Proper moths at last

Heysham Obs
Apart from a single obscure 'micro', this is the first moth catch of the year for an 'open' site which is always a little slow compared to some of the local oak woodlands (up to 87 moths per night of 10 species at Millhouses, nr Wray this week)

Moths
Dotted Border (4) and the first Satellite (below) since 2003.

Elsewhere
Great Grey Shrike Dalton Crags this morning. 2nd W Med Gull flew over A683 at Denny beck this am - this looked like the very elusive inland-feeding bird which was seen earlier this winter on single occasions at Pine Lake and Claughton

Heysham Obs.

North harbour wall 

Purple Sandpiper 2 below wooden jetty

Red-throated Diver 2 offshore

Wigeon 3 'out'

Shelduck 1 + 1 'in'

Eider 5 'in' + 1 'out'

Skylark call - not sighted

Skylarks on the move

North harbour wall  (low tide 1103 hrs)

Skylark 4 + 2 North  1000 hrs

Purple Sandpiper 2 below wooden jetty

Med Gull adult S1 outfall

Red-throated Diver 1 offshore

Shelduck 2 + 2 'in'

No sign of any Twite

Brief search

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Med Gull - one adult

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Dunlin - 465
Wigeon - 114
apparent influx of Lesser Black-backed Gull (27 seen)

Elsewhere
Nothing locally bird-wise (by 1530 at least). 71 moths of 8 species in MV trap at Millhouses, nr Wray last night including another Small Brindled Beauty
and a North Lancashire single-trap record catch of 17 Spring Usher

Three Purple Sandpiper again

Heysham Obs
Purple Sandpiper - 3 on the wooden jetty

Turnstone - 19
Med Gull - 2 adults in the harbour

Ocean Edge

Lapwing - 98

Bar-tailed Godwit - 1

Red Nab

Wigeon -116

Turnstone - 42

"seen from" recording area boundary

Loads of Pink-footed Geese carefully grilled on the edge of the recording area in fields next to the Heysham bypass by the new roundabout. Estimated 2,800 - all definitely PFG. One neck collar (TJT). Going through this stuff is a very poor substitute for the former similar scrutiny of the hordes of gulls next to Lancaster tip!

Elsewhere

There seem to be two Waxwings in Lancaster, the reliable Leighton Drive bird and another at the junction of Cedar and Lune roads. 13 Little Egret roosting at Leighton. A few moths last night included what must be a candidate for a February sheet and light record = 102 Pale Brindled Beauty plus a further 19 moths of three other species in about 1.5hrs at Cold Park Wood near Wray. The first Small Brindled Beauty of the year in the nearby overnight trap at Millhouses

Murky afternoon

Heysham Obs
Twite - 3 on north harbour wall. 6 over harbour pm.

Purple Sandpiper 3 roosting on lower beams of wooden jetty at high tide one of which proceeded to bathe in the sea, then preening back on the jetty.

Turnstone - 70 at roost with Purps.

Ocean Edge

Mute Swan - one adult

Dunlin - 21 + 6 at Red Nab

+ observed as wated covered salt mash (MD)

176 lapwing

49 snipe (0 jack snipe)

c60 golded plover (flying low SE)

3 goldeneye (flying NW - not the three from the IE)

Ringed Plover - the often elusive flock of 12 roosting on beach by Ocean Edge saltmarsh, including a metal-ringed male (trying to chase the others off) and another sighting of the following colour-ringed individual:

NW23526 Adult female

Ringed as a nestling at Snettisham, Norfolk on 16/7/04

Subsequently nested at Snettisham in at least 2005, 2006 and 2008

Seen: Cockersands on 30/9/07 by Ian Hartley

Seen: Ocean Edge caravan park foreshore 19/9/08 & 14/11/08 & 14/2/09

Middleton Industrial est

9 mute

12 coot

1 moorhen

3 goldeneye

4 mallard

7 tufted

4 teal

1 snipe

Elsewhere
Ad Med Gull Skerton Weir. 5 Tundra Bean just out of the area at Bone Hill near Pilling. Waxwing still Leighton Drive and single Spotted Redshank & Green Sandpiper Aldcliffe

