Is tonight going to produce the goods?

Heysham Obs
Perhaps worth an early start tomorrow with 3 hours or so of south-easterlyish winds prior to a weather front and a southerly clear corridor overnight.  Timing is always critical in these conditions but we'll see and should have vis migger/seawatchers/grounded migrant searchers on the prowl.  Unfortunately Monday morning has gone a bit pear-shaped for here compared to the prognosis a few days ago with the early hours wind too far to the south - we'll see if anything materialises.  Today saw an away-day for most observers, but Janet and Malcolm gave some welcome coverage at Middleton.

Middleton NR
Cetti's Warbler - singing by the western end of the fence pond
Grasshopper Warbler - 2 singing males
Lesser Whitethroat - three singing males
Mute Swan - a record four breeding pairs coming up if the rogue dogs and foxes allow
No Reed Warbler reported as yet
Swallow - 9 south in 30 minutes

Heysham NR
Presumed migrant (non-singing) Grasshopper Warbler photographed on Heysham NR (SD46A bit) late afternoon

Back end of the morning tide

Heysham obs

Sea 0700 -0745 north wall/ocean edge
Gannet - 3 out
Fulmar - 1 out
Whimbrel - 2 in
Plus a rock bottom 'observation' of a probable Manx when optics covered in rain!

Middleton
Little grebe plus two young
Cetti's singing by gate w end fence pond
Tufted duck - 4 model boat pond

Moth
Amazingly a single Hebrew character

Late Merlin highlights

Heysham Obs
Real Jekyll and Hyde weather today with a very rapid change from one to the other as a polar low descended on us, swirling the already very cold air around.  Good news for the Scottish ski resorts I suspect

Ocean Edge area during the nice weather
A quick check of Ocean Edge 8:45. Male Merlin flew in low from Potts Corner, over salt marsh then over caravans to NW. (MD)
Also:
1 wheatear
2 little egret

Sea in the nasty weather late morning
Arctic Skua - dark morph meandered out - may have come in behind the Seacat and about-turned
Eider - two inshore
Gannet - one possibly two in and out of the murk

Pics during the nice weather (thanks Janet)

Elusive warblers

The only records so far today come from an evening stroll around Middleton Nature Reserve. The  initial impression was of a marked reduction of singing warblers. But on completion of a circuit, at least one each of the regular birds was accounted for, with the notable exceptions of chiffchaff and blackcap. (MD)
3 sedge warbler
2 lesser whitethroat
2 willow warbler
2 Cetti's warbler (fence & "no swimming" pond)
1 grasshopper warbler
1 common whitethroat

Also:
8 mute
4 tufted
3 mallard
1 little grebe feeding 2 chicks
2 pheasant
1 swallow (north)

Cold clear start

Early records from walk along south shore. (MD).
2 wheatear - Ocean Edge
1 whimbrel - between Red Nab & No.2 outflow
4 little egret

2 blackcap and 1 chiffchaff in wooded area at Red Nab

Partial coverage

Middleton Nature reserve (MD)
Just the fence pond Cetti's warbler heard singing this morning.
Summary:
8 mute
4 tufted
2 mallard
2 adult little grebe with 2 chicks
1 Cetti's warbler
1 grasshopper warbler
Also 4 sedge, 1 lesser + 2 common whitethroat, 3 blackcap, 2 chiffchaff & c10 willow warbler.
1 skylark
1 swallow (north)
1 house martin (north)

North wall
11 sandwich tern (1 flock)

Meagre fare

Heysham Obs

Sea
A low tide check from the north wall saw the careful scrutiny of upwards of 400 mainly immature gulls on and around the skeers but nothing of interest was located.  The only birds worth individual mention were:

Whimbrel - 8 in, 2 out
Little Egret - 5 on/around Red Nab
Wheatear - 2 Ocean Edge
Swallow - 5 north

Office area
The forecast didn't promise much in the way of migrants and that was what happened.
A light shower might have produced something but that didn't happen either.
A token mist netting session from dawn until 9.30 produced 2 Lesser Redpolls and little else.
A trickle of Swallows was moving northwards intermittently.

