Eerie silence

Heysham Obs
A late afternoon trawl round the nature reserve was extremely quiet with no Wrens or Dunnocks etc. despite liberal pishing. This was especially noticeable in the usually favoured alder copse/boardwalk area

Heysham NR
Redwing - 2
Moorhen - 1

North harbour wall/wooden jetty
Purple Sandpiper - two on the seawall by the small lighthouse
Med Gull - two adults
Twite - 37 (all ringed)
Linnet - 3 at least
Goldfinch - 2 (one ringed)
dead Brown Rat


Heliport
HGV Trailer - 3 (New species roosting on the helipad)

Ocean Edge/Red Nab area
Wigeon - 151

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!