nice sunny day - not a lot happening

Heysham Obs
A walk round the reserve during the morning saw very few Blackbirds remaining from the influx earlier this week as is typical after a clear night going into morning

North harbour wall
Twite - 5 briefly at the entrance to the sandworks
Goldfinch 1+
Meadow Pipit 1
Wren 1
Robin 2
Purple Sandpiper - 1 there at HT on the seawall c100m south of the sandworks entrance
Med Gull - Ad & 2nd W patrolling

Nothing on the sea at HT

Nothing on Red Nab/Ocean Edge & saltmarsh/outfalls during a check in late afternoon at LT

No moths/dragonflies/butterflies (but a wasp, possibly queen, yesterday flying along the north harbour wall!)

Elsewhere
One Purple Sand on the Stone Jetty rocks. One Water Pipit by Leighton public hide (up to 2 have been seen there, mainly during management work in otherwise inaccessible areas). Ad Med Gull Claughton with the hordes of gulls and Starlings by the Brookhouse junction at c0900hrs (SD56 something!)

Purple Sands showing very well

One of the Purps at the base of the sea wall

Med Gull at the top of the sea wall. Thanks to Keith Kellet for these photos.

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Purple Sandpiper: Fingers crossed for these birds, and those at the Stone Jetty, staying all winter. They were both showing very well on the sloping seawall just south of the sandworks entrance this morning.
Med Gull: Czech-ringed adult and the usual 2nd W patrolling

Unfortunately, the only passerines on the mound were the resident Robin and Wren.

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Presumably 'the' Little Egret's head was sticking up out of a channel on the saltmarsh, the first ever degree of any suggestion of some form of residency in the Obs recording area! A visit just after high tide surprisingly failed to produce any finch flocks but the touring park end of the saltmarsh was not visited. The Red Nab Wigeon numbered 68 and three RB Merg were in the region

Moths
The first Winter Moth of the year and a late Feathered Thorn

Elsewhere
One Purple Sandpiper Morecambe Stone Jetty. Great White Egret briefly on EM Pools before flying NE - clearly this site is not the attractive food source it was during the autumn.

No Great Northern Diver, but plenty of other birds!

First winter male Snow Bunting. Wing length 113mm, weight 36g. Thanks to Keith Kellet for this photo.

Heysham Obs
SD36V excelled itself today with yet another new species - a male Snow Bunting which was later fortuitously trapped and ringed as it wandered into the Twite ringing site. This bird provided yet another behavioural first. It was treated like a Wryneck i.e. a mammalian predator, or just something odd, by the local Wren and Robin - both of which 'mobbed' it from a respectable distance of about 2 metres for at least 20 minutes as it shuffled along. I have not seen birds react to a Snow Bunting in this manner before. Photos should be available soon.

Just to put this morning in perspective, a lunchtime prowl round the same North wall/Ocean Edge/Red Nab/Outfalls circuit just a few days ago produced nothing worthy of log entry - not even a Med!

North harbour wall/sea
No sign of the Great Northern Diver on a 'millpond' but:
Purple Sandpiper: Two together on the seawall which had flown in from the direction of the heliport
Med. Gull: Czech-ringed adult and 2nd W patrolling the north wall

North harbour mound area
Following two Meadow Pipit and a Reed Bunting in SD66I whilst emptying the moth trap (27 December Moth!), indicating late passage, there was an influx of 6 additional Meadow Pipit grounded on the north wall, with three further birds arriving mid-morning. Norfolk also apparently experienced a late Meadow Pipit passage this morning. With these birds was the abovementioned Snow Bunting, a flock of c34 Twite and 3 Goldfinch. All except the Snow Bunting moved on mid-morning and unfortunately none of the Twite were trapped (by us) and all 11, where the legs were clearly seen, were unringed birds (all SD36V).

Ocean Edge foreshore
Twite: The flock of 34 weas relocated here as a separate entity to the established finch flock on the saltmarsh. This appeared to consist of c40 birds, equally split between Twite and Linnet i.e. a lot more Twite than in recent days.
Little Egret: they ARE rare here and it was good to see one feeding in the saltmarsh channel and not flying off when disturbed (SD45E)

Elsewhere
TWO Purple Sandpiper by the Stone Jetty - definitely different birds to those at Heysham - one has very uniform lesser and median coverts.

