Purple Sandpiper highlight

Heysham Obs
Not a lot else, with a thrush arrival in the east of the area (e.g. High Tatham) not reaching here.

Coastal observations
Shag - juvs along the north harbour wall and by the harbour intake
Purple Sandpiper - one on the wooden jetty
Shelduck - 2 out
Twite - 43 on seed, at least 9 unringed & at least 30 with Heysham site rings from this year ........also one ringed 8-15 days ago at Askam on the Duddon

Vis mig
Skylark 1 N
Greenfinch 7 SW

"Lovely weather isnt it?" Well....no

Heysham Obs
Far, far too clear and this is the last chance of anything for a bit. A few bits as follows:

Vis mig
Skylark - 12 N
Meadow Pipit - continuing this late movement - 18 SE
Chaffinch - 13 SE
Fieldfare - 8 NE first thing
Redwing - 20 inland first thing
Mistle Thrush - 1 SE
Goldfinch - 14 SE
Redpoll agg - 1 SE
Lesser Redpoll - one flew inland
Siskin - 1 SE

Grounded
Woodcock - one
Song Thrush - 15
Blackbird - 37
Redwing - 6
Goldcrest - 22 (8 ringed on Middleton - most of those on the reserve already ringed)
Siskin - 2
Meadow Pipit - 6 OE foreshore but no ringed bird

Miscellany
Shag - juv off the north harbour wall
Twinnet - c50 on the seed first thing (per harbour security guard)
Water Rail - at least 5 on Middleton IE, sounding like newly arrived i.e. noisy
Long-tailed Tit - about 6 flocks, including 12 unringed birds trapped on Middleton

Elsewhere
Purple Sandpiper & 4 Rock Pipit Stone Jetty

Busy morning but no surprises

Thanks for these, Dan

Heysham Obs
Twite
A major ringing session on the north harbour wall today. Thanks very much to the harbour authorities for allowing this to take place before the weather breaks, despite the dredger rescue operation nearby. One bird had been ringed at Walberswick, Suffolk in December 2006 and two had been ringed on the Duddon estuary at Askam, either last Thursday or during the previous week. The Plain English Society have complained about the next bit so here is the re-write: 44 have been ringed during the past week (since 31/10). The maximum observed flock size has been 89. Therefore, because there were only 11 retraps in the catch of 66 birds this morning (52 unringed and three 'controls), this indicates quite a turnover of birds, as you might expect during the peak autumn migration period for this species. This proportion of about 20% ringed was also the same as observed yesterday, therefore is not due to a net-shyness bias towards unringed birds. Indeed, the impression was that all birds present were in fact caught this morning!

See http://northlancsringinggroup.blogspot.com/ for further details

Vis mig
The high thrushes and Starlings were mainly heading north, but the general movement of grounded thrushes etc. through the bushes was to the south. A bit of a 'Heysham moment' with Starlings, but otherwise small numbers of other species with Woodpigeon a surprising absentee until a small mid-afternoon flock. Thrushes observed movening inland have been included here, rather than under 'grounded'.
Starling - 2,404 north
Redwing - 38 N
Greenfinch - 9+ SW
Long-tailed Tit - flock of 22 SE at pylon height
Carrion Crow - 4 N
Blackbird - 20 or so flew inland
Song Thrush - 4 high inland
Reed Bunting - flock of 7 in from the NE, landed, then headed S (largest group seen here) plus a further 2 S
Skylark - 3 SE
Meadow Pipit - 8 SE (see also grounded)
Chaffinch - 26 SW
Goldfinch - 15 SW
Coal Tit - 2 high to the S
Bullfinch - single high-flyers to N & SW
House Sparrow - one heard
Pink-footed Goose - 52 + 109 south
Mistle Thrush - 22 S (unknown status)
Snipe - 1 dropped into NR marsh (c/f BTO challenge qualifier)
Woodpigeon - 7 W

Grounded
Blackbird - c120
Redwing - 67
Song Thrush - 17
Blackcap - one ringed - they have been really scarce this late autumn & possibly a different bird seen in the field
Goldcrest - more than yesterday - c28
Reed Bunting - 4 in the reedbed
Robin - no perceptible increase - one new bird ringed
Treecreeper - 2
Meadow Pipit - 18 on OE foreshore, including a metal-ringed bird with a split-second view of consecutive or near-consecutive letters "ek" in the address - then it flew off
Pied Wagtail - 11 OE
Long-tailed Tit - getting on for 100 (including the flock of 22 - see 'vis')Brambling - female nature park with Chaffinch
Chaffinch - c20
Siskin - 2
Grey Wagtail - 2
Kingfisher - one ringed - caught by the dipping pond

Miscellany

Twite - at least 66 on the north harbour wall & c25 at the same time on Ocean edge saltmarsh

Linnet - at least 6 on the north harbour wall and c25 with the Twite on Ocean Edge
Little Egret - OE saltmarsh
Shag - one juv by the harbour 'intake'

Excellent coverage, not a lot of reward

Too clear, cloud too high, no birds. A real shame as the site received the best coverage of the whole autumn.

