A bit of vis and that

Heysham Obs

Vis from the hut 07:30 - 09:00 and intermittently after that to 14:00
Pink-footed Goose: 224 (Thanks to the ELOC group)
Sparrowhawk - 3
Skylark - 4
Swallow - 5
Meadow Pipit - 74
Grey Wagtail - 5
alba wagtail - 32
Blackbird - 2
Song Thrush - 8
Carrion Crow - 11
Starling - 22
Tree Sparrow - 8
Chaffinch 389
Greenfinch 32
Goldfinch - 71
Bullfinch - 3
Reed Bunting - 6

Grounded:
Goldcrest - 11
Chiffchaff - 6

Bits and bobs from the south of the site

Heysham Obs

South section of the recording area vis mig 0745-1200
Meadow Pipit - 209
alba Wagtail - 21
Chaffinch - 10
Linnet -28
Greenfinch - 54
Goldfinch - 2
Grey Wagtail - 1
Reed Bunting - 4
Skylark - at least 5
Whooper Swan - flock of 9
Pink-footed Goose - 40
Jackdaw - 3
Rock Pipit - 2
Starling - 12

Grounded
Wheatear - 2

Miscellany
Common Scoter - 22 into bay - very unusual this time of year

Linnet - 20 on NH Wall feeding site nyger today

Jamming in down the road

Heysham Obs
To the annoyance of the regular bush thrasher, who has put hours in this autumn (but not today) a visit to a moth trap at Sunderland Point scored with a vocal Yellow-browed Warbler in a sheltered walled garden nearby.  It disappeared with two Blue Tit but was seen well again nearby mid-afternoon.  This delayed the intended vis mig slot at Heysham and there was absolutely nothing over head by the time we arrived at 1000ish (c/f Bryan Yorke's Chaffinch)

Obs recording area
A circuit of the reserve in challenging wind conditions saw one Chiffchaff and 4 Goldcrest whilst a similar circuit of Heysham head produced one male Blackcap, one Goldcrest and a gang of 6 Blackbirds behaving like early continentals

The Heysham moth trap held a Red-line Quaker whilst the aforementioned Sunderland moth trap was full of wasps!

Not quite good enough

Heysham Obs
Before another tale of a missed opportunity to clinch a decent bird, some interesting stats on Grey Wagtail.  The vis mig total for September was 261 and the ringing total was 132 which gives a decent enough sample to say that you catch half of them!


Instead of being in situ on the chair with optics at the ready, grabbing a cup of coffee saw me 3-4 metres from my optics when what appeared to be a Richard's Pipit was heard calling in the sky to the NNW.  Unfortunately, by the time I had grabbed the bins, the bird was in the 'eastern sky' and silhouetted as well as heading progressively further away.  It was quite vocal with 5 calls heard and the undulating "large Pied Wagtail" silhouette obviously ruled out House Sparrow!  However rare flyovers require at least a little bit of plumage and this was not possible by the time it hit the eastern sky.  So its an 'almost but not quite' as regards a submittable Lancashire record


Vis mig by the office 0830-1000 - not a lot after the wind got up at 0920.
Chaffinch - 80 S
Bullfinch - 3+2 high to south
Tree Sparrow - 2 grounded then S
alba Wagtail - 26 SE
Meadow Pipit - 17 (forgot to enter first time round!)
Jay - one south
presumed Richards Pipit - see above ESE at 0902hrs
Siskin - 4
Carrion Crow - flock of 5 south
Linnet - 6 S
Greenfinch - 3 S
Goldfinch - 18 S
Skylark - 3+H+2 SE
Pink-footed Goose - flock heard to the west


Grounded HNR
Chiffchaff - at least 6
Goldcrest - 4

NH Wall
Linnet - 11 on nyger at the feeding station.


Moths
A blank for the first time since the late winter days

Common migrants pile through

Heysham Obs
A nice bonus with some latterly forecasted slack air allowing a ringing session at Middleton along with some vis mig away from the racket at the harbour


Vis mig dawn to midday
Meadow Pipit - 709 SE with several probably missed on mist net rounds
Skylark - at least 96 SE with several (H) just counted as one
alba Wagtail - 83 SE
Goldfinch - 53 S
Swallow - 4 SE
Chaffinch - 160 S
Grey Wagtail - probably at least 5 but also at least two local birds doing the rounds
Jackdaw - 13 + (H) + 3
Carrion Crow - at least 18 migrants to south
Rook - one solitary adult south
Reed Bunting - at least 30 SE
Pink-footed Goose - 351 S/SE
Sparrowhawk - male high to SE
Linnet - 15 SE
Stock Dove - a group of 3 flew east but may have been local
Little Egret - one high(ish) to west
Grey Heron - 1 SE


