Harbour updates

Wooden Jetty:
Glaucous Gull on wooden jetty all morning

Harbour
Shag 9
Guillemot 3 in harbour plus 2 offshore
Kittiwake 40

PLEASE NOTE: No access via Gate 38 at the moment due to fencing repairs.  This is due continue all next week as well.

Near Naze:
Red-breasted Merganser 2 (transferred to Red Nab later)

On Fisher's Roof at high tide:
Black-headed Gull 131
Mediterranean Gull 1 adult, unringed (a further 2 adult Med Gulls patrolling the North Harbour Wall)
Herring Gull 95
Lesser Black-backed Gull 3

Heliport at high tide:
Ringed Plover 13
Dunlin 3
Oystercatcher 2400

Red Nab at high tide:
Knot 3500
Wigeon 34
Turnstone 34
Redshank 16
Curlew 5

Ocean Edge grass:
Oystercatcher 200
Mistle Thrush 4
Lapwing 1

whistlestop coverage of north wall area

Heysham Obs
Glaucous Gull - juv on the wooden jetty most of the day
Shag - 11
Guillemot - 2+
Kittiwake - 15+ plus 13 behind a freight ferry
Med Gull - 2 adult

Good coverage, same species

Heysham Obs
Thanks to Malcolm, Pete C, Pete Cr, Tom amd Mike for sending in sightings for today

Sorry about the late posting - an attempt to get the 2011 annual report out in reasonable time is being thwarted by e-mail attachments being lost in the ether during transmission & I have been trying to sort that out first

Glaucous Gull - seen at least  0930, 1100 and 1400 ish - I think all sightings were wooden jetty or from the north harbour wall
Shag - 11
Guillemot - 7
Purple Sandpiper - two together under the wooden jetty last section or in penultimate 'gap'
Little Gull - two 2CY
Med Gull - two adults (e.g. roosting on Fisher's roof) but no reports of 2CY
Kittiwake - minimum of 40
Twite - early morning maximum of 22
Linnet - one
Rock Pipit - one

Shags in the SW corner of the harbour, showing their favourite perches.  Thanks Pete

Nice variety along the coast

Heysham Obs
Bonxie (Great Skua) - one flew into the bay close inshore at 1200hrs
Glaucous Gull - juv along the wooden jetty early afternoon
Purple Sandpiper - one alongside the north harbour wall
Shag - 11 in SW corner harbour (& 2 Cormorant)
Guillemot - 9 as above
Kittiwake - 44 as above, 6 on outfalls, c5 inshore elsewhere
Med Gull - 2CY again on north wall along with ad
Little Gull - 4 x 2CY & 1 x ad outfalls
Rock Pipit - one north harbour wall
Twite - 13 on seed, including 2011 Machrihanish-ringed bird
Linnet - one metal-ringed bird on seed - first of year there
Goldfinch - 3 as above

Please try and avoid walking down the 'corridor' past the Twite-feeding station.  Thanks.

Evening circuit of the reserve
Pheasant - male by the eastern bracken field (Reeve's Pheasant seen today in usual place)
Goldcrest - 3
Wren - 5

Elusive Purps

Weather a bit calmer with wind coming from the southwest, still feeling cold and heavy drizzle in patches making visability very poor at times.

Midday with dropping tide in harbour at least 8 Shag, 7 Guillemot and still 25+ Kittiwakes. The Glaucous Gull was reported at the end of the wooden jetty a little earlier and was seen again in the waterfall area at around 2-3pm.

2 Med Gulls from North Harbour Wall adult and 2CY, also 19 Twite, 2 Dunnock and 3 Goldfinches at the feeder. A group of Pigeons joined in after Alan had topped up the niger seed, despite being discouraged. Didn't manage to locate any Purple Sandpipers as the tide dropped and Tom Walkington has been trying for these for much of this week without success.

Good numbers of Gulls on No 2 outfalls, with a few Kittiwakes mixed in, but only one Little Gull with them, the only one seen.

The Reeves Pheasant was in its usual place on the grass verge taking no notice of any passing traffic.

