You could doze off counting all the seals!

Very light variable breeze, mainly overcast with some sunny spells

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from John:

A very quiet ringing session this morning. Three nets set but only five birds caught in nearly four hours. New birds were:

Lesser Redpoll

Willow Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Grasshopper Warbler. This bird was caught on the east side while a second bird was singing on the west side.

also a re-trap Coal Tit.

Heysham skear - low water 08:00

Just a quick check

Eider c30

Great Crested Grebe 8

Red-breasted Merganser 1

Turnstone c80

Swallow 4 east

Pete watched the sea for an hour as the tide was flooding:

Mammals:

Grey Seal 10 drifting in with the tide - a high count for Lancashire.

Harbour Porpoise 2 just beyond the buoys out from the north wall.

Birds:

Sandwich Tern 8

Guillemot 8

Razorbill 1

A quick check of the south shore located

Mediterranean gull 1 second calendar year

2cy Med Gull ocean edge foreshore

Middleton Nature Reserve - early afternoon

Mute swan - 5 on the main pond. The "no swimming" pond pair have 8 chicks. The other nesting pair are still sitting on the nest, but a brief interlude allowed a look and unless the nest is very deep it is empty.

The "no swimming" pond mute family

The other "active" nest appears empty,
at least there shouldn't be any unpleasant battling this year.

Gadwall 5 males

Mallard 3 males (the female with chicks not seen today)

Cetti's warbler- just the "no swimming" male heard

Swallow 5

Swift 3

We have just received the details of the Herring Gull seen in the Harbour 1st April.

LIfe history of Herring Gull Left: White N:85C on Dark Green ring and Right: Metal

Date	Activity	Location	Movement	Duration
05 Jul 2019	Ringed as a nestling	Bowland - Brennand West,  UK. SD640552
01 Apr 2021	Colour marks read	Heysham Harbour,  Lancashire	26km  NNW	1y 8m 27d

Distant Osprey

The wind was like a windscreen wiper today. Started of NNE then drifted round to NW before moving back to NE. Some prolonged rain with sunny spells between.

Ringing report from Alan:

At Last, a Lesser Redpoll, ringed elsewhere! This spring we have caught 95 of this species to date, including 16 today, so we were due for a ringed bird and it turned up this morning (unfortunately the details can take a while)

The catch this morning was:

Sedge Warbler 3 plus 1 retrap

Lesser Whitethroat 1

Blackcap 1

Willow Warbler 1 retrap

Long tailed Tit 2 retraps

Blue Tit 1 plus 1 retrap

Greenfinch 2

Goldfinch 1 plus 1 retrap

Lesser Redpoll 15 plus 1 ringed elsewhere 

A Grasshopper Warbler heard singing for a period around 06.30 in the centre of the western marsh was notable. It was quiet for the remainder of the morning

Heysham skear - low water 07:30

The seed mussels are currently winning the battle on the middle skear.
This is the same area I photographed 1st May. Then is was mainly honeycomb 
worm with pockets of seed mussels forming on old dead mussels

Seed mussels grow quickly. This is a detail now, the old mussels are more or less
buried again and the seed mussels are filling the gaps between the honeycomb
worm, but the tubes are still active. I'll watch this space (MD)

Eider 17

Great Crested Grebe 5

Red-breasted Merganser 1

Sandwich Tern 3

Turnstone c80

Dunlin 1

Osprey 1 - just a distant speck to the NW, it seemed to be flying to SW in a line that would take it towards Rampside. I just managed a record  shot before it dropped down and was lost against the hills.

High and distant Osprey taken from Heysham Skear

This is a Lesser Spotted Dogfish (a species of small shark) swimming. They have two dorsal fins, you can see them both. These are bottom feeding fish and are not normally seen at the surface. The tide has just reached this pool, I'm pretty sure this fish must have have been placed in the pool to recover after being caught earlier in the tide by an angler, and was just swimming out when I "spotted" it.

This is a still from the clip, you can see the spots on the dorsal fins
This fish is c60 cm long

On the beach by the skear a Bar-Tailed Godwit was "resting" with the Oystercatchers, but on these tides it come in too quickly for a long rest.

