Quiet apart from the Med flock

A very low key session on Middleton as the wind swung into a very unhelpful WNW direction

Vis mig
Swallow - 2 (6 ex-roost)
Meadow Pipit - c20 SE
Grey Wagtail - 3
Siskin - heard

Cetti's Warbler singing regularly up to about 0745 along northern edge of western marsh reedbed

Ringing:  Grey Wagtail (1), Meadow Pipit (5), Chiffchaff (1), Robin (1), Great Tit (1)

Outfalls/Red Nab
Med Gull - 11 - 5 x 2CY, 5 x ad (one metal-ringed right leg), 1 x 1CY
White Wagtail - one adult male OE foreshore

Middleton marathon continues

Wind direction - SE

Swallow "roost" - just 2
Starling from the power station roost - 90

Vis
Grey Wagtail - 7 (1 at 0705, 2 at 0845, 1 at 0940, 2 at 1000, 1 at 1015)
Meadow Pipit - 42
Snipe 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1
Jay 3

Ringing (new birds)
Robin - 1
Goldcrest - 5
Reed Warbler - 1
Chiffchaff - 4
Reed Bunting - 2
Blackcap - 3
Blue Tit - 2
Meadow Pipit - 3
Grey Wagtail - 1
Jay - 1
Retrapped birds:
Reed Bunting - 1
Blue Tit - 1
Dunnock - 1

Pinkfeet make their presence felt as the warblers are reduced to a trickle

Wind direction - ENE to start then WNW at 1000hrs

Perfect ringing conditions this morning with flat calm and high cloud covering the sun.  The ringing was rather different than of late other than a decent haul of Meadow Pipit and Grey Wagtail.  The morning was almost 'phyllosc-less' until a belated Chiffchaff accompanied a small gang of Blue Tit. 

Vis
Swallow - only 1 and none had roosted
Grey Wagtail - 11 (2 at 0705, 1 at 0720, 1 at 0805, 2 at 0805, 2 a bit later, 2 at 0850, 1 at 1000)
Meadow Pipit - 101 plus 15 trapped
alba wagtail - 1
Chaffinch - 1
Siskin - 2
Carrion Crow - 8
Skylark - 1
Pink-footed Geese - 65
Haven't got the vis mig data to hand but included several flocks of Pinkfeet, a good Grey Wagtail passage, steady Meadow Pipit, a few Siskin and Carrion Crow but only one Swallow and Skylark

Ringing included the following migrants: Grey Wagtail (6), Meadow Pipit (15), a late Whitethroat, Blackcap (4), Goldcrest (5), Chiffchaff (1), Reed Bunting (2)

The Cetti's Warbler sang early morning

Reduced effort in clear northerly

Light northerly wind

Just three nets set at Middleton and they came up with three early morning migrant reed bunting, low single figures of chiffchaff and blackcap, one goldcrest, a couple of grey wagtail and a few meadow pipit.    The meadow pipit passage suddenly dried up about 0930 just as we thought it would 'get going'!

Two adult and one 2cy med were all the foreshore had to offer at low tide

Pink-footed goose - skeins of 20 and 60 south over Heysham skeer (thanks Malcolm)

Vis at Middleton NR
No geese heard or seen
Grey Wagtail 7 (1 at 0640 trapped, 2 at 0700 (1 trapped), 1 at 0720, 1 at 1050, 1 at 1130, 1 at 1145
Meadow Pipit 42 plus 11 trapped
alba wagtail 3
Snipe 3 (2 +1)

A Peregrine flew towards the power station.

Marginally possible for a ybw this side tomorrow?

More Middleton mipits

Wind direction - SSE (Upper air W)

Today's statistics were quite impressive, given the classic 'duff' early morning duo of (stronger than forecast) southerly wind and heavy black clouds over SW Cumbria.   This usually grounds nothing and knocks our main source of vis - cross-Bay - on the head

Heysham NR/Ocean Edge
Pink-footed Goose - heard to the west from HNR car park (belated IOA)
Med Gull - adult and 1CY
Robin - at least 10 ticking birds around HNR office/car park, suggesting an arrival which I don't think was replicated in the Middleton mist nets
Goldcrest - 2-3 heard Heysham NR car park area (no warbler spp in the 20 mins spent there)

Middleton NR
Cetti's Warbler - the western marsh male in song early morning

Vis was much reduced:
Meadow Pipit - 48
Grey Wagtail - 3 (none caught)
Swallow - 1 (only 5 came out of the roost)
alba wagtail - 1

Ringing
47 birds today - 40 new (39 -Ed?) and 7 retraps
Meadow Pipit 12 (2 adult birds today)
Chiffchaff 7
Blackcap 6
Goldcrest 4
Whitethroat 1
Willow Warbler 1
Blue Tit 1
Great Tit 1
Dunnock 1
Robin 1 retrap
Long-tailed Tit 11 (5 new, 6 retraps)

JR

Clear night and full moon produces the goods!

