The Black Guillemot returns!

Heysham Obs
The day dawned with singing Robins. This is not good. Singing Robins mean nothing else in the bushes to chase and chastise. Good migrant mornings are accompanied by lots of 'ticking noises' and chasing sessions, including any other passerines invading the inner sanctum of bushes at the centre of the territory. This applied to yesterday when the first Robin song (as opposed to 'ticking') from those around the office was not until at least a couple of hours after dawn.

The 'vis' was far too high, the pylon was crackling making birds even more difficult to hear and there were several other birders providing coverage. Melmerby cafe (en route to work in Northumberland) seemed a whole lot better prospect than the supermarket brand "muesli" in the kitchen which doubled up as substandard mammal trap bait. Good move - secured the last ever bowl of Fig and Date Compote in 2007 (off the menu in 'winter')

North wall/harbour area
The male Black Guillemot, now in winter plumage, returned and was chased off the wooden jetty by feral pigeons and ended up in the water next to the jetty during at least the morning
Guillemot - one in the harbour still
Med. Gull - 3 x 2nd W along the north wall and two adults (one may have been the other (less regular) very faintly-marked 2nd W?) on the heliport

Vis mig from the office intermittently 0700-0900
Difficult, as described above, due to height of birds and crackling electricity wires.
Reed Bunting - 2 SE
alba Wagtail - 14 S
Chaffinch - 44 SW
Dunnock - 2 S
Starling - 32 S
Greenfinch - 5 SW
Woodpigeon - 17 SE
Meadow Pipit - 20 SE
Redwing - one flock of 16 SW
Grey Wagtail 2 SE
Linnet 12 S
Goldfinch - 15 SW

Grounded
Not much pre-0900hrs around the office. Wheatear on the NHW mound

Red Nab
51 Shelduck and the first (13) Wigeon reported this autumn
Kingfisher by the outfalls

Moths
At last! The first Lunar Underwing of the year.

Elsewhere
"Stubble burning" at Cockersands produced a Short-eared Owl along with 53 Skylark, 3 Reed Bunting and a surprising 104 Meadow Pipit. The Great Grey Shrike seen again by a reliable observer from the public causeway at Leighton Moss. What has been described as a 'grey' Willow Warbler with white underparts was trapped and ringed nearby. Great White Egret and two Avocets on the EM complex. Male Ring Ouzel at Aldcliffe

A nice varied morning of common bird migration

Heysham Obs
A nice change from the slog down to Flamborough's Old Fall Plantation. A calm, rather clear morning with a light SE wind saw a lot of migration, most of it overhead and quite high.

Vis Mig from the office intermittently 0700-1000
The alba wagtails were too high and/or not directly overhead and only 5 were definitely White. Highlights:

Meadow Pipit - 115 SE
Chaffinch - 38 SW
Brambling - 2 SW
Siskin - 31 SE
alba Wagtail - 64 SE
Grey Wagtail - 2 SE
Goldfinch - 29 S
Greenfinch - 77 SW
Coal Tit - 3 S
Skylark - 30 SW
Starling - 29 S
Blackbird - 2 SE
Song Thrush - 3 S
Jay - 2 S
Lesser Redpoll - 15 SE - Reinforcing the impression some of the birds seen/heard last week were almost certainly not Lesser were four small groups of obvious Lesser (on call & size) this morning
Crossbill - An extremely noisy flock of 9 to the SE at 0910hrs. These were heard for 'ages' in the direction of the wooden jetty before they appeared!
Reed Bunting - 1 S
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 3 separate birds appeared to be heading south fairly high and purposefully (but birds 'doing the rounds' are a regular sight)
Redwing - 2 SE
Linnet - 10 SE
Long-tailed Tit - 3 flocks totalling 51 birds S
Woodpigeon - 11 S

Grounded
Goldcrest at their highest numbers this autumn but this is not anything dramatic with perhaps 20 around early on. No phylloscs for the first time this autumn. Two Blackcap seen. Main feature was at least 3, probably 4 rapid-transit flocks of Long-tailed Tit (max. 16).

