Sub-zero birding (allowing for wind chill)

Heysham Obs
A successful ringing session on the heliport

North Harbour Wall 0730-0830
Red-throated Diver - 2 fishing in the channel then flying "out" and 1 flying north across the Bay.
Great-crested Grebe -8 fishing in the channel.
Mute Swan - 1 floating out as far as the end of the harbour wall then flew back "in".
Eider - 26 on the far side of the channel near the sand bank (18 males).
Red-breasted Merganser - 4
14 Gulls flying "in" in a tight knit flock but rather far out to identify accurately - behaviour suggests Kittiwake
Twite - 4 at the sand plant, 2 with local rings.

Vis 0730-0830
Meadow Pipit 4
Skylark - 1
Pied Wagtail - 1
Linnet - 3

Stage 2 outfall
1st W Little Gull

Wooden Jetty
one Purple Sandpiper

Ringing
530 Knot and 5 Oystercatcher were cannon-netted at the heliport this morning. Provisional data on ringed birds:

1)Ringed in North Wales (Bangor harbour, Llanfairfechan or Wig) in Jan or Feb this year
2)Ringed 14/2/1998 at Heysham heliport
3)Probably ringed on the North Solway in 2003. Confirmation to follow
4)Not confirmed this yet however I think it is another one from SCAN in North Wales
5)Ringed sometime since 2006 in Posangerfjord, Northern Norway

Mammals
Grey Seal mid-channel off NHW

Elsewhere
A surprise in the form of Polish-ringed Med Gull p96 paired to another adult on the Lune near the Golden Ball. Ross's Goose, Barnacle Goose and 2 Whooper Swan on the Aldcliffe side. Wheatear Borwick Waters late afternoon [but no Sand Martin at all on Pine Lake or other pits]and news of a male Ring Ouzel in Croasdale on 19/3. Chough seen at Warton crag quarry at least 1715hrs

More Kittiwakes

Heysham Obs
Unfortunately car trouble prevented the early morning tidal coverage for seabirds.

Stage 2 outfall
Little Gull: adult & 1st W early morning, 1st W remaining for the day
Kittiwake: Adult until at least mid-afternoon
Wigeon: just one seen today

Offshore
Brief check from OE at lunchtime saw a tight flock of 32 Ad Kittiwake on the water in the shipping channel, identified when they rose briefly! You have to be careful estimating these flocks at this time of year as they are sometimes joined by a few Ad Common Gull, also presumably heading north. Eider off NHW.

Evening check saw 1st W & ad summer Red-throated Diver off the wooden jetty

Elsewhere
Leaving my camera in HNR office, went to check for the Ross's Goose from the Golden Ball side, following a request. Bad move: missed a photo-op of an adult (or perhaps 4th summer) Yellow-legged Gull with excellent comparison in flat light with argenteus Herring and graellsii Lesser Black-backed Gulls [group of c70 gulls on Heaton Marsh]. Started dispersing & few left when returned with camera! Ross's Goose and Barnacle Goose with c500 PFG on the Aldcliffe side of the river. Chough Warton Crag quarry late pm. Pale-bellied Brent Goose Sunny Slopes groyne area. Ad Med Gull Lilian's Hide. 12 Whooper Swan (& a few Mute) still present in a field just N of Gressingham bridge on the Melling side

Rewards for the early birders

Heysham Obs report 2007 almost ready to print - will be available next week. Apologies for delay this year - my fault

Heysham Obs
Surprisingly good early on given the N wind

North harbour wall 0740-0840hrs
Little Gull - one blogging ad
Red-throated Diver - 3
Eider - 2 in
Kittiwake 21+63 in, 46+18 out - probably all different birds

Wooden jetty
Turnstone - 57
Purple Sandpiper - 1

Stage 2 outfall
Little Gull - 5 (3 ad 2 1st W) but soon dispersed
Kittiwake - 1st W & ad but soon dispersed

Middleton IE
3 Teal, 13 Coot & nesting Mute Swan

Red Nab/Ocean Edge
2 Bar-tailed Godwit

Elsewhere
Ross's Goose Aldcliffe Marsh, northern end, but elusive and mobile, also single Barnacle Goose and 2 Whooper Swan

A Tale of Two Twite

Heysham Obs
An earlyish morning circuit with the tide slopping over the various seawalls produced nothing worth logging other than two windblown Twite on the nyger seed by the sandworks entrance. This included a 30 minute, 3 LBBG seawatch. A second (afternoon) circuit did not even produce any Twite. No moths in the trap.

