Some 'extreme' vis mig in clear & sun-glaring conditions

Heysham Obs
A bit frustrating today with a lot of high vis and very glaring sun in the SE quadrant. Better weather tomorrow with easterly drift kicking in and some decent potential for people checking coastal bushes etc.. Please phone/text Jean Roberts, not Pete re-any birding issues this weekend (mobile not working)

Vis
Green Sandpiper - 2 flew from the direction of Middleton sewage works and headed towards OE at c1050hrs
Goose spp (Greylag/Canada-size) - 5S
flava Wagtail - heard but not seen Middleton IE
Common Buzzard - heard to the SE, but not seen, Middleton IE, then 2 to the south as seen from the HNR office at 1040hrs [rare here]
alba Wagtail - 5
Grey Wagtail - about 17 SE (6 ringed)
Meadow Pipit - very difficult to estimate but certainly not huge numbers - 45 over reserve & seemingly slightly more over Middleton IE
Jay - one appeared to be on the move on its own ('resident' family party here)
Linnet - 3
Swallow - 8
Chaffinch - 4
House Martin - 1
Reed Bunting - 1 over HNR, 2 ringed Middleton

Grounded (far too clear & little around e.g. no Goldcrest again)
Chiffchaff - 1+
Robin - 'a few' (3 ringed)
Sedge Warbler - one Middleton IE

Elsewhere
Golden Oriole Witherslack area late morning - seen on at least two occasions

Very very slow!

Heysham Obs
Lengthy work/vis/work/mistnetting coverage around the office today. Most unusual for here was a flock of 7 Golden Plover high to the SE

Vis mig - high flying birds heading S/SE/E
Grey Wagtail - 7 (2 ringed)
Meadow Pipit - 82
House Martin - 16
Collared Dove - 6
Siskin - 4
alba Wagtail - 6
Chaffinch - 7
Reed Bunting - 1
Pink-footed Goose - 51 (flock) south at 0815hrs
Carrion Crow - 2
Swallow - 21
Goldfinch - 3
Linnet - 7
Golden Plover - 7 (flock) SE
Blue Tit - c6

Anting over the office
One adult Med Gull

Ringing
Very slack with 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 Robin & a few Great & Blue Tit & Greenfinch

Moth trap
One Copper Underwing

Elsewhere
Nothing as yet

Morning dew & squeaks in the stratosphere

Heysham Obs
First lightish (very 'ish') coverage to 1000 by office

Vis mig
Meadow Pipit - 267 SE; many high ones missed
Grey Wagtail - 6 (4 colour-ringed)
Skylark - heard once (first of autumn)
Siskin - flock of 4 seen, 3 'lots' heard but not seen
Reed Bunting - 2 SE
Collared Dove - one high-flying bird SE
alba Wagtail - 16 SE
Chaffinch - 3 S
Coal Tit - 2+3 high to the south
Linnet - 2 S
Goldfinch conspicuous by its absence with none seen!

Grounded
Goldcrest - one - late first record of the autumn
Robin - several ticking and chasing but none trapped
Dunnock - a few fidgety birds 'first thing' but no obvious vis mig
Chiffchaff - 2
Whitethroat - one
Blackcap - one
Wheatear - 2

Ocean Edge etc pm high tide
Common Tern - one juv outfalls
Med Gull - 1st W Red Nab
Eider - female offshore
Grey Plover - 100+ distantly along OE tideline

Elsewhere
Curlew Sandpiper, presumably juv, Leighton Moss. Ruddy Darter male Bankwell. Injured Nightjar taken into care at Silverdale

This is more like it

................apart from being too sunny and windy to mist net any Grey Wagtails. The only operational mist net was amongst the bushes and produced about 25 birds, mainly Greenfinch

