Overnight Song Thrushes

Heysham Obs
A pre-dawn arrival saw a clear sky and no evidence of thrushes landfalling at dawn before reorientating and heading inland. This is a feature of many cloudy/misty October mornings. On the R & M day, several (continental) Song Thrushes were present on an essentially cloudy morning and these subsequently moved around at net level before departing and 4 were ringed. This morning appeared to be clear and thrushless with the only chance being high-flying vis. However, during the second hour (not the first) after dawn, Song Thrushes suddenly rose out of several bushes close to the office and headed off high to the south. A total of 21 were logged and there is absolutely no way these birds could have arrived in these bushes at or just after dawn as they were under constant observation during the 'vis' watch. Therefore the assumption is that they landed during the night (the site is fairly well lit) and took a bit of time to wake up before heading off. The difference between this morning and Saturday was the clear skies and this undoubtedly prompted the steep take-off with no chance of any being mistnetted.

Vis from the office dawn to 0930hrs
Chaffinch - 72 SW
Greenfinch - 38 SW
Collared Dove - 10 in 4 groups high to the south - a good count!
alba Wagtail - 45 SE
Meadow Pipit - just 28 SE
Grey Wagtail - 2 (one ringed!) SE
Redwing - 2 E
Goldfinch - 68 S
Siskin - 4 S
Coal Tit - 2 S
Skylark - 1 SE
Linnet - 10 SW
Dunnock - 2 high to the south
Carrion Crow - 4 high to the SW perceived as migrants
Reed Bunting - 2 S
Bullfinch - yet another high to the south
Sparrowhawk - 2 south
Not a single Mistle Thrush seen!

Grounded
A little bit more than yesterday which is not saying much. At least 4 Goldcrest, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap, 21 Song Thrush (see above), 7 presumed migrant Blackbird, possibly more. Quite a bit of tit activity, notably an unringed flock of 35 Long-tailed Tit, but no definite irruptive behaviour other than by the two Coal Tit.

Ringing
Included some of the LTTs, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest and a Grey Wagtail

North harbour wall
At least 2 2nd W Med Gulls

Elsewhere
No reports of the Leighton Moss Great Grey Shrike which has plenty of places to go out of public view but the juv Marsh Harrier still present. Possible update here later. Male Crossbill over Caton Moor vis site and 4+2 Crossbill in Thrushgill Plantation but no public access to where seen [Richard's Pipit over the Rossall Point vis site]

'Difficult' vis, few grounded birds

Heysham Obs
Vis made a little difficult by a nearby generator combined with many of the birds being very high. The main species which was underestimated was probably alba Wagtail with a lot of fast-moving intermittently calling birds. The majority of the vis, unlike yesterday, comprised 'cross-bay' birds from the north-west to south east and therefore thrush species and Chaffinch were in much lower numbers. Redpoll were interesting. Very used to Lesser Redpoll flying over this site (especially spring) and there was a definite contrast between the 6 which accompaned Goldfinch = 'typical Lesser calls' and the more staccato, harsher, lower-pitched calls from the birds arriving flying very high from across the Bay with Meadow Pipit and alba Wagtail. Again, they appeared to be on the large side but no detail could be seen on them. Tape lure?....but a lot of effort for the possibility of one-two birds per hour at best.

Vis by the office 0745-1100 (NW to SE unless specified)
Meadow Pipit - 245
Redpoll - 6 definite Lesser (flock with Goldfinch) and 2+1+3+4 unspec.
Grey Wagtail - 3+1+1+1
alba Wagtail - 57
Chaffinch - 87 SW
Greenfinch - 59 SW
Song Thrush - 5
Swallow - 31
Linnet - 44
Goldfinch - 44
Collared Dove 1+3
Siskin - 1+2+1
Bullfinch - a singleton high to the south
Redwing - just 2+1 SW
Woodpigeon - 16
House Sparrow - 1+1 south
Jay - 2 south
Great Tit - 2 south
Starling - 52
Kestrel - 1 south
Sparrowhawk - 1SE
Coal Tit - 1+1+1 high to the south
Skylark - just 1

