Woodcock new for autumn

Office area from dawn
Woodcock - one in flight by the office
Brambling - one
Grey Wagtail - 1
Blackbird - c20 inland
Redwing - c10
Siskin - 2
Chaffinch - 20
Fieldfare - 2
Song Thrush - 4+
Lesser Redpoll - one ringed

Miscellany
Med Gull - at least one around including this following the ferry in (not the Czech bird)

Little gull 1 adult No.2 outflow and sitting on seawall
Either this is not the same bird as the returning moulting adult or something, maybe health, is stopping it behave as normal

Rock pipit 1 on Ocean Edge foreshore
Skylark - one OE saltmarsh
BH Gull - TMIC harbour
Eider - 20 lt channel
Great crest Grebe - 3 lt channel

Wednesday - Bit of variety

The most interesting theme this morning was a significant if rather localised movement of Blackbirds inland from the 'tank farm' first thing with 131 in total, including a loose gang of 77, plus a new Cetti's at Middleton.

Little gull -  adult started feeding on No.2 outflow just after tide covered Red Nab. Earlier 1 adult preening on Red Nab plus 1 adult or possibly 2CY flew in to bay.
Purple Sandpiper - landed on base of sea wall near No.2 outflow, with 6 Turnstone, just as tide reached the wall.
Rock pipit 1 near lighthouse.
Grey Wagtail - colour ringed bird Red Nab from 14/9/19 L/M  metal/O

Vis mig
Chaffinch - 107
Reed Bunting - 2
Greenfinch - 4
Goldfinch - 80
Linnet - 3
Skylark - 1
Redwing - 239
Blackbird - see above
Fieldfare - 212
Song Thrush - 5
Starling - 52
Pink-foot - 35 N
Whooper Swan - 12 east
Woodpigeon - 11
Carrion Crow - 36
Jackdaw - 30

On sea
Great -c Grebe - 4
RBM - 2
Wigeon - 110 Red Nab

Grounded
Blackcap - one ringed HNR office
Cetti's Warbler - new one ringed Middeton NR
Chiffchaff - heard calling HNR



 

28 & 29 October

Tuesday 29 October

Heysham Head and Heysham NR
Visible migration 07:30-09:30
Weather: NE F3, clear, 0-10C, 1029mB
Finch passage mainly heading along the coast into the wind.
Chaffinch 152 (largest flock = 44)
Brambling 4
Redpoll sp 5
Greenfinch 4
Goldfinch 7
Siskin 2
Skylark 8
Linnet 2
alba wagtail 1 (south)
Fieldfare 15
Mistle Thrush 1
Blackbird 4
Starling 10 (south)
Meadow Pipit 7 (south) c20 grounded Near Head
Whooper Swan 10 (4 +6 south- see photo below)
Woodpigeon 40 (south)
Carrion Crow 6
Rook 2
Jackdaw 30
(NB Swallow at 12:50)

These Whoopers flew directly over my head and in the time it took to scrabble for my phone they had almost disappeared from view.

In the low tide channel:
Goldeneye 3 (1M, 2F) which flew SW as the tide turned
Red-throated Diver - 1 flew into the Bay
Great-crested Grebe - 2 feeding in the channel

Wooden Jetty
Purple Sandpiper 1

Turnstone 100
Cormorant 97

Outfalls
Little Gull

Ocean Edge saltmarsh 
Skylark 4 (north)
Pinkfoot 37 (north)
Male Stonechat 1

***************************************************************************
Monday 28 October 

Weather: NE F2, clear, sunny, very cold (0-8C)

Heysham NR
Visible migration 
Most birds heading northwards into the wind
Chaffinch 85
Brambling 2
Greenfinch 19
Siskin 1
Redpoll sp 1
Bullfinch 1
Woodpigeon 48
Fieldfare 33
Redwing 16
Jackdaw 19
Carrion Crow 14
Corvid sp 55
Song Thrush 1
Blackbird 10
Skylark 4
Meadow Pipit 1
Tree Sparrow 2

Grounded 
Redwing 7
Fieldfare 1
Blackcap 1
Goldcrest 4
Siskin 1
Blackbird 15
JR

Middleton NR

The overnight frost must have been the last straw for the Coot as there was no sign of it.
Still one Little Grebe and 4 Common Darters.
Mute Swan 3 adult, 7 juv  (the additional juv is much browner than the 5 +1 resident juvs)
Moorhen 11
Mallard 3
Tufted Duck 1 male
Shoveler 3 (see photo above)
Gadwall 6

