The windchill sets in

Some interesting weather coming up with the cold weather coming from a much better bird-wise easterly source than the previous spells this winter (apart from Arctic Gulls - but this isnt much use when you have lost your rubbish tip). It could include some cold-weather movement following extensive snow to the immediate east (including being snow-bound at Ashley's?) on Sunday night. It would be nice to document some of this without getting hypothermia. This is also Smew weather and Pine Lake has a good history........

Coastal sightings
Purple Sandpiper - 2 wooden jetty
Med Gull - 2 adults on railings along NHW from c1330hrs but not before then
Pink-footed Goose - 88 + 2 South; 31 North
Shelduck - 1 + 1 out
Red-throated Diver - 2-3 offshore
Golden Plover - c45 + 7 in-off towards Red Nab (most unusual here; I (Pete) have never knowingly seen Golden Plover from the North Harbour Wall in nearly 30 years of regular observation (c/f a parallel with the other days Lapwing?))
Grey Plover - 7 out
Wigeon - 96 off Red Nab
Twite - none seen, but more food put out

Middleton IE model boat pond
Male Pochard & 3 Goldeneye
Rest of site
2 mute
10 coot
3 moorhen
1 female pochard 21 mallard
19 tufted
42 teal
35 & 42 pinkfoot north

Ocean edge
171 lapwing
c35 Golden plover flew across form Red Nab direction then SE overland towards Overton/Sunderland. 9:45

Observers: John Wood & Malcolm Downham

Elsewhere
4 European White-fronted Goose visible from Bull Beck car park with Greylags & one Pinkfoot. 6 Scaup north Morecambe.

North harbour wall visit

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Not for long - nearly axphixiated by the fumes from an incoming rust bucket called West Express.

Purple Sandpiper - 2 together on the outer section of the wooden jetty
Med Gull - one in harbour
Red-throated Diver - 2 offshore
Nothing behind the two ferries of any interest

Red Nab/outfalls
Wigeon - only 35 seen
No Little Gull

Observer: Pete Marsh

Elsewhere
6 Scaup off north Morecambe and Ad Med Gull in region of Strathmore Hotel.

Lapwing sensation

Heysham Obs
Local patch coverage over many years occasionally throws up the most amazing sighting which thoroughly unimpresses the rest of the world. Its usually to do with absences and the most regular example at Heysham is to get really excited about Jackdaws - definitely migrants; they dont like Heysham chimneys! Today's mega sighting was a long straggling gang of Lapwing flying low over the sea on a north to south heading, as observed from the north harbour wall. Unprecedented, even as a cold-weather movement!

North harbour wall 1145-1210
A pretty good 15 minutes watching the sea and a few extra minutes watching the back of the IOM ferry and checking the wooden jetty
Lapwing - 136 as above at 1205hrs
Pink-footed Goose - 31+29 SW (yes SW)
Red-throated Diver - 9 out, including gang of 4, in just 15 minutes of actual seawatching
Wigeon - flock of 42 out (unusual)
Purple Sandpiper one on the outer section of the wooden jetty
Med Gull - 2 ad following IOM ferry into port
Twite - very brief view of 25 ish in flight
Kittiwake - the adult still around the waterfall in the SW corner of the harbour but none behind the IOM ferry.

No coverage of the Ocean Edge/outfalls area & no sign of any Shag on the wooden jetty/in harbour

Observers: Lou Cross, Pete Marsh

Elsewhere
No sign of any Greylags by Bull Beck but 1,850 Pink-footed Geese alongside the Heysham bypass. 6 Scaup north Morecambe

Of fog and flotsam

Heysham Obs
Visibility was seriously challenged today. An attempt to locate the IOM ferry with its bird-gathering potential led to a 25 minute vigil at the harbour entrance listening to an intermittent foghorn along the shipping channel, then realising the noise wasnt making a lot of progress

