Manx Shearwater day

Heysham Obs
Fulmar used to be 'bread and butter' on spring-autumn seawatches, but are now scarcer than Manx Shearwater and missing the solitary individual this morning could indeed be costly in the local year-list stakes.  How things have changed.

North harbour wall 0600-0930
Manx Shearwater - 179 out
Razorbill - at least 18 in/out
Guillemot - 24 out
Auk spp - at least 25 in/out
Gannet - 11 in, 8 out
Sandwich Tern - 32 out
Arctic Tern - 23 in/out/blogging, 70 out in a wadge heading for the outfalls at c1030hrs
Little Gull - 2 adult out
Kittiwake - 2+7+4+43+4 'in' and low singles (of these?) out
Red-throated Diver - 5 in, 8 out
Fulmar - one out
Common Scoter - 4 in
Whimbrel - 4 in
Bar-tailed Godwit - 15 out
Common Sandpiper - 1

Red Nab/outfalls
Common Gull - 165
Arctic Tern - 25, 6 of these flew inland over Ocean Edge

Heysham NR office area
Lesser Whitethroat - 2 singing males
Grasshopper Warbler - singing male in tank farm

Moth
Single Early Grey - not common here

Mammal
Harbour Porpoise offshore

Arctic Tern spectacular continues

Heysham Obs
Difficult to know what the landbird situation was this morning as it was too windy for general migrant ringing although one of the office nets was manageable for a few Lesser Redpolls attracted to the nyger feeder mid-morning

Office area
Lesser Redpoll - up to 11 on the nyger seed - 6 ringed in a short session
Lesser Whitethroat - two singing males either side of the office
Redstart - female on fence by office - flew towards tank farm
Willow Warbler - gang of three presumed migrants
Meadow Pipit - 3 south
Tree Pipit - 2 together north

Red Nab/Ocean Edge/outfalls
Arctic Tern - 224 on outfalls at lunchtime
Little Gull - one 3CY and two adults on outfalls
No Wheatear seen  One male later seen on Red Nab(Janet)

North wall seawatching for about 1.5hrs
Sandwich Tern - 15 out
Arctic Tern - c40 in addition to the outfalls birds - mainly blogging/feeding
Gannet - 2 ad & one imm
Common Scoter - 10 in
Auk spp - 4 out, one in
Razorbill - one out
Kittiwake  30+16 in
Little Gull - 3CY out (not the outfalls bird), ad out

Twite
Two ringed (winter 2011/12) and one unringed bird seen (& 8 Linnet)

Mammal
Grey Seal

A few odds and ends, but wind due south and unremarkable for landbirds

Heysham Obs
.................but can you say this at this time of year when you roll up at the late hour of 0655hrs?

Due to computer problems at home, it my not be possible to publish some of the later sightings until the following day.

Sea 0700 to about 1130hrs (inc outfalls)
Arctic Skua - 3: dark morph in 0705, one 'climbing up' and in at 0820, one in then out at 0925
Arctic Tern - up to 168 offshore with a further c95 already on the outfalls
Sandwich Tern - in contrast to the above all 18 were purposefully 'out'
Gannet - 3 in
Manx Shearwater - 2 out
Red-throated Diver - 3 out
Kittiwake - just the one in!
Guillemot - one out
Common Scoter - 11+c50+ 40 out
Little Gull - 3 adults out, 2 adults and one 2CY outfalls
Turnstone - c140 on wooden jetty
nearby there was no sign of any Twite but up to 6 Linnet and 2 Goldfinch on seed

Ocean Edge area
Marsh Harrier - not sure of the initial flightline of this bird - first picked up over the sheltered accommodation (ex-Pontins) whence it headed rather low to NE - maybe Fylde birders can enlighten (c0800).  A cream-crowned bird with small bits of yellow on the leading edges. Please can we have an Osprey instead (these are usually commoner than MH over here).
Bar-tailed Godwit - 403 on the tideline
Dunlin - 230 on tideline
Knot - only 17 on tideline
Grey Plover - 35 on tideline
Whimbrel - a singleton, followed by flock of 7 flew north, later 4 in off the north wall

Vis mig (northboundish)
Not conscientiously recorded
Meadow Pipit - 11
Lesser Redpoll - at least 6
alba Wagtail - 4
Goldfinch - 5

Middleton NR
A late afternoon visit in the sunshine (5.30 - 6.20 pm) revealed a small fall of migrants in the trees and bushes around the small square pool just west of the Boating Pool, including 1 male Whinchat, 20+ Willow Warbler, 2 male Blackcap, 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Common Whitethroat and 1 Chiffchaff. Interestingly no Sedge Warblers were seen or heard.

