Good fall/vis conditions at 0400hrs?

Heysham Obs
A shame the weather was not two-three hours later as it was originally forecasted to be.  The leading edge of the cloud was way to the north at dawn, as was any associated vis or grounded migrant concentrations.  Always difficult to predict rubbish or a decent morning in these conditions - the timing is critical

Ocean Edge area
Pale-bellied Brent Goose - two right out on the tideline off OE early am
Wigeon - 4 still left
Mallard - male showing really well off Red Nab (rare here)
Wheatear - just one male
Rock Pipit - one Red Nab

North wall
Twite - 62, in two groups with a high proportion unringed (15) in smaller group, all but two of the c40 in the larger group ringed, including 8 adults bearing spring 2008 or winter 2008/9 rings
Linnet - 5
Purple Sandpiper - one showing for a short time early am, later alongside the jetty
Guillemot - 2 offshore at 1115hrs
Red-throated Diver - 3 in spot check at c0830hrs

Reserve
Meadow Pipit - 46 NE, v few after the rain started
alba Wagtail - 6 NE
Redpoll agg - 1 NE
Goldfinch - 4 NE
Chiffchaff - unringed bird caught

Moths
First Shoulder Stripe of the year

Cold Cumbrian Cataract Challenge

Heysham Obs
The first 1.5 miles was a no-go area for other than seagulls, Meadow Pipits and a couple of Red-throats.  Further out (i.e. Cumbriaish) with a shaking 'scope, there were small seagull-type things, things with a whirring flight and Gannets.  Out of the mire of uncertainty (not helped by central right eye cataract):

North wall 0830-1030 new time
Sandwich Tern - at least 16, the first of the year
Little Gull - two adults were recognisable
Razorbill - 1 out
Guillemot - 2 out
Razorbill/Guillemot - 4 out
Red-throated Diver - 2 out
Diver spp (probably Red-throat) - 3 in
Gannet - c36, including string of 12
Kittwake - 5 (f) out, 16 (f) in
Purple Sandpiper - 2 wooden jetty
Turnstone - an increase to c186 wooden jetty
Twite - c40, possibly more
Meadow Pipit - c35 north 0900-1030

Ocean Edge foreshore
Wheatear & Rock Pipit

Elsewhere
Why didnt I do the Kent work today/tomorrow via Minsmere - last minute personnel change & just cannot go for foreseeable future [Lesser Kestrel]?
Nothing much locally today, other than this morning's distant Heysham seabirds which dont seem to have been replicated at JBP (wind too NW).  At least one person failed to locate the Dalton Shrike which does seem to go awol in windy conditions from a direction providing no shelter i.e. other than N/NE

Obscure bunting trawl just in case

Heysham Obs

Not used to handling spring Reed Buntings, so I assume this is an aberrant female.  Bit small for a male 73mm/16.5g and whitish throated, supercilium shape & position  etc etc.  Went 'tew' on release (phew!).  Any comments via PMrsh123@aol.com, please.
Offshore
Red-throated Diver - 4 + 5
Whooper Swan - flock of 12 NW

Vis
Meadow Pipit - very low numbers/too high - about 12 NE in a hour
alba Wagtail - 7NE
Goldfinch - 3NE

Grounded
Chiffchaff - Nature park
Wheatear - male OE
Twite - very high numbers at the feeder - 70-80, but unfortunately dispersed during mid-morning with an increase in wind speed
Green Woodpecker - heard from NR office

Middleton IE
Swallow - one
Greylag - 1
5 Mute Swan, 11 Coot, 6 Moorhen, 9 Mallard, 3 Goldeneye, 5 Little Grebe, 4 Tufted Duck, 1 Snipe

Elsewhere
Great Grey Shrike Dalton Crags visible from layby

Squeaking Meadow Pipits or chirpy-chirpy cheep-cheep

Heysham Obs
A seawatch plus Magic 999 was interrupted by an irritating dribble of Meadow Pipit.  After a period of selective radio/vis, the sky cleared and the Meadow Pipit passage took full control.   A west of Ireland headland snapshot was provided by a close flock of 14 Gannet - cannot remember such a big flock here.