Elsewhere
3 ad Med Gulls passed through Pine Lake with 350+ other gulls this late afternoon. Two were together and the one on its own appeared to have a white darvic, surprising as I would have thought Dutch ads would have been back on territory by now. Goodness knows what is going to happen to all the Sand Martins (e.g. 25 Pine lake late pm) in the next few days as insects will be at a premium and wind-chill pretty excessive. As regards human behaviour - why not build up brownie points at home in what is surely going to be a static weekend as regards birds....in anticipation of sudden break-outs needed later in the spring/year?

Highlighted by Twite & Golden Plover passage

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Ad Mediterranean Gull on the sea with passage Black-headed Gulls (see OE below) - not the Czech bird which left on 9/3/08
Red-throated Diver - 5 in sp flew out together, 2 wp/imms on the sea
Common Scoter - 4 in

Vis Mig 0730-1130 intermittent NHW
Meadow Pipit - 89 north
Pied Wagtail - 23 north
Grey Wagtail - 2 north
Twite - 24+3 north over the sea [after visiting the feeder] - 12 remaining around the feeder area
Golden Plover - flock of 28 north (VERY scarce here; c1 record per year!)
Curlew - 7 high inland
Linnet - one north

Ocean Edge foreshore/Red Nab
c300 Black-headed Gull a surprise [see NHW]
77 Shelduck
6 Wigeon
No sign of any grounded passerine migrants in calm crystal-clear weather

Heysham Nature reserve
14 passage Snipe in the sedge bed (after none all winter)

Mammals
Grey Seal and Porpoise (first of the year) off the NHW

Moths
March Moth & Hebrew Character in the trap

Elsewhere
Chough in quarry at least 1635hrs. Red Kite south through the Dunsop valley & 4 Crossbills there. Whilst sorting out nestboxes in Upper Hindburn, there was a Treecreeper in full song. These sort of records, of species which are very difficult to prove breeding once the leaves hit the trees, are worth noting and forwarding as roving records of singing males [also 22 Fieldfare]. Pale-bellied Brent Goose Sunny Slopes groyne area

Another struggle.

Heysham Obs
Red Nab
Wigeon 12
Shelduck 82

Ocean Edge
Ringed Plover 9

Vis mig
Pink-footed Goose 12 NE far out over Bay
Meadow Pipit just 9 NE

Middleton Industrial Estate
Greylag Goose 3 on boat pond flew off south.
Jackdaw 4 at boat pond
Kestrel 2

Elsewhere
Avocet arrival at the EM Pools with 16 present. Chough seen in quarry at least 1655hrs. Extra drake Scaup on Conder pool. Check of northern LDBWS recording area pretty fruitless with single Brambling at a heavily disturbed Old Park plantation [massive felling programme still, rather like Thrushgill - same company?]....... & 2 Little Grebe and a drake Pochard at Wyndhammere the only remote interest on the small lakes/tarns. Barnacle Goose and 2 Whooper Swan still Aldcliffe saltmarsh

Migrants struggle through

Heysham Obs
For the first time for ages, saw nothing of any interest myself in the recording area today with the 'usual suspects' either gone or playing hide and seek on a late afternoon 'round'. The blocking weather continues and the medium-term forecast looks like it might get even less favourable for incoming migrants [other than stuff arriving in lightish, albeit north/north-west winds tomorrow & Wednesday]

Visible migration
Meadow Pipit - 50 per hour until mid morning, then about 25 per hour
from c1100hrs
Pied Wagtail - at least 20 north in the morning

Grounded
Two male Wheatear Ocean Edge foreshore mid-morning but soon moved on (thanks to a visiting couple for this & most of the vis records)

North harbour wall
"At least 15 small brown birds" around the nyger mid afternoon

Elsewhere
Chough present in Warton Crag quarry during at least the morning. Up to 6 Avocet seen today on the Allen Pool (per John Wilson). Pale-bellied Brent Goose on the tideline by the Sunny Slopes late afternoon
Singing male Chiffchaff Lower hide area of Leighton Moss. Adult summer Med Gull by Lancaster Bus Station this morning, then flew towards the Lune [legs not seen]

Blocking north-easterly

Heysham Obs
Stage 2 outfall
1st W Little Gull and two ad Kittiwake

Wooden jetty area
Purple Sandpiper - 2 on rocks below wooden jetty

Heysham NR
Female Stonechat by the office

North harbour wall
Meadow Pipit - just 4 north in about 30 minutes
Twite - 10 on the nyger seed but easily disturbed, 11 there late afternoon (6 unringed!).
Swan spp - flock of 6 NW very distantly & high over the Bay at 1115hrs, probably Whooper on jizz.

