Monday 30 November 2009

Then there were two

Heysham Obs
Quick coastal check

Outfalls
Little Gull - 1 1CY

North harbour wall
No Twite (3 rabbits) - 24 there at 09.30, all ringed except one.
Purple Sandpiper - two together on the outer section of the wooden jetty
Med Gull - ad in harbour

Elsewhere
Long-tailed Duck, probably 1CY male, on a private pond at Sunderland 15th-26th November. 4 Snow Geese and 3 Whooper Swans Aldcliffe (& 11 Grey Partridge). Slavonian Grebe Pine lake and the Great Grey Shrike elusively at Dalton Crag

Sunday 29 November 2009

Easterly and rain......but too late

Heysham Obs
Moneyclose Lane saw an influx of Blackbirds with 15 in one loose flock plus a single Redwing, the first for a bit. Otherwise:

Outfalls
Little Gull - long-range scope views saw at least 2 1CY
Med Gull - adult on Red Nab
Guillemot - two in harbour

North harbour wall
Twite 27; 6 unringed, 2-3 uncertain, 18 or so ringed

Middleton IE
Little Grebe (1), Tufted Duck (5) Mallard (25 - high for here!!), Teal (27), Snipe (5), Pink-footed Goose (1) & Green Woodpecker

Elsewhere
Nothing by midday; even less by 1430 in driving rain

Saturday 28 November 2009

Calm weather pluses and minuses

Heysham Obs
The minuses were the lack of any sign of the Cetti's Warbler at Middleton IE and that there just appears to be one Purple Sandpiper around. The pluses were some Twite ringing conditions at last & lingering Little Gulls & Guillemot. Thanks to Malcolm, Jean, John, Mike & Alan for all records as moorland survey work in the first calm weather for ages beckoned

The other main point of interest today was, to quote Mike Watson on his excellent site (see Links): "I had a chat with the guys fishing at the outfalls and one of them said he had seen a white heron, the size of a Grey Heron and much bigger than the Little Egrets he sees 'regularly', at Ocean Edge on a week day sometime between 16-20 November - Great White Egret surely?"

Coastal areas
Red-throated Diver - one out
Little Gull - maximum of 4 1CY on the outfalls
Med Gull - adult around
Purple Sandpiper - one on the edge of Heysham One outfall on the dropping tide
Guillemot - one in harbour (the other in the underground reservoir?) - two in the afternoon
Twite - 37 caught, 20 were unringed and one was ringed at Askam-in-Furness in late October 2008 and previously caught at Heysham in early November 2008. The rest were ringed at Heysham in either 2008 or 2009. 7 were also on Ocean Edge saltmarsh but no lingering Linnet reported anywhere today for the first time this autumn. This is the usual pattern at this time of year.
Rock Pipit - 2
Skylark - one over Ocean Edge

Middleton
No Cetti's but the single Pink-footed Goose still there

Elsewhere
Quick visit to Pine Lake returning from work saw the Slavonian Grebe still present plus a 1CY Little Gull feeding on 'groundbait' next to some anglers! Location of the Slav assisted by corralling of the wildfowl by a speedboat into the NE corner (its been conspicuously AWOL during the rough weather, despite several careful searches)

Friday 27 November 2009

windy leftovers & a new Med

Heysham Obs
The ferry checking season is in full flow. In the next two months, the recommended time to visit this site should include observation of the incoming IOM passenger ferry which entails being in position on the north or south harbour walls by about 1140hrs. Now the SW winds are finally abating, the fare behind these ferries includes just about the only chance of Kittiwake & Little Gull (once the current lingerers gradually depart from the outfalls in the forecasted offshore winds) and usually the best chance to connect with a Med or two and, if you are very lucky, a skua. Freight ferries are a bit more of a timing lottery and usually preceded by an 'outgoer' which takes a big chunk of the birds off with it before they are close enough to identify!

