Dog trouble at the Twite feeder

Heysham Obs
A pile of excrement amongst the nyger, followed by prolonged exercising of two collies today.  Hopefully temporary.  Very quick late afternoon visit today after some superb teashirt walking/surveying in flat-calm, sunny weather in the snow this morning/lunchtime near the Tan Hill.  The waders are really pawing the ground on the lower slopes as the snow cover goes on & on!

North harbour wall
No Twite!
Med Gull - 2 adults, including Czech ringed bird - these will probably be off this week, so last date of the Czech bird would be useful.  Thanks.
Red-throated Diver - two offshore
Purple Sandpiper - at least one silhoeutted on the wooden jetty

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Black-tailed Godwit - 3 unringed birds in the saltmarsh creek
Kingfisher - one alongside the saltmarsh creek
Med Gull - adult on the mudflats to the south

Shoveler adrenalin

Heysham Obs
Shoveler made their first appearance since 2008 to join a good selection of wildfowl on Middleton IE

Middleton IE (now named Middleton Nature Reserve (LWT))
Shoveler - pair, 8 Pochard, 11 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 4 Mute Swan, 12 Coot, 9 Moorhen, 10 teal, 3 Goldeneye.
Pink-footed Goose - 43 NW

Ocean Edge a bit too late in high tide
Jack Snipe - 1
Snipe - 3
Wigeon - 78

North Harbour Wall 8am
4 Mute Swan (2 adult, 2 imms - from Middleton?) flew across the Bay towards Grange
3 Red-breasted Mergansers flew into the Bay
32 Twite - one unringed and the rest with Heysham rings.

.........dropping tide mid-pm
Med Gull - two adults, including Czech-ringed bird, on anglers scraps
Red-throated Diver - one in Kent channel in 5 minute scan
Of interest, what was almost certainly a Shag was also miles out in the Kent channel but it took flight and id confidence was not 100% (size, round wings & fast flap & not a lot else!!).  Several have been round Walney all winter but very scarce this last autumn/winter this side with no 'stickers'

Elsewhere
20 Whooper Swan (4 juv) right next to the A683 road just south of Hornby (including the wintering darvic-ringed bird S53 - please dont create extra admin sending this to WWT yourself).  Two singing male Cetti's Warbler Leighton Moss causeway.  Egyptian Goose still Hillam Lane.   Common Sandpiper still Conder.

A good vis day

............means Red-throated Diver within range

North harbour wall
Twite - 37, including Askam-ringed bird (yellow over dark blue/white); 1/15 examined was unringed
Purple Sandpiper - 2 on wooden jetty
Red-throated Diver - 5 seen offshore in 15 minutes of dropping tide (4 floating, 1 flying out) 1300-1315hrs (no GCG at this stage of the tide)
Med Gull - Czech-ringed adult on the railings

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
No obvious sign of any Blackwits or anything of specific interest
Wigeon - 92

Ringing by the office
Just single unringed Greenfinch & Blue Tit & retrap Greenfinch from last autumn.....before the niggling n-easterly got up

Middleton IE
Just a quick check of the first two ponds.  Looks like a mini Coot/swan/seagull feeding area is developing with about 20 lingering gulls. Looking good for a bit of ring-reading!
Pochard - 8 (7 males) on model boat pond
Goldeneye - 2 on model boat pond
Tufted Duck - at least 12 on no swimming pond

Elsewhere
Redhead Smew still Freeman's Pool.  20 Whooper Swan just south of Hornby by side of A683 for at least 2nd day.  Egyptian Goose still Hillam Lane by pool

Pale Brindled Beauty

Heysham Obs
A creepy-crawly in pole position (so far) today with a single Pale-brindled Beauty moth in the toilet MV trap.  This was my 20th of the morning (19 at an oak woodland overnight MV trap), but it is rare here with about 12 previous records going back to 1989

Ocean Edge foreshore paper read
Black-tailed Godwit - 5
Rock Pipit - one by the saltmarsh

North harbour wall mid-pm
Purple Sandpiper - at least one in foul conditions on rocks by south harbour
Hyperactive spaniel around the Twite area
Lesser Black-backed Gull - increase e.g. 24 on the shore by north wall
No sign of any Meds for second day running

Challenging Mallard

Heysham Obs
Mallard muscled their way on to the BTO Business challenge list in a pincer movement with two on the Obs Tower pond and an amazing FOUR at Red Nab

The only other interest so far today was the reappearance of the Icelandic-ringed Black-tailed Godwit (after a trip to Cockersands) as part of a small increase at Red Nab to 31 birds.  This species was virtually "unheard of" in the Heysham area just five years ago with one record/year if you were lucky.

Ad Med Gull on Red Nab (none seen north wall over the low tide)
TWO Purple Sandpiper again on the skeer below the red lighthouse at the south harbour mouth at low tide 

Ringing by the office was rapidly curtailed by an increasing wind and comprised an unringed Great Tit!