These three Mute Swan were on the sea out from Knowlys Rd later in the tide.
Possibly the three that occasionally disappear from Middleton
thanks to Steph for this one.

Lighthouse area - mid afternoon

This Herring gull is nesting on the upstand near the waterfall again

The north face of Fishers roof is almost complete, but awash with workers so the gulls were taking advantage of the wooden jetty.

Mainly Herring gulls, plus Turnstone on the lower tiers

Rock Pipits 5 possibly 7!

There were two feeding along the south sea wall between No.1 outflow and the wooden jetty, when they made their way to the sloping wall next to the lighthouse I wondered if one might be the ringed male. I started to video, and it immediately obliged - I do like a helpful bird!

So, the ringed male with a second bird, another male displaying near lighthouse, plus two near the waterfall including a displaying male. Two flew together across the harbour towards the sandworks, possibly the two previously on the sea wall, but they were still there when I walked back. If they are all breeding and are successful it's going to be a very busy area soon!

This young Robin near the dog walk path, was one of two recently fledged birds. Even at this age their stance is unmistakably Robin.

Rock Pipits continue to confound

Once again the day started with a light south breeze, which freshened slightly as it moved to the west by the afternoon. Sunny periods with some light showers.

Sea report from Pete:

Not a lot today just 13 sandwich tern out and two blogging with four swallow in early stages only of incoming tide

(There were birds of interest in the bay early on though - Pomarine Skua - a flock of seven were seen flying in to the bay past Walney pier at 06:40)

South shore

Wheatear 3

Rock pipits at least 5. One on the south wall/Red Nab.

These two, near the lighthouse, neither of which are ringed.

There were two more near the waterfall, this is the male patrolling his patch of harbour wall.

Presumably where he stops is the end of the defended territory, he then flies back to the upstand near the waterfall and repeats the performance.

So, four Rock Pipits seen along the wall, but no sign of the ringed male, there appears to be more going on here than just two adjacent territories.

It was a noisy area this morning, as well as the displaying Rock Pipits there were also 5 noisy Linnet.

Willow Warbler 1

Pink-Footed goose 80 

The structure is the end of No.2 outflow. The Pinkfoot flew in and were heading towards 
Middleton, but they turned round flew past Potts corner and followed the estuary as far
as Cockerham marshes where they appeared to land

This excellent picture of a Siver Y from Kevin

The first migratory insect of the year on the South wall.

Middleton Nature Reserve - mid afternoon 

Mute swan 6 on the main pond

This is the immature bird, right, it seems to have adopted these two adult.

The "no swimming" pond pair's chicks have hatched - at least 5
There is at least one other pair breeding

Male Gadwall moving to eclipse 

Little grebe 1 on main pond, the Tim Butler birds not seen.

Warblers:

Cetti's warbler 2 - the Fence pond male was quite vocal plus a couple of bursts of song from the "no swimming" pond.

All the regular species heard and seen. No Grasshopper or Garden warblers heard.

The underwing of this female Orange Tip demonstrates 
how effective it is as camouflage, when the butterfly is at rest.

There have been a few unidentified Damselflies seen in the last week. They are difficult to see when they settle in the undergrowth. I managed to identify one, at least, today.

Immature male Common Blue Damselfly

I think this is a Large Red Damselfly - I'll amend if advised otherwise (MD)

This Shelduck landed on the main pond and it was immediately joined by a Lesser Black-Backed gull. The Shelduck was obviously thirsty, and the LBB joined in - as ever with gulls, they just don't seem to know when to stop! I don't think the Shelduck was impressed (MD).

Some passerines passing

The wind again started SSE before moving more south by lunchtime. Plenty of sunshine again but several showers.

Sea and visible migration report from Pete:

Funny morning only did 0700-0900.  The sea produced 

5 Sandwich Tern

3 northbound Whimbrel

35 Knot u-turning.  

A loose ‘gang’ of migrant passerines made their way up the north wall heading towards the cafe:

2 female Whinchat

3 Wheatear

Willow Warbler at least 2

four lots of redpoll heard flying over

Guillemot 8 seen floating in by Kevin later on

South shore early morning

The "big" news is that the car that was stuck in the drain from the saltmarsh 
has been removed

Only the saltmarsh and foreshore area checked

Wheatear 6

Middleton Nature Reserve mid morning

A few shots from Janet

Common Whitethroat 

The female Mallard with her 10, quickly developing, chicks

Two Shelduck also paid the main pond a visit

A male and female Orange Tip, making the most of the sunshine.

