head
Merlin 1CY

 The large Oystercatcher roost. 

Five birds had metal rings but too far away to read the numbers with binoculars.

 Little Egret looking rather elegant in flight

Wigeon at Ocean Edge 

A quieter day

Most of the Blackbirds had gone from the reserve so it was a lot quieter today. Fewer finches were moving overhead and even fewer at the feeder.

Vis 0830-1000
Chaffinch - 20 SE
Greenfinch - 2 S
Little Egret - 1 W

On the reserve
Cetti's Warbler singing again between the pagoda and the alder copse in the scrub on the edge of the reedbed.

More Blackbirds and some old friends

At least 100 Blackbirds from observations around the recording area with at least 60 on or passing through Heysham NR alone.
The "old friends" were a Robin first caught in August 2011 at Heysham, a Dunnock first caught in July 2013 at Heysham and a Cetti's Warbler at Middleton NR which was first caught in October 2015.

Offshore very murky but flock of five female Common Scoter located and Eiders in the mist at low tide at least 520

Shoveler still at Middleton

More later when sound recorder consulted!!!
Well, nothing of any note on the sound recorder - plenty of Robin, Wren, Carrion Crow, Magpie and Blackbird noise and a few Chaffinches plus the odd Bullfinch.

Vis
Pink-footed Goose 2000N over Middleton NR in ten flocks plus flocks of 450N and 20E over Heysham bypass at 0730.
Fieldfare 1
Redwing 16 SE
Starling 47 S
Grey Wagtail 2 E
Chaffinch 21 SE
Bullfinch 1

The Green Woodpecker is still around.

A female Blackcap appeared in the nets later in the day.

A Raven sat for a while on one of the pylons.