Grounded
Very little but 2 new Chiffchaff were ringed and a White Wagtail was on the NHW mound. Male Stonechat on Middleton IE

Miscellaneous
23 Tufted Duck on the IE model boat pond
At least 3 2nd W Med Gulls NH wall
Guillemot in harbour

Insects
At least 3 Migrant Hawker on the reserve along with several Common Darter and a geriatric Large White

Elsewhere
Great Grey Shrike and Great White Egret still Leighton Moss along with a juv Marsh Harrier. Little Stint on the Kent Estuary

Reasonable vis, too clear for grounded birds in any numbers

Heysham Obs
Norwegian-ringed Kittiwake found dead by the outfalls. Vis during the first two hours of the day was reasonable and included the first Brambling of the year

Vis by the office 0700-0915
Chaffinch - 219, mainly SW
Greenfinch - 75S
Goldfinch - 30S
Reed Bunting - 3 SW
alba Wagtail - 17S
Grey Wagtail - 4SE
Meadow Pipit - 48SE (most went S of Power Station?)
Redwing - 15S
Song thrush - 13 high inland or SE
Woodpigeon - 9SW
Redpoll spp - 2 SE, almost certainly on perceived size and low-pitched rather harsh calls, not Lesser
Linnet - 11SE
Brambling 1, prob 2 SW
Starling - 107S
Pink-footed Goose - both flocks headed high NE! - 46+27
Blue Tit - 8S (including high flock of 5)
Swallow - just 11 (most tend to move later, also note lack of Skylark)
Collared Dove - 2 SE
Mistle Thrush - 37SE
Bullfinch - 1S
Siskin - 4S
Coal Tit - 3S
Carrion Crow - one high bird to the S prob a migrant
Jay - jut one S

Grounded
Poor: 2 Chiffchaff and just one Goldcrest heard. One Wheatear. Only half a dozen migrant thrushes remained during mid-morning check of bushes

Miscellany
Med Gull: 3 x 2nd W 1 x ad north harbour wall
Guillemot - one again in the intake area of the harbour
Kingfisher - one around the outfalls again
Raven - 2 blogging

Elsewhere
Great Grey Shrike at Leighton Moss sitting on the various isolated bushes in the reedbed between public and lower hides (also one at Rossall Point first thing). Great White Egret also in the LM area

A varied morning spoilt by being too cloudy, yet not low enough to drop migrants

Heysham Obs
Managed to forget the obvious - advertise the Ringing/Migration morning on this site! It was not to bad at all althought he 'vis', especially cross-bay, was curtailed by 'medium-high cloud' of the variety which is usually 'useless'. Too high to 'drop' any migrants, especially if there is no precipitation, yet thick and extensive enough to discourage vis mig. Enough grounded birds were around to provide a nice steady variety to show people in the hand, including the noisy/aggressive species!


Unthinkable even 5 years ago, rather like the Egret-fest at Leighton, 4 out of the 5 north harbour Med Gulls were in a line (with 2 BHG) - the furthest bird is the Czech-ringed adult.


3 2nd W & Ad Med with 2 Black-headed Gull. Thanks to Jon Barber. This is an e-mail-reduced pic and better ones may be available Monday.

Ringing
Plenty of species, including 4 continental Song Thrush, two (partial)migrant Coal Tit, a Grey Wagtail, a Reed Bunting, a Chiffchaff, just one Goldcrest etc..


