Eider fest and House Sparrow mega

Heysham Obs
North wall low tide
Eider - 302 - seen smaller flocks with kings and queens......................but all very distant.  This flock needs grilling just in case
Common Scoter - female
Red-throated Diver - 1
Auk spp - one - quite probably Razorbill

Finches included up to 5 Twite late morning

Office area
Activity round the office comprised an early Brambling and what seemed to be a small movement of about 15 southbound Chaffinch at the same time, c20 Blackbird and best of all a female House Sparrow ringed

There were no moths or even flies gracing the trap

Subterranean guillemots

Heysham obs
 Far from being 'trapped', guillemots which enter the underground reservoir by the power station intake have whale of a time and can then get out at low tide. There may be three doing this at the moment. A few years ago before risk assessments were invented we went in there with landing nets and caught/ringed 6 including a northern bird. Indeed our a toons may have invented risk assessments as a ten page document including the word 'no' materialised and we then realised they could get out anyway

 Plenty of seed left at dusk last night and this morning's ringing session comprised a small gang of twite and goldfinch with no sign of the big linnet flock . These included the 2o11 machrihanish- ringed bird seen in the field

 The other news involved blackbird with a notable arrival of at least 30 around the office area plus a singleton on the north wall along with a late migrant meadow pipit

 Moths consisted of an incredibly geriatric angle shades and a pristine winter moth if that is the right word to use

Afternoon all

Heysham Obs
Unusually no morning coverage whatsoever today and the early afternoon saw a quick visit to the north harbour wall where there was no available food and the dreaded three pigeons plus a rabbit were digging into the sand to find morsels. I put a small amount of nyger down which was in the car and, after a quick walk round, a decent flock of 54 finches materialised on the seed: 41 Linnet and 13 Goldfinch. As far as could be seen only 13/41 Linnet were ringed but about 10/13 Goldfinch bore a mixture of right and left leg rings, possibly indicating that some were ringed by the NR office. As also stressed by a visiting ringer, its really important for a feeding station to guarantee a dawn food supply, but that is easier said than done with people's committments and nocturnal mammalian consumers. The problem is that all the Twite are to the south of here, so they have to have a pretty solid reliable incentive to come up here for the dawn feed - it would be a different matter if Heysham was on a 'commuter route' for wintering Twite. It is looking pretty bad with seemingly no semi-resident birds able to entice others from a communal night time roost as seemed to be the case in other years

Ad Med Gull followed the IOM ferry along the length of the harbour

The moth trap amazingly held December Moth and Mottled Umber after a NE gale. Bizarre!

No Knot

Heysham Obs
No Knot seen at the subroost below the heliport seawall today unless they came in very late and were undisturbed

North wall first thing
Mixed flock of 15 Linnet, 7 Twite and 5 Goldfinch on seed but couldn't see any ring details due to light

Guillemot offshore and Med Gull along the seawall

A Winter Moth in the trap!

Knot the lady in red

Heysham Obs
Sadly certain dog walkers seem to have a daily routine which they find impossible to change. The last two days have seen a decent gang of knot trying to roost on the heliport. A precursor for a return of the good old days? Enter the lady in red with a ginger and white collie type. Why do you have to walk the heliport seawall at or near high tide? The knot cleared off.  An early morning visit to the north harbour wall saw a couple of birders already there who said that 'about 35 finches had flown off and there was nothing on the seed'.   My fault - forgot to feed last thing yesterday as arranged.  Plenty of food was put down allowing for pigeons and finches to feed at the same time and the results were 3 feral pigeons, one Robin, 4 Linnet, 4 Goldfinch and 4 Twite down together within 30 minutes but no sign of the big flock on a walk round.  One of the Twite was singing and was the only ringed bird - ringed last winter period.  Presumably the big flock is part of the 60+ gang on Ocean Edge saltmarsh - predominantly Linnet

Mound etc
Song Thrush - 1 - the 'usual wintering bird'? also seen yesterday
Rock Pipit - one

Offshore
20 minutes produced a single Guillemot and single Red-throated Diver floating in
Ad Med Gull behind departing ferry

Ocean edge
Linnet - 61
Reed bunting - 1

Shore thing

INSHORE:

A winter-plumaged Guillemot was fishing in the harbour.
2 Mediterranean Gulls.
2 Red-breasted Mergansers were at Ocean Edge.