North wall belatedly 0845-0945
Gannet - flock of 14 out at c0905hrs the only sighting
Red-throated Diver - one in high
Razorbill - 2 out together
Twite - 56 in off-passage flock (7+unringed) and 2+1 'in-off' from SW
Meadow Pipit - 113 NE, most in last 20 minutes
alba Wagtail - 16 NE (as above)
Linnet - 5 NE, 2+ off-passage
Wheatear - 2 males on heliport seawall
Purple Sandpiper - 1 showing on wooden jetty
Cormorant - what was surely a migrant adult flew 'in-off' from the south-west and headed similarly high inland to the north east

absolutely no time to do Ocean Edge side

Moths
Herald & Common Quaker new for the year

Elsewhere
Pair of Marsh Harrier Leighton Moss and 5 (2+3) gull-calling Bittern departing to the E/SE from there this evening,  These elicited no response in the form of booming, and that might be it as regards breeding Bittern at Leighton until a corridor linking Leighton with a source of new birds of British origin is established

Earliest ever ants in pants?

Heysham Obs
Knocking the Chiffchaffs off the top spot were several (initially unseen) smallish black ants which transferred to my clothing as I was packing up the mist nets and thence to a painful area.  I cannot remember seeing ants in March before.  No wonder the Green Woodpecker(s) are hanging around.  Otherwise routine stuff this morning, despite a promising wind direction and a bit of cloud/spits and spats

HNR Office area
Robin - lightweight unringed bird
Chiffchaff - 2 males moved through to the north, one via a mist net
Green Woodpecker - one on the reserve
Reed Bunting - one female caught which had been ringed at Middleton IE on 18/8/09
Meadow Pipit - 223 NE 0715-1015 (11 ringed = niggling wind).  There was then a surge just ahead of a splodge of uniform cloud with the birds orientating more west to east i.e. 'in-off', giving a total of 349 in 3.5hrs
alba Wagtail - 6 NE
Siskin - 1 NE
Woodpigeon - 2 high to the north
Carrion Crow - flock of 6 NE chased of by locals
Sand Martin - 3 together NE at 1145hrs

North harbour wall 0830-0930 (different vis birds to the office)
Meadow Pipit - 89 NE
alba Wagtail - 12 NE
Linnet - 4 off-passage
Twite - c60 off-passage
sea dead

Ocean Edge not checked, hence the Wheatear absence!

Elsewhere
Great Grey Shrike still Dalton Crags 150m S of trig point (awol yesterday morning).  15 Whooper Swans in fields near Gressingham Bridge this evening, presumably the remains of the wintering flock - one was darvic-ringed but cannot be certain this is the wintering bird.  Can anyone check in better light, please?

Watery eyes, wet specs and a Wheatear

Heysham Obs
A stuttering power walk around the north harbour wall mound area was about it for the morning - a half-decent Meadow Pipit movement was the on-going interest

North harbour wall 0945-1025
Meadow Pipit - 52 NE
alba Wagtail - 7 NE
Linnet - 1 NE
Twite - 61, but no decent views to check rings
Wheatear - one male
Purple Sandpiper - one flew on to the big skeer next to the red gate

Ocean Edge foreshore/grassy areas
Nothing notable

Reserve
Bombus terrestris

More mipits

Heysham Obs
North Harbour Wall 0710-0910
Seabirds
Red-throated Diver - 3 in, 5 on (including a flock of 4)
Canada Goose - 3 in
Eider - 69 mostly distant (i.e. off Morecambe)
Little Gull - very distant flock of 5 adult-types blogging in the outer bay
Black-headed Gull - 9+8 purposefully north

Vis
Meadow Pipit - 88 NE in a steady trickle
alba wagtail - 33 NE (1 landed briefly and was a male white wagtail - the earliest ever (genuine!) record here).
Goldfinch 2 NE, plus flock of 5 high NE at 1045hrs
Linnet 3 NE

Feeding station
Linnet - 2
Twite - 64 (at least one unringed bird)

General
Green Woodpecker heard along Moneyclose Lane (beware of singing Song Thrush imitating it - a novelty for here!)

Elsewhere
Female Marsh Harrier Leighton Moss at about 1000hrs.  Sand Martins back at Bela colony at Beetham. Great Grey Shrike Dalton Crags am at least

seasonal subtleties at a local patch

Heysham Obs
A lot of birders do seem to miss out on a sizeable seasonal chunk of their hobby from about now until mid-May.  Lack of knowledge and awareness of migrating passerines, especially translating flight calls to the actual species, is a skeleton in the closet for many people who see themselves as birders who have reached a 'reasonable standard'  

In this respect, we will be offering a tuition session on vis mig to hopefully also coincide with some spring seabird passage.  Last year's was very successful, providing good variety, if not quantity.