Elsewhere
Taiga Bean Goose with 1080 PFG 'next to' Pilling Lane Ends car park in fields. Barnacle Goose [with 500 or so PFG] and two Whooper Swan Aldcliffe Marsh -easily visible from the Golden Ball side, also ad Med Gull with bill pattern matching bird seen at Battery the other day. Another ad Med Gull in fsp at Holmere. 20+ Sand Martin Pine Lake am but none late afternoon [but 10 at Leighton Moss]. 2 Little Egret Heaton Marsh. Flock of 44 migrant Golden Plover at White Moss, upper Hindburndale [also 4 Meadow Pipit N in 30 minutes -see above!]. Canadian-ringed 1W Pale-bellied Brent Goose still on the tide edge by Sunny Slopes groyne at low tide [with 50-60 Eider]. Chough present in Warton Crag quarry for most of the day, on and off & was showing well at 1715hrs. First Belted Beauty moth of the year (male) at Sunderland Point/Middleton saltmarsh

Meadow Pipits and earliest ever Sand Martin

Heysham Obs
This was a strange day with the word 'variable' applying to density of cloud cover, visibility and also the light winds. Later in the afternoon a north-easterly kicked off. The Meadow Pipit data was cobbled together from five sources and we are grateful to visiting birders for some of this

Visible migration
Meadow Pipit - About 60 per hour early morning, falling to 40 per hour 1000-1100, then the movement appeared to have ceased for the day. However 1330-1430 saw c 75 northbound birds and the following hour saw 30 heading north, then the wind kicked in and the movement appeared to stop. Presumably this oscillation was to do with the variable cloud density to the south? c200 seen but some of the early morning missed.
Sand Martin - one through early afternoon - the earliest record of what is not a common migrant here
Pied Wagtail - c20 north 0900-1030, none later
Greenfinch - one north at the NHW, therefore definitely a migrant
Goldfinch - one as above species

Grounded migrants
A Song Thrush was on the NHW mound and two Robins were seen there in 'migrant mode' - one flew 'in-off' and landed on a skeer! A lunchtime circuit of the reserve suggested that Goldcrests were not a feature today = none. Female Stonechat on the PS non-operational land.

Stage 2 outfall
1st W Little Gull surprisingly elusive & 2 Ad Kittiwake

Wooden jetty
Two Purple Sandpiper on rocks below wooden jetty (per Manchester coach party - thanks)

Other north harbour wall records
2nd S Med Gull on skeer by NHW mid-morning, then flew south towards incoming ferry & no sign since
Twite - 10 on the nyger seed. Two Twite also overflew Red Nab.

Middleton IE
Two Greylag landed mid-morning (feral origin - not common here). 4 Tufted Duck, 2 Teal and a singing Skylark - not common in the recording area these days, but, perhaps surprisingly, no migrant Stonechat

PS non-operational land
Female Stonechat

Moth trap
Just one Clouded Drab [c/p 103 of 14 (& one escaped micro) species at Millhouses!]

Elsewhere
Barnacle Goose & Greenshank Aldcliffe and three Cranes reported over Lancaster heading west at 0745hrs. Avocet possibly up to 5 on the Allen/EM Pools and a small increase in Sand Martin at Leighton Moss (but still single figures) [also migrant SM through Hest Bank early morning]. NNEW Chough as yet. Pale-bellied Brent Goose on the shoreline just north of the Sunny Slopes on the incoming afternoon tide [34 dogs on the beach between Sunny Slopes and Stone Jetty]

Little evidence of migration, despite drop in wind

.........it wasnt a helpful direction (WNW).

Heysham Obs
Vis Mig
70 Pink-footed Geese N at 0745hrs
3 Meadow Pipit N (2 at 1000hrs, one at 1115hrs)

North harbour wall
2nd S Med Gull on the big skeer by the sandworks entrance
Twite - just 2 unringed birds late afternoon seen in the whole recording area today

Wooden Jetty
Single Purple Sandpiper on the rocks below

Stage 2 outfall
1st W Little Gull and 3 adult Kittiwake

Moths
Few and far between of late but a March Moth and a small brown escapee (Brown House Moth?) were in the trap this morning.

Elsewhere
Now 4 Avocets on the flood at east end EM Pool. Pale-bellied Brent Goose Sunny Slopes. Chough in at about 1530hrs.