Vis Mig
Redwing - just 4 heading NE & one heard earlier on
Bullfinch - a flock of 4 moved high to the south
Woodpigeon - 24 S
Collared Dove 2S
Jay 2S
Swallow 3S
Chaffinch 35, many of these flying north!
Goldfinch 6S
Grey Wagtail 2S
alba Wagtail 17S
Greenfinch 28SW
Meadow Pipit 16SE
Mistle Thrush 13SW


Grounded
Highlighted by a female House Sparrow - the first on the reserve this year - it eventually headed off south-west! One Wheatear on the north wall. At least 5 Blackbird looking like long-winged continental birds. c10 Song Thrush. 1 new Chiffchaff and just one Goldcrest.


Misc
4 2nd W and an adult Med Gull on the north harbour wall. One of the 2nd W was a brief visitor to the food, the other 4 birds remained and landed together (see photo).
Guillemot in the harbour


Middleton IE
Increase to 25 Tufted Duck, also 8 Teal and a female/imm Stonechat


Elsewhere
Great White Egret Leighton Moss. 5 Barnacle Geese and a Purple Sandpiper over the high tide at Pilling Lane Ends [& 2 leucistic Pinkfeet]. Adult Arctic and juvenile Common Terns on Pine Lake (brief visit - may have been more). Two Scaup at Teal Bay. Wagtail roost at Melling in maize saw c50% White on birds trapped using the 'Livingstone criteria'. The Whites were almost all identifiable on "feel" in the hand i.e. smaller than Pied as borne out by wing length and weight.

Not a lot during an early(ish) visit

Heysham Obs
A combination of a small ringing effort and an 1.5hrs vis produced a very routine fare:

Ringing
Most of the new birds were Blue & Great tits and common finch species but did include a Blackcap, Coal Tit, 2 Robin and 2 Wren

Vis by the office 0745-0915
Not without minor highlights, notably the high-flying flock of 3 Bullfinch which eventually headed east inland.

Collared Dove - 4+1+1 south
Redwing - just 8 SW!
Blackbird - at least 5 definite long-winged migrants which few high inland. Very early for this species.
Chaffinch - 17 SW
Meadow Pipit - 24 SE
alba Wagtail - 3 SE
Bullfinch - 3 E (see above)
Goldfinch - 5 S
Woodpigeon - 11 S
House Martin - 3 S
Swallow - 1S!
Greenfinch - 15 SW
Jackdaw - 2 N
Grey Wagtail - 1SE
Jay - just 2 S

Outfalls/Red Nab/OE foreshore
The only thing was a 1st W Med way in the distance on the seaward end of Heysham One outfall - ring status obviously not seen! The lack of grounded Meadow Pipt ande alba wagtail was noticeable reflecting the very poor cross-bay passage both this morning and yesterday

Chough
The Harris Hawks are being exercised within the non-op land during their 'non-working'=no nesting gulls season. Contrary to rumour, there is no evidence that the Chough was killed by one of these but the disappearance does coincide with the exercising of these raptors around its favoured 'bolt hole' when disturbed from the seawall. On the other hand, this may be just coincidence and a change to easterly sector winds and lower temperatures may have been an influence.

Elsewhere
Some reasonable vis on the LDBWS site. NNEW on anything from Leighton Moss! Two Arctic and one Common Tern off Jenny Brown's Point.

Are you sure it is only 27th September?

Heysham Obs
The morning started with scraping ice off the windscreen and a short 'vis' session saw a species composition more suited to mid-October than the last few days of September. The main themes were a very early thrush arrival with the earliest ever Fieldfare (27 years obs.) and an increase in the already perceptible Jay movement

Vis 0730-0930 by the NR office
Redwing - 158, mainly SW. The first was a grounded bird which headed inland at 0730, then swung SW, the rest were all 'vis'
Meadow Pipit - just 41 SE
Fieldfare - 2 SW
Yellowhammer - 1 south (rare here)
Blackbird - at least one migrant flew high inland with Song Thrush
Dunnock - one high to the south
Chaffinch - Just 5 SW
Greenfinch - 47 SW
Jay - 27 south, including a flock of 12
Goldfinch - 8 S
alba Wagtail - 7 SE
Siskin - 1 S
Swallow - 14 S
House Martin - 3 S
Woodpigeon - 6 S
Reed Bunting - 1 S
Tree Sparrow - flock of 7 SE
Carrion Crow - flock of 5 S
Song Thrush - 28 grounded birds high inland to the E. Those seen well appeared to be olive-coloured continental birds and this was certainly suggested by the behaviour (and associated species!)
Ring Ouzel - grounded adult(?) male flew high towards the SE corner of the reserve

