Mottled Pug leads the way

Heysham Obs
Scraping the barrel for a headline, you might think, but Mottled Pug is pretty scarce here with under 5, perhaps under 3 previous.

May ringing totals
A bit dire.  Most of the Willow warblers were on one day, but the Lesser Redpolls just dribbled on and on as at many other sites.  Unfortunately a promising further catch of a flock of twelve was thwarted by a rat trying to the access the nyger feeder and spooking them!  Blackcap numbers this spring have been particularly dire.  Note the very late Goldcrest and unexpected 5 unringed Dunnock & Bullfinch.  Birds ringed elsewhere comprised 3 Lesser Redpoll (plus a cagebird from Chelmsford), two Sedge Warbler, single Chaffinch and Reed Warbler

Lesser Redpoll (53), Willow Warbler (26), Sedge Warbler (22), Whitethroat (16), Bullfinch (5), Chiffchaff (5), Dunnock (5), Chaffinch (4), Reed Bunting (4), Blackbird (3), Song Thrush (3), Lesser Whitethroat (3), Wren (2), Reed Warbler (2), Blackcap (2), Grasshopper Warbler (2), Spotted Flycatcher (2), Robin (2), Goldfinch (2), Long-tailed Tit (1), Blue Tit (1), Great Tit (1), Goldcrest (1), Garden Warbler (1).

Insects
Mother Shipton (3+) and Burnet Companion (2) together on 'plateau' - probably many others

Mottled Pug and Common Pug the only content of  the trap

Quiet CES visits as most of the summer migrants are incubating

Heysham Obs

Middleton NR 0430-0830!!
Lesser Redpoll - for the second day, one in song flight most of the morning and two others which flew north much higher up
Grasshopper Warbler - one singing very first thing
Swallow - flock of 6 purposefully north
Sedge Warbler - The French-ringed and British-ringed bird from elsewhere were both re-trapped today, indicating that they are breeding on site
Greenfinch - a quite 'old' fledged young was ringed
A single 4-spotted Chaser was flying at 0700hrs - it was 2 degrees C first thing!

Heysham NR CES
A few retraps and a single unringed Robin

Moths
Clouded Bordered Brindle was new for the year

Heysham NR afternoon, Burnet Companion and Mother Shipton.

Stalling creepy-crawlies

Heysham Obs
Still very slow in the cool north-westerlies and low single figure night temperatures

Heysham NR
Burnet Companion - single still on south bank along entrance road
Common Blue - 15-20 same area

Middleton early pm
Reed Bunting - 6 singing males
Grasshopper Warbler - one singing centre of western marsh
Four-spotted Chaser - 8
Common Blue Damsel - 1!
Azure Damsel - 3+
Blue-tailed Damsel - 2
Large Red Damsel - c10
plus about 25 unidentified teneral damselflies

Outfalls am
Med Gull - 2CY
Kittiwake - 2CY

Moth trap
Rustic Shoulder-Knot new for the year

Med Gull and Burnet Companion

Heysham Obs
More minimal coverage I'm afraid - maybe the 1000+ Spotted Fly at Portland today might encourage a bit of late coverage when the wind swings easterly in a day or so

Outfalls
Very quick check revealed the usual Med Gull 2CY on the beach

HN Reserve
At least one Burnet Companion (still) along the slope alongside the entrance road

Burnet Companion

Heysham Obs
A creepy-crawly circuit in an increasingly noticeable and cooling north-westerly.

Heysham Nature reserve
Long-tailed Tit - family party
Burnet Companion - one on the slope alongside the entrance road (east end)
Common Blue butterfly - c6 on above slope
Large Red Damsel - c6 on circuit
Blue-tailed Damsel - 2 on circuit
Speckled Wood - just one seen on circuit
Small Tortoiseshell - one
Large White - one male
Small White - 2
Orange Tip - 2
Green-veined White  3

Moths
Common Pug, Flame Carpet and a late Powdered Quaker 

MNR Drinker moth caterpillar

Treading water

Heysham Obs
Very poor coverage at the moment - sorry but everyone seems to be unavailable at the same time, so this is likely to be a rather intermittent/sparse run of postings for the foreseeable future

The only record of note today was two Four-spotted Chaser on Middleton

Twite surprise

Heysham Obs
Not usually given to rants but why do I pay for BT ""broadband"" when it takes up to 25 minutes to access this site.  Answer: shouldn't live at such as nice remote location out in the sticks.  I'm not around the Obs tomorrow so could someone else please post anything seen.  Thanks.