Ringing
The two nets by the office were run and caught too many birds with respect to trying to monitor high vis at the same time. Most of these were Greenfinch (c15 new ones) but included 3 Goldcrest, a rather grey, orange-breasted Robin and a continental Song Thrush. An unringed adult male Great-spotted Woodpecker caused a bit of excitement and earache!

Insects
Two Red Admiral south during the vis mig watch (early in the day for butterflies). Comma by the office later on. Migrant Hawker by the office.

Elsewhere
Great White Egret Leighton Moss area, also up to 9 Bearded Tit on the grit trays. NNEW on the late Avocet. The Bearded Tit population is very low this year with a max of c20 pairs and very poor productivity in 2007 (only 13 juvs ringed). No sign of yesterdays Purple Sandpiper at the Stone Jetty

The perfect weather!

Heysham Obs

This was a good day - rubbish north-westerlies at Heysham, so no guilty conscience, yet the self-same weather provided some nice survey conditions for our work on the Humber........and (perhaps a little fortunately, given the clear conditions and following wind for at least half the night) a worthwhile detour to Flamborough.

Nature reserve

Collisions with the pylon lines seem to be fortunately rare. This Knot seemed a little stunned but unharmed as it wandered about next to the classroom

Coastal areas

Kingfisher at Heysham Head, only the second record in many years of watching this area (not the outfalls as published earlier - this is a separate bird & was not reported today). More Knot, indeed c8,000 of them, on the heliport. Wheatear Half-Moon Bay. Thanks for these, Malcolm

Elsewhere

Welcome arrival in the form of a Purple Sandpiper by the

Stone Jetty. A late Avocet (passage, not 'leftover') on the pager for the EM complex plus a Curlew Sandpiper and the long-staying Great White Egret.

A vis of two halves

Heysham Obs
Visibility still too good to drop any significant numbers of night migrants and the large Long-tailed Tit flock failed to interest any 'Yellow-brows' which might have passed through as it was checked early and late morning. What was needed was an early morning bush searcher.

Vis by the office 0700-1000
Most of the first 1.5 hours was NE to SW finches and subsequent time mainly NW to SE Meadow Pipit and alba wagtail. The Livingstone paper was applied to the underparts of overflying albas and, providing they flew directly overhead, a good number could be identified as White.
Reassurance was found by subsequently examining the more sullied underparts of the grounded Pied Wagtails around Ocean Edge! A single call from something more interesting, but the bird could not be located in the short time you have observing the sky

Chaffinch - 58 SW
Brambling - 12 SW (including flock of 11)
Redwing - 25 S
Song Thrush - 15 S
alba Wagtail - 78 SE, 35 identified as White, the remainder unspecified
Siskin - 51 S/SW
Starling - 102 S
Cormorant - flock of 4 high to the SE
Grey Heron - one 'in-off' then high to the SE
Meadow Pipit - 51 SE
Greenfinch - just 13 SW
Pink-footed Goose - 117+60 NE, 17 SW
Collared Dove - 4 S
Carrion Crow - flock of 4 high to the S
Reed Bunting - 4 S
Woodpigeon - 5 S
Linnet - 8 SE
Bullfinch - flock of 3 high from the north, then SW, then turned SE, before joining two Chaffinch heading S! Way above pylon height
Grey Wagtail - 2 SE
Mistle Thrush - 2 SE
Dunnock - 2S
no tit movement today in cloudy conditions

Grounded
3 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap, perceived increase in Wren from early morning 'noise' (!), 2-3 Goldcrest

North wall
2 x 2nd W Med Gull

Other coastal sightings
3 Wheatear this evening and Kingfisher still around the outfalls

Moths
Late Large Yellow Underwing and the first (2) Red-line Quaker of the year. Why have there not been any Lunar Underwing to date?

Elsewhere
Female Cetti's Warbler trapped and ringed at Leighton Moss near the E end of the public causeway. 3rd record for Leighton and this area. Great White Egret still around. Juv Common Tern still Pine Lake.

