Heysham Obs
A clear morning with a F1 easterly produced some slow and steady migration and one or two other points of interest. This included displaying Sandwich Tern on Red Nab (for the first time?)
North harbour wall 0745-0900
Black Guillemot - present in the harbour mouth but very nervous re-ferries and flew offshore for at least 15 minutes 0815. Later defended the sea area below marker No 9 on the wooden jetty = chasing off two juv Herring Gull. Present to 1100hrs when it had moved far offshore. As last year, recommend morning is best.
Purple Sandpiper (single) roosting on the wooden jetty with 78+ Turnstone
Red-throated Diver - 2 in
Sandwich tern - 8 in 2 out
Eider - flock of 11 out
Swallow - 17 NE
Meadow Pipit - 13 NE [plus a further 8 by the office 0940-0950]
Linnet - 29 NE [plus a further 5 by the office as above]
White Wagtail - 2 NE (seen well)
Goldfinch - 3 NE [& 2 by the office as above]
North harbour wall mid afternoon
No sign of the Black Guillemot but
Purple Sandpiper - feeding on the shore next to the inner wooden jetty
Red-throated Diver - one offshore
Teal - 2 pairs on the sea
Sandwich Tern - 2 in
Ocean Edge
Ring Ouzel - male on the bank by the touring park at least 0930hrs
Meadow Pipit - 11 grounded, then NE
Sandwich Tern - 3 on Red Nab, including displaying pair
Grounded night migrants
Not so good apart from R.O.
Wheatear - just 5 along the coastal strips
Blackcap - 3 new birds ringed & one retrap
Willow Warbler - 1 ringed
Chiffchaff - 2 ringed
Elsewhere
Whimbrel Teal Bay. 2 White Wagtail & 6 Wheatear Potts Corner, another White Wagtail Stone jetty. 2 Common Sand. Pine Lake. Pale-bellied Brent Goose still on the tideline off Sunny Slopes with 245 Eider just offshore nearby. Please note that the tits around Leighton Moss are Marsh, not Willow (c/f at least two entries in the Leighton Moss book). Still 13 Avocet on the Allen/EM Pools. Short-eared Owl caught a vole at Whitray Fell this late afternoon - the first there for 12 months or so.
