Usual suspects still around

NOTE - north wall closed until further notice - no easy checks of Fishers roof - need to do it from Heysham Head at long range or by the lighthouse on south harbour wall (some classic white wing weather next week).........not sure at the moment whether you can still walk down.  Obviously seriously affecting angling if you cant and I've phoned Gerry's

THURSDAY 11th January
Chough not easy to connect with but still frequenting places around Heysham Head - the horse paddock in the morning and the cliffs below the Head later on.

Female Stonechat rooting about in the tide wrack near the slipway in Half Moon Bay along with a few pals - Rock Pipit and 3-4 Meadow Pipits

5 Snipe flushed from Near Naze

In the low tide channel:
Eider - 400 (290 males,110 females ie 72% male)
Great-crested Grebe - 2

Outfalls
67 Wigeon at the end of Heysham 1 outfall at low tide (62% males)
2 Little Egrets

Middleton Nature Reserve
Model Boat Pond partly frozen but 15 Gadwall on it (10 males/66%) and a Grey Heron.

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WEDNESDAY 10th January
Stonechat - female eating loads of ?Ruby Tiger larvae along 1/2 moon bay beach
Chough - by cafe early pm (per pager)

Forgot about the star:

Pochard - drake model boat pond per Justine

Dogged Chough

The Chough was chased by mutts today as it tried to feed along the shore at Half Moon Bay fields - short visits were recorded there at 1000 and 1320hrs.  Hopefully this helps visitors and of course it can also be 'on the other side' in Knowlys road horse paddocks, but by all accounts not very often recently

Snipe - 53 plus on rocks below heliport seawall
RT Diver - still in harbour
Stonechat - female along half MB shore

Thanks for the info Malcolm (pm Chough sighting from page service - please do keep posting it)

Eider crash

Just enough time spent on site by me for three different tory party chairmen today, but Malcolm paid two visits and obtained some nice close Red-throated Diver shots.  A few other birders around and the Chough played ball today

Offshore low tide
Whooper Swan - one adult in second channel
Great-crested Grebe - 3
Red-throated Diver - one second channel
Eider - 620 - the big flock missing unless it was north of Heysham Head?

Inshore
Pale-bellied Brent Goose - 2 Red Nab late pm at least
Red-throated Diver ad winter in harbour

Thanks Malcolm

Chough - on HMB fields on and off until at least early afternoon

Stonechat - present along shore

Meadow Pipit - at least one along shore

Bar-tailed Godwit - bird with leg flag along tideline off NH wall - should have two characters on flag if anyone reads it.  Please let us know.  Ta 

Chough back on the cliff top

Chough seen on the cliff top and sides below the chapel 1030-1200ish - thanks to David Morris (RSPB staff) for this great pic

The Pale-bellied Brents were not reported today as far as I know but here is a great pic from Janice Sutton yesterday.  Thanks Janice

Malcolm covered the harbour and south side briefly

Stonechat - no sign
Rock Pipit - 2 HMB shore
Red-throated Diver - in harbour

Bits and repetitive bobs

The Chough has a habit of being awkward when it is dry and lots of birders are around so please don't "sit on it" if you come across it - it was apparently on the horse paddock area mid pm before Jeff had it presumably coming in to roost along the low cliff edge late afternoon

Any visiting anglers reading this.  Please note that the right hand sidebar asks birders to respect the fact you want to use the seawall for your hobby.  In return, please don't be pig ignorant and self-righteous like the anglers from elsewhere who blocked access along the seawall today - yes we know you 'got there first' but that is not the point.  All the transit van had to do was bring his mirror in to allow access, but the other vehicle required completely moving

Middleton NR
Mute 4 - no sign of juvenile. One pair on model boat pond and, bizarrely, one pair on "new" small ponds on western scrape.
Gadwall 12
Mallard 2
Tufted 1 (Tim Butler)
Teal c50
Moorhen 4
Water Rail 1
Heron 1
Common Snipe 1

Stock Dove 1 - flew from Golf club area across reserve in direction of Middleton (new for year)


Med Gull - adult on sea near Red Nab
Grey Heron - one roosting on wooden jetty
Pale-bellied Brent Geese - Red Nab on the incoming tide

Chough - see above - otherwise searched for in vain by quite a few
Stonechat - female near cafe
Red-throated Diver - one touring the harbour again - opportunity for an artistic shot!!

