NO coverage today

Sorry.

I will be covering the area tomorrow and Saturday but coverage on Sunday and Monday (wet & windy!) is uncertain & any records gratefully received

Elsewhere
The same 2 ad & 2 juv European White-fronted Geese as before the new year have been relocated with the Claughton Greylags along with 3 Pink-footed Geese, but the Barnacle seems to have moved on.

Cutting-edge fieldcraft produces the Purp

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall low tide
Poor visibility, so offshore potential severely curtailed

Purple Sandpiper - After spending 25 minutes scouring the seawall skeers and under the wooden jetty from the end of the NHW, chucked some bread out of the window for Med Gull. This dramatic act flushed 5 Turnstone and..........................! It remained alongside the seawall but was hard to locate. There are a lot of sizeable boulders on the skeer to hide behind, just like the end of the Stone Jetty
Med Gull - none seen
'Twinnet' - none seen
Red-throated Diver - 1 visible
Red-breasted Merganser - pair
Eider - one male

Elsewhere
Purple Sandpiper at the Stone Jetty

Subminimal

Heysham Obs
At least one Med Gull adult north harbour wall

Elsewhere
2 Waxwing by Steiner School on Lune Road am but not later. 3 Brambling Dolphinholme & 3 Freehold. Common Sandpiper Conder Green and single Bewick's Swan on nearby Lune. 4 Bewick's Swan near Sand Villa. Pair of Mandarin still Devil's Bridge

Good winter for eye-straining-range Red-throats

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Med Gull - at least one adult (also on TTV)
Red-throated Diver - 3 together on the sea far offshore, 2 flying out far offshore and 4 on the sea closer inshore mid-morning
Twite - 3 on the seed mid-morning - 2 Heysham-ringed, one unringed
Linnet - 2 with above - one metal-ringed, the other unringed

Wooden Jetty
Single Purple Sandpiper on a low tier late morning

Ringing recovery
A Twite ringed at Heysham on 31/10/08 (one of 23 birds with this colour combination - all ringed on that date) was photographed yesterday at Weld Road, Birkdale Beach, Southport. This is the second Heysham-ringed bird to be reported with this flock along with a single Askam-in-Furness-ringed bird. Thanks to Simon Glinn for this.

SD46A second winter timed tetrad (Shaun Coyle)
Shelduck 6, Eider 4, RB Merganser 6, GC Grebe 3, Cormorant 2, Oystercatcher, 470, Ringed Plover 26, Lapwing 1, Knot 2, Dunlin 42, Curlew 45, Redshank, 51, Turnstone 17, Med Gull 1, BH Gull 112, C Gull 20, LBB Gull 2, Herring Gull 8, GBB Gull 1, Feral Pigeon 50, Woodpigeon 10, Collared Dove 26, Meadow Pipit 1, Pied Wagtail 7, Wren 8, Dunnock 10, Robin 17, Blackbird 76, Song Thrush 5, Coal Tit 4, Blue Tit 23, Great Tit 8, Nuthatch 1, Treecreeper 2, Magpie 34, Carrion Crow 5, House Sparrow 67, Chaffinch 21, Greenfinch 2, Goldfinch 9, Bullfinch 2.

Observers: Pete Marsh, Jeff Butcher, Shaun Coyle

Elsewhere
Single Waxwing roadside by Scale Hall traffic lights c1015hrs, but not later. Barnacle Goose still at Claughton. Spotted Redshank Teal Bay this evening & 2 at Conder along with 1+ Greenshank. Ad Med. Gull Catshaw Fell (first record for SD55??). High count of 200 Goldeneye reported Lune Estuary.

More minimalism

There are a few problems at the moment and until these are sorted out, Obs coverage will be at a bare minimum. Therefore please can visiting birders assume that any of their sightings are not already documented.......and therefore please post them to the LDBWS site or e-mail/text myself. Thanks.

Heysham Obs
A brief visit to the north harbour wall produced:

Med Gull - single adult
Twite - c12

Middleton Industrial Est
1 Grey partridge
(to my knowledge this is the first record here since 2005)
(MD)

Elsewhere
Purple Sandpiper Morecambe Stone jetty by small wooden jetty. Barnacle Goose (and 3 Pinkfeet) with what is perhaps the wild Greylag flock on the Lune floodplain at Claughton

Calm weather fare & poor coverage of Heysham head exposed!

