Yellow-Browed Warbler

 Brisk wind ENE to NE with some sunny spells.

No post yesterday as there were nothing to report. Not because no one checked, there was a thorough check before the rain started c10:30. Specifically checking for YBW, so in this instance absence of evidence does suggest evidence of absence - not so today!

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Report from Jean:

Vis at Middleton NR 0730-1130

Grey Wagtail 3

Alba Wagtail 3

Meadow Pipit 1 (!) (Meadow pipits SE past harbour entrance @ c60 per hour)

Goldfinch 24

Chaffinch 1

Blackbird 15

Redwing 5

Song Thrush 2

Reed Bunting 5

Jay 1

There wasn’t as much small stuff in bushes as at Heysham NR. It’s a less sheltered site and the ENE wind was gusting force 5 at times. I haven’t got all the ringing data but these are the birds caught on the east side:

Pied Wagtail 2, Reed Bunting 3, Goldfinch 1, Coal Tit 1, Blue Tit 1, Great Tit 1, Long-tailed Tit 2 retraps, and a new Cetti’s Warbler (probably a migrant)

Afternoon check included

Cetti's Warbler 1 calling, not singing.

Jack Snipe 1

Water Rail 1

Teal 5

Gadwall 2

Little Grebe 1 in winter plumage

Another very thorough check from Dan H 

Heysham NR

0840-0915

Yellow-browed Warbler 1

Chiffchaff 2

Coal Tit 5

Goldcrest 4

Goldcrest with Chiffchaff watching on

Heysham Head 0920-1130

Yellowhammer 1 male - not common here. One also seen late morning over MNR, probably the same bird.

Blackcap 6 (including a flock of five!)

One of the Blackcap

Tree Sparrow 2 - again not common here

Wheatear 1

Chiffchaff 3

Goldcrest 4

Coal Tit 6

Treecreeper 1

Rock Pipit 6

Wheatear and a Rock Pipit

Vis

Meadow Pipit 110 E

Siskin 36 E

Skylark 19 E

Lesser Redpoll 1 E

Grey Wagtail 1 E

'Smithy Wood' 1130-1230

Blackbird 15

Coal Tit 

Song Thrush 5

Goldcrest 4

Chiffchaff 3

Blackcap 1

Moneyclose Grove 1240

Chiffchaff 1

Blackcap 1

Heysham NR 1250-1320

Chiffchaff 5

Goldcrest 3

Blackcap 1

Insects:

Common Darter 22

Migrant Hawker 14

Red Admiral 10

Speckled Wood 7

Brimstone 1

Moneyclose Lane / Dog Track 1320-1400

Goldcrest 11

Chiffchaff 3

Southern boundary path MNR 1415-1445

Coal Tit 4

Goldcrest 2

Chiffchaff 1

Out with the old, in with the new

 Steady lightish winds mainly NNE. Occasional sunshine with showers developing by evening.

Sightings report from Jean

Most of the Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs at Heysham Nature Reserve had moved off overnight in the clear, moonlit conditions. Middleton NR was similarly quiet. However, at first light, groups of thrush night migrant, probably Redwing, dropped into the bushes and an hour after sunrise diurnal migration was in evidence.

Vis 0730-1030 NE F3. Clear to the N & W, cloud encroaching from the east.

Grey Wagtail 4 

Pink-footed Goose 35

Reed Bunting 9

Lesser Redpoll 8

Meadow Pipit 110

Alba Wagtail 8

Linnet 6

Chaffinch 20

Carrion Crow 5

Jackdaw 7

Swallow 4

Goldfinch 12

Blackbird 1

Kestrel 1

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1

Skylark 4

Report from Dan

Heysham Head 0800-1045

Goldcrest 6

Coal Tit 5

Blackcap 1

Stonechat 1 m

Mistle Thrush 1 

(was acting like a migrant...
got chased off by a blackbird!)

Vis, mostly tracked 'in-off':

Meadow Pipit 210 mostly E

Skylark 59 mostly E

Swallow 38 E or NE (10+8+6+9+5)

Pink-footed Goose 24 S inland

Siskin 17 mostly SE

Goldfinch 11 SE

alba wag 11 mostly SE

Chaffinch 8 mostly NE

Grey Wagtail 2 SE

Smithy Lane scrub / woodland inland of cafe 1050-1130

Blackbird 22

Goldcrest 5

Chiffchaff 2

Treecreeper 1

(Meadow Pipit passage overhead N/C but increasing to c120 p/h SE)

Ocean Edge/Red Nab 

Meadow Pipit 20

Skylark 1

Above over to SE

Mediterranean gull - just one located on Red Nab - ref Keith and David T

A lazy sort of day

 A steady west breeze all day. Mainly sunny.

