Three meds and a boat

A freezing cold walk around the sandworks saw 27 linnet, 4 goldfinch and a rock pipit

Watching a freight ferry in saw three adult meds in tow. None of which flew out to meet it therefore unlikely to include the Czech ringed bird.  Extra meds following ferries are very inconsistent

Low ebb Middleton

Just 6 teal, 3 tufted duck and 7 mallard on a trawl round windy Middleton

Wigeon increase

A check of the north and south harbour for snow bunting revealed virtually nothing of interest bar the wigeon being up to 140 and about 10 linnet on the north wall.

Worth checking for waxwings this weekend and next week with quite a few rowans in the recording area

1st to 3rd november

Events elsewhere notably Walney suggested we should have carried on intensive coverage for the first two days of November.  As it was we just had bits and pieces:

3rd Nov

Linnet - up to 18 on north wall

Med gull - Czech adult present

Guillemot - one flew out

2nd Nov north wall
Pink footed Goose - 60 NW flying over to cumbria plus c80 also NW over Barrow around 08.30. c60 SE later in morning flying SE over bay.
Linnet - revised my count back down to 16. Suspect double counting earlier - they were flitting about a lot.
Goldfinch - 1
Robin - 2
Dunnock - 1
wren - 1
Starling - 17

31st October

The weather suggested a half-chance of finding something decent today, but it didn't happen with a couple of likely locations receiving no coverage

Thanks Janet - taken today

North wall sandworks and mound
Blackcap - male rock-dodging at the end
Linnet - 14
Rock Pipit - 1
Meadow Pipit - 1
Starling - 15
Robin, Pied Wagtail, Wren and Dunnock in low single figures

Middleton NR (info from the ringers, Malcolm and Janet)
Chiffchaff - 2 ringed
Blackcap - 2 ringed
Reed Bunting - 2 ringed
Goldcrest - 10 ringed
Mute Swan - 2 pairs, 1 single + 4 juv
Moorhen - 10 (8 on "no swimming pond")
Gadwall - 5 (2male) no swimming pond
Mallard - 4
Teal - 4
Tufted Duck - 3
Pink-footed Goose - 3 north
Bullfinch - 5
Long tailed tit  - big flock of 20+ unringed with blue tit and 2 goldcrest.
Starling - 200 roosting in Typha by CES net one - one caught and ringed (first of year!)

Ocean Edge
Common snipe - 5

Red Nab
Wigeon - 101
Little egret - 4
Jackdaw - 6 south
Goldfinch - 18 north
Pink-footed Goose - 87  north

Insects
Migrant Hawker - 1 Middleton
Common Darter - 5+ Middleton
Diamond-back Moth - late and worn specimen north harbour wall SD36V

Bits and bobs of late migrants

Can't complain about Yellowhammer, Merlin, Brambling, Twite etc, but may have missed a southbound Lapland Bunting over our air space or flushed from eg Ocean Edge foreshore (see just to the south of the recording area).   The ringers were dealt a few scraps but this is the time we utilise the feeders for passage finches and but can't get at them due to the on-going construction site for the new office! 

This gives a rather finch-less aspect to the October ringing totals.  Totals for the month including 31st:

Goldcrest (137), Redwing (80), Reed Bunting (70), Long-tailed Tit (46), Chiffchaff (42), Blue Tit (38), Blackbird (36), Pied/White Wagtail (34), Meadow Pipit (33), Goldfinch (32), Blackcap (31), Robin (27), Wren (22), Chaffinch (18), Coal Tit (15), Dunnock (10), Yellow-browed Warbler (8), Song Thrush (4), Great Tit (4), Lesser Redpoll (3), Bullfinch (2), Great spotted Woodpecker (2) and singletons of Sparrowhawk, Water Rail, Greenfinch (!), Mealy Redpoll, Siskin, Linnet and a late Willow Warbler. 

Amazingly we seem to have managed to go throughout September and October catching a decent number of birds, but no rings at all from elsewhere other than ring-reading the returning Czech Med Gull!

