Common Tern heads meagre fare

Heysham Obs
A calm early evening sent the Black Redstart on its way, then a horrible wet northerly overnight and well into the morning knocked any seabird movement on the head.  There didnt seem to be any migrant landbirds (but you only need one at this time of year e.g. just across the bay)

Offshore
Sandwich Tern - 3

Outfalls
Common Tern - 1
Kittiwake - 2CY

Mystery raptor heads quality not quantity over the sea

Heysham Obs
Little Tern was a tangible new reward for sea-watching and only seen because we had run out of milk (which also deserved a short detour!). The early morning slot on the sea was not very mathematically challenging with no lines of Gannet or swarms of Kittiwake.  The mystery slot was a raptor picked up high 'over Roa Island' which then proceeded to head south-east with a projected landfall along the north Fylde coast.  Too far away to identify, it was not too far away to look interesting with a 'noticeable tail' and fairly broad wings not looking 'quite right' for any of the usual options of Marsh Harrier/Common Buzzard/Osprey.  Anyone know anything about what appears to be a stationary (therefore birds?) survey vessel anchored in the Lune deeps, especially as they would surely have had a good view of the raptor?

North harbour wall 0550-0725
Black Redstart - by the Twite feeding area from the word go
Pomarine Skua - light morph adult in at 0600 was a good start - downhill thereafter - c1 mile range
Arctic Skua - distant dark morph in at 0615, close (darkish) intermediate morph in at 0638
Kittiwake - 2CY 'out'
Arctic Tern - flock of 5 out
Sandwich Tern - 7 blogging, one in

North harbour wall 1030-1115hrs
Sandwich Tern - c20
Arctic Tern - c15
Little Tern - 2 slowly 'out' with the above
Raptor - see above, first seen c1045hrs
Gannet - a line of 15-17 very distant birds
Black Redstart - still there 1116hrs & further very close views at 1330hrs seemed to indicate 2CY female
Kittiwake - 2CY out

More seabirds and the ultimate late-afternoon reward

Heysham Obs
Unfortunately Heysham remained squall-free over a large part of the tide and this reduced birds to a trickle after a promising start - indeed Orange Tip butterflies were on the wing in the nearby Nature reserve!  These ameliorated conditions did allow the Black Redstart to forage regularly out in the open.  Then persistence paid off as a final seawatching stint saw a close Long-tailed Skua displaying its lengthy tail-streamers as it headed into the bay

Black Redstart - seen in same area as yesterday and later down the Twite feeder area regularly 0730-1330 at least
Wheatear - one large male

Seawatching 0700ish to at least 1630ish on and off with relatively little seen after 1100ish except for six individual skuas of four species & a small influx of Manx Shearwater during the afternoon!
Long-tailed Skua - superb adult with full tail streamers headed relatively close in at 1522hrs (as I was sat in the office!!)
Kittiwake - flocks of 43+68+225+28+21+30 in no particular order, plus a handful on singletons
Pomarine Skua - two together at c0715, one at 1200 - all lm ads heading in (& Rossall timing suggests one slipped through during a short period when there was no observation)
Arctic Skua - 7 lm and 4 dm, all 'in'
Bonxie (Great Skua) - one in c0720, one in 1345hrs
Skua spp - one distant, probably Arctic, one distant unidentified.
Fulmar - 3
Gannet - difficult - probably c190 'out' but possibly more than this in total (c100 in)
Sandwich Tern - at least 60 out, especially early on
Arctic Tern - dribs and drabs heading out throughout - c27, mainly early on
Manx Shearwater - no 'push' due to the lack of squalls with just 9 seen until a relatively concentrated scatter of 17 late afternoon
Red-throated Diver - 2+1 out
Whimbrel - 5
No auks!

Outfalls
Kittiwake - 2 x 2CY

Fisher's roof
1,120 large gulls, mainly 2CY Herring, at high tide but also including nesting birds which must have felt their privacy being invaded!

