Sunday 25 May 2008

Just the one Black Guillemot

Anyone who has not picked up a copy of the 2007 Heysham Obs report, they will hopefully (!) be on sale at Leighton for £2-50 in the next day or two and also available again at the nature reserve office for £2-00. Sorry for the temporary unavailability between the print-runs.

Heysham Obs
After the consensus that yesterdays bird was a passing 2CY and not the belated return of last year's female, it was perhaps not a surprise to see it had moved on this morning (or at least not present during the low tide period to 1000hrs)

North harbour wall area 0615-1000hrs
Black Guillemot - just the usual male
Arctic Skua - dm out towards Fleetwood at 0955hrs
Goosander - male in, close inshore - a rare bird here!
Kittiwake - 3
Gannet - 12
Arctic Tern - 3
Sandwich Tern - 10+
Common Scoter - 3
Guillemot - 2
Greylag - 1 in
Swallow - 15NE
Swift - 8NE
House Martin - 1NE

Afternoon seabirds
Not sure whether Heysham was covered at all, but JBP produced:
Arctic Skua - 4 distant birds - nothing to suggest they might not be this species but morph not possible to determine
Common Scoter - 40

Butterflies
The first Small Copper being buffeted around in the NE gale - also Holly Blue in NE corner. Common Swift was new in the moth trap

Elsewhere
Negative so far on EM Pool Pec Sand but the Aldcliffe Temminck's Stints were belatedly located on the Wildfowlers Pools at c1400hrs