Almost unbelievably bad this morning with not a single bird flying over heysham NR which could be deemed a migrant. Typically this was the one day we could leave nets up from about 0900 to 1600. This saw the grand total of obvious migrants limited to two Goldcrest and a 'three o clock' Chiffchaff with a small unringed LTT flock. Amazingly, thanks to the bottomless trickle of unringed Greenfinch, the ringing produced about 20 new birds, or about 2.74 per hour
Outfalls/ocean edge etc two hours pre tide
Little stint - juv with 85 Dunlin and 49 ringed plover
Med gull - two ads but many gulls had left the area
Rock pipit - one by slipway
Insects
At least three migrant hawker
The observatory was set up in 1980. It involves ringing,'vis mig' counts (including seabirds) and general monitoring in the Heysham Nature reserve/power stations/harbour area. The statutory moth trap is in place and also a daily log for butterflies, dragonflies etc. We share an office, kindly provided by EDF Energy, with the County Wildlife Trust. This is located next to the Nature Reserve car park. Do call in. Please leave sightings in the letterbox, ESPECIALLY 'fly-by' seabirds.