Routine trawl round

Heysham Obs
The coastal areas were given a short run-round with most of time being spent on the finches (& see below). Several birding blogs have been accessed recently featuring the usually most mild-mannered of people ranting and raving [using BBC language] at Man U supporting shrike twitchers vs. Lincolnshire kale fields, bushes which are not holding any Pallas's warblers, fog-bound Rossall seawatches, people tape-luring Greenish Warbler on their local patch, as well as about 25 species of dog [Rossall again]. Should I succumb to the appropriate linguistics - better not - but spent a significant part of this morning cleaning sticky, sugary, red-dyed sweet and sour sauce off the scope, courtesy of a Range Rover which reversed across the road in front of me as I left a Chinese takeaway last night. Two emergency stops in three days, hope they dont come in threes. The rice was still edible.

North harbour wall
Twite - 77; at least 16 unringed, plus a Duddon bird ringed this autumn (probably one of the two already trapped) and Duddon-ringed bird from autumn 2006 (the first time this has been seen)
Linnet - 12 (1+ ringed)
Goldfinch - 2 (at least one ringed)
Med Gull - one adult

Wooden jetty
One juv Shag at long-range from the red gate

Observer: Pete Marsh

Elsewhere
3 Waxwing still at Levens (see yesterday)

Some good bit and bobs

Heysham Obs
Some VP work nearby saw an excellent, if slightly uncertain record, in the form of a purposefully high-flying Hooded Crow definitely flying over the NE edge of the recording area. However, can distant birds which 'look ok' be deemed unequivocally 'pure'? The Twite ringing effort was impeded by a visiting carload of birders who immediately exited the car on arrival (fieldcraft??!). Please approach with care and use your vehicle as a hide - remember that the opportunity to closely observe the birds at this site is solely due to the feeding station. Thanks.

Vis mig
Starling - 77 high to south (one flock)
Short-eared Owl - one 'in-off' at the wooden jetty, then inland (1015hrs)
Hooded Crow - one high to the SE over the NE section of SD45E, then over the by-pass 1000hrs
Pink-footed Goose - 11+26 S

Grounded
Redwing - 18 flew inland from the tank farm early morning

Offshore
Red-throated Diver - 2 in

Inshore
Shag - 3 wooden jetty, none in harbour (HT)
Med Gull - at least one ad north harbour wall

Ringing
The whoosh net on the north harbour wall caught 9 retrap and 2 new Twite and 3 new Goldfinch. Very few unringed birds attending the feeder by the office (4 new Greenfinch and two new Chaffinch ringed)

Todays observers: Jean Roberts, Alan Draper, John Wood, Pete Marsh

Moths
Two Feathered Thorn and one Large Wainscot in the trap

Elsewhere
11 Waxwing Levens at Greenbank, off Church Road

No morning squalls to coincide with the tide

Heysham Obs
The usual suspects in small numbers during two short seawatches. The only novelty was my turn (long overdue) to meet a car driver (of statistically the most probable age/sex) who decided to slowly cross in front of me from Ocean Edge direction, presumably in response to the lights changing to amber, as I was crossing over from the heliport side to the O.E. road. It is a very wide junction here and easy to correctly pass through green lights, but end up crossing 2/3 of the distance on amber or even a bit of red. The mobile survived a high speed encounter with the glove compartment.

Seawatching 0845-0930
Kittiwake - 17 out, mostly dribs and drabs (max 6 together)
Little Gull - 2 ads out
Razorbill - 3 out together
Pintail - 37 out (flock)
Shelduck - 16 out

Seawatching 1230-1300
Little Gull - 3 Ads out
Kittiwake - 2 out

Other
Shag - at least 5 juvs around harbour/wooden jetty
Snipe - 5 in the high tide roost by Ocean Edge saltmarsh
Jack Snipe - one flew off the saltmarsh and nestled amongst debris on the upper tideline (as opposed to staying in the open like the Snipe)
"Twinnet" - 16 or so north harbour wall and a similar number OE saltmarsh - category = "windblown small finches seen very briefly in flight"
Knot - c17,500 in spectacular aerial display by the heliport, as well as sitting thereon. No flags/colour rings seen [see via NLRG link].

Observer: Pete Marsh

Elsewhere
Polish-ringed Med Gull P96 by Lancaster Football Club ground

Useless southerlies

Heysham Obs
A teeny bit of west in the wind during the early morning was not strong enough to produce anything, then it backed into a useless southerly.

North harbour wall/harbour area
Med Gull - adult in harbour mouth
Shag - one on the platform by the waterfall

Outfalls/Red Nab
Wigeon - 57
Little Gull - adult feeding in rough water in the boat channel late pm

Heliport
5000+ Knot flushed by unknown culprit - flew out of the bay

Ringing
A single fire of the whoosh net on the north harbour wall, before it became too windy, produced: 5 Linnet, 2 Goldfinch and just one (unringed) Twite. 20+ mixed finches around

Observers: Jean Roberts, Alan Draper, Pete Marsh

Elsewhere
Vis mig from High Tatham 0815-0855 produced: flock of 6 Waxwing west at 0840 (thank goodness they call in flight!), Starling 500, Brambling 2, Chaffinch 23, Fieldfare 582, Redwing 40 [no Woodpigeon but flock of 20 SW en route to Lancaster]

Not wild enough for this time of year!