SD36V strikes again

Record shot in poor early morning light with a dark piece of sea giving a White-billed illusion! Thanks Reuben

Heysham Obs
The outer north harbour wall tetrad is certainly THE best in the area for picking up odds and ends. Already Black Guillemot, Guillemot, Razorbill, Black Redstart, Twite, Linnet, Little Gull, Rock Pipit, Shag, Med Gull have been 'dotted' since the start of the Atlas on 1/11. Lets hope December is similar to last year (Grey Phalarope, Leach's Petrel, Little Auk & Glaucous Gull!). Today:

Great Northern Diver: Juvenile close inshore off the north wall by the sandworks entrance gradually drifted north (into SD46A) and was present, but very difficult to keep track of when feeding, from at least 0915hrs to at least 1300hrs. An interesting behavioural observation involved a female Red-breasted Merganser. This suddenly shot up into the air and flew off, immediately followed by an Orca-like emergence of the GND from the exact spot vacated by the RBM. It lifted off the water with wings aloft and head and neck outstretched pointing forwards. Presumably some form of territorial behaviour, but I've not seen this before, despite several years of daily sightings in a former abode.
Purple Sandpiper - one was feeding along the rocks by the sandworks entrance for a short period around lunchtime before vanishing!
Med. Gull - 2nd W and adult patrolling the north wall
Rock Pipit - one kleinschmittii/petrosus type (sooty with very dusky outer tail feathers) along the north harbour wall near the end early morning, then flew over the harbour [36V, 35Z] (single Meadow Pipit still on the mound)

Elsewhere
The most significant record is the continued presence of the Ad Yellow-legged Gull at Glasson - no details as to whether the behaviour is as per the late summer individual. Purple Sandpiper still off the end of the Stone jetty. NNEW Great White Egret

Pics from last Thursdays conservation day (not a lot seen today!)

This is conservation work at Middleton IE undertaken by the Ecological Appraisal and Biodiversity Teams from the Environment Agency as part of their 2 days per year environmental leave. Here Reed Mace is being "reined in" i.e. retaining a fringe providing nesting habitat/cover for Little Grebe etc. but not being allowed to spread over the open water area. The other "tall stuff" (top pic) is Common Reed and this will be allowed to colonise approximately 40% of this shallow pond with a very indented water/reed interface. This pond was formerly wall-to-wall reedmace (and drying out due to dead vegetation accumulation) and the reedmace was removed in 2003 using a JCB, increasing the water depth. The southern edge was planted with Common Reed from Leighton Moss in 2004 and, as you can see, it is doing very well. This pond is superb for dragonflies with for e.g. three-figure counts of 4-spotted Chaser and last year it hosted a Yellow-winged Darter

The other main task was to retain the status quo of scattered willow and hawthorn scrub in the northern section of the western marsh, THE best site for Grasshopper Warbler in this area. Every third willow bush in was coppiced and the branches further chopped to form habitat piles.

Anyone wishing to take part in any conservation work, please contact Reuben (see left of the page) - management days are regular on a Thursday and the first Sunday of the month but please ring first to make sure. Thanks to the EA team and everyone else who has helped with conservation work.

Heysham Obs
Just a few titbits in passing today - the only systematic search was in early afternoon for any NHW Purple Sandpipers and this was negative.

Mammals
A Seal spp. pup was located along the NHW mid-afternoon but could not be found later on - possibly more to come on this.

Bird sightings comprised:
2nd W Med Gull patrolling the NHW late afternoon
Two Ravens on the pylons by the office mid-morning
Siskin over the office late afternoon

Elsewhere
Ad Yellow-legged Gull still at Glasson - surely this is not the returning late summer bird breaking the habit of a lifetime? Purple Sandpiper still at Morecambe Stone Jetty - seen 1245hrs. NNEW Great White Egret

Purple heys

At least one of the Purps (& Knot) at record shot range. Thanks Mario & Rosie

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall and area
Purple Sandpiper on the rocks between the locked gate and harbour entrance, later TWO there around midday on the large skeer by the sandworks entrance. These looked like 1st W birds (e.g. Collin's Guide criteria) BUT this has been thown into some disarray by known-age older birds looking 'similar' (broad white edgings to lesser & median coverts etc). Will research and re-post on this issue in the near future. Otherwise very disappointing with just one early morning sighting of 2nd W Med Gull and no auks or anything else of 'log interest'.

Heysham Nature Reserve
A collybita-type Chiffchaff was new for the winter Atlas (45E) and last seen around the Obs Tower pond. Blackbirds were fewer than yesterday with a count of 47 on BE properties with 23 of these on the reserve.

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Three Twite were on the south field but not able to see the ring status. 175 Shelduck and a high count of 57 Lapwing on Red Nab. NO gulls of interest

Elsewhere
Purple Sandpiper still on the Stone Jetty - at least 10 years since there were three birds in this area. Unringed ad Med Gull on the Lune in the vicinity of Carlisle railway bridge and the Belgian-ringed bird still by Morecambe Strathmore area. Great White Egret seen at various places around Leighton Moss but no reports from yesterdays Cumbrian site. Two Water Pipits seen at Leighton Moss on at least 16th

Blackbird arrival.......and some vis

Heysham Obs

Vis by the office 0930-0935
Starling - 120 south in three flocks in just 5 minutes. No time for any longer!

North harbour wall
Meadow Pipit still on the mound along with Robin and Pied Wagtail (36V). One 2nd W Med seen

Reserve
20 Blackbird on the grass/in nearby bushes by the NR car park at 0930hrs - definite arrival, supported by accompanying 2 Redwing. A further 15 Blackbirds were flushed from the roadside between the reserve entrance and OE.