Floating objects in the harbour mouth
Guillemot - one
Murphy can - one
Plastic bottle - one worn individual with the words Strawberry and 3,612 calories (as seen at 50 x) written thereon
Anonymous white container - one
Unidentified wood spp. - one piece

Mound
c38 Twite but skittish

Elsewhere
Nothing by 1445hrs

Lunchtime visit

Heysham Obs
Guillemot - one in harbourmouth
Little Gull - 1st W Stage 2 outfall

Observer - Mario Chin

Elsewhere
6 Scaup still off north Morecambe. No obvious sign of Greylag flock off Bull Beck

Snipe surprise

Heysham Obs
Ocean Edge foreshore/Red Nab
Snipe - at least 28 roosting out in the open on Red Nab (saltmarsh not covered by tide)!
Wigeon - 94
Red-throated Diver - one on sea far offshore
Little Gull - 1st W sat on the calm sea

Moneyclose Lane
Catkins agg. (alder?)

North harbour wall
Shag - juv still on the wooden jetty
Med Gull - two adults together on the railings
Twite - 42
Red-throated Diver - one far offshore, prob same as above

Observers: Alan Draper, Jen & Jeff Butcher, Pete Marsh

Elsewhere
Egyptian Goose with Greylags in fields at northern end of Leighton Moss. 21 Little Egrets in the island roost at Leighton Moss

Shag a welcome year tick amongst a good selection

Heysham Obs
Shag occurrences are usually limited to autumn juvenile influxes which gradually disappear (e.g. about 28th December 2008) or very occasional strictly transitory birds. Therefore a juvenile roosting on the wooden jetty at high tide today was unexpected.

The other feature today was an example of the unpredictable nature of the north harbour wall. Saturday is normally much quieter than Sunday but an attempt to catch Twite was unsuccessful due to a semi-resident angler plus 3 kids & dog and, when they had finally gone, really unfortunate timing by arriving police patrol and birders. Today at 1100hrs: not a soul anywhere near the feeding station, despite high tide!

Birders could help by not getting out of their cars if a black-coloured Rover is parked next to the feeding station with a 'whoosh' net set ready for action! Thanks very much & please remember that any Twite you do see are very much courtesy of this ringing study/feeding station - they would not be here otherwise, but offering much less satisfactory and unpredictably located views on the saltmarshes

Seawatch 0920 - 1145 hrs & north harbour wall 1100hrs
Kittiwake - adult in the harbour by the "waterfall"
Pink-footed Goose - 3 South; 45+52+16 North
Greylag Goose - 1 North
Great Crested Grebe - 4 out, 1 in & 2 offshore
Red-throated Diver - 6 out; 5 in
Guillemot - 2 offshore + 1 out
Auk sp - 2 out; 1 in
Shelduck - 1 in
Common Scoter - male out 1102 hrs
Duck sp - 15 out, very fast and very low over sea
Shag - juv wooden jetty
Little Gull - 1st W Stage 2 outfall
Med Gull - adult NHW
Twite - 46 Sand Plant gate
Linnet - 1 over Reserve
Perhaps surprisingly, no sign of any Purple Sandpiper

Visible from the recording area boundary(ish)..............
Pink-footed Goose - 1076 in fields just east of the met mast alongside the A683 Heysham bypass at least 1030-1530 - thoroughly grilled & not even a neck-collar or darvic

Observers: Malcolm Downham, John Wood, Pete Marsh

In addition to above:
Red nab
1 Purple Sandpiper flew in from along South Wall 1hr before high tide
21 snipe (plus 15 from Ocean Edge)
123 wigeon (didn't count shelduck as they were scattered into several groups from Ocean Edge to outflows)
c 30 Twite/Linnet flock
(MD)

Elsewhere
At least two European Whitefront with partially obscured views of the Bull Beck Greylag flock. Little Gull off Morecambe lifeboat station at lunchtime. The Wray 'crest is a Goldcrest.

