Afternoon dropping tide produces the goods

Heysham Obs
In contrast to the last few weeks, the only conscious passerine observation involved a few wind-blown Pied Wagtail. Seabirds were the order of the day and we're long enough in the tooth to know not to bother with spray-filled high tide periods but to check for Leach's Petrels on the dropping tide. It worked, with a close Grey Phalarope as a significant bonus

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
No obvious (!) sign of Brents
No sign Little Stint
Little Gull - Ad & 2nd W outfalls

North wall seabirds
Grey Phalarope - one "ambled" past very close inshore at 1527 but was lost below the seawall and couldnt be relocated in conditions which were difficult when facing into the wind . It could easily be along the outfalls as it didnt appear to remain in the harbour mouth area. Head and wing patterns clearly seen and the mantle was uniform pale grey (two observers). A combination of the features noted by both observers suggested a 1st W.
Leach's Petrel - singles flew out, all at about 300-350m, at 1340, 1447, 1458, 1524 and 1705 (the period 1600-1700 was not covered as far as we know). The first two and fourth bird were definitely juveniles, the other two less certainly so.
Manx Shearwater - one out, then back in ahead of a squall at 1540
Fulmar - one distant
Skua spp. - one chunky-looking dark bird, probably a juv Pomarine, out at about 1115hrs. One wheeling in very rapidly and distantly at 1440 looked more like a juvenile Arctic.
Little Gull - 3 adults out together
Shelduck - 38 out
Pintail - 7 out
Red-throated Diver - one out - first of autumn
Arctic Tern - juvenile out close inshore late pm after a distant 'commic' had headed in late morning

Inshore
Shag - 6+ on wooden jetty, but too windy to check properly
Med Gull - 2 adults, one 2nd W and one 1st W
Guillemot - 1st W

Elsewhere
Late record : Honey Buzzard south over the Salter Fell track at c1330hrs Sunday 21st Sept.

Two new BTO challenge birds on Red Nab

If you thought the Hobby was bad.....the Brents were getting buffeted around and disappeared (c1220hrs) before I had time to really go for the quality shots

Heysham Obs
Wednesday afternoon looks promising for Leach's Petrel from the north harbour wall, but it all depends on the shape of and track of the depression and I'm not 100% confident its going to do as forecasted. Should be clearer tomorrow pm. The weather should also spice things up on the outfalls (perhaps even Heysham One - Shhhh!)

Red Nab/outfalls
Pale-bellied Brent Goose - two juveniles to 1220hrs, then disappeared as the camera was being set up (see above for 'click and hope')!
Little Stint - Juv flushed by Peregrine from OE mudflats, landed briefly on Red Nab before being flushed again (with c45 Dunlin). Returned to the mudflats off OE after the tide and showed well there with Dunlin & Ringed Plover [but camera left in office]. This is by no means a regular species here
Little Gull - ad & 2nd W

North harbour wall/wooden jetty
Shag - Difficult to keep the scope still and birds (=& Cormorants) were obscuring each other, but at least 6 juvs
Med Gull - Czech-ringed adult located along with a 2nd W reported by a visiting birding group.

Vis mig 0700-0830
Cold and windy (WWNW 4, increasing 5 at times)
Grey Wagtail - 2 SE
Pink-footed Goose - one skein of 75 S
Meadow Pipit - 8 SE
alba Wagtail - 9 SE
Chaffinch - 13 S/SW
Greenfinch - 11 S/SW
Knot - 250 S
Coal Tit - 3 S

Grounded around the office
Chiffchaff - the usual off-passage bird plus one other
Goldcrest - 3
Song Thrush - 3
Blackbird - one behaving as though it might have been a migrant

Moths
At last! One Feathered Ranunculus - normally a regular 'standard fare' species. We have had NO Lunar Underwing this autumn as yet; not so long ago this species peaked at 837 individuals for the autumn, but has obviously crashed out near the north-western edge of its (mainly coastal) "ubiquitous & common" range. A trap has also been run virtually nightly at Sunderland Point and this has also drawn a blank.