Moths
A couple of Common Quaker and a Powdered Quaker were the only moths in the hut trap

Saturday sightings

Heysham Obs
Bits of coverage early morning produced:

Sandwich Tern - 4
Swallow - 17 north
Grasshopper Warbler - new lightweight bird trapped and ringed at Middleton where there were 3-4 singing males
Cetti's Warbler - one singing eastern end of fence pond
Wheatear - 3 Ocean Edge














.

The east wind performs on the turning tide

Heysham Obs
Great start to the day - albeit not until 0750hrs, so perhaps deserved to see a big fat zero.  A hard life being a musician and the hours we have to keep.   Unfortunately no-one else available early doors other than a visiting birder checking the outfalls.   The second part of a good day was a wader fest over high tide

Some nice pics from Janet taken over the last few days at Middleton

North wall  0750-0915(with 10 minute break)
Slavonian Grebe - one in full summer plumage flew in from the south and landed next to a skeer near a gang of Eiders.  Fortunately no heat haze by that stage and the features were immediately obvious in superb light (for those of us who scratch their heads on the flight views - not being used to them!).  Began feeding and disappeared behind a skeer when distracted by Arctic Tern movement.  Hopefully can be found further up the Bay
Arctic Tern - 46 in (5+7+16+7+11)
Sandwich Tern - NONE!!
Eider - c280 (count distracted)
Swallow - c45
House Martin - 1
Sand Martin - 5
Black-headed Gull - 35 purposefully in - dribs and drabs
Little Gull - summer adult in with BHG
Purple Sandpiper - feeding below seawall with Turnstone then moved towards harbour entrance

Grounded
Willow Warbler - gang of 5 in the bushes by the sandworks - flew into centrica
Wheatear - 2 north wall, 4 Ocean Edge
Whinchat - two males together reported by birder in Nature park - not there mid-morning
No time to really search round

Others
Sanderling - 1 Red Nab
Dunlin - 280 Red Nab near high tide
Knot - one Red Nab
Whimbrel - 7 Red Nab, then north
Turnstone - 350-400 wooden jetty

Warbler variety

Heysham Obs
Lesser Redpolls are caught on spring passage by using a tape lure and it is not a lot of use when this stops working after about ten minutes and you don't notice until the next mist net round!  The critical period between just after civil twilight and just after sunrise was missed as at least 30 piled over!   Once the sun materialised in full, absolutely nothing happened on a clear sunny morning accompanied by an overnight full moon - where was the cloud cover forecasted by at least four weather sites?  

Heysham NR 0530-0715 vis mig
Tree Pipit - 2
Lesser Redpoll - c35
Jay - 2
Goldfinch - 5
Linnet - 6

Middleton NR
8 species of singing warbler in a short circuit of the reserve.
Willow Warbler - 8
Chiffchaff - 2
Whitethroat - 2
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Grasshopper Warbler - 2
Cetti's Warbler - 2
Sedge Warbler - 5
Blackcap - 1
Plus a migrant:
Wheatear - 1

Arctic Skua migration in action

Heysham Obs
Variety rather than numbers so far. Best action was a dark blob on the sea taking flight and materialising into a dm Arctic Skua which then spiralled high into the air, came closer (heading NE) and was last seen as a dot over Heysham Head.   It should be over the North Sea by now

Coastal observations 0730-0815
Little Gull - adult summer in
Arctic Skua - see above
Sandwich Tern - just 2 in
Common Scoter - distant flock of 5 u-turning
Tree Pipit - 1 poss 2 'together' N
alba Wagtail - 16 N (at least 7 of these were White)
Linnet - 19 N
Swallow - 16 N
Meadow pipit -  6N
No redpoll passage noted

Others
Wheatear - 5 Ocean Edge plus 2 north wall
Lesser Redpoll - 11 ringed Heysham nr and amazingly none ringed elsewhere !!
Lesser Whitethroat - two singing males near office (but no common Whitethroat there)
Willow warbler and blackcap - low single figure trickle by office

Middleton Nature Reserve
2 male Cetti's singing
3 grasshopper warbler reeling
3 lesser whitethroat
1 common whitethroat
Plus willow warbler, chifchaff and sedge warblers
2 sparrowhawk (north)
3 swallow