Grounded
See above re-thrushes. At least 10 Goldcrest and at least 5 Chiffchaff

Chough
No sign on non-op or on foreshore but plenty of places it could still be.

Outfalls
1st W Med at long range

North harbour wall
Not checked

Elsewhere
Turtle Dove Cockersands late afternoon - flew towards Crook Farm. 'Stubble burning' at Cockersands produced 60-70 Skylark and 30-40 Meadow Pipit but no Laps. Great White Egret Leighton area. Ad & juv Arctic and ad Common Tern on Pine lake. Hybrid Ferruginous x Pochard at Leighton Moss late evening.

No sign of Chough but non-op not visited

Thanks to Simon for photos

Heysham Obs

Chough: I'll have a look on the non-op land tomorrow and let RBA know straight away. Unfortunately the favoured area therein is very difficult to observe. It could, of course, have departed!

Vis mig

A busy day today - little time:

0820-0920 - all birds heading between SE & SW

Meadow Pipit - 55

Chaffinch - 21

Grey Wagtail -1

Swallow - 6

Linnet - 16

Goldfinch - 3

Greenfinch - 14

Grounded

4 new Robin, 3 new Goldcrest and a new Chiffchaff ringed in a short session with 4 nets

Misc

Kingfisher again on Red Nab (5th day). At least one 2nd W Med Gull north wall:

Insects

Migrant Hawker photographed:

Elsewhere

Great White Egret Leighton Moss, but little else reported today other than some nice vis data from Lancaster University including Jay movement (see LDBWS site)

What a contrast to yesterday!

Thanks to Simon Hawtin for todays photographs
Heysham Obs

This morning dawned flat calm, not exactly what was forecasted, and all the ringers and vis miggers were caught out! Vis Mig belatedly carried out and it was excellent including further evidence of tit movement. The other theme was a number of birders searching for Chough and a few 'spin-offs', the most surprising being THREE Guillemot in the harbour - just like the old days!

Vis by the office 0930-1100 (south-west unless stated)

Green Woodpecker - juv headed south - rare here

Meadow Pipit - 454 south

Skylark - 7 south-east

Swallow - 15 (all low) south - prob most following coast

Goldfinch - 17

Siskin - 22

Reed Bunting - 4

Chaffinch - 53

Jay - 1+2

House Martin - 58 (unlike the Swallows these were high)

Great Tit - 11 south

Blue Tit - 36 south

Coal Tit - 19 south

Greenfinch - 11

Grey Wagtail - 8 south-east

Woodpigeon - 3

Pink-footed Goose - 27+45+5 south

alba Wagtail - 14

Dunnock - 2+1 high to the south

Merlin - prob female high to the south

see insects

Two flocks of Long-tailed Tits went through and at least the 6 or so pairs of legs seen were all unringed.

Grounded

Quite a bit with 5+ Chiffchaff in the vicinity of the hut and probably double-figures if, as seemed, they were moving through. At least 6 Goldcrest by the hut along with a male Blackcap. Plenty of Wren calling

as is often the case when they are on the move. Coastally there were at least 4 Wheatear around and a Rock Pipit on the north wall

Chough

Seen up until c0915 on the seawall, then flew on to the non-operational land and was not subsequently reported

Outfalls/Red Nab

At least two Sandwich Tern

Metal-ringed 1st W Med Gull (therefore not yesterdays bird)

North wall/harbour

Three Guillemot

At least 4 Med Gull (3 2nd W & Ad)

No sign of any Shag

Insects

Two Red Admiral south along the NHW c1100hrs. Migrant Hawker by the office as early as 0945hrs

Speckled Wood have had a rough time recently!

