Heysham Obs
**Did anyone use ?301 and record any of the Red Button Autumnwatch yesterday late afternoon/early evening, please, especially the Med Gull sequence please? Please get in touch with PMrsh123@aol.com otherwise its apparently lost in the ether. Thanks.
A decent late autumn migration morning in what was always going o be a very narrow window prior to the mid-morning 'hooley'. A surprising 40 or so birds were caught including two for the first time this year; House Sparrow and Treecreeper. The former are common on the nearby estate but most records from the Obs are considered to be and certainly behave like migrants rather than wanderers from 'over the road'. Treecreeper have been thinner on the ground than usual this year, perhaps because their "vehicle", dispersive tit flocks, have similarly been conspicuous by their absence
Vis mig dawn to c0930
Chaffinch - 236
Brambling - 13
Goldfinch - 16
Meadow Pipit - 3
Redwing - group of 4
Jackdaw - 4+1
Carrion Crow - 6+2 respectively with the above
Rook - adult on its own heading purposefully south - very unusual
Woodpigeon - flock of 14
Starling - 20+13
Great-spotted Woodpecker - the only strong candidate for a migrant this autumn was one heading south about 1.5 times the height of electricity pylon
alba Wagtail - 2
Greenfinch - not counted as no obvious high-flying pattern to today's birds c/f nearby feeder
House Sparrow - see below
Grounded
Chiffchaff - one calling for a time next to the office but not seen - collybita calls
Blackcap - one female with an enormous amount of fat and weighing 22.3grams
Goldcrest - definitely many fewer than yesterday after a clearish night and only two unringed ones caught and possibly no more than 5 migrants around
Blackbird - c10
Song Thrush - 2
Miscellany
Treecreeper - one ringed
House Sparrow - one heard calling overhead, then perhaps the same (male) found in the net on the next mist net round
Linnet - 25 north wall
Meadow Pipit - just one north wall
Guillemot - one in the harbour
Moth
Mottled Umber
