Murky!

Very low thick cloud all day producing a few light showers.  A west wind.

Some additional ringing data for yesterday by Alan

Yesterday, 4th Oct,  Jean and Pete covered Heysham and I went to Middleton, then assisted at Heysham later on.  There was little overhead movement so the total of 83 captures was a mix of migrants, feeder birds and locals. Four Grey Wagtails were added to the colour ringing total and four Cetti's Warblers were caught, including a recovery of one ringed elsewhere.
The overall totals were:

	Heysham		Middleton
	New	Retrap	New	Retrap	Total
Wren	1		1		2
Chiffchaff	1	1	1		3
Chaffinch	1				1
Robin	1	1	1		3
Great Tit	1	2	8		11
Dunnock	1	3			4
Greenfinch	9	2			11
Goldfinch	14	8			22
Goldcrest		1	1		2
Grey Wagtail	1		3		4
Great Spotted Woodpecker	1				1
Blue Tit	1	1	4	1	7
Long-tailed Tit			7		7
Cetti's Warbler			3	1	4
Reed Bunting			1		1
Grand Total	32	19	30	2	83

Today started off brightly enough, Kevin had a nice moth in his trap.

Ni Moth - It's a fairly rare migrant to the North of England and breeds
in Southern Europe and North Africa. 

Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

Common Buzzard being mobbed by gulls again.

These three Roe Deer were near the road on the south side. No camera but she managed this video with her phone.

Heysham skear - Malcolm 13:45 - 15:00

Very low neap tides now. I went out at low water, but there wasn't far to go. Visibility was dreadful!

The ferry heading out of the harbour with the StenaLine emerging out of the gloom

Nothing passed overhead and the only birds seen on the sea we a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers.

Red-breasted Merganser

Little Egret 8

Little Egret and Redshank

Little Egret

Not as many waders as recent, mainly as there wasn't as much skear as recent. Although there were still at least 1500 Knot. I failed to see any colour coded ones, but it was hard enough picking out the Knot from the background.

The summer plumage birds was a bit easier to see

Its eating a seed mussel in this shot 

Flock of Starlings heading back to shore. I think they just come out here
to collect grit

Early morning Owl

A dry day with some sunshine. A light south breeze early on shifting to the west later.

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Ringing report by Jean:

It was a much quieter day, migrant-wise, at Heysham, with only two Chiffchaffs, a Chaffinch, and a Grey Wagtail caught. A handful of Chaffinches flew overhead and 155 Pink-footed Geese. A Tawny Owl called while the nets were being set (06:20). Later in the morning the Goldfinches piled in to the sunflower hearts and 11 were caught but 5 were retraps. Almost as numerous were Greenfinches and 8 were caught (1 retrap). Another Great Spotted Woodpecker was ringed. Other birds ringed were likely local or else a recent retrap:
Wren 1
Robin 1 (retrap)
Great Tit 3 (1 retrap)
Dunnock 3 (2 retraps)
Goldcrest 1 (retrap)

Middleton Nature Reserve 

This report from Peter and Rosemary's visit yesterday 

Southern End:

Southern Hawker 3

Common Darter 3 pr Ovipositing

Male Common Darter 8

Female Common Darter 2

Speckled Wood 2

Heard:

Robin

Chiffchaff

Long Tailed Tits

Main Pond:

Male Common Darter 6

Mallard 7

Coot 1

Moorhen 1

Mute Swans 2

Heard:

Robin

Long Tailed Tits

Southern Hawker 

It seems that the darters are attracted to Peter's clothing....

......but it is the pale surfaces that attract them, particularly when it is not
so warm. The pale surfaces reflect more heat

Male Common Darter

Female Common Darter

There were three pairs ovipositoring at the south pond

Heysham skear - Malcolm 08:45 - 10:30

Eider 32

Eider

Little Egret 10

Waders, pretty much as recent including 2,000 Knot 

Some of the Knot coming in

There were a lot of young birds again, but not all of them. This one is
still largely in breeding plumage 

Curlew, Redshank and Knot.
4 flagged Knot were seen, 2 of them also seen last week

Dunlin and Knot. 
There is still plenty of sea lettuce awaiting the Brent

A lot going on today

A warm sunny day with a light variable breeze.

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Ringing report by Jean

Yet another Cetti’s Warbler at Heysham NR. 

Conditions weren’t great for ringing with clear skies, but we managed to catch 30 birds of 13 species today:

Goldfinch 9

Greenfinch 1

Chaffinch 1

Cetti’s Warbler 1

Chiffchaff 4

Blackcap 1

Goldcrest 3

Robin 4 (2 retraps)

Blackbird 1

Dunnock 1

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1

Great Tit 1

Blue Tit 2

Overhead Vismig seemed to be Invis Mig apart from 3 flocks of Pink-footed Geese totalling 122 south, a Skylark, the odd Meadow Pipit and  Chaffinch heading south. 