Vis
Crossbill - two heading north mid-morning comprised the highlight of the day
Chaffinch - c18 SE
Greenfinch - c5 SE
Skylark - 2S
Starling - c120 N
Meadow Pipit - 2 SE

Grounded
Goldcrest - c11 (4 ringed)
Redwing - c12
Song Thrush - c10
Blackbird - c50
Robin - presumably mostly birds on non-breeding season territory - c30 noted - but one orange and grey bird in-off at OE foreshore & trying to hide under the car was obviously a migrant!
Long-tailed Tit - unringed flock of 13 gave a slight degree of respectability to the ringing effort

Miscellany
Linnet - c25 OE foreshore & c11 north harbour wall
Twite - c25 Ocean Edge saltmarsh (with Linnets) & at least 72 north harbour wall, including presumably 'the' yellow-ringed bird from the Duddon seen two days ago. NO access along here for the general public at the moment as the dredger is retrieved. Please do not drive along the narrow section of road and clog things up for vehicles wanting access for the rescue operation.
Med Gull - ad north harbour wall
Little Egret - one OE saltmarsh channel and then the first ever individual (north) past the north harbour wall!

Elsewhere
Adult Great Grey Shrike (returning?) to Dalton Crags, but incredibly elusive and wide-ranging. Todays observations suggest that absence from the open limestone area may indicate it is in the clearings in Dalton Wood itself, not further afield on the great expanse of pavement/scattered scrub. The pavement area can be scoped from about 1/4 mile along the Keer Falls/Arkholme road and has been successfully seen at long-range from there in previous years, notably in the scattered trees breaking the skyline to the "left" of the N-S wall. See LDBWS site for record shots on a larch in a clear area of Dalton Wood. Chiffchaff Silverdale Moss

Numerically-challenged early morning!

Heysham Obs
Quite a few thrushes early morning as the nets were being set, but how do you come up with any meaningful figures? The clear conditions meant most were high-tailing it inland in the pre-dawn half-light. Tomorrow and Wednesday will hopefully be not so clear first thing as per forecast (see yesterdays posting)

Grounded
Redwing - 30+
Blackbird - 60+
Song Thrush - 10+
Goldcrest - 5 new birds ringed
Bullfinch - one ringed
Treecreeper - one ringed
single figures of unringed Blue Tit, Chaffinch & Greenfinch caught

Vis mig
Skylark - 2
otherwise nothing 'tangible' other than early morning inland thrush movement i.e. Chaffinches & Greenfnches appeared to be off-passage

Miscellaneous
Twite - 63 Ocean Edge saltmarsh - about 1/3 ringed
Linnet - 3 with the above & one on the NHW nyger!
Shag - juv on wooden jetty
Med Gull - Czech adult north harbour wall
Siskin - 2 Middleton IE(!)
Long-tailed Tit - c60 in 5 flocks Middleton IE

Insects
An annoying late social wasp around the office entrance for a short time. One Common Darter Middleton IE

Elsewhere
30 Little Egret roosted at Leighton Moss

Advance notice of weather

Anyone able to spend any time covering the Heysham area for migrant passerines during especially Tuesday to Thursday this week could be rewarded (Friday is too late unless there are 'leftovers') - the conditions are superb, especially if we get intermittent drizzle as suggested for Tuesday & Wednesday. Good coverage should definitely produce Firecrest and Black Red., with a real chance of something more interesting such as Pallas's. The previous Pallas's and Dusky Warbler records from Heysham were on 5/11 and 4/11 respectively.....

Quiet morning unless you are a dredger

A discrete image of a semi-buoyant dredger and attendees. Thanks John

Heysham Obs
Pretty low-key coverage today & using Blackbird numbers as an indicator, much quieter than yesterday.

Grounded
Blackbird - c40
Song Thrush - 3
Redwing - 5

Ocean Edge etc
Twite - 23
Linnet - 7
Med Gull - adult off the outfalls

North harbour wall
Other than the sinking dredger (oil sealed from spillage):
Twite - max of 19 - see North Lancs Ringing Group link for a bird which had not been ringed here
Goldfinch - 5
Med Gull - 2 ads & 1st winter
Shag - two juvs on the wooden jetty at high tide

Vis
Nothing discernable but no-one here in the first hour of daylight

Elsewhere
A slow trawl from High Tatham to Lancaster resulted in 20 minutes 'vis' from the Post House (by M6): Fieldfare - 255 N, Redwing 87 NNW in several small groups. This is consistent with the line taken yesterday - no other movement noted other than 14 Redwing N in 30 minutes at High Tatham. No apparent sign of the Waxwings at High Bentham

Long-eared Owl heads varied cast

............but predictably no sign of the Arctic Tern during early morning calm, clear, frosty conditions.

