good conditions + good coverage = 18 Leach's + more

A dry day after early showers. A fresh west wind.

Report by Shaun:

BD, DK, JR, PC, PM and SC stationed at Stone Jetty, St Peter's Churchyard & Heysham Harbour.  07:15-10:15:
Manx Shearwater 3.
Fulmar 1 out. 
Leach's Petrel Minimum of 15. Most were quite close in.  Two were actually flying over the beach behind the churchyard, one of which was seen running on the sand! 

An additional bird was seen later from Half Moon Bay Cafe at 10:55 quickly heading out. 
Gannet 3 or 4 adults in, plus a juvenile 
Shag juvenile harbour mouth briefly.
Pink-footed Goose 8 south and 17 north.
Common Scoter 5 in.
Mediterranean Gull 2 adults + 2 1cy harbour. Adult from churchyard.
Razorbill 1 Heysham (maybe the same one on the sea from churchyard). 
Guillemot 1 in from churchyard. 

Razorbill/Guillemot 2 at Heysham. 
Osprey over churchyard heading towards Heysham Harbour. 

I had a few bits extra along the sea wall this morning - Malcolm

Mediterranean gull a 1cy and 2cy on the beach by wooden jetty. The 1cy possibly the same as the one seen in the harbour 

1 and 2cy Mediterranean gulls with a Black-Headed gull

2cy Mediterranean gull

Common Tern 1 on No.1 outfall

I checked again this evening towards high water. I was going to check any waders along the waterline, but a scan from the shore showed that there wasn't any.

Linnet 4 on saltmarsh 

Wheatear 1 on foreshore 

Rock Pipit 1 on foreshore plus 2 on Red Nab

Shelduck 25 on the shore and at least an additional 20 in small groups south

Shelduck heading south

Mediterranean gull 1 adult on Red Nab, possibly included in this morning's count.

The Common Tern had switched to No.2 outfall

The sun came out for the only time today, making the sea shades of silver.
This isn't a monochrome shot, but full "colour"

Pete had a second check this afternoon:

One Leach's heading out off near Naze at 1628 and another from back of harbour at 1658.

Then nothing despite scan from Knowlys (to 1740).  

So minimum of 18 Leachs in total 0730-1000, 1055, 1620-1740. Almost certainly more in the periods in between, based on numbers seen just south of here at Rossall.

A  Manx Shearwater and two Razorbills out reported from Stone Jetty late afternoon.  

In the Nature Park - Malcolm

Common Darter 1

Comma, showing what its wings have evolved to mimic 

Bow-winged Grasshopper 

Janet also saw a Common Darter on the southern section of
Middleton Nature Reserve 

More Leach's

Overcast all day. Heavy rain started after lunch and didn't ease till evening.

Both Pete and Shaun managed a seawatch this morning. Shaun from the lighthouse on the south wall roundhead. Pete from the back of the Harbour and Knowlys Rd.

PJM+SPC. 07:15-09:45:
Manx Shearwater 2 out.
Leach's Petrel 1 out past the Harbour mouth at 07:30. Another seen from Knowlys Road at 08:40.
Gannet adult in.
Shag imm + adult type.
Pink-footed Goose 90 south. 50 + 80 + 40 in. 
Greylag Goose 5 in.
Eider 6 in.
Common Scoter 8 + 3 in. 
Mediterranean Gull two adults off the harbour, then 6 on the beach next to the pier later. 
Common Tern adult in + adult on No 1 Outfall.
Razorbill 1 out.
Guillemot 1 on sea. 

Malcolm 16:30 - 18:00

Common Tern 3 adults feeding along the sea wall, centred on No.2 outfall

Common Terns

Shag 1 immature 

It was fishing just below the north wall roundhead

Then moved further out to freshen up

It then flew off to join the Cormorants on the wooden jetty

This Black-Headed Gull was also feeding below the roundhead

Turnstone

Leach's passes by

Sowers all day, but most short lived. Sunny spells also short lived. A strong west wind.

Pete checked the sea from the back of the harbour 

Juvenile skua wheeling into bay 1304hrs. either Arctic or dark Long tailed - didn’t see it for long enough to be sure 

Leach's Petrel 1342hrs past the harbour entrance

Shag 1 juvenile 

A quick scan from Knowlsy Rd saw only a juvenile Sandwich Tern

South shore - Malcolm 13:00 - 16:00

Chiffchaff 1 calling in the Nature Park 

A walk along the sea wall and back plus a spell checking from the lighthouse saw nothing on the sea.

Rock Pipit 1 along the foreshore 

Wheatear 1 on the saltmarsh 

Linnet c60 on the saltmarsh, 

they were eating Samphire seeds

Lapwing 2 on the saltmarsh 

There were no waders along the waterline today, mainly as there was no waterline (I'll explain later). But there was a large group resting high up the shore just to the south of the recording area. I walked out to see what they were. Best estimates are

Knot 1750

Dunlin 250

Bar-Tailed Godwit 30

Grey Plover 80

It was approaching high water, but it was only 8.2m and the waterline 
should have been 50m away from here. But the shore is so flat here the
strong onshore wind blew a thin sheet of water over the whole beach

Fortunately something spooked them and they all flew north well within the recording area. The weather at this point was switching, literally minute by minute. One minute I was hunkered down against the rain with my camera stashed, the next minute I was in bright sunshine!

