Twite surge followed by Little Gull weather

Heysham Obs
South-westerly gales and driving warm-sector rain have limited appeal - the 0.1% of nearctic passerines who make landfall this side, as opposed to drowning, in late September/October (see Punkbirder site for a met. analysis of this last autumn's fare), mega-close large shearwaters and scopes steamed up for the next month off Cape Clear in August (fond memories of the great 10, 939 (or possibly going round in circles) Cory's day) and bringing Little Gulls on to Heysham outfalls during the winter months.

Stage 2 outfall
Little Gull - the first for a bit - 2 x ad-type and one 1st W during brief check at 1400hrs

North harbour wall
Twite 60 - all but c5 ringed, mainly blue above + 2 yellow above black /blue split. One had just a metal ring.
Linnet 1 with Twite
Med Gull adult
Red-breasted Merganser M & F
Eider M
Shag juv harbour waterfall
Wigeon 52 off S2O

Elsewhere
Absolutely nothing registered by 1745hrs

Ten minutes

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Twite - 15
Linnet - 2
Med Gull - distant adult
Shag - one by waterfall (with single Cormorant)
Purple sandpiper - one on rocks at the end with Turnstone

Elsewhere
Purple sandpiper - single Morecambe Stone Jetty this morning. 4 Waxwing reportedly somewhere at Leighton Moss but no other details

Snippet of coverage

Heysham Obs
Mammals
Not a lot to offer today and the Trumacar stores billboard sometimes comes to the rescue on these occasions. Today saw a Freddie Starresque "Heysham Man Denies Hanging Dog" - good 'Have I Got Noose For You' material (the blanked-out words bit)? This sort of thing really does bring out the worst in some people - mention of this to others today prompted all sorts of black humour, when Daily Mail/Telegraph/Express upper lip horror was surely appropriate. Incidentally, what is the origin of a "hang-dog expression"?

North harbour wall
Twite - 29 on the north harbour wall feeding station
Med Gull - one adult north wall

Elsewhere
A rare trip south of the Lune saw zero of note other than a female Merlin on Jeremy Lane

Purple patch

South harbour wall - incoming tide 1000 - 1115 hrs.
Purple sandpiper 3 and quite possibly 4 on rocks below wooden jetty.
Knot colour ringed on rocks below wooden jetty - details to R de Feu et al
Shag 1 moved slowly out of harbour + 1 'out' past end of wooden jetty
Guillemot 1 'out'
Red-throated Diver 2 together 'out'
Grey Plover 2 H1O
Twite c35 SHW then over to sand plant.

North harbour wall very brief early afternoon visit
Shag - presumably one of the above on the wooden jetty
Med Gull - Czech-ringed adult on the railings
"Twinnet" - no reason why not all Twite - 41 in flight over the mound. Yes there is - there were two Linnet still on 18th (see above)

Elsewhere
18 Waxwing at Cove Road, Silverdale at 1345hrs; 2 Spotted Redshank, Leighton Moss.

Heysham Obs.

NHW
Pink-footed Goose : 3 flocks 08.20 - 08.30 NW over Lake District. Total c1150 plus further c 150 at 09.55.
Twite: groups of 9 (all ringed) & 15 (majority ringed) around sand plant. Not settled - fishing disturbance yesterday plus work in sand plant? 9 caught including 1 further Duddon bird and 1 new bird.

Elsewhere
Waxwings: 8 at Bridge Road, Lancaster (am) & 14 at Cove Road Silverdale (time?)

Heysham Obs.

Office
House Sparrow male & female at feeder.

North habour wall 1030-1140 hrs
Med Gull adult
Guillemot 'in' 1100 hrs on tide - flew out 1115 hrs
Common Scoter 7 'in/across'
Great Crested Grebe 1 'in'

Midd IE
Mute Swan 2
Coot 8
Moorhen 7
Mallard 11
Teal 14
Tufted Duck 9
Pochard 2 (1m)
Goldeneye 2 (f)
Snipe 8
Redwing 10
Fieldfare 2
Pink-footed Goose 160 North 1230 hrs

A gloomy day

Nothing from me on Sunday or Monday - could someone else please update. Will forward your texted stuff tomorrow, Malcolm - sorry dont have phone with me!

