First Cetti's confirmed

Heysham Obs
An early start and the red clouds backed by darker stuff to the west postponed the moth trap check and leisurely start in favour of pre-rain Heysham. Not too bad, although offshore scans before the tide started moving were completely fruitless. A 'probable' Cetti's Warbler on Middleton IE (two calls in 10 days in poor weather) was firmed up this morning by a single burst of song

North harbour wall
Shag - two juveniles in the harbour mouth, one of which sat on the harbour wall and revealed that it was unringed
Purple Sandpiper - one on the outermost bit of skeer under the wooden jetty (took some finding!)
Med Gull - one adult loafing around in the harbour
Twite - none at all until about 1015 when a flock of 66 & one Linnet materialised from the south. Two opportunities to check them on the seed revealed: two Askam-in Furness birds ringed autumn/winter 2008/9, 7 ringed here earlier this autumn, 8 ringed here autumn/winter 2008/9. This leaves a rather unexpected 49 unringed birds.
Starling - flock of 270 'in-off' then SE!
Rock Pipit - one heard, but no Meadow Pipit seem to be left

Ocean Edge foreshore
Lapwing - 160 - continuing the upward trend started last late autumn

Middleton IE
Woodpigeon - 26SE
Cetti's Warbler - Presumably the bird which was inconclusively heard calling twice in the last 10 days (location hampered by dreadful weather) gave a single burst of song (& a couple of calls) this morning alongside the 'no swimming pond' - the one immediately to the west of the model boat pond

Elsewhere
Nothing yet

Whistle-stops

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall 0945-0955
Twite - 19
Med Gull - ad
Red-throated Diver - one out

Ocean Edge saltmarsh high tide
Too low to kick out any Jack Snipe
Snipe - 6
Twite - perhaps the same 19 as on the north harbour wall

Elsewhere
Nothing yet

Wet birds

Heysham Obs
Three well-spaced short checks of the sea/outfalls saw the wind far too far to the south for most of the day

North harbour wall
Twite - 9, 4+ unringed
Linnet - 4

Seawatches totalling 25 minutes
Pintail - flock of 5 out (never seen this species at rest in this area; invariably a product of (usually useless) wet & windy late autumn/winter seawatches)
Shelduck - 21+14 out

Elsewhere
Adult winter Spotted Redshank on the Regent road groyne (surely the 'usual' bird from north of the jetty displaced by rough seas and covered groynes?)

In the tranquil zone.........just

Heysham Obs
Flat calm seas and a gentle breeze but what a lot of rain! Decent thrush fall with one or two other bits and bobs but no obvious sign of yesterdays Black Redstart

Heysham NR/Landscape strip
Blackbird - obvious influx with at least 80 birds
Song Thrush - 9 seen
Blackcap - female in the NR car park bramble
Chiffchaff - collybita-type along the NR top path

Coastal areas
Almost a complete blank with no obvious sign of any Twite or remaining food and just:
Med Gull - ad following dredger
..........worthy of note

Ringing returns
A Twite ringed on one of the two Heysham north harbour wall sessions this autumn was seen at Askam in Furness on 16th November - a north-westerly movement usually associated with the return passage (of western Scottish birds) in spring! Wonder if it was a Pennine bird doing a 180 degree migratory 'error'? Eddie Maguire at Machrihanish Bird Observatory on the Mull of Kintyre has also sent details of two of our birds which obviously bred in the vicinity with a few repeat sightings during summer/early autumn 2009.

Elsewhere
Nothing yet

Unexpected surprise given the weather

Heysham Obs
A check to see what might have been blown in to the intake area of the harbour was halted half way to watch a Black Redstart being chased by a Robin by the old Fishers building (the derelictish blue one on the SE side of the harbour). Nothing storm blown appeared to be in the nooks and crannies or offshore.

Harbour area/north wall
Black Redstart - female/immature as above by trailer TL512 at 1215hrs - last seen disappearing into Fishers building
Med Gull - adult in flight
Twite - c10
Linnet - c5

Ocean Edge/Red Nab early morning
Rock Pipit - 2
Snipe - 4
Raven - 2 over SW

Late afternoon outfalls check
Little Gull - adult seaward end of stage one outfall
Med Gull - 2 adults, presumably including the above, seaward end S1O.