The perfect early morning on the local patch

Heysham Obs
Decent sea-watching coverage this morning and a decent passerine just by turning your head round at the same spot!  Surprisingly few birders around for a Sunday and the recent seawatching goodies

Taken by Pete Cook.  Thanks for these

North harbour wall
Sea-watching from 7.15 to 1115 am produced: 

Pomarine Skua - 1 light morph landed on the sea at 9.55 am, a distant light morph skua heading in at about 1035hrs was almost certainly this species

Arctic Skua - at least 5 - a dark morph flew in at 8.00 am, 2 light morphs flew in at 8.55 am, another dark morph flew in at 9.15 am and light morph in at 1040hrs.  At least one other from another observer?

Great Skua - 1 flew out at 8.40 am, 1 flew in and landed on the sea at 9.40 am 

Gannet - 182 flew into the Bay between 7.15 and 8.30 am, then probably a similar number (but not counted) flew back out from 8.30 am onwards. 

Kittiwake - 224 flew into the Bay, including flocks of 90, 80 and 20 

Red-throated Diver - 1 flew out 

Also offshore: 2 Guillemot, 3 Common Scoter, 20+ Sandwich Tern, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Whimbrel. 

Sea-watch from 10.45 to 11.15 produced only 1 Red-throated Diver flying in, 2 Guillemot and 1 Whimbrel. 

Outfalls
Med Gull - original 2CY
Kittiwake - usual 2CY

Landbirds north harbour wall
Wheatear - large male in sandworks, another earlier when the Bk Red appeared
Black Redstart - female type on the gravel between the narrow section of road and the Centrica fence from 0715hrs until Sunday population pressure took its toll (including child with escaping balloon) and it melted away about 1045hrs
Linnet - seemingly three pairs in the gorse on the mound (SD36V)

Successful targeting

Heysham Obs
A visiting couple jammed in nicely on their target as a couple of Pomarine Skuas were located on the sea as the tide started to flow and then gave a flying display as they headed into the more murky conditions towards Grange - all after being there for just five minutes.  Sometimes seawatching can be so 'easy' - Fea's type Petrel 30 minutes into my first ever Bridges of Ross seawatch comes to mind - but a lot of the time it is like watching paint dry (e.g. the first hour this morning!).  Then just as I was about to give up and do other pressing things, my own 'target', Fulmar, meandered about for 10 minutes before slowly making its way out of the Bay.

North wall 0645-0730, 0845-0945, 1110-1120
Sandwich Tern - c8 out
Pomarine Skua - two LM adults on at 0855, then flew slowly and low towards Grange at c0905
Fulmar  - one slowly out at 0930
Kittiwake - flock of 21 in
Razorbill - one on

Half an hour mid pm after weather front (all out)
Arctic Skua - close flock of 3 dm & one lm
Manx Shearwater - 17
Gannet - c10

Outfalls
Med Gull - 2 x 2CY - one with black head
Kittiwake - 2CY
No terns

Good start then blocking low cloud in the mouth of the bay, improvement in the afternoon

Heysham Obs
Three species of skua in the first 15-20 minutes, then after about an hour conditions went a bit pear-shaped with lingering low cloud in the mouth of the bay.  Observations from the mouth of the bay suggest that an earlier start would have been a good idea!  A 1st summer Great Northern Diver on the sea was a nice bonus but an absolute pain to keep track of as it stayed under for up to 2 minutes!

North wall 0725-up to 1830 intermittently
Great Northern Diver -  1st summer on the sea, actively feeding c0800-0815hrs, then presumed to have gradually headed in with the tidal flow
Pomarine Skua -adult light morph in at 0742 and showing really well as it chased an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, another fairly close light morph in late afternoon
Arctic Skua - dark morphs in in quick succession 0731 & 0734, then one dark morph in at c0935hrs
Bonxie  one in beyond the sandbank, then on 0738
Skua spp - one very distant 0815 prob a dark Arctic, flock of 5 including at least one light morph (prob Poms), again very distant, in, then apparently on at c0830
Kittiwake - flock of 55 adults in, usual 2CY outfalls, flock of 40 adults out then on early evening
Razorbill - one out, then on
Sandwich Tern - c30 out
Arctic Tern - 2 in
Common Scoter - c15 in
Gannet - at least 30 including flock of 6
Little Gull - ad & 2CY out early afternoon (thanks Andy)
Male and female Eider this afternoon off north wall.(Janet)
Manx Shearwater - at least 33
Fulmar - 1


