Colour ringed/flagged Knot

Heysham NHW

Red-throated Diver 10 distantly offshore actively feeding at high tide (8am)
Knot - colour combination passed on for details.
Mediterranean Gull adult and 2nd W
Twite 4 by the Sand Plant gate plus 10 on the mound early am

Red Nab

Shelduck 147
Wigeon 114

Middleton Industrial Estate

16 Coot, 4 Moorhen, 2 Mute Swan, 2 Mallard, 2 Teal, 2 Tufted Duck, male Pochard, 1 Snipe

Elsewhere
Great White Egret at Lane Ends, Pilling mid afternoon till 1530

The news in brief

Heysham Obs

North Harbour Wall
8 Red-throated Divers early morning feeding in the channel just beyond the buoys.
6 more Twite ringed and 11 retrapped.

Red Nab
32 Twite - probably the same birds as those at the sandplant at 0930hrs .
Little Egret.

Middleton Industral Estate
2 Mute Swan, 14 Coot, 7 Teal, 7 Mallard, 5 Tufted Duck, 1 Pochard, 2 Goldeneye (pr), 1 Little Grebe.

Elsewhere
Mediterranean Gull at Holmere, 2 Whooper Swans Aldcliffe Marsh, Green Sandpiper Borrow Pools, Aldcliffe.

Little Egret and Red-throated Divers

I will not be updating the site tomorrow to next Wednesday inclusive. Please contact Jean Roberts (details in RH column) if you have any sightings to add......or please update yourself if you know the access details. Thanks very much

Heysham Obs
Taking the Walney lead, a short early morning RTD watch was made from the north harbour wall on the dropping tide.

North harbour wall
Red-throated Diver - one 'in' and a further 3 sat distantly on the water during a brief long-range scoping session off the NHW in the early morning
Twite - 5 at the sandworks

Red Nab/Stage 2 outfall
Little Egret - one in the channel along the seaward edge of Red Nab - visible from seawall but not OE foreshore. Rarer than Yellow-browed Warbler here!
Little Gull - 1st W seaward end of Stage 2 outfall at low tide
Twite - 25 feeding in tidal debris at Red Nab, at least 8 unringed birds and several ringed birds from the other day.

unusual nest

Heysham Obs
This nest composed solely of wire was found near the top of a pine tree which had to be felled. Presumed Magpie initially, but could it be Woodpigeon?


North harbour wall
2nd W Med Gull
c10 small finches reported by angler on feeding station early pm, 2 Twite at 1530hrs.

Wooden jetty
One Purple Sandpiper creeping about with Turnstone on lower tier middle section

Red Nab/Heysham Stage 2 outfall
1st W Little Gull

Elsewhere
3 Scaup Conder pool. THREE Spotted Redshank Conder creek.

Bumble bees!

I will not be updating the site next Saturday to Wednesday inclusive. Please contact Jean Roberts (details in RH column) if you have any sightings to add......or please update yourself if you know the access details. Thanks very much

Heysham Obs
Two bumble bees were reported today, the earliest I can remember them. One at least sounded like B. terrestris

Stage 2 outfall
1st W Little Gull

Red Nab area
5 Twite, at least 4 bearing yesterdays rings

Ringing by the office
Unremarkable: Greenfinch (4), Long-tailed Tit (1), Blue Tit (2), Dunnock (1), Great Tit (2), Blackbird (1) plus retraps: Blue Tit (6), Great Tit (2), Robin (1), Dunnock (3), Long-tailed Tit (3), Chaffinch (1).

Moth trap
One Dotted Border

Elsewhere
3 Scaup Conder pool. Bittern attempting to boom at Leighton Moss, described as a 'grunt'. More Bumble Bees!

Twite flock ringed

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Twite - All 24 present were caught for ringing/ring examination purposes just after dawn of which 22 were unringed young from 2007 (one possibly an adult) and a male and female with consecutive ring numbers put on in autumn 2005
Collared Dove - two on the mound is a new species for the SD36V Atlas
Med Gull - 2nd W north harbour wall early morning

Stage 2 outfall/Red Nab
Little Gull - 1st W still on outfall at HT
Wigeon - 116

Wooden jetty
Two Purple Sandpiper and c115 Turnstone

Ocean Edge
Pr Ringed Plover displaying

Elsewhere
Purple Sandpiper still Morecambe Stone Jetty.

Minimalistic coverage!

Hey Obs
Ad & 2nd W Med Gull north harbour wall late afternoon (& Wren!)