Overnight Song Thrushes

Heysham Obs
A pre-dawn arrival saw a clear sky and no evidence of thrushes landfalling at dawn before reorientating and heading inland. This is a feature of many cloudy/misty October mornings. On the R & M day, several (continental) Song Thrushes were present on an essentially cloudy morning and these subsequently moved around at net level before departing and 4 were ringed. This morning appeared to be clear and thrushless with the only chance being high-flying vis. However, during the second hour (not the first) after dawn, Song Thrushes suddenly rose out of several bushes close to the office and headed off high to the south. A total of 21 were logged and there is absolutely no way these birds could have arrived in these bushes at or just after dawn as they were under constant observation during the 'vis' watch. Therefore the assumption is that they landed during the night (the site is fairly well lit) and took a bit of time to wake up before heading off. The difference between this morning and Saturday was the clear skies and this undoubtedly prompted the steep take-off with no chance of any being mistnetted.

Vis from the office dawn to 0930hrs
Chaffinch - 72 SW
Greenfinch - 38 SW
Collared Dove - 10 in 4 groups high to the south - a good count!
alba Wagtail - 45 SE
Meadow Pipit - just 28 SE
Grey Wagtail - 2 (one ringed!) SE
Redwing - 2 E
Goldfinch - 68 S
Siskin - 4 S
Coal Tit - 2 S
Skylark - 1 SE
Linnet - 10 SW
Dunnock - 2 high to the south
Carrion Crow - 4 high to the SW perceived as migrants
Reed Bunting - 2 S
Bullfinch - yet another high to the south
Sparrowhawk - 2 south
Not a single Mistle Thrush seen!

Grounded
A little bit more than yesterday which is not saying much. At least 4 Goldcrest, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcap, 21 Song Thrush (see above), 7 presumed migrant Blackbird, possibly more. Quite a bit of tit activity, notably an unringed flock of 35 Long-tailed Tit, but no definite irruptive behaviour other than by the two Coal Tit.

Ringing
Included some of the LTTs, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest and a Grey Wagtail

North harbour wall
At least 2 2nd W Med Gulls

Elsewhere
No reports of the Leighton Moss Great Grey Shrike which has plenty of places to go out of public view but the juv Marsh Harrier still present. Possible update here later. Male Crossbill over Caton Moor vis site and 4+2 Crossbill in Thrushgill Plantation but no public access to where seen [Richard's Pipit over the Rossall Point vis site]

'Difficult' vis, few grounded birds

Heysham Obs
Vis made a little difficult by a nearby generator combined with many of the birds being very high. The main species which was underestimated was probably alba Wagtail with a lot of fast-moving intermittently calling birds. The majority of the vis, unlike yesterday, comprised 'cross-bay' birds from the north-west to south east and therefore thrush species and Chaffinch were in much lower numbers. Redpoll were interesting. Very used to Lesser Redpoll flying over this site (especially spring) and there was a definite contrast between the 6 which accompaned Goldfinch = 'typical Lesser calls' and the more staccato, harsher, lower-pitched calls from the birds arriving flying very high from across the Bay with Meadow Pipit and alba Wagtail. Again, they appeared to be on the large side but no detail could be seen on them. Tape lure?....but a lot of effort for the possibility of one-two birds per hour at best.

Vis by the office 0745-1100 (NW to SE unless specified)
Meadow Pipit - 245
Redpoll - 6 definite Lesser (flock with Goldfinch) and 2+1+3+4 unspec.
Grey Wagtail - 3+1+1+1
alba Wagtail - 57
Chaffinch - 87 SW
Greenfinch - 59 SW
Song Thrush - 5
Swallow - 31
Linnet - 44
Goldfinch - 44
Collared Dove 1+3
Siskin - 1+2+1
Bullfinch - a singleton high to the south
Redwing - just 2+1 SW
Woodpigeon - 16
House Sparrow - 1+1 south
Jay - 2 south
Great Tit - 2 south
Starling - 52
Kestrel - 1 south
Sparrowhawk - 1SE
Coal Tit - 1+1+1 high to the south
Skylark - just 1

Grounded
Very little but 2 new Chiffchaff were ringed and a White Wagtail was on the NHW mound. Male Stonechat on Middleton IE

Miscellaneous
23 Tufted Duck on the IE model boat pond
At least 3 2nd W Med Gulls NH wall
Guillemot in harbour

Insects
At least 3 Migrant Hawker on the reserve along with several Common Darter and a geriatric Large White