Elsewhere
Several skeins of Pinkfeet reported on LDBWS site. Otherwise just a single Curlew Sandpiper at the EM Pool and the first (2) Bearded Tits on the Leighton grit trays of note.

A scattering of migrants & plenty of Pink-feet

Heysham Obs
The last settled day for a bit saw calm conditions following an overnight weak weather front, followed by a light-mod. north-westerly. Quite a reasonable selection of birds but the vis, assuming it was passing over here like Caton Moor (see LDBWS site posting for today), was a little too high to record all but Pink-footed Geese. These were flying south at a height which was above the recording level for the likes of Meadow Pipit.

Grounded
Willow Warbler - one ringed (Middleton)
Chiffchaff - probably less than 5 (2 ringed)
Goldcrest - c10 (5 ringed)
Reed Warbler - juv ringed (nature reserve)
Blackcap - small influx; one at Middleton & 4 ringed on HNR
Coal Tit - irruptive singletons totalling c10, but no flocks recorded (4 ringed)
Robin - just one unringed bird trapped
Wheatear - an influx with 8 scattered around the coastal sites

Vis mig
Grey Wagtail - c7 (5 colour-ringed)
Meadow Pipit - very few at low level - just 7 SE at Middleton and 3 attracted down to the HNR tape
Pink-footed Goose - 12 flocks totalling about 1,250 birds (dawn to c1000hrs) - mostly heading due south & NOT apparently coming from 'over the bay'.
Linnet - 5 SE
Skylark - 9
Siskin - flock heard & 1 SE

North harbour wall
Med Gull - 3 adult
Shag - up to 4 juveniles on wooden jetty

Elsewhere
No sign of the Pec Sand at Leighton Moss during the morning but 2 x Little Stint and 1 x Curlew Sandpiper there. Further (post 1000hrs) Pink-footed Goose movements e.g. Farleton confirming that most of the movement was from the N/NE, not from "across the Bay"

More Coal Tit & finches starting to take over from Meadow Pipits

Heysham Obs
No ringing this morning (too risky with damaged ankle ligaments), so a lengthy vis mig session by the office plus checking stuff moving through the bushes. Also pretty good coverage around the rest 0f the recording area, though, with a some bits and bobs as seen below. However, the situation on the ground suggested reduced numbers of night migrants compared to the last 2-3 days:

Redstart
This was located at lunchtime along the north harbour wall and the views suggested female/imm Black Redstart. However it was spooked by two cyclists before full details were obtained and caution was necessary as the bird was slightly silhouetted, therefore perhaps appearing darker than the reality (per Mark Prestwood). Hopefully it will be found tomorrow in the large area of suitable, often private, habitat.

Grounded on reserve/dog walk/Middleton IE
Whitethroat - one Middleton
Chiffchaff - at least 7
Goldcrest - very few - perhaps no more than 5
Song Thush - 7, most flew inland
Redwing - 1, then inland

North harbour wall/harbour area
Shag - FOUR juvs on wooden jetty at high tide.
Med Gull - at least one ad
Linnet - 27 grounded
Guillemot - two floated into Bay & another at high tide
Gannet - one flew out of the bay at high tide
Dunnock - one by Gate 38 was unexpected

Outfalls area
Little Gull - Ad & 2nd W still present

Vis mig, mainly from office but some NHW & Middleton 0730-1030
Jackdaw - flock of 61 south over Middleton - the first of the autumn
Redpoll agg. - 17 SE, mostly early on
alba Wagtail - 87 SE plus at least 100 on OE foreshore/Red Nab early on (at least 6 White Wagtail). One moribund bird NHW, died later.
Grey Wagtail - 2 SE
Meadow Pipit - just 34 SE, probably including the 20+ grounded early morning on NHW mound.
Chaffinch - 44 S/SW
Linnet - 27 SE
Siskin - 41 SE & at 4 lots of "heard only"
Greenfinch - 28 SW
Goldfinch - 18 S/SW
Coal Tit - 22 south
Dunnock - 1 S
Greylag - 3 low to the S
Skylark - 4 SE

Middleton IE
Tufted Duck (13), Mallard (7), Moorhen (14), Coot (7), Little Grebe (3 plus two small chicks), Mute Swan (2), Snipe (14)

Insects
Comma Middleton - one also seen there yesterday. Large and Small White Nature reserve.

