Slack tedium punctuated by quality

Heysham Obs
A rather strange morning with lengthy periods of tedium due to the complete lack of any numbers of common seabirds after the first hour or so. However, there were quite a number of skuas seen by various observers. The most interesting sighting involved a 'sky scan' during a rather belated WEBS at about 1340hrs which revealed 31 'dots' in two groups "above" the north harbour wall. I assumed they were hirundines, but they then circled down and revealed themselves as Arctic Terns, therefore originally higher than I thought they were! They fed in a line off Stage one outfall before flying in and across the bay towards Ulverston. The first high-flying Arctic Terns seen in strong westerlies.

North harbour wall early morning to 0930
Pomarine Skua - close light morph ad started to climb into the sky as it flew NE at 0813hrs. This was a full-tailed individual. At 1015hrs a light morph was seen at JB Point which had an "almost fully grown tail". This was multi-observed at very close range and seen again intermittently until about 1215hrs - presumably just the one bird. At 1130 a light morph adult flew out of the bay past Heysham. Therefore at least two, probably three birds involved with the early morning Heysham sighting of a bird starting to climb when conditions were clear probably different from the other two.
Skua spp - one very distant in at 0800 - prob dark Arctic
Arctic Skua - one rapidly in flying quite high at 0640 (no morph details), light morph in hugging the sea at 0855 as the cloud cover increased, dark morph rapidly in about 1100hrs [JBP data suggests this bird was accompanied by 2 others as they had three approaching from Heysham direction at 1107hrs- this could easily have been the case as the bird(s) was often invisible due to waves], 2 dark morph in at 1150hrs, light morph on the sea, then in at 1330hrs [3 seen heading for Heysham, as viewed from Knott End, at 1156hrs, do not seem to have been picked up]
Manx Shearwater - 1
Gannet - 29 out early on, then just another 3 logged
Fulmar - 4, including 3 together
Whimbrel - 5 out, 4 on Red Nab
Red-throated Diver - one circling high into the sky early morning
Kittiwake - 2 ad in, 2CY blogging
Common Scoter - 1
Sandwich Tern - 3
Arctic Tern - 31 (see intro)
Guillemot - one floating in
Dunlin - 78 out

Elsewhere
Two Arctic Skua resting on the JBPoint groyne flew out to sea at 0925hrs. Pom Skua JBP (see above). Little Tern just to the north of Morecambe Stone Jetty at lunchtime

Surprisingly poor - not enough squalls?

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall 0530ish to 1130 (ongoing)
Pomarine Skua - one out then in again at 0825hrs
Bonxie - distant bird in then appeared to land on sea
Skua spp - dark bird out distantly
Arctic Skua - 2 dm in early, lm & dm in mid morning, lm on sea off Ocean Edge (2dm & lm on sea off nearby Cockersands c0925)
Red-throated Diver - 4
Fulmar - 6
Gannet - 14 out 5 in
Sandwich Tern - 10 early morning only
Swallow - 23 in
Arctic Tern - one out
Guillemot - one in & one on water
Whimbrel - one in, 2 out & 5 on Red Nab
Sanderling - 4+4 out
Ringed Plover - 4 out, 27 in
Dunlin - 6+10+15 out, 45 in
Black Guillemot - on wooden jetty/in hole late morning but very elusive/"invisible"!
Purple Sandpiper - one on wooden jetty & c170 Turnstone
Kittiwake - 2CY blogging early on

Mammals
At least 2 and probably 3 Common Porpoise

Elsewhere
The above Bonxie was seen at JBP. Mid-afternoon Osprey at Leighton Moss. 3 Arctic Skua (2 dm) on the sea off Cockersands c0925.

Warm sector rubbish

Heysham Obs
Mega!
A pair of Great Black-backed Gulls are nesting on the rooftop of the old Fisher's building next to the vent. At least 35 nests of Herring Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull adorn the sloping part of this roof.

North harbour wall early morning
Sandwich Tern - 2 in
Swallow - 7 in
Red-throated Diver - 6
Skua spp - 1 distant
Arctic Skua - 2 out (DM)

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Whimbrel - 4
Wheatear - 3 (& 1 NH wall)

Mammals
Grey Seal off NHW

Thank you BBC!

