Black Redstart and a Wall

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall

Thanks for these Janet

A 1st S male Black Redstart along the north harbour wall near the Centrica storage yard from 0930ish. 

Also seen in the early afternoon and showed well in the region of the Twite feeder.  Prior to this it was singing from the top of the nearby 'tank' favoured by the winter Twite flock. It then reappeared late afternoon (see pics)

Its presence inspired a wander around the back of the old sandworks and, whilst admiring the wealth of pioneering vegetation, which will surely include some sand-dune specialists in the near future if it is left, a Wall Brown flitted past - the first that I am aware of in the Heysham area this year and a major rarity in the mainly maritime SD36!

Wheatear - one

Ocean Edge/Red Nab after the tide
Gulls too far offshore in heat haze
Sandwich Tern - 8
Wheatear - 2

Heysham NR office area
A ringing session in rather too sunny conditions saw 30 'new' Greenfinch (where do they all come from!) and only one retrap, 2 Whitethroat (& at least 3 others around), one Lesser Whitethroat, one Coal Tit and a handful of Goldfinch and Blue Tit

Grey Wagtail - 2 SE
No other obvious vis this morning

Vis mig trickle but few grounded birds

Heysham Obs
Decent number of Tree Pipit by our standards this morning but little else other than an individual of our 'rarest common wader', Golden Plover, overhead

Heliport
Wheatear - 1 by Helipad late morning.

Middleton NR 0600-0930
Tree Pipit - 7, mainly SE, but one on NE to SW heading
Golden Plover - one south
House Martin - flock of 7 south
Swallow - 35 SE after 40-50 lifted out of roost in the western marsh reedbed
Grey Wagtail - 2 SE
Reed Bunting - 3 lifted off and headed SE soon after dawn, 2 further singletons SE
Chaffinch - 3+2+2 high to south
Hardly anything grounded with unringed summer migrants in the CES nets comprising one Sedge Warbler, 2 Chiffchaff and 2 Blackcap, but it was a bit too sunny for catching birds at this site (plenty of cloud, but in the wrong place!)

Most of the Sedge Warblers have left Middleton although you sometimes get small arrivals of presumed Scottish migrants in early September (and there are still plenty at Leighton Moss).  Thanks Janet

Ocean Edge/outfalls at low tide
Med Gull - juvenile

HNR CES
Summer migrants ringed comprised 2 Blackcap and a Chiffchaff

Half Moon Bay 8pm
Wheatear 1

Moths
A few decent bits and bobs including Rhomboid Tortrix and a couple of V-Pugs

Should have been here earlier?

Heysham Obs
Nice weather synopsis this morning with a light easterly wind and cloud cover.  Simultaneous arrival by two observers at 0900hrs led to a bit of coverage and a scattering of migrants

Heysham NR office & area
Two nets were erected and kept under constant observation in case the cat materialised.  This involved setting up a temporary ringing station.  A decent variety with 6 species of warbler caught, but no great numbers.  Ringing: 4 Whitethroat, single Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Lesser Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Robin, 13 Greenfinch, 2 Blue Tit.  Retraps included two Blackcap.  No sign of cat or alarm-calling suggesting it was around

There were quite a few 'ticking' Robins around and the one trapped was 'migrant weight' at 15.5grms

A Reed Warbler was seen by the dipping pond

Red Nab/Ocean Edge at low tide
Med Gull - 2 x adult and one x juv
Little Gull - adult

Evening (6:30 - 7:30pm)
Three sites checked for Wheatears:
Heliport = 3
Half Moon Bay foreshore = 9
Heysham Head foreshore = 0 (lots of visitors about)
One adult male. rest female/juvenile (MD)

Moths
A bit more exciting with an Old Lady, the first autumnal Treble Bars, Canary-shouldered Thorn and Tawny-speckled Pug

Hobby whizzes through

Heysham Obs
A fair-weather session at Middleton seemed to hold the possibility of a little bit of vis mig and maybe an opportunity to ring some Tree Pipits.  In the event, there were no Tree Pipits, Grey Wagtails or any of the conventional 'clear sky & getting near end of August' vis other than a few Swallows and two Meadow Pipit.  Instead, the 'vis' was unexpectedly highlighted by Tree Sparrow and Hobby.  There were also more grounded warbler species that might reasonably have been expected, so it wasnt a bad morning

Middleton NR 0545-1100hrs
Vis
Hobby - one had a dart at a flock of Linnet/Goldfinch before heading SE.  Not possible to age it on the views obtained
Tree Sparrow - 2 followed by 3 headed SE
Meadow Pipit - 2 together SE
Swallow - no more than 10 SE
Chaffinch - flock of 3 SSE
Grounded birds
Ringing produced the following new unringed birds: 6 Blackcap, 6 Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Sedge Warbler and 2 each of Willow Warbler & Chiffchaff.  A few tits and finches were also caught, including another juvenile Bullfinch.  Getting on for 50 new birds, with retraps surprisingly including 3 Sedge Warblers which were thought to have long gone.

