First gannets

North harbour wall 0830-1130 hrs

Gannet 12 'in' with some blogging made it difficult to ascertain total involved; Kent channel line.

Red-throated Diver Flock of 13 'out' + 4+2 'out'; 4+4+2 'in' + 1 offshore; unsure of total number, possible duplication.

Kittiwake 4 'in' + 10 'out'

Shelduck 3 'out' + 1 'in'

Mute Swan 2 in-off towards Red Nab

Purple Sandpiper 1 wooden jetty

Sand Plant

Twite c40

Wheatear 2

Ocean Edge

1 wheatear

Red Nab

57 shelduck

0 wigeon

No vis. recorded, just 1 Meadow Pipit grounded.

Its back!

Heysham Obs
North wall/harbour area
Black Guillemot - presumed the returning male, next to the wooden jetty - calling
Twite - 44 north wall. At 12.00 there were 47, including 2 unringed.
Linnet - 3 with twite.

Outfalls/Ocean Edge
Little Gull - ad end of Heysham 2 outfall
Wheatear - just one

Grounded
11 Goldcrest & two Chiffchaff caught on the reserve

Vis
0800-0900
Pied Wagtail 5, Meadow Pipit 4, Grey Wagtail 1, Goldfinch 1, Linnet 1

Middleton Industrial Est
2 mute (one on nest)
15 coot
5 moorhen
5 little grebe
7 mallard
10 tufted
3 goldeneye
4 teal
3 snipe
1 wheatear

Moths
First Parsnip moth of the year

Elsewhere
Northbound Osprey 1400hrs Aldcliffe (one on pager for 'Lune Estuary' - same?). Great Grey Shrike still Dalton Crags. Marsh Harrier Leighton Moss since LAST evening. Two more Bitterns almost certainly seen to depart Leighton Moss on dusk migration = appeared to head high to SE

A scattering of interest

Heysham Obs
Not a lot of obvious migration but a few bits and bobs 0730-0930ish

Miscellaneous
Redwing - one grounded by office then high to east
Med Gull - 2nd S by sewage pipe
Little Gull - ad winterish end of Stage 2 outfall
Purple Sandpiper - 3 under wooden jetty, then one appeared to fly from the north with Turnstone & land under the NHW by the feeding station
Twite - min. 33
Wheatear - 2 oe foreshore + 5 Sand Plant
Coal Tit - 2 moving north along Moneyclose Lane 1030hrs

Vis 0730-0800 (office), then 0930-1015 (north wall)
Meadow Pipit - just 10 north 0730-0800 + 6 0930-1015 & several grounded
Woodpigeon - 2 north
Grey Wagtail - one north
Chaffinch - one high to north
Collared Dove - one as above
Siskin - 2 NE

Elsewhere
Green Sandpiper Skerton Weir. Gull-calling Bittern heard at Leighton Moss (central/western end) at dusk, but not possible to see what was going on movement-wise. Otherwise a lot of activity for little reward being the order of the day.

Goldcrests, Meadow Pipits but not a lot else

Heysham Obs
Vis mig and mist net coverage most of the morning. The vis was high under a blue sky and therefore underestimated. I dont think any of the Siskin were seen, not unusual in these conditions!

Vis mig
Meadow Pipit - fairly single-minded concentration 0800-0910 produced 105 north, thereafter about "one a minute" during multi-tasking
Siskin - "about 20" separate noises heard heading north
Pied Wagtail - 13 north
Grey Wagtail - 1 north
Linnet - 2 north

Grounded
Goldcrest - 14 ringed seemed to be a fair proportion of what was around the catching area
Wheatear - 2 seen during very brief coastal coverage
Single Dunnock, Robin and Blackbird, Blue Tit were ringed - the Blackbird weight/fat/muscle suggested a migrant (86g:1:1)
Coal Tit - 3 seen (one ringed)

North harbour wall
Twite - c35
Purple Sandpiper - at least one by the wooden jetty

Elsewhere
19 Avocet EM Pool. Great Grey Shrike by trig point at Dalton Crags at least pm

Weak cold front blocks rather than drops

Heysham Obs
.......apart from Wheatears

Grounded
Three Goldcrest, a Robin and two Chiffchaff the only obvious 'new' night migrants in the nets
No sign whatsoever of any movement by Coal Tit
Wheatear - 5 (3 OE foreshore, 2 mound, one heliport)

Northbound vis mig
A trickle of Meadow Pipit; 12 0800-0900, 6 1000-1030
4 Pied Wagtail 0800-0900
Reed Bunting - one passage bird ringed at 1030hrs
Siskin - one
Pink-footed Goose - flock of 40 NW

North harbour wall
Twite - the same Askam-ringed bird as yesterday plus 31 others, all ringed at Heysham - a majority of them recently. This is the largest flock seen here without any unringed birds! 5 appeared to fly out to sea. Later a separate flock of 3 unringed birds appeared on the seed.
Linnet - 3 unringed birds at the feeder
Purple Sandpiper - 3 under the wooden jetty, later showing very well under the south harbour wall

Miscellaneous
Collared Dove collecting nest material in 35Z . Breeding bird atlas records will be shaded in green from now on - please indicate the tetrad. 4 10km squares, never mind tetrads, 'meet' over or under the power station!! Particularly interested in the bits and bobs which might be nesting in the peripheral SD35Z & 36V (the mound end of the NHW). Thanks.
Snipe - 3 Nature reserve marsh

Insects
Still a butterfly-free zone! No it isnt - a COMMA saved the day late afternoon!
Single Hebrew Character and Common Quaker in the NR trap, 348 moths less than in the Millhouses (near Wray) 125 MV trap last night and 366 moths less than the previous night at Millhouses!