Heysham Obs
Any excuse to escape boring admin work and the BBC offered an intriguing cloud/rain-flow sequence last night which included a tiny gap between the morning and afternoon rain in Morecambe Bay. Didnt look promising at 1115 with the rain/poor visibility seemingly esconced, then it cleared! Further incentive provided by a Bonxie during the earlier morning session

North harbour wall 0650-0750, 0900-0930, 1115-1200, 1800-1840
The Arctic and Pomarine Skuas were during 'flight opportunity windows' of clear(ish) rainless weather between about 1120 and a rapid closing in again at about 1145 & 1810-1840.

Bonxie (Great Skua) - one as sat on the sea on the edge of the murk at 0905hrs and flew into the said murk in a generally NNW direction
Arctic Skua - a phone call-interrupted bins-only light-morph 'spp. prob Arctic' heading in at 1125 was upgraded after the Pom went 'in' on the same line. Another LM 'in' further offshore at c1132. 6 'out' at 1815; LM & DM inshore and 4 x DM further out
Pomarine Skua - light morph in at 1135 on the yellow-buoy line, therefore really nice views of the full tail
Gannet - one out 1140, plus 13 out prior to 0720 and 4 in, plus 24 out in the evening
Common Scoter - 2 out, 1 in early am
Sandwich Tern - 1 on the red buoy early am
Arctic Tern - one out c1830
Fulmar - one in c1840
Whimbrel - 3 out & 4 on Red Nab
Turnstone - 35 flew off high to the north - wouldnt be my choice of migration departure weather but they are probably used to it!

Moths
Common Pug was an exciting new addition to the year list

Elsewhere
Two bulky skuas sat on the JBP mudflats at 1200hrs at long range, at least one of which was light morph (reliable and very cautious observer) - they then flew out into what was murky conditions. These MAY be additional to the above Heysham birds and may of course still be milling around in the bay

Such a fine line...................

Heysham Obs
.............between suitable and unsuitable seawatching weather. What was wrong this morning was far too much cloud and rain first thing stopping things moving - e.g. not a single Gannet 0600-0830. A total of at least 7 (6 dm) Arctic Skua so far (all together on the shore at JBP at 1030hrs).

Worth checking on the evening tide otherwise roll on tomorrow.

North harbour wall to 1230hrs
Arctic Skua - 1 dm in & one out, 2 dm in, 3 dm out then sitting on sea, possibly with 1+ other "dark" bird at 1217 (up to 7 at JBP - 1030). Unless more evidence to the contrary, all sightings today could refer to the constituents of the flock of 7 at JBP at 1030hrs, as it is not suitable weather for overland migration from the inner bay.
Manx Shearwater - 2
Common Scoter - 1
Red-throated Diver - 1
Fulmar - 4 (one behind the IOM ferry)
Gannet - 1, plus another late afternoon
Black Guillemot - around wooden jetty
No tern species seen, indicating that the "blogging" Sandwich on calmer days are not the same birds each day

Ocean Edge
Med Gull - 1st summer on shore off OE saltmarsh with other gulls
Whimbrel - 4
Wheatear - 2

Elsewhere
3 Arctic Skua together at JBP headed up the Kent at 0955hrs, then 7 appeared seemingly out of the Kent Estuary, sat on the beach and preened before having another go at flying up the Kent. Nothing happened at JBP prior to 0955hrs. 3 dark-morph Arctic Skuas off JBP in the late evening (different birds or not?)

A taster of things to come?

Heysham Obs
Hopefully someone can cover this evenings incoming tide - looks pretty reasonable for more skuas as the wind backs westerly [see below under Arctic Skua re-mid afternoon low tide]
Much better than expected this morning as there was an extra touch of west in the north-westerly and a nice clear corridor for Irish Sea birds to the south. Most unusual to get this amount of stuff in a north-westerly but it only looks good against some of the recent dross!

Arctic Skua - 10 in (7 dark, 3 light), all before 0815hrs. A short low tide seawatch saw two Arctic Skua fly out along the close low tide channel at 1440hrs (LM & DM)
Fulmar - 1
Manx Shearwater - 6+1+1
Red-throated Diver - 6
Gannet - 24
Arctic Tern - one flock of 12 - unexpected
Sandwich Tern - 5-10 blogging
Common Scoter - 8
Whimbrel - 2

Black Guillemot - one around outer harbour, then flew offshore
Purple Sandpiper - 2 on wooden jetty - despite careful checks, only a maximum of one has been seen recently - therefore one of these could be an extra passage bird, as is to be expected with the spring movement of Turnstones

Elsewhere
Little Stint with Dunlin flock at Cockersands Point

Always check the gulls in the harbour...........

