Sunday 24th

Heysham Obs

Unremarkable WeBS day and not a lot else apart from ground-breaking Jackdaw record!

Jack Snipe - one possibly two Ocean Edge saltmarsh
Med Gull - adult Fishers roof
Jackdaw - 7 in field off Knowsley Road on northern edge of recording area - MEGA!!

Firecrest confirmation

Heysham Obs
Firecrest is a regional description species in Highland, therefore it was important to check up on a report of the Firecrest we ringed in mid-September last year being found in a car radiator grille in Elgin, Moray (400k north) on 7th January.  Here is the bird just prior to release at Heysham on 14th September 2015

!

Thanks to Philip for reporting this and sending a rather sad pic of the freshly dead bird, confirming the identity and implicitly correct ring number - not always easy to discern with AA rings.  The location was more tricky.  The 'fresh' nature of the bird and the impression Philip had of a small bird flying across the front of the vehicle on the outskirts of Elgin, which did not appear to come out at the other side, does suggest that the bird had not been in the radiator grille for very long.  However, there remains the, given the condition, unlikely possibility that the bird was impacted somewhere between Wick and Elgin, the journey undertaken that day.

Not quite unprecedented - here is a 'similar' record from Norfolk:

964150	First-year Male	13-10-1975	North-west Norfolk coast: 53°0'N 0°36'E (Norfolk)
	Freshly dead	11-02-1976	Ires Geo, Wick: 58°22'N 3°6'W (Highland)   642km   NNW

and here is a notable recovery from an Irish Sea site at a similar latitude to us - maybe a more predictable direction:

BEH893	First-year Male	22-09-2007	Calf of Man: c. 54°3'N 4°49'W
	Caught by ringer	01-11-2008	Queen Mary Reservoir: 51°25'N 0°28'W (Surrey)   413km   SE

All that happened today was that I arrived at HNR later than expected, missed the short ringing weather window and had to take the net down virtually as soon as it was set.  The only surprise was the capture of yet another un-ringed Robin.  Then ploughing through the 2015 report species accounts.  No reports from anyone else, but Malcolm did say that his male Blackcap would be on his fat-balls in the village unless he informed otherwise!

The view from the top

The view from Knowlys Road at high tide:

The grey blob in the middle is the Oystercatcher roost which would normally be on the heliport but due to so much disturbance by off-lead dogs and their owners, has had to relocate to a safer roost spot. These fields are fenced off, sometimes grazed by horses and nicely undisturbed by anything else. As you can see, by walking on the promenade path it is possible to get quite close to the birds without disturbing them. Or, if it is raining or very windy, by parking on Knowlys Road you can enjoy a view across all the fields from the comfort of your car........

...........as I did earlier today. From here I could see:

660 Oystercatcher

12 House Sparrows (in the central hedge)

8 Magpies

1 Mistle Thrush (a red-listed species)

20 Black-headed gulls

9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls

5 Woodpigeon

3 Linnet (also red-listed)

 1 Pied Wagtail

2 Goldfinch

20 Starling

 

Next stop was the Near Naze. Six species of bird in this picture:

 

In all there were 70 Redshank, 14 Ringed Plover, 2 Turnstone, 1 Curlew, 350 Oystercatcher, 50 Dunlin, 12 Lapwing and 3 Herring Gulls crammed on the rocks. 

 

At Red Nab there were 41 Wigeon, 500 Oystercatcher, 2 Shelduck, 1 Red-breasted Merganser plus small numbers of gulls.

 

But bird of the day was at the North Harbour Wall feeding station where a lone Twite joined 10 Linnet, 8 Goldfinch and 3 Feral Pigeons.

 

JR.

 

 

 



Brambling and Brent surprises

Heysham Obs

Red nab area
Two Brent geese, then took flight heading for lune estuary (thanks Malcolm). Race uncertain

HNR office area
Big influx of finches with c40 on the seed including a female Brambling.  Too windy for any ringing.

South Harbour
Med Gull - ad behind ferry
No sign of any Guillemot
Great-crested Grebe - one harbour mouth

Wednesday 20th
Four unringed Greenfinch caught but hardly any finches around in the cold still weather yet again - odd (see tomorrow!)

Watch this space on a Firecrest ringed last September being found in a car grille at Elgin on 7/1/16!!!
Presumably this was the Firecrest ringed last September, but where did it meet its end? - investigations under way. Update: identity correct, initial location either Elgin or further north!

A nice quiet day

Heysham Obs
Nothing particularly wintry about today at Heysham and this was reflected in numerous birds, such as Great Tits, in full song

Middleton NR
The male Mute Swan on the Tim Butler pond had a completely illegible metal ring with no characters at all showing!  Whether this is the age of the bird or something about the water quality in said pond (the word chemical is often mentioned when referring to Middleton history) is a matter of speculation

Chiffchaff - one collybita, calling regularly, with LTT flock near TBP
Bullfinch - 2
Teal - 21
Mute Swan - 6 ad and two 2CY
Tufted Duck - 4 (MBP only checked of usual haunts)
Moorhen - 13 TBP area!!
Mallard - 6

Harbour
Med Gull - adult behind ferry

Office area
A low-key ringing session - the feeders are probably getting 'diluted' now as cold weather plus imminent 'garden birdwatch' means more dangling things from more gardens with more choice for basically the same number of birds.  Just 11 new birds (6 Greenfinch, 3 Chaffinch, one Goldfinch and (surprisingly) one Robin)

Moth
Dotted Border in the trap 

Mixed finches

Heysham NH Wall

Mid morning visit to the feeding area saw the following:

Mixed flock of Linnet/Goldfinches difficult to count owing to much coming and going.  Around 50 birds approximately 50% of each species.

Starling - 11
Robin - 1
Dunnock - 1

ajd

Sunday 17th January

Heysham Obs

North wall and intertidal
Bar-tailed Godwit - 159
Med Gull - ad

Heysham village
Blackcap - male still present in garden

Ringing severely curtailed by wind this morning

John Mason/Malcolm Downham

Greenfinch Influx

Heysham Obs
Ringing by office
Unprecedented (for January) influx of unringed Greenfinch (40+ so far)
New birds ringed today 17 Greenfinch,4 Goldfinch, 2 Bullfinch, 2 Chaffinch and 1 Blue Tit.
Nets taken down just before snow arrived.

Another Chiffchaff

Heysham Obs

Thursday 14th
North Harbour Wall
Czech ringed adult Med Gull
18 Goldfinch and 1 Linnet on feeding area.

Friday 15th (thanks to Janet and Malcolm for coverage)
Middleton NR
Chiffchaff - a bright 'green and yellow' bird in the NE corner of the Tim Butler pond this morning
Cetti's Warbler - no sight nor sound in good conditions and extensive search
Snipe - 3

Red Nab
Little Egret - 2

Heysham village
Blackcap - male still present

Wednesday 13th

Heysham Obs
Male Blackcap on a fat ball in a Heysham garden

Chiffchaff in the tank farm next to the pond mid morning

Greenfinch - quite a few un-ringed birds about - 11/12 caught were un-ringed and were plenty of others around as the weather worsened and the net was taken down

No coastal coverage today