Elsewhere
Pectoral Sandpiper located on Allen Pool at 1450hrs. Possible Honey Buzzard south over Morecambe. No small calidrids Sunderland side of the Lune on the dropping tide but Ad Med Gull. At Med Gull Broadway

Coal Tit passage

.....well at least they sound a bit like Yellow-browed Warbler. The problem this morning was the available birders/ringers couldnt do everything and what suffered was coastal searching of the nooks and crannies during the optimum early morning. The most noticeable new feature of the day was a movement by Coal Tit, as also recorded by myself on Caton Moor 'vis' duty.

Grounded
Chiffchaff - quite a few with estimate of 15-20 on British Energy land (5 ringed there plus one at Middleton IE)
Goldcrest - still fewer than might be expected with c10 around (just 3 ringed in what would normally be very good conditions for this species)
Robin - no new birds ringed and no obvious evidence of new individuals
Willow Warbler - one ringed
Snipe - 4 at Middleton with 2 of these ringed!

Vis mig from Middleton IE
Grey Wagtail - at least 7 (3 colour-ringed)
Meadow Pipit - c120 - nowhere near the numbers at Caton Moor (600+ in first 2 hours) as the cross-bay vis was inhibited by poor visibility
alba Wagtail - c20
Linnet - 5
Chaffinch - no perceptible movement
Goldfinch - as above e.g. very few at Middleton
Reed Bunting - c6 SE (3 ringed at Middleton)
Swallow - 2 SE - the first for a few days
Coal Tit - at least 20 SE including a high-flying flock of 6 (4 ringed)

Elsewhere
Juv Shag and ad Med Gull Morecambe Stone Jetty. Ad Med Broadway & Spotted Redshank Teal Bay but no evidence of anyone working coastal bushes or copses as yet. Unfortunately the medium-range weather forecast suggests this is last chance saloon for Y.B. Warb or similar.

Obliging Hobby but still a little too clear

A tale of two photographers today. The first (four) photos of todays juv Hobby are cxxp, the fifth was received today from a well-known quality photographer. The Hobby was mobbed by Magpies until it sat near the mist net ride, which Magpies keep away from!

This photograph was taken at Seaforth NR, Crosby, Liverpool on 21/9 and the bird was ringed at Middleton IE on 8/9. I am surprised it was not further south than this. Thanks to Steve Young for both the pic and ringing recovery.

Heysham Obs

The promised fog did not materialise although there was some heavyish cloud out to sea first thing. We got it wrong by not setting nets at the migrant arrival point below the Obs Tower as migrants comprised an early "rush" of mainly Goldcrest and Chiffchaff, followed by very little else as the skies cleared. On the basis of the 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Yellow-browed ratio at Seaforth, we missed one of the latter!

Grounded

Redstart - female type non-op land
Garden Warbler - 2 eating blackberries in tank farm

Stonechat - male Middleton IE
Blackcap - 1 female with the above
probable Reed Warbler - 1 - only seen briefly on edge of tank farm but looked like (juv) Reed
Goldcrest c13 - seemed to 'melt away' after early morning
Chiffchaff - c23 on thorough search of British Energy land late afternoon
Redwing - 1 south end of tank farm
Robin - a few migrants (2 ringed) but quite a lot of early singing

Song Thrush - c5
HOBBY - 1 juv which sat around for 2.5 hours, initially on the cream store (found by John Girdley), then when harrassed by Magpies it went on to a nearby fence, then moved again & and sat untroubled next to the mist net by the Obs Tower pond for two hours (Magpies dont go near mist nets!). After a lengthy preening session it left this perch about 1015hrs

Heysham Head held a Wheatear, three Chiffchaff, a Whitethroat and at least one Goldcrest.