Quick visits by three people produced the following (thanks Peter & Alan)
0830-0900 stage 2 outfall/NHW
Little Gull - 6 1CY & 1 Ad
Med Gull - NEW 2nd winter behind freight ferry
Gannet - ill-looking adult-type sat in the harbour entrance
Twite - up to 18

Lunchtime Stage 1 outfall, harbour area
Med Gull - adult Stage one outfall
Little Gull - 3 x 1CY Stage one outfall (presumably 'of the 6 earlier')
Guillemot - one in harbour

Elsewhere
Great White Egret - 3 in Leighton area at least Wednesday but only one has been roosting on the island in recent days. Four of the Snow Geese with the Aldcliffe Greylags this morning

Thursday 26 November 2009

Bad cloud morning

Heysham Obs
Clouds are important features of birding. Good clouds cover up the sun when its in your face, drop masses of Black Terns on inland waters and lead to otherwise stratospheric rare birds hitting the deck in front of your eyes. A few years ago, when the observatory ringing effort was concentrated in a few straggling bushes which now form the lorry park, three fruitless net rounds in crystal clear conditions were followed by the appearance of big black cloud, two drops of rain and a Wryneck (& Chiffchaff) in the nets. This morning was the turn of unhelpful clouds. These form orange expanses in the sky, in completely the opposite direction to the sun, and lead to dreadful light for observing seabirds. Hence this morning, even though the viewing direction was a sun-behind north-west, the sea area north of Barrow was hopeless, exacerbated by the rough sea and 'broken' background. A straggling flock of c40 Kittiwake was invisible in this sector and only seen when it appeared heading out to the south.

Previous comment on Leach's Petrel deleted - there was a little cluster in the NW with 3 off Blackpool 26th and one off Walney 27th plus a possible or two

North wall offshore passage 0900-0930
Kittiwake - c40 out in one straggling flock, 50% 1CY & one in during very brief mid pm seawatch
Red-throated Diver - one out

Behind freight ferry (would have been more but some birds joined outgoing ferry whilst still out of identifiable range)
Med Gull - 2 ads
Kittiwake - 7
Little Gull - 3 adult, 1 1CY

Behind IOM ferry (thanks to visiting birders)
Gannet - one adult - very scarce at this time of year
Kittiwake - c20
Little Gull - single figures, probably some of those already recorded

Outfalls area
Little Gull - c6 adult, c6 1CY, a majority of these on the inner 2/3 of Heysham 2 outfall [about 16 Little Gull in total for today]

Miscellany
Twite - 26 north harbour wall
Guillemot - two inner harbour, the only 'inshore' seabird

Elsewhere
Swallow Leighton Moss (one Levens Moss yesterday)

Wednesday 25 November 2009

A bit of attritional seawatching

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall and area 0930-1105/coastal areas mid-pm
Leach's Petrel - one in, then turning round, then in again x 2 just beyond the yellow buoys at 1058hrs - looked like a juv with well-marked GC bar & no obvious moult but difficult to retain in the scope! Disappeared into the bay.
Bonxie - one in at a vast rate of knots at 1003hrs
Little Gull - absolute minimum of 21 close inshore - observations suggested adults were gradually moving through - 9 x 1CY, 2 x 2CY, 10+ x adult, 6 of the 1CYs on outfalls mid-pm along with c6 ad/2CY. This is a typical difference in behaviour by a majority of ads & 1CYs
Kittiwake - ad stage 2 outfall pm, 12 behind the IOM ferry all flew into bay
Guillemot - one in harbour pm
Twite - c50 early on but clearly not impressed by the conditions & many of them disappeared

Elsewhere
Leach's Petrel flew over M6 near Yealand

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Offshore Little Gulls

Heysham Obs
A couple of whistle-stop visits to the coast at lunchtime and mid-afternoon, involving single scans of the sea area off the north wall, revealed no seabirds with the only additional registration worth mentioning being (?one of the earlier) Ad Little Gull on Heysham 2 outfall as the tide came in

North harbour wall - sea 0930-1000hrs
Little Gull - 3 adults and 1st W blogging off the seaward end of Heysham One outfall mid morning, then disappeared as tide started rising
Twite - 51
Med Gull - ad in harbour & different large adult on Red Nab mid-afternoon

Elsewhere
Great White Egret - singleton appearing out of Leighton roost, then west

Monday 23 November 2009

Leach's!!

