8th and 9th September

8th September

Red Nab
At least 82 Sandwich Terns
Little Egret - 1
Mediterranean Gull - 13 x 1CY
Grey Wagtail - 1 south
Robin - 1 grounded

Middleton nr
Good numbers of grounded warblers, especially blackcap  and robin with on the other hand less vis mig than of late. Details tomorrow

9th September
Middleton saw fairly good vis mig including two tree pipit, c120 meadow pipit and 16 grey wagtail  more detail tomorrow

Invisible blue sky

Heysham Obs
Vis mig was high and tricky to see today and judging by the clear unambiguous call, something reasonably good was missed.  What's missed is mystery and what doesn't get specifically mentioned doesn't get any damning Chinese whispers on personal blogs and forums!


Heysham NR office area
Vis mig to 0930
Grey Wagtail - 13 over, 5 ringed, two escaped!
Chaffinch - 22 S - the first really obvious vis of the autumn
Meadow Pipit - 46 min
alba Wagtail - 9
Sparrowhawk - one high to south
Cormorant - flock of 8 high to south-east
Swallow - just 11


Grounded
Goldcrest - 4
Robin - 7 unringed birds caught
Dearth of warblers with just one Willow Warbler and one Sedge Warbler ringed and two Chiffchaff heard - implicitly the first sylvia-free day around the office for a bit


Misc
Green Woodpecker juv seen and heard

Chatty show

Heysham Obs
The highlight this morning was the presence of 25 Wheatear on the north harbour wall - an excellent, possibly unprecedented, total for autumn (more like a good day in spring).  No other sites checked.


Office area
Grey Wagtail - 7 SE (4 ringed either side of a net closure due to rain)
Meadow Pipit - 1 SE!!
alba Wagtail - 2 SE
Robin - plenty with 4 new ones ringed
Blackcap - gang of three migrants caught
Goldcrest - at least 3
Chiffchaff - only two seen!
Willow Warbler - one ringed


Middleton late morning
House Martin - 11 SE
Swallow - 2 SE


Moths
Silver Y and second brood Burnished Brass &, more unusually, Large Fruit Tree Tortrix


Butterflies
Clouded Yellow Middleton NR this pm - thanks Malcolm.  At least two Red Admiral 'in-off' heading south and at least 10 around the HNR office area

Another pre-dawn start at Middleton

Heysham Obs
.............the last for a day or two


Middleton NR 0545 onwards
A more open morning saw some early vis mig from especially Grey Wagtail and then steady stuff  until about 1000hrs


Sparrowhawk - 1CY male high to SE
Tree Pipit - 7 SE
Meadow Pipit - c140SE
alba Wagtail - 14 SE
Reed Bunting - 12 perceived migrants (5 ringed)
Grey Wagtail - 14 SE (6 ringed)
Skylark - one SE (IOA)
Sandwich Tern - two SE!!!
Common Buzzard - one of unknown status, but probably local, circling east of the site
Green Woodpecker - passed through early morning along the golf course edge
Carrion Crow - 10+5 on the move, heading east
Jackdaw - single high to the south, 4 with second lot of Carrion Crow
Redstart - female yesterday by model boat pond
Goldcrest - 2
Lesser Whitethroat - 2 ringed
Whitethroat - 2 ringed
Chiffchaff - 3 ringed
Willow warbler - one ringed
Blackcap - just one ringed
Robin - 5 ringed


Ocean Edge quick visit at low tide
Med Gull - c10
Wheatear - 1


Moth trap
Rusty Dot Pearl

Red Darter at MNR

Swallow at MNR

Young Swallows at MNR

Blocking cloud spoils the early morning effort

Heysham Obs
A bit frustrating this morning with a great wadge of cloud out to the west blocking any cross-bay vis, certainly across the Middleton site.  Then as soon as the batteries went on the 'machine', the skies cleared across the bay and three of the main ringing target species - Grey Wagtail - flew through!


Middleton NR dawn onwards
Reed Warbler - two migrants ringed
Grasshopper Warbler - a short burst of song from a passage bird
Grey Wagtail - 5 or so (one off-passage bird?) - only one ringed today
Tree Pipit - 4 (one ringed)
Meadow Pipit - c70, mainly mid-late morning
Swallow - 50-100 again mainly late morning
House Martin - at least 30 as above
Whinchat - one early morning
Blackcap - 4 new birds ringed
Whitethroat - just one ringed
Robin - 4 ringed
Garden Warbler - a retrap from a couple of days ago had not put on any appreciable weight/fat
Sedge Warbler - as above species
Raven - 2
Starling - lots of small parties of young birds touring the place but rarely landing
Just 35 new birds ringed this morning

Middleton evening
Greylag - flock of 25 flew over - unprecedented in autumn I think!
Hobby - adult targeted the Swallow roost and seemed to catch one
Swallow - c150 roosted


Insects
Middleton central/western marsh area: Common Hawker, 5+ Migrant Hawker, 2+ Brown Hawker, c20 Common Darter, Clouded Yellow

Marsh Harrier surprise

Heysham Obs
13 Grey Wagtail were colour-ringed this morning courtesy of the lack of sun on the nets.  Please do keep an eye open for these birds - both legs need to be in view to trace to an individual bird but any information will be of value


Two surprises this morning.  One was receipt of a grammatically-challenging leaflet including a piece where the king of the photo-op, local MP David (Canute) Morris, had "Saved (spelt Save's) Sunderland Point" by creating "rock amour".  The other was a juvenile Marsh Harrier flushed from an area of reed at Middleton Nature reserve - it headed off south with a larid entourage. 