Heysham Obs
Offshore
Eider - 4 out
Kittiwake - flock of 17 adults out
Little Gull - Ad hovering around seaward end of Heysham 2 outfall for a short period, then disappeared

Inshore
Twite - c10 on seed & a few Linnet early am, later 45 "Twinnet", mainly Twite, & 2 Goldfinch but didnt like the AC/DC tracks emanating from the dredger security guards car, so no detail on rings/flock ratio!
Med Gull - ad in harbour
Shag - 4 juvs in the harbour and another juv by the outfalls
Kingfisher - one by the outfalls

Grounded
Redwing - one flew inland from tank farm - no real evidence of an arrival of thrushes in the windswept bushes

Todays observers were: Malcolm Downham, John Wood, Mark Prestwood and Pete Marsh. Please let me know, for future postings, if you should have been somewhere else and dont want to be named!

Elsewhere
Long-tailed Duck Conder Pool (female/imm) plus Long-tailed Duck (ad male) for 2-3 minutes 0900hrs on Leighton Moss public pool, then flew off (& otter). No further info. from any of the other pools. The Freeman's Wood search [see yesterday] produced one Chiffchaff & 2 Blackcap.

Long-tailed Duck highlights

Prospective seawatchers tomorrow: Please remember that there is no access beyond the red gate on the north harbour wall.

Coastal sites
Long-tailed Duck - winter adult male flew from in the bay and landed between the two outfalls at 0945hrs - no further sightings
Golden Plover - juv Red Nab with Lapwing - valuable BTO challenge record!
Twite - just 7 on NH wall seed (3 unringed)
Linnet - 2 on nhw seed
Goldfinch - 4 on nhw seed
Robin - one on nhw seed!
Shag - 3 juv at harbour waterfall + 1 below NHW which flew over wooden jetty
Guillemot - one on sea off Harbour entrance
Shelduck - 2+4 out
Med Gull - one adult north harbour wall

Grounded
About 15 Blackbird along Moneyclose Lane - more than yesterday's rock bottom

Vis 0900-0915 office
Redwing - 6 SW
Chaffinch - 11 SW
Greenfinch - 9 SW
Woodpigeon - 2 S
also a late Meadow Pipit in-off and heading SE as viewed from the south harbour wall

Middleton IE
Gadwall - 1
Black-tailed Godwit - 2 on edge of model boat pond, then flew off
Pochard - 1
Tufted Duck - 3
Snipe - 19
Teal - just 3
Redwing - 6 grounded
(& 8 Coot, 4 Moorhen, 2 Mute Swan, 6 Mallard but no sightings of Little Grebe)

Elsewhere
See LDBWS site for posting on early morning vis at High Tatham. Juv female Scaup and Green Sandpiper Aldcliffe [& possibly intriguing phyllosc. spp with Goldcrests Freemans Wood this afternoon]. Massive gathering of 1,200 Black-tailed Godwit Warton floods. Great Grey Shrike still Dalton Crags - seen the last two mornings but information got no further than Leighton Moss sightings book. Common Sandpiper still Conder Pool. Ad Meds at Pine Lake late pm before flying to the Keer roost and also along Morecambe promenade by the Lifeboat Station

Purple Sandpiper highlight

Heysham Obs
Not a lot else, with a thrush arrival in the east of the area (e.g. High Tatham) not reaching here.

Coastal observations
Shag - juvs along the north harbour wall and by the harbour intake
Purple Sandpiper - one on the wooden jetty
Shelduck - 2 out
Twite - 43 on seed, at least 9 unringed & at least 30 with Heysham site rings from this year ........also one ringed 8-15 days ago at Askam on the Duddon

Vis mig
Skylark 1 N
Greenfinch 7 SW

"Lovely weather isnt it?" Well....no

Heysham Obs
Far, far too clear and this is the last chance of anything for a bit. A few bits as follows:

Vis mig
Skylark - 12 N
Meadow Pipit - continuing this late movement - 18 SE
Chaffinch - 13 SE
Fieldfare - 8 NE first thing
Redwing - 20 inland first thing
Mistle Thrush - 1 SE
Goldfinch - 14 SE
Redpoll agg - 1 SE
Lesser Redpoll - one flew inland
Siskin - 1 SE

Grounded
Woodcock - one
Song Thrush - 15
Blackbird - 37
Redwing - 6
Goldcrest - 22 (8 ringed on Middleton - most of those on the reserve already ringed)
Siskin - 2
Meadow Pipit - 6 OE foreshore but no ringed bird

Miscellany
Shag - juv off the north harbour wall
Twinnet - c50 on the seed first thing (per harbour security guard)
Water Rail - at least 5 on Middleton IE, sounding like newly arrived i.e. noisy
Long-tailed Tit - about 6 flocks, including 12 unringed birds trapped on Middleton