Middleton NR is on a roll at the moment with lots of ringing and vis-migging producing new birds each day - one retrap out of 54 birds caught today.   These included a sprinkling of late warblers including:  2x Reed, 2x lesser whitethroat, 1x Whitethroat and garden warbler and low single figures of blackcap, chiffchaff and goldcrest.   Three grey wagtail and 20 meadow pipit comprised the vis mig which was ringed.

Vis
Grey Wagtail 3 (as above)
Meadow Pipit 64
alba wagtail 2
Reed Bunting 3
Grey Heron 3 (2 + 1 heading east)

Grounded
Wheatear - 2 on the heliport, 1 at Ocean Edge

At least one med gull around the outfalls

Minimal rounds

Wind direction - NW

Outfalls area
Little gull - one ad
Med gull - 2 ad,2 2cy

Middleton vis mig 0900-0940ish
Meadow pipit - 56 se
Swallow - 11 se
Carrion crow -3 se
Alba wagtail - 7 se
Grey wagtail - 1 se and one seemingly off-passage bird sewage works

Middleton general
Tufted Duck - 10
Water Rail - at least 2 squealing western marsh reedbed
Cetti's Warbler - one burst of song in response to water rail as yesterday!

Even vis-ier

Bird of the day: Meadow Pipit

When you get a steady stream of Meadow Pipits throughout the morning, it's hard to believe that Meadow Pipits have declined in this country by 25% in the last 30 years and that globally it's "near threatened". There are still an estimated 1.9 million pairs nesting in the British Isles but at its current rate of decline that will soon get whittled down. With such a numerous bird you would think that we know all there is to know about them but of course researchers have concentrated on less numerous and faster declining species and the BTO Migration Atlas states that there are "some major gaps in our knowledge of their winter ecology".





Once again we decamped to Middleton Nature Reserve as work on hut demolition was starting at Heysham Nature Reserve. Pleasant weather - calm, warm and overcast. Wind direction - E

Vis (0620-1120):
Swallow - only 1 over (and only 30 in the roost)
Meadow Pipit - 390 (including 30 ringed)
Grey Wagtail - 18
alba wagtail - 5
Goldfinch - 5
Skylark - 1 (first of the autumn on vis)
Reed bunting - 2

Ringing: New birds -
Meadow Pipit 30
Chiffchaff 12
Blackcap 9
Willow Warbler 7
Robin 5
Blue Tit 5
Grey Wagtail 4
Lesser Whitethroat 2
Goldcrest 2
Reed Bunting 1
Goldfinch 1
Great Tit 1
Whitethroat 1

Retraps - just a Wren and a Blue Tit.

Report by JR

Keeping vis-y

Heysham Nature Reserve office is due to be demolished but a temporary "welfare cabin" has been provided until the new office is built. It fits nicely into a corner of the car park as you can see.

The weather was too nice to explore the inner workings of the welfare cabin so we spent the morning (06:10 - 11:10) monitoring overhead "vis" at Middleton Nature Reserve and ringing a few birds.

Wind direction - NE
Vis:
Meadow Pipit 104 S or SE
Swallow 60 ex-roost which flew SW then S plus 36 S
Grey Wagtail 13 at least (7 ringed) SE
alba wagtail 1 SE
Reed Bunting 1 SE
Goldfinch 1 SE
Carrion Crow 4 SE
Sparrow hawk flock of three south

Ringing:
New birds (in order of appearance) - Grey Wagtail (7), Meadow Pipit (8), Willow Warbler (1), Goldcrest (2), Chiffchaff (3), Goldfinch (2), Blackcap (3), Long-tailed Tit (2), Dunnock (1), Great Tit (1), Blue Tit (1), Lesser Whitethroat (2), Blackbird (1)
Retraps: Robin 2, Long-tailed tit 4.

One of us sneaked off to Red Nab and saw 3 x 1CY Mediterranean Gulls and an adult Med Gull with a ring (but too distant to read the ring).

Heliport
Wheatear - 5

Besides birds, moths are on the move. Here is a photo of Ronaldo's favourite moth, the Silver Y which was nectaring on the soon to be removed buddleia outside the old hut:

Two species we thought we had seen the last of this year

.......but otherwise a bit 'trickly' with the vis mig still in fits and starts, even meadow pipit and swallow.

Middleton
Grasshopper warbler - juv ringed
Warblers caught comprised low single figures of blackcap and chiffchaff plus a single garden warbler and a couple of goldcrest.    A couple of new reed bunting are hopefully the start of a decent passage for a species producing a decent recovery/control ratio.  Four grey wagtail were colour ringed.  Vis revealed unremarkable numbers of swallow, goldfinch, chaff inch, Alba wagtail and meadow pipit and maybe 2-3 extra grey wagtail.

Ocean edge and red nab high tide
Just a bit too high and 'non red nab' waders were distant dots down the tideline
Med gull - just adult (metal ring right leg below knee), 2cy and two 1cy
Common sandpiper - very late for here especially two together - on red nab
Turnstone - 105 (mostly wooden jetty)

Butterflies
The buddleias days are numbered by the office but they are going out with a bang with 10 small tortoiseshell, 2 painted lady, one red admiral and 2 small white