Teal influx

Heysham Obs
A high count of Teal on Middleton for a mid-winter date

Middleton IE
1 Tufted Duck, 8 Snipe, 1 Pochard, 2 Mute Swan, 8 Coot, 6 Moorhen, 61 Teal. There were also 2 Fieldfare, a scarce bird in the Obs recording area in midwinter and a reflection of the cold(ish) weather "shifting a few thrushes around" [e.g. north Cheshire work site today]

North Harbour Wall
A short whistle-stop at about 0900hrs saw at least 10, probably more, Twite and an ad Med Gull on the beach - no time to check the skeers for Purple Sandpiper or the inner harbour

Elsewhere
Its Saturday, so, perhaps unsurprisingly, Otter at Leighton Lower Hide the only thing of interest on pagers/websites so far. A late check of Cockersands stubble on the way home from work saw: 24 Skylark, 6 Meadow Pipit, 4 Grey Partridge and 2 Reed Bunting.

Slight hint of cold weather displacement?

Heysham Obs
Having just accessed the Walney site & noted a minor thrush arrival, three rather 'tame' unringed Blackbird on the grass round the office may have been new in. More than usual Redshank (c30) and Oystercatcher (c50) were feeding over the high tide period on Ocean Edge south and west fields

Red Nab
3 Teal, displaced from a slightly frozen Middleton IE - usually rare on Red Nab?
Med Gull - adult, then flew towards Ocean Edge saltmarsh

Harbour
At least two, probably three juvenile Shag by the intake
Low double-figures of Twite were mobile between the north and south harbour walls/mound

North harbour wall
Ad & 2nd W Med Gulls in residence over the tide

Elsewhere
Firecrest with 3 mobile Goldcrest in hedges just to the south of Freeman's Wood. Pale-bellied Brent Goose by the Battery groyne. Snow Bunting still on Ringstones Lane. Please approach carefully on the bridle track so you dont flush it unnecessarily. Water Pipit Griesdale hide Leighton Moss (good week coming up for this species). Cetti's Warbler REPORTED via Leighton Moss book (but not put out anywhere else at all?) Lower Hide "in reeds" on 12th.

Another Thursday problem

Heysham Obs
No coverage today

Elsewhere
Snow Bunting still at the Slaidburn Road end of Ringstones Lane mid afternoon

Flying visit

Heysham Obs
The third "restructuring" of the Orange mobile mast in as many months has led to the office being out of mobile range, therefore not an ideal workplace at the moment. So finished the WeBS, checked the north wall, printed the LDBWS Newsletters and away.

North harbour wall/harbour
Mixed finch flock comprising approximately 19 Twite and 2 Linnet, later fragmenting and possibly gathering "some more" Linnet. At least one of the Twite was ringed with a yellow c.r.
Med Gull: Ad and 2nd W on the railings
Shag: Three juv by the waterfall area near HT - acting as 2+1.

Moths
Mottled Umber

Elsewhere
Pale-bellied Brent Goose still by the Battery groyne. Ad Spotted Redshank still on the Strathmore groyne. Polish-ringed Med Gull still on Lancaster City Football ground

Belated WeBS

Heysham Obs
Most of the birding today was covering the Red Nab area pre-tide and the WeBS count, most of which was out of the recording area along Morecambe Prom.

North harbour/'waterfall' area/Heliport
Shag - Just the one juv seen in two visits either side of high tide.....but this site is at its best at low tide. Three Cormorant were also on the waterfall and one of these was noticeably smaller than the other two and perhaps accounts for the extra "possible Shag" yesterday.
Med. Gull - The usual 2nd W and Ad

No Purple Sandpiper but they have been difficult on the higher high tides
& see 'Elsewhere', quite possibly involving a NHW bird

Red Nab/Ocean Edge foreshore & saltmarsh
Snipe - 65, presumably reflecting the frozen overnight conditions on e.g. Middleton
Linnet 3
Ringed Plover 20
Dunlin c300
Grey Plover 25
Lapwing 103
Mistle Thrush 2
Wren 1

Med Gull - Probably the elusive 'other adult' on Red Nab
Wigeon 84
Kingfisher 1
Great Crested Grebe 2 off RN
Shelduck 9 'out' - one flock

Elsewhere
Rest of the Webs was quite productive (south to north order):
Purple Sandpiper - one roosting on the new Sunny Slopes groyne (46B)
Light-bellied Brent Goose - the Canadian colour-ringed bird was by the Battery Groyne
Rock Pipit - kleinschmitii-type on the Battery groyne
Med Gull - the Belgian-ringed adult was by the 'boats' groyne
Spotted Redshank - the veteran was roosting on the Strathmore groyne
No sign of any Yellow-legged Gulls on the Teal Bay groyne or area

Others
The male Snow Bunting was seen very briefly late afternoon at Ringstones Lane and the 'possible' location of the Shrike mentioned yesterday has been 'narrowed' down to New Barns in the middle of SD66Z

Lancashire's top Shag site

Heysham Obs
Gate 38/intake area
Late afternoon visit produced 3 juvenile Shag, 2 Cormorant and what was probably an adult Shag seen VERY briefly before being flushed by an angler out of the harbour. All associated with the 'waterfall'

North harbour wall/mound
The most surprising record was an increase of the 36V Wren population to 3 individuals! 9 Twite in the morning were welcome. Late afternoon saw a single Purple Sandpiper and the adult Mediterranean Gull along the north wall.
Also in 36V 4 Mistle Thrush on mound near feeding station.

