Maximum work, minimum birding

Heysham Obs
An 0700 start but straight to the computer rather than being tempted by the sea.  A short check at lunchtime revealed fractionally more than yesterday's zero, courtesy of some auks. Good numbers of Arctic Tern still 'off passage'.  Purple Sandpiper still around, or a migrant joining the Turnstones

Sea 1145-1215
Auk spp - 11 out
Razorbill - one out
Guillemot - one on
Turnstone - 140
Purple Sandpiper - one
Redshank - 45 on wooden jetty

Outfalls
Arctic Tern - 165

Moth
White-shouldered House Moth was an exciting addition to the year list

Med Gull, Bonxie and three figures of Arctic Tern but not a lot else

Heysham Obs
North wall 0600 intermittently to 1315hrs
Bonxie (Great Skua) - blogging, then flew in along Kent Channel c0625
Arctic Tern - 6 purposefully in before outfalls checked
Guillemot - one floated in
Managed one hour of seawatching (1015-1115hrs) without a single notable entry over and above Lesser Black-backed Gull, despite decent visibility

Outfalls/Red Nab
Mediterranean Gull - a 2CY was new in - winter plumaged head with a strong mask
Arctic Tern - 105, mainly seaward end Heysham 2
Common Gull - 175
Black-headed Gull - 15
Kittiwake - 1 2CY

Moths
Muslin Moth a surprise, also Herald of note

Saved by the Grasshopper Warbler

Heysham Obs
You don't normally organise a seawatching event in order to obtain excellent views of Grasshopper Warbler, the only grounded migrant on the mound/sandworks!

 

Thanks to Peter Last for these

The rest of it was dire with a northerly blocking wind not displaying any easterly element early in the morning.  The old saying - 'you should have been here (pick any other say this last week other than yesterday)..........or even tomorrow where there is a decent wind, plus a even more promising howling gale on Monday for a few displaced Manxies etc. We've had a really bad run of weather for events over the last twelve months.

North harbour wall
Grasshopper Warbler - present for at least two hours in the region of the 'gap' between the mound and sandworks, last seen in/under the sea buckthorn along the south-eastern corner of the sandworks
Swallow - 16 north
Arctic Tern - 96 accumulated on the outfalls but no movement until 1250 when 48 flew purposefully north
Sandwich Tern - 30 in
Auk spp - one out
Greylag - one in
Guillemot - 3 on
Willow Warbler - one late morning
Red-throated Diver - 4 out, one on
Kittiwake - adult behind the ferry
Little Gull - 2
Turnstone - 81
Siskin - 1
Linnet - at least 15 north
alba Wagtail - 2 north
Reed Bunting - late migrant north

Mammals
Harbour Porpoise - 1
Grey Seal - 1

Swallows

Middleton NR
A few left-overs from yesterdays fall plus newly-arrived residents including 2 singing male Grasshopper Warbler, 5 Common Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 30+ Willow Warbler
Gadwall - 2 males and female
Tufted Duck - 9
Little Grebe - 3

Outfalls
Kittiwake - 2 2CY

North harbour wall 0715-0830
Vis:
Swallow 64 - following the channel in
House Martin - 3 on the same line as the swallows
Meadow Pipit - 3 north
Linnet 1 - north
Goldfinch 1 north
Siskin - 2 north
Whimbrel - 1 heard, 3 heading towards Red Nab later

Seawatching:
Arctic Tern - 34 blogging

On the mound:
Dunnock - 1
Linnet - 5

Large fall finally documented!

