Short coastal visit

Heysham Obs
A short Twite-ringing session on the north wall produced 6 Twite (three retraps, two from previous years), 9 Goldfinch and 4 Linnet.  About 15 Twite were seen in total a chunk of them appear to have cleared off during the course of Tuesdays wet and windy weather (and, I'm afraid to say, a report of a dog roaming around over the high tide period)

8 Redwings were seen over the reserve at dawn
one Rock Pipit and a dawn Reed Bunting were the only other species of note along the north wall 

Routine coastal check

Heysham Obs
The wind had dropped by the time the tide started to come in and the only offshore interest was three auk spp (prob Razorbill) flying out together, although Tony had three small Kittiwake flocks at JBP in the afternoon (max 33)

North wall
Twite - 30ish but flushed by dog walker
Goldfinch - 8+
Rock Pipit - one along seawall
Skylark - 2 in-off
Linnet - one in-off, two grounded
Med Gull - two adult in harbour, plus 1CY patrolling

South side
Little Gull - ad on mudflats next to Red Nab
Med Gull - ad just off OE saltmarsh

Elsewhere
'Imm' Snow Bunting Far Arnside on the beach on Monday this week - thanks to visiting birders for this info.  Two Waxwings High Tatham 0820 with big Fieldfare movement (& c15 unidentified short-tailed birds accompanying early morning Fieldfare passage - the two recorded landed & called).  All the definite Starlings recorded were in separate flocks but this species could not be ruled out also admixed with the thrushes

Result!

Heysham Obs
The much-needed BTO Business Challenge Stonechat fell today courtesy of a wet bedraggling 'power walk' circuit: reserve-office-dog track-outfalls-harbour-reserve office.   Nothing else, despite stops at the really tasty-looking bushes around the dog walk pond and scanning the non-op for black things with red tails (SE wind too localised?)

Circuit
Stonechat - female nature park area
Lesser Redpoll - 2 nature park with 5 Goldfinch
Blackbird - only 5 seen!
Song Thrush - 3 migrants Red Nab was it!
Goldcrest - two by the obs tower pond the only ones
Med Gull - ad Red Nab, 1CY harbour area, later on north wall with two adults (one Czech-ringed & neither the red nab bird)
Sparrowhawk - 1CY male flew across the harbour, out to the end of the wooden jetty and then along the outfalls seawall (vis?)
Twite - 32, 12-14 unringed, 2+ from previous years, rest seemed to be from recent ringing efforts
No sign of any Shag, Arctic Tern or Little Gull (but see below)

Post-lunch drive-round
Med Gull - see above
Little Gull - adult Red Nab
Grey Wagtail - colour-ringed bird very briefly Ocean Edge floodwater (definitely ringed HNR)

Pre-dawn agonising

Heysham Obs
The last decent day for a bit for any ringing/vis mig, but both of us had mid-morning guillotines hanging over us.  Pre-dawn Goldcersts calling by the office (2 of them - if it had been more, may have changed plans).  At least 20 Redwing & a similar number of Blackbirds seeping and seeeiping respectively over the office area before dawn - not quite enough to change plans.  Reed Bunting passage at Middleton had been seriously neglected, but it was partially flooded with freezing cold water - maybe not.  So the other option was to assume that there had been an arrival of Twite in yesterdays conditions & the ringing session then was truncated anyway by anglers.  Therefore a repeat before the weather really goes off........

North wall pre-dawn to 1000hrs
Twite - c30, no evidence of a major arrival:  12 ringed, yesterdays control retrapped, c5 autumn 2010 retraps, 3 retraps from previous years.  One of the latter was somewhat tricky and would almost certainly have been identified as a 1CY male with fully adult greater coverts if it hadn't already been ringed.  Wing length of 81mm should completely rule out female yet there was absolutely no trace of pink on the rump and the white on the primaries was 'in-between' a typical male & female.  It had been ringed last autumn as a 1CY male.  Do they sometimes not acquire a pink rump until the second full moult or do some of them do without all their lives?
Linnet - 4 ringed
Goldfinch - 2 ringed
Blackbird - at least 5 heard pre-dawn
Redwing - at least 4 heard pre-dawn
Meadow Pipit - 3 blogging & 5 SE
alba Wagtail - 2 SE
Skylark - 6 SE
Swan spp - 6 distantly SE over the bay, 99% certain Whooper on structure
Med Gull - adult patrolling early on