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Leach's Petrel flew out along the north harbour wall, in view for 10 minutes, at c1430-1440. Thanks Sean!
Med Gull - 2 ads around
Twite - up to 82
Linnet - up to 15
No sign of any Shag or Purple Sandpiper in lengthy coverage

Ocean Edge/outfalls
No known coverage

Insects
Rather dozy worker wasp around the reserve litter bin - this is getting very late

Elsewhere
Single Great White Egret in the Leighton roost (pm)

Sunday 22 November 2009

More useless southerlies

Heysham Obs
Rather too long was spent searching the coastal areas this morning with very little reward

North harbour wall & area
Twite - c60 but very mobile
Med Gull - Czech adult around
Shag - single juvenile appeared from the inner bay 1145hrs & appeared to enter harbour (thanks Colin)
No sign of the Purple Sand or the Black Redstart.

Ocean Edge & area
Med Gull - large adult on mudflats near Stage 2 outfall

Middleton IE
Atrocious conditions for checking a windswept Middleton IE for Cetti's and no reports

Elsewhere
No news on anything much this weekend - have the Great White Egrets gone? At least one Cetti's (singing) still at Leighton causeway today.

Saturday 21 November 2009

First Cetti's confirmed

Heysham Obs
An early start and the red clouds backed by darker stuff to the west postponed the moth trap check and leisurely start in favour of pre-rain Heysham. Not too bad, although offshore scans before the tide started moving were completely fruitless. A 'probable' Cetti's Warbler on Middleton IE (two calls in 10 days in poor weather) was firmed up this morning by a single burst of song

North harbour wall
Shag - two juveniles in the harbour mouth, one of which sat on the harbour wall and revealed that it was unringed
Purple Sandpiper - one on the outermost bit of skeer under the wooden jetty (took some finding!)
Med Gull - one adult loafing around in the harbour
Twite - none at all until about 1015 when a flock of 66 & one Linnet materialised from the south. Two opportunities to check them on the seed revealed: two Askam-in Furness birds ringed autumn/winter 2008/9, 7 ringed here earlier this autumn, 8 ringed here autumn/winter 2008/9. This leaves a rather unexpected 49 unringed birds.
Starling - flock of 270 'in-off' then SE!
Rock Pipit - one heard, but no Meadow Pipit seem to be left

Ocean Edge foreshore
Lapwing - 160 - continuing the upward trend started last late autumn

Middleton IE
Woodpigeon - 26SE
Cetti's Warbler - Presumably the bird which was inconclusively heard calling twice in the last 10 days (location hampered by dreadful weather) gave a single burst of song (& a couple of calls) this morning alongside the 'no swimming pond' - the one immediately to the west of the model boat pond

Elsewhere
Nothing yet

Friday 20 November 2009

Whistle-stops

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall 0945-0955
Twite - 19
Med Gull - ad
Red-throated Diver - one out

Ocean Edge saltmarsh high tide
Too low to kick out any Jack Snipe
Snipe - 6
Twite - perhaps the same 19 as on the north harbour wall

Elsewhere
Nothing yet

Thursday 19 November 2009

Wet birds

Heysham Obs
Three well-spaced short checks of the sea/outfalls saw the wind far too far to the south for most of the day

North harbour wall
Twite - 9, 4+ unringed
Linnet - 4

Seawatches totalling 25 minutes
Pintail - flock of 5 out (never seen this species at rest in this area; invariably a product of (usually useless) wet & windy late autumn/winter seawatches)
Shelduck - 21+14 out

Elsewhere
Adult winter Spotted Redshank on the Regent road groyne (surely the 'usual' bird from north of the jetty displaced by rough seas and covered groynes?)