Heysham Head foreshore - high water 12:00

I went down at high water, hoping to better understand the Rock Pipit situation, I am little wiser! (MD)

Wheatear 3

Rock pipits - none seen around the very northern point were a pair/displaying male have been active until today. 

There were three birds below the high cliffs. They seemed to be comprised of a male standing guard whenever I went too close to his territory. Plus two feeding birds, one tolerated by the male the other chased away if it got too close. Unfortunately, I didn't see any bird carrying food in its bill, although both feeding birds did occasionally fly high over the cliff tops.

This is a clip of what I believe to be a male. I'm posting this for two reasons, first I like the sound of the waves against the rocks. But, I suppose, more importantly, to show this bird's quite distinctive plumage. It has a high density of spots forming a heart shape on the right side (wrong side for a heart) of its chest. This is a genuine feature not just an effect of the light. I picked it out several times in different lighting conditions.

This next clip, is partly for interest, but also to act as a warning. It shows the torrent of ground water at it emerges from the bottom of a crack in the cliffs. There are several of these cracks along this section. This is not water from the water table, but just rain water draining through the soil above the cliffs. The water is not visible above where it emerges, just the crack, but you can imagine the internal erosion going on.

The significance, of course, is that these cliffs are constantly being weakened. Many have large overhangs, which may remain for years or may drop tomorrow. It is safe, although sometimes slippy, to walk below the cliffs, but don't go too close, and know your tides.

This is the Herring Gull spotted by Gareth and Lesley Powley in Heysham Harbour 30/03/21. We have now received its details, it's done well to be spotted in a range of places, for such a young bird.

These are the comments from the Manx ringing group.

T8WT' is a Herring Gull ringed as a chick on the Calf of Man in 2019. 

There have been three sightings in Ireland and now your sighting in England.

We get many more Manx birds reported from Ireland (north and south) than we 

get from England, so thanks indeed for the report and photo.

visit_date	capture_time	location_name	gridRef
23/06/2019	15:30	Cow Harbour -COM (Cow Harbour)	SC1666
26/09/2019	00:00	Gormanston Beach (Gormanston Beach, Co. Meath)	IO1829866362
12/08/2020	00:00	Millquarter Bay, Strangford Lough, Down	IJ6043
28/09/2020	00:00	Knockinelder Bay, Down	IJ6351

Black-Throated Diver and more Little Terns

The wind started of SSE and shifted to SSW by the afternoon. Plenty of sunshine, but some heavy showers.

Seawatch report compiled by Jean:

Black-throated Diver - 1 in at 0815

Red-throated Diver - 4 out in twos

Little Tern - 3 out at 0843

Arctic Tern - 6 in, 4 out

Sandwich Tern - 57 out

Razorbill - 2 in

Guillemot - 13 in

Kittiwake - 1 out

Gannet- 1 

Red-Breasted Merganser - 2 in

Manx Shearwater - 1 seen later on in the morning

Swallow - 12

Swift - 2 seen later in the morning

Heysham Head mid morning (MD)

At 08:30 The foreshore rocks between Half Moon Bay and the high cliffs (below the old go-cart track) felt like it was boiling with birds. Sparked by the arrival of:

Wheatear 6

And possibly an influx of Rock Pipits (a total of 5 here plus another at the northern point of the Head). All the resident breeding birds were defending their territories including Linnet, Wren, Starling, Pied Wagtail, Starling, House Sparrow and at least two Rock Pipit territories.

This male Linnet was trying to out sing a Wren - no chance (sorry if the swaying rock gives you motion sickness! - I was precariously balanced).

On my return at 09:15, after checking the northern section, everything had settled down. The wheatears had stopped feeding and were just resting on the cliff faces and the breeding birds had gone back to their normal routine. Looking down from the cliff tops now, I spotted a

Whinchat 1 female

Female Whinchat

The gorse above the cliffs was also busy with birds, mainly Linnet but also Whitethroat.