Heysham N Reserve
See above
Chiffchaff - collybita-type calling mid-am

Greetings from Machrihanish

Heysham Obs
A small pre-angler Twite catch (22 plus a Goldfinch) included a bird ringed this autumn on the Mull of Kintyre

This morning's male Brambling.  Thanks to John

Other sightings
Twite - c35
Linnet - 2
Goldfinch - 5
Pink-footed Goose - 160+38 S
Meadow Pipit - 5 SE, 3 on mound
alba Wagtail - 3 SE
Skylark - 6 SE
Whooper Swan - 8 + 3 SE
Woodpigeon - 13N
Jackdaw - 20N

More from Dan later who was doing VP nearby

Middleton NR
Jack Snipe - 1
Tufted Duck - 7, Teal - 3, Mallard 4, Little Grebe 4

Grounded first light on reserve
Fieldfare - 2 by office
Redwing - 6 by office
Chiffchaff - one giving collybita calls
Goldcrest - 2+
Chaffinch - c20

Insects
Ovipositing pair of Common Darter Middleton NR but no Migrant Hawker left

Mammal
Stoat on the north harbour wall am - went into sand compound - first record for SD36!!!

Ringing
Ringing comprised 22 Twite (14 new, one control, 4 retraps from autumn 2010, 3 retraps from previous winter periods), one Goldfinch, one male Brambling and three Greenfinch

Sorry about the systematic vis mig planned for today - thought best to take advantage of the early morning angler-free conditions re-Twite ringing.  Certainly no major thrush movements over here & just the one Whooper flock over the bay (no Pinks until very high flock at 1030 over reserve)

Elsewhere
Single Waxwing western end Thrushgill larch plantation late afternoon (to 1615hrs at least).  Female/imm Long-tailed Duck Jenny Brown's Point (see also Walney site)

Back on track?

Heysham Obs
The coverage is getting frayed at the edges as the weather doesnt exactly motivate (and the number of 'hits' to this site appear to be at their lowest-ever level).  It really is only the third week of October (but Walney pulled a Yellow-browed W out of the hat this morning!).  This seems to cover the whole western palearctic with Vincent Legrande spending yesterday afternoon asleep on Corvo as the easterlies we want dump such megas as House Martin.  At least there are some Rough-legs and Waxwings and hopefully some local Lap Bunts to look forward to this winter.  This morning saw a return to the cutting edge after yesterdays target tick-box dross, encouraged by it being a national vis mig day

Office 0800-1030hrs
Swallow - singles south 0920 and 0936 - dont think it was the same bird doing a circuit
Pink-footed Goose - flock of 75 SE 0958hrs
Coal Tit - 2 S
Song Thrush - just one south
Brambling - 1 south at 0850
Grey Wagtail - 1 heard (blogger?)
Greenfinch - absolute minimum of 38, mainly east
Dunnock - 2 high to the south at 0905 - late for fidgety behaviour here
alba Wagtail - just 3 SE
Meadow Pipit - 1+1+2+1 SE
Woodpigeon - flock of 5 SE
Fieldfare - ONE!!!! SW at 0908hrs
Goldfinch - 21 S
Chaffinch - absolute minimum of 65, mainly E

Grounded
Goldcrest - 2
Blackbird - only about 15
Redwing - 1!

