Heysham Obs
.....by flushing a Jack Snipe from Ocean Edge saltmarsh........"the only thing they are any good for" was the opinion of a colleague this morning, who was trying to do a wader high tide survey on a dog-infested Barrovian beach!
The other thing this morning was a very quirky year list order with Med Gull before ANY large gulls (I've been inland until today) and the wader sequence from New Year's day being: Lapwing: Woodcock: Snipe (SD66), then Turnstone at exactly the same time as Purple Sandpiper (& before anything else like Curlew/Oystercatcher!). This was a product of concentrating on the road/avoiding anglers on the way to the Twite feeder, then driving & scanning the wooden jetty
Ocean Edge area
Jack Snipe - one as above
Black-tailed Godwit - 8 Ocean Edge saltmarsh
Mallard - 4 Ocean Edge saltmarsh
Wigeon - 88
Grey Plover - 8 Red Nab
Bar-tailed Godwit - 6 Red Nab
Linnet - 2(+?) saltmarsh
Twite - 16+ saltmarsh
Harbour area
Twite - 20 (4 unringed, 6 with red/white, rest from last autumn)
Med Gull - adult following ferry
Purple Sandpiper - 1 on wooden jetty
Red-breasted Merganser - female harbour mouth
Moths
The first moths of the year comprised a Mottled Umber and a Winter Moth
Elsewhere
Just to the north of the Obs area, a large rowan tree in Westfield Grove, off Albany Road, Morecambe west end held 11 Waxwing (following earlier sightings of up to 4 this week) - plenty of berries left