Its been a pretty decent year for warbler species at the Obs as shown by the ringing totals which are well above-average for here (in the case of Blackcap and Chiffchaff ...'for this early in (their later) autumn passage').  Havent got the exact figures to hand: Whitethroat (c130), Lesser Whitethroat (c45), Grasshopper Warbler (c44), Willow Warbler (c175), Blackcap (c70), Sedge Warbler (c160), Chiffchaff (c40), Reed Warbler (c20)

There was also a mixed flock of Linnet (c60), Goldfinch (c45) plus a few Greenfinch and Chaffinch 

Moths
An unexpectedly sizeable catch of mostly rubbish but including Agriphila latistria at one of its few known sites, the first Angle Shades of the autumn and a high total for here of 12 Sallow

Hordes of people, few birds

Heysham Obs
Lots of people on and around the beach today and the birds seemed to melt away apart from a reasonable collection on Red Nab

Red Nab
Little Gull - adult Red Nab
Med Gull - 1+ adult, 2 juvenile Red Nab
Sandwich Tern - 4 adult Red Nab
Wheatear - 1

Heysham NR
Meadow Pipit - 4 flew south in a small amount of time spent outside

Moths
No comment

China Marks, a Rusty Dot and reasonable coastal fare

Heysham Obs
A wander round the reserve to check for wasps nests prior to a moth trapping event this week (I've lost my best overnight moth trapping site at Millhouses due to excessive numbers of wasps from a nearby nest) included a quick look along the boardwalk.  The horsetails were full of fluttering white moths - a mass emergence of Small China Mark

Ocean Edge/Red Nab late incoming tide
Med Gull - slightly awkward viewing angle of the sleeping gulls saw 2 x 1CY, 1 x 3CY and 2 x adult, but it took four sweeps to pick them all up!
Little Gull - 2CY & Ad
Sandwich Tern - increase to 13
Common Gull - 2 adults
Redshank - 475
Whimbrel - 1
Knot - 6

Tideline off the old Pontins site
Grey Plover - 81, including several in full-summer plumage
Bar-tailed Godwit - 185, including 3 in full summer plumage

Moths
A migrant Rusty Dot Pearl was a bit of a surprise amongst the small catch of dross.  A worn Straw Underwing was late

Routine

Heysham Obs
Despite a strongish NW wind at height (e.g. Caton Moor turbines), there was a pocket of calm air covering the lowland sites until rather later in the morning than forecasted (c0900hrs).   Middleton was covered with a few mist nets by Alan, but a bit of vis migging and early morning stuff at Heysham NR might have paid dividends

Middleton NR
Garden Warbler - one ringed - always a sign of 'some' movement here
The remainder of the catch included Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and both Whitethroat species, but Sedge Warbler limited to just one new bird

Outfalls/Red Nab late afternoon tide
Redshank - c480
Turnstone - 53
Med Gull - 3CY (legs not visible) & 1CY
Little Gull - ad
Sandwich Tern - 3 ads
Oystercatcher - 3,200

Moths
Another tedious catch, mainly counting Flounced Rustic and separating worn Six-striped Rustic from less-worn Square-spot Rustic.  6 Willow Beauty graced the walls and there was another Agriphila geniculea

Bumbus terrestris

Heysham Obs
A rather ignominious start to the Middleton CES with a dozy worker bumble bee unknowingly attaching itself to my rear. Then I sat down in the car......................... The accident book has been duly filled in. It was a worker Bombus terrestris. It was a strange CES - over half the birds were caught on the final round of the allotted time-period, the first time this has happened here. This undoubtedly reflects the absence of any overnighting local birds or off-passage migrants (also the impression yesterday afternoon when checking the m.n. rides) and a decent arrival of new migrants gradually filtering through to the site with their mobility "helped" by the presence of small tit flocks. Shame we could not cover the Heysham N. Reserve as well as it was a nice migrant synopsis and a short visit revealed yesterday's absentee, Willow warbler, 'hoeeting' from at least two places by the office