Elsewhere
Two Bittern, presumed to be departing continental birds, left Leighton this evening to the SE, following a 'gull-calling' display (see LDBWS site). Record count of 29 Little Egret at the Leighton roost.

Interesting migrant morning, especially Coal Tit

Heysham Obs
Grounded/low-level vis mig
Coal Tit - 14 ringed including a bird showing characters of the nominate continental form, seen in the hand by two observers & giving direct comparison with britannicus. However, a decision has been taken not to claim this in the absence of photographs and the lack of an immediately obvious blue tone to the grey mantle, despite contrast with the olive-grey on accompanying britannicus. The bib distribution was spot-on, however. A minimum of 9 additional birds were recorded heading north, including a noisy flock of six. This is an unprecedented spring migrant day for this species, but can be logically 'justified', as can the presence of a possible continental bird, by events last autumn and 'what goes down must come back'.
Goldcrest - 8 ringed
Robin - 4 ringed
Blue Tit - 4 ringed
Great Tit - 2 ringed
Chiffchaff - 2 ringed (first of year)
Greenfinch - just 2 ringed, reflecting the low numbers at present
Wheatear - male OE foreshore (first of year)
(no evidence of any 'winter' thrush species on return passage - too clear?)

Overhead vis
Grey Wagtail - one north
Meadow Pipit - 6 north in half an hour of concentrated vis (0815-0845) and nothing among the subsequent dribs and drabs to suggest any increasing rate of passage (12 casually noted). Fewer than expected in the clear conditions
Siskin - 2+1 north-east

North harbour wall/jetty
Twite - 11 seen at 0830 - one Askam-in Furness-ringed bird with the last three numbers corresponding to the one seen on/off all winter & 10 Heysham-ringed birds
Linnet - 2
Purple Sandpiper - at least two under the wooden jetty
Red-throated Diver - two far offshore in the morning

Elsewhere
1+ Waxwing Leighton Drive, Lancaster both ends of the day & 14 Avocet EM Pools. Wheatears scattered along the north Fylde coast

Unpredictable!

This mornings "obvious" form of Acleris hastiana (photo Alan Draper)

Heysham Obs
This was not a '3 Purp sands & 30ish Twite with half a dozen unringed' day, as many have been of late.

No ornithological coverage apart from:

Twite & Linnet
A Twite ringing session carried out by Alan did not go as planned! The flock of 30 ish of the last few days was not there as a unit. Instead smaller groups passed through and there was a record 6 firings of the 'whoosh' net which resulted in 11 unringed and 7 ringed birds, four of which had not troubled the scorers since autumn 2008! Quite a turn-round and obviously a sign that passage is underway.
Six Linnet were also ringed
Sparrowhawk - two birds "hanging around" the north harbour for a short while could have been migrants attracted by the presence of Linnet & Twite

Moths
Two obscure darkish Acleris-types on the last two mornings were thought to have been one of the ferrugana/notana pairing. However, hastiana was also mentioned as a possibility and g.d. indicated that one of them was indeed a more obscurely marked specimen of hastiana. The other was presumably the same but could not be definitely identified from the picture. There have been other records at Leighton Moss this week. This morning produced a strikingly obvious form of Acleris hastiana (see picture). This moth appears to be a 'well-distributed generalist' as regards national status (e.g. UK Moths website) but has been very scarce in VC60 this millenium (4 records prior to this year), following a flurry in the 1990s. It is a new species for Heysham/SD45. Early Grey, never common here, was also new for the year this morning

Elsewhere
Great Grey Shrike was cooperative for several observers today in the trig point area of Dalton Crag. Pair of Mediterranean Gull in the Willow Lane area of Lancaster comprised a metal ringed and red darvic-ringed bird. Please try and read these if you get a chance. Plenty of Sand Martin including 70ish at Pine lake. Avocet reach 10 at the EM Pool.

Overhead squeaks

Heysham Obs
Bits of migration
Meadow Pipit - exactly 50 north 0830-1130
Grey Wagtail - one north
Pied Wagtail - one north
One Goldcrest by the office
A gang of 5 long-winged continental Blackbird along Moneyclose Lane early on. High-flying female Sparrowhawk purposefully south 0815hrs!
Carrion Crow - one 'in-off'

Offshore
Red-throated Diver - one
Eider - 38 off NHW

Stage 2 outfall
Little Gull - adult winter (not Friday's bird)

North harbour wall
Purple Sandpiper - 3 under the wooden jetty
Twite - c30 around the feeding station
Linnet - 3 by the feeding station

Twite sighting
One ringed at Heysham on 31/10/08 was seen at Askam-in-Furness, Duddon, Cumbria on 9/3/09 - early spring passage en route to the Inner Hebrides, or a bird which flew back over the bay during the (remainder) of last autumn's passage period?

Moths
Double-striped Pug & Clouded Drab new for the year

Elsewhere
Great Grey Shrike Dalton Crag at least 0930ish [for those with little time/energy, this would have been visible distantly from the vantage point on the Keer Falls road - tree-top perching around the brush piles where the walls meet]. Ad Med Gull in psp Snatchems (Golden Ball area). 2 Waxwing Leighton Drive, Lancaster. Probable Tundra Bean Goose Aldcliffe/Colloway but apparent problems with ruling out an orange-legged and 'orange(?)-billed' Pink-foot. 26 Sand Martin Pine Lake this evening & similar numbers Leighton Moss. Bittern booming alongside causeway at at least 1915hrs at Leighton. Negative on Long-eared Owl at Aldcliffe this evening.

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]