Male Rustic Bunting!!

Heysham Obs
Rustic Bunting
At 1020hrs, an unfamiliar flight call was heard approaching from the south.  This was repeated about 4 times before a small bird was located high in the sky.  After circling and giving a few more calls, it landed in a willow bush neat to the reserve office.  Binoculars were grabbed and expecting, at best, a Yellowhammer (rare here) giving a consistently odd call, I was surprised to see a "black head".  The call definitely wasn't Reed Bunting!  Then it turned sideways in full view.  Wow!  All the time it was giving this clipped call.  After about 10 seconds absorbing this and a bit of unrepeatable language, it headed off to the north-east over the classroom, still calling, and was last seen at a height level with the top tier of the nearby pylon.  "Vised off", and the obligatory search of the north-east corner of the nature reserve drew the predictable blank.  Seen this several times here - a 'vis mig' bird landing, contact calling and then changing direction slightly when taking off again

Quite a bit of odds and ends of migration this morning 
Northbound vis (but coverage intermittent)
Meadow Pipit - c45
alba Wagtail - c15
Chaffinch - c12
Reed Bunting - 3
Siskin - 2
Pink-footed Goose - flock of 86

Grounded
Goldcrest - 8 ringed, but seemingly not many others around, perhaps 5 additional birds
Robin - a few migrants around (birds being chased by 'residents') with 4 ringed, including a very orange/grey low-weight bird
Redwing - one
Blackbird - 4-5 presumed migrants
Song Thrush - one probable migrant ringed
Wren - one unringed bird

North wall
Twite - 27
Linnet - at least 8
Goldfinch - 2
Shag - just the one seen

Moths
6 Hebrew Character and two new species for the year: a routine couple of Common Quaker and a rather more interesting third site record (and 30-something county record) of Agonopterix ocellana

More murky calm and little movement

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Quick check saw
Eider - 103
Red-breasted merganser - 11
Great-crested Grebe - 2
Twite - 33
Linnet - 2
Goldfinch - 2
Meadow Pipit - 2 north
Pied Wagtail - 2 north

Middleton NR
Skylark - one singing
Gadwall - 2
Tufted Duck - 17
Goldeneye - female
Grey Wagtail - one sewage works
Oystercatcher - pair on model boat pond
Reed Bunting - 4 singing males

Moths
Twin-spotted Quaker was a very good record for here, also Shoulder Stripe (1) and Hebrew Character (10)

Reasonable on quality, low on quantity

Heysham Obs
Good coverage today of especially the coastal bits and a short check of Middleton NR

Office area
Not a great deal with the only birds caught being a two legged Meadow Pipit, a one-legged Meadow Pipit (released unringed) and an unringed Goldcrest

Vis mig
Probably no more than 20 Meadow Pipit north, including an early group of 6
Grey Wagtail - 1 north
Pied Wagtail - at least 6 north
Carrion Crow - flock of four north-east

Red Nab/outfalls
Little Gull - adult on Heysham 2 on the incoming tide was a bit of s surprise in the calm weather

Harbour/north wall area
Twite - up to 30 at once with regular incursions on to the food
Linnet - up to 7
Goldfinch - 3
Great-crested Grebe - 11 offshore
Red-breasted Merganser - 7 offshore
Eider - at least 96
Shag - at least three, possibly four in the harbour area
Med Gull - a passage adult in full summer plumage appeared mid-afternoon

Middleton NR
Stonechat - female by the no swmming pond
Tufted Duck - at least 11 on model boat pond, but feeding continuously

Moth
Agonopterix heracliana was the only one

Motley mish-mash of low-key migration

Heysham Obs
The highlight, in a strictly local fashion, was a northbound flock of 8 Carrion Crow - not the commonest spring migrant here

North wall 0800-0825
Red-breasted Merganser - influx with 17 visible
Carrion Crow - flock of 8 north
Meadow Pipit - 2 out of only 6 seen all morning heading north
Pied Wagtail - 3 north
Twite - 9, c15 later
Goldfinch - 2
Linnet - 2
Shag - at least 2 around
Cormorant - still 35 at high tide
No obvious sign of Purple Sandpiper amongst the mass of Turnstone and a few Redshank on the wooden jetty but could easily have been in the flock

Reserve
Unringed Robin (2) and Dunnock (2) hinted at something happening, but the only Goldcrest caught (out of two present) was ringed a week ago, most unusual for a spring migrant!
Green Woodpecker - in the tank farm about 0730hrs