A Peregrine landed on a pylon which upset the local Carrion Crows and Magpies. They shouted at the Peregrine and chunnered noisily amongst themselves but didn’t challenge the falcon. 

A Moorhen emerged from the fire pond area to feed along the path, and a Kestrel was seen briefly over the non-op land. 

A flock of at least 8 Long-tailed Tits moved eastward through the bushes, dragging along a Chiffchaff and Blue Tit with them in search of food. 

A Bullfinch called, a sound that has been missing recently. Usually there are 4 or 5 about. 

Finally, a Pheasant seems to have made it onto the reserve. It was seen scuttling off into the undergrowth.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report by Alan

I went to Middleton this morning expecting that the very clear conditions would not produce many birds - I was right!  Just 14 birds captured and ringed.  One Grey Wagtail was caught and colour ringed. A Treecreeper was also ringed, this species is just about annual here and mostly caught in Autumn.
The total caught:  
Wren 2 + 1 retrap
Blue Tit 1
Grey Wagtail 1
Chiffchaff 1
Cetti's Warbler 2 + 2 retraps
Robin  2
Dunnock 1 retrap
Treecreeper 1

Janet checked this afternoon 

Little grebe on the main pond

Black-Headed gull

Moorhen and Mallard

There were three lots of geese over to the south. The last lot were definitely Pink-Footed geese

Pink-Footed geese

The first two skeins were not as obvious 

Geese sp

Common Buzzard

Not welcomed by the gulls

Chiffchaff on Kingsway field near to Meldon road, It's where I heard the first one this year - Janet

Heysham skear - Malcolm 09:30 - 10:45

Pink-Footed goose 32 south

Eider 7

Red-breasted Merganser 7

Great Crested Grebe 4

Great Crested Grebes

Five of the Mergansers

Shag 1 

Shag

Little Egret 13

Grey Heron 1

Oystercatcher 1000+

This is another regular visitor. Ringed as a chick in Iceland 2022.
It has been seen at least once in Heysham every year since. 

Curlew 30

Redshank 350 - they were feeding like this in several of the pools

Knot c1000 - a scan from the promenade before I set out saw a pale smudge along the western edge of the skear. It had to be feeding Knot, one of the worse areas to check if any were coded. I was hoping that they would move before I got there, but they didn't take to the air once. Then just before I reached them a Peregrine attack sent them off to the south and I didn't see them again.

Turnstone 45

Dunlin 2

Ringed Plover 5

South shore 

Janet checked first

Loads of Linnet, but no sign of the Merlin

Meadow Pipit on the foreshore 

Robin on the foreshore 

Curlew over the marshes

Curlew out from Ocean Edge

Shelducks out from Ocean Edge

Malcolm 15:00 - 17:00

The noisy chattering of Linnet as I approached the saltmarsh prompted me to get my camera out early, but I wasn't quite quick enough 

Small raptor chasing Linnets. 

I walked out to the waterline, there were c1000 Knot and 30 Dunlin feeding. Initially on the shore, but as the tide caught them up feeding in the water. The Dunlin leaving to the south.

I was on the wrong side of the feeding group, the sun was on the other side.

Amazingly, I managed to walk past them on the seaward side without 
disturbing them, not all in this shot, there are more behind me

Part of their confidence, was just the naivety of youth. Most if not all were
young birds. This one has some weed trailing from its bill. There is a reason 
for that....

This is a shot of the mud below the water surface. If you look closely you 
can see a few filaments of weed. Each of the filaments will be anchored to
a small bivalve below the mud surface. There will be many more bivalves 
with no weed attached to them

The Knot on the left is just lifting out a bivalve, with the weed still attached

The Knot in the middle has a clean bivalve. Presumably, that is why they
chose to feed in the water. The mud just above the waterline is softer as
the incoming tide is already under it and has fluidised the mud. The water
covered mud is also fluidised of course, but the increasing weight of water
above compacts it more.

By this time I was surrounded by feeding Knot. You can hear their soft calls.

Higher up the shore was a feeding group of 25 Dunlin

Higher still and there was a group of 11 Grey Plover and 5 Dunlin

Ringed Plover 9 to the north. Many more waders south of the recording area

This is the mud above where today's tide reached. There will be a small
invertebrate under each of those dimples. Most likely tiny snails here

Just out of the recording area Heaton Marsh

Pete checked this morning and saw two Glossy Ibis. I was passing just before lunch (Malcolm). I didn't have much time, but fortunately a birder had already located three and showed me where (thanks). Still not easy though as they easily disappeared in the long grass, but I did manage to get them all in one frame.

Glossy Ibis