Poor landbird return but influx of gulls

Slumbering female Meadow Brown.  Thanks Janet

Heysham Obs
North harbour mound area
Wheatear - one
Robin - one
Wren - one
Chiffchaff - one, flew quickly inland
Linnet - 6
Pied Wagtail - 22 (ex-roost?)
Grey Wagtail - 4+2 south the only vis!

Reserve area
Meadow Pipit - 10 SE
Grey Wagtail - 4 SE (one ringed)
Chiffchaff - one ringed

Middleton IE
Reed Warbler - one
Chiffchaff - one
Blackcap - 2
Green Woodpecker - one (first autumn sighting?)
Grey Wagtail - one SE [TOTAL of 11 for day]

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Wheatear - 3
Med Gull - 3 adults, one 2CY, one 1CY
Sandwich Tern - 10
Dunlin - 18
Grey Plover - (just) 4 - usually an influx this time of year
Little Egret - one
Black-headed Gull - 644

Elsewhere
American Golden Plover reportedly seen in flight (& presumably heard?) at Arnside early morning - flew upstream.  Low single figures of juv Curlew Sandpiper either side of the Lune estuary & moulting ad Conder creek.  Juv Wood Sandpiper Aldcliffe Lane end (2nd day)

Reasonable selection of common migrants

Heysham Obs
Thanks for the coverage of the reserve/British Energy area!  Not sure who it was.

Heysham office area vis  06:40-08:00
Tree Pipit                        1
Meadow Pipit                   44
Grey Wagtail                    3
Alba Wagtail                    1
Swallow                           72
Goldfinch                         10
Chaffinch                          3             all south/south-east

Nature Reserve hut area
Chiffchaff 4, Whitethroat 2, Blackcap 2+, Coal Tit 2 (same 2 later at Red Nab?), GS Woodpecker 1

Moneyclose Lane
Jay 1, Bullfinch 4 (2+ juvs)

Red Nab/Nature Park bushes
Spotted Flycatcher 2, Garden Warbler 1, Blackcap 2, Chiffchaff 5

Red Nab/Ocean edge
Wheatear 3, Sandwich Tern 15+

Middleton NR (thanks Malcolm)
Whitethroat, 2 Reed Warbler, first Snipe of the autumn

Quiet Morning

Heysham
No obvious migrants around the hut.

Ringing
Grey Wagtail: Two trapped and colour ringed
Greenfinch, Robin, Blue Tit  : one of each trapped was the whole total between 06.00 and 10.30.

Insects
Painted Lady by hut

ajd

Guillotined migrant morning

Heysham Obs
Very promising this morning - must be a 'scarce' somewhere.  Ran a couple of nets at Middleton with a Grey Wag tape.  Following seen/caught

Middleton NR 0615-0900hrs
Redstart - 1CY male ringed
Tree Pipit - 1 south
Meadow Pipit - just 5 south - havn't got going yet
Flava Wagtail - one south at 0705hrs
Grey Wagtail - only 4 (2+1+1), three of these caught and ringed
Swallow - c40 SE
House Martin - c10 SE
Sedge Warbler - at least two after a long absence
Blackcap - 2 ringed
Garden Warbler - one ringed
Whinchat - one
Little Egret - one SE
Chiffchaff - 5+
Willow Warbler - 2
Whitethroat - one ringed
Lesser Whitethroat - two unringed birds seen

In haste - please could the usual people update the site in the next two days. Thanks

Early trickle, then nothing, then mid-morning warblers

Heysham Obs
Whats the theory on clear mornings?  Birds move until they are tired, then land late morning(ish), hence the best time for rare warblers and the like is often midday e.g. Walney - althought the theory here is that they might filter down the island

Heysham office and area (Pete)
0600-0700
Grey Wagtail - 3 SE (two ringed)
Meadow Pipit - 5 SE
Chiffchaff - 2 grounded & ringed
0800-1100ish
"Nothing" stirred or flew over
1100 onwards
Swallow - 27SE
House Martin - 5 SE
Grey Wagtail - 1 SE
Meadow Pipit - 2 SE
Blackcap - 4 ringed
Whitethroat - one ringed
Willow warbler - one ringed
Chiffchaff - at least two new birds
Lesser Whitethroat - one ringed, one retrapped from a week ago