Wednesday 18 November 2009

In the tranquil zone.........just

Heysham Obs
Flat calm seas and a gentle breeze but what a lot of rain! Decent thrush fall with one or two other bits and bobs but no obvious sign of yesterdays Black Redstart

Heysham NR/Landscape strip
Blackbird - obvious influx with at least 80 birds
Song Thrush - 9 seen
Blackcap - female in the NR car park bramble
Chiffchaff - collybita-type along the NR top path

Coastal areas
Almost a complete blank with no obvious sign of any Twite or remaining food and just:
Med Gull - ad following dredger
..........worthy of note

Ringing returns
A Twite ringed on one of the two Heysham north harbour wall sessions this autumn was seen at Askam in Furness on 16th November - a north-westerly movement usually associated with the return passage (of western Scottish birds) in spring! Wonder if it was a Pennine bird doing a 180 degree migratory 'error'? Eddie Maguire at Machrihanish Bird Observatory on the Mull of Kintyre has also sent details of two of our birds which obviously bred in the vicinity with a few repeat sightings during summer/early autumn 2009.

Elsewhere
Nothing yet

Tuesday 17 November 2009

Unexpected surprise given the weather

Heysham Obs
A check to see what might have been blown in to the intake area of the harbour was halted half way to watch a Black Redstart being chased by a Robin by the old Fishers building (the derelictish blue one on the SE side of the harbour). Nothing storm blown appeared to be in the nooks and crannies or offshore.

Harbour area/north wall
Black Redstart - female/immature as above by trailer TL512 at 1215hrs - last seen disappearing into Fishers building
Med Gull - adult in flight
Twite - c10
Linnet - c5

Ocean Edge/Red Nab early morning
Rock Pipit - 2
Snipe - 4
Raven - 2 over SW

Late afternoon outfalls check
Little Gull - adult seaward end of stage one outfall
Med Gull - 2 adults, presumably including the above, seaward end S1O.

Elsewhere
Slavonian Grebe still Pine Lake

Monday 16 November 2009

North harbour wall battering

Heysham
North Harbour Wall
Mediterranean Gull - 1 adult
Linnet - 5 on seed
Twite - 9 on seed. 2/3 unringed.
No others in area - very strong wind/heavy rain.
(ajd)

Sunday 15 November 2009

Woodpigeons at last!

Heysham
We have recently lost a key vis migger and how we have suffered during this late autumn as (upland survey) work prioritised for the remainder of us on the dwindling number of suitable mornings. Fortunately Brian Yorke has nicely dovetailed with the unavailability at Caton Moor and Heysham and provided a good daily baseline of excellent counts from Hutton Roof to add to the partial-coverage 'cameos' from the rest of the sites. Fortunately Malcolm was out and about this morning and at last allowed us to make a contribution to the Woodpigeon conundrum e.g. why do our movements largely take place AFTER the main departure over Portland etc. of birds obviously migrating to the continent? Look at the thread on the LDBWS site and the various national vis mig sites (see Links, then they will give other Links!)

Middleton IE
Pink footed Goose - between 08.45 & 09.10 - 84(N), 33(S), 148(N), 160, 280, 320 (all N).
Wood Pigeon - 11, 8, 76, 6, 59 & 36 (all S)
Snipe - 1 plus 11 landed, 16 S.
Mute Swan - 2 plus 3 east
Coot - 4
Moorhen - 2
Little Grebe - 8
Tufted Duck - 1
Pochard - 1 M
Goldeneye - 1 M
Teal - 17
Mallard - 7

Ocean Edge
Jack Snipe - 1

Red Nab
Wigeon - 61

(thanks to Malcolm for the above)