Jay - 3 flew over the Boating Pool towards Moneyclose Lane.

Also 30 Swallow and 2 House Martin.

Twite
Still 6 on the seed, all ringed

Lesser insomnia

Heysham Obs
A 0500hrs alarm seemed early enough to catch and ring some of the Lesser Redpoll passage.  The reality was at least 25 birds passing over before sunrise and certainly before the mist nets were set!  A few other passed through later in the morning but the ringing was rather meagre

Best bird today was a Blue Tit in SD36 on the mound!

Outfalls/north wall
Twite - 14 on arrival, all very noisy - 5 flew off over the sea at about 0700hrs and this left 8 which were very restless and last seen sitting on top of the 'gasometer'.  Surely their last day in calm sunny weather? Still 14 on seed at lunchtime
Arctic Tern - flock of 43 in, c30 blogging & 60 on the outfalls
Sandwich Tern - 37 'out'
Common Scoter - 6
Gannet - 3
Little Egret - one flew 'out', it or another appeared later 'in-off' then inland
Red-throated Diver - 1
Whimbrel - one heard
Little Gull -
Blue Tit - one working its way inland

Vis mig early-mid morning
Lesser Redpoll - 30-40 NE
Siskin - at least 10 NE (3 lots)
Common Buzzard - probable off-passage wanderer circling over the golf course area
Woodpigeon - 11 E
Goldfinch - 15 NE
Meadow Pipit - 25 NE
Tree Pipit - 2 NE (one ringed)

Grounded early/mid-morning
Goldcrest - an extraordinarily late passage with 6 ringed (including 3 males which should be earlier than females!), one on the north wall mound, one at Middleton
Chiffchaff - 2 new ones ringed
Willow Warbler - small fall right at dawn with 2 ringed and 19 together in bushes around the Middleton no swimming pond
Sedge Warbler - 2 Middleton (overlap of this with Goldcrest very unusual)
Grasshopper Warbler - none heard at Middleton or on the tank farm

Waders
Knot - 500 on shore as seen from Ocean Edge
Bar-tailed Godwit - 165 as above
Grey Plover - 32 as above
Dunlin - c150 as above

Update from late morning:

Middleton NR

Warblers singing

2 Lesser Whitethroat

1 Common Whitethroat

15 Willow warbler

7 Chiffchaff

2 Tufted

3 Gadwall (1 male)

3 Little grebe

Ocean Edge/Red Nab

3 Wheatear

1 Little Egret

Outflows

97 Arctic Tern

3 Little gull (one 2CY)

1 Kittiwake

Moths
Powdered Quaker new for the year

Dribs and drabs and a few leftovers

Heysham Obs

Thanks Janet

North harbour wall 0720-0900
Arctic Tern - 141 (includes those on outfalls)
Little Gull - ad & 2CY
Kittiwake - flocks of 31 & 15 'in'
Guillemot - 2 in, one out
Common Scoter - 3 in, 3 out, one in, one on
Red-throated Diver - one out
Sandwich Tern - 1
Twite - still exactly 20 on seed, all ringed this last winter period
Linnet - 6 on seed (3  ringed)
Vis mig 'lumped' below

Office area & vis mig 0700-0930
Small passage of finches and residual Meadow Pipits as follows but coverage started rather late
Meadow Pipit - 25
Goldfinch - c40
Lesser Redpoll - c20 (9 ringed, one ringed elsewhere)
Linnet - 20
Twite - one north
Swallow - 16 north
Willow warbler - at least 3 migrants
Goldcrest - one late migrant

Elsewhere
Female Lesser Scaup, 2 Whinchat and a Redstart Borwick Fisheries

One of the memorable seawatches

Heysham Obs
This was all about a brilliant spectacle rather than an exciting species range.  The only downside was missing the first 10 minutes or so of weather clearance as 17 Little Gulls were seen flying close inshore as I was driving down to the sea-watch point and 38 passed in the first 3 minutes!

