A big thank you & farewell to Sean

Heysham Obs

A really nice migration morning would normally have seen me on site from first light with the mist nets up and covering the overhead Meadow Pipits and grounded Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests. Unfortunately in the middle of an equally productive redpoll study and couldn't be in two places at once, with no other ringers/vis miggers available today

Then Sean rang...............his last vigil on the south harbour wall rescued the vis mig monitoring from oblivion. Sean has been fantastic company this last two years as he has been conscientiously recording the flight paths of intertidal birds (and counting Meadow Pipits and offshore divers etc!) in relation to the proposed turbines. Thanks for your company, Sean, and hopefully we will see you again in the near future

So I was able to concentrate on the redpoll ringing without worrying about what was being missed overhead..............and the grounded stuff could be mopped up in the afternoon

South harbour wall
Guillemot - one floated in - at last it opens its 2011 account!
Turnstone - 198 - obviouskly the start of the spring passage
Purple Sandpiper - just the one
Meadow Pipit - minimum of 81 north (noise from boats hampering vis)
alba Wagtail - min of 10 north
Linnet - 2 north - first vis mig of spring
Rock Pipit - the wintering bird still in residence
Twite - 17
Pink-footed Goose - 110 north

Grounded
Goldcrest - at least 8, 7 more than in the whole of last spring!
Chiffchaff - absolute minimum of 6 birds in reserve area
Wheatear - 2 OE foreshore first thing
Goldfinch - 4 ringed at the feeder in the afternoon

Heysham Head
Rock Pipit
male Wheatear

Insects
Brimstone - one by office
Queen wasp spp - as above
Moths excelled themselves with a different Pale Pinion to yesterday and the long awaited first (for me & I dont think there have been any others, but havn't got the full MapMate database to hand) Twin-spot Quaker for the reserve. Common orthosias numbered 21.

Elsewhere
Mealy Redpoll ringed Thrushgill, but no sign (predictably, given the 'through put' of birds) of Sunday afternoon's Coues Arctic Redpoll

Early Thick Mist

Heysham

N Harbour Wall
Twite - 5 only seen on fresh food, all ringed, 21 later (flight only)
Purple Sandpiper - one on wooden jetty
Red-throated Diver - 2 in good late afternoon visibility - far offshore

Moths
The hut trap produced:
Hebrew Character - 1
Common Quaker - 3
Pale Pinion - 1 - second or third record of an increasing species

ajd

Meagre murk

Heysham Obs
Overcast and drizzly conditions did not produce the expected Wheatear but a singing Chiffchaff was making its way along Moneyclose Lane, providing a rather belated first

North harbour wall
Twite - no food, but 6 appeared as soon as some was put down (1 unringed)
Purple Sandpiper - one at the base of the seawall at the harbour mouth - flew over to wooden jetty

Ocean Edge
Meadow Pipit - one north!

Moneyclose Lane
Chiffchaff - singing male (on the move)

Moths
Most numerate catch so far this year of the most predictable fare: 4 Common Quaker, 6 Hebrew Character, 5 Clouded Drab, 3 March Moth

A one Wheatear day

Heysham Obs

Thanks for the Wheatear report via the Greater Manchester website!  One on the heliport.

March Moth, Clouded Drab and Hebrew Character in the trap

On the 78th day there shall be auk

At last - an auk! Thanks to the ferries for displacing it

North Harbour Wall 0800-1100
Vis
Pied Wagtail 17
Chaffinch 1
Goldfinch 3
Meadow Pipit 2
Skylark 1

On the sea:
Red-throated Diver 1 + 3
RAZORBILL 1
Eider 15

In the sea:
Harbour Porpoise - at least 3, maybe 5 (IOY).

On the ground:
Twite c20
Rock Pipit which flew to South Harbour Wall.

On the wooden jetty:
Purple Sandpiper - 2
Turnstone 79 (plus 28 on the Heliport)

Vis reserve area 0630-0830
Meadow Pipit - 61 north
Siskin - 3 north
alba Wagtail - 2 north
Sand Martin - one north (IOY)

Grounded - male Pheasant was the 'highlight'!

And they're off....

Migration was in evidence this morning, although the evidence was only slight.  There may well have been more birds flying overhead but they were difficult to hear because the ferries in the harbour were really noisy:

North Harbour Wall 0800-0900
Vis (all NE or NNE following the coast):
Meadow Pipit 8
Pied Wagtail 6
Carrion Crow 8
Siskin 1
Greenfinch 1
Grey Wagtail 1

Twite 18 at least

March Moth at last!

Heysham Obs
Insects
That spectacular thin brown species, March Moth, made its rather belated debut this morning along with an Early Grey (not very common at Heysham) and a Common Quaker.  Contrasts with 205 moths in the Millhouses trap!

Birds
No obvious early morning vis migration, although Blackbirds were subtely more noticeable than usual on the reserve with two unringed (and one very lightweighht) bird caught.  Typical murky early morning to 'drop' a few on their rather hurried mid-March return passage
Twite - c55 but flight views only
Goldfinch - definite influx with 5 ringed at the office feeder net (unprecedented in spring!) and a 'sizeable flock' in the alders by the dipping pond, seemingly replacing the similar Siskin gathering of two weeks ago
Long-tailed Tit - a seemingly 'endless' supply of retraps at the feeder net indicates they have wintered rather well

Non-existent early morning migration

Heysham Obs
Walks around the mound and then Ocean Edge foreshore revealed the following grounded birds, all on the north harbour wall:

Rock Pipit - one
Twite -  at least 56 with at least 3 unringed (out of c20 examined) plus a metal-ring-only bird
Pied Wagtail - 2

Early afternoon (thanks Sean)
Purple Sandpiper - 2

Flutterby time but the 74th consecutive day without an auk

Heysham Obs
Insects
3 Small Tortoiseshell (and another butterfly with dark underwings glimpsed) along the south-facing slope below PA Way & another very tatty one on Middleton NR.  4 Hebrew Character and yet another Chestnut in the hut trap

Middleton NR
Stonechat - female by the no swimming pond

North harbour wall
Twite - a small catch first thing contained all or most of the unringed proportion seen in the last few days with 9 unringed birds out of 17 caught.  An attempt to check later in the afternoon saw a sheepdog tethered rather too near the feeder (angler)!
Red-throated Diver - one offshore afternoon
Duck spp - dreadful light and even though they were watched for 10 minutes crossing the bay, they could only be narrowed down to 'probable Mallard' - a rare bird indeed as seen from the north wall

Late news yesterday afternoon
Male Wheatear Ocean Edge foreshore

Little change during the morning session

Heysham Obs
No obvious evidence of vis mig passerines etc in the morning (see Elsewhere).  Morning coverage by Alan, John and Mike Baron

Office area
Wood Pigeon -  6 together on grass by Hut
Moorhen - 1 by Hut

N Harbour Wall
Twite -  c70, scurrying about and impossible to count accurately.  c10 unringed
Linnet - 1+
Goldeneye - 3 offshore
Eider - 53+ offshore
Moths
None, following the first Clouded Drab of the year the previous night

Elsewhere
Given the weather and temperatures, a very unexpected mass arrival of Sand Martins with at least 20 involved in sightings at Crag Foot and Pine Lake, probably 40