Vis mig and ringing report from Jean

Middleton Nature Reserve
Vis 0730-1130 NW F2 part cloudy
Grey Wagtail 5 (2 caught and colour-ringed)
Meadow Pipit 10
Pink-footed Goose 16
Alba Wagtail 8
Reed Bunting 5
Carrion Crow 7
Linnet 2
Chaffinch 2
Skylark 3
Whooper Swan 16 - seen over the sea from Ocean Edge 

Other than that it was very quiet. Ringing comprised 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Grey Wagtail), 3 Meadow Pipit, 3 Long-tailed Tit (one of which was a retrap), a Goldcrest and a retrapped Blue Tit.

South shore (MD)

Wigeon 18 on Red Nab

Robin 4 grounded along foreshore 

Wheatear 3 on Red Nab and Ocean Edge foreshore plus 2 near lighthouse 

Nice picture from Kevin

Rock Pipit 1

Meadow Pipit 3 grounded

This Grey seal was trying to sleep between the outflows.

I must have just missed it catching and eating a fish. When this happens they are surrounded by a cloud of gulls after any scraps. But it must still have had a scrap left on its face, and these three immature gulls (1 & 2cy GBBG plus Herring) weren't for giving up.

Eventually the juvenile GBBG moved gingerly in.....

.....and got the scrap without the seal even opening an eye.

Then left it to sleep off its meal in peace.

Water off a duck's back!

It's hard to imagine two days more different than yesterday and today. Yesterday almost no wind and wall to wall sunshine, after the mist. Today, strong SE winds, almost constant rain with some very heavy showers.

Only my records so far, and I wouldn't expect anyone else to have been around (MD).

Ocean Edge/Red Nab - mid morning

Rock Pipit 3

Wheatear 2

Linnet c15

Little Egret 6

Wigeon 17

Middleton Nature Reserve - early evening

Mute 2 adult plus 3 cygnet + 1 adult with 1 cygnet

Coot 5

Moorhen 5

Little Grebe both the summer plumage and the winter plumage birds

Gadwall 2

Teal 4

This time last year the hawthorn bushes were laden with a bumper crop of berries. This year they are very sparse, some bushes have none at all. I expect that the winter thrushes will not linger as long as they did last year.

Clear skies after a misty start

Dense sea mist didn't clear till mid morning, then sunshine and very light variable breeze.

The last of the mist clinging to the warmer water of the outflows 10:00

South shore (MD)

Knot c2000 including at least two Sefton coast orange flag ringed birds - unfortunately not read

Grey Plover c50

Ringed Plover c50

Dunlin c70

Bar-Tailed Godwit c30

Some of the Bar-Tailed Godwit with a backdrop of mist

Pink-footed Goose 79 south 10:00

Skylark 3 south

Rock Pipits 2 - one seemed to be a passage bird, as it was chased off by another, presumably one of the "resident" birds

Wheatear 2

Wigeon 28

 

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing and vis report from Jean

The fog deterred birds from moving over Middleton NR this morning. As an example of how thick the fog was, if you stood on the edge of the grass foreshore of Ocean Edge and looked back, you couldn’t see the caravans.

On arrival at Middleton NR the first bird heard, apart from a Robin ticking, was a Cetti’s Warbler at 06:33hrs. A second Cetti’s responded at 06:40 and a third was heard later on the west.

Overhead vis was no more than a trickle:

Meadow Pipit 8

Reed Bunting 6

Lesser Redpoll 1

Linnet 4

Alba Wagtail 3

Grey Wagtail 5

Redwing 1 dropped in

Coal Tit 4 dropped down from height into bushes

Chaffinch 2

Pink-footed Geese got going from 09:45 and a total of 518 flew over in 6 flocks.

A flock of 10 Carrion Crows moved off in twos and threes at about 10:00

Whooper Swans were heard.

Ringing

Meadow Pipit 1

Reed Bunting 4

Alba Wagtail 1

Robin 1

Chiffchaff 2 (inc 1 retrap)

Wren (retrap)

Blue Tit

Insects

Brown Hawker (late for this)

Red Admiral

3 Common Darter

3 Migrant Hawkers 

Migrant Hawker picture from Janet

Chiffchaff passing through my garden this afternoon (MD)

Heysham Skeer - evening (MD)

Great Crested Grebe 4

Red-Breasted Merganser 2

Knot c2000 again one Sefton Coast flagged bird

You can get close to the waders, with the sea and sun behind you

Snorkelling lesson

This adult Herring Gull caught a crab

It flew to shallower water

Carefully dropped, the now incapacitated, crab

Shouted the juvenile (come and get your dinner...)
Then flew off

The juvenile came over and after a bit of snorkelling
retrieved the crab.