Middleton first light to mid morning
Marsh Harrier - see above
Green Woodpecker - one on a brief noisy tour of the periphery
Kingfisher - 1CY male ringed
Grey Wagtail - c16 SE (7 ringed)
Meadow Pipit - c65 SE -  fewer than yesterday
Tree Pipit - one SE
alba Wagtail - c15 SE
Swallow - impossible to categorise but probably no more than 100 passed through
House Martin - 14 SE
Very few grounded warblers with only a single Sedge Warbler, three Willow Warbler, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap and a Chiffchaff newly ringed.  Four migrant Robin were ringed


Heysham NR first light to mid morning
Grey Wagtail - 16 SE (6 ringed) - these were not the same birds as at Middleton other than perhaps two - the Middleton birds seemed to come ashore south of the power stations
Robin - 8 migrants ringed
Green Woodpecker - probably the same as at Middleton (heard only)
Only a few warblers, as at Middleton comprising one Sedge, one Lesser Whitethroat, 5 Blackcap and single Willow Warbler


Moths
A Rush Veneer was in the Heysham toilet trap and a Pinion-streaked Snout in an actinic at Middleton

More early morning coverage

Heysham Obs


Heysham NR
A small amount of ringing included four migrant Robin and a Lesser Whitethroat


A Green Woodpecker, views suggesting a juvenile, was by Heysham NR office mid-afternoon




Middleton NR
Despite rather clear conditions with a variable, mainly northerly, then north-east wind, a reasonable chunk of birds on and over Middleton this morning where the raised road between the western and central marshes gives a really good vantage point.

Vis
Meadow Pipit - c100 SE
Tree Pipit - just one heard SE
Grey Wagtail - 7 SE
alba Wagtail - 25 SE
Reed Bunting - 5 perceived migrants SE
Swallow - difficult as high flying birds circling a lot but at least 57 SE
House Martin - 3 SE
Raven - 2
Skylark - 1 E (early migrant?)

Jay - flock of 3 east - at least on dispersal. I read recently about the lack of acorns in some areas this autumn. Could this be the start of a Jay autumn at vis mig sites?

Grounded
Redstart - female
Blackcap - 20-25
Garden Warbler - at least 2 - doesn't breed here
Sedge Warbler - just 2
Reed Warbler - seemingly zero
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Whitethroat - 5
Robin -at last 3 migrants
Chiffchaff - not many - about 5 migrants
Willow Warbler - tailing off now with just 3-4 seen
Goldcrest - two migrants - all records of this species here are migrants


Moths
Not a bad night, despite the cold early morning - the first part of the night had a veil of cloud.  In the office trap the highlights were Toadflax Pug, Grey Chi (outside wall) and Rusty Dot Pearl.  The Middleton actinic held an Autumnal Rustic - rare here - and the first Large Wainscot of the autumn plus a pretty late Drinker

Toadflax Pug

Heysham Obs
The intrepid 'pug expert' Brian Hancock paid a visit today and six of the toadflax florets nearest to the office had a pug larva within.  The other revelation today was that we ringed just over 1,000 birds in August - the first time over 1,000 has been achieved in a month.....and only 200 or so of these were the Swallow roost.

 This is not a common moth up here with Heysham by far the best site

 



Birds

Tufted Duck - 8 Middleton

Gadwall - 10 Middleton

Mallard - 1 Middleton!

Sandwich Tern - one red nab

Swallow - 57 SW in morning - NO other vis mig over here in breezy north-westerly

 

Moth trap

Single Rusty Dot Pearl plus the usual stuff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Early morning bonus

Heysham Obs
Almost forgot about the best bird - it seems so long ago - Grasshopper Warbler singing for about a minute in the Middleton central marsh at first light.  It did appear as though there might be a small session of light winds early morning before the NW kicked in and in fact this spell did materialise but did not produce quite what was expected (far more grounded warblers than expected and much less vis)!

Just 3 nets were set at Middleton NR and the nets by the office were similarly geared up to ring a few vis mig birds, notably Grey Wagtail

Heysham produced two Grey Wagtail (out of four seen) and the first Goldcrest to be ringed (and second overall) this autumn

Middleton saw quite a flurry of newly-arrived warblers all entering the nets from the 'seaward end' and a conspicuous absence of much vis mig......until it became too windy to catch Grey Wagtail.

Middleton ringing (2.5 hrs) included 5 Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Blackcap, 4 Whitethroat, one Lesser Whitethroat, one Sedge Warbler........and just one Grey Wagtail

Vis mig Heysham/Middleton
Tree Pipit - 1
Grey Wagtail - at least 6, possibly 9, mostly after the wind got up
Meadow Pipit - no sign of this mystifying massive passage on the north Wales coast yesterday with just 10 SE
Raven - 2
Swallow - c100 ex-roost, c20 S
Sand Martin - on noise alone, "a lot" ex-roost
House Martin - 11 SE
Reed Bunting - 2 SE
Pheasant - at least 3 with one narrowly missing a mist net!


Outfalls/Red Nab/Ocean Edge foreshore near (a lowish) high tide
Sorry for late posting - couldn't access site last night
Med Gull - 31 outfalls/Red Nab/Ocean Edge south mudflats, 23 1CY, 6 2CY and 2 adult
Little Gull - ad Ocean Edge mudflats pm

Saturday 30th August

Heysham Obs
Spent most of the day putting moth records on MapMate and nothing has been recived from elsewhere

There was a juv Whinchat on the 'hill' at Middleton NR late afternoon