Moondance farewell

Heysham Obs
.........sailed out for the final time - Denmark awaits.

Seawatch 0905-1050 hrs (HT 1019)
Kittiwake adult near S1
Purple Sandpiper 2 very low on middle section of wooden jetty
Pink-footed Goose 65 & 104 North, from Fylde direction, then into the Bay, long way out; + 52 East, high up from Barrow direction.
Red-throated Diver minimum 3 with odd singles 'in' and 'out' could have been same birds.
Guillemot 2
Eider pair 'out'
Shelduck 3 'out' + 1 'in'
Med Gull adult
1040 hrs 75 Bar-tailed Godwit 'out'
Wigeon 3 'out'
Twite 33, later 54 by Sand Plant gate

Middleton Industrial Est (MD)
2 mute
9 coot (last species to fully re-colonise after the freeze)
3 moorhen
18 mallard
8 tufted
1 pochard (female)
16 teal
95 pinkfoot East 11:30

Elsewhere
European White-fronted Geese (2 ad & 2 juv) showing well by Bull Beck car park on the Lune floodplain. No sign of the Hooded Crow by lunchtime. Probable Firecrest visiting a garden in Wray for the last few days

Guillemot nailed at last

Heysham Obs
Short time available & spent it in the picturesque old "Gate 38" area by the Shag(less) waterfall. This gives an angle on the outer harbour and was an appropriate repository for the free half of a 2 for 1 Ginsters pasty bought on Monday evening at the biggest petrol/junk food complex without a public toilet I have ever come across (be warned - first one on A628 west from the M1)

Harbour mouth
Guillemot - one sat in the harbour entrance
Med Gull - adult positively headed for the above pasty
Kittiwake - adult showed a vague interest in the above pasty

North harbour wall
21 Twite - 2 unringed, rest Heysham-ringed

Ocean Edge
Quick scan of Stage 2 outfall revealed no Little Gulls but 5 Twite were on the shore at Red Nab

IOM ferry too far away to wait for

Moths
Agonopterix heracliana in the trap

Observers Alan Draper & Pete Marsh

Elsewhere
Hooded Crow seen, after perfect timing as regards receipt of yesterdays sighting, at the top of Daisy Bank cSD503613 at 1115hrs & again at 1230hrs - initially on its own in a field to the north of the road & flighty & later in stubble field. The Greylag flock just north of Bulbeck at SD545646 was also showing well at c1105hrs and included the 2 adult & 2 juv European Whitefront and at least 2 Pinkfeet

Coastal coverage

Heysham Obs
Just in time for the IOM ferry

Heysham north wall lunchtime
Kittiwake - 13 behind the IOM ferry - flew into bay in two lots (7+4) whilst the other two flew out with Common Gulls. All ads.
Med Gull - 2 adults
Purple Sandpiper - one on the rocks below the inner end of the wooden jetty
Twite - 39 - 5 unringed, one metal-ringed (possibly the bird we forgot to colour-ring!), one ringed at Askam-in-Furness in late October 2008 & the rest all Heysham autumn 2008-ringed
Still no Guillemot for the year list.

Very brief OE visit late morning
Ad Little Gull stage 2 outfall

Elsewhere
2 Bewick's Swan (remembered to stop & look this time!) Sand Villa, later 5 plus some Whoopers. 1st W Dark-bellied Brent Lane Ends. At least 3 European Whitefront and at least one Pink-foot with partially obscured Greylag geese just north of Bulbeck (between Caton and Claughton) on the Lune valley floodplain. Park at Bulbeck and walk north. Note: mobile speed trap at Claughton this afternoon - is this the start of a blitz = quite right on this stretch?

Very short visit to OE

Heysham Obs
Ad Little Gull seaward end Stage 2 oufall 1330hrs
Red-throated Diver - one flew "out and across" 1330hrs

North Harbour Wall
Twite: just 11 this morning (windy and very cold!) - 2 unringed and the remainder all with combinations of pale blue, blue & white colour rings.
Great-crested Grebe: 1 close inshore.