Elsewhere
3 Great White Egret Leighton Moss. Slavonian Grebe Pine Lake. Black Redstart Cockersands

Saturday 14 November 2009

Twittering

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Twite - A nice build up of Twite this morning after a week of erratic low numbers. The maximum count involved 14 unringed birds on the seed and a more mobile mixed 'Twinnet' flock of c20
Med Gull - one adult in harbour

Ocean Edge etc
Little Gull - a 1CY was resting on the sea with Black-headed Gulls off Red Nab

Elsewhere
Great White Egret - 2 left the Leighton Moss roost and headed past JBP towards Humphrey Head. Slavonian Grebe still Pine Lake having avoided being WeBS counted yesterday!

Friday 13 November 2009

No obvious sign of Snow Bunting

Heysham Obs
No sign of the Snow Bunting during reasonably thorough search. No sign at all of any Purple Sandpiper despite careful search of the outer skeer along the base of the wooden jetty (location during last winter's habitual behaviour at this stage of the tide). The depression track of the one hitting us this evening is pretty useless - it looks too far to the south for any decent prolonged seabird winds....but only needs a little shift

North harbour wall
Rock Pipit - 1
Twite - 8 in situ early am and 12 psychic individuals which flew high to the north over Ocean Edge/Red Nab/outfalls undoubtedly 'hearing' that the food had just been put out (1215hrs). More seriously, the Twite are very mobile at the moment and these birds came from the south of Ocean Edge saltmarsh (which didnt appear to hold any Twite today), probably from the Lune Estuary. 13 Twite on the seed late afternoon
Linnet - 4
Med Gull - 1 ad
Pink-footed Goose - 140 + 130 NE 0730-0800
Meadow Pipit - 2

HNR Office 0905
Canada Goose - 1 SE!!

Elsewhere
Black Redstart just OOA at Cocker's Dyke (but visible from area boundary ramp?!) & Black Redstart still at Cockersands abbey farm. Great Grey Shrike near 'trig point' at Dalton Crag at least 1000hrs & 1130hrs. 3 Great White Egret into roost at Leighton Moss this evening (& one still Ribble/Southport area). Cetti's Warblers seen/heard along causeway & lower hide area (2 birds). No obvious sign of Slav Grebe on Pine Lake during WeBS count

Thursday 12 November 2009

Snow Bunting




Pics taken today by Lou Cross along the north harbour wall. Thanks Lou

Heysham Obs
The only sighting known about today was a Snow Bunting along the north harbour wall found by Lou Cross on a lunchtime walk. Pics imminent

Elsewhere
Black Redstart still Cockersands Abbey area. At least one Great White Egret Leighton Moss area. The third Cetti's Warbler of the autumn (heard yesterday) was trapped and ringed at Leighton Moss

Wednesday 11 November 2009

Blackcaps still around/moving through

Heysham
Ringing. New birds ringed as follows: Blackbird 2, Robin 2, Goldcrest 2 (where are all the others?), Greenfinch 2, Blackcap 2, Song Thrush 1, chaffinch 1, Long tailed Tit 8.

North Harbour Wall
Great Crested Grebe - 1, not so numerous here lately
Twite/Linnet - 5 only. At least 2 Twite, one ringed, the other unringed.
Pink-footed Goose: flocks of 60+60+70+250 north
Whooper Swan - 3 north
Merlin - female 'in-off', then SE
Snipe - 2 on half-moon bay

Middleton IE
Mute Swan - 2
Little Grebe - 2
Goldeneye - 1
Tufted Duck - 5

Insects
Red Admiral - 2 flying along NHWall to SW

(all ajd)

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Sheepdog trial

Heysham Obs
A manic mutt in the 'collie type thing' category spent 10 minutes trying to round up an Oystercatcher flock off Ocean Edge. It must have run about 5 miles before returning to land. Seen in flight were:

Bar-tailed Godwit - 2
Little Egret - 2

North wall late afternoon
Czech-ringed adult Med Gull

Elsewhere
Black Redstart still at Cockersands

Monday 9 November 2009

Heysham
Green Woodpecker - 1 still around in the obs tower/tank farm area
Raven - 1 calling from transmission tower

North Harbour Wall
Peregrine Falcon - 1 troubling Knot below north wall
Linnet - 5 trapped and ringed
Twite - 5 retrapped and 19 new birds ringed (by 14.30!), after day-long struggle with equipment and unwanted but probably well-meaning visitors.
(all ajd)

Elsewhere
Black Redstart - f/imm between Cockersands CP and Bank End

Sunday 8 November 2009

Heysham
North Harbour Wall
Twite - 7 in one flock, c18 in another possibly mixed Linnet/Twite flock. None trapped owing to continual visits to area from humans and dog.

Inshore
Little Egret - 2 Red Nab
Kingfisher - one outfalls
Guillemot - 2 still in harbour - when they went AWOL previously=when they were a regular winter fixture, they were in the underground reservoir by the intake from which they can get in and out on high tides but are 'trapped' on neap tides. We ringed 6 (including one of the nominate northern form - blacker back, longer bill etc) during 'rescue' operations with a landing net, which fell foul of about 20 pages of prohibitive risk assessment and the discovery they could get out on the high tides

Middleton
Pink footed Goose - 1 on "no swimming" pond
Mute Swan - 4
Teal - 14
Tufted Duck - 4
Mallard - 5
No Snipe present

Elsewhere
Great Grey Shrike back at Dalton Crags but absent from the usual area in the afternoon. The colour-ringed Great White Egret seems to have moved south to the Ribble, leaving 'just' two in the Leighton roost

Saturday 7 November 2009

Ornithological SAD

Heysham Obs
'Nothing moving' was the chorus this morning and, in the case of Twite and Guillemot, nothing seen.

North harbour wall
A 30 minute seawatch produced a few beer cans and c6 assorted common seagulls
Cormorant - 43 on wooden jetty
No sign of any small waders on the wooden jetty
Med Gull - one adult

South of the harbour
Kingfisher - TWO on outfalls
Little Egret - one OE saltmarsh
Jack Snipe - one OE saltmarsh

Elsewhere
Nothing yet on LDBWS site

Friday 6 November 2009

The Rain Finally came about 1o'clock

Heysham
Snipe - 2 flushed from the far marsh.

Norht Harbour Wall
Linnet - 1 on freshly replenished niger was the only passerine seen in the wet & windy conditions!

Herring Gull - 1 unfortunate individual flying with one leg virtually severed above the tarsal joint.
(ajd)

Thursday 5 November 2009

A dinosaur looks at birds...eventually

Heysham Obs
Belated appearance (anyone around first thing?), following a 'meaning of life' session adding scart, freeview and digital to the vocabulary. Preceded by a bit of home-based vis, so no early morning coverage here in surprisingly calm conditions

North wall
Med Gull - one adult
Guillemot - 2 in harbour
Twite - just 5 seen

Ocean Edge
Rock Pipit - 1
Bar-tailed Godwit - 4 at high tide
Kingfisher - 1

Elsewhere
Early morning vis included 16 Bramblings west over High Tatham and 9 over Hutton Roof

Wednesday 4 November 2009

A quieter day

Heysham Obs
North wall 0915-0950
Little Gull - 1CY out distantly
Razorbill - 2 out
Birds - a swirling mass of about 50 near the windfarm were probably Kittiwake
Twite - 35

Ocean Edge 0950-1000
Rock Pipit - 1

Quick afternoon check
Pink-footed Goose - 23 N
Little Gull - 1CY on outfalls (yesterdays bird)
Med Gull - 2 adult north wall/harbourmouth
Guillemot - at least one harbour

Elsewhere
3 Great White Egret EM Pools. Pine lake Slavonian Grebe not seen during check in very poor end of day light.