OFFSHORE:

2 Red-throated Divers, 2 Guillemots.

ON SHORE:

Big flock of Linnets on Ocean Edge saltmarsh - at least 65.  They were very mobile and were soon hidden in the saltmarsh so it was difficult to see what and how many other species were with them.  Goldfinches could be heard and 4 Twite were definitely seen but there may have been up to 12. A mystery bunting, possibly Reed Bunting or may have been something more exciting, but couldn't be relocated.  It may be easier to find at high tide tomorrow.  A Snipe was on the saltmarsh.

2 Twite were at the feeding station on the North Harbour Wall, along with 8 Goldfinch and a Linnet.

A Rock Pipit was heard at Near Naze.

A Little Egret roosted on Red Nab with 230 Oystercatchers, 5 Knot, 25 Redshank, 1 Turnstone and 13 Wigeon.

A Kestrel was sitting on the scaffolding around the big wheel on the South Harbour Wall.

Didn't count the Oystercatchers at the Heliport but there were several thousand along with hundreds of Knot.  Quite a spectacle.

North Harbour Wall

Ringed Twite

A short visit to the North Harbour Wall saw about 30 finches on the seed, mainly Linnets but with 8/9 Goldfinches.

Although no Twite were with them, some could be heard nearby, and they came down to the seed shortly after, as a small group of 9/10 with a few Linnets. They were not down for long, being disturbed by activity within the harbour. At least four were ringed with two Machrihanish birds and two Heysham, including one recent one. 

Bits and bobs on or over the sea

Heysham Obs
Yesterday's Twite moved on as has been a feature this autumn so far - presumably an excellent supply of samphire on the saltmarsh edges.  Ian's coverage of the sea for an hour produced:

Whooper Swan - 2 north
Guillemot - 3
Goldeneye - male north with Whoopers!
Red-throated Diver - 2

Med Gull - two adults on the north wall railings
Grey Wagtail - single by outfalls

Moths
Single female December Moth, Mottled Umber and Feathered Thorn

The migratory curtain is drawn?

Heysham obs
Plenty of continental Blackbirds on Heysham nr and Middleton today but not many on the dog walk area. Very little vis as a quite thick layer of cloud at dawn. A flock of 13 twite may have been a migratory arrival as the ringed birds included at least three new for the autumn, including an old Machrihanish bird

The wader murmurations
off ocean edge and Shorefields were brilliant this morning - far more interesting than similar starling monoculture at a well known reserve!

Vis mig dawn to 0830
Chaffinch - 16
Goldfinch - 5
Redwing - 1
Alba wagtail - 1 def not ex roost
Greenfinch - 5

Grounded
Blackbird - 25 or so by office, plenty on Middleton
Song thrush - 3

The following is from Malcolm and refers to Middleton NR:

Saw cormorant flying from West directly to boating pond. Thought it was strange, as I thought there was no fish there, but this seemed to be a deliberate expedition. In less than a minute of it starting to feed it came up with a largish (about 3oz) fish. From the marked contrast between back and belly and general shape I am pretty sure it was a perch. The main food item for perch this size is insect larvae!

To catch a fish this size so quickly, and apparently regularly, must mean there is a significant population.

Other sightings:

Mute 3 + 7 cygnets

Coot 2

Moorhen 13 (mainly Tim Butler)

Tufted 4

Gadwall 4 (3 male)

Teal maximum count 60 but there were others (mainly Tim Butler)

Little egret 3 (2 on boating pond one over SW to NW)

Snipe 7

Bullfinch one feeding group of 7

No thrushes but lots of blackbirds. And we seem to have a full contingent of robins.

No migrants recorded today

Heysham Obs
The only things worthy of any mention today were two Guillemot and an adult Med Gull around the harbour mouth early afternoon

Unfortunately the available food had all disappeared at the feeding station on arrival at 1000hrs morning and there were just 5 finches around the general area but this built up to 40 ish by early afternoon but seemingly mainly Linnet (at least 23 of which at least 10 were unringed plus at least 8 Goldfinch).  The Twite seem to be moving through and not staying at the moment with the only 5 definitely seen all being unringed

Half an hours seawatching was unproductive with the wind too nw.

A Mottled Umber graced the moth trap in contrast to 78 in the trap at Millhouses!