Heysham Obs
By far the most significant sighting today was a single Nuthatch at Heysham Head, followed by the observer remembering several other sightings and "not realising it wasnt known about". Reaching this suitable habitat has certainly taken some time and it remains o be seen whether this represents a single bird seen regularly or the start of a breeding population. This was during the second phase of the SD46A winter TTV and more details in a day or so.

North harbour wall/wooden jetty
Time to put Shag speculation/negative reports to rest until next autumn? No sign of any for a week or so other than a single bird in the high tide roost last Sunday [not seen at low tide at the waterfall].
Red-throated Diver - 6 far offshore
Purple Sandpiper - single with two Turnstone on central section of wooden jetty
Med Gull - 2 adults
No "Twinnet" seen at high tide

South of harbour
Kingfisher - one Red Nab
Red-breasted Merganser - 4 off Red Nab
Knot - c10,000 Red Nab

Observers included Shaun Coyle and John Girdley

Middleton Industrial Est
All ponds completely frozen over. Some clear water in drainage dyke.
2 coot
2 moorhen
2 fieldfare
1 redwing
1 bullfinch
(MD)

Elsewhere
Pair of Mandarin still at Devil's Bridge and 8 Whooper Swan (with 11 Mute) just south of Melling on the floodplain. No sign of the European Whitefronts amongst the Lune Estuary Greylags. Brambling Hornby garden.

Minimal

At least one Ad Med Gull north harbour wall

Very short visit

Heysham Obs
Happy New Year. Just two species troubling the scorers here in a 109 New Year's Day list (Twite already seen):

Med Gull - 2 adults on the railings
Red-throated Diver - one flew out and landed in the boat channel off Ocean Edge
Twite - 10+ flighty around the (ex) sand works

Elsewhere
See LDBWS site (via links)

Freezing fog omen for the New Year's Day list

Heysham Obs
A week ago I would have said 100 species in the LDBWS area was relatively straightforward with the problem being low sun!! Not now, and the main problem has been the disappearance of or prospective unavailability due to poor offshore visibility of 5 "Heysham species". Potential lack of raptor flying weather also comes to mind.


Available & seen today
Med Gull - 2 adults on the railings at high tide
Twite - 38 on the NHW seed this morning at least
Linnet - 1 with the above & 4 on the mound pm.


Gone
Shag
Guillemot?


Unavailable if visibility poor
Red-throated Diver
Guillemot?


'Disappeared somewhere'
Purple Sandpipers - but has anyone checked at LOW tide?

The star of the show today, but completely "irrelevant" as regards a NYD list [e.g. part of Pine Lake 'package'], was the appearance of a pair of Gadwall with the Wigeon at Red Nab. This species makes the BTO challenge list by the skin of its teeth.

Elsewhere
See LDBWS site for some notebook fodder useful for tomorrow. NO reports of the European White-fronted Geese in poor visibility (or the Greylag flock). Two Spotted Redshank and Greenshank Conder area. 6 Scaup still off north Morecambe. 85 Whooper Swan Fluke Hall Lane. Lune valley Whooper not visible in fog i.e. probably at yesterdays distant location.

Nothing as yet

Heysham Obs
Looks like the first blank for quite some time - anyone out checking for year list, please?

Twite: A flock of 6 seen today on the shore by Cockerham Sands Caravan Park consisted of 5 with autumn 2008 Heysham rings and one unringed bird

One slightly unusual ringing recovery just received. August is not usually a month associated with cross bay or indeed any distant movement of adult Greenfinch (e.g. moult). One ringed on 23/8/08 was recaptured on Walney on 29/8/08 (19km in a straight line over the Bay). A Magpie ringed here on 13/8/97 was found in a Larsen trap at "Heysham" on 6/8/08. Wonder where this is?

Heysham Head
1 siskin (f) (MD)

Elsewhere
Nothing not on LDBWS site (see links)