Heysham Obs
Vis by the office 0645 intermittently to 0900hrs, then even more intermittent!
Meadow Pipit - 71SE & 15 others casually recorded
Grey Wagtail - 14SE & 3 others casually recorded
Reed Bunting - 1SE
House Sparrow - 4S, then grounded on tank farm
alba Wagtail - 17SE
Swallow - 3S
Tree Pipit - 1S
Siskin - 4SW
Chaffinch - 3 high-flying birds south

Grounded - all office area observations
At least 10 'fidgety' Dunnock with two lightweight and fat-less birds trapped
At least 6 'ticking' Robin first thing by the office (3 lightweight birds ringed in the one operational net)
Coal Tit - 2
Chiffchaff - 3+ (one ringed)
Willow Warbler - 1
Blackcap - 3
Lesser Whitethroat - 1-2

Quick check from OE foreshore

This is the 1000th post, to be followed later by a celebratory lunch of microwaved Manx Kippers

Ocean Edge/Red Nab/outfalls low tide, then near high tide
Common Tern - 2 juvs
Arctic tern - juv
Med Gull - 2+ ads & 1st W
Black-tailed Godwit - just one
Swallow - 18S in 25 minutes

North harbour wall
Wheatear - 2

Elsewhere
Distant auk spp. off Stone jetty 0830ish, Puffin not ruled out

A few bits at low tide

Could do with a vis migger this autumn - our most regular observer is not available. Please contact Jean. Thanks.

Heysham Obs
Med Gull - 2 juv/1st W off Red Nab
Common Tern - juv Stage one outfall
Arctic Tern - juv (with above) Stage one outfall
Grey wagtail - 4SE
no Meadow Pipit vis early morning
Wheatear on North Harbour Wall

Vis by the office 0900-0930 & casually
Swallow - 3 S + 16S late afternoon
Meadow Pipit - 2S
alba Wagtail - 1S
Carrion Crow - flock of 6 SE - quite early the the autumn for obviously migrating corvids
Siskin - 2 flew south late afternoon

Grounded by the office
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Whitethroat - 1

Ringing
Some scintillating ringing late afternoon, as the wind relented, comprising a mixture of Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Dunnock and Blue Tit

Elsewhere
Osprey high over Aldcliffe early pm

Thorough check of outfalls at low tide

Todays German-ringed Med being ringed on the Elbe estuary!

Heysham Obs
This just goes to show that quick scans with a scope from the Ocean Edge end are not enough. A lot of the Meds were on the mudflats between the wooden jetty and Stage one outfall and these are not visible from quick from-the-car-scanning on the north harbour wall or Ocean Edge. Thanks to Mark Prestwood for sorting out last week's green darvic individual (see below) and also confirming the continued presence of the Czech-ringed adult

Ringing recovery
Med Gull
Ringed: Pionierinsel Luhe, Elbe Est, Niedersachen, Germany, Ad F nest 23/5/09
Seen: Knott End, Preesall Sands 6/8-21/8/09 (4 occasions)
Seen: Heysham outfalls 30/8 & 6/9/09

Outfalls area early-mid morning
Arctic Tern - one juv
Common Tern - ad & juv
Med Gull - 5 adult, one 3CY & 4 juv/1st W (see above) - presumably 2 of these ads on Red Nab
Common Gull - 2 juv
Wheatear - 6

North harbour wall
Fulmar - 1
Shag reported

Vis 1025-1050 office area
Grey Wagtail - 3 SE together at 1040
Meadow Pipit - 1SE!
Swallow - 6S

Middleton IE
Tufted Duck - 11 (including 4 juvs)
Raven - pr & 3 young

Elsewhere
Nothing yet on pager

Trumped by the Mersey

Heysham Obs
Fairly decent wind for us today with quite a bit of 'S' in it compared to yesterday. So the Mersey mouth should be 'rubbish' compared to Morecambe Bay, but this wasn't the case with prolonged views of what appears to be Lancashire's (forget the 'north merseyside' bit) first Wilson's Petrel. As regards here, its amazing how a bird as cumulatively common as Leach's Petrel, where I have personally seen hundreds over the years at Heysham, creates so much excitement when the first of the year=usually autumn is seen! This happened today.

