more north-westerly rubbish

Heysham Obs
Wrong move today - put two nets up next to the office and as soon as this happened, up went the wind strength. Should have checked the outfalls and area in the time available - did anyone else?

Ringing/grounded by the office
Ringing comprised a scintillating 8 Greenfinch, one Robin, one Blue tit, half a retrap Chiffchaff (still in heavy primary moult (PPs 5-8 still in pin/2) and the only firm identification feature was the call after release (& checking back to the original ringing data)) and a very surprsing retrap juvenile Whitethroat from mid-August.

Around were a single Lesser Whitethroat, an additional Whitethroat and best of all a Raven sat on a pylon for half an hour mid-am.

Vis from just outside the office
All early morning, nothing much after 0800hrs: Meadow Pipit 20, Grey Wagtail 1, alba Wagtail 4, Swallow 25, House Martin 2

Insects
Wall Brown yesterday near where the dog walkers park (first for the reserve this year, I think!) . Painted Lady on the remnants of the office buddliea today. Moths unremarkable but did include fairly scarce species in the form of Nutmeg and Grey Chi

Elsewhere
Great White Egret and 23 Little Egret Allen/EM Pools

Goldcrests kick off & early vis Skylark

Heysham Obs
All coverage was on the land or overhead today and, whilst plenty of birds were ringed, there was little evidence of other than short/medium-distance 'British' migrants as one would expect with (light) 'north-westerly rubbish' round a high pressure! These shorter distance migrants, however, are very interesting to ring with a much less predictable recovery pattern than say, Sedge Warbler.

Ringing Heysham NR/Middleton
See above: totals included: Robin (6), Goldcrest (5), Blackcap (5), Chiffchaff (3), Wren (6), Grey Wagtail (7), Whitethroat (2). If the Wrens represent partial migrants rather than a relatively recent (therefore unringed) local brood or two, this is early for this species (normally peaking in 2nd week October)


Additional grounded birds included one Lesser Whitethroat, one Sedge Warbler and at least one additional Whitethroat

Vis mig
Grey Wagtail (c12), Skylark (2), <10 Swallow & House Martin & Meadow Pipit

Elsewhere
Great White Egret and Osprey at Leighton Moss, also the first (?) Merlin of the autumn. Hobby and Yellow Wagtail at the Melling maize field area this evening, the former attacking a pre-roost flock of 3000+ Swallow

Speckled Wood still flourishing

Heysham Obs
Just a quick visit to the north wall without opening the gate and this produced the three usual Med Gulls: adult and 2 2nd W

Butterfly census (reserve only)
Speckled Wood (35), Small Tortoiseshell (3), Brimstone (2), Painted Lady (1), Red Admiral (3), Green-veined White (1), Small White (4), Large White (1), Meadow Brown (4), Common Blue (3)

Moth trap
You could tell no-one had been in the office today as I didnt check the 'toilet trap' until 1630hrs and there were still 13 Treble Bar on the wall c/f extremely sensitive to vibration produced by footsteps (I crept in!)

Elsewhere
Great White Egret, 3 Spoonbill - but some doubt as to whether these were present today and 4 Curlew Sandpiper on the Allen/EM Pool along with 20+ Little Egret. 3 Garganey Griesdale hide

Little change

Heysham Obs
Spring tides are a bit of a nuisance at this time of year as they clear all the gulls away from the outfalls/Red Nab area without usually producing 'replacements' from elsewhere. This may have been responsible for fewer Meds.

Outfalls/Red Nab/north wall
Med. Gull: Just the three juvs today, including re-reading the white darvic bird. Additional adult and 2nd W on the outfalls side and 2 2nd W & the Czech-ringed adult on the north wall side
Little Gull: regular adult winter outfalls
Sandwich Tern: About 5 'blogging' inshore/roosting on Red Nab

Middleton IE
Three f/imm Tufted Duck were first recorded yesterday

Heysham Head
Large raptor, unfortunately only seen rather distantly flying away from the observer, was last seen passing Heysham 2 Power station heading SW at c1615hrs. Nothing to suggest it was not Common (which it isn't round here) Buzzard

Sea passage
c6 distant Sandwich Tern and a single Gannet was an improvement of sorts on recent days!