Elsewhere
Great Grey Shrike and Great White Egret still Leighton Moss along with a juv Marsh Harrier. Little Stint on the Kent Estuary

Reasonable vis, too clear for grounded birds in any numbers

Heysham Obs
Norwegian-ringed Kittiwake found dead by the outfalls. Vis during the first two hours of the day was reasonable and included the first Brambling of the year

Vis by the office 0700-0915
Chaffinch - 219, mainly SW
Greenfinch - 75S
Goldfinch - 30S
Reed Bunting - 3 SW
alba Wagtail - 17S
Grey Wagtail - 4SE
Meadow Pipit - 48SE (most went S of Power Station?)
Redwing - 15S
Song thrush - 13 high inland or SE
Woodpigeon - 9SW
Redpoll spp - 2 SE, almost certainly on perceived size and low-pitched rather harsh calls, not Lesser
Linnet - 11SE
Brambling 1, prob 2 SW
Starling - 107S
Pink-footed Goose - both flocks headed high NE! - 46+27
Blue Tit - 8S (including high flock of 5)
Swallow - just 11 (most tend to move later, also note lack of Skylark)
Collared Dove - 2 SE
Mistle Thrush - 37SE
Bullfinch - 1S
Siskin - 4S
Coal Tit - 3S
Carrion Crow - one high bird to the S prob a migrant
Jay - jut one S

Grounded
Poor: 2 Chiffchaff and just one Goldcrest heard. One Wheatear. Only half a dozen migrant thrushes remained during mid-morning check of bushes

Miscellany
Med Gull: 3 x 2nd W 1 x ad north harbour wall
Guillemot - one again in the intake area of the harbour
Kingfisher - one around the outfalls again
Raven - 2 blogging

Elsewhere
Great Grey Shrike at Leighton Moss sitting on the various isolated bushes in the reedbed between public and lower hides (also one at Rossall Point first thing). Great White Egret also in the LM area

A varied morning spoilt by being too cloudy, yet not low enough to drop migrants

Heysham Obs
Managed to forget the obvious - advertise the Ringing/Migration morning on this site! It was not to bad at all althought he 'vis', especially cross-bay, was curtailed by 'medium-high cloud' of the variety which is usually 'useless'. Too high to 'drop' any migrants, especially if there is no precipitation, yet thick and extensive enough to discourage vis mig. Enough grounded birds were around to provide a nice steady variety to show people in the hand, including the noisy/aggressive species!


Unthinkable even 5 years ago, rather like the Egret-fest at Leighton, 4 out of the 5 north harbour Med Gulls were in a line (with 2 BHG) - the furthest bird is the Czech-ringed adult.


3 2nd W & Ad Med with 2 Black-headed Gull. Thanks to Jon Barber. This is an e-mail-reduced pic and better ones may be available Monday.

Ringing
Plenty of species, including 4 continental Song Thrush, two (partial)migrant Coal Tit, a Grey Wagtail, a Reed Bunting, a Chiffchaff, just one Goldcrest etc..


Vis Mig
Redwing - just 4 heading NE & one heard earlier on
Bullfinch - a flock of 4 moved high to the south
Woodpigeon - 24 S
Collared Dove 2S
Jay 2S
Swallow 3S
Chaffinch 35, many of these flying north!
Goldfinch 6S
Grey Wagtail 2S
alba Wagtail 17S
Greenfinch 28SW
Meadow Pipit 16SE
Mistle Thrush 13SW


Grounded
Highlighted by a female House Sparrow - the first on the reserve this year - it eventually headed off south-west! One Wheatear on the north wall. At least 5 Blackbird looking like long-winged continental birds. c10 Song Thrush. 1 new Chiffchaff and just one Goldcrest.