Ringing recovery
Alan has the details but there has been one of our Twite caught recently at Clachtoll, nr Lochinver - a population which mostly seems to winter on the east coast, including Orkney.  We have one previous involving this site.  ( This bird was captured by Tony Mainwood at one of his Clachtoll feeding sites on 16/05/2013 wearing our ring D137952.  It was ringed at Heysham Harbour as a juvenile female on 05/03/2013.  It is presumed to be breeding in the general area of capture in the highlands. ajd).
Outfalls
Med Gull - usual 2CY
Common Tern - 1
Kittiwake - 2 2CY

28th May

Heysham Obs

Outfalls & area
Arctic Tern - 2
Sandwich Tern - 3
Med Gull - 2CY (usual one)

Non-op land
Ringed Plover with 3 young, another pair with one young

Reserve
Additional singing male Reed Warbler in marsh

Pre-rain bits

Heysham Obs

 

An early morning seawatch to 0715 produced the following

Mute Swan – 3 flying across from Barrow direction towards Middleton sands

Shelduck – 10 out

Gannet – 2 out

Kittiwake – 23 out

Sandwich Tern – 19 out

 

A later seawatch of 30 mins produced

Arctic Skua - lm 'in' at 0810hrs

Common Scoter - 15 out very distantly

 

Two outfalls checks on the incoming tide produced

Arctic Tern - 2 (first low tide visit only)

Common Gull - 189

Black-headed Gull - 25

Kittiwake - 2 2CY

No sign of the Meds

 

Moths

An actinic set just below the old Obs Tower site produced 3 Brown Silver Line and a Shuttle-shaped Dart

 

Breeding bird pluses and minuses and gull census

Heysham Obs
A Lesser Redpoll over and some early morning Kittiwake flocks indicated that it is not by all means over for this spring, although it will probably have to involve decent easterlies or a howling south-easterly to produce any more notable goods i.e. the routine migration is probably just about over

Early morning seawatching (thanks Mark)
Kittiwake - flocks of 25, 30, 40 in, 12 out
Nothing else of note other than one of the two Meds below on Heysham 1 outfall

Red Nab high tide
Gull flock on the sea comprised
Black-headed Gull - 21
Common Gull - 22
Med Gull - 2 2CY - one of which was apparently ringed (thanks to the birder for info) with 3 characters (and head plumage) corresponding with the recent bird at Leighton Moss (and previously here, but legs not seen then) - this is a Dutch-ringed bird

Breeding bird census work
Lesser Redpoll - one north the only sign of migration - no Wheatear left
Ringed Plover - definitely two territories on the non-op land, the 'new' pair almost certainly having young but the original pair may have failed
Oystercatcher - breeding failure but the birds still hanging around
Great Black-backed Gull - pair nesting on the 'grey store' - the first breeding record for SD45E and the Power Station properties (another biodiversity notch!)

Gull census
Power Station non-operational land
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 13 nests
Great Black-backed Gull  - 1 nest
No definite evidence of nesting Herring Gull

Harbour area (one more roof to check)
Fisher's roof (harbour building - the one further back has not been checked yet)
Less than usual due to the hordes of roosting 2CY Herring Gulls, with most nests away from this at the east end
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 27 nests
Herring Gull - 10 nests

Centrica area
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 26 nests
Herring Gull - 6 nests
Great Black-backed Gull - 1 nest

Flat roof by rail terminal
Herring Gull - 13 nests (hard to see, possibly a few more - definitely the HG headquarters)

Roofs to the north of the freight access road
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 2 nests

Ocean Edge caravan site reception
Herring Gull - one nest
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 9 nests
Great Black-backed Gull - singleton hanging about but no evidence of nesting

Memo: Still to do:
Middleton IE
Back roofs at Fishers from Gate 38 area

Moths
Least Black Arches and Flame Shoulder