Right(ish) time, wrong place?

Heysham Obs
Turned down the sleep-deprived M6/M5/A30/Land's End/Stanstead/Cork/Garanish Point offer (thanks Stuart) for the following:

Tawny Owl
This 'mega' was heard from the office in the Ocean Edge/western golf-course direction first thing

Vis mig by the office 0730-1010
Possibly a bit late as there were fair numbers of Chaffinch in the first 15 minutes
Chaffinch - 152 S/SW
Linnet - 3 S
Meadow Pipit - 19 SE
Greenfinch - 40 SW
Redpoll agg. - 2 SE
Collared Dove - flock of 5 south
Magpie - 3 trying to look like migrants high to SE
alba Wagtail - 14 SE
House Sparrow - 1 S
Woodpigeon - 8 E
Carrion Crow - 8 SE
Jackdaw - 2 SE
Goldfinch - 10 S
Reed Bunting - 2 S
Siskin - 1 SE
Skylark - 13 SE
Bullfinch - 1 S
Coal Tit - 6 SE
Dunnock - 1 S
Pink-footed Goose - 84+23 SE at 1010

Grounded
Chiffchaff - one brownish-grey bird ringed which unfortunately did not call but certainly the 'abietinus umbrella' on plumage
Goldcrest - 10-15

Ocean Edge foreshore/outfalls 1100-1115hrs
Shag - juv visible distantly on wooden jetty
Arctic Tern - ad still on outfalls
Skylark - 13 SE
Siskin - 2 SE
Song Thrush - 3 obvious migrants

Moths
Reasonable selection including a 'small' Large Wainscot

Elsewhere
Juv Shag Morecambe Stone Jetty. No postings on LDBWS site or pager for this area by 1400hrs.

Lingering ArcticTern

Heysham Obs
Dead today - left the post as late as possible to se if we could compete with other west coast sites - not a chance - we've had our transatlantic surprise for the year, I guess (W-T Sparrow). Pretty impressive, especially (perhaps) the 14, or was it 15, Ring-necked Duck in-off at Inishmore (Galway)

Vis from by the office
Dreadful
alba Wagtail - 5
Coal Tit - 5 & another excitable flock of 11 by Trumacar stores
Meadow Pipit - 5
Chaffinch - 5ish
Skylark - 1ish
Mistle Thrush - 7 vaguely SW

Grounded
Goldcrest - 1. A few extra Robin. One sharp "tack" agg.. One Redwing below the classroom

Outfalls
Arctic Tern - adult surprisingly still lingering am at least

Insects
One Red Admiral & one Small Tortoiseshell & one Speckled Wood

Mammals
Ex-hedgehog on Moneyclose Lane

Elsewhere
Yellow-browed Warbler ringed next to the causeway at Leighton Moss but no reports since release. Condition suggested it was not a new arrival. Single Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper EM Pool.

Tuesday 7th October

Seen from returning Seatruck ferry 1630ish...................
Kittiwake - 5 behind the ferry up to 5 minutes out of the harbour mouth, then peeled off (1 juv)
Shag - just two on the wooden jetty with excellent views!
Little Gull - adult joined rear of ferry on the turn into the harbour
Med Gull - Czech-ringed adult and 1st winter behind/around ferry entering port

Moths
2 x Red-line Quaker

Monday 6th October

"Noticeable numbers of annoying YBW like calling Coal Tits - approximately 15-20 along Moneyclose lane Several Skylark still going south PM 2 Swallow - S 3 Goldcrest"

per Garry Sharples LDBWS site - real chance to grip everyone off missed here Garry!!

Brief coverage, then sorting the Irish away-day!

Heysham Obs
Quick posting having sorted out a nice Seatruck deal - saves messing about with Ryanair or the dreaded A55/A75. This one has to be gone for! The figures (esp vis) may be refined with further notebook info.

Red Nab/OE
Arctic Tern - the adult still present early morning (but no sign of any Little Gulls etc)

Grounded
Goldcrest - 7 ringed
Chiffchaff - 3 ringed
Robin - 2 ringed

Middleton IE pm
Nice selection, including what is becoming a very rare bird here: Pheasant. Other sightings included 21 Tufted Duck, female Stonechat, 25 Snipe (morning maxima).

Insects Middleton IE
One Black Darter, 8 Migrant Hawker and a late Meadow Brown. Also one Small White, one Red Admiral and single figures of Common Darter

Vis mig
Meadow Pipit 20-30ish
Grey wagtail - 3 (one colour-ringed)
Skylark - 5
Linnet - 3
Pink-footed Goose - flock of c32
Sparrow - probably House - 1S
Dunnock - fidgety birds on the move today e.g. 5+ at Red Nab

Juv Arctic Tern joined by adult late afternoon

Heysham Obs
Wind a little too far to south for most of the day but a few bits and bobs accrued, mainly following in boats. JBP might score today Leach's-wise but only the chance of the odd one, I suspect. Just on the pager (2015hrs) : Leach's Petrel at Sandside (Kent Estuary)

IOM ferry 1210hrs
Little Gull - a newly-arrived juv followed it right into port (unusual)
Med Gull - 2nd W behind it, then flew 'out' - same as last few days?