Elsewhere
Load of Greylag still north of Bulbeck car park in Lune valley but no time to check through for White-fronts. Similarly load of Wigeon off Bazil Point but too far away to check from Sunderland road (c/f hybrid)

Very rapid year listing!

Heysham Obs
After Dan & myself had an exciting time down south via Holmfirth - a random selection being: a 63 Waxwing jam-in at a Huddersfield bypass petrol station [I've use up all my good fortune on this species during this influx] , being advised how to make babies by a rich and powerful German, a conversation with "Lard" - a Gillingham sopowter who beat 'you lot'= Morecambe = "is it somewhere near Newcastle?", a Spoonbill on mega-private land we couldn't put out and sliding down a snow-covered road near Hepworth:

Stage 2 outfall twelvish
Kittiwake - 2 adults on seaward end
Little Gull - ad & 1st W inner end

Later with a house/taxi-bound Jean
Med Gull - two adults in the harbour mouth, one to bread
Kittiwake - one by the waterfall and 3 behind the Clipper Point (part of our transport to and from the Little Blue Heron!)
Little Gull - now 2 adults and 2 1st W on Stage 2 outfall
Twite - c40 flying about the mound etc.
Great-crested Grebe - 2 inshore
No small waders visible on/under the wooden jetty remains

Elsewhere
Four European White-fronted Geese on the Lune flood plain just north of Bulbeck car park (& 1+ Pink-foot) Hybrid adult drake American x European Wigeon off Fishnet Point, Glasson along with ad Med Gull

Bits and bobs

Heysham Observatory

North Harbour Wall
Twite: 36 present on feeding station. All ringed except 2 - majority with this winter's colour rings.
Red-breasted Merganser: 2 pairs
Mediterranean Gull: 1 adult.

Elsewhere
Stone Jetty: Rock Pipit
Field next to Giant Axe, Lancaster: Mediterranean Gull P96
Leighton Moss: 13 Little Egrets

Seabirds dominate

Heysham Obs
Number Two outflow 3:20 (MD)
6 adult + 4 1st winter Little gull

Ocean Edge salt marsh (MD)
c 150 dunlin
c 150 lapwing
4 snipe
(not the weather for accurate counts)

Seawatch 1400-1600 hrs SHW/harbour
Red-throated Diver imm 'out'
Little Gull 3 'out'
Kittiwake adult + 2 imm 'in' 1 adult 'out'. Adult & imm in harbour near 'waterfall'
Guillemot 1 in harbour
Med Gull adult around harbour entrance.
Shelduck 1 'in' 3 'out'
Twite 12 over harbour
Purple Sandpiper 1 wooden jetty roosting.
Red-breasted Merganser M 'out'
Great Crested Grebe 1 on sea.

Elsewhere
Jenny Brown's Point - 3 Kittiwake
Leighton Moss Allen Pool - Greenshank, Spotted Redshank
Conder Green - Common Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank
Junction of Quernmore Rd and Grab Lane - 3 Brambling.

You stupid boy!

Please note that Ocean Edge leisure park is in its non-residential period. NO access at all before 10am or after 4pm and please ask at reception between these times. Thank you.

Heysham Obs
What am I doing going down to Kent (for an induction as well as survey) & what am I going to miss here?

