Big tide, fewer birds

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Eider - one male
Twite - 31 at 1315hrs: 7 unringed, 23 Heysham-ringed, one Askam-in-Furness (Duddon)-ringed [yellow over blue/white]

Wooden jetty
Purple Sandpiper - 3

Heliport
600 Knot in two flocks - none colour-ringed

Reduction in Black-headed Gulls noticeable with just 15 on Fisher's roof and 32 round the outfalls/Ocean Edge side

Middleton Insustrial Est
2 mute
14 coot
1 moorhen
4 little grebe
3 goldeneye
7 mallard
13 tufted
3 teal
Plus increased passerine activity
4 reed bunting
3 skylark
7 meadow pipit
2 bullfinch (probably pair seen intermittently over winter period)

Heysham Heah 7pm
Tawny owl (making all manner of strange noises - based round "Kivvick" call)

Elsewhere
Bean Goose, thought to be Taiga, by Aldcliffe Hall Lane alongside the 'cinder track' mid-afternoon (with PFG). Avocets increase by one yet again = now 8 at the EM Pool. Two Sand Martin Leighton Moss this morning

Unexpected calm weather Little Gull

Heysham Obs
Seaward end of Stage one outfall early incoming tide
The gathering of pre-tidal gulls on the seaward end of Heysham One outfall at about 0930hrs included a partial summer plumage adult Little Gull

Wooden jetty
Purple Sandpiper - 3
Turnstone - 165

Middleton IE
Loose flock of male & 3 female Stonechat late pm

North harbour wall
18 Twite trapped, including 7 unringed birds, out of 30+ seen. The retrap data is interesting. Most of them were retrapped for the first time since ringing with the ringing dates as follows: 31/10/08 (1), 5/11/08 (2), 26/11/08 (4) and 4/2/09 (1). One was ringed on 5/11 and retrapped on 4/2/09. Two others were both ringed on 31/10/08 and retrapped on 5/11/08 + 16/11/08 and 16/11/08 + 15/12/08 respectively. Bearing in mind that only FIVE out of the 137 ringed during winter 2008/9 have been previously retrapped twice, it is interesting that two of these have appeared for their third retrap today. This suggests that, in contrast to the rest of the retrap data (& unringed birds), which suggests a wide-ranging metapopulation with individual birds occasionally visiting Heysham, these two have developed a degree of loyalty to the Heysham feeding station.

52 & 300 Pink-footed Geese NW, the big flock flying very high

Moths
2 Dotted Border, 2 Hebrew Character, one Common Quaker and an as yet unidentified small brown thing

Elsewhere
7 Avocet EM Pool along with the Ruff. [Sand Martin Brockholes Quarry 1040hrs]

Work work!

Heysham Obs
In the office all day and no time for any trivial pursuits other than a north wall whistle stop:

Purple Sandpiper - at least 2 on the wooden jetty
Twite - at least 34 flying about

Elsewhere
Great Grey Shrike at Dalton crags this late afternoon. Long-eared Owl still Freeman's Pool. 6 Avocet EM Pool

Cheerful Linnet brightens a dull day

Twite above the feeding station. Thanks Mark

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall/wooden jetty
Purple Sandpiper - 3 on the outer section of the wooden jetty
Linnet - singing 2CY male by the Twite feeding station
Twite - 15 seen (4 unringed, 11 with Heysham rings), others heard on morning visit - 48 there in the afternoon (at least 3 unringed)

Vis by the office
Two small silent passerines high to the north-east
Pied Wagtail - one high to the NE
Pink-footed Goose - 100 north and 9 south

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Dead (even ran out of newspapers), with just 6 Wigeon on Red Nab, a drastic reduction and nothing else of note (very few gulls)

Moth
Agonoperix heracliana in the trap

Elsewhere
Great Grey Shrike Dalton Crag by trigpoint at least 1300hrs. 5 Avocet Em Pool (flood). Long-eared Owl Freeman's Pool. Ruff EM Pool (2nd day)
All yesterday: 3 Avocet Allen Pool, none seen Lune Estuary. Singing male Long-eared Owl Leck Fell in the evening & possibly a very, very distant bird responding to the north, unless it was a slightly tremulous woolly maggot with a genetically-engineered lung capacity. At least one Long-eared Owl still at Freeman's Pool.

Peregrine on the move

Thanks Mark - todays Med

Heysham Obs
A Peregrine headed north over the Bay

North harbour wall
Red-throated Diver - one out
Peregrine - one north across the bay without deviating at all
Skylark - 2 north
Twite - 38 on the feeder
a few Black-headed & Common Gull heading into the bay
Med Gull - adult to bread mid-afternoon

Wooden Jetty
Purple Sandpiper - at least 2
Turnstone - 52

Red Nab
Wigeon - 48

Insects
First Bombus terrestris i.e. a bumble bee of the year careering around the car park. The Twenty-plume moth yesterday was found to be a 'jamjar-hopper' i.e. it was brought in over the weekend for identification from suburban Morecambe, escaped in the office & presumably crawled under the door towards the only light in the place after dusk!!!

