Work, rain and no proper coverage or trips to Margate

Heysham Obs
Not even a moth trap this morning as the light fitting was faulty

Outfalls
Med Gull - 2CY
Kittiwake - 2CY
Swallow - one north!

Mixed bag

Heysham Obs
Coverage today amounted to the Heysham NR CES, about 30 minutes of watching the sea plus a midday circuit of the mound area

Heysham NR
Willow Warbler - three presumed migrant females trapped and ringed very early on
No other evidence of movement other than a Swift and 2 House Martin heading NE

North wall/outfalls area
Shelduck - flock of 7 north (odd)
Black-headed Gull - flock of 12 2CY spiralled up Arctic-tern-style and headed north-east over Heysham Head (very odd - Scandinavia or Barden Res!)
Arctic Skua - very distant dark morph in at 0847hrs
Little Egret - one Red Nab
Whinchat - female Red Nab
Wheatear - ditto
Kittiwake - usual 2CY outfalls
Swallow - c70 north
House Martin - c15 north
Swift - 2 north
Linnet - N4 in 36V
No terns seen today  

No sea but seo

Heysham Obs
A 'first' was a session at Heysham without seeing the sea - a shame because the outfalls/offshore might have produced on the early morning incoming tide, especially with the huge squall covering the Bay.  Unfortunately survey work in deepest Yorkshire beckoned.  A bit of micrositing cloud movement led to a decision that the Middleton CES was viable by about half a mile!  It was a pretty good second CES session of the season for what is often a 'graveyard slot', undoubtedly assisted by the lateness of the year and even male Sedge Warblers still being on the move.  The first bird taken out of the nets was a British-ringed Sedge Warbler from elsewhere.

Middleton Nature reserve 0530-0915
Short-eared Owl - one was disturbed by gulls as they were gathering nesting material and flew a short distance before appearing to land on the high point towards Ocean Edge
Swallow - 17 north, mostly in last 20 mins
Reed Warbler - 6 singing males within earshot western/central marshes, two males caught were returning birds (ringed).  Unusually, one was singing full song whilst in the mist net and the other gave a burst of song whilst in the birdbag!
Lesser Whitethroat - presumed migrant male (wing length) caught
Sedge Warbler - 5 'new' birds caught, all but one presumed males on wing-length (but not recorded as such in ringing data before anyone queries!), including the British-ringed bird from elsewhere
Whitethroat - 3 ringed - at least one a non-territorial male

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