In other words, worth checking around the wooden jetty (watching it drop to bits - easier to find the Purps?)/harbour mouth/outfalls /north harbour wall in the next couple of days

Purple Sandpiper - two below the wooden jetty
Med Gull - at least 2 adults, including the ringed bird
Twite - 63 early on, then no more than 20-25 were seen around the seed in increasingly poor late afternoon weather
Red-throated Diver - minimum of 2 offshore late afternoon
Snipe - 23 Red Nab, 10 OE saltmarsh
Golden Plover - flock of 52 north over Red Nab - mega record!
Wigeon - 69 Red Nab, 6 off the north harbour wall

Middleton Industrial Est (MD)
Nice to see that all the wildfowl (plus a few guests) decided to return to the area after the freeze:
2 Mute
5 coot
2 moorhen
3 goldeneye (1 male)
8 tufted
1 pochard (female)
c 20 teal
5 mallard
1 little grebe
5 snipe
1 jack snipe

Elsewhere
Nothing new apart from Greenshank on the EM Pools & Adult Med Gull in fields near Overton SD431587 (has this been atlas roving recorded, please?)

First seal of the year!

Heysham Obs
Please note that Ocean Edge leisure park is in its non-residential period. NO access at all before 10am or after 4pm and please ask at reception between these times. Thank you.

North harbour wall coverage
Twite - 52 flew to south harbour
Med Gull - adult
Eider - 4 'in'
Great Crested Grebe - 3

Ocean Edge foreshore
Linnet - 2
Med Gull - perhaps the above bird following a distant ferry out

Mammals
Grey Seal - 1 'in' with tide

Elsewhere
Spotted Redshank Morecambe Stone Jetty at low tide this morning

Wet southerlies

Heysham Obs
Twite - 66, minimum of 17 unringed [no Linnet seen]
Wigeon - one overflew the north harbour wall - unusual
Med. Gull - Ad north harbour wall

Quick visit

Heysham Obs
Purple Sandpiper - 2 below the wooden jetty mid-am - one easy, one not!
Med. Gull - Czech adult on railings NH wall
Red-throated Diver - one far offshore
Twite - c60 around sandworks
Linnet - 2 Ocean Edge saltmarsh
Lapwing - 187 off Ocean Edge saltmarsh
Forgot to do high tide Jack Snipe check!

Elsewhere
Nowt! NNEW Wigeon hybrid.

Purple Sandpiper and Kingfisher double & Rock Pipit new for the year

Heysham Obs
Anyone got a title phrase linking Noah's Ark, wet weather and twos of things?

Kingfisher - 2 Red Nab
Purple Sandpiper - 2 wooden jetty
Red-throated Diver - 2 on sea, one very distant
Med Gull - 2 adults - one to bread & one on the old Fishers roof
Twite - 57 at sand plant gate
Pink-footed Goose - 0940 hrs 50 East + 90 South. 1010 hrs 68 North
Rock Pipit - one petrosus-type along the inner harbour wall
Wigeon - 121 Red Nab

Observers: John Wood, Ray Hobbs, Arnside NHS group, Pete Marsh

Elsewhere
6 Scaup off north Morecambe seafront. Drake American Wigeon x Wigeon hybrid Cockersands

Thanks to the anonymous caller!

Heysham Obs
In the letterbox was:
Twite - 14 north wall
Mistle Thrush - 2 in gas support compound NHW
Med Gull - 2 on railings

Thanks!

Elsewhere
Two Green Sandpiper Aldcliffe, belated report of Red Kite at Leighton Moss in the morning.

Heysham Obs.

Heysham obs

North Harbour Wall
2 adult Mediterranean Gulls
8 Twite

Unorthodox coverage!

Heysham Obs
I was hoping the three car loads of birders seen coming back from the north harbour wall would produced the goods in that area - but not a peep on any info. lines. Otherwise the only available time had to be spent on the below survey 'tidy-up'.

SD45E January 10km square survey
Just 30 minutes allocated but it did produce a good bird in the context of the recording area this winter:

Stonechat - female in the reedy and rushy ground alongside the public footpath to the southern end of Ocean Edge from the Potts corner road
Twite - c22 Ocean Edge saltmarsh
Linnet - c4 Ocean Edge saltmarsh

Middleton Industrial est
All ponds still frozen
1 coot (unfrozen patch of dyke)
9 moorhen (open ground)
1 pinkfoot (low east - damaged wing)
1 snipe

Otherwise the survey was notable for large numbers of House Sparrow in Middleton village and the proliferation of Magpies compared to my usual survey in SD66! The lack of Greenfinches has been a theme in most of the survey work completed so far and this whistle stop tour of SD45E should have produced more than it did.

