Bullfinch mystery

Heysham obs
Bullfinches are surprisingly unpredictable here with quite a bit of perceived migration and scattering of unringed birds even in the breeding season . Today's events were however unprecedented at this time of year

Bullfinch - three unringed 2cy caught together (one male)
Wheatear - male ocean edge
No other evidence of migration reported

Kittiwake flock

Heysham obs
Seawatch am for one hour
Kittiwake - 25 on sea
Pink footed goose - 11 north
Eider - 173 on

Butterfly
Comma Middleton

Whooper on the challenge list at last

Heysham Obs
First of all a correction - the type of netting which trapped yesterdays Wheatear was garden 'pea netting' type stuff - the mesh was too small for a monofilamant net and therefore part of the spoil used to create the small bund aloing the edge of the caravan site

Sea 0915-1015
Whooper Swan - 4+2 NW
Carrion crow - flock of 7 north

Thanks Janet

Pied Wagtail - 15 N
Meadow Pipit - 13 N
Common Gull - 92 on outfalls/harbour mouth

Moths
2 x Hebrew Character

Late news yesterday
Pink-footed Goose - c100+200+100 N
Whooper Swan -  32 N (flock)

The perils of monofilament nets

Heysham Obs
Ringed a new species for the year today (Wheatear) - the circumstances were not great, but fortunately the bird was found by Malcolm, not the local mutt/carrion crow.  It was tangled up in discarded monofilament (fishing) net - 'discarded' presumably means 'net which has been set then trashed by stormy weather and left to drift'.  So these nets can be a bit of a menace for tideline foragers and a very good reason to support your local beach clean and emphasise to them that, given a choice, its best to leave a big and obvious plastic bottle than "invisible" monofilament netting


The day was highlighted by two separate north-east-bound Common Buzzard - definitely migrants - and the continuing vocal performance by the Cetti's Warbler at Middleton


Meadow Pipit - c30 north
Stonechat - female Middleton NR
Wheatear - 2 Ocean Edge
Goldcrest - at least 5 on Heysham NR and two by Gate 38
Common Buzzard - singles NE at c1110 and 1125
Cetti's Warbler - in song regularly this morning and favouring the  vegetation around the western end of the 'fence' pond and can be easily heard from the road to sewage works near the end
Reed Bunting - flock of 7 feeding on reed mace heads at Middleton
Water Rail - 3 squealing Middleton
Teal - pair model boat pond
Gadwall - 5 (3 males) model boat pond
Tufted Duck - 4 model boat pond
Mute Swan - 2 ad & 6 2CY model boat pond
Song Thrush - 2 migrants Middleton - flew inland
Redwing - singleton Middleton flew inland




 

Sandwich Tern

Heysham Obs
A nice early record for here of Sandwich Tern comprising a flock of eight which flew from the Barrow direction and did a circuit before flying out




North wall and area 0800-0930 (Ian Walker)
Sandwich Tern - flock of 8 as above
Pink-footed Goose - flock of 6 NW
alba Wagtail - 60 N
Meadow Pipit - 30 N
Robin - 4 probable migrants




Middleton NR (Ian, Malcolm, Pete)
Cetti's Warbler - singing again at Middleton along bank along north end of western marsh reed-bed, then next to nearby 'fence' pond where it showed well until late morning
Water Rail - two in big reedbed
Mute Swan - two pairs + 6 2 CY
Mallard - 6
Gadwall - 2 pr
Tufted Duck - 8
Teal - 3
Moorhen - 7
Coot - 1
Little Grebe - at least one
Chiffchaff - one non-singing bird


Ocean Edge area
Wheatear - 3
Snipe - 1


Insects
Small Tortoiseshell Ocean Edge, Peacock Middleton


 (particularly tatty) peacock.
Malcolm

Partial eclipse partially visible

Just at the eclipse's maximum the clouds rolled back to enable a brilliant view of the partial eclipse.  A few seconds later the clouds rolled back again over the crescent sun.  It was so quick that there wasn't time to grab a camera and take a photo, unfortunately.  It went as dark as it does when thunder clouds are over, Robins began ticking and Blackbirds made a lot of clucking noises like they do when they are about to roost, 8 Magpies gathered together and other birds went a lot quieter.

