Quiet morning unless you are a dredger

A discrete image of a semi-buoyant dredger and attendees. Thanks John

Heysham Obs
Pretty low-key coverage today & using Blackbird numbers as an indicator, much quieter than yesterday.

Grounded
Blackbird - c40
Song Thrush - 3
Redwing - 5

Ocean Edge etc
Twite - 23
Linnet - 7
Med Gull - adult off the outfalls

North harbour wall
Other than the sinking dredger (oil sealed from spillage):
Twite - max of 19 - see North Lancs Ringing Group link for a bird which had not been ringed here
Goldfinch - 5
Med Gull - 2 ads & 1st winter
Shag - two juvs on the wooden jetty at high tide

Vis
Nothing discernable but no-one here in the first hour of daylight

Elsewhere
A slow trawl from High Tatham to Lancaster resulted in 20 minutes 'vis' from the Post House (by M6): Fieldfare - 255 N, Redwing 87 NNW in several small groups. This is consistent with the line taken yesterday - no other movement noted other than 14 Redwing N in 30 minutes at High Tatham. No apparent sign of the Waxwings at High Bentham

Long-eared Owl heads varied cast

............but predictably no sign of the Arctic Tern during early morning calm, clear, frosty conditions.

North Harbour wall
Twite - 44 ringed the last two mornings with 4 retraps from February 2008. NO birds have been seen at all from previous years from a minimum of 89 birds checked (all together on the fence on 30/10)
Linnet - still a few around with 3 ringed this morning, one yesterday and 11 seen on 30/10
Pink-footed Goose - 650-700 north, with some of these splitting off & heading NE first thing (shooting on the Fylde?)
Rock Pipit - one
Meadow Pipit - one

Ocean Edge/outfalls/offshore
Goldeneye - first of the autumn
Eider - 9
Twite - c24
Linnet - c6
Rock Pipit -1

Grounded on reserve/non-operational land/Moneyclose Lane
Long-eared Owl - one in the tank farm - harassed by Magpies - probably still present but NO access
Blackbird - c80
Redwing - c40
Song Thrush - c10
Treecreeper - 1
Jay - 2, probably migrants
Woodcock - one, quite possibly 2

Middleton IE
Jack Snipe - 2
Snipe - 14
Pochard - 2
Little Grebe - 5
Tufted Duck - 6
Goldeneye - 2
Blackbird - at least 20 migrants
Redwing - 18
Bullfinch - 3
Coot - 14

Vis mig
Quite a bit to the east of here, mostly thrushes and Starlings heading north. When birds are travelling in this direction, the skies over Heysham tend to be a no-go area and this was the case this morning. Cursory glances at the sky between 0730 & 1030 produced:
Chaffinch - 18 N
Redwing - 24 N
Fieldfare - 36 N
Starling - 240 N
plus the abovementioned PFG

Elsewhere
Two Waxwing late afternoon Riverside caravan park at west end alongside the River Wenning. Fieldfare - 2,000 N in 90 minutes Hala (S Lancaster) plus 250 Redwing - a narrow corridor of birds today over Lancaster and apparently also including a flightline down the Lune valley

Cold and colder

Heysham Obs
Vis mig 0755-0815
Pink-footed Goose - 43 NW(!) 0800hrs, then turned SE
Starling - flock of 23 SW
Skylark - 2 SE

Outfalls/Ocean Edge
Arctic Tern - juv still present but right on the seaward end - not a good place if it is going to enter a tick-box tomorrow (winter atlas)......but on the inner end of S2O at lunchtime
Med Gull - 1st W dip-feeding with other gulls along the boat channel off the outfalls. All five of the local Med Gulls were around when the IOM ferry came into port at 1210hrs (3 x adult, one x 2nd W, 1 x 1st W). The 2nd W flew rapidly out to sea, the remainder patrolled the north harbour wall. Loads of Black-headed and Common Gulls behind the ferry (c180), but no Kittiwake!
Rock Pipit - one OE foreshore (& at least one Meadow Pipit)

Ringing
A Grey Wagtail was seen on Red Nab this afternoon which was ringed as one of 11 juvenile/first winter birds on either 4th (4) or 11th (7) October 2007. We did not start the individual colour ring scheme until 2008. This raises some interesting questions. Was it born (2007) and has it subsequently bred (2008) fairly close to Heysham? Where did it spend the 2007/8 winter as it was most definitely ringed during a period of passage birds with no evidence of off-pasage birds until mid-October? One assumes from the time of day, mode of sighting and time of year that it is a prospective wintering bird in the Heysham area for 2008/9, with the already raised assumption that, as an adult, it has not wandered far from the breeding site.......as opposed to 2007/8, when, as a young bird, it may have moved a considerable distance to the south. Interesting.

Twite: 30 ringed plus 3 retraps & a Linnet North harbour wall

Moth
An Epirrata on its last legs in the trap

Elsewhere
Male Scaup Glasson basin & Common Sandpiper still in the area. Significant movement of Redwing and Fieldfare to the west in at least the east of our region from midday along with Starlings. Nothing new on Pine Lake late afternoon.