Elsewhere
The highlight was a female/imm Long-tailed Duck at Jenny Brown's Point at & just after high tide. 4 European White-fronted Geese and 4 Pinkfeet with 300+ Greylag at Claughton. 8 Whooper Swan Melling. Pair of Mandarin still at Kirkby. 5 Twite Bolton-le-Sands shore - the first in SD46 this winter - at least one was Heysham-ringed.

Bits

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Twite - 2 on seed, joined briefly by 10 (2 unringed)
Med Gull - 2 adults
Purple Sandpiper - could only see one on wooden jetty at high tide
Red-throated Diver - 3 in a single sweep about an hour after HT

Red Nab
Mallard - one male
Mute Swan - 2 adults
Wigeon - minimum of 162 (some possibly hidden)

Ocean Edge
5 Redshank wandering between the deserted caravans! [A Grey Phal once did this during a gale allowing fantastic views of its lobed feet as it was ushered back to the shore!]

Elsewhere
2 Ad & 2 juv European White-fronted Geese plus 3 Pinkfeet with Greylags on the Lune floodplain at Claughton. Best viewed from end of (muddy) track past the football club SD560663. Ad Med Morecambe Princes Crescent. 6 Scaup off Broadway. Purple Sandpiper Stone Jetty. Pair of Mandarin Devil's Bridge, Kirkby.

NO coverage today

Sorry.

I will be covering the area tomorrow and Saturday but coverage on Sunday and Monday (wet & windy!) is uncertain & any records gratefully received

Elsewhere
The same 2 ad & 2 juv European White-fronted Geese as before the new year have been relocated with the Claughton Greylags along with 3 Pink-footed Geese, but the Barnacle seems to have moved on.

Cutting-edge fieldcraft produces the Purp

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall low tide
Poor visibility, so offshore potential severely curtailed

Purple Sandpiper - After spending 25 minutes scouring the seawall skeers and under the wooden jetty from the end of the NHW, chucked some bread out of the window for Med Gull. This dramatic act flushed 5 Turnstone and..........................! It remained alongside the seawall but was hard to locate. There are a lot of sizeable boulders on the skeer to hide behind, just like the end of the Stone Jetty
Med Gull - none seen
'Twinnet' - none seen
Red-throated Diver - 1 visible
Red-breasted Merganser - pair
Eider - one male

Elsewhere
Purple Sandpiper at the Stone Jetty

Subminimal

Heysham Obs
At least one Med Gull adult north harbour wall

Elsewhere
2 Waxwing by Steiner School on Lune Road am but not later. 3 Brambling Dolphinholme & 3 Freehold. Common Sandpiper Conder Green and single Bewick's Swan on nearby Lune. 4 Bewick's Swan near Sand Villa. Pair of Mandarin still Devil's Bridge

Good winter for eye-straining-range Red-throats

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Med Gull - at least one adult (also on TTV)
Red-throated Diver - 3 together on the sea far offshore, 2 flying out far offshore and 4 on the sea closer inshore mid-morning
Twite - 3 on the seed mid-morning - 2 Heysham-ringed, one unringed
Linnet - 2 with above - one metal-ringed, the other unringed

Wooden Jetty
Single Purple Sandpiper on a low tier late morning

Ringing recovery
A Twite ringed at Heysham on 31/10/08 (one of 23 birds with this colour combination - all ringed on that date) was photographed yesterday at Weld Road, Birkdale Beach, Southport. This is the second Heysham-ringed bird to be reported with this flock along with a single Askam-in-Furness-ringed bird. Thanks to Simon Glinn for this.