Tuesday 3 November 2009

Good seabird variety

Thanks Dan for this pic of the two long-staying Guillemots in the SW corner of the harbour

Heysham Obs
Rather atypical at this time of year, as opposed to late winter/spring passage, was a significant number of Kittiwake, plus a few half-decent bits and bobs

North wall 0900-0945, 1015-1130
Great Northern Diver - one out c1050hrs
Kittiwake - flock of 63 lifted off the sea, swirled around, landed on sea & floated into the bay. 215 'out' during the morning. Flock of 18 'in' during pm, then 55 'in' behind a freight ferry. Just like the old days!
Arctic/Pomarine Skua - very dark juvenile at 1030 which was chasing Kittiwakes and appeared on size & jizz to be more likely an Arctic but too distant to be sure (Jean & Dan). Landed on the sea/disappeared low behind troughs. Definitely not the Bonxie.
Razorbill - 5 out
Pintail - flocks of 10+18 out
Red-throated Diver - 1 out & one sp, prob this, out
Shelduck - 29 out (4 flocks)
Med Gull - two adults around, one Czech-ringed
Guillemot - two in harbour, one out
Bonxie - one very distant, but definitely this species of skua, 'in' at 0920hrs
Twite - 26 with 16 unringed
Wooden jetty: Definitely no Shag & no sign of any Purple Sandpiper or indeed Turnstone!

Ocean Edge/Red Nab/outfalls
Kittiwake - one ad
Little Gull - ad & 1CY
Twite - c5
Elsewhere
Fence-hopping Snow Geese still on EM Pool but no reports of any Great White Egret today or the Pine Lake Slavonian Grebe. Small westerly movement of thrushes between showers at High Tatham with 230 Redwing and 145 Fieldfare 0745-0815hrs

Monday 2 November 2009

A 'first of the autumn' morning

Heysham Obs
Just a quick run round the coastal sites with 30 minutes seawatching from the north wall 0845-0915 & an even quicker look at lunchtime

North wall
Med Gull - ad in flight
Purple Sandpiper - one on the seawall by the gate, flew towards wooden jetty
Goldeneye - female/imm flew 'in'
Shelduck - 85 (6 flocks) 'out', first movement of the autumn
Pintail - 16 + 31 'out' (as above)
Twite - c13
Linnet - 2+

Ocean Edge/outfalls
Little Gull - 2CY early on, 2 x 1CY lunchtime
Wigeon - 45
Twite - c25 on saltmarsh
Linnet - c20 on saltmarsh

Elsewhere
3 Great White Egret coming out of the Leighton Moss roost this am, Cetti's singing by the LM causeway grit trays, flock of c60 Kittiwake off JBP

Sunday 1 November 2009

Weather whirlpool

Heysham Obs
A quick race round in terrible weather was actually worth it! Juvenile Shag are not the major twitch/photo (or indeed video) fest they are on the Fylde, but they have been thin on the ground here this autumn.

Ocean Edge foreshore
Wheatear - One still on Ocean Edge foreshore - now on the winter atlas!
Shag - one juvenile on the sea off the SW corner of Ocean Edge - most unusual - usually around the harbour
Twite/Linnet - flock of c20 with at least 3 of each

North wall
Med Gull - one adult in flight
Twite - at least 20
Linnet - at least 10
Ringed Plover - 8 on the old heliport

Outfalls etc after the switch to WSW7-8 at c1230
Little Gull - 2CY & 1CY on stage 2 outfall, adult flying out of bay - quick response to the weather!
Kittiwake - 2 x 1CY off the north harbour wall
The IOM ferry may have assisted in producing these birds so quickly

Middleton IE
Jack Snipe - 1


Elsewhere
Slavonian Grebe Pine Lake, 3 Great White Egret Leighton area & also in roost