Middleton IE
Pochard - 4 males & one female model boat pond
Goldeneye - Male and female model boat pond
Tufted Duck - 7 (5 males) fence pond
Coot - 9 throughout

Elsewhere
Redhead Smew still freeman's Pool and two Crossbill Knots Wood (no general access here)

Routine coverage

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Eider - 77 offshore at low tide
Red-throated Diver - one offshore at low tide
Purple Sandpiper - not looked for
Med Gull - one adult
Twite - 21+, including Askam-ringed bird
Linnet - 2

HN Reserve
Influx of Greenfinch with 15+ on the feeder

Elsewhere
Egyptian Goose Jeremy Lane early am, then Hillam Lane pm. Common Sandpiper still Conder area in saltmarsh creek along with two Greenshank

South harbour wind chill

Heysham Obs
A 'power' walk along the south harbour wall (pre-weight-watchers-weigh-in day strategy) to the wooden jetty without a coat or gloves produced absolutely nothing, although there is some really good Snow Bunting habitat bulldozed next to the big wheel. Watching the same area from a heated car on the north wall was much more productive!

North harbour wall on dropping neap tide am
Purple Sandpiper - short-stay targeters are having problems with these this year and the best bet is to wait until the flat skeer just below the red lighthouse on the south harbour wall is uncovered. This happened at c1115hrs today and the two appeared 'from nowhere' with 31 Turnstone
Twite - c38, including an Askam-in-Furness ringed bird (yellow over split dark blue/white)
Med Gull - 2 adults
Red-throated Diver - one distant bird offshore
Redshank - one using the fish skips!
Eider - 35+

Ocean Edge late pm
Black-tailed Godwit - 18 by Red Nab, 2 in the saltmarsh creek
Med Gull - ad on mudflats
Wigeon - c96

Middleton IE
Mute Swan - 5, Coot - 7, Goldeneye - 2, Redshank - 2 on spit on model boat pond (odd?), Water Rail running across road between central & western marsh!

Elsewhere
New species for the year was Egyptian Goose along Jeremy Lane a.m. Significant numbers of Bewick's Swan in north Fylde/LDBWS overlap - see FBC site

Low tide fare from the north wall

Heysham Obs
As has been published many times, but unfortunately not reciprocated by e.g. RSPB tidal advice at Leighton, LOW tide is often better than high tide off Heysham north wall and Morecambe Stone Jetty, especially in calm & clear conditions

North wall low tide
Purple Sandpiper - TWO together feeding on the skeer at the inner end of the wooden jetty with t least 26 Turnstone
Med Gull - one adult (these are easier at high tide!)
Red-throated Diver - two offshore
Eider - 50 offshore
Twite - 38 at the feeder

Ringing by the office
Stunningly unremarkable with an easterly wind soon curtailing the effort which was highlighted by an unringed Blue Tit which escaped before it was ringed and an unringed Great Tit which didnt.

Elsewhere
Yesterday: At least two, probably three Tundra Bean Geese within our area in north Fylde - see LDBWS site

Distant and murky seaduck

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
A low tide check was not blessed with good light:
Scaup - 2 distant females
Eider - 86, mostly in 'second' channel
Red-breasted Merganser - 7
Twite - 28 at feeder in the afternoon
Med Gull - two adults in afternoon
Song Thrush - still on mound

Ocean Edge
Very large numbers of waders along the tideline towards Potts Corner but not a lot of time & a lot of silhoeuttes!
Knot - 3k+
Dunlin - 300+
Bar-tailed Godwit - pretty accurate 1,700
Black-tailed Godwit - 2

Elsewhere
Med Gull adult still Skerton bridge

Low-key ringing

Heysham Obs
What is the difference between a Dunnock and a Robin with respect to surviving a hard winter? OK, Robins are aggressive and do not like other birds at the feeder but others usually get a look in at some time or other and reasonable numbers are 'usually' caught in the single feeder net at Heysham. Indeed, there is usually very little difference between the numbers of Dunnock and Robin caught at the feeding station. Dunnocks do average up to 5 grams heavier, but the size and eating habits would seem basically similar.

Seven 2-3 hour mist net sessions at the feeder since the damagingly cold spell finished in mid-January has produced the following different individuals:
11 Dunnock
14 Long-tailed Tit
3 Robin
1 Wren

Breeding season data will undoubtedly determine whether Robins have really been clobbered or whether they have simply moved. In this respect, there is little evidence of any scattered around the nature reserve. The Long-tailed Tit survival and presumed relationship with regular attendance at the feeder is notable for here, but simply following the national trend

Ringing by the office
Back to today - a "record" six retrap Dunnock was the 'highlight' along with another unringed Long-tailed Tit

However, this was at the expense of a good look at the sea at low tide before the fog rolled in

Middleton IE
Iced up again: Pheasant, 4 Mute Swan, 14 Coot, 3 Moorhen, 2 Teal, 3 Goldeneye, 15 Mallard, 3 Pochard (2 males), one Little Grebe

North harbour wall
Med Gull - 2 adults on the railings - these birds have been very reliable of late at/near high tide - one Czech ringed (metal above the knee right leg)
Dead offshore at high tide, as it has been recently & no Twite (noisy anglers & several dogs)

Elsewhere
The usual lack of sightings in this area in the public domain on Saturday!