Moths
Grey Chi and Common Wainscot (rare & only occurs in autumn here) were new for the year

Elsewhere
Ad Med Gull soaring around next to the Midland Hotel, Morecambe mid-pm. Great White Egret, 3 Spoonbill and varying (but reduced) numbers of Little Egret on the Allen/EM Pools. Curlew Sandpiper increase there to ad & 3 juvs.

One down, three(ish) to go

Heysham Obs
Outfalls area
A 'one-species day' with about 10 Med Gulls on offer. Of the 4+ juvs, three were ringed and the white darvic was read on one of these. Two had metal-only rings and there was no sign of the red darvic bird from the other day. The others comprised 3 adult and 3 2nd winter, presumably including the usual north harbour wall birds. Thanks to Mark for this information.

Elsewhere
At least 23 Little Egret on the EM Pools along with Great White Egret and three Spoonbill. Juv Garganey Griesdale hide at L Moss yesterday

Surreal seawatch

Heysham Obs
A 30 minute early afternoon Heysham seawatch produced:

Storm Petrel - 1 'blogging'
Med Gull - 2 juveniles out close inshore
Cormorant - 1 out

......and nothing else (apart from a possible coconut floating in), despite a fresh onshore wind! As oft-repeated, the location of the windfarm appears to be inhibiting 'routine' seabirds from entering the Bay, such as the half-dozen Fulmar which might have been expected.

Harbour/north wall pre-incoming tide
Med Gull - 5+ juvenile (BEWARE three juv Common Gull as well, affording excellent comparison), one (Czech-ringed) adult and 2 2nd W
Little Gull - one adult on seaward end of Heysham One outfall, visible through the gap in the wooden jetty

Red Nab/Heysham 2 outfall pre-tide
Additional adult Med Gull on Heysham 2 then Red Nab.

Heliport at high tide
All three of the 'north wall Meds' were roosting (Ad & 2 x 2nd W) plus two Sandwich Terns dropped in briefly.

Elsewhere
Pine Lake produced juvenile Little Gull and adult Common Tern late afternoon but the Little Gull appeared to leave high to the west during a clear slot. Great White Egret, 3 Spoonbill, 20+ Little Egret and adult and at least one juv Curlew Sandpiper on the Allen/EM Pools.
A Slavonian or Black-necked Grebe reported at the reed edge between the L Moss Public and Lower hides yesterday

What is being missed on the EM Pool/flood?

Heysham Obs
The usual Thursday problem with coverage! Whistle stop visit produced Ad (Czech-ringed) and 2nd W Med on the north wall.

Moths
A veritable Copper Underwing bonanza in the trap by Heysham standards....three! One of these was Svensson's CU, therefore a new species for the year

Elsewhere
Great White Egret and 3 Spoonbill still on EM Pool but former 'distant'. GWE present all day, therefore obviously different from Marshside bird. Also 24 Little Egret, adult and juvenile Curlew Sandpiper and an Osprey nearby at the Island Mere trees at lunchtime. However, many waders are too distant for EM Pool observations and an experienced birder in the flood hide could pay dividends. Ad Med. Gull by the Stone Jetty.

Grey Wagtail passage....and one flava

Heysham Obs
No time to do the outfalls and, disappointingly, no reports of the darvic ring numbers on Med Gulls, assuming they are still around

Middleton IE
The last forecasted "calm" morning for a bit saw a ringing session quickly negated by a combination of a breeze and sunshine and terminated by two very noisy motorbikes which spooked most of the Reed Buntings and the large Goldfinch flock. Highlights included two further Lesser Whitethroat. Interesting to compare the above-par Lesser Whitethroat 2007 ringing totals so far (27) with the below par Common Whitethroat (54). This certainly reflects the (at least) local breeding populations with Lesser 'in' a good week before Common this spring and in really good numbers. Common Whitethroat ringing totals usually about 4 x that of Lesser.