More of the same

Heysham Obs
A few forays into the north-westerly by birders today

Glaucous Gull - awkward - seen on Red Nab mid-morning but not since or before
Kittiwake - at least 35
Little Gull - 5 x 2CY, 1 x adult, all outfalls
Shag - maximum of 11 in harbour (at least one metal-ringed)
Guillemot - maximum of 13 in harbour
Twite - 5, including 2011 Machrihanish-ringed bird
Goldfinch - one at Twite seed
Med Gull - adult north wall

Quick seabird 'clean up'

Heysham Obs
Again nothing obviously new, species-wise

Gate 38/wheel/outfalls check from inner end wooden jetty
Glaucous Gull - juv at waterfall 1000hrs
Guillemot - 12 together SW corner harbour
Shag - 6 either under waterfall or roosting on platform
Kittiwake - 28 SW corner harbour, 8 elsewhere
Little Gull - at least 3 x 2CY and one adult outfalls (stage 2 very distant binoc check)
Med Gull - ad behind departing ferry

Howling gale but no new species

Heysham Obs
A couple of windswept venture-forths

Glaucous Gull - juv by the waterfall 0900, then flew to Red Nab where remained until at least late morning
Kittiwake - 22 in harbour (no ferries)
Shag - 6 2CY together by waterfall late pm
Guillemot - 11 in harbour late pm
Little Gull - 2-3 2CY and one adult outfalls
Twite - 9 on seed
Goldfinch - 2 on seed

Glaucous back at the waterfall

Heysham Obs
Gate '38' & north harbour wall early morning, gate 38 at lunchtime (watching ferry come in), plus pager news for 1330hrs
Glaucous Gull juv sitting on the west quay above the waterfall at 0830hrs, couldnt see it at lunchtime but on the pager for this area 1330hrs before flying towards the outfalls
Shag - definitely EIGHT by the waterfall at lunchtime with 5 perched on the platform and three fishing at the same time (plus a 2CY Cormorant)
Guillemot - 7 in the harbour, one just outside
Kittiwake - could only see 18 in the harbour area and only 20 behind the IOM ferry
Med Gull - Adult north wall early morning, 2 adults behind IOM ferry - one flew out along the shipping lane
Twite  - 8 on seed early morning (Heysham-ringed)
Little Gull - two 2CY on outfalls; one on seaward end Heysham one, the other on Heysham 2 at lunchtime

Elusive Glaucous sees in the new year

Heysham Obs
Happy new year everyone.  Quite an array of birds in this area = LDBWS recording area at the moment and a day of January 10km square surveying was tweaked with a bit of dirty twitching with the hordes at Leighton Moss in late afternoon.  This enabled the magic 100 (102) species to be reached without having to resort to the dodgy Mandarin on the pond at home - a stress-free unplanned scenario!

Havn't got much of a clue exactly what was seen today as I did the requisite time in the bits of land in SD35Z (wooden jetty & area) and 36V (north harbour wall area) early morning before moving to do four hours in SD66.  Thanks to Tom and John for info, also Pete on the LDBWS site

Glaucous Gull - juv flew over two birders by Stage 2 outfall about 0915hrs, then found sitting on the rocks below the outer section of the wooden jetty just prior to the midday IOM ferry, then disappeared with no further known reports.  It has changed its habits to a more unreliable pattern.
Little Gull - two 1CY Heysham 2 outfall
Med Gull - at least two adults plus possibly a third following the ferry
Shag - definitely SIX 1CY in harbour at one time
Guillemot - 5 in harbour first thing
Rock Pipit - one inner end of wooden jetty first thing
Meadow Pipit - one back of sandworks
Goldfinch - 3 on twite food
Song Thrush - wintering bird still in gorse bush on mound
Twite - 6-7 on food
Linnet - 6 OE saltmarsh
Kittiwake - 17 in harbour, c10 behing IOM ferry
Feral Pigeon - one gathering nest material on the west quay and flying into Stage one power station grounds

Middleton NR
Goldeneye - female model boat pond
Mute Swan - pair no swimming pond

Reeve's Pheasant
The male was on the grassy verge along the power station access road just below the obs tower late morning

no sign of any Purple sandpiper today

no moths