Lesser Whitethroat new in

Heysham Obs
A very short seawatch produced just 3 Red-throated Diver and a bit of Swallow passage (c20/hr)

Lesser Whitethroat new in at Middleton where both male Cetti's Warblers were singing

Speckled Wood new for the year at Middleton (& male Brimstone seen)

Vis mig over the office included 2 Lesser Redpoll and c6 Swallow

Routine westerly seawatch

Heysham Obs
Arrived a bit late today - surprised to see no other seawatchers given the good conditions.  Highlight was two Fulmar (really hard to connect with these days) passing an inbound Arctic Skua and the mainstay, as usual in these conditions, being Gannet.  Note no sign of yesterdays seawatch fare in very different conditions

Sea 0750-0940
Gannet - 80 out (max flock 21)
Fulmar - 2+1+1 out
Kittiwake - 25+13 in, 7 out
Arctic Skua - dm in 0816
Sandwich Tern - one in
Swallow - 11 in

Decent selection from a crystal clear morning, except in the mist nets

Heysham Obs
One of those mornings when there was a ground frost but attempts to scan the outer bay/channels were thwarted by a heat haze, notably what looked like a Great Northern Diver.

Offshore 0715-0815
Sandwich Tern - loose gangs of 6 + 9 in
Black-headed Gull - several small flocks purposefully in = 45 total
Red-throated Diver - absolute minimum of 14 on water or flying in, also 7 "birds" on the water in the heat haze which looked like this
Diver spp - see above (not a Cormorant!)
Common Scoter - Presume the same flock of 70 blogging but then flew out
Whimbrel - one flushed from the seawall by gate, then flew towards harbour - it or another north 20 mins later (IOY)

Vis mig north wall 0715-0815
Redpoll - 5 heard
Meadow Pipit - 6 heard
Alba Wagtail - 3 heard

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Greenshank - one with a few Redshank along the inner wet bits of mud/saltmarsh off Pontins - memo - check this more often (IOY)
Ringed Plover - flock of 71 on mudflats
Dunlin - 16 with above
Purple Sandpiper - this was lucky - one with 5 Turnstone on Red Nab then flew towards wooden jetty where there were loads of other small waders (presumably Turnstone/Redshank mix) - unfortunately no time to check
Wheatear - 7
White Wagtail - 1

Middleton Nature reserve (0830 -1000)
8 mute
2 mallard
4 tufted
1 teal
2 adult little grebe feeding 2 chicks (fence pond)
1 Cetti's warbler (male singing fence pond)
2 grasshopper warbler (reeling)
2 sedge warbler
numerous willow warbler and (less) chiffchaff
2 swallow

Cold block

Heysham Obs
Not as windy as forecasted this morning and a fair amount of singing going on.  However, a check of Middleton, with 30 minutes within audible range of anything singing in the marshes, only produced one of the two singing Cetti's Warblers (the no swimming pond bird), no Grasshopper Warbler and just a single singing Sedge Warbler of 'new' interest.  A Water Rail called from the western marsh reedbed

Miscellany from the 'rounds' (0715-0745 coastal, 0750-0820 Middleton)
Little Egret - 8 Red Nab
Carrion Crow - one flew north across the Bay
Cetti's Warbler - singing male by no swimming pond Middleton
Sedge Warbler - snging male east end of fence pond Middleton
Wheatear - just one Ocean Edge
White Wagtail - 2 together Ocean Edge
Water Rail - one called once from western marsh reedbed
Little Grebe - adult seen fence pond

No sign of any waders along the tideline towards the Lune Estuary other than Curlew and Oystercatcher, no obvious vis and no sea passage

Mammal
Harbour Porpoise off north wall

Below par

Heysham Obs
Impressions from coverage of the first two hours suggested that this was pretty well a zero migration morning and the 'new stuff' arrived after the main coverage yesterday.  Some bits and bobs unearthed by Janet with the major surprise being Little Grebe with chicks so early - the first confirmed breeding for about three years I think!

Middleton NR
Grasshopper Warbler - three singing males which were not there yesterday morning
Little Grebe - pair with at least two young on 'fence' pond

Deceptively friendly! 

