Better than the weather suggested!

Heysham Obs
A stiff, cold, north-westerly blasting into the previously regularly sheltered vis mig watchpoint. One hour was long enough but this was not without routine interest. Similarly the odds were very much agaonst a new moth species for the year............or indeed the first Speckled Wood for a few days!

Vis by the office 0815-0915
Chaffinch - 42 SW
Greenfinch - 37 (descending on to the peanuts at last!) SWish
Meadow Pipit - 1 SE
Woodpigeon 37 (including flock of 31) S
Mistle Thrush - 17 SE
Redwing - 23 SW
Goldfinch - 5 SE
Golden Plover - one high to the south - scarce here!
Carrion Crow - 3 S
Song Thrush - 3 SE

Grounded
An 'open' morning saw very few thrushes with perhaps 10 Blackbird and 5 Song Thrush, most of which headed inland over the golf course. There were 6-7 Goldcrest by the office at 0815 but no further sightings in that area.

Miscellaneous
Adult Med Gull Red Nab, adult and 2nd W Med Gulls north harbour wall. We seem to have lost the other two regular 2nd W birds...........exactly the same thing happened last October when they (?) were 1st winters. A real pity these were not colour ringed prior to departure, so that data on subsequent wintering as well as possible breeding site could perhaps accrue - maybe next year now we presumably know the occurence pattern.

Insects
A Large Wainscot was new for the year in the moth trap and a Speckled Wood was struggling acroos the car park mid afternoon

Elsewhere
Great White Egret Leighton Moss. 3 Spotted Redshank reported at Teal Bay following 5 on the EM Pool yesterday - this species is certainly getting more common in this area

Blackbird bonanza

Heysham obs

Overnight rain seemed to have grounded quite a few thrushes, with 41 Blackbirds and 27 Song Thrushes emerging from the bushes after 0830hrs.

Vis 0830-1000hrs
Blackbird 50 all south
Song Thrush 30 all south
Redwing 2 south
Starling 3 s
Woodpigeon 11 se
Carrion Crow 6 se
Jay 3 s
Chaffinch 68 sw
Greenfinch 34 sw
Goldfinch 5 se
alba wagtail 6 se
Siskin 4 se
Linnet 1 se
Reed Bunting 1 s

North Wall
unringed Twite briefly on the mound at the North Harbour Wall
1 Linnet on nyjer seed at the mound.
Black Guillemot off the harbour
adult and 2nd winter Med Gulls at the North Harbour Wall

Excellent vis, one decent landbird!

Heysham Obs

Unfortunately no vis coverage until 0945! This was a pity as a lot of visible migrants were moving ahead of the afternoon weather front, almost exclusively on a NE to SW heading. Sunderland was covered from 0900 and undoubtedly included some of the birds over Heysham. In addition, '200+ medium/large finches', almost certainly a mixture of Greenfinch, Chaffinch and perhaps Brambling headed SW over the office from dawn to 0945.

Vis from the office 0945-1200hrs (SW unless stated)

Chaffinch - 366

Redwing - 36

Song Thrush - 5

Starling - 488

Swallow - 3

Goldfinch - 5

Brambling - 4

Greenfinch - 17

Linnet - 1 SE

Skylark - 14 SE

Redpoll spp - 2 SE

Mistle Thrush - 2

Great-spotted Woodpecker - 2

House Martin - 7

Grey Wagtail - 1

Blackbird - 2

alba Wagtail - 6 SE

Sparrowhawk - male high to the SE (in-off?)

Meadow Pipit - 3 SE

Siskin - 26

Vis nearby Sunderland west shore 0900-1100 for comparison

Siskin - 72

Skylark - 89

Brambling - 1

Chaffinch - 110

Greenfinch - 84

Redpoll - 1

Reed Bunting - 1

Starling - 370

Pink-footed Goose 18

Thanks Garry - all heading in a southerly direction

Grounded

Unless you are in the elite group with photographic (and the aural equivalent) memory, birding has a habit of making you eat humble pie. The vis was going well - a cloudy morning, no crackling pylons and all calls clear & identifiable - we really do know our stuff! Then, at 1105, a bird dropped out of the sky in silhouette and landed "in" the isolated bush near the office [didnt think anything of it at the time & assumed Chafficnh]. Then a series of calls - distant Kingfisher on the Obs Tower pond - no, demented Dunnock - no, too high and staccato for a late Redstart. Investigation produced an extremely agrophobic female/imm Black Redstart. Why did we not recognise the contact call of a 'familiar enough' migrant! It spent as much of the next two hours (1105-1305) in sallies from the lower branches of the isolated willow as on the more traditional fences. It also kept disappearing and certainly did not seem to favour continuous presence in open ground. Unfortunately only a dreadful mobile 'happy slap' available and the bird suddenly disappeared just after 1300hrs.