Seawatch 0725-1010
Little Gull - 140 (17+5+6+16+4+2+1+3+15+2+4+5+2+1+5+2+1+5+1+2+1+1+2+5+4+8+1+1+7 (singles)+11 (mainly singles)) out in a steady stream with most (70) prior to 0805hrs.  16 of these were 2CY.  The vast majority of the early birds were hugging the seawall and offering fantastic views. This is a record spring passage period count for here, bettered only by the occasional howling late winter gale
Kittiwake - 2+1+36+2+200+5+50+15+12 'in' -  the odd one going out not counted
Common Scoter - flock of 9 out
Gannet - 5 out
Manx Shearwater - one out
Razorbill - one out, one in
Guillemot - one close inshore + 3 out
Common Tern - one blogging for a short time
Arctic Tern - all 'out' -52 in mainly dribs and drabs
Sandwich Tern - 2+4+1+1+1+3 out
Bonxie (Great Skua) - one 'in' then down on to the water  at about 0815hrs, one in 1210hrs
Arctic Skua -  dark morph 'in', then climbed and flew NE high over Heysham Head at 0930hrs, one dm in 1150hrs
Pomarine Skua - lm out 1030hrs
Red-throated Diver - one
Meadow Pipit - c10 north

Outfalls
Arctic Tern - A check from Ocean Edge revealed 83 Arctic terns feeding on the seaward end and these could have included some of the 52 seen on the seawatch but definitely not c20 of those birds.  Therefore at least 100 seen this morning
Little Gull - at least 4 on
Wheatear - 4

Thanks for these, Janet - many more to come, I gather!

Just 9 Twite left on the seed late afternoon

very rapid posting

Heysham Obs
Early morning seawatch saw just one Little Egret north (later 2 around) and 20 Twite still on the seed.  Meadow Pipit = 36 in 30 mins, including group of 22, also 7 alba Wag and a Lesser Redpoll

Lunchtime seawatch saw no sign of any Twite but two distant Gannet out and two Sandwich Tern in
Guillemot on sea

Middleton NR saw a Common Sandpiper, male Redstart, c20 Sand martin and c10 Swallow but didn't have time to check the marsh area for...................

................Grasshopper Warbler singing in the tank farm next to Heysham NR office.  Also Lesser Redpoll north

Outfalls produced 13 Arctic Tern, one Common Tern and one Sandwich Tern and about 280 mixed gulls, including 120 Common Gull

Wheatear 2
Whimbrel - 1

A tale of two short seawatches

Heysham Obs

North harbour wall 0745-0830 and 1200-1300
Arctic Tern - 15 slowly 'out', one in during first period
Sandwich Tern - 2 out first period, one out second period
Little Gull - unexpected 25 out during second period (3 x 2CY), in dribs and drabs
Arctic Skua - two dm lifted off the sea briefly, flew in about 1 mile, then re-landed at about 1210hrs
Kittiwake - 3+1 in first period, 3 + 17 in second period
Meadow Pipit - a trickle during the first period (c10)

Onshore sightings north wall
Wheatear - 2
Twite - still 44 = all ringed
Linnet -3

Outfalls 1310hrs
Arctic Tern - 5
loads of large gulls

Velvet Scoter highlight

Heysham Obs
Coverage was a little 'bitty' today with no mist-netting to assist document what was obviously a reasonable. if not large, arrival of migrants, notably Willow Warbler and Wheatear.

Coastal areas/Middleton NR
Wheatear - at least 27
Willow warbler - at least 17 singing males
Sand Martin - c20 Middleton am
House Martin - one Middleton am
Swallow - c25/hr north in morning
Meadow Pipit - a trickle with c20 per hour north in morning
alba Wagtail - c15 per hour north in morning
at least 300 large gulls around the outfalls area on the incoming tide

Sea - hampered by early morning poor visibility
Velvet Scoter - male flew 'in' at 0745hrs
Red-throated Diver - just 3 seen
Sandwich Tern/Arctic Tern/Kittiwake - jsut singletons of each!
Auk spp - 2, but distant

Twite
Still at least 52 early morning, but no sign at lunchtime

Butterflies

Comma and Small Tortoiseshell seen as well today.  Thanks Janet

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