 



Offshore for 15 mins 0640-0655
Red-throated Diver - 1 out

Red Nab/outfalls for 5 minutes
Raven - 1
Little Egret - 7 ish
Wheatear - 2

Mist netting by office two hours from dawn
Willow Warbler - 2
Goldfinch - 4

No vis mig perceived in very limited coverage

Much better than expected

Heysham Obs
If you get up and put some effort in even in rubbishy north-easterlies with high cloud, it sometimes pays off, even when only available until 0900hrs.  Quite a few bits and bobs later for Janet on Middleton:

Pollinated Blue Tit!

Purple Sandpiper north wall rocks with turnstone 0900
Sedge Warbler - one Middleton pm - see pic - early for here (no morning check for gropper today)

Sea 0635-0720
Common Scoter - flock of 8 in then out
Red-throated Diver - 6+8 in, joined up and seemed to land on the sea off Stone jetty area.  One out
Arctic Tern - flock of 7 in (IOY)
Sandwich Tern - two together in

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Osprey - one NE at 0730 putting every seagull up in the area!  Not sure exactly where it came from as not noticed until all the Red Nab stuff I was watching lifted up.  No colour rings seen/photographed!!
Little Egret - perhaps a record count of 9 on Red Nab
Wheatear - just 2 at 0730
No whale vomit

Vis mig
Lesser Redpoll - 4 ringed by 0800
Meadow Pipit - only 5 seen heading NE
alba Wagtail - 3 NE

Grounded
Not a lot perceived early on - one Willow Warbler ringed by 0800

Mammals
Harbour Porpoise -1 seen once off the north wall
Hedgehog - healthy individual by office

Vomit sensation and a diverse trickle

Heysham Obs
http://travel.aol.co.uk/2016/04/13/couple-find-whale-vomit-worth-50k-lancashire-beach/?icid=maing-

Was going to walk along there this morning but the spring tides had removed all the breeding waders, so didn't bother!

Vis mig
Meadow Pipit - 16
Lesser Redpoll - trickle with about 12 caught (one ringed elsewhere)
Sand Martin - 10
House Martin - 1
Carrion Crow - flock of 3 purposefully SE

Grounded
Wheatear - 9 Ocean Edge
Redstart - male ringed Middleton
Low double-figures of Chiffchaff and Willow warbler arrival

Miscellany
Two female Cetti's Warblers were caught this morning in the territory of the fence pond male.  This was also caught and found to be the bird ringed there last October
Tufted Duck - 4 pairs model boat pond
Little Egret - 5 outfalls/Red Nab

Ringing at Middleton/Heysham
New birds:  Cetti's Warbler (2), Blackcap (6), Willow Warbler (6), Chiffchaff (8), Siskin (2), Lesser Redpoll (c11), Redstart (1), Goldfinch (2), Greenfinch(2), Wren (1)

Butterflies
First Small White of the year

Bits of grounded stuff but the easterly lost

Heysham Obs
Unfortunately the south-easterly wind had gone this morning so expectation on the sea was reduced to very little (should have been here yesterday evening?).  The intermittent drizzle produce the usual expectation of the more obvious grounded stuff,  but no mist netting possible to get a handle on any less obvious odds and ends slipping through the bushes

Grounded
Phyllosc - 'out of habitat': 2 in north wall sea buckthorn, one ocean edge foreshore by slipway (looked like Willow warbler but all only seen briefly before they moved on)
Wheatear - 7 Ocean Edge, 2 north wall sandworks, 3 heliport area
Blackcap - singing male briefly north wall sea buckthorn and one by Heysham NR office (first there this year)
Greenfinch - male north wall sea buckthorn - unusual!

Offshore low tide check
Little Gull - adult in summer plumage-ish following the dredger with Common Gulls
Sandwich Tern - gang of 4 blogging
Red-breasted Merganser - 7
visibility very poor for checking skeers and seaward ends of outfalls but nothing obvious of note

Vis mig
one Meadow Pipit!

The vagaries of migration

Heysham Obs
The start of a 'seagulls on the skeers' check as per yesterdays posting was interspersed by northbound specks passing through the scope.  Time to go into vis mig mode and what an excellent hour by recent standards/coverage before it all seemed to dry up at 0915.