Unfortunately the mound area and Red Nab bushes were not checked first thing.

Vis

Meadow Pipit - just 41 SE

Grey Wagtail - 3 SE (one colour-ringed)

House Sparrow - one high to the west, unseen (I dont think it was a Richard's Pipit!)
alba Wagtail - 10 SE

Skylark - 2 SE

Butterflies
At least 4 Red Admiral south by 1200hrs

Elsewhere
Two Little Stint & a Curlew Sandpiper Cockersands. Osprey fishing Pine Lake "about a week ago" (per resident)

Still too clear & windy

Heysham Obs
This is a very disappointing waste of a potentially good weather synopsis as it has been far too clear and windy, but it should change for the better tonight with lighter winds and poorer visibility. Decent searching weather should hold until the weekend

No vis recorded this morning, but three nets were erected for most of the morning and only produced 2 new Robin and 2 new Goldcrest of overnight migrant interest. A small scale Meadow Pipit passage seemed to involve no more than 70 or so birds in the first two-three hours of the day

North harbour wall/outfalls at low tide
Med Gull - single adults 'both sides'
Shag - just one juv on wooden jetty (& only 2 Cormorants) but no sign of any other Shag in harbour - where are they feeding??

Elsewhere
3 Crossbill SE over Caton Moor at 0755hrs. 3rd W YL Gull Glasson & juv Curlew Sandpiper Cockersands

Early morning blues

Heysham Obs
Twisted my ankle, one of just three birds trapped escaped prior to ringing, the Meadow Pipit/Grey Wag tape machine wouldnt work, freezing cold (3 C on the car temperature guage 0615hrs), too clear, failed to satisfactorily identify an interesting calling fly-over. Apart from that, the vis was not too bad.

Vis by the office 0700-0930hrs
Grey Wagtail - 5 SE
Meadow Pipit - 415 SE
Chaffinch - 4 S
Linnet 12 S
Reed Bunting - 2 S
Redpoll spp - 2 SE
Cormorant - one high to the SE
alba Wagtail - 20 SE
mystery bird = a pipit giving rather clipped consistent disyllabic calls 12 times, recalling a cross between Meadow Pipit and Grey Wagtail call. Couldnt work out which bird of 5 (rest Meadow Pipit) at just above electricity pylon height. It was absolutely definitely one of this group of pipits, not a proximate alba Wagtail etc. - these were the only birds going over in this area of the sky at the time. Interesting.

Grounded
Robin - quite a few first thing with no Robins starting to sing until about 0900hrs, but lots of ticking and chasing. c15 migrants around the office?
Goldcrest - about 5 round the office
Chiffchaff - 2 passed through quickly & presumably the same off-passage bird seen regularly
Jay - one blogging - difficult to work out status at present as they appear to breed locally

Elsewhere
[Juv Stilt Sandpiper about an hour away at Campfield Marsh N Cumbria - 2nd day]

Routine morning, not so routine afternoon on the wooden jetty

Heysham Obs
Re-'Comments'. Partly as a response to feedback, this is a factual, informative site, not one devoted to comments and opinions. Therefore, whilst thanking people who make contact via the 'comments' option - I tend to treat them as alternative private e-mails and dont 'open them' to the worldwideweb! Please therefore could you e-mail me privately, Colin, about the link to your site. I was in a rush this afternoon playing 'catch-up' with several postings from the last few days and forgot that the 'comments' were not generally available. I'll put your site on the Links list if you wish. Thanks.

