Sunday 14 April 2013

Tropical maritime at last

Heysham Obs
Very different morning than of late with double-figure temperatures from the off, a 400ish moth catch to deal with first (at Millhouses - best Acleris literana) and pulses of rain as a slow-moving weather front appeared to be weakening on the spot

Apologies for the closed nature reserve gate - this is for security reasons and may be the case for another day or two

Mainly seawatching from the north wall 0720-1030
Red-throated Diver - 12+2+8+19+1+1 'in' - the flock of 19 quite high
Kittiwake - one flock of 12 'in'
Common Scoter - 22+ 5 'out'
Merlin - one rapidly 'in' over the sea at 0905hrs
Meadow Pipit - c25 'in' 0930-1030
alba Wagtail - c15 'in' 0930-1030
Rock Pipit - on off-passage along the seawall
Twite - 54 on the seed - all ringed
Golden Plover - flock of 5 'in', quite high, is most unusual here

Ocean Edge/Red Nab/outfalls
Black-headed Gull - 27 - all 2CY
Common Gull - 124, all but two 2CY
Herring Gull - 170, mainly imms

No terns at all - this is not unusual on windy days when the wind is coming from a southerly quarter

Moths
Early Grey new for the year