Thursday 30 April 2009

30 seconds in the morning and 15 minutes at high tide

Heysham Obs
Everyone is usually busy on a Thursday and today was no exception! Four very distant birds in poor silhoeutted light heading into the bay just before high tide may just have been skua spp.

Not a single tern reported today!

The conditions in the next few days are quite good for seabirds, although not (apart from perhaps Saturday's slack conditions) Arctic Tern, which specialises in easterly winds.

North wall am
A quick scan of the outer end of Stage One outfall to see if there were any terns followed by an even quicker scan of the low tide channel

Black Guillemot - sat in the low tide channel level with the north wall gate at 1045hrs

OE foreshore near high tide
Bar-tailed Godwit - 175, including the leucistic bird
Knot - 270
Whimbrel - 3
Wheatear - a good total of 24 OE/Red Nab etc.

Middleton IE
A singing Grasshopper Warbler in a new area

Elsewhere
At least one, perhaps two Tree Sparrow Heaton village - a well-known wintering site (courtesy of feeders) but no recent breeding season records