Moths
Early Grey new for the year and welcome here where not quite annual plus Hebrew Character (3), Dotted Border (2) and March Moth (2)

Singing 'wintering' Blackcap

Heysham Obs
Urban Heysham
A garden in the suburban Heysham part of the recording area (SD46A), which earlier this year housed 'wintering' Blackcaps, has played host to a singing male from 4th March and this was heard again today.  This coincides with singing males in the Silverdale area at/near other traditional wintering sites.  I would suspect that these will be leaving soon to head back to ?central European breeding sites and are not early migrants from the local breeding population


North harbour wall
No Twite, no food remaining at 0900hrs, but more put out.
Not a great deal of food left at 16.00 either (although plenty of less fresh seed in the more grassy sections of the feeding area) but -
Twite - 15
Goldfinch - 2
Linnet - 2
Feral Pigeon - 4
Further small supply of food put down.

Wigeon - presumed migratory group of 12 offshore
Shag - at least 2 in the harbour
Purple Sandpiper - 2 on wooden jetty with 80+ Turnstone

Moths
Shoulder Stripe new for the year, also March Moth (2), Dotted Border and Hebrew Character

Migration on hold for another day or two...

Heysham Obs
Good coverage today, but almost all left-overs

Thanks for these, Janet - all taken on a walk from Red Nab to the harbour via the outfalls. 

North harbour wall
Visibility poor during the early morning seawatch and nothing recorded other than:
Red-throated Diver - one out at about 0930hrs
Twite - 14, inc 3 unringed and one ringed at Machrihanish in autumn 2011
Linnet - 3
Goldfinch - 2
Dunnock - 2 (one singing)

South harbour wall/outfalls
Little Egret - one Red Nab again
Kittiwake at least one 2CY outfalls
Shag - four on the platform by the waterfall

Middleton NR

4 mute swan, 8 coot, 6 moorhen, 15 tufted duck, 3 teal, 1 goldeneye, 2 gadwall (pair), 2 mallard, 2 little grebe

Moths

Single Hebrew Character and March Moth

Early morning Kittiwake passage

Heysham Obs
Seawatch 0705-0825
Kittiwake - 4 flocks totalling 114 (30+29+52+3) 'in' then high to N/NW
Red-throated Diver - 1
Purple Sandpiper - 1
Twite - 14, increasing later in the day to c18
Linnet - at least two

Harbour area
Shag - 3 on the platform in the afternoon

High-flying Red-throats

Heysham Obs

Little Egret leaving Red Nab - thanks Janet

North harbour wall seawatch 0900-0945hrs
Auk spp -  very distant out
Gannet - adult very distant heading north
Red-throated Diver - high flock of 14 plus a trailing singleton some way back flew out of the Bay, gaining height at 0920hrs.  Appeared to be all in winter or the start of partial summer plumage, none in full s.p.
Lesser Black-backed Gull - steady northward movement, including an apparent 2CY
Common Gull - as above with c35 in the 45 mins watching

Inshore
Little Egret - first of the year on Red Nab -then flew south
Shag - 2CY on wooden jetty
Twite - 18 on the seed
Goldfinch - one as above
Linnet - 2 as above
Ringed Plover - 4 on the heliport and 12 still at Ocean Edge beach
Kittiwake - 2, possibly 3 2CY on the outfalls
Knot - 1,250 on heliport seawall roost but flighty

Linnets slowly increase

Heysham Obs

Bullfinch near Ocean Edge - thanks Janet

North wall area
Twite - c30
Linnet - at least 5
Goldfinch - at least 2
Shag - still at least one around

Office area
No vis reported
The net produced unringed Great Tit and two unringed Greenfinch

No moths or butterflies reported but the long-staying fly spp. remains on the kitchen window

Tundra Beans five minutes away!

Heysham Obs
Different world just down the road outside the recording area with an excellent flock of Pink-footed Geese on Heaton Marsh including two Tundra Bean and nine Whitefronts.  Thanks Dan!  "In-house" it was a little less exciting

North wall
Shag - still two around
Twite - at least 23
Linnet - 2
Goldfinch - 1
Eider - 214+ offshore
Large gulls - loads on the offshore sandbanks but no white-wingers.......matter of time, keep checking at low tide

Reserve
Goldcrest - 1

Middleton
Lapwing - male again on model boat pond
Tufted Duck - 14+
Pochard - female
Goldeneye - 2 female

Butterfly
Peacock again NE corner

Moth
One Dotted Border