Black Tern being dragged off by a Sandwich

Heysham Obs
No more dawn arrivals for Grey Wagtail ringing attempts/vis mig coverage for a few days!  Best of the bunch this morning was a juvenile (European) Black Tern feeding off Red Nab which unfortunately followed a fairly leisurely Sandwich tern flying towards the north Fylde.  Hopefully it will spin back on to the outfalls when these recover their 'identity' on the dropping tide.  Even better (number of records-wise) was the presumed continued presence of the same juvenile Spotted Redshank recorded a week or so ago

Outfalls/Red Nab/Ocean Edge
Grey Plover - c420 but distant
Spotted Redshank - juvenile in Ocean edge saltmarsh channel
Black Tern - juvenile flew slowly 'out' after feeding off Red Nab about 0910hrs
Sandwich Tern - adult out
Med Gull - 5 1Y, but just one each of 2CY and adult

Hopefully some more later. Haven't done the moths yet!

Bit of an unproductive morning

Heysham Obs
Friday the 13th one day late.  Every ringer drops the end loops on mist nets occasionally.  Sometimes this doesn't create problems.  Not so this morning and I grabbed the wrong replacement net which had a 'blue cast' to the material making it slightly more visible.  This makes a difference when trying to catch an agile species such as Grey Wagtail and this was compounded by the sun on the net after 0730hrs.  Should have risked missing some Grey Wags and replacing the net.  So after saying how easy they were to catch - one out of eight is not so good!  The original net took a good 15 minutes to sort - amazing how tangled they can get!

There were a few grounded migrants this morning as per the dawn rain shower, but nothing better than a female/imm Redstart was located and the paucity of passage Robins continues

The other negative feature of the morning was an example of a vis mig mystery where you know it is something good but the documentation is useless.  This happens to all of us who carry out vis mig day in day out.  The four calls in the eastern sky appeared to be a familiar but uk-scarce species, but the bird could not be seen as the sun was rising.  One for the bin.

Vis mig until 0930
Jay - two flew high inland as the ??usual ones and twos were still present 
Reed Bunting - 3 SE
Siskin - flock of 5 E
Goldfinch - at least 18 perceived migrants S
Chaffinch - 58 mainly SW
Swallow - 5 S
Meadow Pipit - 33 SE, nearly all early on in one spread out 'flock' (24)
Grey Wagtail - 8 SE (see above)
alba Wagtail - 21 SE
Bullfinch - 2+1 south may have been migrants/dispersal

Grounded in office area only
Chiffchaff - at least 4
Whitethroat - 2
Redstart - f/imm by the office annoying the local Robins
Sedge Warbler - juv ringed
Blackcap - 1
Song Thrush - 2-3

Moths
After the second Heysham record of Pine Carpet the other day, a rare appearance of Grey Pine Carpet this morning

More north-westerly rubbish but a trickle of vis

Heysham Obs
A bit of pre-work vis coverage plus a single mist net at a sheltered site for any Grey Wagtails passing over

Grey wagtail this morning.  Photo Reuben Neville who put the spanner down to take the pic - its nothing to do with the ringing operation (!) where specially made pliers are used for precision results.  The individual colour rings are on the right leg, the left leg (for this year) comprises the site/year code plus metal BTO ring.

Therefore to trace to an individual bird such as this light green over white - always name the top colour first, even if the legs are upside down - the right leg needs to be seen as well as the left.  A sighting of the left leg only will just trace the bird to this area, either used in Bowland in 2009 (unlikely to still be alive?) or the remainder of the allocated sequence being used up at Heysham this year

Vis mig on and off dawn to 0830
Meadow Pipit - 27 SE
alba Wagtail - 18 SE
Grey Wagtail - just the one which was caught
Chaffinch - 14 SW
Goldfinch - 11 S
Swallow - 22 Sish
Common Buzzard - one south at 0745hrs

Outfalls and area
Our Med Gulls are still with us and numbered 11 with 4 1CY, 4 2CY and 3 adult-type including one with a green darvic on the left leg.  Our ad-type Little Gull was fast asleep on the mudflats.  New in were two Sandwich terns sitting on Red Nab