Outfalls
Med Gull - usual 2CY
Kittiwake - usual 2CY
Wheatear - 3 scattered along Ocean Edge
Common (1) and Arctic (2) terns on outfalls at high tide

Gulls
Loads of them on the skeers and nearby mudflats (& 650 roosting on Fisher's roof) mainly immatures and mostly 2CY Herring.  c1,250 in a single sweep off the north harbour wall at low tide this evening - the biggest concentration of large gulls I've seen in this area since the rubbish tip days

Redstart in Black Redstart 'habitat'

Heysham Obs
Thanks to the International Ornithological Association for informing us quickly about the Lesser Redpoll bearing a cagebird ring which was caught here two days ago.  It was ringed as a aviculturally-reared nestling in Chelmsford, Essex in 2011 but we don't know when it escaped.

North harbour wall
Redstart - female on the fence by the lorry park was definitely this species!  It flew across the road, re-landed and then headed towards the half moon bay cafe area
Wheatear - three making their way along the north wall
Absolutely nothing of interest offshore

Ocean Edge/Red Nab/outfalls
Med Gull - 2CY-looked like the one from previous days
Kittiwake - the long-staying 2CY
Common Gull - c210
Black-headed Gull - just 3

Pre-frontal coverage highlighted by Wood warbler

Heysham Obs
An early assessment on arrival suggested a single sheltered mist net and a bit of vis mig, followed by a quick check of the sea.  In the end, the constant threat of 'proper' rain saw the net being taken down after 30 mins and the rest of the area given a bit of coverage .

Thanks to Professor David Norman for getting back to me over yesterday's close-ringed Lesser Redpoll.  The reason David was familiar with the format on the ring can be found here  http://www.davidnorman.org.uk/MRG/Siskin%20moult%20extremes.htm 

It was ringed under the auspices of the International Ornithological Association (hence IOA on the ring).  The 11 refers to 2011 along with the deep blue base colour year-code.  The IOA were in contact today and will provide a town/village location (but obviously not the private address of the aviary) for the above bird.  If anyone wants to have a look at their website access the following link:
http://www.ioa-com-uk.org/main_page.html

The conversation with the IOA secretary included problems they have complying with the letter of the law re-Lesser Redpolls.  Their legal documentation refers to Carduelis flammea pre-split (which is now, of course, the separate species Common Redpoll) and the legislation has not caught up, therefore in theory they cannot legally exhibit Carduelis cabaret = Lesser Redpoll.  Maybe it will be sorted just as they are re-lumped! Thanks to IOA for getting back to us and setting in motion tracing the origin of this bird

They also confirmed that last year's close-ringed Lesser Redpoll (caught 25/3/12) was of French origin with the last two letters of the WOF code = ornithologiste francais (or spelling thereabouts!)...........but were not sure what the 'W' stood for.

Office area vis 0545-0615
Tree Pipit - 2 north
Lesser Redpoll - rather a lot but not possible to ring them this morning and a lot of the registrations were heard only.  At least 10 separate registrations including one flock of 5 and absolute minimum of 20 birds.
Reed Bunting - a very late individual flew high to the north
Goldfinch - 5 north
Swallow - 17 NE

Grounded
Wood Warbler - Singing male in the copse over the road from 0605-0610 only
Willow Warbler - At least 20 migrants, seemingly including at least three males (snatches of song).  Moved rapidly inland as is typical for this species at this time of year - almost certainly several/a lot passed through prior to arrival
Chiffchaff - one presumed migrant caught

North harbour wall/Ocean Edge vis intermittently 0620-0800
Yellow (flava) Wagtail - one north 0720hrs
Swallow - 117 north along the seawall 0620-0640 but much lower numbers thereafter/the flightline changed
Sand Martin - 2 north
Whimbrel - noisy flock of 16 heading north at 0640, 2 singles thereafter
Goldfinch - 6 north
No terns or any other seabirds seen in flight!