Miscellaneous
Saker or hybrid with jesses on the pylon by the office briefly mid-morning - flew towards Power Station but no bird scaring operations taking place on there.

Elsewhere
No sign of the LBBrent during a low tide count, therefore careful search, but it was back at high tide - "LB Brent off Sandylands near new block of flats - Old Grosvenor Hotel at about 3 pm" (thanks Rosie). Two female Common Scoter of Sunny Slopes. Great White Egret located in Cumbria in a ditch opposite the Wildlife Park along the A6 c500m north of the Lancs border and the bird flew off towards the Leighton Moss roost at about 1530hrs. No sign of the SD66S Snow Bunting in careful search.....but rather a lot of suitable habitat!

bits and bobs

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
A brief visit saw the 1st W Med Gull along with the regular 2nd W

Vis mig from the office
Woodpigeon - 40+53 SW then the two flocks combined headed NE a few minuts later. Subsequently: 30 SW in dribs and drabs
Starling - 23S 17NW
Fieldfare - a solitary bird flew in from the NE and landed on the reserve (unusual)

Heysham south harbour wall (SD35Z)
A few bits and bobs new for the tetrad comprised: Goldfinch (2), Linnet (1), Robin (1), Wren (1)

Outfalls/Red Nab
Little Gull - the 2nd W was on Heysham 2 outfall early morning
Shelduck - 76 Red Nab

Ringing
Two nets by the office produced a lot of retraps and the following new birds: 7 Greenfinch, 1 Chaffinch and (surprisingly) 1 Robin

Insects
No insects the last two days of any note, despite lengthy presence at Middleton yesterday and sunny spells today

Elsewhere
Highlighted by a male Snow Bunting at the junction of Ringstones Lane and the Bentham to Cross of Greet road late afternoon - present for at least 45 minutes. NNEW on the Great White Egret & no Purple Sandpiper reports

More Woodpigeon

Heysham Obs
All the observations today were from Middleton IE as the shackles of Great-crested Newt legislation were cast aside at last and some conservation work could be undertaken in extremely fortunate low water levels

Vis from Middleton 1015-1530 intermittently
Woodpigeon - c730 north high, a majority of these comprising a loose flock of c400 at c1130 hrs. All on a line to the east of Middleton (c 1mile)
Meadow Pipit - 8 south high (unexpected)
Skylark - 2 south
Starling - 66 south

Nothing unexpected on the site itself but sightings did include:
Ad Med Gull at the sewage works late afternoon. Three Reed Bunting in the morning only may have been passing through (c/f one also at the Stone Jetty bushes)

Elsewhere
Great White Egret Leighton Moss area.

Woodpigeon mystery and return of the Meds

Heysham Obs
The main feature of the day only fringed Heysham and this involved a massive northerly movement of Woodpigeons. The late posting was due to waiting (in vain) for further info. on the movement over this area. Perhaps the most interesting reply on the national vis mig group was from Clive Mackay:

"Reverse" movement of Wood Pigeons is on-going here in Angus. They ALL went SW til 30 Oct, and since 1 Nov have ALL been going NE! The same pattern was observed last year, but the switch over date was much later (16th November). This return movement seems to be a feature of WP autumn movements, e.g.. also recorded by Keith Clarkson in Sheffield over many years. It's possible that depending on the geography of a particular site that movement will only be picked up in one direction. e.g. Keith mostly records S movement, whereas here I get more or less equal numbers SW and then NE. Does the geography of the Morecambe site favour picking up N movement or movement in both directions?

Answer: this is the first time any major northerly movements have been observed in this area - or can you contradict this John from any Crag Bank observations?
The only N/NE movement of woodpigeon I have had from Crag Bank was a total of 471 on 5 dates in spring 2006 ie none in autumn, (see L&DBWS Annual Report).

Vis mig by the office to about 1015hrs
Woodpigeon: Flocks of 220, 60 and 200 high and purposefully to the north. These were rather distant and over the golf course and therefore there was no coastal movement as such. It also means that some, possibly loads, could have been missed c/f c3,000 high to the north over north Morecambe and significant numbers, which would not have included these birds, over NE Torrisholme
Starling - 8 S

Ocean Edge
House Sparrow - Pair by Ocean Edge entrance - most unexpected
Linnet - c60 on the football field and surrounds

North harbour wall
Med Gull: FOUR. The 1st W with a poorly defined mask put in a reppearance, sitting on the fence with the others as though it hadnt been away. Also a returnee was one of the 2nd W birds along with the usual 2nd W and Czech-ringed adult. Combination of calm weather and loads of anglers?

Moths
Single Mottled Umber and Feathered Thorn graced the trap

Elsewhere
The Great White Egret is back and roosted on the island at the northern end of Leighton Moss! An adult Purple Sandpiper was new in at the Morecambe stone jetty and the Belgian-ringed Med Gull (usually favouring to the north of here) was seen. 16 Whooper Swan on the Melling field but no sign of any geese