Plenty of feeding thrushes around, mainly Blackbird, but at least 8 Redwing and 2 Fieldfare.
MD

Reasonable selection minus the Purp

No early morning start in the fresh north-westerly this am.  Coverage was centred around looking for the Purple Sand to no avail.....but it could have slipped the net if feeding below the jetty or along the north wall.  The Leighton Café rarities committee were divided on the identity of a diver photographed off the Stone Jetty yesterday which proved to be a rather 'heavy billed' juvenile Red-throat.  Probably the same bird close inshore off Heysham this am (pics MD):

 

Juv GBBG - a plumage rarely published outside books on seagulls

 

Little gull - adult No.2 outflow
Jack snipe  - 1 saltmarsh
Stonechat - 1 female type, briefly at saltmarsh, male by Red Nab
Meadow pipit - 3 near lighthouse, 6 saltmarsh
Rock pipit - 1 saltmarsh, one harbour
Linnet c30
Red Throated Diver. 1 juv close inshore last seen by Heysham 2 outfall feeding quite happily
Kittiwake - 4 ads behind Ben

Guillemot - one out medium range

Med Gull - 1-2 Ads behind Ben

A decent number of Knot on the Heliport for over a month now - good murmuration views today as the north westerly high tide restricted the area in which to roost.

Goosewatch
As I was coming off skeer yesterday evening, just before it got dark, 5 geese flew low to west. They could easily have come from children's play area. Similarly today as I was walking along foreshore when 4 or 5 geese were flying from saltmarsh towards Potts. In both case they were too distant to identify, but previous habits suggest Brent (MD).

Welcome return

A Purple Sandpiper was photographed at Red Nab this afternoon (thanks, Kevin). Last year  one was seen on one date only last autumn. Let’s hope this one sticks around for a little while.

An adult Mediterranean Gull was seen from the North Harbour Wall this afternoon and one seen from the Knowlys Road vantage point.

Feathered Thorn in the moth trap

JR

Pre-rain vis session

Not too bad a session pre-rain this morning with clear-cut southbound vis mig, allowing the more subtle lower-flying fare to be logged as such instead of indeterminate possible 'bloggers'.  Much better than chasing down to Hertfordshire for what proved to be a manicured wire-hopper.

Vis 0800-1000 HNR office
No cross-bay vis in the cloudy conditions, everything was from Heysham head direction along the coast
Whooper Swan - 3 - very high and nearly missed - an odd record in the conditions
Greylag - 3
Carrion Crow - 14
Chaffinch - 297 (no Brambling perceived, certainly no nasal calls)
Goldfinch - 52
Greenfinch - 67
Bullfinch - 9 (5+2+2)
Long-tailed Tit - flock 11
Jay - 5 (2+1+1+1)
Tree Sparrow - flock of 7
Blackbird - odd - none first thing but steady stream heading south over the office out of the bushes to the north after 0900 - total 67, including loose flock of 29
Redwing - just two with the above
Song Thrush - 1
Collared Dove - 3+1
Woodpigeon - 46 - no big gangs
Pink-footed Goose - 450+ 640 north - suspiciously like roost >feeding area but definitely not Oxcliffe fields unless they swung back south oos.

Blogging raptors noticeable - 2 x Peregrine, Kestrel, 2-3 x Sparrowhawk

Grounded
Goldcrest conspicuous by its absence within audible range HNR office
Chiffchaff - one calling from fire pond area
Plus the above thrushes

Thursday 24th

Distracted this morning.  A female/imm Black Redstart was around my house and nearby stables early doors and this prompted a tour of likely sites at Heysham before the intended vis mig session.  Nowt - it does look like the home record was pure coincidence as regards an influx down south and no evidence of coastal records up here

General
Med Gull - lingering 1CY Red Nab
Little Gull - ad reported a few times - unusually lingering

Vis 0930-1030ish
Blackbird - 56 south - a sign of what might have been rather productive earlier on
Chaffinch - 27 S
Brambling - three unusually on feeder
Goldfinch - 8 S
Pink-footed Goose - 20+40 S
Song Thrush - 2 S

Lie-in birding

The cutting edge dawn coverage is getting a bit blunted as the winds don't look brilliant for any major new arrivals.  However, maybe we should be in filter-down mode and hope for a bluetail taking off overnight from an obscure Scottish coastal glen.  This morning saw a rather late start with arrival coinciding with the biggest Chaffinch flock and high-flying Carrion Crows.  The first hour had been missed!