Male Common Whitethroat 

South shore late morning

Pink-Footed goose 1 resting on Red Nab

Whimbrel 2 on Red Nab

Wheatear 3 possibly 5 (3 on foreshore, 2 on Red Nab could have been same)

Rock Pipits 6 (that makes at least 12 birds seen in the recording area this morning) - 1 on Red Nab, 4 in dispute near the waterfall, watched on by the ringed male near the lighthouse.

Yesterday, Lancaster wildlife and nature group reported Common Whitethroats and a Sedge warbler in the scrub near the lighthouse. Today there was one Common Whitethroat and two Willow warbler. This is one of today's Willow warbler 

This is a regular catchment area for migrants.

Heysham Nature Reserve 

A couple of butterfly pictures from Janet

Speckled Wood 

Green-veined White

Middleton Nature Reserve mid afternoon 

Warblers:

8 species heard, but only one Lesser Whitethroat and no Grasshopper or Garden warblers.

Cetti's warbler, just the "no swimming" pond male heard.

Mute 2 adult plus 1 immature (only discernible by dull bill now) on main pond. Plus two nesting pairs

Coot 4

Moorhen 6

Mallard 3 male plus 2 female, one with 10 chicks

Gadwall 1 male

Little grebe 2 adult plus 2 chicks on Tim Butler pond, plus this individual, today on the "no swimming" pond.

The green hue is because I was looking through foliage 

Unfortunately, just as it came into clear view, a visitor came to feed the mute and the grebe disappeared 

Garden Warbler makes the year list

 A sunny morning after the sun cleared the early morning clouds. Light south wind freshened slightly. It became overcast again in the afternoon, with some light showers.

Pete Crooks compiled this morning's sea watch report:

Heysham North Harbour Wall (6.30 – 10.00 am) – A disappointing morning given the incoming tide.

32 Arctic Tern – groups of 15, 3 and 14 flying into the Bay

41 Pink-footed Goose – flew north across the bay at 7.08 am

7 Whooper Swan – flew north across the bay at 8.28 am

10 Guillemot – all appeared on the later stage of the incoming tide. Also 2 distant auks flying ‘out’

c.30 Kittiwake – very distant on the sea then flew ‘out’

1 Red-throated Diver – flew into the bay and landed on the sea

16+ Sandwich Tern – small numbers continuously in view offshore

12 Swallow – flew along the harbour wall (the only obvious passerine movement)

Also offshore: 86 Eider, 2 Great Crested Grebe and 2 Red-breasted Merganser (prior to the incoming tide)

6 Grey Seal – separate individuals pushed into the bay on the rising tide

2 Harbour Porpoise – moved into the bay at 9.05 am

Garden Warbler 1 male singing near the quarry on the west side of Heysham Nature Reserve (first record this year) ref Pete (M).

South shore (MD)

The smell of fuel as I approached the saltmarsh didn't bode well. 

There seems to have been no attempt to bring the car ashore (see yesterday's post).
There was no evidence, other than smell, of pollution, but it would seem to be a
relatively easy exercise to winch the car from the drain and up the slipway.

Sandwich Tern 1

Whimbrel 3

Wheatear 2 

They didn't seem as plump and dark today. Perhaps it was an effect
of the conditions yesterday. The tangle behind this bird is the wooden jetty.

Rock Pipit 3 probably 4

It is still unclear what the situation is near the lighthouse nest site.

This unringed bird was resting on the wooden structure near the nest site

Meanwhile the ringed male was guarding the wall above

A probable third bird was displaying near the waterfall. Another bird was on the sea wall between the outflows, before flying back to Red Nab

They have started replacing the first roof panels on the old Fishers building.
The gulls seem to approve.

Heysham skear low water 17:55

Eider only 7 seem

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Whimbrel 11

Lesser Black-Backed gull c30 - on the lower tides there were hardly any LBB, but plenty of Herring gull feeding on the seed mussels. This evening there were about 30 of each. The LBB also grazing the seed mussels, although most were around a central large pool and seemed to prefer feeding in the water.

