Osprey

Better than expected for a sunny west-north-westerly

Pale bellied Brent Goose - nine, seemingly all unringed, north of  the head in am, then on Red Nab early afternoon.
Osprey - one NW across the bay 1240ish
Whooper Swan - record flock of 54 in transit

Chiffchaff - four ringed
Goldcrest - two ringed
Robin - one ringed and another migrant briefly at the near naze

Vis over Heysham NR
alba wagtail - 1
Meadow Pipit - 2

One Wheatear and a Rock pipit near salt marsh.

No obvious vis mig other than a trickle of Albas  and meadow pipits

Red throated chaos

A red-throated diver trailing a bright orange item round its leg was diving close inshore by the near naze attracting alarm calling gulls.  This unfortunately spooked 6000 Knot but I managed to read seven colour marks but made the cardinal mistake of not writing down an Icelandic one as I was trying to read another bird at the same time.  Then I promptly forgot what the last letter was.  Familiar?

Kittiwake - single 2cy

Vis 0915-1030
Meadow pipit - c25 North
Pied Wagtail - 2 N
Goldfinch- 7 N
Greenfinch - 3N
Linnet - 4N
Siskin - 2N
Sparrowhawk - 1 N

Low tide channel
Eider - 430
Wigeon - 3
Great-crested Grebe - 8

Middleton Nature Reserve pm
Chiffchaff 5 seen and or heard
No sign of Shoveler or Tufted
Gadwall 2
Teal 4
Little grebe 1
Cetti's warbler, two singing
Some high raptor movement including at least one Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk

Whoopers on the move

A new moth for the Heysham recording area from Kevin who has recently moved into the area:  Oak Nycteoline .  Thanks for sharing this (caught 21st March)

7 Mute juveniles southeast out from Red Nab
24 Whoopers out on the sand all morning, another 10, then 5 north,  plus 5 southeast

Five flying SE past south wall roundhead 10:30

Gannet - 2 out

No Brent

Morning coastal coverage

 

About 2000 Knot this morning but difficult to read because the tide was moving them so quickly. The above are as I understand Icelandic ringed and Sefton coast ringed .

Pale-bellied Brent - 18 on the sea onnthe north side but they didn’t appear to the south side of Heysham Head.

Wheatear - 2 north end of Half Moon Bay

Middleton Nature reserve pm

Mute 3 pair

Moorhen 7

Coot 1

Gadwall 8 (5 male)

Shoveler 1 male

Tufted 1 male

Teal 1 male

Mallard pair

Little grebe 3

Cetti's warbler singing central marsh

Mixed bag

Whooper Swan - four flew inland, six distantly North
Kittiwake - flock of 12 in during brief seawatch, 4x2cy and one ad on Heysham two outfall
Pale bellied Brent - either 22 or 25
Pink footed goose - 30 North
Merlin - female making a nuisance of itself heliport
Goldcrest - 7 ringed
Chiffchaff - one ringed

More migrant Robin and Goldcrest

Conditions were not quite as good this morning but there was still another little flurry of  19 new birds in the nets, mainly Goldcrest and Robin

Pale bellied Brent Goose - 19, including Canadian pair, Red Nab for about half an hour on incoming tide then south

Chiffchaff - 2 (1 ringed)
Goldcrest - 15 plus (12 ringed)
Robin - 4 new ones
Dunnock - unringed bird
Kittiwake - 2CY still outfalls
Wheatear - 2 Red Nab
Vis mig of Meadow Pipit and alba Wagtail unremarkable this am and not recorded

Moths:  just Common Quaker (2) and Hebrew Character

 

Migrants in the mist

A decent day which could have been even better with a dawn start.  Arrival about 0900 saw quite a few long-winged Blackbirds, prompting a couple of mist nets

These produced an amazing (for here in spring) ten migrant Robin as well as 14 more predictable Goldcrest and a few migrant female Chaffinch.  A single Siskin was unusual and a couple of Chiffchaff include a bird with pollen on its forehead

In the meantime coastal coverage produced 178 Meadow Pipit grounded on Ocean Edge and 55 on the heliport in the murk with single Wheatear at Red Nab.

Twite - one North
Sand Martin - one North over sea
Meadow Pipit - c50 on vis mig in addition to grounded birds
Pied Wagtail - c20 on vis mig but only about 5 grounded
Pale-bellied Brent - 25 incoming tide but no sign dropping tide
Chiffchaff - at least three
Goldcrest - 20-25 at least
Blackbird - 20-30 Moneyclose lane and reserve
Linnet - one North
Siskin - one ringed
Wheatear - Male Red Nab
Eider - c400 low tide
Great crested Grebe - 2
Green Woodpecker - usual noisy mobile status

Moths comprised: common plume, Hebrew character, Common Quaker, clouded drab, early grey, shoulder stripe

Some of the 400 Eider

Rockits and Mipits

A low key day with outbreaks of drizzle. Headline news: a rat caused mayhem in the wader roost on the old heliport. There were few birds of note:

NEAR NAZE
2 Rock Pipits

HEYSHAM NR
A Chiffchaff was new in but passed through quickly
An elderly Chaffinch was recaught - 6 years old. Most Chaffinches only live 3 years (according to BTO Birdfacts) although a truly  ancient Chaffinch of 13 years 11 months was caught elsewhere in the country in 2011.

MIDDLETON NR
4 singing Cetti’s Warblers. This species in this quantity would have been the headline news a few years ago but now you can hear them on every visit all year round.

Green Woodpecker - 1 called from the golf course.

VIS
Meadow Pipit - 15 flew north.

Our very own Half Moon Bay will feature on TV tomorrow when the new drama The Bay begins on ITV. Don’t miss it!

Meadow Pipits on the move

HEYSHAM NR
Meadow Pipits on the move, unfortunately not in huge numbers. In fact only 16 were seen but it’s a start !
Also 1 Pied Wagtail.
An unringed Goldcrest appeared.

OCEAN EDGE TO OUTFALLS
5 Meadow pipit north (singles)
1 Skylark on foreshore
2 juv Kittiwake on No.2 outflow
1 ad Kittiwake in harbour

17 Pale-bellied Brent on Red Nab, but when they flew off at 10:20, there was also the "regular" three. So 20 In total. 

KNOWLYS ROAD HORSE PADDOCK
Wheatear - 1

Kittiwakes on the move

Kittiwake - 159 in in only about 45 mins on and off seawatching plus at least 8 inshore outfalls/harbour
Little Gull - just two sightings of single adult
Meadow pipit - at least 10 North
Pale-bellied Brent Goose - peak of 32 (mid pm off Knowlys on tideline)