Heysham Obs
Sorry for the late postings for today - not able to access the site Thurs pm or Friday

Clearly a few migrants around first thing prompting a mist net to be set.  Rain at this stage was very intermittent and virtually indiscernible.  This changed about 0930 with the wind turning westerly and some heavy drizzle and poor visibility heading in off the sea.  This dropped a further wadge of migrants on the north harbour wall and later to other places, including large numbers of Willow Warbler on Middleton.  A bit of seabird movement in the clearer weather first thing

Sea 0700-0725
Arctic Tern - 65 in
Sandwich Tern - minimum of 45 blogging/flying out - quite a contrast with yesterday
Arctic Skua - dark morph in at 0720hrs - another species absent yesterday
Razorbill - one on the sea

Heysham NR office area
Yellow Wagtail - male flavissima north
Tree Pipit - one north
Meadow Pipit - 3north
alba Wagtail - 6 north
Goldfinch - 15 north
Lesser Redpoll -at least 10 north (2 ringed)
Ring Ouzel - female around the office, then into the tank farm, then presumably the same high inland at 0735hrs
Willow Warbler - at least 40 migrants
Sedge Warbler - migrant ringed
Common Whitethroat - singing male passed rapidly through
The tank farm Grasshopper Warbler not heard, despite good conditions (heard two days ago).  Perhaps there isn't one in residence and two passage birds have been recorded

North harbour wall/south harbour wall
Wheatear - 18 on mound/sandworks, 6 south harbour, 11 Ocean Edge
Blackcap - female on mound, male and female near the 'wheel (thanks for the pics Janet)
Phyllosc - at least 15 scattered along the coast

Red Nab/Ocean Edge/outfalls
Arctic Tern - 34 roosting on Red Nab at high tide & another 6 on outfalls

Middleton NR
Grasshopper Warbler - at least 2 singing males
Sedge Warbler - ditto
Whinchat - at least one, probably 2 males by no swimming pond
Willow Warbler - 40+, including at least 15 around the CES area in central marsh
Blackcap - 5+
Gadwall - pair on model boat pond
Tufted Duck - at least 5
Swallow - 45 over ponds
House Martin - 3 over ponds

Thanks to the Ben My Chree

Heysham Obs
A decision to check the incoming ferry led to another bit of seawatching and the closest adult Pomarine Skua seen off Heysham.  The sighting also encapsulated the current theme.  The last two  days have seen a mixture of slightly displaced birds such as Gannet and Manx Shearwater plus migratory species such as Arctic Tern and Little Gull (and two skuas today) making no effort to head 'up and overland', other than perhaps one flock of Arctic this morning during a brighter sunnier spell.  Therefore 98% of the registrations today and yesterday were birds heading 'out' or 'blogging'.  Thanks to Matthew for assistance documenting this lot - hope you saw the Pom from the outfalls side!

Seawatching 0715-1130, 1200-1230
Bonxie (Great Skua) - one out at 1025hrs
Pomarine Skua - light morph adult out at 1208hrs - 50m from the seawall!
Manx Shearwater - 140 out
Red-throated Diver - 2 in, 2 out
Little Gull - 3 adult and 1 2CY out
Arctic Tern - after very few early on, the latter half of the seawatch saw a sustained passage of outbound birds, mainly in small flocks (305 counted).  Just one flock of c20 appeared to gain height and head inland and there were no sightings of birds flying into the bay in tightly cohesive flocks in 'migratory mode'  A very different year so far with this species and we have no idea how many of the recent birds are the same ones 'hanging about in the bay'.  In this respect, upto 100 were on the outfalls and area at lunchtime, following just 15 there early on
Gannet - still low numbers with just 8 seen
Kittiwake - 9 out, 4 in
Razorbill - 8 out
Guillemot - 7 out
Auk spp - 9 out
Amazingly, not one Sandwich Tern , unless the early morning observers forgot to give me the info!

Other north harbour wall sightings
Twite - one appeared to come in-off heading for the feeding station at 1110hrs.  The only one seen today (after none yesterday we are aware of)
Linnet - 6 on the remains of the seed
Goldfinch - 2 as above
No other vis mig as such

Mammals
One Harbour Porpoise early afternoon and a cetacean which may have been too large for this seen briefly in mid-morning

Moths
Emmelina monodactyla and (very belated) Double-striped Pug first for the year

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