Bursting into song

Heysham Obs
You could almost do an early CBC today as the local songbirds celebrated 6ish degrees C! The rest of the birding slot was depressingly familiar; indeed 'credit crunch birding', as the deserted MFI car park offered views of a fair chunk of the by-pass PFGs (and not a hint of anything else) via two hedges. Five minutes along the north wall produced the only 'mentionables'

North harbour wall
Med Gull - Czech adult on the railings
Purple Sandpiper - one creeping about under the outer section of wooden jetty
Red-throated Diver - 2 offshore long with loads of flotsam, mainly branches
No Twite seen

Elsewhere
Greenshank photographed near the railway viaduct at Arkholme - a mega inland record in winter. Spotted Redshank reported there recently as well along with the more usual Green Sandpiper. Waxwing still Leighton Drive, Lancaster mid-afternoon. No sign of either the Aldcliffe nor Bull Beck Greylags & at least 80% of the Heysham bypass geese were scoped and were all Pinkfeet, with the only species which could possibly have been overlooked in the other binocular-scanned 20% = Tundra Bean

Flying visit

Heysham Obs
North wall
Med Gull ad

"Seen from" alongside bypass
c2,000 PF Geese seen whilst driving, possibly more

Ringing
Two opportunities to observe a proportion of a flock of 27 Twite by Crook Cottage, Lune Estuary revealed 8/8 and 10/11 were Heysham 2008/9-ringed. Some of the first lot may have been in the second lot!

Elsewhere
Med Gull - Ad Skerton (not P96). Waxwing still Leighton Drive, Lancaster early morning at least & one reported on Station Road in High Bentham

Monoculture

Heysham Obs
First of all, thanks to Tracy Kilifin in Heysham 2 Doc Centre for photocopying the North Lancashire Naturalists annual report. This will be available at Leighton Moss in a few days and is well worth the value at a nominal £1-50

"Seen from" the edge of the recording area
Pink-footed Goose: Monoculture ruled alongside Heysham bypass with uniform 'improved' grassland hosting perhaps the biggest flock of Pink-footed Geese I have ever seen gone through in detail not holding any other species. Perhaps about 5,150 but estimates during the day varied, perhaps indicating some coming and going.

North wall
Med Gull - 2 adults
Twite - c30 flying around the sandworks

Nothing at all wader-wise on the wooden jetty

Red Nab
Flock of 30 Turnstone appeared (in flight) to be accompanied by a Purple Sandpiper but the flock landed out of sight on Red Nab & no time to check.

Elsewhere
Waxwing: A third-day bird at north Warton finally surfaced in the public domain and the singleton similarly remained at Leighton Drive, Lancaster. Most unusual to have two separate singletons at this stage of the winter.

Ferry fare

Heysham Obs
Brief visit to NHW at lunchtime
Twite - none - no obvious food & surface of ground 'scuffed and disturbed'. Plenty of nyger seed put down
Med Gull - 2 adults around ferry - one followed it in from at least No 8 buoy and the other was in the harbour
Purple Sandpiper - two on the wooden jetty - one roosting with Turnstone (c30) on the top of the middle section, the other creeping around the lower cross-pieces of the outer section
Kittiwake - adult distantly behind IOM ferry - peeled off & flew out
Red-throated Diver - 2 offshore (HT)

Red Nab
76 Wigeon
New barrier system in operation at Ocean Edge

Ringing
3 Heysham-ringed Twite (all three birds) with c150 Linnet in set-aside near Aldcliffe
One Heysham-ringed Twite and three unringed birds at Knott End

Observers: Dan Haywood (Aldcliffe), Chris Batty (Knott End) & Pete Marsh

Elsewhere
The 4 European White-fronted Geese are now back at Aldcliffe (from yesterday). DB Brent with Greylags at Bull Beck but not obviously there later on. Waxwing still at Leighton Drive late afternoon. 3000+ Pinkfeet alongside Heysham bypass but difficult to watch safely. One neck-collar but no obvious sign of any other species.