Saturday 1st May  0700-1000  Meet Heysham Nature reserve car park SD407599 at 0700
...............or drive straight to the north harbour wall from 0700 or earlier if you want to do some watching yourself cSD400604.  This date has been chosen to coincide with the sometimes spectacular Arctic Tern passage, the author's favourite part of the birding calender in the North Lancashire area

Please park on the two-way section of the north harbour wall road and avoid 'cluttering up' the single section around the metal gate.   Please contact 07989866487 or PMrsh123@aol.com or 07815979856 or Jeanrbrts6@aol.com for further details.  Thanks.

North harbour wall 0745-0900
Meadow Pipit - 110 north, later 27 north in 10 minutes (1050-1100hrs)
alba Wagtail - 18 north
Linnet - 7 north
Goldfinch - 16 north
Purple Sandpiper - one on the rocks below the red lighthouse (hard to see!)
Twite - 56, but flew off before rings could be examined
Common Gull - 18 2CY on seaward end Heysham 2 outfall
Herring Gull - influx of 2CY with c230 inshore & offshore
Red-throated Diver - 2 sp birds in, gaining height
Gannet - 5 adults in
Pink-footed Goose - 5 north
Nothing obvious on the sea, other than distant Eider to the north

Ocean Edge side
Zero of interest other than a Linnet 'in-off' and 8 "swans" out in the murk heading NW - proportions (and common sense) suggested Whooper but not seen well enough.

Ringing recovery
Interesting Twite double-control just received:

Ringed:  X292004 3F 16.11.08 Southport

Caught by ringer:  4F 01.07.09 Sanda Island, off Mull of Kintyre (Strathclyde)
Caught by ringer again: 4F 28.10.09 Heysham north wall 46 km

Middleton IE
8 Tufted Duck, 3 Goldeneye, 4 trilling Little Grebe, 3 Teal, 2 Snipe and a singing Linnet which I think was a vis bird having a rest.  10 Meadow Pipit north (1545-1645). 

Meadow Pipit Morning

Heysham
Visible Migration
After an early morning mist, a bit of movement, in particular of Meadow Pipits.

Meadow Pipit - 164 north.  Including 6 ringed by the hut.
Goldfinch - 21 N
Alba wagtail - 9 N
Green woodpecker - 1 in tank farm area.
Goldcrest - 1 by hut.  The first this spring.
Reed Bunting - 1 adult male trapped wearing ring fitted on 03/04/2009.
Mistle Thrush - 1 singing loudly on Reserve
Redwing - one tank farm
Siskin - 2 north

North Harbour Wall
Wigeon - 2 on sea.
Eider - 2 males
Twite - c50 initially, then c12 remained and remainder disappeared.  Only 5 trapped, of these 2 ringed & 3 unringed.  Sundays are not good for catching Twite here!
Linnet - 4 trapped, of these, 1 ringed & 3 unringed.

Moths
Dotted Border - 1, the only moth in the hut trap.

ajd

Elsewhere
Green-winged teal still Leighton Moss Griesdale Hide

Green green grass and a wet Wheatear

Heysham Obs
Bucketful of rain overnight and throughout the morning, commiserations with the coach party walking down the seawall

South of the harbour
Little Egret - one Red Nab (BTO challenge year tick)
Wheatear - one male on the high section of south Ocean Edge at 1000ish
Pied Wagtail - 6 grounded OE foreshore
Meadow Pipit - 3 grounded OE

North wall
Twite - 61 - one Askam-in Furness autumn 2008 bird, just ONE ringed in 2010, 11 unringed, about 35 ringed in autumn 2009 and the rest from various times in spring 2008/winter 2008/9
Linnet - 5 unringed birds with the Twite
Meadow Pipit - 2 grounded on the mound

Middleton IE
No Stonechat
10 Mallard, 4 Tufted Duck, 1 Pochard, 3 Goldeneye, 6 Teal, one Water Rail, 4 Mute Swan, 9 Coot, 6 Moorhen

Moth
First Hebrew Character of the year.  The difference between coastal sites and mature oak woodland at this time of year = 154 moths of 17 species last night at Millhouses near Wray!

Elsewhere
Grey Grey Shrike Dalton Crag - seen (distantly) from Keer Falls road VP, Green-winged Teal new in on the Allen Pool, later elusive on Barrow Scout.  At least one untagged Red Kite in the Dunsop valley