Clear weather fare

Heysham Obs
The problem this morning was traffic noise during the peak vis mig period - it is odd how this is only a problem on certain mornings, seemingly unrelated to the wind - the wrong kind of air?  Nice flock of Knot at Middleton/off Ocean Edge which we have been counting all week - 12000-14000 each day:

Office area
Ring Ouzel - probable male tank farm then flew inland 0725hrs
Redwing - 2 flew inland just after dawn - late for here
Chiffchaff - just the one obvious migrant ringed
Goldcrest - none
Lesser Redpoll - at least 42 north (just 7 ringed)
Chaffinch - 5 NE
alba Wagtail - 9 N
Meadow Pipit - c80 N
Carrion Crow - 2 N
Linnet - 7 N
Woodpigeon - flock of 6 N
Collared Dove - 1 NE
Goldfinch - just one N!

Offshore
Eider - 122

North wall in afternoon (more seed put out after Twite seen this am)
Twite - at least 5 on seed but flew off before could be examined
Linnet - at least 6 as above

Ocean Edge
Twite - 5, then flew north, possibly out to sea (at least two were unringed, rest not seen properly)

Moths
Surprisingly good catch considering it was 3.5C at dawn, with a mass break-out of Double-striped Pug (8), Early Thorn (4) and a nice individual moth in the form of Red Sword Grass (not common here). Another Speckled Wood seen today - this time at Middleton:

All pics taken by Janet today - thanks for these

Very early morning fencehopping redpoll?

Heysham Obs
Quieter morning with the main interest being a Lesser Redpoll sporting a closed ring as used by aviculturalists.  This was removed as it was too large for the leg - easily passing over the joint on to the upper leg - and has been despatched to the BTO

Office area
Chiffchaff - 4 ringed, including the first female of the year
Goldcrest - 7 ringed (one male)
Lesser Redpoll - at least 19 (two registrations not seen, counted as 'one') (5 ringed (or re-ringed!))
Meadow Pipit - 288 NE
Siskin - 1+10 NE
Chaffinch - 2 NE
Goldfinch - 6 NE
Sand Martin - 1 NE
Linnet - 6 NE
alba Wagtail - just 2 NE
Jay - two of unknown status making a lot of noise and flying about
Bullfinch - 'lost' female contact calling around the office for 5 minutes before heading north
Lapwing - 2 south
Woodpigeon - fairly definite migrant flocks of 6+4 north
Rook - star bird of the morning - one south-east
Dunnock - one unringed bird caught
Wren - as above
Kestrel - 2 north

North wall
0740-0840, 0915-0935
Meadow Pipit - 65 N and NE
Redpoll sp - 10 N
Grey Wagtail - 1 N
alba wagtail - 18 N
Siskin - 3 N
Linnet - 6 N
Jackdaw - 1
Black-headed Gull - 82 in

Wheatear - the only one seen anywhere this morning was a male on the mound

Ocean Edge
Populous!
Knot - 12,000
Bar-tailed Godwit - 600
Ringed Plover - 20 at high tide on OE beach (as yesterday)

Insects
The earliest ever Speckled Wood made and appearance next to the office in the early afternoon

Very early morning French redpoll

Heysham Obs
Net-setting rather too late at 0600hrs missed two lots of Lesser Redpolls, apart from one bird which entered the half-opened net as it was being set - it bore a Paris ring!

Later, perhaps even less-likely, a Meadow Pipit was caught bearing ring number L742790 - any one own up to this, please?

Office area/north harbour wall vis mig/grounded
Meadow Pipit - 299 logged over the office (0600-1200) + 52 over NHW (0645-0700 and 0935-0950)
alba Wagtail - just 3 over the office and 2 over NHW
Lesser Redpoll - early morning groups of 18 + 9, then just two singletons, and 4 NHW
Carrion Crow - 2 north very high
Raven - two northbound migrants tracked from Potts Corner to high over Heysham Head
Sparrowhawk - two singletons high to NE
Chaffinch - 3 NE
Goldfinch - 13 NE (underestimate)
Linnet - 4 NE + 2 over NHW
Woodpigeon - 4 to east, high, and 5 high over NHW
Chiffchaff - at least 10 migrants (7 ringed)
Goldcrest - a few early morning, then a reasonable arrival mid-morning after a change in wind direction - 40+, all but one trapped a female (27 ringed).  Also 3 on the NHW 'mound'
Jackdaw - 2 high to the west (rare here!)
Tree Sparrow - one (+?) heard but not seen
Siskin - 7 NE  over NHW
Skylark - 1 NE over NHW
Greenfinch - 2 over NHW
Goldfinch - 1 over NHW


Ocean Edge area
No Wheatears, despite good coverage doing survey work
Knot - 14,500
Bar-tailed Godwit - 390
Blackcap - singing male by the OE entrance gate for a short period (first of year for British Energy Obs area, but birds wintering in suburban area), heard later nearby by visiting birders (thanks for the report)
Med Gull - 2CY, probably same as the other day

Insects
A few Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock on the reserve.  Early Thorn a bit of an overdue addition to the moth year list

Pollinated male Chiffchaffs and female Goldcrests

Heysham Obs
Another pretty good early spring migration morning, highlighted by a significant influx (at last) of male Chiffchaffs, some showing evidence of pollen, apparently from 'Mediterranean' flora, on and around their foreheads.