Grounded
The only things over and above the ringing totals were 13 Song Thrush - a good number reflecting several recent mornings.  The only Chiffchaff encountered was in a mist net with no calling birds and the same goes for the single Goldcrest.  The Blackcaps were interesting - two separate slight increases in wind/change of direction produced 3+2 lightweight and fat-free birds together in the net


Ringing at Middleton
Pretty perfect conditions with variable cloud managing to cover the sun for the whole morning.  New birds:  Meadow Pipit (26), Reed Bunting (16), Wren (6), Blackcap (5), Robin (4), Chaffinch (4), Blue Tit (3), Grey Wagtail (2) and singles of Chiffchaff, Goldcrest and Swallow - the latter caught before dawn and must surely have been ex-roosting on its own,

Caloptilia surprise

Heysham Obs
.....but not sure what it is yet - a fairly long uniform ginger one.  One Pink-barred Sallow the only other moth


Ocean Edge
Med Gull - 1CY, 2CY
Little Egret - 2
Little Gull - ad


North wall (thanks Tom)
Gannet - one adult
Linnet - 11 on seed
Auk spp - one
Cormorant - 60 but no shag
Med Gull - 1-2 ad

Another Med Gull ring escapes identity

Heysham Obs
A 1CY Med with a green darvic on the right leg and below tarsus metal on the left was met with streaming eyes and steamed up scope - hopeless reading rings with a stinking cold!

Ocean Edge area
Med Gull - 2 x Ad, 1 x 2CY, 1 x 1CY as above (not yesterdays bird)
Little Egret - 4

Office area HNR
Chiffchaff - 2
Chaffinch - back end of an overhead passage on arrival at 0930 with about 15 in 20 minutes - elsewhere suggested quite a large movement missed in the absence of any early morning coverage

Moth
First Feathered Ranunculus of the year in the toilet trap

Fruitlessly grilled Dunlin

Heysham Obs
Limited coverage this morning with concentration on the large flocks of wader along the tideline off Ocean Edge.  About 700 Dunlin were unfortunately just that and nothing else of interest could be located other than:


Med Gull - 2 x 2CY, 2 x Ad, 1 x 1CY
Little Egret - 3
Knot - 1,750
Bar-tailed Godwit - 970
Grey Plover - 195
Shelduck - c490

Harbour mouth or just offshore
Shag 1CY wooden jetty
Guillemot c5

Moths
Odd: just three: Silver Y, Angle Shades, Riband Wave - i.e. none of the "everyday" stuff at this time of year (Green-brindled Crescent, Pink-barred Sallow and Red-line Quaker)

Brief circuit bits and pieces

Heysham Obs

Single Wheatear north harbour wall (two yesterday)

Three Little Egret Red Nab area

Shag - the star of the show - a 1CY on wooden jetty

Med Gull - 2 x Ad, 1 x 2CY off Ocean Edge

5 Gannets just off the harbour

No other observers around today

Dead nice day

Heysham Obs
The last of the clear calm mornings for a bit - it was a bit too clear and calm this morning with stratospheric vis mig and not a lot of grounded stuff (albeit seemingly starting from a blank cheque after yesterday).  A very noisy boat made life very difficult during the first hour of daylight.


Vis mig by HNR office 0700-1000 (thanks to Brian for a lot of this)
Carrion Crow - 1 south - surprising absence of black corvid passage this am
alba Wagtail - 11
Meadow Pipit - 39
Grey Wagtail - 4
Skylark - 1
Song Thrush - at least 10, possibly 15
Chaffinch - 99(!)
Bullfinch - 2
Jay - 2+2+1 south
Coal Tit - flock of 6, then at least one other heard calling
Reed Bunting - 2

Afternoon vis mig
Swallow - 9 S
House Martin - 3 S
Pink-footed Goose - 15 SE


Grounded by office
Goldcrest - 3
Chiffchaff - 2
Tree Sparrow - 1
Wren - one unringed bird caught


Middleton NR
Goldcrest - 2
Chiffchaff - 3
Reed Bunting - 5 ringed


Insects
Blastobasis lacticolella in trap.  Brown Hawker Middleton NR along with single Migrant Hawker and at least 6 Common Darter