Two visits, same birds

Heysham Obs
Two short north-harbour wall trips by Tom & myself recorded pretty well the same birds

Twite - 37 (flew off before rings could be examined)
Linnet - 2
Goldfinch - 1
Med Gull - ringed (Czech) & unringed adults

Heysham NR
Redwing - 4
Long-tailed Tit - flock of just 2

Elsewhere
Female Common Scoter Sandylands (present one week?). Two Cetti's Warbler Leighton Moss causeway

A trip to the nyger seed

North Harbour Wall
Med Gull - 1 adult
Song Thrush -1 still around Sand Plant entrance
Linnet - 5 (unringed)
Goldfinch - 1 (unringed)
Twite - 33 (All ringed: 1 Y over B/W, 1 P over W/B, 11 P over Y/P, 20 P over W/R). The Yellow/BW one is probably the same long-stayer from Askam-in Furness (ringed autumn 2008)

Celebrity-free Oystercatcher count

Heysham Obs
The most demanding task this morning was counting Oystercatchers as they gradually departed the Red Nab high tide roost. Apparently there is a reality TV programme doing the same thing. Must get in touch with my agent. The dribs and drabs count of departees actually added up to the original roost estimate. Yippee, although it was just over 500, not a challenging several k!

Red Nab/Ocean Edge
Three hour count was highlighted by birds NOT in the study area, but just to the south:
Bar-tailed Godwit - 211 feeding off Ocean Edge just to the south of the saltmarsh channel
Black-tailed Godwit - 2
Med Gull - 'new'? adult with very well-defined mask and black-banded bill on the sand just south of Ocean Edge. Legs not seen & sneaked off whilst counting elsewhere
Knot - 2,700 along the Middleton tideline
Dunlin - 870 along the Middleton tideline
Grey Plover - 18 scattered around
Wigeon - 151 Red Nab

North wall (thanks Mark)
Twite - 14 at feeder
Med Gull - one adult
Song Thrush - still in SD36V by the sandworks

Elsewhere
Scaup - male and two females between Scalestones Point and 'Teal' Bay at 0915

Green Woodpecker bonus

Heysham Obs
Presumably one of last year's Green Woodpeckers was on the reserve this late afternoon - an unexpected bonus of a by no means guaranteed Heysham 'year tick'. This is because it is a BTO/Business Challenge year where everything seen and heard on EDF/British Energy property is added up and prizes given for various categories at the end of the year. Please note that the strip of land between the golf course and Middelton IE is technically BE property, along with the more obvious bits which also includes the whole(ish!) of Red Nab. Please contribute if you can. Thanks.

Middleton IE
The Mute Swan continues to reside in its tiny piece of water on the model boat pond and a single Water Rail was heard calling in the central marsh.

Giant hogweed forest (across the road from Middleton IE entrance)
Stonechat - one female

The above items were a product of the January survey covering SD45 on this side of the Lune. Unfortunately for recording purposes, the 10km square boundary runs right through the nature reserve.

Roe deer-fest

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall not safe to drive on due water-covered ice (per Jean)

A record four Roe Deer were present along the boundary scrub between Middleton IE and the golf course area

Middleton IE
Above zero!
Mute Swan - one on tiny bit of open water
Moorhen - 3
Reed Bunting - 2
Fieldfare - 170+
Redwing - 12
Pink-footed Goose - a chunk of the bypass birds - c650 - were visible flying about at one stage

Thorough coverage

Heysham Obs
Thanks to Malcolm for a lot of the coastal coverage today. Sea buckthorn is certainly proving a bit of a lifesaver for displaced Fieldfare

North harbour wall
Twite - 8
Med Gull - 1 ad
Great-crested Grebe - 47 visible on high mag between Heysham harbour and the Stone jetty in the low tide channels
Red-breasted Merganser - 23 visible as above

Ocean Edge saltmarsh edge
Jack Snipe - 1, Snipe - 9, Rock Pipit - 1, Song Thrush - 4 on tideline

South harbour wall
Purple Sandpiper - 2

Ocean Edge/Red Nab area
Low tide count off Red Nab: 171 Shelduck, 19 Dunlin, 44 Lapwing, 38 Redshank, 4 Ringed Plover, 2 Grey Plover, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 77 Oystercatcher, 212 Black-headed Gull, ad Med Gull, 15 Herring Gull, 7 Lesser black-backed Gull, 13 Common Gull, 3 Turnstone, 144 Wigeon, 22 Curlew. NO Knot!