Elsewhere
6 Waxwing A6 end of Rutland Avenue, Lancaster (the 6?). The (expletive deleted) Great Grey Shrike was by the trig point again at 1500hrs. Ad & 3CY Med Gulls at Leighton Moss but not interacting. A perhaps elderly Bittern was attempting to boom at Leighton Moss at 1850hrs

30 minute guillotine

Heysham Obs
North wall 0930-0945
Common Scoter - 10 very distant 'out and across'
Kittiwake - 3 in
No obvious sign of Twite
Wooden jetty not checked

Ocean Edge 0950-0955
Med Gull - adult summer roosting on the sea 'above' the saltmarsh

Moths
In the trap: Dotted Border and Twenty-plume moth - looks a bit like "Double-striped pug meets shredder"

Elsewhere
Avocets a bit slow at the Allen/EM Pools e.g. c/p Marshside but a single there this afternoon. 2-3 on the Lune Estuary this pm (Sunderland side). Drake Scaup Glasson basin. Have the extra Waxwings 'dragged off' the resident at Leighton Drive?

This looks worth purchasing:
http://birdblog.merseyblogs.co.uk/archives/2009/03/wild_merseyside.html

Meagre rough weather fare

Heysham Obs
A good number of immature large gulls around, but nothing with them at least 0900-1000. A few distant seawatch bits and bobs.

North harbour wall 0900-0945
Kittiwake - flock of c30 lifted off the sea, then landed again 0910, one 'in' 0925
Common Scoter - one 'out', then landed on sea 0930
Auk spp - one seen very briefly before landing
No Twite, with the feeding station a 'wind tunnel'

Rednab
92 wigeon

South harbour wall/harbour 0940-1155 hrs

Red-throated Diver 3 'out' 0958 hrs fairly high + 1 'in' and came down
Eider M offshore
Great crested grebe 2 off harbour
Peregrine North from harbour lost to sight in scope, quite low.

Purple Sandpiper 3 middle section wooden jetty 1145 hrs.

Elsewhere
25+55+60 Kittiwake, Little Gull and 3 Common Scoter Jenny Brown's Point. Late news for yesterday: SIX Waxwing at Leighton Drive, Lancaster at 1000hrs and 6 today briefly at 1045hrs

Twite increase

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Twite - 19
Purple Sandpiper - 3 wooden jetty
Skylark - one north

Heliport
Ringed Plover - pair on territory

Middleton Industrial Est
2 mute
15 coot
7 moorhen
9 mallard
11 tufted
2 pochard (male & female)
3 goldeneye (1 male)
5 teal
2 little grebe (turning to summer plumage)
1 heron

Moths
2 Dotted Border and a Hebrew Character in the trap

Elsewhere
Waxwing still Leighton Drive, Lancaster

Is the whole Waxwing flock still around?

Heysham Obs

Mixed bag of birds

Purple Sandpiper - 3 below wooden jetty
Twite - same 8 at the feeder (7/8 ringed at Heysham)
Red-throated Diver 1 offshore

Pink-footed Goose 45 North from Fylde area
Waxwing - single bird at Jenny Nook at 1615hrs - just a single brief search (that is known about) earlier in the day

Mammals

Offshore Grey Seal was the only animate object on the sea during 30 minutes late afternoon seawatch

Elsewhere

Bittern grunting/booming at Leighton from last night. Great Grey Shrike Dalton Crag by the trig point. Waxwing still Leighton Drive, Lancaster. [No Sand Martin Pine Lake in evening check!]

Distant blob on the sea, flock of Waxwing and an ermine!

Heysham Obs
A good day! At least five minutes spent identifying a distant blob in a line between the harbour wall and the southern tip of Walney. This involved a mixture of two lengthy dives and awkward surfacing angles before a decent lateral view indicated it was a Great Northern Diver. Two Red-throated Diver were nearby for size comparison.

It drifted/swam/dived further out and was lost after about 10 minutes. Checking from the OE side produced the first 'mudflat heathaze' of the year and there was no chance of relocation. Worth checking incoming tide?

Heysham Mossgate estate
Waxwing: Thanks to an observant Mrs Hamilton, 10 located on Jenny Nook, off Meldon Road late morning, increasing to 12 by 1420hrs. These were at the top of a tall tree at 1220hrs and a short back-track enabled them to be 'seen-from' within the recording area! Feeding in nearby back gardens out of sight and returning to tops of nearby tall trees at the end of Jenny Nook

North wall
On a flat calm sea, the following were seen
Great Northern Diver - one offshore from at least 0940-0955hrs, then lost. All observations were almost certainly in Cumbria. What appears to be the same bird was seen again, equally distantly, for 20 minutes or so just after midday, but unfortunately not 'put out' at the time.
Red-throated Diver - two on the same 'line' as the above, neither showing any sign of s.p.
Eider - pair
Twite - 8, presumably same birds as yesterday

Wooden jetty
Purple Sandpiper - two on the outermost section of skeer underneath the jetty as yesterday

Ocean Edge mudflats
Lots of gulls around, especially increase in LBB. At least 52 Wigeon still around
Med Gull - adult summer on mudflats to the south during late afternoon visit

Stage One outfall
Good news - water is flowing through and gulls are starting to accumulate on the seaward end for the first time for ?16 months. This is especially good for transient birds later in the spring e.g. 1st S Meds, Arctic Tern flocks

Mammals
A glimpse of a 'thin white thing' a few days ago was resolved as a Stoat in ermine crossed the nature reserve entrance road at about 1210hrs. This is the first record for the reserve of a stoat in ermine

Elsewhere
Single Waxwing still at Leighton Drive, Lancaster this morning. Rough-legged Buzzard late afternoon brushing the eastern side of SD66 between Stocks along Bowland Knotts via the ridge. At least one Long-eared Owl Freeman's Pool along with Barn & Short-eared Owl