Wrong kind of mist

Heysham Obs
Absolutely dreadful this morning with nothing happening in rather good mist-netting conditions.  Every time it looked like clearing from the north west, it closed up again.  Not the right direction to produce any grounded stuff.  The only remotely interesting fauna this morning was this Pine carpet

Vis mig dawn on and off until 1000hrs
Chaffinch - about the only thing moving early on tree-top-hopping from the direction of Heysham head - 27 SW
alba Wagtail - 6 SE
Grey Wagtail - 2 SE (one ringed)
Meadow Pipit - 43 SE - mainly 'mid'-morning
Goldfinch - 18 SE
Kestrel - one blogging

Grounded
One Chiffchaff and one Goldcrest at Heysham, unringed Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat caught at Middleton

Inshore
Quick check of outfalls area saw at least three Meds and a distant view of adult-type Little Gull, perhaps 3CY in final stages of primary moult i.e. no old feathers

Moths
Pine Carpet, Angle Shades and the usual suspects, including a few Treble Bar

Look out for colour-ringed Grey Wagtail

Heysham Obs
A decent passage of Grey Wagtail this week with over 40 colour-ringed.  Please check the sidebar which will be updated in a minute (!) and remember to check both legs, especially the sequence on the right leg. 

Just watched a flock of five released and heading off together to the south-east.  I don't think enough importance is attached to release methodology of vis mig birds in the literature.  Grey Wagtails released singly from a sitting position at the ringing base on the north side of the office building often went and sat in the nearest tree for up to 30 minutes whilst those taken round the corner and pointed in a south-easterly direction, they should be (and were) heading, gain height and carry on their migration with minimum of disruption.  Now we always release in the second manner

Vis mig to 1000
Spoilt by the cloud cover spilling in early and very little moving in contrast to the Caton Moor vis mig site whch was on the cloud edge for much of the early morning.  However this kept the sun off the nets!
Grey Wagtail - 10-11 south-east (6 ringed)
Chaffinch - 40 migrants south
Swallow - 24 SW
House Martin - 15 SW
Meadow Pipit - Just 9 SE
Common Buzzard - one south
Cormorant - high flocks of 11+4 south
Grey Heron - 1 south

Grounded
At least 3 migrant Song Thrush, 2 Chiffchaff, one Whitethroat, two Blackcap and at least 2 Robin new in (e.g. all unringed when caught)

More later when the coast is checked after doing some work!

It isnt your weather but the bigger picture which matters

Heysham Obs
A small pocket of calmer air in the middle of a generally fresh north-north-westerly was a bit of a novelty, synopsis-wise and certainly seemed suitable for mist-netting.  No-one told the birds, presumably grounded by the strong wind to the north which hit us with a notable 'whoosh' in tidal bore-fashion at about 0845hrs.  So we had perfect vis conditions with no vis.

Overhead dawn to about 1000hrs
Grey Wagtail - 7 (3 ringed)
Meadow Pipit - 18, with a gap of 1.5 hrs 0630-0800 without any!
alba Wagtail - group of 7 then just one other
Chaffinch - at least 19 tree-hopping southbound presumed migrants, as usual doing a lot of contact-calling
Swallow - 13

Grounded
Goldcrest - 1 - first of autumn
Chiffchaff - c3
Blackcap - one new one
Whitethroat - one retrap
Robin - one new one

Swallow roost last night
At least 500 birds in roost, but only a very cautious 41 ringed due to some nasty weather, albeit approaching slowly, along the north-western horizon.  That will do for the Swallow ringing sample for  the year - just over 500.