Starlings on the move

Heysham Obs
A very 'bitty' morning as regards coverage saw just 30 minutes vis and a brief check of both sides of the harbour. Best bird was a belatedly reported Short-eared Owl at Red Nab which was chased off by crows in the afternoon

Arctic Tern - still Stage 2 outfall
Short-eared Owl - one Red Nab pm (in-off?), then chased off by crows
Shag - 3 in the harbour
Med. Gull - two adults & 1st winter harbour mouth/north wall
Little Egret - OE saltmarsh
Twite - minimum of 89 at the north harbour wall feeding station, indicating a significant arrival (& 11 Linnet & 2 Goldfinch) - apologies for keeping off the site but we didnt want problems with photographers during the ringing effort on 31/10 & 1/11.

Vis 0900-0930
Starling - 420 SW (5 flocks)
Chaffinch - 17 SW
Goldfinch - 2 SW
Coal Tit - 3 S

Grounded
c15 Goldcrest encountered Red Nab to the reserve
thrushes - hardly any but didnt arrive on site until 0835hrs

A bit wintry!

Heysham Obs
Not a great deal of new stuff to reward the early shiverers

Ocean Edge/outfalls
Arctic Tern - juv still Stage 2 outfall (3 days to go before it could become a 'winter' atlas mega)
Shag - Two juveniles, one on the inshore gull bathing pool on Red Nab!
Little Egret - one next to the main saltmarsh channel
Med Gull - adult following the 'Shield' out of port

Vis mig 0850-1030
Pink-footed Goose - 25 SE
Redwing - 7 SW
Greenfinch - 3 SW
Snipe - 4 SE
Mistle Thrush - 3 SW

North harbour wall
Rock Pipit - 1 off-passage
Shag - 2 juvs (4 in total for the area)

At last, some proper late autumn migration!

Heysham Obs
The nearctic element to this autumn leading to a run on "Bring back Atlantis" (providing its in the Western Palearctic) T-shirts - it should be easier to get to than Corvo, has somewhat masked the fact that the last fortnight or even three weeks has been absolute rubbish at most observatories, other than the trickle-down of the earlier huge Yellow-browed Warbler influx into the northern British Isles and a Grey Phal-fest for some. The exception was the short North Sea-crossing window on about 16th-17th which was the reason we had an influx of Redwing and Fieldfare battling against westerlies on this side on 18th-19th. Today, at last, some normal October service was resumed with a calm frosty morning. The missing element this morning was evidence of trans-North Sea migrants with few thrushes other than the first relatively significant dawn Blackbird arrival of the autumn. [NB news just received: radar observations at Skegness detected some movement this morning post dawn and also at midday today] It looks like the North Sea corridor will open again the the next day or two and Norwegian reports indicate the possibility of Waxwings being included in the fare............and the latest pager messages (1430ish) already seem to be bearing this out (several east coast sites scoring between north Yorks and Norfolk).

Vis mig 0730-1015ish (quite a few gaps)
Brambling - flock of 6 SW first thing - sorry forgot to post!
Pink-footed Goose - 125+110+75+36 S/SE
Whooper Swan - 3+17 SE (second flock very high)
Jackdaw - flock of 9 S (& 8 Carrion Crow)
Carrion Crow - 3+4+8 (see above) S
Chaffinch - 44 SW
Goldfinch - 15 SW
Greenfinch - only 18 SW
Reed Bunting - 1 S
Skylark - 26 SE
Bullfinch - 1 high to S
Siskin - 5 SE
alba Wagtail - 4 SE
Meadow Pipit - 1+2+4 SE (late for this spp)
Twite - 5 'in-off' joining the NHW flock (see below)
Linnet - 2 S
Redwing - just 2 SW
Woodpigeon - 37 S/SW
Song Thrush - 2 S

Grounded migrants/movement at a lower level than above
Long-tailed Tit - at least 120 passed through generally to the south in 7 definitely different flocks, possibly at least two more unduplicated flocks
Coal Tit - at least 16 migrants to the south (plus two more sedate ringed birds)
Chiffchaff - a greyish individual which remained silent
Goldcrest - absolute minimum of 20 around the office with at least a further 10 down Moneyclose Lane
Blackbird - 30+ first thing - most flew inland
Blue Tit - 2 unringed birds trapped but no obvious movement
Wheatear - one on the NHwall mound (thanks John!)

