Quiet period

Please could people post their own stuff this week.  I may be able to do a quick check of gulls one or two mornings but otherwise nothing from Jean or Pete this week.  Thanks.

Bits and bobs

Gadwall - female with 5 new young Middleton
Little Grebe - pair but behaviour suggests nest failure
Mallard with two large chicks

No coastal coverage but the seagulls should be building up now - await some Meds!

2nd June belated warblers

The only coverage today was a ringing session in our usual Middleton western marsh sites which was a bit of a revelation, with the absence of the Subalpine Warbler replaced by a perfectly acceptable Plan B

Eight new for year Sedge Warblers were caught (three with last year's rings) and all seemingly wandering males or females without brood patches.  Mid-month there was just one singing male Sedge Warbler in the trapping area!  Three unringed male Whitethroat were also caught, unringed Dunnock, Goldfinch, Blackbird and Robin, the 'ahhh' factor a baby Robin and the pain factor a Great-spotted Woodpecker

Two singing male Cetti's Warblers in the central marsh - one intermittent and the other sounding like it was unpaired

Subalpine Warbler spp

Can’t post much today but a female Subalpine Warbler was located by an experienced migrant searcher on Middleton NR just west of the western marsh at the bottom of the slope up to the higher ground

More stuff for today will be sorted tomorrow when I can get on main computer internet

Photography day

Birds
A few bits
Reed Warbler - three caught in the same net at Middleton NR could easily have included a late migrant or two
Sandwich Tern - between four and eight at various times off Heysham skeer this evening
Canada Goose - flock of 7 by Heysham skeer this evening

Insects etc at Middleton (thanks Janet)  I think the moth is Cochlymorpha straminea

Unpredictable mix!

Janet went to do some photography on the south harbour wall and came up with these. This Rock Pipit is clearly not a littoralis and is of the nominate form, perhaps a northern kleinschmidti, but in the absence of any suggestive measurements it could equally originate from more sedentary populations further south. Any opinions anyone, please?  It has been hanging around extremely elusively since the winter period.  Nearby were two Pink-feet, again not end of May candidates but perhaps injured

Thanks Janet

Coastal sightings today
Rock Pipit - south harbour mouth
Pink-footed Goose - two on sea by outfalls
Arctic Tern - short seawatch on turning tide saw 2+4 in
Sandwich Tern - 31 in/fishing on early turning tide
Gannet - subad floated in, flew out, then floated in again (injured?)
Great-crested Grebe - still 5 in summer plumage in inshore low tide channel
Sanderling - 3 OE tideline - slightly separate from flock below
Dunlin - 42 OE tideline
Ringed Plover - 18 OE tideline
Shag - 2CY wooden jetty
House Martin - one north
White butterflies - about 15 in-off/north!

Arctic Tern farewell performance? Stirrings on the outfalls

Sea early incoming tide
Arctic tern - flocks of 9+30 in, then five in the evening in the low tide channel
Sandwich Tern - c6
Swallow - 3
House Martin - 3
Mute Swan - 3 in
Shag - 2CY wooden jetty

Outfalls
At least 50 mixed Common/Black-headed Gulls from just a handful for the last few weeks

Middleton NR
Greylag - 2
Cetti's Warbler - 2 singing males
a few off-passage hirundines and swifts
Treble Bar moth (thanks|Janet):

Slightly better than expected on the sea

Sea 0700-0830 then 0915-1000
Gannet - 4 in close inshore and high (3 subads)
Kittiwake - flock of 5 close adults in
Common Scoter - distant flock of 5 in
Sanderling - flock of 29 in - definitely all this species
Arctic Tern - 72 in (last flock 0917) but I almost certainly missed 2-3 flocks whilst absent (per Ian at Rossall) - biggest flock 22
Black Tern - two working their way slowly in with mixed gang of Sandwich and Arctic terns as the tide turned c0744hrs.
Sandwich Tern - and still they keep coming - 16 in in dribs and drabs

Thank Janet

House Martin - 4 in
Shag - 2CY wooden jetty

The day we missed out, narrowly

Too much effort early am in retrospect as we forgot the rule about seawatching - cover over the high tide even if it goes dead beforehand.  A very experienced seawatcher saw an Arctic Skua, followed by a flock of three Pomarine Skuas flying towards the Kent channel mouth between 1050 and 1102, the latter went overland.  Obviously went past us when no observers were present!

Sea early am to about 0945
Fulmar - one out
Arctic Tern - 34 in
Kittiwake - 1+1+3 in
Gannet - 19 in (and presumably some of these out)
Swallow - 29 in
Swift - 3 in
House Martin - 11 in
Shag - 2CY around, including sitting on wooden jetty
Whimbrel - 6
Ringed Plover - 4 in
Mixed Ringed Plover/Dunlin - migrating flock heard but not seen

Miscellany
Two pipits reported from wooden jetty area - this needs further investigation -  and proof of breeding for a single isolated pair of Meadow Pipit on Middleton NR
Tufted Duck - pair Tim Butler pond
Cetti's - singing central marsh
Reed Warbler - a record five singing males Heysham NR

Creepy crawlies
Small Heath - 17 Middleton NR - all south end
Emperor - male Heysham NR - IOY, 2 male and one female Middleton
Broad-bodied Chaser - minimum of 30 on new scrapes

Excellent seawatching again - what a bonus so late in the spring

A decent sea-watch this morning with a heap of Gannets unexpected in an east-north-easterly!  It wasn't easy as there were a lot of layers of birds to try and look at , including fly-behind Swifts and hirundines and Arctic Terns at all heights.  Unfortunately not all observers saw the best birds and some of us missed them all!  Odd there were no Black Tern, but we may not have stayed long enough c/f 'in-off' birds at the EM Pool.

Arctic Tern - 301 in, including one flock spiralling up over the harbour and another casually recorded flying up the Lune gaining height whilst scanning Ocean Edge for waders (nothing to suggest any Common Tern were involved in this movement, with even the distant birds unequivocally Arctic (none were too distant to identify) )
Gannet - exactly 99 in (plus some of the same presumably out)

Gannet and Arctic Tern flocks passing  

Red-throated Diver - 1
Puffin - one in then presumably same out 15 minutes later then a probable later at long-range in
Guillemot - 7
Razorbill/Guillemot - 15
Kittiwake - two single ads in
Pomarine Skua - LM ad low and purposefully in at 0918 alongside the last Arctic Tern flock
Sandwich Tern - just 3 in and 5 blogging in outer Bay
Swift - at least 59
Swallow - at least 53
House Martin - at least 26
Ringed Plover - 20 in two flocks
Turnstone - flock of 5 in
Shag - 2CY messing around and sat on wooden jetty

Nice timing Dan!