Vis mig (Middleton) (0630-1015)
Comprised: a flava wagtail, 6 Grey Wagtail c15 House Martin, 2 Meadow Pipit and about 5 Swallow. This is the first obvious wagtail passage this autumn

Half-moon Bay
4 Wheatear

'Dog-walk' pond
Kingfisher this afternoon (no fish? c/f good Emerald Damselfly population)

Insects
NO sign of any Clouded Yellow. Two late Southern Wainscot highlighted a meagre night with the portable moth trap in the reedbed. Two Ruddy darter reported on the Nature reserve along with several Migrant Hawker. Two male Emperor still flying at Middleton.

Elsewhere
Two unringed adult Med Gull by the Stone Jetty this lunchtime. Great White Egret, 3 Spoonbill, adult Curlew Sandpiper, c25 Little Egret on the Allen/EM Pools & juvenile Curlew Sandpiper reported in the evening

Good numbers of birds ringed

Heysham Obs
Outfalls area
Ringing apart, just the one set of observations has been forwarded (thanks Shaun) comprising:

Med Gull: minimum of 4 juvs but all at long range on the seaward end of Hey One outfall, 2 adult and 2 2nd W (presumably, but not necessarily including the north harbour wall birds)
Little Gull: adult
Kittiwake: 2 adults

Middleton IE
A ringing session this morning was 'autumnally productive' with warblers a little thin on the ground in the 68 new birds caught and 10 unringed Reed Bunting and 21 Goldfinch had a very 'September' feel about them. Warblers ringed comprised: 5 Willow warbler, 3 Lesser and 3 Common Whitethroat, 3 Blackcap and single Sedge Warbler and Chiffchaff. This is our main ringing site, other than the CES, during the 'summer months' - perhaps we ought to carry on a little longer! No obvious visible passage with just 2 Swallow caught

Insects
A disappointing moth catch did include the belated first Gold Spot of the year. A single Clouded Yellow was again seen on the 'dog track' between the reserve and Ocean Edge on 26th. No news either way (=NNEW of previous postings c/f request for clarification!) today

Elsewhere
Great White Egret, at least 25 Little Egret and 3 Spoonbill targeting the small flatfish bonanza on the Allen/EM Pools. Also Curlew Sandpiper (age??) and Green Sandpiper there. 3 Spotted Redshank Conder Pool and a 2nd W Med Gull on the Lune estuary. Unringed adult Med Gull at the Stone Jetty and Begian-ringed adult Med at Morecambe Broadway. No Yellow Wagtail at the Melling maize field this evening but 4 were seen there on 26th (at least three of which were juvs)

Lots of Meds but darvic rings not read

Heysham Observatory
Outfalls area
FIVE juvenile Mediterranean Gulls on Heysham Two outfall this lunchtime/early afternoon including two unread darvic rings (one red and one white). Anyone able to help read these tomorrow, please? (I wont have time). One of the juvs was metal-only ringed which will probably be impossible to decipher (unless digipic taken?). Also one adult Med Gull and the adult Little Gull

North harbour wall
The 'usual' two 2nd W and Czech-ringed adult Med Gull along the north harbour wall = 9 Meds in total in the area today

Elsewhere
By far the main event of the day was a Great White Egret which joined 26 Little Egret and 3 Spoonbill on the Allen/EM Pools. It was discovered early morning and remained all day. A single Curlew Sandpiper was in the same area late afternoon. The adult Yellow-legged Gull was on the Lune Estuary by Glasson. The Belgian-ringed adult Med Gull was again by Morecambe Broadway along with two Little Egret