Routine calm weather fare

Heysham Obs
....including a survey vessel in and around the Kent channel which prevented a thorough diver count

North harbour wall
Med Gull - 2 adults around the angler rubbish tip
Purple Sandpiper - one on a lower section of the wooden jetty - hard to see (& 36 Turnstone, most of which were 'missed' on yesterdays WeBS)
Twite - two targeters moaning that "no-one had fed them recently and there weren't any there" (per angler). 15 on the south side of the mound
Red-throated Diver - one close inshore and definitely floating through the British Energy high seas just off Heysham One outfall!! Just one seen further out.

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Med Gull - adult Red Nab
Black-tailed Godwit - 3 on Ocean Edge saltmarsh included the colour-ringed bird, plus another 7 by Red Nab

Elsewhere
Absolutely zero of specific interest today on the LDBWS website - a male Ruff during a WeBS count at Bank End was a good winter record

Potentially tricky species in the BTO bag

Heysham Obs
An early WeBS count was the order of the day this morning as weekend work looms. Any results from coverage of the Obs area on Sunday & Monday gratefully received. Thanks. Kingfisher has been on the 'guaranteed' year list for some time now, but doubts after this last winter whether it would indeed make the 2010 BTO Business Challenge. No worries! The Red-throat was given the benefit of any doubt c/f the rather arbitrary line in the sea which denotes "British Energy property" and therefore also a BTO challenge qualifier.

Ocean Edge/Red Nab high tide
Kingfisher - a welcome return after no sightings so far this year (BTO challenge qualifier as landed on a rock on Red Nab)
Black-tailed Godwit - 21 remained to roost on the edge of OE saltmarsh (plus one Bar-tailed Godwit). Late afternoon - flock increased to 24 and included the colour-ringed bird.
Med Gull - adult roosting on Red Nab
Shelduck - 121 remaining by Red Nab at high tide
Wigeon - 89
Red-throated Diver - singleton off outfalls/Red Nab as close as they get here & just about(ish) within the requisite sea area re-BTO challenge. Three further birds miles out on the sea.

Offshore
Diver in flight which appeared to show characters of Black-throated, but it was miles away & getting even further away, heading towards the "left hand side" of the windfarm at about 1005hrs. Not having checked the pager, I was informed a BTD was seen of Rossall yesterday after making a phone call, so hopefully, if it is off-passage, clinching views from here in the next few days as the tides are getting higher. Three RTD miles out (see above)

Wooden jetty
Purple Sandpiper - one eventually crept out from behind a cross-piece
Old Fisher's roof
Med Gull - single adult - light bad - possibly another bird half-hidden

North harbour wall
18 Twite

Elsewhere
Unringed ad Med Skerton Weir.

LImited birding provides good local patch rewards

Heysham Obs
Ocean Edge foreshore
A bit late in the tidal sequence for a decent total with the birds very distant and the sun creeping round. However, one valuable discovery - the first Black-tailed Godwit bearing colour rings from here - ringed as an Icelandic chick on the preliminary info.
Black-tailed Godwit - 48 in three feeding flocks Red Nab-OE saltmarsh creek
Bar-tailed Godwit - 1 by Red Nab - will do for the BTO challenge!

North harbour wall
Red-throated Diver - 7 on a fairly calm sea, all but one rather distant
Great-crested grebe - 5 distant birds on the sea
Med Gull - Czech-ringed adult - actually read the ring today!
Twite - c20 tail-ends heading away from the feeder

Ringing by the office
A couple of mist net rounds produced another Long-tailed Tit, this time an unringed bird along with a single unringed Blue Tit but the remander of the catch was just retrap Tits/Robin/Dunnock with no finches around
Pink-footed Goose - 41 NW at 0915hrs

Elsewhere
4 Snow Geese near Leighton Moss

Red Nab and Ocean Edge return to form

Heysham Obs
A surprising amount of stuff off Ocean Edge/Red Nab on the dropping tide, now we have finished the survey which was becoming a bit of a 'jolly' during the rather birdless cold weather either side of New Year. Didnt have much time to check, due to only being at Heysham because a work folder had been left in the office! Thanks to Sean for records from the north side.