Other grounded birds included about 9 Goldcrest and single figures of thrush species. What was probably a Treecreeper was heard briefly near the Nature Park (the bird caught the other day?)

North wall

At least one 2nd W and the usual Czech-ringed adult Med Gulls

Thanks very much for this, Sean

Elsewhere

Great White Egret on the EM Pool 'flood' along with single Curlew Sandpiper.

Latest ever Lesser Whitethroat and Pink-foot puzzle

Thanks to Doug Carman for photos of today's Lesser Whitethroat. Anyone with any comments on this bird, please e-mail pbmarsh@btopenworld.com Thanks. [wing 68mm 2=5/6]

Heysham Obs
An inauspicious start as yet another broken mist net pole, before anyone could help to retrieve the situation, led to 20 minutes of poor concentration on the sky as the 'vis migs' piled over. Almost certainly the 'loser' in the numbers game was Chaffinch. A dull rather brown Lesser Whitethroat in the mist net was presumably not of British origin. Also notable were 20 Bullfinch heading high to the south/south-east in groups up to 4

Vis mig from next to the office 0800 (ish)-1100

This was good but difficult to concentrate all the time due to conversation & mist net rounds. The impression that Great Spotted Woodpecker are indulging in 'some' movement over and above the usual was reinforced by yet another unringed bird (3 in the last week or so), 3 'southbound' birds and an individual pecking telegraph poles near Lighthouse Cottage, Cockersands, later in the day.

Green Woodpecker - perhaps the same silent juvenile as the other day flew rather low from the pylon bushes towards the tank farm

Chaffinch - 399 (thats what it added up to!) - SW

Brambling - absolute minimum of 12 SW

Siskin - 67 S

Pink-footed Goose - 826+22+850+750+100+40+1100 north or north-east!!

Carrion Crow - 5 S plus 16 high to the NE with Jackdaw

alba Wagtail - 14 SE

Greenfinch - 109 SW

Starling - 476 high to the south & other less definable birds ignored (c150). First really noticeable movement of the autumn.

Goldfinch - 90 S

Redwing - 76, mainly SW

Song Thrush - 7 high to SW

Reed Bunting - 2 S

Meadow Pipit - just 11 SE

Bullfinch - 20 S/SE - 4+3+2+1+2+3+1+1+1+1+1

Redpoll spp - all but one sounded like Lesser - 8 S/SW

Jackdaw - 18 NE with Carrion Crow (the FIRST flock this autumn!)

Mistle Thrush - 5 SE

Great Spotted Woodpecker - 3 S

Skylark - 2 SE

Rock Pipit - 1 S

Fieldfare - 4 S

Grey Wagtail - 1 S

Dunnock - a lot of contact calling but just two seen to fly high to the south

Grounded

This was disappointing. The Lesser Whitehroat was very unobtrusive and was never heard to call in the field. A single Chiffchaff was by the office but searching the reserve and dog-track only produced a reasonable number of thrushes and a few Goldcrest. Blackbird were estimated at about 50 for the whole BE properties with Redwing and Song Thrush in the 15 each region. Note that the favoured thrush site - the tank farm - cannot be covered. Just 10 Goldcrest were reported and just 3 'blogging' Jay.

Miscellany

At least 3 2nd W Med Gulls on the north harbour wall. No guillemot spp seen in the harbour

Insects

At least 30 Common Darter and two Migrant Hawker by the 'dog walk' pond. At least 2 Red Admiral seen. Brick and the bittersweet-feeding micro = Acrolepia autumnitella

The first record for Heysham and the most northerly so far in Lancashire. Search Bittersweet (or Deadly Nightshade) for leaf mines. Thanks for the picture John (Girdley).