                                                                                                    Thanks, Janet

Grounded Heysham NR/dog track/Ocean Edge
Goldcrest - not many and all females (11 ringed)
Chiffchaff - probably at least 20 migrants (9 ringed), a good spring day count for here
Wheatear - 5 Ocean Edge foreshore
Other ringing included Lesser Redpoll (first 3 of the year) and Meadow Pipit (21)

Vis mig 0700-0930
Meadow Pipit - 448 (Peak time 0830-0900 when 265 were logged); then small numbers moving all day
redpoll sp - 3
Siskin - 14
alba wagtail - 9
Skylark - 1
Goldfinch - 5
Sparrowhawk - 3 at 0940
Reed Bunting - 1
Coal Tit  - 2
Carrion Crow - 2 north-east
Small flocks of Meadow Pipit, Siskin and redpoll still coming over at 1600hrs.

Nothing visible on the sea except a Great-crested Grebe due to poor visibility.

68 Turnstone on the wooden jetty

Plenty of Meadow Pipit

Heysham Obs
Slightly murky 'clear-sky' morning producing a lot of northbound Meadow Pipit and a decent number of grounded Goldcrests, especially after the easterly wind kicked in about 0830hrs.

Vis 0730-1330 (quite a few short breaks during this coverage)
Meadow Pipit - 1088. Bulk of movement came to an end at 1330 but odd ones continued to move through e.g. 4 at 1540
Siskin - 50
alba wagtail - 42
Lesser Redpoll - 15
Goldfinch - 15
Greenfinch - 4
Collared Dove - obvious migrant high to NE early morning
Sparrowhawk -3 singletons east
Kestrel -2
Common Buzzard -1 flew to the east at c1100hrs
Skylark - 1
Linnet -9
Grey Wagtail -1
Whooper Swan - 35 at 0715 and 3 at 0830 north

North Harbour Wall
Wigeon - 2 in channel
Eider - 72 in Kent channel
Red-breasted Merganser -2
Linnet - 2 on food
No Twite
Gannet -3 out
Wheatear - 1 female landed briefly

Grounded/Ringing (to just after 1000hrs)
Chiffchaff - singing male by the reserve entrance and passage male early morning by the office
Goldcrest - 37 ringed, at least 10 seen to escape from nets as the wind increased, plus others obviously moving through - estimate 70+.  We tend not to dwell on ringing totals on this site, but it is worth mentioning that the Goldcrest total of over 120 ringed so far is already the highest spring total in the Obs history (since 1981).  Only two springs ago (2009), just one individual was seen and none ringed, following some severe weather!
Meadow Pipit - 9 ringed = 0.1ish% of those seen!
Dunnock - 1
Wheatear - 7

Moths/butterflies
Late Chestnut of interest. Peacock butterfly seen on reserve - surely more than this around?

Male and female Gadwall at Middleton:

Distant Osprey highlights some excellent coverage

Heysham Obs
Work-related coverage added some bits and bobs today, as is inevitable during the migration period.  Mid-afternoon saw an Osprey circling high then heading north being mobbed by a black-backed gull as viewed in the direction of Grange from Heysham heliport area

Grounded migrants
Still no Chiffchaff on HNR or dog-walk strip!
Goldcrest - 20+ (13 ringed)
Wheatear - 4 OE foreshore

Vis mig
Meadow Pipit - trickle with about 70 north during the morning
Chaffinch - 10 north first thing
Carrion Crow - 2 north
Goldfinch - 1 north

North wall
Twite - c7 with at least 3 unringed
Linnet - 7
Shag - one 2CY in the harbour

South of the harbour
Med Gull - 2CY on the tideline by the sewage pipe at c1400hrs
Little Gull - adult flying into the Bay about 1410hrs
Knot - 18,000 between Ocean Edge and Lune Estuary late afternoon, then 16,000 of these flew across the Bay towards Barrow!

Moths
Diurnea fagella was new for the year - 3 of them, also a Shoulder Stripe of note.  Plenty of bumblebees prowling around today looking for nest sites

High-flying Red-throats

Heysham Obs

The elusive Green Woodpecker and male Pied Wagtail taken today.  Thanks Janet

North harbour wall

0730-0830

Twite - 4 on the food

Linnet - 1 on the food

Pied Wagtail - male as per usual

Dunnock - pair on the mound, one singing.