North wall
Twite - 29
Linnet - 8
Goldfinch - 9
Shag - 1CY on the wooden jetty

Whip round

Heysham Obs
The usual suspects were in place today during a car-based 30 minute guillotine

Little Gull - ad on mud by Stage 2 outfall
Med Gull - 1CY patrolling the north wall (crunch time for this bird - several previous lingering 1CY's have disappeared at the end of October)
Arctic Tern - juv on Stage 2 outfall
Shag - 1CY on wooden jetty
Twite - just 13 seen this morning (6 ringed)
Linnet - 9 mound
Goldfinch - 4 mound
Rock Pipit - one OE foreshore
Blackbird - arrival of c40 on reserve
Song Thrush - c10 on reserve

Moths
Feathered Ranunculus (1), Red-line Quaker (3), Angle Shades (1), Pink-barred Sallow (1)

Summed up by a sheltering Shag

Heysham Obs
Freezing cold west-north-westerly this morning didnt produce anything obvious on the sea.  The longish-staying 1CY Shag had the right idea, cowering on the lee side of the rusty tower on the end of the wooden jetty

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Med Gull - adult with well-defined masks joined round the nape - not familiar with this bird
Arctic Tern - juv Heysham 2 outfall
Little Gull - adult Red Nab
Grey Plover - 2 Red Nab

Harbour area/north wall/wooden jetty
Shag - 1CY wooden jetty at high tide
Twite - 27 (including 4 from previous seasons)
Linnet - c15
Goldfinch - c8

Heysham village
Goldcrest - 3 by Beech Stores in leylandii

Arctic Tern still hanging in

Heysham Obs
Alerted by Rob Thorpe's info that an Arctic Tern was still around on 17th (thanks Rob), todays search for flocks of Snow Buntings both grounded and overhead was abandoned as a birdless shivering zero in favour of ducks, waders, gulls and outfall checks.  Not very credible at a so-called migration site in October but better than expected!

Ocean Edge/Red Nab/outfalls on incoming tide
Twite - 5 by saltmarsh the ONLY grounded shoreline passerines other than a Robin!!!
House Sparrow - 2 in the Red Nab bushes may have been wanderers from the single family group by Ocean Edge reception
Arctic Tern - juvenile stage 2 outfall
Little Gull - adult Stage 2 outfall
Med Gull - yesterdays 2CY & 1CY & Ad
Wigeon - sharp increase to 64
Black-tailed Godwit - 2 - first (noticed!) for a bit
Bar-tailed Godwit - 7

North wall area
Twite - 13
Goldfinch - c8
Linnet - c14
Meadow Pipit - 2

HNR Office
10 minutes vis mig 0815-0825 revealed:
Chaffinch - 8 SW
Goldcrest in the bushes and a count of c5 in the bushes at lunchtime. 
Blackbird - much reduced numbers from yesterday - c15
Song Thrush - c5

Unfortunately the wind direction (NNW) is the worst for any ringing at Heysham and it was felt to be marginally unethical with the possibility of occasional gusts blowing birds around, so no nets were set, seemingly unlike everywhere else!  Even more unfortunately, the short-term forecast looks awful = not really good enough for seabirds (winds have to be VERY strong & consistently WSW/W in late October) but far too windy for any ringing/passerine movements

Late arrival reveals a Blackbird influx

Heysham Obs
First decent influx of continental Blackbirds today with 45-50 on a walk round the reserve area at lunchtime! 

Grounded around reserve at lunchtime
Redwing - 4
Song Thrush - 4
Blackbird - 45-50
Chaffinch - 10
Treecreeper - 1
Goldcrest - 2

North wall/harbour area (thanks to Sean for last two sightings)
Med Gull - ad & 1CY north wall, well-marked 2CY stage one outfall
Twite - 8 including at least 4 unringed and one pale blue/red-white and one ringed the other day
Linnet - 9 north wall
Goldfinch - 8 north wall
Meadow Pipit - 4 north wall - 2 in-off
Wren - one north wall - no other small passerines other than the resident two Robins
Skylark - one 'in-off'
Shag - 1CY roosting with Oystercatchers by the heliport on seawall
Merlin - female 'in-off' then over the wooden jetty & inland

Insects
Red Admiral butterfly by the officve and a nice pic of the only dragonfly seen today - a female Common Darter taken by Janet near Ocean Edge.  Thanks