Coastal at high tide
Wheatear - 4 inner end of wooden jetty
Med Gull - 5 off Ocean Edge

Moths
After the inexplicable 'nil' yesterday, a nice variety given the cold conditions with 10 species including Copper Underwing and Angle Shades and dominated by Treble Bar and Silver Y

Decentish morning once the rain stopped

Heysham Obs
Not too clever for the Grey Wagtail study with 6 of them "overtaking" the end bit of the heavy rain before the nets could be opened, two being caught as the self-same rain hid the sun and then at least three having a whale of a time balancing on the top shelf as blazing sunshine on the net took over.  They are either very easy to catch in dull conditions or hopeless when it is sunny, which of course also makes them fly higher!  Quite a pulse of cross-bay vis at the back end of the dawn rain - you could tell there was no more wet stuff this side of Furness and no need to walk to the top of the hill and look!

Vis mig dawn to about midday (good to see you Bryan (Yorke))
Grey Wagtail - 13 SE (just two ringed)
Meadow Pipit - 135 SE
Chaffinch - 16 S
alba Wagtail - excluding presumed ex-roost, 8 SE
Tree Pipit - 3 singletons SE
Linnet - 1 S
Goldfinch - a minimum of 36 SE & other lower birds may have been migrants
Dunnock - "fidgety time" with 3 noisy ones flying S
Crossbill - at least one and probably two flew south at 0803 but could not be found as they were to the west of the office with limited viewing
Swallow - 22 ESE
House Martin - 1
Bullfinch - a bit of activity which could be interpreted as vis mig with two lots of two heading south over the office
Carrion Crow - a highflying flock of 6 came from the east, then headed north before swinging S
Greenfinch - 2 high to the south
Siskin - heard (one?) flying south

Grounded
Wheatear - at least 9 along coastal bits
Whitethroat - at least three new in
Blackcap - two new birds
Chiffchaff - c3 around office
Willow Warbler - one around office
Sedge Warbler - one ringed by office but not new in (F2, 12.6g)
Song Thrush - one presumed early migrant heard in the dawn twilight (early British-type migrants are a feature of September)

Coastal
Med Gull - at least 7

  

Unspectacular day

Heysham Obs Vis mig included 9 Meadow Pipit and 4 Grey Wagtail. Grounded migrants included 3-4 Chiffchaff, 3 Wheatear (2 mound, one OE) and a single Whitethroat Coastal stuff was 'same again' with 3CY Little Gull and at least 15 Med Gulls (7 juvs)

The local birding event weather jinx continues

Heysham Obs
A decent look at the outfalls and Red Nab was marred by some poor weather during the latter half.  It also knocked on the head any early morning searches for migrants.  There appears to be high degree of certainty that the Bonaparte's Gull has gone, although you always have to be very careful with these pronouncements when wet fields are available nearby, reducing 'reliance' on the outfalls

Outfalls/Red Nab/Ocean Edge most of the morning from 0900hrs
Sanderling - juvenile on the mudflats off ocean Edge
Little Gull - one adult-type
Sandwich Tern - 3 'out'
Common/Arctic Tern - one seen very briefly
Med Gull - Maxima of 9 1CY, 4 2CY, 1 3CY and 4 adult-type
Little Egret - one flew over the reserve early morning and the same may have been seen on Red Nab

Migrants
Wheatear - 6-7 seen
Swallow - about 12 casually noted heading inland from across the bay
Meadow Pipit - 8 as above
Grey Wagtail - 2 SE
Pink-footed Goose - IOA -two lots of 5 headed south-east
Wigeon - IOA - 2 off Red Nab early morning, joined by a flock of 8 later
small duck spp - one with two Wigeon early am but very brief and distant
Kestrel - one may have come in-off as it disturbed the gulls on Red Nab
Grey Heron - one south over the reserve

Moths
Just a handful of Silver Y and yesterday's Mullein Wave relocated after it went awol in the toilet!

tomorrows event

The weather is a bit unpredictable. Therefore we cannot promise any early arrivals that there will be e.g. any ringing to watch. Early arrivals will probably be taken out on a short migrant search before the main event at 0900hrs. Please meet at Heysham NR car park at 0900hrs for the main event, not by the mast. Thanks Things are looking good weather-wise for the main event at 0900hrs but it was not possible to recce the outfalls and area at the correct time the last two days, so fingers crossed for plenty of the known quantities still being around and maybe an odd extra like a Black Tern