Vis mig from various places - strong Skylark passage just starting as I called it a day
Merlin - female south (also seen by the Sunderland people)
Brambling - 4 - all first thing
Chaffinch - 60
Skylark - 33
Rock Pipit - 1
Greenfinch - 3
Goldfinch - 2
Pink-footed Goose - c200 and 45
Meadow Pipit - 3
Redwing - 2
Reed Bunting - 1

Grounded (all the mound stuff flushed by Merlin before I had sorted through them - then very spooky with Twite moving over the harbour)
Meadow Pipit - 15 mound
Twite - at least one probably 4 mound
Linnet - 12-14 mound
Rock Pipit - 1 seawall
Goldcrest - at least 10 Heysham Head
Blackbird - not a single one at Heysham Head or the lower part of the reserve (didn't do NE corner) - astonishing departure c/p yesterday and esp the day before.  Maybe just 10 Heysham NR upper part and 5-6 Middleton
Chiffchaff - 1 Heysham Nr
Yellowhammer - one heard calling Heysham western marsh west end but couldn't see it then stopped and had presumably 'vissed off' (Pine Bunting not eliminated)
Reed Bunting - 2-3 Middleton

Ringing
Combined totals Middleton and Heysham of new birds:  Chaffinch (2), Goldcrest (10), Blackbird (5), singles of Coal and Long-tailed Tits, Greenfinch and Chiffchaff

Firecrest remains

Thanks Janet

A lengthy session on Heysham nature reserve included a significant amount of time waiting for the Firecrest to reappear around the obs tower pond. After calling it was located in a birch tree for about a minute then just one more call in the next 25 minites.   Presumably went back into yesterday's nearby area

There were quite a few goldcrest scattered through the reserve including a loose gang of 14 but the only other prominent migrant was blackbird, mostly in the eastern sector

Heysham NR (not including tank farm)
Blackbird - 30
Goldcrest - 35
Redwing - 5
Song thrush - 2
Firecrest - 1
Bullfinch - 2
Chaffinch - 15 s
Goldfinch -2 a
Meadow pipit -3 s

North wall feeder
Starling -10
Linnet - 6
Meadow pipit - 3

Middleton
A handful of thrushes and goldcrest were caught along with two less expected meadow pipit

Heysham head rectory wood
Coal tit -3
Goldcrest - 2

Insect
Emmelina monodactyla on ivy Heysham rectory wall

Firecrest highlights retrieval behind abus

Ouch - overslept after forgetting to set alarm and on my own for the rest of the recording area whilst Malcolm covered Middleton.    A 1000 start saw a decision to cover two sites which I knew would not have been disturbed - hence 'abus'.

North wall sandworks and mound (SD36V)
Goldcrest - 9 in seabuckthorn and one in gorse
Meadow pipit - c30 including four in off
Rock pipit -two together on sea wall
Linnet - 5
Twite - flighty singleton with some of meadow pipit
Robin - 5
Wren - 3
Pied wagtail - 2
Coal tit - 1 - ?? New for SD36
Song thrush - 1
Dunnock - 1
Cormorant - 83 on wooden jetty and nearby
Greenfinch - one south
Goldfinch - 7 south
Starling - 4

Tank farm
Firecrest - pretty sure this was a male - caught glimpse of fiery red in centre of crown
Took some nailing in a mix of bracken and hawthorn and only called three times in 30 minutes
Goldcrest - c15 scattered about
Blackbird - at least 50 allowing for mobility, perhaps as many as 70
Song thrush - 2
Redwing - 6
Coal tit - 4 - the only tits seen
All the rest if the stuff was deemed resident eg all robins were singing

Middleton (thanks Malcolm)
Wood pigeon - flock of 44 east
Cetti's warbler - one singing Male
Redwing - 12

Insects
Speckled wood - very tatty one

Sand works fare

Managed to get access into the sand works and mound area to search for finches in what was unfortunately just about the worst landbird migration conditions of the month.

Linnet (11), wren (2), meadow pipit (1), robin (1) and two rabbits and a brown rat

Elsewhere there was an adult media gull and single black-tailed godwit on the south side

I'll post your pics tomorrow Janet

No coverage today