SD46A second winter timed tetrad (Shaun Coyle)
Shelduck 6, Eider 4, RB Merganser 6, GC Grebe 3, Cormorant 2, Oystercatcher, 470, Ringed Plover 26, Lapwing 1, Knot 2, Dunlin 42, Curlew 45, Redshank, 51, Turnstone 17, Med Gull 1, BH Gull 112, C Gull 20, LBB Gull 2, Herring Gull 8, GBB Gull 1, Feral Pigeon 50, Woodpigeon 10, Collared Dove 26, Meadow Pipit 1, Pied Wagtail 7, Wren 8, Dunnock 10, Robin 17, Blackbird 76, Song Thrush 5, Coal Tit 4, Blue Tit 23, Great Tit 8, Nuthatch 1, Treecreeper 2, Magpie 34, Carrion Crow 5, House Sparrow 67, Chaffinch 21, Greenfinch 2, Goldfinch 9, Bullfinch 2.

Observers: Pete Marsh, Jeff Butcher, Shaun Coyle

Elsewhere
Single Waxwing roadside by Scale Hall traffic lights c1015hrs, but not later. Barnacle Goose still at Claughton. Spotted Redshank Teal Bay this evening & 2 at Conder along with 1+ Greenshank. Ad Med. Gull Catshaw Fell (first record for SD55??). High count of 200 Goldeneye reported Lune Estuary.

More minimalism

There are a few problems at the moment and until these are sorted out, Obs coverage will be at a bare minimum. Therefore please can visiting birders assume that any of their sightings are not already documented.......and therefore please post them to the LDBWS site or e-mail/text myself. Thanks.

Heysham Obs
A brief visit to the north harbour wall produced:

Med Gull - single adult
Twite - c12

Middleton Industrial Est
1 Grey partridge
(to my knowledge this is the first record here since 2005)
(MD)

Elsewhere
Purple Sandpiper Morecambe Stone jetty by small wooden jetty. Barnacle Goose (and 3 Pinkfeet) with what is perhaps the wild Greylag flock on the Lune floodplain at Claughton

Calm weather fare & poor coverage of Heysham head exposed!

Heysham Obs
By far the most significant sighting today was a single Nuthatch at Heysham Head, followed by the observer remembering several other sightings and "not realising it wasnt known about". Reaching this suitable habitat has certainly taken some time and it remains o be seen whether this represents a single bird seen regularly or the start of a breeding population. This was during the second phase of the SD46A winter TTV and more details in a day or so.

North harbour wall/wooden jetty
Time to put Shag speculation/negative reports to rest until next autumn? No sign of any for a week or so other than a single bird in the high tide roost last Sunday [not seen at low tide at the waterfall].
Red-throated Diver - 6 far offshore
Purple Sandpiper - single with two Turnstone on central section of wooden jetty
Med Gull - 2 adults
No "Twinnet" seen at high tide

South of harbour
Kingfisher - one Red Nab
Red-breasted Merganser - 4 off Red Nab
Knot - c10,000 Red Nab

Observers included Shaun Coyle and John Girdley

Middleton Industrial Est
All ponds completely frozen over. Some clear water in drainage dyke.
2 coot
2 moorhen
2 fieldfare
1 redwing
1 bullfinch
(MD)

Elsewhere
Pair of Mandarin still at Devil's Bridge and 8 Whooper Swan (with 11 Mute) just south of Melling on the floodplain. No sign of the European Whitefronts amongst the Lune Estuary Greylags. Brambling Hornby garden.

Minimal

At least one Ad Med Gull north harbour wall

Very short visit

Heysham Obs
Happy New Year. Just two species troubling the scorers here in a 109 New Year's Day list (Twite already seen):

Med Gull - 2 adults on the railings
Red-throated Diver - one flew out and landed in the boat channel off Ocean Edge
Twite - 10+ flighty around the (ex) sand works

Elsewhere
See LDBWS site (via links)