Elsewhere
Slavonian Grebe still Pine Lake

North harbour wall battering

Heysham
North Harbour Wall
Mediterranean Gull - 1 adult
Linnet - 5 on seed
Twite - 9 on seed. 2/3 unringed.
No others in area - very strong wind/heavy rain.
(ajd)

Woodpigeons at last!

Heysham
We have recently lost a key vis migger and how we have suffered during this late autumn as (upland survey) work prioritised for the remainder of us on the dwindling number of suitable mornings. Fortunately Brian Yorke has nicely dovetailed with the unavailability at Caton Moor and Heysham and provided a good daily baseline of excellent counts from Hutton Roof to add to the partial-coverage 'cameos' from the rest of the sites. Fortunately Malcolm was out and about this morning and at last allowed us to make a contribution to the Woodpigeon conundrum e.g. why do our movements largely take place AFTER the main departure over Portland etc. of birds obviously migrating to the continent? Look at the thread on the LDBWS site and the various national vis mig sites (see Links, then they will give other Links!)

Middleton IE
Pink footed Goose - between 08.45 & 09.10 - 84(N), 33(S), 148(N), 160, 280, 320 (all N).
Wood Pigeon - 11, 8, 76, 6, 59 & 36 (all S)
Snipe - 1 plus 11 landed, 16 S.
Mute Swan - 2 plus 3 east
Coot - 4
Moorhen - 2
Little Grebe - 8
Tufted Duck - 1
Pochard - 1 M
Goldeneye - 1 M
Teal - 17
Mallard - 7

Ocean Edge
Jack Snipe - 1

Red Nab
Wigeon - 61

(thanks to Malcolm for the above)

Elsewhere
3 Great White Egret Leighton Moss. Slavonian Grebe Pine Lake. Black Redstart Cockersands

Twittering

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Twite - A nice build up of Twite this morning after a week of erratic low numbers. The maximum count involved 14 unringed birds on the seed and a more mobile mixed 'Twinnet' flock of c20
Med Gull - one adult in harbour

Ocean Edge etc
Little Gull - a 1CY was resting on the sea with Black-headed Gulls off Red Nab

Elsewhere
Great White Egret - 2 left the Leighton Moss roost and headed past JBP towards Humphrey Head. Slavonian Grebe still Pine Lake having avoided being WeBS counted yesterday!

No obvious sign of Snow Bunting

Heysham Obs
No sign of the Snow Bunting during reasonably thorough search. No sign at all of any Purple Sandpiper despite careful search of the outer skeer along the base of the wooden jetty (location during last winter's habitual behaviour at this stage of the tide). The depression track of the one hitting us this evening is pretty useless - it looks too far to the south for any decent prolonged seabird winds....but only needs a little shift

North harbour wall
Rock Pipit - 1
Twite - 8 in situ early am and 12 psychic individuals which flew high to the north over Ocean Edge/Red Nab/outfalls undoubtedly 'hearing' that the food had just been put out (1215hrs). More seriously, the Twite are very mobile at the moment and these birds came from the south of Ocean Edge saltmarsh (which didnt appear to hold any Twite today), probably from the Lune Estuary. 13 Twite on the seed late afternoon
Linnet - 4
Med Gull - 1 ad
Pink-footed Goose - 140 + 130 NE 0730-0800
Meadow Pipit - 2

HNR Office 0905
Canada Goose - 1 SE!!

Elsewhere
Black Redstart just OOA at Cocker's Dyke (but visible from area boundary ramp?!) & Black Redstart still at Cockersands abbey farm. Great Grey Shrike near 'trig point' at Dalton Crag at least 1000hrs & 1130hrs. 3 Great White Egret into roost at Leighton Moss this evening (& one still Ribble/Southport area). Cetti's Warblers seen/heard along causeway & lower hide area (2 birds). No obvious sign of Slav Grebe on Pine Lake during WeBS count

Snow Bunting

Pics taken today by Lou Cross along the north harbour wall. Thanks Lou

Heysham Obs
The only sighting known about today was a Snow Bunting along the north harbour wall found by Lou Cross on a lunchtime walk. Pics imminent

Elsewhere
Black Redstart still Cockersands Abbey area. At least one Great White Egret Leighton Moss area. The third Cetti's Warbler of the autumn (heard yesterday) was trapped and ringed at Leighton Moss