Unprecedented influx in calm weather
There were 11 juvenile Shag (with the possibility of some more being out of sight behind the favoured 'tower') on Heysham wooden jetty on this evening's high tide. ALL previous influxes have been later in the autumn than this during howling gales and the only other influx even remotely reaching double-figures was two years ago during a very stormy late autumn (e.g. Leach's 'wreck'). There were also 67 Cormorant - a site record. Any anglers/fishermen offer an explanation as the last conversation I had with any of the north harbour wall crowd was about the "complete lack of fish"?.

Early morning coverage
A bit windy for mist netting and the one sheltered net produced an astounding single Chiffchaff and Greenfinch. The vis was reasonable for the first hour, then died a death after about 0845hrs. Nothing special, but the first hint of autumnal Greenfinch movement plus what were probably the first lot of Pinks for here (see below!). Almost all the vis was from across the Bay and, given the NE wind, it is pretty certain that a lot more stuff was passing through south of the Power Stations. Quite a few records added for the last few days and more detail of yesterdays dragonflies to come.

Vis from the office 0645-0900
Meadow Pipit - 107 SE
alba Wagtail - 49 SE
Reed Bunting - 1 SE
Grey Goose - 40, presumably Pinkfeet, SE across the Bay and south of the Power Station as seen from Caton Moor!!!
Chaffinch - 5S
Goldfinch - 9SE
Siskin - 2SE
Coal Tit - 1S
Skylark - 1SE
Grey Wagtail - 3 SE
Greenfinch - 9 SW
Song Thrush - 4 grounded birds flew separately high inland

Grounded
Chiffchaff - at least 6 around the office - the ringed bird was a fatless unringed new arrival
Goldcrest - 4+ around the office first thing

Inshore coverage late afternoon
Shag - see above
Med Gull - adult Red Nab, 3 adult and one 1st W north harbour/behind dredger [5 different birds]
Little Egret - one turfed out of Ocean Edge saltmarsh by a disobedient dog called Kenneth, whence it flew to Red Nab
No Little Gulls

Elsewhere
1CY female Cetti's Warbler trapped and ringed at Leighton Moss (off the Lower Hide to causeway path). Two juv Curlew Sandpiper Sunderland mudflats. Ad Med off Glasson. Honey Buzzard heading south by Jubilee Tower 1615hrs (record shots)

Bits and bobs in murky weather

Heysham Obs
Intermittent vis mig coverage due to mist netting activities at Middleton and by the office

Grounded
7 Chiffchaff ringed after a noticeable lack in yesterdays clear weather
4 Goldcrest ringed
3 Blackcap ringed
2 Common Whitethroat ringed

Vis (mainly Middleton and grossly underrecorded due to ringing)
Grey Wagtail - 4 were ringed and at least another 6 were seen
Common Buzzard - one flew south just to the east of Middleton IE at about 1100hrs - rare here but the third this month
Tree Pipit - 1SE
Swallow - 19 SE
Meadow Pipit - 46 intermittently noted during the morning , then increasing to a further 160 in an hour just after midday
Chaffinch - 6 SW
alba Wagtail - 3 SW
House Martin - 4 SE

Others
Med Gull - 2 x 1st W and 3 x Ad (including Czech-ringed bird) north harbour wall early morning
Kingfisher - one ringed at Middleton

Dragonflies
At last a decent day with Colin Adams giving good coverage. More details when I have time. See link under comments but dont bother with the /?bit, it doesnt work! SEVEN species recorded including late Common Hawker, latish Brown Hawker & Common Blue damselfly & a couple of female Black Darter. Thanks Colin.

Elsewhere
Dark-morph juv (0745hrs) and adult male (0930hrs) Honey Buzzard flew past Caton Moor vis mig site & perhaps the same over Hala, South Lancaster at 1000hrs (& three others on the fringe of the area over Bowland Knotts late morning (1 & 2)). One mid-afternoon at Brockholes Quarry sums up the known local(ish) records today. Juv Hobby Leighton Moss Lilian's Hide mid-afternoon. Crossbill over the Lune cycle track near Stodday.