North Harbour wall
Twite - 44 ringed the last two mornings with 4 retraps from February 2008. NO birds have been seen at all from previous years from a minimum of 89 birds checked (all together on the fence on 30/10)
Linnet - still a few around with 3 ringed this morning, one yesterday and 11 seen on 30/10
Pink-footed Goose - 650-700 north, with some of these splitting off & heading NE first thing (shooting on the Fylde?)
Rock Pipit - one
Meadow Pipit - one

Ocean Edge/outfalls/offshore
Goldeneye - first of the autumn
Eider - 9
Twite - c24
Linnet - c6
Rock Pipit -1

Grounded on reserve/non-operational land/Moneyclose Lane
Long-eared Owl - one in the tank farm - harassed by Magpies - probably still present but NO access
Blackbird - c80
Redwing - c40
Song Thrush - c10
Treecreeper - 1
Jay - 2, probably migrants
Woodcock - one, quite possibly 2

Middleton IE
Jack Snipe - 2
Snipe - 14
Pochard - 2
Little Grebe - 5
Tufted Duck - 6
Goldeneye - 2
Blackbird - at least 20 migrants
Redwing - 18
Bullfinch - 3
Coot - 14

Vis mig
Quite a bit to the east of here, mostly thrushes and Starlings heading north. When birds are travelling in this direction, the skies over Heysham tend to be a no-go area and this was the case this morning. Cursory glances at the sky between 0730 & 1030 produced:
Chaffinch - 18 N
Redwing - 24 N
Fieldfare - 36 N
Starling - 240 N
plus the abovementioned PFG

Elsewhere
Two Waxwing late afternoon Riverside caravan park at west end alongside the River Wenning. Fieldfare - 2,000 N in 90 minutes Hala (S Lancaster) plus 250 Redwing - a narrow corridor of birds today over Lancaster and apparently also including a flightline down the Lune valley

Cold and colder

Heysham Obs
Vis mig 0755-0815
Pink-footed Goose - 43 NW(!) 0800hrs, then turned SE
Starling - flock of 23 SW
Skylark - 2 SE

Outfalls/Ocean Edge
Arctic Tern - juv still present but right on the seaward end - not a good place if it is going to enter a tick-box tomorrow (winter atlas)......but on the inner end of S2O at lunchtime
Med Gull - 1st W dip-feeding with other gulls along the boat channel off the outfalls. All five of the local Med Gulls were around when the IOM ferry came into port at 1210hrs (3 x adult, one x 2nd W, 1 x 1st W). The 2nd W flew rapidly out to sea, the remainder patrolled the north harbour wall. Loads of Black-headed and Common Gulls behind the ferry (c180), but no Kittiwake!
Rock Pipit - one OE foreshore (& at least one Meadow Pipit)

Ringing
A Grey Wagtail was seen on Red Nab this afternoon which was ringed as one of 11 juvenile/first winter birds on either 4th (4) or 11th (7) October 2007. We did not start the individual colour ring scheme until 2008. This raises some interesting questions. Was it born (2007) and has it subsequently bred (2008) fairly close to Heysham? Where did it spend the 2007/8 winter as it was most definitely ringed during a period of passage birds with no evidence of off-pasage birds until mid-October? One assumes from the time of day, mode of sighting and time of year that it is a prospective wintering bird in the Heysham area for 2008/9, with the already raised assumption that, as an adult, it has not wandered far from the breeding site.......as opposed to 2007/8, when, as a young bird, it may have moved a considerable distance to the south. Interesting.

Twite: 30 ringed plus 3 retraps & a Linnet North harbour wall

Moth
An Epirrata on its last legs in the trap

Elsewhere
Male Scaup Glasson basin & Common Sandpiper still in the area. Significant movement of Redwing and Fieldfare to the west in at least the east of our region from midday along with Starlings. Nothing new on Pine Lake late afternoon.

Starlings on the move

Heysham Obs
A very 'bitty' morning as regards coverage saw just 30 minutes vis and a brief check of both sides of the harbour. Best bird was a belatedly reported Short-eared Owl at Red Nab which was chased off by crows in the afternoon

Arctic Tern - still Stage 2 outfall
Short-eared Owl - one Red Nab pm (in-off?), then chased off by crows
Shag - 3 in the harbour
Med. Gull - two adults & 1st winter harbour mouth/north wall
Little Egret - OE saltmarsh
Twite - minimum of 89 at the north harbour wall feeding station, indicating a significant arrival (& 11 Linnet & 2 Goldfinch) - apologies for keeping off the site but we didnt want problems with photographers during the ringing effort on 31/10 & 1/11.

Vis 0900-0930
Starling - 420 SW (5 flocks)
Chaffinch - 17 SW
Goldfinch - 2 SW
Coal Tit - 3 S

Grounded
c15 Goldcrest encountered Red Nab to the reserve
thrushes - hardly any but didnt arrive on site until 0835hrs