North harbour wall
Twite - maximum of 36 during 10mins of observation, including 5 'in-off'
Linnet - one
Med Gull - 3 adults
Shag - at least three juveniles scattered around near high tide

Outfalls
Arctic Tern - juv still present mid afternoon

Elsewhere
Drake Scaup Conder Pool, also Common Sandpiper still in the area plus 2 Greenshank [no sign Common Scoter]

a bits and bobs early morning

Heysham Obs
Missed some vis due to the closed Halton-Slyne rat run but surely nothing dramatic

North harbour wall & area 0730-0800
Shag - now five juvs around the harbour waterfall and having exclusive access to the food as everything else scared off by nearby dredger activity
Med Gull - the elusive 1st W was patrolling the north wall and at least one adult was also seen
Whooper Swan - 6 high to the SE
'Twinnet' - none at all early am, 8 Twite later
no Shelduck moving at all

Vis mig 0730-0900 (north wall to 0800, office 0805-0900)
Siskin - 22+16 SE
Chaffinch - 41 SW
Redwing - 1 SW
Meadow Pipit - 2 SE
alba Wagtail - 3 SE
Greenfinch - 2 SW
Goldfinch - 4 SE
Linnet - 3 SE
Coal Tit - 5 S

Grounded by office
Goldcrest - at least 8
Blackbird - 3 migrants - flew inland
Redwing - 2 along Moneyclose Lane

Ocean Edge/outfalls
Arctic Tern - just the juv seen in very brief visit

Elsewhere
A few Woodpigeon on the Caton Moor vis but otherwise a trickle of Chaffinch

Good numbers of Shelduck & Whooper Swan for here

Heysham Obs
Not windy enough.

North harbour wall/seawatching from outfalls side to 1100hrs
Diver spp - one out & one landing by yellow buoys early afternoon
Whooper Swan - 24 SSW 0857hrs and 5 ad & 1 imm similarly 0908hrs
Mute Swan - 2 out close inshore
Rock Pipit - 1
Linnet - 3
Twite - 3
Pintail - 11 out
Shelduck - 228 out
Shag - 4 juvs at the waterfall (& one Cormorant) - one of these has a British ring which should be readable if/when it sits on the lower tier of the platform - and indeed the last four digits were duly read by Jon Wright and Richard Du Feu late afternoon. This should be enough to trace a juv i.e. definitely ringed in 2008.
Med Gull - 2 adults

Stage 2 outfall/Red Nab
Kingfisher - 1
Wigeon - 23
Arctic Tern - ad & juv
Little Gull - 2nd W early am only
Merlin - early afternoon

Middleton IE
12 Coot, 9 Tufted Duck, 3 Pochard, 2 Mallard, 12 Teal, 3 Snipe

Moths
Large Wainscot and Brick in the trap, the latter new for the year

Elsewhere
Female Scaup Freeman's Pool and Common Scoter Conder Pool

A little window prior to the rain

Heysham Obs
Try NHW seawatching first thing tomorrow & hope there is already stuff in the bay before the wind heads NW - a few coastal Leach's to the north of here

Wind completely useless for seawatching - far too far to the south - but a bit of effort produced a reasonable selection, albeit nothing definitely 'new in' apart from perhaps the 2nd W Little Gull. Another landmark achieved this autumn - the only coastal migration site with daily coverage in the whole country not to have received Yellow-browed Warbler......... or more accurately, didnt find what must have been (based on mid/late autumn Chiffchaff numbers) at least one somewhere (Walney "fell" yesterday - so they are still around at this latitude)?!

North Harbour Wall seawatch 0930-1030 hrs (Rain from 1010)
Shelduck 2+5+5 'out'
Eider 1 'out'
Med Gull - 3 adult
Shag - 1 juv wooden jetty
Great-Crested Grebe 3 close in to seawall
Ringed Plover 11 Helipad

Quick check NHW area 1115hrs
Shag - 2 at the waterfall in harbour (& at least one Cormorant)
'Twinnet' - flock of 16 in flight only over the mound - both sp. calling

Stage 2 Outfall in atrocious conditions, viewed through the murk from O Edge
Arctic Tern - ad & juv
"Commic Tern" - only seen briefly but presumably the juv Common seen yesterday
Little Gull - one 2nd W

Late afternoon glimpse of S2O in even worse conditions
Arctic Tern - juv the only tern seen
Little Gull - adult (definitely not the morning bird)

Office -area
Chaffinch 6 SW - one flock

Elsewhere
Dead as regards new arrivals apart from a female Scaup on Freeman's Pools. Mass transfer of Black-tailed Godwits etc. to Warton Floods - scope & high-powered wide angle lens from Warton Crag road layby. Still two Curlew Sandpiper Allen/EM Pools before the rain - getting late for these.

Much much better!

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Snow Bunting, probably male [based on extensive wing flash], flushed by vehicle from the seaward base of the sandplant bank - flew low 'over the top', trilling & left for other observers to follow up (0950hrs). This was on the return journey from the harbour mouth & the bird had presumably moved over from the sunny side or just arrived, as it was not present 10 minutes earlier. No further information received on whether it had been relocated but not obviously on the NHW at lunchtime, but there are 'blind spots' in the sandworks.
Purple Sandpiper - A solitary individual on the seawall by the harbour mouth - flew along towards the heliport
Shag - One on the wooden jetty and three around the waterfall area (& 4 Cormorant). All juvs
Twite - minimum of 5, later 7
Shelduck - 71 out in five flocks in 25 minutes intermittent observation
Med Gull - three Ad joined incoming IOM ferry
Great-crested Grebe - two in the harbour

Stage 2 outfall
Arctic Tern - Juvenile joining the long-staying adult
Common Tern - juvenile with quite a bit of ginger still late afternoon at least
Little Gull - ad briefly, then flew out to sea