A recent strand on the LDBWS site concerned a wish to see a Green Woodpecker and advice was given on how to do so. Go back 30 years to the early days of the Obs and any suggestion that this would be a reliable site (also for Jay and Treecreeper) would be treated as not being serious. Today, the gentleman concerned achieved his ambition with good views of Green Woodpecker below the classroom along with 'one of' the wintering Treecreeper. This just shows how the habitat around Heysham Obs has subtely changed. This has not helped assessing the daily arrival of migrants, providing in those earlier years you did manage to get up at some ridiculous hour and monitor/intercept with mist nets the 'rush through the bush' as they headed inland for more food/shelter-friendly habitat, but it has certainly increased the number of off-passage birds and variety of breeding birds (e.g. no Blackcap and Chiffchaff nesting in the early days). Thanks to Nick for many of the sightings today and Malcolm for the geese:
Pink-footed Goose
Quite a lot of indiscernible Pinkfoot movement over house throughout the night. I was on shore off outflows first light. 2 flights (consisting 4 - 5 flocks each) north between 7:45 & 8:15 totaling 148 & 180 pinkfoot (per Malcolm).
Heysham NR/dog-walk
Green Woodpecker - one below classroom
Treecreeper - one Nature park
Outfalls
Little Gull - 2CY
Kittiwake - 4
Thanks for these Janet, taken on the inner end of Heysham 2 outfall
Harbour and area
Med Gull - 2 adults
Twite - 22 at lunchtime, including 6 unringed and one bearing autumn 2011 Machrihanish SBO sequence
Goldfinch - 2 as above
Guillemot - 1+
Shag - 2+
Moths
2 Dotted Border