Middleton NR (Alan)
Similar situation with hardly anything moving between the first light trickle and about 0930hrs
Grasshopper Warbler - 1CY ringed
Lesser Whitethroat - 4 ringed - all after 1000hrs
Whitethroat - one ringed late morning
Blackcap - 2 ringed
Pied Wagtail - one ringed!
Grey Wagtail - 3 ringed early on, the only ones recorded
Quite a few Swallow & Goldfinch ringed

Clear calm and quiet

Heysham Obs
The only interest this morning was a little flurry of Grey Wagtails rather later than might be expected between 1915 and 1940hrs (delay due to mist over the bay?).  Today saw Sean's final visit covering the tidal cycle along the north harbour wall.  Thanks for your company the last twelve months, Sean and hope to see you again in the near future

North harbour wall
Another Sandwich tern gathering on the incoming tide with 26 birds seen
The Ringed Plover chicks (2) have now fledged - this is the second brood
Eider - 26 offshore

Heysham office area vis
Grey Wagtail - flock of 6, then 2, then one SE (just 3 ringed - problems with sun on the nets at this time)
Swallow - just 25 SE
House Martin - just 7 SE
no pipits of any description heard!

Grounded birds in the office area amounted to a meagre 2 Willow Warbler, 3 Chiffchaff and a Blackcap, some of which may have been 'leftovers'.  No Whitethroat species seen/heard by 1045hrs, but two unringed Common Whitethroat appeared at 1200hrs along with a calling Lesser Whitethroat

Middleton NR
Probably the same Grey Wagtails as above with just the one ringed.
Reed Warbler - one retrap juvenile from the other day
Lesser Whitethroat - one ringed
Whitethroat -  ringed
Chiffchaff & Willow Warbler - low single figures

The early morning air of unpredictability

Heysham Obs
On site at Middleton by 0545hrs, almost as conscientious as the Fylde ringers.  A crystal clear sky, half a moon and a niggling northerly wind did not look good.  Surely only a few Grey Wagtail and perhaps local Goldfinch could be hoped for.   Just two nets were set due to the wind and the first of these caught Grasshopper Warbler and Whitethroat in the pre-dawn gloom!

Assessment of migrants present on the site early morning as follows:
Willow Warbler - c15 (2 ringed)
Chiffchaff - c10 (2 ringed)
Whitethroat - c10 (4 ringed)
Grasshopper Warbler - 1 (ringed)
Garden Warbler - 1
Sedge Warbler - 1
Blackcap - 5 (one ringed)
Robin - 6

What do I know about night migrants and 'falls'!   All these were behaving like new arrivals and quite obviously moving from the seaward end inland. Not many birds were caught in the wind and sun and the session also featured up to 8 net-avoiding/bouncing Grey Wagtails and the nets were down by 0900hrs.  Probably the first time there have been so many on the move without ringing any of them.  Vis as follows (to 0900hrs):

Grey Wagtail - 8 SE
Meadow Pipit - 19 SE
Tree Pipit - 2 SE
Reed Bunting - 3 SE
Swallow - 25 SE
House Martin - 4 SE

Heysham Nature reserve moths
Humming-bird Hawk-moth - one in the mist net ride next to the office at 1040hrs
Red Underwing was the highlight of the trap with minor interest (literally) provided by Small Wainscot

Wimpish early morning coverage

Heysham Obs
Early morning Vis Mig day two was subject to cancellation as the rain was too horizontal.   All that was seen by early-morning car-bound observers was "at least four" 1CY Kittiwake on Heysham 2 outfalls and one of the ad Med Gulls

outfalls area incoming tide
Kittiwake - 5 1CY
Common Tern - one juv

Middleton IE
c300 Goldfinch!
probable Ruddy Darter western marsh, but no optics with me at the time & couldnt be absolutely certain, given current status
Wall brown - single near the model boat pond

Moths
First Pink-barred Sallow of the autumn - the first truly autumnal moth to go with the weather!

