Sunday 22 April 2012

Earliest ever Reed Warbler

Heysham Obs
Shot our bolt on the sea concentration/motivation-wise this morning and had to rely on a conscientious and very patient observer at JBP for the seabird records!

Sea early morning
Completely dead as regards movement
Sandwich Tern - c27, c25 of these on a sandbank offshore
Lots of large gulls on skeers/sandbanks

JBP records later in the tide (mainly over lunchtime)
Red-throated Diver - 17
Arctic Skua - 2 dark morph together and possibly one of these c30 minutes later
Great Skua - one having altercation with Arctic Skua.

Outfalls
Dead, with much reduced Common and large gull numbers

Office area
Dead other than the singing Lesser Whitethroat

Middleton NR
Reed Warbler - singing male the earliest record for Obs area as far as I am aware
Whitethroat - 2 singing males along golf-course edge
Grasshopper Warbler - at least 2 singing males
Linnet - nest building central marsh