Misc
4 2nd W and an adult Med Gull on the north harbour wall. One of the 2nd W was a brief visitor to the food, the other 4 birds remained and landed together (see photo).
Guillemot in the harbour


Middleton IE
Increase to 25 Tufted Duck, also 8 Teal and a female/imm Stonechat


Elsewhere
Great White Egret Leighton Moss. 5 Barnacle Geese and a Purple Sandpiper over the high tide at Pilling Lane Ends [& 2 leucistic Pinkfeet]. Adult Arctic and juvenile Common Terns on Pine Lake (brief visit - may have been more). Two Scaup at Teal Bay. Wagtail roost at Melling in maize saw c50% White on birds trapped using the 'Livingstone criteria'. The Whites were almost all identifiable on "feel" in the hand i.e. smaller than Pied as borne out by wing length and weight.

Not a lot during an early(ish) visit

Heysham Obs
A combination of a small ringing effort and an 1.5hrs vis produced a very routine fare:

Ringing
Most of the new birds were Blue & Great tits and common finch species but did include a Blackcap, Coal Tit, 2 Robin and 2 Wren

Vis by the office 0745-0915
Not without minor highlights, notably the high-flying flock of 3 Bullfinch which eventually headed east inland.

Collared Dove - 4+1+1 south
Redwing - just 8 SW!
Blackbird - at least 5 definite long-winged migrants which few high inland. Very early for this species.
Chaffinch - 17 SW
Meadow Pipit - 24 SE
alba Wagtail - 3 SE
Bullfinch - 3 E (see above)
Goldfinch - 5 S
Woodpigeon - 11 S
House Martin - 3 S
Swallow - 1S!
Greenfinch - 15 SW
Jackdaw - 2 N
Grey Wagtail - 1SE
Jay - just 2 S

Outfalls/Red Nab/OE foreshore
The only thing was a 1st W Med way in the distance on the seaward end of Heysham One outfall - ring status obviously not seen! The lack of grounded Meadow Pipt ande alba wagtail was noticeable reflecting the very poor cross-bay passage both this morning and yesterday

Chough
The Harris Hawks are being exercised within the non-op land during their 'non-working'=no nesting gulls season. Contrary to rumour, there is no evidence that the Chough was killed by one of these but the disappearance does coincide with the exercising of these raptors around its favoured 'bolt hole' when disturbed from the seawall. On the other hand, this may be just coincidence and a change to easterly sector winds and lower temperatures may have been an influence.

Elsewhere
Some reasonable vis on the LDBWS site. NNEW on anything from Leighton Moss! Two Arctic and one Common Tern off Jenny Brown's Point.

Are you sure it is only 27th September?

Heysham Obs
The morning started with scraping ice off the windscreen and a short 'vis' session saw a species composition more suited to mid-October than the last few days of September. The main themes were a very early thrush arrival with the earliest ever Fieldfare (27 years obs.) and an increase in the already perceptible Jay movement

Vis 0730-0930 by the NR office
Redwing - 158, mainly SW. The first was a grounded bird which headed inland at 0730, then swung SW, the rest were all 'vis'
Meadow Pipit - just 41 SE
Fieldfare - 2 SW
Yellowhammer - 1 south (rare here)
Blackbird - at least one migrant flew high inland with Song Thrush
Dunnock - one high to the south
Chaffinch - Just 5 SW
Greenfinch - 47 SW
Jay - 27 south, including a flock of 12
Goldfinch - 8 S
alba Wagtail - 7 SE
Siskin - 1 S
Swallow - 14 S
House Martin - 3 S
Woodpigeon - 6 S
Reed Bunting - 1 S
Tree Sparrow - flock of 7 SE
Carrion Crow - flock of 5 S
Song Thrush - 28 grounded birds high inland to the E. Those seen well appeared to be olive-coloured continental birds and this was certainly suggested by the behaviour (and associated species!)
Ring Ouzel - grounded adult(?) male flew high towards the SE corner of the reserve

Grounded
See above re-thrushes. At least 10 Goldcrest and at least 5 Chiffchaff

Chough
No sign on non-op or on foreshore but plenty of places it could still be.

Outfalls
1st W Med at long range

North harbour wall
Not checked

Elsewhere
Turtle Dove Cockersands late afternoon - flew towards Crook Farm. 'Stubble burning' at Cockersands produced 60-70 Skylark and 30-40 Meadow Pipit but no Laps. Great White Egret Leighton area. Ad & juv Arctic and ad Common Tern on Pine lake. Hybrid Ferruginous x Pochard at Leighton Moss late evening.