The female Stonechat at Red Nab stood still long enough for a photo though.  Sorry about the quality but the photo was taken on full zoom. 

 

Middleton NR

Cetti's Warbler - singing male along the bank between the reed bed and western marsh - two bursts of song in quick succession then shut up - hopefully its on territory there

Water Rail - at least one western marsh reed-bed and one central marsh

Little Grebe - now TWO on the no swimming pond

 

North Harbour Wall 0750-0855

Vis

Meadow Pipit - 19 N and NE

Redpoll sp - 1 N

alba Wagtail - 7NE

Chaffinch - 2 N

Carrion Crow - 1 NE

Greenfinch - 2NE

Linnet - 1 NE

Reed Bunting - 1N

 

Grounded

Wheatear - 1 male

At the feeder

Linnet - 2

Ocean Edge grounded

Stonechat - female

Wheatear - 2 males

 

Heysham NR

The only semblance of night migrants caught were two Song Thrush and a Robin - no Goldcrests seen/heard

Insects

Bog standard 'nuisance fly' in the office for the second day - very early for these



Osprey

Migration went up another notch today with a flyover Osprey over Middleton and Torrisholme 1040-1050hrs

Heysham Nature Reserve and environs
Visible migration 0725 - 1000hrs
Meadow Pipit 37 with undoubtedly other non-visible birds in the misty conditions
Pink-footed Goose 47 north 0655 and 70 north at 0815hrs
Jackdaw - 6 north
Carrion crow  - 4 north with the above
Lesser redpoll - 2 north

Also moving through
Flock of 6 Goldcrest first thing plus 3 unringed ones flitting about in the same tree in the SE corner of the reserve plus two other singles ringed

Grounded
Female Stonechat at Red Nab
Wheatear - 2 males near Red Nab
Redwing - 2 on the reserve
Song Thrush - 3 on the reserve
Blackbirds - about 10 on the reserve

Middleton Nature Reserve
No swans on the Model Boat Pond. 4 of the young ones were in Heysham Harbour.
Singing Chiffchaff.
5-6 Reed Bunting singing (conspicuous by their absence until today).
The big news was a Little Grebe at last, tittering away on the No Swimming Pond.

Moth
Hebrew character at last ! Small tortoiseshell and peacock Middleton nr

Migration up half a notch

Heysham Obs
The only coverage today was a small amount of ringing around the office

Office area 0800 onwards
Meadow pipit - at least 20
Goldcrest - 15ish with 7 newly ringed
Robin - migrant ringed
Sparrow hawk - 1cy male ringed

Mark Breaks "managed to locate one of our Grey Wagtails at last!" at Lostock Hall yesterday, just south of Preston.  A difficult one to categorise as the spring passage is in full flow at the moment and it may have been a temporary location.  Ringed as a 1CY at Middleton NR on 27/8/14.

Also note in the right sidebar that the Heysham Bird Observatory report is now available, but only a limited number of copies have been printed so far, so please grab one quickly to avoid delay

Two unringed Goldcrest (at least) caught this morning - possibly more to add when I finally get there!

Slow migration

Heysham obs
Not lot happening today with:
Skylark - 3 north
Meadow pipit - 25 north
Redpoll - one north
Wheatear - male ocean edge

Possibly more to come when observers send in records

Slow trickle

Heysham Obs

Goldcrest - 2 unringed birds
Wheatear - male Ocean Edge
Rock Pipit - Red Nab area
Grey wagtail - 2 north
A few new finches ringed at the feeder and a couple of unringed Dunnock

Thanks Janet