National vis mig day one support

1CY Kittiwake on the outfalls today - thanks to Mike Watson

Heysham Obs
One hour by the office, then 15 minutes on the north wall, then 15 minutes or so around Ocean Edge.  West-north-westerly 3, increasing 4-5 with light showers.  Unfortunately, not very good conditions for vis.  Wind increased in the afternoon producing a few seabirds on the dropping tide

HNR office area 0630-0730
Grey Wagtail - one south (0645hrs)
Meadow Pipit - 2 south
Lesser Whitethroat - one in the bushes
Willow warbler - 2 in the bushes
Chiffchaff - 2 in the bushes
Blackcap - one calling

Sea
Arctic Skua - distant lught morph out pm(thanks Mike B)
Gannet - one distant adult-type out & across am
Sandwich Tern - two in the second channel early am, 22 'out' pm
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 9 'purposefully south' am
Common Gull - 2 as above am
Med Gull - two adults around

Ocean Edge
Pied Wagtail - 28 on the grass - all Pied
Little Gull - adult sat on the mud
Kittiwake - FIVE 1CY stage 2 outfall at high tide (thanks Mike W)
Little Egret - at least one in the saltmarsh channel (2 yesterday, per dogwalker)

North harbour wall
Birds on the 'mound'/Hoopoe compound in the late morning comprised:  2 Meadow Pipit, 3 Wheatear, 6 Linnet, 2 Pied Wagtail and a Lesser Whitethroat hiding in the gorse - the first record for SD36V!

Rather unpredictable morning!

Latish Cinnabar caterpillar.  Thanks Janet

Heysham Obs

After a clear, starry, fullish moon night, not a lot of night migrants were expected but conditions were perfect for ringing and especially early morning vis mig.  So time to kickstart the Grey Wagtail study.

Heysham office area revealed a predictable lack of night migrants, although two Blackcap and a Willow Warbler were ringed, but Middleton was rather strange and much better than expected in this category:

Grasshopper Warbler - three (oldish) 1CY trapped in the western marsh near to where there was a singing male last night (heard during moth trapping event) of which there was no sight/sound this morning!   Were these migrants grounded during the night by the song?  These are the latest ever to be ringed here.

Reed Warbler - migrant 1CY ringed (no local birds left)

Sedge Warbler - no sign of any

Lesser Whitethroat - 4 1CY ringed

Whitethroat - fully moulted adult male & 1CY ringed

Willow warbler - 3 ringed (& one HNR)

Chiffchaff - 2 ringed & a few others calling in the sewage works screening planting

Blackcap - 3 1CY ringed (& 2 HNR)

Tree Pipit - one escaped from a mist net whilst extracting a large tit flock (you are supposed to get these out first!)
Shoveler - female/imm escaped from the top shelf of a mist net!!!!! [rare here].  This is the third duck species to escape from the top shelf of this particular mist net this year (Tufted & Mallard being the other two!)

Mammals
A group of four Foxes seen at 08.00 roaming on the Reserve plateau area. Most likely the same family, including three cubs, seen close to the Hut some while ago.

Vis mig Middleton/Heysham
Tree Pipit - 2 SE & the above grounded bird

Grey Wagtail - a loose flock of 6 at about 0615hrs (4 ringed) and 2 others at about 0620hrs. Singleton over HNR almost certainly different.

Swallow - 25 SE
House Martin - 5 SE

Meadow Pipit - 4 SE

Tit species - a veritable 'plague' from about 1000hrs leading to the best net at Middleton being closed to avoid wholesale recaptures.   These made a major contribition to about 100 extractions today, with 54 of these not already bearing a ring.  The Long-tailed Tit flocks were a complete mixture of older-ringed/more recently ringed and 'new' birds, but at least one of the Blue Tit flocks consisted wholly of unringed birds.  7 unringed Great Tit during one ringing session is a high number for this site.  Two of the retrap Great Tits were from the HNR nestbox scheme.

Outfalls

At least one Kittiwake on the outfalls - thanks Janet