Late Merlin highlights

Heysham Obs
Real Jekyll and Hyde weather today with a very rapid change from one to the other as a polar low descended on us, swirling the already very cold air around.  Good news for the Scottish ski resorts I suspect

Ocean Edge area during the nice weather
A quick check of Ocean Edge 8:45. Male Merlin flew in low from Potts Corner, over salt marsh then over caravans to NW. (MD)
Also:
1 wheatear
2 little egret

Sea in the nasty weather late morning
Arctic Skua - dark morph meandered out - may have come in behind the Seacat and about-turned
Eider - two inshore
Gannet - one possibly two in and out of the murk

Pics during the nice weather (thanks Janet)

Elusive warblers

The only records so far today come from an evening stroll around Middleton Nature Reserve. The  initial impression was of a marked reduction of singing warblers. But on completion of a circuit, at least one each of the regular birds was accounted for, with the notable exceptions of chiffchaff and blackcap. (MD)
3 sedge warbler
2 lesser whitethroat
2 willow warbler
2 Cetti's warbler (fence & "no swimming" pond)
1 grasshopper warbler
1 common whitethroat

Also:
8 mute
4 tufted
3 mallard
1 little grebe feeding 2 chicks
2 pheasant
1 swallow (north)

Cold clear start

Early records from walk along south shore. (MD).
2 wheatear - Ocean Edge
1 whimbrel - between Red Nab & No.2 outflow
4 little egret

2 blackcap and 1 chiffchaff in wooded area at Red Nab

Partial coverage

Middleton Nature reserve (MD)
Just the fence pond Cetti's warbler heard singing this morning.
Summary:
8 mute
4 tufted
2 mallard
2 adult little grebe with 2 chicks
1 Cetti's warbler
1 grasshopper warbler
Also 4 sedge, 1 lesser + 2 common whitethroat, 3 blackcap, 2 chiffchaff & c10 willow warbler.
1 skylark
1 swallow (north)
1 house martin (north)

North wall
11 sandwich tern (1 flock)

Meagre fare

Heysham Obs

Sea
A low tide check from the north wall saw the careful scrutiny of upwards of 400 mainly immature gulls on and around the skeers but nothing of interest was located.  The only birds worth individual mention were:

Whimbrel - 8 in, 2 out
Little Egret - 5 on/around Red Nab
Wheatear - 2 Ocean Edge
Swallow - 5 north

Office area
The forecast didn't promise much in the way of migrants and that was what happened.
A light shower might have produced something but that didn't happen either.
A token mist netting session from dawn until 9.30 produced 2 Lesser Redpolls and little else.
A trickle of Swallows was moving northwards intermittently.

Moths
A couple of Common Quaker and a Powdered Quaker were the only moths in the hut trap

Saturday sightings

Heysham Obs
Bits of coverage early morning produced:

Sandwich Tern - 4
Swallow - 17 north
Grasshopper Warbler - new lightweight bird trapped and ringed at Middleton where there were 3-4 singing males
Cetti's Warbler - one singing eastern end of fence pond
Wheatear - 3 Ocean Edge














.

The east wind performs on the turning tide

Heysham Obs
Great start to the day - albeit not until 0750hrs, so perhaps deserved to see a big fat zero.  A hard life being a musician and the hours we have to keep.   Unfortunately no-one else available early doors other than a visiting birder checking the outfalls.   The second part of a good day was a wader fest over high tide

Some nice pics from Janet taken over the last few days at Middleton

North wall  0750-0915(with 10 minute break)
Slavonian Grebe - one in full summer plumage flew in from the south and landed next to a skeer near a gang of Eiders.  Fortunately no heat haze by that stage and the features were immediately obvious in superb light (for those of us who scratch their heads on the flight views - not being used to them!).  Began feeding and disappeared behind a skeer when distracted by Arctic Tern movement.  Hopefully can be found further up the Bay
Arctic Tern - 46 in (5+7+16+7+11)
Sandwich Tern - NONE!!
Eider - c280 (count distracted)
Swallow - c45
House Martin - 1
Sand Martin - 5
Black-headed Gull - 35 purposefully in - dribs and drabs
Little Gull - summer adult in with BHG
Purple Sandpiper - feeding below seawall with Turnstone then moved towards harbour entrance

Grounded
Willow Warbler - gang of 5 in the bushes by the sandworks - flew into centrica
Wheatear - 2 north wall, 4 Ocean Edge
Whinchat - two males together reported by birder in Nature park - not there mid-morning
No time to really search round

Others
Sanderling - 1 Red Nab
Dunlin - 280 Red Nab near high tide
Knot - one Red Nab
Whimbrel - 7 Red Nab, then north
Turnstone - 350-400 wooden jetty

Warbler variety

Heysham Obs
Lesser Redpolls are caught on spring passage by using a tape lure and it is not a lot of use when this stops working after about ten minutes and you don't notice until the next mist net round!  The critical period between just after civil twilight and just after sunrise was missed as at least 30 piled over!   Once the sun materialised in full, absolutely nothing happened on a clear sunny morning accompanied by an overnight full moon - where was the cloud cover forecasted by at least four weather sites?  

Heysham NR 0530-0715 vis mig
Tree Pipit - 2
Lesser Redpoll - c35
Jay - 2
Goldfinch - 5
Linnet - 6

Middleton NR
8 species of singing warbler in a short circuit of the reserve.
Willow Warbler - 8
Chiffchaff - 2
Whitethroat - 2
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Grasshopper Warbler - 2
Cetti's Warbler - 2
Sedge Warbler - 5
Blackcap - 1
Plus a migrant:
Wheatear - 1

Arctic Skua migration in action

Heysham Obs
Variety rather than numbers so far. Best action was a dark blob on the sea taking flight and materialising into a dm Arctic Skua which then spiralled high into the air, came closer (heading NE) and was last seen as a dot over Heysham Head.   It should be over the North Sea by now

Coastal observations 0730-0815
Little Gull - adult summer in
Arctic Skua - see above
Sandwich Tern - just 2 in
Common Scoter - distant flock of 5 u-turning
Tree Pipit - 1 poss 2 'together' N
alba Wagtail - 16 N (at least 7 of these were White)
Linnet - 19 N
Swallow - 16 N
Meadow pipit -  6N
No redpoll passage noted

Others
Wheatear - 5 Ocean Edge plus 2 north wall
Lesser Redpoll - 11 ringed Heysham nr and amazingly none ringed elsewhere !!
Lesser Whitethroat - two singing males near office (but no common Whitethroat there)
Willow warbler and blackcap - low single figure trickle by office

Middleton Nature Reserve
2 male Cetti's singing
3 grasshopper warbler reeling
3 lesser whitethroat
1 common whitethroat
Plus willow warbler, chifchaff and sedge warblers
2 sparrowhawk (north)
3 swallow

Lesser Whitethroat new in

Heysham Obs
A very short seawatch produced just 3 Red-throated Diver and a bit of Swallow passage (c20/hr)

Lesser Whitethroat new in at Middleton where both male Cetti's Warblers were singing

Speckled Wood new for the year at Middleton (& male Brimstone seen)

Vis mig over the office included 2 Lesser Redpoll and c6 Swallow