Elsewhere

Great White Egret and (briefly) Cetti's Warbler Leighton Moss area. A late Hobby reported Meathop area (still plenty of Migrant Hawker?). Two Whooper Swan back in the Lune Valley near Wenning Foot. No sign of the Great Grey Shrike reported near Wray but a greyish Chiffchaff and at least one Brambling. Disappointingly, no scarce passerines other than the Cetti's and late Lesser Whitethroat reported in ideal searching conditions. It was 'as you were' in the Cockersands stubble with c50 Skylark, c100 Meadow Pipit, 2 Stonechat and single figures Linnet and Reed Bunting. I dont think Thrushgill was covered.

Looks like we might have missed some stuff

Heysham Obs
I've changed the header after accessing other sites. The wind was subtely different at dawn with a slight hint of SE along with quite a bit of drizzle. Unfortunately no time to search for grounded migrants, although Middleton was well-covered and did produce some stuff (see below). Walney had a Firecrest and Bardsey had a Black Redstart influx today and the wind is southerlyish overnight. It IS clear above at present (2015 hours).

Vis Mig
30 minutes (0820-0850) produced 22 Starling and a Siskin!

Grounded
One Chiffchaff calling near the office

Middleton IE
5 Reed Bunting together and a male Stonechat. Nearby a Wheatear. Wildfowl included 13 Tufted Duck, 10 Teal and 3 Little Grebe plus an increase in Mute Swan to 5.

Moth
No joy here. Careful opening of the door revealed an Epirrata, a scarce species complex at Heysham. Unfortunately 'distant' views of flying genitalia as it disappeared out of the window were completely out of my (and everyone else's?) league as regards separating the three species: Pale November Moth, November Moth and Autumnal Moth. No other moths!

Elsewhere
Yellowhammer in an inefficiently harvested maize field along Grab Lane, Lancaster. Great White Egret still Leighton Moss area

mist and murk but the wrong wind direction

Heysham Obs
This weather has two uses, lottery-winning odds of dropping a nearctic passerine or producing excellent late autumn moth trapping conditions, not so much at open sites such as Heysham, but in wooded areas. It also can produce migrant species and two Silver Y were in the trap this morning

Vis mig 0905-1005
A few birds struggled through the murk but nowhere near as many as by my own house at the western end of the "Aire-Wenning gap" flightline. Plenty of Redwing/Fieldfare and a few Siskin/alba Wagtail/Chaffinch prompted a belated visit to Heysham:

Redwing - 2
Redpoll, presumed Lesser - 1
Chaffinch - 6
Greenfinch - 7
Siskin - 5
Meadow Pipit - 3
alba Wagtail - 2
Song Thrush - 2

Most of these were heading in a general north to south direction!

Grounded
Really poor with ringing comprising one new Robin and two each of Greenfinch and Chaffinch tempted down from overhead vis mig. The bushes around the office were the quietest for some time.

North wall
Three 2nd W Med Gulls during a brief visit which did not include the mound end

Elsewhere
A secondhand report of a Great Grey Shrike from the valley to the south of Cold Park Wood, near Wray 'a few days ago'. A visit saw the area crawling with birds e.g. winter thrushes, Bullfinch. Access by turning right at the Post Office in Wray and view the area to the right after the pond (=on left hand side) c1/2 mile up the road.

Rubbish weather, routine sightings

Another pic of Sunday's Yellow-browed Warbler. Thanks Dave

Heysham Obs
The cloud and mist and murk.....and then rain, all in a south-westerly airstream came much further to the south than forecast and put the lid on any vis or appreciable incentive to search for grounded migrants.

Ringing recovery
Kittiwake
Ringed: Nestling: 7/7/06 Kårøy (6730N- 1205E), Røst, North Norway.
Found dead: Heysham south harbour wall 30/9/07

Vis mig
An early morning flock of c140 Pink-footed Goose NE

Grounded
Single figures of Redwing, Blackbird and Song Thrush. Nothing on OE foreshore or the NHW mound.

Miscellany
4 x 2nd W and one x adult Med Gulls along the north harbour wall/harbour entrance (none during a careful check of the outfalls/red nab)

Black Guillemot still in the harbour mouth

Kingfisher flying THROUGH Ocean Edge caravan short-cutting between Red Nab and the saltmarsh

12, 580 Knot on the heliport (careful count - first "impression" was about 7,000!!)