Middleton NR CES & supplementary nets from 0545hrs
Tree Pipit - 5 SE early morning plus one SE mid-morning
Grey Wagtail - first of the autumn SE
Swift - one SE
House Martin - 6 SE
Swallow - c35 SE
Linnet/Goldfinch - mixed flock of c70
Grasshopper Warbler - male singing in the western marsh first thing, adult trapped in the central marsh and retrap juvenile trapped in the western marsh
Sedge Warbler - all migrants - none first thing but 6 caught, including control Y223110
Whitethroat - 5 ringed
Lesser Whitethroat - one ringed
Willow Warbler - probably c15 around with 8 ringed
Chiffchaff - 2 ringed
Blackcap - 2 ringed
Reed Warbler - 3 ringed

Ringing recovery
A Med Gull first seen here in 2009 was seen by Mike Baron on 14th August. The accompanying blurb from the Germans includes a fascinating account of the birds transferring from the original island, probably due to the presence of a raccoon dog and nesting on "eco-friendly" rooftops! See

http://mail.aol.com/34047-111/aol-1/en-us/mail/get-attachment.aspx?uid=1.31742354&folder=OldMail&partId=6&saveAs=Pionierinsel_July_2011%5b1%5d.pdf

Heligoland 5352010 & green darvic AHTJ
Ringed: Pionierinsel, Elbe Estuary, Hamburg, Germany: adult: 23/5/09
Seen: Preesall Sands, Knott End:          6/8-12/8/09
Seen: Heysham Power Station outfalls:   30/8 & 6/9/09
Seen:  Red Nab, Heysham:     14/8/11

Please note that the French-ringed bird seen on 3/8 was also a green darvic. Thanks for this, Mike

Marsh harrier
Juvenile south along the eastern boundary of the recording area (over the new waste centre roundabout) at 1320 (thanks Pete)

Heysham NR
Garden warbler - one seen (thanks to another Pete)

Unfortunately no known coverage of the shore today.  Anyone able to contradict this, please?

Moths
Unremarkable small catch; highlighted by Agriphila geniculea (perhaps something to do with 6.5 degrees C at 0515ish!)

Autumnal ticking Robins and a Southern Hawker

Heysham Obs
Again a sign that the autumn may be two weeks or so ahead of itself with a small arrival of Robin, Chiffchaff and Blackcap along with a single Garden Warbler and Whitethroat.  Willow Warblers were conspicuous by their absence with just a single retrap encountered

Visiting by large groups
Whilst we can always facilitate small numbers of visitors as part of the usual public relations, it can be very tricky when a large group suddenly descends on you.  This was exacerbated this morning by LWT staff being occupied or elsewhere and the three (later four) volunteers fully occupied in a bird ringing programme.  The latter included a need to continuously watch over the nets set by the office as a precaution due to the recent presence of a cat.  This was over and above the usual paramount consideration for the welfare of the birds. 

Therefore any facilitation with the large group of Fylde Naturalists was inevitably sporadic and rather unsatisfactory, especially when the toilet facilities are very limited, as befits a non-public building and the visit included an 'out of the blue' request to look at the moth trap!   We apologise to Fylde Naturalists for any shortfall in attention to public relations detail, but emphasise this would have been sorted out much more satisfactorily if we had some form of prior notice of the visit.

Heysham NR
Tree Sparrow - at least one heard in the tank farm, but rather distant
House Sparrow - at least 6 around early on
Treecreeper - one ringed - most records are either in July or later in the autumn accompanying tit flocks
Garden Warbler - one ringed
Blackcap - 5 ringed
Chiffchaff - 3 ringed, others heard calling
Robin - just two ringed, but at least 5 ticking birds by the office as the nets were rather belated set
Whitethroat - just the one ringed/seen

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
All observations were a bit late in the tide cycle with just single adult Little Gull, single adult/3CY Med Gull and 2-3 Sandwich Tern seen

Insects
A Southern Hawker was seen by the Fylde Naturalists Group around the dog-walk pond - about the fifth record for here.  Agriphila geniculea topped a routine moth catch.

Coastal selection

Heysham Obs
Peter Golborn informed me that he had seen a distant Bonxie and a pale morph skua which appeared to be a Pomarine during a pre-lunch seawatch

Outfalls/Red Nab/Ocean Edge late incoming tide
Common Tern - adult
Sandwich tern - adult
Little Gull - adult and 2CY
Med Gull - 4 x adult, 2 x 3CY and one x juvenile.  Many of the gulls were heading off towards Middleton when I got there

Very poor for waders c/p yesterday with just 2 Knot seen amongst the usual Redshank etc.

No Meds hanging around anglers along the north harbour wall as yet

Moths
Latish Least Yellow Underwing and Canary Shouldered Thorn the best of a small catch