Elsewhere
The male Snow Bunting was seen at Ringstones Lane in the afternoon and we have a secondhand report of a "shrike" in nearby SD66Z sometime in the last few days at least. Great White Egret at Leighton Moss and three Scaup still on Glasson Marina

A bird-filled 'eye'

Heysham Obs
In contrast to yesterday, the weather was positively balmy, even on the fells. There was also quite a bit around - especially along the north harbour wall:

Purple Sandpiper - THREE birds in the morning, one with plain lesser and median coverts and this remained during the afternoon with one of the other two long-staying birds
Med Gull - the ad and regular 2nd W were joined by another 2nd winter (with reduced black tips to the primaries) late afternoon
Red-throated Diver - one materialised very close inshore late afternoon, spending very little time on the surface!
Shag - juvenile on the wooden jetty in the morning, it or another flew into the harbour late afternoon.

Middleton IE WeBS
The main feature was a significant flock of c30 Meadow Pipit along with 2 Reed Bunting. 550 Pink-footed Geese also flew NE during the early morning. On/around the ponds: 2 Mute Swan, 6 Coot, 3 Moorhen, 9 Mallard, 11 Tufted Duck, 2 Goldeneye, 22 teal, 23 Snipe, 1 Water Rail, 2 Grey Heron.

Elsewhere


Snow Bunting Ringstones this afternoon - thanks Mark and Margaret

Great White Egret still at Leighton Moss. The male Snow Bunting was at Ringstones Lane until about 1100hrs whence it started calling and was joined briefly by TWO Snow Bunting, which flew in from the SE, before all three flew off to the west. However, the original bird returned. 4 Crossbill in Thrushgill plantation mid-morning which flew towards the western end. Ad Ring-billed Gull (with pale iris etc. seen) reported last Thursday with 500 mobile field-feeding gulls in the Clapham station area. c10 Snow Bunting on Ingleborough last Friday.

Field trip weather at its worst

Heysham Obs
This was fine for early morning coverage south of the harbour (thanks Malcolm) but not a lot of use for the "from 1000hrs" local RSPB/LDBWS field trip. There definitely appear to be TWO coastal Kingfisher - one in the Half Moon bay/NHW area and the other OE/Red Nab/outfalls. Yet another addition to 36V!

North harbour wall
NO Meds or Purple Sandpipers! Kingfisher on the Near Naze, then along the seawall by the sandplant entrance. Great-crested Grebe close inshore and single Meadow Pipit still on the mound

Harbour
Highlight for the RSPB trip was a juvenile Shag seen from the scenic "Gate 38" area which then swam out into the harbour and disappeared. No sign of the Guillemot. A 1st W Kittiwake was also present early morning only

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Mute Swan on the mudflats, single Kingfisher, 90 Wigeon and a high count of 5 Red-breasted Merganser on Red Nab

Elsewhere
The Ringstones Lane male Snow Bunting was sat on top of a 'right to roam' post at c0900hrs! Great White Egret seen en route to the usual roost at Leighton Moss late afternoon (from Lilian's Hide). Huge numbers of wildfowl on Pine Lake in late afternoon MAY have included the female Ferruginous x Pochard hybrid but it was only seen briefly and distantly in terrible light

Adventurous Treecreeper

Heysham Obs
The first 'mid' winter Treecreeper record for the Obs was found today in the Red Nab bushes during a squall, accompanying Long-tailed Tits - yes the observer was sheltering!

North harbour wall
The waif and stray tally has started to increase:
Shag: Yesterdays bird was by the heliport, then flew towards the harbour where it was found feeding under the waterfall late afternoon [also at least one Cormorant around here but they tend to be easily spooked]. A second juv was blown over the car on the end of the north harbour wall (no idea where from) and did a circuit of the harbour looking for somewhere to land before slowly flying out towards the wooden jetty
Guillemot: One in the intake area (by the waterfall/platforms) at least
1500hrs

Med Gull: ad on the beach late afternoon

Offshore
A short seawatch in WNW winds 0935-1005 produced 3 Kittiwake out together and a Guillemot out

Red Nab/Ocean Edge
Wigeon - 61
Ringed Plover - 12
Red-breasted merganser 6 RN


Heliport
Knot - 6,500


Elsewhere
6 Kittiwake ahead of a squall Morecambe Stone Jetty. Great White Egret Leighton Moss, also 1+ Water Pipit. Ringtail Hen Harrier Foulshaw Moss. Great Blue Heron (at last!) on the Scillies.

Useless weather

Heysham Obs
It was virtually flat calm during the morning high tide period with not a 'white horse' in sight! Livened up a bit later.

North harbour wall
Shag - a visit at 1300hrs coincided with the star arrival of the day watched approaching from across the Bay, landing on the sea by the locked gate and later feeding in the harbour mouth - a juv. Note two Cormorant feeding=spending all but the odd second under the water by the 'Shag waterfall' (careful!).
Purple Sandpiper - one below the north harbour wall mid afternoon
Med. Gull - ad in the harbour and 2nd W intermittently patrolling
Linnet - 6 on the sandplant edge - unusual this late in the year.

Elsewhere
Nothing worthy of mention as yet.