Superb summer plumaged male Snow Bunting heads north

Grounded Meadow Pipits have been a regular feature on the 'mound' in recent days (thanks Janet)

Heysham Obs
Nice morning's birding, Jean!

North harbour wall
Red-throated Diver - 6 out
Bonxie - one in at 0910
Arctic Skua - two dark morphs in at 0920
Gannet - 4 in, 9 out
Common Scoter - one in
Fulmar - one out
Kittiwake - 3 in
Snow Bunting - full summer plumaged male flew low to the north at 0950hrs just as the sky cleared, almost certainly lifted off the Twite feeding area
Linnet - 4 north
Wheatear - one
Meadow Pipit - 6 north
Twite - 13

Elsewhere
'Fall' of 5 Chiffchaffs Thrushgill, but no sign of yesterdays pale redpoll which was probably a very pale Mealy, but unfortunately avoided capture/scrutiny.  Big clear-out of migrant finches here in the afternoon (52 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Mealy Redpoll and 4 Lesser Redpoll with other people's rings on were caught yesterday in an old 18 foot Bridport net which was just about sheltered enough!)

Early morning bits on the sea

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall 0735-0835
Little Gull - gang of 5 adults blogging, then gradually moved towards the windfarm
Pochard - 2 males 'in' - very unusual here!
Pintail - pair 'out'
Red-breasted Merganser - flock of 5 out
Red-throated Diver - 2+4 out, last group very high, one 'in'
Linnet - 3
Meadow Pipit - 2 grounded

14.30
Twite - 6 (1 unringed)
Linnet - 3 with  twite.

Ocean Edge/outfalls 0840-0855
Common Gull - 43
Black-headed Gull - 75
Meadow Pipit - 16 grounded
Wheatear - just one

Middleton NR
Little Ringed Plover - male on newly scarified area model boat pond, then flew towards sewage wotks

Mammal
Grey Seal off north harbour wall

Skua kick-start

Heysham Obs
Traffic problems led to a short belated spell of seawatching after 0915hrs

North harbour wall intermittent 0915-1330hrs
Twite - at least 15
Bonxie - one rose from the sea and flew NW into the murk at 0925hrs
Gannet - 5 out, one in
Sandwich Tern - one out
also an almost certain Ad Little Gull glimpsed at long range & 3+ probables even further out!
Wheatear - one mound

Ocean Edge area
Wheatear - just one
Common Gull - 41, mostly 2CY

Routine murk

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall (one hour of vis)
Offshore visibility virtually nil
Twite - 15
Wheatear - 1
Meadow pipit - 27
Goldfinch - 7
Redpoll spp - 3
alba Wagtail - 5
Grey Wagtail - 1

Ocean Edge/Red Nab/outfalls
Wheatear - 12
Med Gull - 2CY with Common and Black-headed Gulls
Common Gull - c35
Black-headed Gull - c60

Heysham NR 0730-0930
Willow Warbler - one ringed
Chiffchaff - at least 2 migrants
Meadow Pipit - 91 NE
Linnet - 5 NE
alba Wagtail - 4 NE
Collared Dove - 2 NE
Goldfinch - 5 NE
Redpoll spp - 1 NE & 2 (& 3 Siskin) off-passage in alders

Moth
Diurnea fagella new for the year

Early Willow Warbler and 14-0 to the south side

Heysham Obs
In the days when we had a couple of mist net rides at Red Nab (now too disturbed) there were some days when migrants were pouring in there, but very few indeed on the main nature reserve until an hour or two later (and in much smaller numbers as the birds dispersed).  On other occasions, the north wall and heliport areas produced the goods with very little at the "south end".   A belated check of Ocean Edge produced 14 Wheatears and 47 grounded Meadow Pipits and, just to check whether the late morning drizzle had produced any on the north side, the heliport/north wall was re-checked.  Zero. 