Dunlin a flock of c20 flew off as tide started rising

Turnstone c150 - when the tide moved them off their favoured honeycomb worm bed, they shifted to the SE corner of the skear, where they turn into turnoystershells. There are always a lot of oyster shells here, not locally grown, they must be brought in by the tides and storms and collect in this corner. An ideal opportunity for turning, relatively light, but cover a lot of area.

First (possibly only) Spotted Flycatcher of the year

Strong early ESE wind with heavy rain, the rain eased off by early afternoon as the wind moved more to the south.

Heysham Head - report from Dan:

A number of us were there at six for the LDBWS seabird spectacular that wasn’t!

Two Swifts, two Harbour Porpoise and a Guillemot was the best we could manage looking seawards, but a walk in the wood looking for night migrants paid dividends with an off-passage,

Spotted Flycatcher (these have been barely annual in the recording area recently)

Incidentally, Shaun totted up the species list for last Sunday’s session in that area: a grand total of 83.

South shore.

First a couple of records from yesterday (I was expecting a washout, at least picture wise, today so held a couple back, just in case (MD))

At the moment, there seems to be many more Whimbrel around than Curlew, but this group of 15 Curlew were out from the saltmarsh again.

They had the decency to wait till the SeaTruck was in frame before flying south.
The previous day there were 14 here which then flew north

When the mud hasn't been covered for a few days it is effectively barren of accessible food. This has been the case with the recent neap tides, but as soon as the tides start to rise and wets it again, the invertebrates return to the surface. These, mainly 2nd calendar year, Common Gulls waited till the tide was ebbing back before taking advantage. These are just some of the 34 birds in this group.

Back to today.......this wasn't here yesterday morning!

This is just beyond the slipway from Ocean Edge, the car is actually in the creek that
drains the saltmarsh. Hopefully they will be able to tow it out with a tractor. I'm sure 
the vehicle will already be a right off, but there will be oil and fuel that will leak out!

Whimbrel 6 on Red Nab

Sandwich Tern at least 6, including two on Red Nab.

Two Sandwich Tern with a Curlew and Oystercatchers

Linnet 4 on Red Nab plus a male over nest site near lighthouse.

Rock Pipit 3, probably 4 (1 on Foreshore, 1 fending off Wheatears near lighthouse and two between the outflows, one of which could have been the lighthouse bird)

Wheatear at least 7. One on foreshore may have also been one of the two on Red Nab. Five near the lighthouse.

One of the lighthouse area Wheatears. All today's birds looked plump and dark,
suggesting Greenland race, but it might just be down to the wind and rain (MD)

As the rain eased in the afternoon I did a quick circuit of both reserves.

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Singing warblers in order of abundance:

Chiffchaff  6+

Willow Warbler 4

Reed Warbler 1

Sedge Warbler 1

Common Whitethroat just one female seen

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Willow Warbler 

Common Whitethroat 

Lesser Whitethroat 

Chiffchaff 

Blackcap 

Sedge Warbler 4

Reed Warbler 2

Cetti's Warbler at least 1 ("no swimming" pond bird heard at close range, later one sounded like it came from central marsh, but just possibly the NW extent of "no swimming" pond bird's territory)

Swallow 5 

Swift 1

House Martin 2

All the above feeding 

Little Grebe 3 adult plus 2 chicks - there are two adults feeding two separate chicks on the Tim Butler pond. Another adult on the main pond.

The chicks are growing fast

Otter signs:

This rock, half way along the western edge of the main pond, has been used while eating a Signal Crayfish. 

There are broken crayfish remains, bottom right of the rock, and three droppings.
Unfortunately heavy overnight rain had pretty much leached the droppings.

I picked up one of the droppings, the colour and structure was right for an Otter. Possibly a bit small, but I think most of it was washed away. Otter spraints are supposed to have a distinctive odour. "Between new mown hay and rotting fish" (quite a range to be defined as "distinctive"!).

Anyway, I smelt it....it smelt of, well....hand.
On a personal level I am satisfied that at least one Otter is feeding here after dark.
But, not quite enough evidence to be conclusive yet. I'll keep checking (MD)