Off Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Med Gull - THREE adults on the mudflats and a further Ad or 2nd W following a ferry for a short period before peeling off and heading back out of the bay about 1/2 mile from port (no, it wasnt a Kittiwake!)
Black-tailed Godwit - 26 on the mudflats - possibly the first Feb record, but a continuation of last autumn's scenario
Sanderling - one with c96 Dunlin - great winter record!
Lapwing - 264 - very high count for here
Shelduck - 191
Ringed Plover - 27, including the Snettisham colour-ringed bird
Wigeon - 88 (the main motivation for the visit)

North wall
Meadow Pipit - one on beach at Half-moon bay - good winter record
Twite - c25
Med Gull - it seems that one adult remained on 'this side', making FIVE for the day - a good count for this time of year. None of these were the bird on Middleton IE model boat pond two days ago - that one was very well advanced into summer head plumage
Green Woodpecker calling from the scrub behind HM Bay car park

Elsewhere
Med Gull adults Greyhound bridge Lancaster and by the posh hotels just south of the Town hall along Morecambe seafront. Smew redhead still Freeman's Pools but no sign of American Wigeon at Conder Est in reduced numbers of Wigeon since 8/2,

Work!

Heysham Obs
Office feeder
Reed Bunting - 1 - a BTO challenge year tick

Overhead
Pink-footed Goose - 90 NW at 1415hrs

Elsewhere
Scaup - one female in low tide channel off north Morecambe. Redhead Smew Freeman's Pool late afternoon

Red letter moment for a small pond

Heysham Obs
Middleton model boat pond
Usually notable for Red-veined Darter dragonflies and 'dormant' in winter, it "excelled" itself this morning as every patch worker (but few others) will relate to:
Gadwall - pair (first of the year for the Obs area)
Med Gull - adult coming into summer plumage bathing - flew off SSW towards Potts Corner
Pochard - 5 males
Tufted Duck - 16
Goldeneye - 3

Middleton IE east Giant Hogweed forest
No sign of female Stonechat present 11/1, but two Wrens!

Heysham NR
First singing Chaffinch of the year

Twite ringing
The birds did not really behave this morning and there was a lot of disturbance. Nevertheless, with persistence, 20 Twite and one Linnet were caught. Surprisingly, considering ratios in the field, six unringed Twite were caught (& unringed Linnet). The retraps comprised birds from throughout the 2009 autumnal ringing, not just the later birds

Elsewhere
Ad drake American Wigeon present this afternoon at least with Eurasian Wigeon just north of the Conder/Lune confluence on the east side of the Lune. 41 Little Egret Ashton Hall roost (comprehensive count - last bird in at 1740hrs)

More foggy geese

Heysham Obs
c250 Pink-footed Geese were just about visible heading north-west over the office at 1015hrs

Heliport
Most of this is beginning to resemble self-generated set-aside (i.e. its not been mown for ages) and the four Reed Bunting were still present today along with two Snipe. A Raven was on nearby Heysham Head

Reserve
Green Woodpecker still here & singing Song Thrush

Elsewhere
Drake American Wigeon viewable from Glasson looking towards the Conder Estuary late afternoon (on the lowish tide?). NNEW on Smew at Freeman's Pool.

Challenging Size E

Heysham Obs
Office area
Pink-footed Goose - huge flock heard in the fog, then receded towards Oxcliffe area - probably not actual migration

Ringing by the office
A vicious Magpie brought the size E rings out of a two-year hibernation. The last one ended up in a larsen trap along Heysham bypass. Other new birds comprised: 4 Greenfinch, 2 Chaffinch, a Dunnock, 3 Blue Tit and a Great Tit. Yet another Long-tailed Tit was retrapped for the first time since the freeze, making at least 12 post-freeze birds using the feeder.

Middleton IE
4 Mute Swan, 6 Coot, 4 Moorhen, 13 Teal, 16 Tufted Duck, 3 Goldeneye, 5 Pochard, 4 Snipe

Elsewhere
Smew still on Freeman's Pool

Pinkfoot invasion..........

Heysham Obs
.................in the airspace over the NR office at dusk with 2,500-3,000 estimated, heading SW - surely the Heysham bypass birds taking a detour to the Lune Estuary roost (which doesn't take them over a certain
farm)

North wall
Song Thrush - still on the mound!
Twite - 34 - one unringed
Med Gull - 2 adults

Ocean Edge
Wigeon - 86
Med Gull - one adult on Red Nab near HT

Elsewhere
The Smew is back on Freeman's Pool.

Hormonal Twite

Heysham Obs
The temperature on the north harbour wall was a balmy 8.5 degrees C and the Twite were full of the 'joys' of spring. This included bickering and posturing over the food and a lot more racket than usual, including bursts of song

North harbour wall
Twite - 41, including 5 unringed birds
Med Gull - adult
Red-throated Diver - one offshore on the incoming tide

Elsewhere
4 Barnacle Geese & hybrid plus indeterminate brief views of what might have been the Tundra Bean Goose along Heysham bypass but birds disturbed by shooting