Cormorant - 87
Wigeon - c302

Pipits resurface for the year

Quite a bit of stuff today but needed to go outside the area (Stone Jetty) to get a proper handle on stuff floating into the bay from the area!  No Chough reported though and there were a fair few birders around.  Thanks to Matt, Janet, Malcolm and Jeff for contributions

Rock Pipit - at least one around - seen half moon bay shore
Meadow Pipit - at least one heliport grass and at least one along the shore
Pale-bellied Brent Goose - as yesterday, two seen OE saltmarsh on incoming tide then flew towards Potts Corner

Stonechat - female performing well along HMB shore - probably a Ruby Tiger moth caterpillar

Eider - 1410 offshore & possibly some more in the c100 distant duck dots
Scaup - three female/imms, probably all female offshore
Red-breasted Merganser  - 11
Great crested Grebe - 4
Med Gull - ad Fishers roof HT - probably Czech bird
Pink-footed Goose - c100 SE

Another tricky Obs area year tick

Merlin - female OE saltmarsh on incoming tide
Jack Snipe - 3 OE saltmarsh
Snipe - 17 OE saltmarsh
Pale-bellied Brent - two as above
Chough - sheep fields area at 1330, resting on road drying wings!

Med Gull - Czech bird north wall
Pink-footed Goose - 200 SE
Nothing offshore at HT on flat calm sea!!

Stormy day

Couldn't manage the early incoming stages of the tide and both Malcolm and I arrived to find the tide where it normally would have reached...........but still with 1.5 hours to go!

Kittiwake - flock of 11 out and one poss two ads on outfalls
Twite - one along OE saltmarsh tideline
Jack Snipe - one OE tideline
Snipe - two OE tideline
Med Gull - 2 adults horse fields roost and one on Fishers roof
Chough - flushed from sheep field area by fire engine activity . then seemed to fly over houses.  No other sightings which suggests it was hiding in 'dead' ground on the sheep field most of the day

Foul weather birding

Jean missed Chough and Stonechat yesterday and opted for a walk from the cafe to the tall cliffs as the seemingly clearing weather produced a nasty sting in the tail.  A birdless soaking.  As soon as the weather cleared, up popped the female Stonechat along the same route and a short detour produced the Chough in the sheep fields.  Earlier coastal coverage saw a few waders counts and a couple of Meds

From now onwards, the onus will be more on visiting year-listing birders to find and "put out" the Chough.  It can be quite time-consuming to locate and we (Malcolm, Jean and Pete) seem to have spent quite a chunk of the last month or so doing that and there are now other things to do!     So if it is not visible on our usual quick circuit: drive by check of the horse paddock, check of the fields next to Half Moon Bay, scoping the southern headland fields from the Near Naze if visibility permits, it wont be further looked for.   However, if there is negative news for more than three days, at least one of us will make an effort and try and find it again.  Birders need to check:

a) horse paddock - favours the fence line along footpath down from Knowlys but has been all over here, albeit not staying long at any of the other parts of this area
b) half moon bay fields just north of cafe (worth sitting and watching with a cuppa!)
c) all along the undercliff between half moon bay cafe and the headland but make sure you are not cut off on incoming spring tides
d) sheep field - can be a bit awkward to check but can be scanned along with the rest of the headland at long range, as can a big chunk of the area, from the Near Naze (south end of ex heliport area)

Med Gull - adults on the sea at Heysham village bay and the usual Czech bird along the north wall
Stonechat - usual female on tall vegetation along the top of the beach about 100m north of the 1/2 moon bay cafe
Chough - feeding well on sheep field along with an increase in Oystercatcher early pm
Ringed Plover - 18 out of the area on SS groyne flew to the horse paddock over HT
Turnstone - 70 on heliport seawall and 5 on wooden jetty
Knot - 150ish heliport seawall
Eider - scan not possible due to tidal state

New Year’s Day surprises

Brent goose - the three are back with the two pale-bellied together and the third bird a bit further away as seen in tricky light looking south from OE.  So the third bird still hasn’t been seen well enough to belly-specify
Red-throated Diver - one in the harbour
Chough - visiting all its usual haunts except perhaps the sheep field
Stonechat - female near OE cafe
Med gull - Czech ad north wall
Kittiwake - 1cy following iom ferry turned back quite early but ad followed the ferry into the harbour mouth
Sea too rough to carefully check eider