Elsewhere
Morecambe prom north section (SJ to Teal Bay) WeBs
Female Scaup of Scalestones Point
Spotted Redshank (one adult) on groyne on the bend
Purple Sandpiper Bubbles groyne (well hidden!)
Belgian-ringed Ad Med Gull Strathmore groyne
Others
Two Brambling in private garden near Thrushgill. Ringtail Hen Harrier L Moss but no Avocet reports. 3 Scaup Conder Pool & 4 Bewick's Swan (& 215 Mute - highest count this winter) on the nearby Lune estuary. [OOA but of interest migration-wise....28 Skylark & 4 Meadow Pipit north over Plenmeller Common, Northumberland 1100-1300hrs and 15 male Black Grouse in the usual favoured walled roadside field alongside the A686 1/3 mile north of the Garrigill turn and c2 miles south of Alston.]

Springtime at Middleton IE!

Heysham Obs
Middleton IE
Loads of territorial disputes ranging in size from Wren to Coot! Returning trilling Little Grebe and singing Skylark & Reed Bunting added to the perhaps premature spring scenario. The coverage was a little too early in the morning for butterflies:
The most unexpected record was TWO pairs of Raven in territorial dispute over the site - this represents a record daily count of Raven for the Obs recording area!

Female Pochard, 3 Snipe, 15 Teal, 7 Tufted Duck, 13 Coot, 3 Little Grebe, 2 Goldeneye, 4 Mallard

North harbour wall & sandworks
Med Gull - Czech-ringed adult plus 2nd W
Twite - 11

Outfalls
No early morning sign of the 1st W Little Gull & no check made of the wooden jetty for Purple Sandpiper

Insects
Small Tortoiseshell on bank next to NR car park - first report this year & perhaps the earliest ever record (at Heysham) of one flying about outside

Elsewhere
Polish-ringed Med Gull again on Lancaster City football ground. A winter record count of 9 Little Egret on the Conder & upstream section of the Lune Estuary. 51 Twite near Waterloo Cottage, Lune Estuary. THREE Scaup and two Spotted Redshank Conder area with TWO Spotted Redshank reported off Morecambe seafront. A further Small Tortoiseshell at Bank End along with 'tidal' Water Rail

Skylark and Stonechat on the move

Heysham Obs
Migrants
Stonechat - male by the Nature Park S end of BE properties and another seen at the same time on the Nature reserve [not the same bird moving as previously posted]. No wintering birds in this area this year, therefore these are early migrants (by about a month)
Skylark - 5 overhead to the south/west

Others
Purple Sandpiper - TWO wooden jetty
Little Gull - 1st W still Heysham 2 outfall
male Eider by Red Nab (BTO Business challenge tick)
94 Wigeon Red Nab
Ad & 2nd W Med Gulls along the north harbour wall but no sign of any small finches there

Insects
March Moth in the moth trap and Peacock butterfly by the car park before heading into the non-operational land

Elsewhere
No sign any Crossbill Thrushgill early morning. Details not yet known on Pilling Lap. Bunt. [phoned in to BNW without any further details but implication that it was on saltmarsh, not fields]. Pale-bellied Brent Goose Sunny Slopes area but elusive behind the groyne (reported as being there - not actually seen on WeBS at HT). Ad Med Gull on the sea just N of Battery groyne - same as the other day.

An old Twite still survives

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Czech-ringed adult and 2nd W Med Gull sat on the railings, not moving despite driving within a metre or so!

Red Nab/Ocean Edge
Twite - 34 feeding on tideline included one ringed blue over yellow [ringed 2002/3 winter]. They arrived from the north and after a few minutes continued towards Ocean Edge. A further 6 shortly afterwards at Sand Plant gate - no Linnet.
c450 Black-headed Gull
16 Snipe OE saltmarsh.
6 Mistle Thrush

Stage 2 outfall
1st W Little Gull and adult Kittiwake

Moth trap
Just a single Clouded Drab but this is the first one I have heard of in Lancs this year

Elsewhere
Lapland Bunting Pilling Marsh (no further details at present). Pale-bellied Brent Goose still in the Sunny Slopes area. 3 Scaup Conder Pool. Crossbill heard at Thrushgill near entrance gate (2+ birds) but no sign of any Nordic Jackdaw in the significant numbers of corvids along the Wray to Thrushgill via Smeer Hall & White Moss route.

Plenty of moths last night individually highlighted by Small Brindled Beauty at High Tatham. 78 moths of 15 species were in a MV trap at Millhouses, nr Wray, including a very early Brindled Pug, early multiple-emergence of Hebrew Character (5) & March Moth (2), Oak Beauty, Spring Usher, Early Moth and no less than 40 of the hibernating species, Chestnut [Full details LDBWS Insect section].