North harbour wall 0915-0945 & 1130ish to 1415ish
Leach's Petrel - one out at about 1146hrs (& possibly it or another, or indeed a completely different species/genus/taxon, wheeling in at very long range at c1220hrs)
Black Tern - juvenile out close inshore at 1214hrs (but not on outfalls=HT)
Gannet - 5 adult out, 2CY in (very close)
Med Gull - juvenile & adult blogging - still not sure whether this is the Czech -ringed bird (see also below)
Sandwich tern - 2 ad out, ringed bird close inshore at HT (see Lee Harrison site)

Ocean Edge/Red Nab/outfalls various times during the morning (4 observers)
Med Gull - large adult & different juvenile
Common Tern - 2 adult, 2 juv
Arctic Tern - one juv, still inshore at HT
Wheatear - 7 along recording area coastline

Elsewhere
Ad F Marsh Harrier SW over Braides Farm, Cockerham 1845hrs

Bit of early morning seawatching

Weather watch: Anyone targeting tomorrow; might be best to stay local and not 'waste your time' on the Mersey (unless there is a lingering 'one-off' (aaaargh, there was)). The strength of the wind is not particularly clever, but it is the right direction over the tide for Heysham & even JBP. Fingers crossed for a decent bird on the (power station) outfalls. Please could you leave interesting bird sightings = e.g. all seabirds in the letterbox on the HNR car park fence. Thanks - this includes all terns these days!

Heysham Obs
The wind was too north-westerly to drive any numbers of seabirds into the Bay today but did produce some terns to look at after what has been a tern-starved year for lingering, especially perching birds. Ocean Edge south beach roost held a nice 'combo' at 1315hrs of juvenile Arctic Tern, adult Common Tern, ad & juv Meds and.....Mute Swan. Need to get the camera organised.

North harbour wall & Ocean Edge on & off until c1050hrs
Arctic Skua - 2 juv into the bay, one close
Arctic Tern - 1 ad Red Nab, i juv roosting OE early afternoon
Common Tern - 2 juv outfalls for a short time, ad roosting OE early afternoon
Sandwich Tern - 3; one juv outfalls, 2 out
Kittiwake - juv out
Gannet - 3 offshore
Guillemot - one 2CY in harbour
Med Gull - ad & juv Red Nab, later OE south beach/saltmarsh
Mute Swan - adult Ocean Edge off south shore

See new link http://leeharrisonsnaturephotography.blogspot.com/ for photos of ad & juv Meds at Heysham Harbour mouth

Elsewhere
Wood Sandpiper Conder area, Curlew Sandpiper juv at Braides Farm fields

Coverage of sorts produces a few seabirds

Not a lot of optimism about tomorrow re- decent numbers of seabirds and anyone at JBP is probably completely wasting their time, as it is going to be a very marginal direction for even Heysham. Also no obvious influx of Leach's Petrel today - remember the current depression, formerly storm 'Danny', was originally tropical and therefore on perhaps too southerly a track over the Atlantic. Early to mid-morning probably worth a look for a few bits and bobs

Heysham Obs
Rather belated intermittent coverage from 1000-1300 from both the outfalls and north harbour wall side. A sizeable wheeling thing at about 1150hrs looked interesting but it was too far away... By far the commonest birds were wheeling juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gulls!

Coastal area
Skua spp - one out rather distantly at 1020hrs was probably a juv/dm Arctic
Bonxie - 2 seeming to follow the IOM ferry in about 1155hrs, then across the bay
Gannet - 7
Fulmar - 4
Manx Shearwater - 17, including a straggling flock of 14
Arctic Tern - one juv
Sandwich Tern - 2
Med Gull - ad & 2nd W off Ocean Edge, the latter perhaps a 'new' bird
Eider - 2 off Ocean Edge
Wheatear - one n.h. wall

Elsewhere
Wood Sandpiper Conder area. 4 Bonxies flew out as seen from JBP at about 1300hrs