North wall 0745-0930
Red-throated Diver - different ones in and out
Red-breasted Merganser - flock of 6 out
Purple Sandpiper - 2 on seawall
Twite - 15 (6 unringed)
Meadow Pipit - 66
alba Wagtail - 5
Redpoll spp - 12
Linnet - 3 plus 4 on the seed
No Sandwich terns or Wheatears

Heysham NR 0800-0930
Meadow Pipit - 42
Redpoll spp - 16 (ALL as the nets were being set, far too late!)
Willow Warbler - one ringed
Redwing - one
Song Thrush - probable migrant flew high inland
Goldcrest - 3 (2 ringed)
Ringing a bit of a disaster as the batteries gave up on the Meadow Pipit tape after 20 minutes and I arrived too late after a misunderstanding!

Ocean Edge foreshore (1230hrs)
Wheatear - 14
Meadow Pipit - 47
Pied Wagtail - 5

Time for a Sandwich before Ospreys appear

Heysham Obs
Here is some of the stuff from a pretty good morning, ringing data will be added tomorrow

North Harbour Wall 0745-1030
The first Sandwich Terns of the year appeared - 17 in total.  Probably more but the sea fret made even the ones seen a bit blurred round the edges. 
0855 - ALL the gulls went into a mad panic and the culprit, an Osprey, was seen heading in the Morecambe direction.
This was the second Osprey of the morning as one had flown over the Nature Reserve 15 minutes earlier and had headed in the direction of the Lune (per Alan).

Vis:
Meadow Pipit - 108 (the vast majority flew over between 0900 - 0915)
alba Wagtail - 7
Linnet - 3
Goldfinch - 1
Greenfinch - 3

Grounded (mound area):
Wheatear - 6 (4 arrived between 0900 and 0915)

Other:
Purple Sandpiper - 1
Twite - 8
Mute Swan - 1 on the sea

The first Swallow for here seen by Janet on Middleton NR today


Elsewhere
150 Brambling (with many singing), Mealy Redpoll (an 'obvious' bird seen very well), 35 Lesser Redpoll, c18 Crossbill at Thrushgill plantation this morning, but only small numbers visible from public right of way. Visitors are requested to park in one of the laybys between Botton Mill and Lower Thrushgill, rather than drive through all the sheep and new-born lambs strewn across the 'open' road between Lower Thrushgill and Higher Thrushgill


Osprey over Arkholme at 1410hrs, perhaps the same bird an hour or so earlier at Lloyn Bridge

Wasted sleep

Heysham Obs
A classic early morning waste of time as a barrier of murk to the south blocked all migration bar a faint dribble of Meadow Pipit.  A few started to move as it gradually cleared.

Office vis
Meadow Pipit - 59 north in 3 hours (8 ringed)
alba Wagtail - 6 north
Goldfinch - 3 north

North wall
vis not worth writing down!
Shelduck - pair hovering offshore (eyeing up the rabbit burrows on the mound)
Twite - just 10
Linnet - 3
Purple Sandpiper - 2 

A cocktail of fresh north-easterly, brambles and superfine nets

Heysham Obs
Wind a bit fresher than forecasted and a horrible direction for ringing activities here.  Nets taken down at the first availability of someone to help me do so (thanks Jean).  Quite a few Meadow Pipits on the move but not a lot else in weather which was also clearer than forecasted

Heysham NR office area vis/grounded 0700-0830
Coal Tit - unringed bird headed off north
Dunnock - one unringed bird caught
Meadow Pipit - 279 north (about 20 minutes of coverage missed) [6 ringed!].
Redpoll spp - 1 north
Chaffinch - 4 north
Goldfinch - 8 north
alba Wagtail - 2 north
Goldcrest - one grounded

North wall early morning
Red-throated Diver - 7
Turnstone 84
Twite - 8 on seed

Meadow Pipit - 48 NE
Redpoll sp - 2
alba Wagtail - 6 NE
Linnet - 4 NE

Ozone-layer vis

Heysham Obs
A well-recorded day, which was more like late April than late March, with post-hibernation butterflies everywhere. An attempt was made to catch spring passage Meadow Pipits by the office and this sufficed to indicate just how many were up there in the bright blue sky and how difficult it was to count them in traditional vis mig fashion.   The use of a tape saw an absolute minimum of 300 grounded.  This comprised a running total of birds feeding in the short turf next to the office, before heading on their way.   Spring birds seem to respond to taped song rather differently to those in autumn.  They land in very spread-out fashion, have a bit of a feed, then head onwards.  There is no concentration around the tape, as happens with (mainly young) birds in autumn.....and they are harder to catch for ringing.  8 ringed out of c300 landfalling!