Dredger mid afternoon
Kittiwake 5 (2 x juv)

North wall area accumulation during the day
Med Gull - 3 adults & the above 2nd W (including Czech-ringed Ad)
Shag - maximum of 8 juvs on the wooden jetty

Stage 2 outfall as viewed from Ocean Edge accumulation by late afternoon
Arctic Tern - juv still on Stage 2 outfall joined by adult late afternoon
Little Gull - ad & 2nd W & 3 x juv Little Gull Stage 2 outfall
Med Gull - 1st W for a short period

Elsewhere
Leach's Petrel Sandside, Kent Estuary, as befits the southerly element in the wind, this afternoon. Where were the JBP observers today?

Gadwall top limited coverage

Heysham Obs
The early morning 'vis' was so cold and poor that it only lasted 20 minutes. Thanks to Pete and Malcolm for coverage during the rest of the day.

Vis mig by the office 0730-0750
Meadow Pipit - 5 SE
Chaffinch - 6S

North wall
Two adult Meds early morning
8 juvenile Shag at lunchtime (& one Ad Med.)

OE foreshore/outfalls early morning
2nd W Little Gull

Middleton IE
2 Gadwall, 17 Tufted Duck, 22 Snipe, just 2 Teal, 9 Coot, 7 Moorhen, 2 Mute Swan, 2 Little Grebe

Insects
Comma on Middleton IE

Elsewhere
Possible Yellow-browed Warbler heard to call just the once at Freeman's Wood by an experienced observer but not possible to thoroughly search for it. Poor 'vis' Caton Moor but 8-10 Redwing in a south Lancaster garden

Twite reappearance

Heysham Obs
Bits and pieces of coverage today

North harbour wall 1000-1020hrs
Red-throated Diver - one out
Med Gull - 3 adults (2 of these 3rd W)
Linnet - just 2 left
Shag - no more than 5 on the wooden jetty at any one time [with another 3 off the Grosvenor area with one of these in transit from there to the wooden jetty] = minimum 8 individuals seen today.

Ocean Edge/outfalls
No Dunlin this morning but 17 Ringed Plover on the mudflats of OE south end
Little Gull - 2nd W Stage 2 outfall
Twite - one at OE south end, flew towards saltmarsh

Pink-footed Goose
120+30+100 casually recorded flying south during morning. 82 S during afternoon

Moths
The trap held: 7 Red-line Quaker & single Black Rustic, Green-brindled Crescent, Angle Shades, Garden Rose Tortrix and Agonopterix spp..

Elsewhere
Little Stint, 4 Curlew Sandpiper & Barnacle Goose Pilling Marsh. Curlew Sandpiper Cockersands, 4 Spotted Redshank Conder Green. Migrant Short-eared Owl headed south during the Caton Moor vis mig watch. No news at all from Leighton Moss area as yet today.

Predictably no offshore seabirds

Heysham Obs
Yesterday afternoon's vigil was a "necessity" in order to produce the goods and did involve a lengthy period of 'watching paint dry' between the first and second Leach's Petrel. Anyone attempting to seawatch today will totally redefine this phrase. Just dont bother, unless you are checking the sea, wooden jetty or outfalls. It is good to know that the wind is unambiguously useless = too NW - means you can get on with some work!

North wall area - two brief visits
Rock Pipit - first of the autumn grounded briefly on the north wall
Med Gull - two adults harbour mouth
Shag - 11 - 2 on the wooden jetty and 9 flying singly towards this roost from the direction of Heysham head as the tide was coming in - surely feeding in channels around the Grosvenor skeers? All juvs.
Arctic Tern - yesterdays juv still around

Outfalls/Ocean Edge foreshore
Little Gull - Ad & 2nd W H2 outfall
Med Gull - 1st W on H2 outfall
Dunlin - just 23 left (& 26 Ringed Plover) feeding next to Ocean Edge saltmarsh - in retrospect we should have checked this flock of small waders more regularly this autumn. Hopefully this good feeding habitat on the edge of the accreting saltmarsh will remain for a few years.

Vis mig
Meadow Pipit - 18 recorded moving south between showers (286 similarly in 2 hours at Caton Moor).

Elsewhere
Bonxie JB Point but, not surprisingly, nothing else of significance [& 2 Razorbill, 1 Guillemot]. Juv Arctic Tern Pine Lake but 'dragged off' by roost-bound Black-headed Gulls (did this arrive yesterday?)

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.