Elsewhere

Great White Egret Allen/EM Pools, Little Egret at Blea Tarn Reservoir, single-figure scattering of Curlew Sandpiper at coastal sites. Surprisingly little vis reported, other than Meadow Pipit over Carnforth Slag Tips, but there were two Rock Pipit at the Stone jetty and 5+ Chiffchaff in the 'dome bushes' there.

Strong onshore winds at last!

Heysham Obs

Seawatching

Three lots of about 45 mins each spanning 0755-1330. Nothing spectacular but a really good array of species

Pintail - 217 out (largest of 6 flocks was 69), Shelduck - 17 out, Pink-footed Goose - 26 south, Common Scoter - 2 out, Red-throated Diver - 1 in, Arctic Skua - dark morph ad in at 1015hrs, Bonxie - one out at 1145hrs, Sandwich tern - 5, Kittiwake - 6, Fulmar - 5, Shag - juv round the wooden jetty, Gannet - 1, Guillemot - 1, Little Gull - one ad in harbour mouth, Mediterranean Gull - 6 in the harbour mouth including a newly arrived 1st W, Knot - 3,500 out, Dunlin - 60 out ..........plus a couple of wheeling things in poor light/rain one of which was probably a Manx Shearwater.

Chough

Showing well this morning - up until 0940 it was by the large grey store in the non-op land (view through fence by the dog walk pond) and then it was on the seawall briefly between Ocean Edge and Heysham outfalls before returning to the non-op land

Ocean Edge foreshore & misc

A nice 'seen from' in the form of a distant Little Egret off Middleton. They are very rare in the Obs recording area. Also two Raven which eventually flew east. This species may be just about to lose its boldface status. A single Jackdaw flew over the roundabout at the end of the bypass.

Elsewhere

Afternoon visit to Pine Lke: Arctic Tern: ad & juv, Common Tern: juv, Ferruginous x Pochard female, drake Scaup. Great White Egret still Leighton Moss.

*Sorry about spacing problems above - cant seem to find a way to edit

Chough spin-offs

Heysham Obs
The extra Chough coverage is kicking in, most notably producing Kingfisher on Red Nab both today and yesterday

Chough
Showing very well early morning along the seawall between Red Nab and Heysham 2 outfall (see pics on LDBWS site) but one flush too many at 0930 and it flew towards the non-operational land. It reappeared on the seawall at 1220ish but was regularly flushed and again disappeared towards the non-op land/tank farm. This seawall is a regular dog-walk.

North harbour wall
At one stage, as the IOM ferry was departing port, there were FOUR 2nd W and a single adult Med Gulls around. Later an additional adult was seen with the Czech-ringed bird near Heysham One outfall. 4-5 female Eider offshore. Guillemot on the sea off the harbour early morning.

Red Nab/harbour area
Sandwich Terns on Red Nab reached a peak of 15, but turnover suggested perhaps 18 - a good total for late September. Two late Whimbrel were seen.

Grounded
c300 Linnet on Ocean Edge saltmarsh and 3 Wheatear.

Vis
Inhibited by the early morning weather but 30 mins 0845-0915 produced 21 Swallow an 16 Meadow Pipit heading south

Moths
The second Frosted Orange of the year and 3rd-5th Black Rustic. Two late Treble Bar.

Elsewhere
Drake Greater Scaup and female Ferruginous Duck x Pochard on Pine Lake this evening. Great White Egret, 24 Little Egret 8 each of Curlew Sand and Spotted Redshank but no sign of the Pec. Sandpiper on the EM Pool. Juv Curlew Sandpiper at Cockersands and perhaps the same at Sunderland given the direction the birds flew from.