Vis 0830-1030
Woodpigeon - 134 NE (flock 120)
Stock Dove - one with large WP flock
Jackdaw - 44+32+23 single-species flocks south
Carrion Crow - 22 S (max flock 10)
Chaffinch - 205 S
Goldfinch - 45 S
Greenfinch - 32 S
Skylark- 10 S
Redwing - just 13 S (but late start)
Fieldfare - ONE south
Sparrowhawk - one high SW
Siskin - 3 S
Bullfinch - 10 S (inc flock of 6)
Starling - 66 SW
Linnet - 2
Pink-footed Goose - one flock of 120
Meadow Pipit - 2
Long-tailed Tit - c10

Grounded
Very little - two new Goldcrest caught, a Chiffchaff heard and about 15 grounded Blackbird audible from around the office

Ringing
New birds:  11 Greenfinch, 3 Chaffinch, Goldfinch, 4 Long-tailed Tit, Coal Tit, 2 Goldcrest, Great Tit, Blackbird

Insects
Small Tortoiseshell, 2 x Speckled Wood, Common Darter

Middleton Nature Reserve - mid morning
(Not much!)
Gadwall 13
Coot 1
Water Rail 3
Cetti's 1 male singing
Redwing 6 grounded 4 south
Jackdaw 23 south

South Shore - mid afternoon
Common Darter - typically just one between dog walk and Red Nab, untill the last 20m of wooden fence, where 8 were sunning themselves.

The last three sections of fence, just 50m from Red Nab, had 3, 3 & 2 each.

Another "red bodied" darter was seen in scrub near lighthouse. There has not been a record of common darter here this year. Presumably this implies some sort of movement in the SE wind. (MD)

Andrew Cadman

Andrew died just recently and he will be remembered as a valuable part of the Obs team in the 1990s and early 2000s.   Andrew used to treat his workplace at Rossall School as a pre-work Observatory, and also visited Canada on a regular basis on ringing expeditions.  He then retired north to live at Over Kellet and involved himself in the Leighton and Heysham ringing programmes.  Given his ringing history, it was not surprising that he instantly identified a tan-morph White-throated Sparrow which appeared in nets set by the Heysham NR dipping pond!  Andrew also played a major role in the day to day running of the local bird club, Lancaster and District Birdwatching Society with his conscientious dedication a role model for others.  Thanks for all your help over the years Andrew and rest in peace

Routine west coast October north-easterly

No great expectations of scarce or rare this morning and so it proved with the only warblers recorded being three Blackcap.  The vis mig was quite good with a major "theme" being checks of the southbound Pink-feet for yesterday's Lesser Snow Goose which was grounded with Pinks due north of us in mid-south Scotland

Vis mig dawnish to 1030 - most birds flying N or NW into wind
Brambling - 2 NW
Fieldfare - 210
Redwing - 421
Pink-footed Goose - 1370 - all southbound
Chaffinch - exactly 200!
Meadow Pipit - 2
alba Wagtail - 23
Siskin - 4
Linnet - 2
Starling - 150
Bullfinch - 5
Blackbird - 29
Song Thrush - 3
Collared Dove - 1 SW
Tree Sparrow - 1 S
Woodpigeon - 20
Goldfinch - 17
Jackdaw - 18 one flock
Rook - 8 with above
Redpoll spp - 2
Skylark - 2

Grounded
Redwing - 55 flew inland at or just after dawn
Blackbird - 24 ditto
Fieldfare - 3 ditto
Blackcap - one probably additional to the ringing by the office
no Goldcrest seen/heard other than those ringed!

Ringing
As usual when the vis is northbound, the office nets do no seem to catch the finches, so only four Chaffinch were ringed.  Three Blackcap were unexpected, otherwise the rest pretty routine with 6 Goldcrest and 9 Redwing of minor note