Vis mig

alba wagtail 4 north

Meadow Pipit 7 north and another 6 north 0835-0905

Grey Wagtail 1 from south which landed 

Red-throated Diver - flock of 25 very high above power station, seen when there was a break in the cloud, heading north.  Just shows how easy it is to miss this species during 'conventional' seawatching viewing fields - this observation was 'pure chance' during a break in offshore coverage

0835-0905

Shag - 2CY by the waterfall

Purple Sandpiper - 2 on wooden jetty

Turnstone - c65 wooden jetty

Nothing moving offshore in improved visibility


Dog track pond area
Goldcrest - 2


Middleton NR & area
Green Woodpecker

More bits over the sea and Meadow Pipit increase

Heysham Obs

Wheatear Ocean Edge today - thanks Janet

North harbour wall 0700-0850
Meadow Pipit - 80N
alba Wagtail - 18N
Red-throated Diver - 10 sightings (7 in, 3 out)
Siskin - 1N
Linnet - 1N
Kittiwake - 30+6+35 'in'
Gannet - 10 'in', including flock of 7
Whooper Swan - 19 north over the sea at 0754

N H Wall  0930-1130
Feeding Area:
Twite - 11 (all ringed - colour combinations from six different seasons)
Linnet - 6 (one ringed left leg)
Goldfinch - 2
Dunnock - 1 (ringed right leg)
(ajd)

Ocean Edge
Wheatear - one

Office area
Trickle of Meadow Pipit and Siskin (6+)
Goldcrest - 1 ringed
Coal Tit - passage bird ringed (second this week and unusual in spring)

Moths
The most interesting of 14 individuals was a single Shoulder Stripe

Nice sunny day for admin

Heysham Obs
A day for leaving everyone else to pull-back Laughing Gull for Cumbria and, apart from some early movement on the sea, one of those clear northerly-wind days when you can get on with admin catch-up without worrying what you are otherwise missing.

North harbour wall 0645-0830
Twite - 8, but no food left, put out at c0900hrs
Linnet - 2
Rock Pipit - migrant on the mound, then flew north
Red-throated Diver - 14 'in' (two lots of 4, rest singletons) and one out
Kittiwake - flocks of 18+16 floating in on the sea, then circled up and headed north
Common Scoter - 6 out
Little Gull - adult winter 'in'
alba Wagtail - 4 NE
Siskin - 1 NE
no Meadow Pipit passage

Middleton NR
Tufted Duck (19), Goldeneye (1 female)

Office area
Green Woodpecker - heard early morning
Raven - on the pylon
Goldcrest - 3 (2 ringed)
Siskin - 11 NE (one ringed)
Meadow Pipit - conspicuous by absence - only 5 seen/heard
Chaffinch - 7 NE
Pink-footed Goose - c100 north just to the east of here

Half Moon Bay
Wheatear - 1 male

Moths & Butterfly
The only new one for the year was a Herald (mention of Hebrew Character (6) and Clouded Drab (1) will cease forthwith!).  Small Tortoiseshell out in suburban SD46A but no check made on nature reserve.

All sorts of odds and ends on the move

Heysham Obs
Heysham NR office area
My muttered request to the rain clouds to stay away from here worked well-enough to allow a morning's ringing, albeit with double the usual number of mist-net rounds and a careful eye kept on the sky.  The ringing was not quite what was expected with a real mixed bag, in contrast to the Goldcrest-fest of the previous few days
Blue Tit - three unringed birds caught
Long-tailed Tit - unringed bird caught
Dunnock - unringed bird caught
Robin - 4 migrants caught
Blackbird - female ringed with 'continental' wing length
Goldcrest - just four ringed and another escaped from the net
.............plus a few Chaffinch & Greenfinch finches  

North harbour wall
Twite - 10 (one unringed out of 7 examined)
Linnet - 2
Goldfinch- 2
Song Thrush - one on mound
Robin - one on mound (first for a bit, presumed migrant)
Common Scoter - 65 (flying about, then on), 4 'in' at 0800hrs
Red-throated Diver - 2 'out' at 0800hrs
(no Shag seen)

Half-Moon Bay
Wheatear (2) - 2CY male-type and ad male-type - same birds as yesterday moved north a bit?

Vis mig by the office
Sand Martin - 2 north (IOY)
Sparrowhawk - female north-east (high)
Woodpigeon - possible migrants comprised flocks of 5 & 4 & 6 arriving from SE and landing
Meadow Pipit - 15 north
Sisikin - 3 north
Chaffinch - 14 north
Grey Wagtail - one north

Moths
Hebrew Character (12), Clouded Drab (1), Double-striped Pug (1)