A record (?) 375 Shelduck off Red Nab/OE foreshore

Elsewhere
A couple of rewards for the Morecambe part of the WeBS in the form of a juvenile Brent Goose, almost certainly showing enough 1st W plumage on the flanks etc. to determine as Light-bellied. However, the underparts were not seen as it sat on the water. Next to the west end groyne (between S Jetty and Battery) at HT. Secondly, re-acquaintance with adult Med Gull 36W (Belgian-ringed) by the Strathmore. As has already been reported previously, a Reed Bunting was also on the west end groyne! Great White Egret still at the EM Pools this morning

Good early morning vis, then fizzle-out

Heysham Obs
Reasonable coverage this morning but, as often happens on clear mornings, most of the action was in the first hour. The 'highlight' was the first Treecreeper I can find in the records, certainly the first to be ringed this year. This species seems to have reverted back to its "occasional July juvenile, occasional late autumn, usually with tit flock" status following two years of presumed proximate breeding and retrapped adults

Vis 0730-1030ish
Recording commenced too late as there were large numbers of mainly finches as soon as arrived at the site:

Reed Bunting - 7 S
Lesser Redpoll - 30 S ( a good count for autumn - 6 'lots')
Siskin - 94 S (including flocks of 42 and 30)
Chaffinch - 245 SW
Brambling - at least 10 SW
Grey Wagtail - 1 SE
alba Wagtail - 71 SE (just one at the right height/location to be identified as White, rest unspec)
Meadow Pipit - 156 SE
Redwing - 18+2 SW
Bullfinch - 1+1 S
Collared Dove - 1 S
Greenfinch - 83 SW (all very high and not interested in the peanuts c/f other autumns)
Goldfinch - 72 S
Linnet - 5 SE
Coal Tit - 8 S
Long-tailed Tit - constantly within audible range but the only definitive migrant flock was 17 high to the south
Mistle Thrush - 6 SE
Skylark - absolute minimum of 30 SE (couldnt match call to bird(s) with most of them & these were recorded as 'one bird')
Great-spotted Woodpecker - 2 headed south but may have been local birds on the rounds
Carrion Crow - 2+3+2 high to the south
Jay - 2 S
House Sparrow - 1 S
Song Thrush - 8 S/SE

Any movement by Blue Tit seems to have ground to a halt recently, despite suitable conditions. Two unringed Great Tit were caught but no obvious evidence of any movement.

Grounded
A party of 5 Goldcrest moved inland past the office first thing but only one subsequent sighting. Two (unringed) Chiffchaff by the office frist thing. 10+ Blackbird behaving like migrants and similar numbers of Song Thrush (excludes those on vis)

North wall/harbour
Adult winter Black Guillemot showing well along with at least 3 2nd W Med. Gulls. 20+ Meadow Pipit grounded on the mound along with a Wheatear

Middleton IE
At least 2 Water Rail in the new scrape. 26 Tufted Duck and a female Stonechat. One Chiffchaff.

Insects
Double-striped Pug in the moth trap - unusual in October. 17 Migrant Hawker and 50+ Common Darter with both species in tandem/ovipositing at Middleton IE. Red Admiral butterfly by the office but no sign of any Speckled Wood in e.g. the mist net ride today

Elsewhere
Bittern at Haweswater (Silverdale version). Great White Egret EM Pool and roosting overnight on the island in front of the lower hide. Hybrid adult Ross's Goose x Pink-footed Goose with c4,500 Pinkfeet around Eagland Hill, then flying to roost on the shore off Pilling Lane Ends.

Not the right morning to take off!

Heysham Obs
Forecasted 20mph southerlies suggested a good day to have a bit of a lie in. Unfortunately the weather did not obey and by all accounts it was still first thing with poor visibility. Reports filtered through doubling the Bardsey Island Yellow-brows, then at least one passing through a Lancaster garden (see below)...then grounded Richard's Pipit at Walney.

Late News

5 Whooper Swan S(ish) 'mid afternoon' over the sea

North harbour wall
The only known coverage today revealing the same pattern as the Stone Jetty (see LDBWS site) of grounded visible migrants diappearing when the weather cleared.

