Great White Egret doubleton

Not sure what is going on with these things but they were miles up in the sky heading south and almost passed off as migrating large gulls when first seen head on.  No obvious landing place as per pager reports

HNR office
Great White Egret - 2 south c1030
Meadow Pipit - only 2 early am
Coal Tit, Chiffchaff and Goldcrest - single unringed birds caught
No obvious finch vis
Common Buzzard - the first grounded bird I can remember on there - later seen soaring off:

Middleton
Cetti's Warbler - active with minimum of three probably four singing/calling birds (new arrival?)
Gadwall - 31
Meadow Pipit - low double figures over in clearer weather

Heysham Head
Rock Pipit - 6 feeding along the shore on the low cliff section at the south end and one under the bigger cliffs
Little Egret - gang of five on shore in rocks - unusual here

Moths
Single Green brindled Crescent and Red-line Quaker

Lots of dozy dying wasps flopping about around the office area today

Tuesday

Nothing sent to me

The moth trap held Green Brindled Crescent and Red-line Quaker

Monday 1st October

Heysham NR
07:15 - 12:00
Too clear to monitor the vis properly as most birds flew high at the nature reserve and by all accounts Meadow Pipits were grounding at Ocean Edge but no systematic coverage took place at that location.

Chaffinch - 33
Grey Wagtail - 7
Reed Bunting - 5
alba wagtail - 11
Bullfinch - 4
Pink-footed Goose - 246 north again
Linnet - 1
Siskin - 3
Dunnock - 5

Middleton Nature reserve
Mute 5
Mallard 4
Gadwall 10
Teal 10
Water Rail 1

Cetti's singing from fence pond

Buzzard 5. Together drifting over to south

Limited coverage

Just adult and 1CY Meds around the harbour entrance

Sand Mason worms

Massive northerly goose movement tracked into and over Cumbria further up the Bay

Given the weather forecast for tomorrow, this will be the end of the month as regards ringing and any vis mig sessions and it was a month with an amazing one-off, the Little Shearwater and which can otherwise be consigned to the instantly forgettable

There was no decent visible migration with all the Meadow Pipit being sent along the Pennines or down the east coast by strong westerlies to the north of us and even the "seawatching weather" promised much but was never (with one notable exception) quite right on the day with a lot of watching paint dry waiting for the odd Leach's

As regards 'falls' and other possibilities with overnight migrants, a lot of effort was put in around the office area, where the feeder fare was a back-up to any poor migrant showing, but Middleton motivation suffered from the general synoptic mediocrity and received the worst coverage for a few years.  The few visits made did suggest that more warblers were moving through there than Heysham NR

So the monthly ringing totals top ten as follows:  Chaffinch (65), Blue Tit (64), Goldfinch (55), Grey Wagtail (37), Robin (32), Blackcap (29), Chiffchaff (23), Greenfinch (22), Meadow Pipit (18 - we did try!), Long-tailed Tit (17).  So the top species away from the feeders was the study-targeted Grey Wagtail with a meagre 37!  Grand total about 455.  Thanks for all the effort, often with low but by no means worthless catches

Vis mig today
Pink-footed Goose - northerly passage of 3865 visible from HNR office and two other flocks heard further west.  These were tracked over the bay/south Cumbria and were almost certainly all overshoots heading for the Solway.  Note that both movements this week have been in SW winds eg virtually none seen yesterday.  25+1(!) south.
Chaffinch - 30
alba - 8
Meadow Pipit - 11
Grey Wagtail - 4
Reed Bunting - 1

Grounded
Only perceptible stuff round HNR office was single Goldcrest, Blackcap, Chiffchaff

Miscellany
Ad and Juv med gulls near jetty - probably Czech ad - no available tubeworms now
Shag 2cy - flew from harbour to wooden jetty

Ringing
About 30 new birds by office - surprisingly good - mostly goldfinch, chaffinch and blue tit

Unexpected!

A Short-eared Owl was the day highlight as it was flushed by the tide from Ocean Edge saltmarsh

Also unexpected was the Ringing session at Middleton which was assumed to be a vis mig morning after a clear night and sizeable moon but the hint of east in the northerly produced virtually no vis but the highest day catch of what has been an awful year for Chiffchaff - both migration and perhaps especially local productivity (8 new birds).  Other grounded migrants ringed: 5 Reed Bunting, two Blackcap, two Robin and a Goldcrest

Med gull - 3 2cy Red Nab
Buzzard - juvenile over Middleton
Wigeon - IOA

Pics and additional stuff will be added tomorrow

Surprisingly good

Nets were put up at the office just for routine coverage from about 0715 and the dull conditions meant probably very little was missed earlier.  A combination of HNR office coverage and Malcolm out on the shore saw an enormous NORTHERLY movement of Pink-footed Goose which was presumably some overshooting by ?Solway birds and certainly not roost to feeding area.  One flock contained a single Barnacle Goose

The only other vis mig over the office was four Grey Wagtail and two were duly ringed along with an array of finches and tits with single Chiffchaff and Robin - far more than seemed likely from the synopsis

Thanks to Janet and Malcolm for pics

Offshore/vis
Pink-footed Goose - 2280 north in at least 15 skeins
Barnacle Goose - 1 north
Skylark - 2 south
Grey Wagtail - 4 SE
Red-throated Diver - 1
Meadow Pipit and Chaffinch - 'none'!

Heysham Head shore
Rock Pipit - ELEVEN!

Red Nab area
Sanderling - at least 2

Insects
After a mild night, nine species in the office trap including Acleris emargana which I think if NFY

Bits on the coast

Merlin - Male ocean edge - 1OA
Wheatear -1
Med gull - min 9 (2 juvs)
Shelduck - 217
Common or Arctic Tern - distant Juv prob Common

Latish willow warbler

Ringing saw a lot of effort for fairly meagre fare which included a Willow warbler, two Reed warbler,   Chiffchaff, two Blackcap, two Goldcrest and two Grey Wagtail

The rest included three migrant Rock Pipit along ocean edge, a Juv Med gull and a Guillemot still in the harbour

Vis mig 06:30 - 12:00
Chaaffinch - 36
Pink-footed Goose - 148 north
Grey Wagtail - 1 north at 07:50
Meadow Pipit - 2
Collared Dove - 2
Golden Plover - 1 east

Northwesterly and that means more pinks but few warblers

Vis mig 06:45 - 11:00
Pink-footed Goose - 1208
Grey Wagtail - 5
Chaffinch - 39
Alba Wagtail - 4
Goldfinch - 13
Bullfinch - 2
Meadow Pipit - 7
Swallow - 10
Cormorant - 5
Buzzard - 1
Song Thrush - 1
Linnet - 1
Siskin - 1

Grounded
White Wagtail - 1 at Ocean Edge

Harbour - see photo
Shag
Guillemot

Rock pipit - singles by 1/2 m b cafe and below Heysham Head
Wheatear 1 - Heysham Head