Grounded
Wheatear - 4 together by the sandworks 0620, flew inland along the seawall, just 2 on Ocean Edge.  All 'large'
Whinchat - female heliport area
Willow warbler - two on the mound in the gorse
Turnstone - c260 - very noisy and restless and may have included some incoming migrants
Guillemot - one on the sea

Cagebird migration

Heysham Obs
In a rush-more later.  An 'ultramarine' blue closed cagebird ring on a 'migrant' Lesser Redpoll today - the second cagebird ring in two springs.  This one was (white lettering) 10A (first line vertically),11 (second line vertically) then horizontally B1994.  Any ideas?  Thanks.

Office area
Trickle of swallows - c15 per hour. No other vis recorded other than ringed redpolls
Lesser Redpoll - 12 plus the above plus yet another 'proper' control, this one on the sequence starting D250
Willow Warbler - small fall first thing with 13 ringed
Blackcap - couple of unringed females may have been local at a rarely used net site

Inshore
Very poor over the sea
Arctic Tern - 7 in
Sandwich Tern - 35 or so blogging/out
Whimbrel - 1
Meadow Pipit - one north!
Swallow - steady stream from early on (figures later)

Butterflies - mass emergence!

Red Nab, 2 linnets

Seawatching persistence pays off with the first Black Terns of the year

Heysham Obs
Land-bird coverage comprising CES mist nets and the ones by the office was unremarkable in the rather adverse weather conditions (south wind and medium-height cloud|) although another Lesser Redpoll control materialised and nesting female Chaffinch on the CES section also bore a ring from elsewhere (X887 sequence).  A good spring for 'controls' making up for the lack of warblers. 

Office area dawn to 1030hrs
Circumstances did not permit any vis mig coverage whilst carrying out the ringing this morning c/f absence of Tree Pipit c/p everywhere else.  Lesser Redpoll numbers an estimate of those attracted down by a tape 
Goldcrest - very late female ringed
Grasshopper Warbler - male singing on tank farm/by the pond and another male further away very early am only - the former was caught and ringed
Lesser Redpoll - c25 through but only 6 caught (control was D191 sequence)
Swift - 2 north - first of year here
Lesser Whitethroat - 2 unringed birds caught
Once again, no discernable passage of Willow warbler with just two retraps caught
Outfalls/Red Nab/Ocean Edge
Med Gull - 2CY showing well - probably the same bird as the other day
Kittiwake - 2CY outfalls
Dunlin - 46 in summer plumage Red Nab
No visible waders along the incoming tideline looking south

Sea 0540-0640, then 0730-1015
Sandwich Tern - 102 out during the first hour, not counted thereafter but smaller numbers
Arctic Tern - flocks of 16+5+4 in early on
Common Tern - one out with Sandwich tern early on
Black Tern - 3 in (distantly) at 0830hrs
Whimbrel  - 5 in early on
Fulmar - one in
Manx Shearwater - 2+4 in
Gannet - 3 u-turning, 2 in
Pink-footed Goose - 50 in then landed on sea
Razorbill - one floated in
Guillemot - just one floated in
Little Gull - adult flew out
Red-throated Diver - s.p. bird in
Diver spp - one flew distantly in at 0615 and what was probably the same bird out at 0900hrs. Almost certainly not a

No skuas (astonishing c/p Rossall - were they flying above the observation level of the two Heysham observers by the time they passed here or did they all go through in the 'gap' between 0645 and 0730?) or Common Scoter!

Swallow - none during the first period - c280 north thereafter
Sand Martin - 1 north
No other 'landbird' vis mig recorded

Middleton NR, Snipe, Sedge Warblers.