Another dry overcast day, the very light NE breeze freshened slightly in the afternoon before easing again.
Middleton Nature Reserve
Report by Alan:
Nets set at Middleton this morning starting pre-dawn. 28 captures in total was perhaps a little disappointing.
Redwing 4
Wren 1
Goldcrest 4 (2 retraps)
Reed Bunting 8
Cetti's Warbler 2 (1 retrap)
Chiffchaff 4
Long tailed Tit (2 retraps)
Blue tit 2 (1 retrap)
Lesser Redpoll 1
At around 08.30 many hundreds of Pink footed Geese flew north out of their Fylde roosts. There was a stream of skeins in lovely V formations for a period of 20 minutes or so.
Thrushes were roaming around above the reserve for much of the morning but the only ones caught were very early.
Heysham Nature Reserve
Report by Pete:
34 new birds caught by Jean in 2 hours, 1000-1200.
Including 1 Garden Warbler, 10 chiffchaff and 15 Goldcrest.
Not one but two Treecreeper - the first ever multiple capture I think!
At least 185 Redwing dropped in before carrying on SW
Heysham skear (Malcolm) 10:10 - 11:30
A check as the inner skear was becoming exposed
Pink-Footed goose 146 south in two skeins. This clip by Janet is actually of an earlier skein passing over Meldon Road.
Eider 67
Pintail ducks 4 - they arrived from the north, settled briefly, then continued south
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| Pintail |
They don't really do much other than pirouette in this clip, but it also shows the waders feeding
Teal 4 - arrived from the south and settled on the sea to the north of the skear.
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| Teal |
Wigeon 1 - rested on the skear before flying north
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| Male Wigeon |
Red-Breasted Merganser 2
Great Crested Grebe 5
Little Egret 5
Oystercatcher 400
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| This partially leucistic Oystercatcher, or one very like it, was here last winter too. |
Curlew 40
Redshank 250
Knot 150 - I eventually located an orange flagged bird, unfortunately its code was completely obscured by dirt/algae
Turnstone 60
Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)
I just popped into the bottom car park to see if the female Pochard was still there. She was, this clip shows her feeding with Tufted Duck