Heysham Obs
Fortunately two birders (Jean Roberts & John Mason) were by the gate at 0725 when all the gulls in the harbour were disturbed. The one departee, via a flightline taking it over the Twite ringing site thence out to sea towards Ulverston, was a juvenile Glaucous Gull. Unfortunately not possible to communicate in time with observers at the end of harbour seawatching site. Always worth scanning gulls on Fisher's roof, by the waterfall etc. on arrival at this site. The Glauc. will probably be a major local year-listing 'blocker' now we have no rubbish tip.

North harbour wall 0600-1000 (mostly pre-0815hrs)
Glaucous Gull - see above
Black Guillemot - by wooden jetty as usual
Gannet - 30 in
Red-throated Diver - 8 in, 2 out
Kittiwake - 1 in
Fulmar - 1 in
Guillemot- 5 in
Sandwich Tern - 12 in plus 7 blogging
Arctic Tern - 1 in
Common Scoter - 27 in
Bonxie (Great Skua) - 1 in at 0749 [Please use both names to facilitate the records search at e.g. the end of year!]
Dark-bellied Brent Goose - 1 out at 0800
Whimbrel - 3 in

Vis (all NE unless stated)
Goldfinch 2
Swallow 6
Linnet 2 SW

Ocean Edge
Wheatear - 4

Elsewhere
Two Yellow Wagtail on Lune south of Wenning

Mayday

North Harbour Wall 0600-0730

S F3 visibility poor at times, excellent at others but generally improving at just about the time I had to leave.

Seawatching:
Gannet 7 in
Guillemot 1 out
Common Scoter 30 out
Sandwich Tern 7 blogging
Black Guillemot below the jetty
Turnstone 115 on the jetty

Vis:
alba Wagtail 2 NE
Swallow 7 NE
Linnet 5 NE
Meadow Pipit 2 NE

Grounded:
Wheatear 1 on the mound

30 seconds in the morning and 15 minutes at high tide

Heysham Obs
Everyone is usually busy on a Thursday and today was no exception! Four very distant birds in poor silhoeutted light heading into the bay just before high tide may just have been skua spp.

Not a single tern reported today!

The conditions in the next few days are quite good for seabirds, although not (apart from perhaps Saturday's slack conditions) Arctic Tern, which specialises in easterly winds.

North wall am
A quick scan of the outer end of Stage One outfall to see if there were any terns followed by an even quicker scan of the low tide channel

Black Guillemot - sat in the low tide channel level with the north wall gate at 1045hrs

OE foreshore near high tide
Bar-tailed Godwit - 175, including the leucistic bird
Knot - 270
Whimbrel - 3
Wheatear - a good total of 24 OE/Red Nab etc.

Middleton IE
A singing Grasshopper Warbler in a new area

Elsewhere
At least one, perhaps two Tree Sparrow Heaton village - a well-known wintering site (courtesy of feeders) but no recent breeding season records

Proving a point?

Heysham Obs
Another wall of weather esconced itself in the southern Irish Sea and theoretically stopped anything progressing north. Therefore 5 hours of good science were spent at Heysham NHW proving the point!

North harbour wall 0700-1200
Gannet - about 12 in/out/fishing
Sandwich Tern - absolute minimum of 140 (one sweep at 0700hrs)
Whimbrel - 4 in, 7 out
Little Gull - 3CY in
Fulmar - one circling over the harbour! and another in
Guillemot - one on the water
Red-throated Diver - one in
Pink-footed Goose - 59 SOUTH! 1155hrs
Wheatear - one 'in off' north harbour wall, one sandworks, 9 OE foreshore
Swallow - 84 NE
Sand Martin - 18 NE
Goldfinch - 5 NE
Meadow Pipit - 5 NE
House Martin - 1 NE
Black Guillemot - by the wooden jetty/offshore

Mammals
One Grey Seal in

Elsewhere
Two Avocet Conder Pool