North Harbour Wall
Twite c35 at Sand Plant gate.

Elsewhere
Wet and bedraggled Short-eared Owl in hawthorn next to the Allen Pool car park. 4+ Waxwings just to the south of Hornby school but really difficult from P.R.O.W.

Early WeBS

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Med Gull - one adult
Twite - 34 on seed with 11 unringed; rest all Heysham-ringed birds
Red-throated Diver - 2+ offshore

Harbour
Shag - 2: 1 in harbour with the other alongside the wooden jetty

Wooden jetty
Purple Sandpiper - 1

Red Nab
Wigeon - 128 - highest count of this winter period
Med Gull - one adult on sea

Cannon netting
460 Oystercatchers were caught this morning including one which had been ringed in Iceland & about 9 British-ringed birds from other than Heysham

by office
No proper birding but 3 Redwing casually noted in the tank farm and a further two along Moneyclose Lane. No report of Waxwings.

Observers today: Alan Williams, Pete Marsh & largish cannon net team - the latter didnt see anything (per Mark Breaks)!

Elsewhere
Rough-legged Buzzard seen well from Lower Hide flying towards Public Hide this morning at 1100hrs. Purple Sandpiper on seaward side of Bubbles groyne, visible from Lifeboat station area only. Med Gull Ad Broadway and male & 2 female Scaup by Scalestones Point. Red-throated Diver close inshore by the Stone Jetty at 1115hrs. Waxwings: 17 at 1600hrs Hornby main street by Alpaca shop & one at Scotforth

Waxwings at last!

Heysham Obs
To miss out on both Yellow-browed Warbler and Waxwing this back end would have left this site with a serious lack of migratory cred, as the White-throated Sparrow and other 'megas' recede into history.

By the NR office
Waxwing - 5 flew from the direction of Heysham Head and appeared to land in the tankfarm at 1010hrs. At 1150, they were at the top of the tall willows bordering the car park before flying back to the tankfarm, where they could be heard calling. No further searches made by known observers
Fieldfare - 2 seen
Redwing - 2 in tank farm

Offshore
Red-throated Diver - 5 - a good winter count for here

Inshore
Med Gull - 2 ads north harbour wall (one with Czech ring)
Shag - at least one actively feeding in the SW corner of the harbour
Twite - 35 on the seed - 22 ringed. Flock flying in from the harbour direction at Ocean Edge at c1100hrs almost certainly same birds
Goldfinch - one on seed

Observers: John Wood & Pete Marsh

Elsewhere
55 Twite Bank End. Two Little Egrets reported well up the Lune valley at Greta Foot - no detail on how well they were seen - they flew off towards Leighton late afternoon

Cold weather thrush displacement

Heysham Obs
To repeat....Fieldfare are very rare here outside the autumn passage period - i.e. even absent on spring passage in many years. Therefore whilst todays numbers might not seem a big deal, they are most unusual.

1000-1045 hrs - Office
Fieldfare - 35 over
Redwing - 34 over
Kingfisher - 1 flew towards tank farm
Snipe - 5 flushed from marsh
Great Spotted woodpecker - 1
Bullfinch - male
Sparrowhawk - female

North wall and Ocean Edge very briefly
Red-throated Diver - one out
Shag - there ARE two juvs still around
No finches... high level of verbal and mechanical racket in the sand works as the infrastructure is being demolished. It would be good if they could leave the remaining sand to acquire sand dune vegetation.......... [no immediate plans to use this area]
Med Gull - adult off the seaward end of the outfalls

Observers: John Wood, Reuben Neville, John Clarke, Pete Marsh

Elsewhere
Waxwing sitting in a tree in the centre of Glasson (0925hrs). 17 Waxwings near the White Lund Honda garage at northern end of A683 "Heysham" bypass 1300-1345hrs, but not there later. Plenty of suitable habitat, including in nearby housing estates. No sign Quernmore Hooded Crow during midday search