Noted on the mound/sand pit 9.30ish this morning.
1 Wheatear
25+ linnet
15 Alba Wag (all seen well were Pied)
20+ Meadow Pipits
4 Goldfinch

Noted at lunchtime
1 Meadow Pipit
1 alba wagtail!

Med Gulls comprised 3 2nd W and two adults
Guillemot still in the harbour but no obvious sign of the Black Guillemot during either visit
c6000 Knot heliport

Thanks Cliff

Elsewhere
Yellow-browed Warbler south Lancaster in the Bentham Road/Lancaster end of Uni cycle track area 0900hrs. This appeared to move on but it or another was found in a mist net in the same area at 1040hrs. Great White Egret and 9 Little Egret EM Pool. Two Whooper Swan Leighton Moss. What was presumably a late Common Sandpiper was seen in long range flight only in the NE corner of Pine Lake but could not be found again on a 'complex' shoreline. This needs checking out if anyone has time. Also Goldeneye but no terns left.

almost certainly another one!

Heysham Obs
An excursion around the non-operational land looking for Black Redstart also involved checking the willows on the west side of the 'tank farm'. This is the inaccessible migrant 'black hole' to the south of the Nature reserve office. A Yellow-browed Warbler was located on call opposite the security lodge, seemingly associated with Long-tailed Tits. 10 seconds or so through the foliage almost certainly (therefore not absolutely 100% certainly) involved at least one view of the left leg and it was unringed. However, there was never an occasion when both legs were visible at the same time, therefore a bit of overnight soul-searching 'downgrades' this record to "almost certainly a different bird" to yesterday. The bird did also seem to have paler, less yellow-suffused wingbars than yesterday's bird but comparing in-hand and field views is not really safe. It appeared to move towards the top of the tank farm, giving a further contact call, and could not be found later

Other grounded birds
Very little vis today due to the cloud cover and intermittent light drizzle so some species such as Grey Wagtail and Meadow Pipit were grounded.
For the first time I can remember at this time of year, there were NO Greenfinch sightings during the 'normal' vis period 0700-1000 and this indicates just how high a percentage of this species in October are visible migrants and therefore absent during this morning's conditions (as also indicated by the lack of retraps):

Chiffchaff: at least 7
Goldcrest: Odd - c30 in the scrub/woodland near 1/2 Moon Bay yet very few on the reserve (less than 10).
Bullfinch - the last few days have seen occasional vis mig birds - today's birds were grounded and FOUR (a good daily total for here) were ringed
Grey Wagtail - three grounded birds (or perhaps prospective wintering birds - time will tell as two were ringed)
Song Thrush =- at least 12 grounded birds
Stonechat - male on the S end of the tank farm late morning
Meadow Pipit - 5 on the NHW mound
Robin - good numbers of extra birds with individuals hemmed in by residents on the non-operational land and also on the mound

Vis mig from next to the NR office
Very little: 5 Chaffinch, 4 Song Thrush, 5 Redwing, 3 Meadow Pipit, one Lesser Redpoll.

North harbour wall
Just one 2nd W Med seen in a quick visit and no sign of either Guillemot species

Ringing
Todays ringing included 4 Bullfinch, 3 Chiffchaff, two Grey Wagtail, a Great-spotted Woodpecker and 7 new Long-tailed Tit.

Ringing totals (excluding pulli) to date comprise the following above par: Blue Tit (85), Great Tit (34), Grey Wagtail (34), Goldfinch (48), Lesser Whitethroat (28), Reed Bunting (39), Grasshopper Warbler (12), Bullfinch (11) and below par: Robin (55), Greenfinch (96), Wren (30), Willow Warbler (73), Whitethroat (54), Redstart (1), Garden Warbler (2). This includes a mixture of migrants, CES records and late summer wetland ringing at Middleton IE. The most obvious feature this year has been the contrast between good Lesser Whitethroat numbers and poor Common Whitethroat, both breeding population and productivity. So far this autumn, there has been more movement by tit species following a run of very poor years. The ringing is organised by Alan Draper with regular help from Andrew Cadman, Jean Roberts and Pete Marsh.

Insects
Brief sunlight in late afternoon saw a few Red Admiral, 2 Comma and a few Common Darter but no Migrant Hawker.

Elsewhere
Great White Egret Leighton Moss area, also 9 Little Egret and the juvenile Marsh Harrier