Half-moon Bay/Moneyclose Lane
Fieldfare - 48, Redwing - 17

Heysham NR
Fieldfare - 1, Redwing - 8

Dog walk track
Fieldfare - 17, Redwing - 3

Above average numbers of Blackbird & Song Thrush

Heliport
1+ Reed Bunting, 15 Linnet (rare in winter here)

Elsewhere
Male and two female Scaup off Morecambe Town Hall (with male Tufted Duck). Bittern being disturbed by 'photographers', with the usual associated lack of any fieldcraft or protocol, at Leighton Moss causeway.

Foxy solitude

Heysham Obs
The only report today was a fox traversing the reserve this morning!


North Harbour Wall
A quick visit to replenish Twite food early afternoon.
Twite - 3, all ringed (2 yellow/blue, 1 white/red)
Goldfinch - 2 (1 ringed)
Song Thrush - 1 around sand plant entrance.
(ajd)

Driving on glass

Heysham Obs
Dont do the Moneyclose Lane Ocean Edge section at the moment - its sheet ice and yet still very "trafficky" as Ocean Edge are still clearing up for the winter break.

Overhead
Pink-footed Goose - c1,700, almost certainly not 'on the move' and seemed to swing back round to east & start to land (bypass fields?)

Reserve
Redwing - 6

Suburban Snipe

Heysham Obs
A Snipe was seen trundling along past the Trumacar stores. Desperate times as they try and find a bit of soft ground. Thanks to Tom & Alan for coverage

North wall area
Med Gull - 2 adult
Twite - 8
Blackbird - 2
Reed Bunting - 2+ heliport

Heysham one outfall
Grey Plover - 4

No sign of Purple sandpiper on wooden jetty

Elsewhere
3 Scaup north Morecambe, Purple Sandpiper Bubbles groyne midday but not later, 15 or so Whooper Melling but well camouflaged!

Sean's wintry vigil

Heysham Obs
Please note that as of yesterday permitted access land belonging to British Energy/EDF is officially closed due to snow and ice. This includes the Nature reserve paths, the "dog walk track"/landscape strip and the Nature Park. Anyone ignoring the notices or taped stiles etc. does so at their own risk. It is unlikely to be opened in the immediate future unless the medium term weather forecast is wrong

This does not mean that the coastal sites, which provide most of the birds at this time of year, are not accessible and we would be very grateful for any records - starting with today! Thanks very much & take care.

Sean's sightings from half moon bay & north harbour wall. Thanks Sean
Managed to get to Heysham this morning despite the snow and general chaos on the roads. A very snowy start to the day on site, with the low tide just before 9am. 12 Curlew feeding on the beach, with 90 Oystercatcher resting on the sand not moving in the snow. Small numbers of Eider, GC Grebe and RB Merganser were on the water, while a lone Wigeon drifted by. Only one flock of 100 PF Geese flew N to S mid morning, with two flocks of Knot (30 south, 25 in to roost on the harbour wall).

Fieldfare (30 + 24), Skylark (2 + 5), Twite (4 + 5, plus 20 at the feeding station area), Linnet (1), Meadow Pipit (3, 1 with a tail missing - must be from the local Spar or Merlins), Reed Bunting (3) all moving round between the fields behind half-moon bay and beach areas.

Several Snipe were raised by dog walkers, 3 Ringed Plover close in on the snow covered beach, 30 Turnstone huddled together with 130 Redshank before high tide (14:30), while 18 Lapwing moved between beach, fields and the helipad. Oystercatcher reached approx 2000 birds today during high tide, with only 25 Knot in amoungst them, this despite a height of 9.5m for the tide.

The afternoon did bring in some sunshine, which brought a lovely view over to the Lake District with all the snow over there. A quick stroll to the point after my surveys led to me locating the usual 2 adult Med Gulls, near the fishermen, 20 Twite on the mound and unusually for here a Dunnock and a few Fieldfare . PS. Finally caught up with the Purple Sandpiper, a lone agent on the seaward section of the jetty, no Turnstone with it though.

North Harbour Wall morning
Twite - 7
Dunnock - 1
Robin - 1
All on feeding station.