Comma and Cumbrian Brents

Heysham Obs
For non-sidebar readers:   The 2015 Heysham Bird Observatory report has been out a week or so now and can either be purchased at Leighton Moss or from Heysham NR office.  At Leighton Moss, you will need to ask at the counter and will be brought from the depths of the storeroom

Offshore low tide


Pale-bellied Brent Goose - flock of three on distant skeer edge just NW of Heysham Head
Red-breasted Merganser - mobile flock of 13 and three more sedate pairs
Eider - 300ish but more spread out than yesterday
Great-crested Grebe - 2
Pied Wagtail - 36 N in 25 mins
Meadow Pipit - just 4 N in 25 minutes

Heysham Nature Reserve
Meadow Pipit 14 N in 2 hours
Pied Wagtail - 1 N
Siskin - 2
Raven - 2 headed south

Insect
Comma NE corner Heysham NR today

Clear and cloudless

Heysham Obs

One of today's Meadow Pipits.
Note the dark "thorns" on the median coverts - this indicates it is a young bird born last year (5 in ringing parlance, 2CY in other parlance)

Unlike yesterday's cloud cover and low-flying Meadow Pipits, this was is a "stratosphere" day with any vis mig presumably out of visual and audible range for the most part.

Highlights so far:
Cetti's Warbler singing and calling from the usual place at Middleton - presumably it hadn't gone! (per Malcolm)

Vis 0800-1200
Siskin - 5
Meadow Pipit - 27
Pied Wagtail - 1

North Harbour Wall
Eider - 327 in the low tide channels
Great-crested Grebe - 3
Red-breasted Merganser - 12 (in pairs)

Middleton Nature Reserve
Mute 3 pairs
5 tufted
2 mallard
0 teal, pochard or gadwall
1 little grebe
1 cetti's warbler
3 reed bunting
58 pink-foot NE

Ocean Edge
2 little egret
2 stonechat (Female)


What looks like Mompha jurassicella was in the (proper!) toilet!

Meadow Pipit pulse Sunday 13th March

Heysham Obs
The first day of any 'real' vis mig with intermittent coverage during the morning suggesting Meadow Pipit were in the region of 60 per hour N/NE, with a significant proportion of these over the sea

Vis mig intermittent 0800 onwards
Meadow Pipit - 186
alba Wagtail - 37
Skylark - 1
Reed Bunting - 1
Goldfinch - 4+

Ringing included 5 x Meadow Pipit, 3 x Goldfinch, an unringed Robin

Saturday 12th March

Not a lot happening today other than in the moth trap which held a couple of new for the year Common Quaker and a Mompha, thought probably to be a well-marked subbistrigella

A bit of vis produced a Grey and two alba Wagtail north but no Meadow Pipit

North Harbour Wall
Goldfinch - 9
Eider - 9
Red-breasted Merganser - 2 pairs floated into the Bay

Today was final record of over wintering male blackcap in Heysham garden. Gave 5 minutes of song in late afternoon, then was seen or heard no more. MD 17/3/16

Nice day, shame about the birds

Very nice day to be out and about, but only minimal bird activity (MD)


A walk around Heysham Nature Reserve revealed the following:
2 mallard
2 jay
1 sparrow hawk
1 greater spotted woodpecker
4 bullfinch
48 pink foot north 10:00

Nothing in harbour or outflows.
Minimum 100 Wigeon Red Nab

Ocean Edge 11:00
3 little egret
1 meadow pipit - practicing parachuting

Coot Influx

A full check of Middleton Nature reserve this morning showed an addition of, at least, 6 coot over the last few days. Also, two little grebe now on the "no swimming" pond, the third bird is on the fence pond. On the down side we appear to have lost the pochard. And there was only one male gadwall today.
8 mute including 2 immature
2 greylag
12 coot
9 moorhen
13 tufted
2 mallard
11 teal
1 gadwall
3 little grebe
1 water rail
2 meadow pipit - grounded

Same stuff - more detail

The absence of freezing rain today allowed a better observation of Ocean Edge, as it was being covered by tide. But the result was similar to yesterday.
7 common snipe
1 jack snipe
2 reed bunting
c40 linnet
148 wigeon

3 north bound Meadow Pipit casually recorded

Model boat pond and no swimming pond
Little Grebe - 1 on no swimming pond
Tufted Duck - 7 male, 5 female
Coot - 3 model boat pond
Mallard - male and female
Moorhen - 1
Gadwall - 1 male
Mute Swan - 2 ads
Pied Wagtail - 1

High Tide

This was the first tide for a few weeks high enough to completely cover Ocean Edge salt mash. Flushed:
3 common snipe
1 jack snipe


Also on Red Nab
1 rock pipit (petrosus)


Male blackcap still visiting feeder in Heysham garden

Subtle migration

Heysham Obs
We haven't really got our act together yet with the vis mig, but the mist net put up for a short time by the office produced 6 new birds out of 6 caught - indicating something was happening to the odd Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit and more routine Goldfinch and Greenfinch.

Middleton NR
It does seem that as soon as the Cetti's Warbler got its act together with its song, having been calling intermittently all winter, it then promptly cleared off to its breeding grounds

Pochard - just the one male today
Water Rail - 1+

Office area
New adult Blue Tit and new Long-tailed Tit in the mist net were the "highlights", along with a single Hebrew Character in the moth trap.  Best of the rest were a single new Goldfinch and three new Greenfinch

North wall
Goldfinch - 5
Linnet - 8

Wooden Jetty
Cormorant - 54
Herring Gull - 7
Great Black-backed Gull - 4

Near Naze
Knot - 1850
Oystercatcher - 120
Curlew - 6
Redshank - 2
Black-headed Gull - 1
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 1



Moth
Hebrew Character

Rock Pipit surprise

Heysham Obs
Two new year ticks for the area, Rock Pipit (in unusual location) and Stock Dove

Middleton NR (Malcolm)
Rock pipit - one was showing well Middleton NR, probably littoralis coming into s.p.
Stock dove - 2 
7 adult + 2 Imm Mute Swan,  2 male pochard, 2 gadwall, 12 tufted duck,  3 mallard, 13 teal, 1 little grebe, 1 snipe

North wall
Eider - 64
Linnet/Goldfinch/?Twite - 35-40 briefly