Then flew off to join the adult.

This Hermit Crab was upside down on top of a mussel bank. There is no way that it would have been stranded there. A gull must have fished it out but failed to reap its reward. This is a full sized Hermit Crab in a Common Whelk Shell. I returned it to the water.

I have very large hands.

Winter thrushes start to arrive

 Very light breeze starting from the south then working through more or less all points of the compass. Leaden skies started high then got lower during the day resulting in fine drizzle then rain by evening.

Excellent coverage today from DH, KE, JR, PM and MD - a particularly thorough and comprehensive check by Dan.

Heysham Head 0650-0900

Migrant-y:

Coal Tit 9 restless flock

Blackbird 8

Redwing 7 then E

Goldcrest 6

Song Thrush 5

Chiffchaff 3

Rock Pipit 2

Resident-ish:

Greenfinch 15

Linnet just 10

overhead:

Siskin 4 E

Meadow Pipit 3 SE

Grey Wag 2 SE

Lesser Redpoll 2 NE

Swallow 1 N

Skylark 1 N

day movements:

alba wag c15 N and E ex-roost?

ET 9 low S suggesting ex-Leighton roost rather than Lune.

Half Moon Bay and scrub / woodland inland of cafe

Coal Tit 6

Chiffchaff 3

Goldcrest 3

Rock Pipit 2

Helipad 0950

Oystercatcher 1600

Knot 1750

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Goldcrest 15 

Robin 14

Coal Tit 2 plus irruptive flock of 20 south

Blackbird 8

Redwing 3

Song Thrush 6

Chiffchaff 4

Jay 3

Blackcap 2

Siskin 2 then N

Kestrel 1 (m)

Meadow Pipit - party of 6 South at 1030

Moneyclose Lane / Dog Track

Goldcrest 12

Coal Tit 10

Chiffchaff 5

Red Nab 

Curlew 73

Black-headed Gull 25

Shelduck 25

Wigeon 17

Rock Pipit 2

Mediterranean Gull 1 (ad)

Merlin 1 female type rested briefly before flying off west along the sea wall - 08:30

Ocean Edge

Shelduck - another darvic ringed bird (lime green) read

Carrion Crow, flock of 15 north.

Dunlin and Ringed Plover c 50 each

Knot 2000 offshore

A small flock of 14 Pinkfoot were also on the beach. They unfortunately took flight when the tide reached them, lifting all the waders. 

Before

The resulting chaos -  You can see the geese lower centre. 

After - The waders eventually landed nearer Potts Corner.

Linnet 15 near saltmarsh

Rock Pipit 1

Wheatear 2

Picture by Dan.

Wooden Jetty area

Rock Pipit 1 - that's a total of 8 Rock Pipits seen in the recording area today.

Mediterranean gull 1 2nd calendar year

Picture by Kevin

Ulster Bus Alley

Blackbird flock of 15 males (13 x 1Winter)

Chiffchaff 2

Goldcrest 2

Blackcap 1

Middleton Nature Reserve

Cetti's warbler 2 singing

Gadwall 4

Teal 1

Red-Breasted Merganser 5 north

Little grebe 1

Today's bird still in, at least partial, summer plumage

A better selection

 Light winds started in NE and ended in NW. Sunshine and very blue skies for most of the day.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Visible migration report from Jean:

Vis 0700-1000 NE F2. All generally south unless stated.

Whooper Swan 5 - first records this autumn 

Marsh Harrier 1  E

Great Spotted Woodpecker 2 N

Raven 1

Skylark 1

Song Thrush 1

Grey Wagtail 8 

alba wagtail 5

Meadow Pipit 12

Chaffinch 2

Linnet 4

Siskin 1

Reed Bunting 7

Early evening (MD)

Jack Snipe 1 - first record this autumn 

Common Snipe 2

Water Rail 1

Kingfisher 1

Cetti's warbler 1 the "No swimming" pond male singing

Little Grebe 1

Now in winter plumage

Dragonflies: Common Darter c15. Migrant Hawker 3

Butterflies: several Small White, Speckled Wood and a single Comma

Ocean Edge/Red Nab

Early morning (PM)

Mediterranean gull 5 (1 adult, 1 2cy and 3 juvenile)

Grey Plover 410

high water 09:10 (MD)

Again lots of Shelduck and waders, I didn't try to count, but the inshore waders on the mud, in order of abundance were:

Knot,

Grey Plover,

Curlew,

Dunlin,

Ringed Plover

Redshank 

Oystercatcher 

Bar-Tailed Godwit,

Lapwing

This young Lapwing looking good in the sunshine.

Wheatear 2

Meadow Pipit 8 SE

Skylark 1 unseen but generally south