Elsewhere
Purple Sandpiper & 4 Rock Pipit Stone Jetty

Busy morning but no surprises

Thanks for these, Dan

Heysham Obs
Twite
A major ringing session on the north harbour wall today. Thanks very much to the harbour authorities for allowing this to take place before the weather breaks, despite the dredger rescue operation nearby. One bird had been ringed at Walberswick, Suffolk in December 2006 and two had been ringed on the Duddon estuary at Askam, either last Thursday or during the previous week. The Plain English Society have complained about the next bit so here is the re-write: 44 have been ringed during the past week (since 31/10). The maximum observed flock size has been 89. Therefore, because there were only 11 retraps in the catch of 66 birds this morning (52 unringed and three 'controls), this indicates quite a turnover of birds, as you might expect during the peak autumn migration period for this species. This proportion of about 20% ringed was also the same as observed yesterday, therefore is not due to a net-shyness bias towards unringed birds. Indeed, the impression was that all birds present were in fact caught this morning!

See http://northlancsringinggroup.blogspot.com/ for further details

Vis mig
The high thrushes and Starlings were mainly heading north, but the general movement of grounded thrushes etc. through the bushes was to the south. A bit of a 'Heysham moment' with Starlings, but otherwise small numbers of other species with Woodpigeon a surprising absentee until a small mid-afternoon flock. Thrushes observed movening inland have been included here, rather than under 'grounded'.
Starling - 2,404 north
Redwing - 38 N
Greenfinch - 9+ SW
Long-tailed Tit - flock of 22 SE at pylon height
Carrion Crow - 4 N
Blackbird - 20 or so flew inland
Song Thrush - 4 high inland
Reed Bunting - flock of 7 in from the NE, landed, then headed S (largest group seen here) plus a further 2 S
Skylark - 3 SE
Meadow Pipit - 8 SE (see also grounded)
Chaffinch - 26 SW
Goldfinch - 15 SW
Coal Tit - 2 high to the S
Bullfinch - single high-flyers to N & SW
House Sparrow - one heard
Pink-footed Goose - 52 + 109 south
Mistle Thrush - 22 S (unknown status)
Snipe - 1 dropped into NR marsh (c/f BTO challenge qualifier)
Woodpigeon - 7 W

Grounded
Blackbird - c120
Redwing - 67
Song Thrush - 17
Blackcap - one ringed - they have been really scarce this late autumn & possibly a different bird seen in the field
Goldcrest - more than yesterday - c28
Reed Bunting - 4 in the reedbed
Robin - no perceptible increase - one new bird ringed
Treecreeper - 2
Meadow Pipit - 18 on OE foreshore, including a metal-ringed bird with a split-second view of consecutive or near-consecutive letters "ek" in the address - then it flew off
Pied Wagtail - 11 OE
Long-tailed Tit - getting on for 100 (including the flock of 22 - see 'vis')Brambling - female nature park with Chaffinch
Chaffinch - c20
Siskin - 2
Grey Wagtail - 2
Kingfisher - one ringed - caught by the dipping pond

Miscellany

Twite - at least 66 on the north harbour wall & c25 at the same time on Ocean edge saltmarsh

Linnet - at least 6 on the north harbour wall and c25 with the Twite on Ocean Edge
Little Egret - OE saltmarsh
Shag - one juv by the harbour 'intake'

Excellent coverage, not a lot of reward

Too clear, cloud too high, no birds. A real shame as the site received the best coverage of the whole autumn.

Vis
Crossbill - two heading north mid-morning comprised the highlight of the day
Chaffinch - c18 SE
Greenfinch - c5 SE
Skylark - 2S
Starling - c120 N
Meadow Pipit - 2 SE

Grounded
Goldcrest - c11 (4 ringed)
Redwing - c12
Song Thrush - c10
Blackbird - c50
Robin - presumably mostly birds on non-breeding season territory - c30 noted - but one orange and grey bird in-off at OE foreshore & trying to hide under the car was obviously a migrant!
Long-tailed Tit - unringed flock of 13 gave a slight degree of respectability to the ringing effort

Miscellany
Linnet - c25 OE foreshore & c11 north harbour wall
Twite - c25 Ocean Edge saltmarsh (with Linnets) & at least 72 north harbour wall, including presumably 'the' yellow-ringed bird from the Duddon seen two days ago. NO access along here for the general public at the moment as the dredger is retrieved. Please do not drive along the narrow section of road and clog things up for vehicles wanting access for the rescue operation.
Med Gull - ad north harbour wall
Little Egret - one OE saltmarsh channel and then the first ever individual (north) past the north harbour wall!

Elsewhere
Adult Great Grey Shrike (returning?) to Dalton Crags, but incredibly elusive and wide-ranging. Todays observations suggest that absence from the open limestone area may indicate it is in the clearings in Dalton Wood itself, not further afield on the great expanse of pavement/scattered scrub. The pavement area can be scoped from about 1/4 mile along the Keer Falls/Arkholme road and has been successfully seen at long-range from there in previous years, notably in the scattered trees breaking the skyline to the "left" of the N-S wall. See LDBWS site for record shots on a larch in a clear area of Dalton Wood. Chiffchaff Silverdale Moss