Not another rainbow shot! But this time with Bar-Tailed Godwits

Grey Plover and Knot

Also Grey Plover and Knot

Bar-Tailed Godwit and Knot

Knot, Grey Plover and Dunlin. This shot shows the water covering the
mud. It made it difficult checking for any colour marked birds

This was as close as I got. This Knot was ringed as part of a UK scheme.
It would have had a coded orange flag above the green ring. Both the rings
and flags are made of a very light thin plastic. They are designed to outlast
the average age of the species, but often don't outlast the longer lived individuals

Then the waders decided to head further south again.

It was nice seeing large flocks of waders again, but the approaching dark
clouds didn't have any gaps in them, so I headed back.

Earlier Kevin had seen c100 Shelduck out from Red Nab.
This was the only one I saw all afternoon!

Today's Tern not common

Heavy morning showers eased after lunch. A few sunny spells. A NW wind

Pete:

Juvenile Black tern seaward end heysham one 1037hrs then disappeared in visibility reducing shower - probably into rather than out of bay

Immature Shag conger rock area north of Heysham Head at low water

Heysham skear - Malcolm 09:15 - 10:45

Grey Heron 1

Little Egret 14

Little Egrets in the Honeycomb worm beds

I walked out with bright sunshine behind me, but very black clouds in front of me. It was obvious that I was in for a soaking, but at least I had a nice, albeit short, light show first.

Not only was there a secondary bow

But there were at least three rainbows overlaid in the primary bow

You can see two additional lines of violet below the first one

This was the last shot I took before stashing my camera away, just in time!

I continued my circuit the heavy rain didn't last too long but it never really stopped raining. I didn't see a great deal, I didn't even see the Shag!

Gulls c250 mainly Herring gulls

Eider c30 (Pete counted 1135 between Heysham and Bare)

Red-breasted Merganser 7

Great Crested Grebe 4

Oystercatcher c2000

Curlew 35

Redshank 40 most high up the shore

Knot 12

Turnstone 50

Ringed Plover 3

I hadn't seen or heard any geese till 10:25. There was still light rain, but between 10:25 and 10:45 there were 4 skeins of Pink-Footed geese south (only two actually seen 34 and 85 the others above the low cloud). Plus 4 Canada geese flying north

South shore this afternoon 

Pink-Footed goose c70 south - Kevin 

Malcolm 13:30 - 14:30

No terns on the outfalls

Grey Seal between the outfalls

Mediterranean gull 1 2nd calendar year on Red Nab

2cy Mediterranean gull (top)

Rock Pipit 2 on Red Nab 1 on the foreshore 

Rock Pipit

Wheatear 2 on Ocean grass

Also on Ocean Edge sign

Linnet c70. Not feeding on the saltmarsh today but on the grass

A backdrop of backlit white clouds makes for an interesting shot

They were feeding around the Sea Stork's-bill. Presumably collecting what
must be tiny seeds.

A large flock of small waders arrived from the south and settled along the waterline some distance out from the saltmarsh.

Grey Plovers and what looks to be mainly Knot

No time, or more honestly, no stamina left today. But I will check
tomorrow, weather permitting 

The Terns today were Common

A showery day with sunny spells. A west wind.

South shore - Malcolm 09:00 - 11:00

I set off in sunshine without my leggings. Mistake. Heavy rain began as I reached the saltmarsh and continued till I got to Red Nab.

Linnet 60+ on saltmarsh 

Wheatear at least 3 at saltmarsh and foreshore 

Meadow Pipit 2 along the foreshore 

Rock Pipit 1 on foreshore, 1 on Red Nab and 1 along the sea wall

Shelduck 20 out from Red Nab

Shelduck 

On the walk out there were lots of Black-Headed gulls on No.2 outfall and
more were arriving all the time. Clearly plenty of food was coming through 

Strangely there were no gulls feeding on No.1 outfall

Mediterranean gull 2 adults, 1 on Red Nab and 1 on the beach by the wooden jetty.

A solitary Mediterranean gull surrounded by Sandmason worm tubes

Between the lighthouse and waterfall there were:

Linnet at least 3

Robin 1

Blackbird 1 male

House Sparrow 1 (not common on this side of the harbour)

Plus lots of feeding Starlings 

Starling and House Sparrow

On the walk back the Black-Headed gulls were now also feeding on No.1 outfall and there were still lots on No.2 outfall. But now they had been joined by an adult with a juvenile Common Tern.

The juvenile calling to be fed.....

......and the adult obliging. This looks to be a Sandeel, a shoal must have 
moved too close to the water intakes

It gets fed twice in this clip. You can just about make out its cries over the noise of the wind and c100 Black-Headed gulls in this clip. In real time its calls were very distinct.

Juvenile Common Tern

Adult Common Tern

The adult didn't always find fish so quickly. It is searching here without any luck. You can see the juvenile waiting on the rail.

I returned towards high water, the adult and juvenile Common Terns had been joined by two more adults. At least the juvenile was flying and looking for food itself now, but you could still hear its calls over everything else, presumably when the, or perhaps any, adult had a fish.

Juvenile Common Tern

Two adult Common Terns plus the juvenile is sat on the water in this shot

One of the new adults was quite worn

Wheatear 5

Wheatear on the foreshore 

In the Nature Park

Common Whitethroat 1 looked to be a juvenile 

Speckled Wood 2

Painted Lady 1

Painted Lady

Curlew - Flying off from the shore below Knowlys road this afternoon - Janet

Yesterday Alison managed to count 27 Small Copper on Heysham Head, that's probably more than are normally reported in a year for the whole recording area!