Vis mig north wall 0700-1040
Meadow Pipit - just 110 (see above)
alba Wagtail - 28
Skylark - 4
Reed Bunting - 1
Goldfinch - 7
Linnet - 6
Greenfinch - 1
Siskin - 3
Redpoll spp - 3
Sand Martin - 1
Rock Pipit - 1 (vis bird, not the resident)

Grounded
Dunnock - singing male on the mound!
House Sparrow - new species for both SD36V and 35Z (single on the mound first, then south wall)
Rock Pipit - resident apparent petrosus-type still here
Red-breasted Merg - 12 offshore
Great-crested Grebe - 5 offshore
Eider - 65 offshore
Purple Sandpiper - one wooden jetty (just 59 Turnstone seen pre-high tide)

Ringing by office
Meadow Pipit - c300 grounded, 8 ringed
Chiffchaff - 2 ringed
Lesser Redpoll - 3 ringed
Goldcrest - one heard

Middleton NR
Common Snipe - 8 flushed from small area

Mammals
One Grey Seal offshore

Insects
Small Tortoiseshell - at least 6 round the office area & 20+ Heysham Head.  Comma - one Heysham Head. Brimstone - one at each of Heysham head, Middleton and Heysham NR.  The moth trap was good, despite a clear night, with TWO more Twin-spot Quaker (the ones this year so far are the 2nd-4th records, with the only previous being in 2006), a Red Chestnut (rare here, with none apparently since 2002 and about 6 previous records) and another Shoulder Stripe

Six of the best

This looks like its had six of the best.  Rather tame and scrawny fox taken by Janet at Middleton late afternoon (thanks Janet)

Heysham Obs
An initiative which unfortunately only reached the planning stage may have cost us a nice addition to the ringing list if the birds had decided to emulate Adam and Eve.  The scenario at 0655hrs was a flock of 6 Waxwings sat in a hawthorn behind a double mist-net set at the feeding station.  The "initiative" which failed was to stick some apples on the branches, in case Waxwing return passage materialised.....................  After a bit of trilling, they headed off towards Heysham Head, dragging a single Redwing in their wake

North wall 0630-0800
Too clear with a trickle of vis:
Pied Wagtail - 12
Meadow Pipit - 13
Linnet - 3
Grey Wagtail - 1
Chaffinch - 1
Siskin - 1
Greenfinch - 2
Redpoll sp - 2
Woodpigeon - 2 flew "in-off"
Red-throated Diver - 2 in and 1 on

Feeder: 33 Twite
Low tide channel: 121 Eider, 8 Red-breasted Merganser, 4 Great-crested Grebe.


Office area 0645-0930
Meadow Pipit - 113 NE (most of these only seen due to tape/ringing)
Reed Bunting - 2 NE
Siskin - 2 "lots" heard only plus a singleton north
alba Wagtail - 11 NE
Goldfinch - 14 NE
Waxwing - flock of 6 NE at 0758hrs
Redwing - one grounded then NE with Waxwings
Wren - unringed bird trapped
Bullfinch - unringed female trapped - a real surprise
Chiffchaff - seemingly one local bird and 2-3 males passing through by office (one ringed)
Goldcrest - zero past the office early on but two calling in the NE corner (thanks Pete) and one appeared by the office mid-morning

Middleton NR
Jack Snipe - 2 in the afternoon (& 5 Snipe), 5 Tufted Duck, sitting Mute Swan

Moths
Shoulder Stripe a predictable new addition to the year list