**A female Hen Harrier was seen heading for our recording area over the sea by Barry Dyson from Lane Ends area at 1310hrs

North wall 0805-0930
Meadow Pipit - 177 plus c60 flying dots presumed to be this species
Yellow Wagtail - what a bonus and an early one at that - a calling 'cadbury's flake' male north at 0905hrs.  To put in perspective, there were no records in the recording area last year
Marsh Harrier - rather distant female/imm (with yellow 'headlights') being mobbed by gulls as it laboured north about at least a mile out at about 0855 - why was it doing this is over the 'sea' in a strong wind - not the first time this species has been seen taking the 'maritime route' in adverse conditions!
alba Wagtail - 21
Swallow - 2
Sand Martin - 3
Linnet - 27 plus a tight flock of 8 presumed this spp
Siskin - heard once (one bird?)
Common Gull - 57
Black-headed Gull - 16
Red-breasted Merganser - just 4
Large Gulls - c450
Eider - mostly hidden by skeers - not counted

Outfalls area low tide
Med Gull - yesterdays 2CY with blackish head?
Common Gull - an additional 38 to the above
Little Egret - 2

No evidence of any grounded passerines north wall or ocean edge (eg no Wheatear seen)

Middleton Nature reserve - late afternoon
6 mute
3 coot
4 moorhen
8 tufted
3 teal
1 gadwall (male)
1 mallard
1 Cetti's warbler (singing male at fence pond)
2 swallow (singles north

Low tide scrutiny

Heysham Obs
The low point of these spring tides exposes many otherwise covered food-rich skeers which are visible with a scope off the north wall.  The low tide channels are also quite productive.  Contrast this with high ide on a calm day when there is often zero.  More time to check than yesterday and some interest slowly winkled out.    A duffish day for migration though.

Offshore and overhead north wall - one hour
Lesser Redpoll - c13 north-east (& 2 HNR)
Meadow Pipit - c17 NE (& 3 HNR)
alba Wagtail - 6 NE
Linnet - 8 NE (& 2 HNR)
Mainly Herring Gull imms - c480 on skeers and sandbanks, more than yesterday
Scaup - female in 'second' channel
Red-breasted Merganser - 16 - definite influx
Eider - many 'behind' skers but looked to be 250ish
Med Gull - 2CY (not the bird of the other day)
Carrion Crow - one in-off then north (also 2 SE over Heysham NR)

Middleton NR
Cetti's Warbler - 2 singing males
Willow Warbler - 8 singing males

No Wheatears seen early am at Ocean Edge - 2 by 9.30

Male brimstone Heysham Nature reserve 2pm

Fair weather miscellany

Heysham Obs
Better than yesterday for migrants, but coverage of the early morning was a bit 'stretched' with a short sample of everything.  Thanks for the pics Janet - the decent ones - the wooden jetty is mine

Offshore
Whooper Swan - 4 on sandbank, then north
Common Scoter - female out
phyllosc on north harbour wall

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Wheatear - 12 early am
White Wagtail - 1 early am
Little Egret - 4

Vis mig
Meadow Pipit - high-flying trickle with about 53 in 1.5hrs
Linnet - 16
Siskin - 2
Redpoll sp - 1
Common Buzzard - presumed migrant very high to north along coast
Goldfinch - 14

Grounded migrants by office
Willow Warbler - at least 5 by office when arrived at 0700hrs 

Moth
Included Small Quaker - a very fresh specimen - not common at all here

Mammal
A huge Grey Seal scared all the seagulls off the wooden jetty!

 Incredible jumping Linnet!

 Dunlin

 Knot

 Wooden jetty at high tide - big mass of Redshank and Turnstone on far right of first section

Clear night clearout

Heysham Obs
Yesterday's 'headwind fall' melted away overnight and predictably replaced by not a great deal (apart from the mixed pickle clearance sale at the local shop)

North wall/low tide offshore
Large gulls - c450, high proportion of immatures, on the offshore skeers
Eider - 260
Great-crested Grebe - 2
Red-breasted merganser - 2
Sandwich tern - 2'

Grounded
Wheatear - just 4 OE foreshore
single Goldcrest, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler ringed by office

Vis mig
Desperate
Meadow Pipit - 15
alba Wagtail - 5
Jackdaw - 1
Woodpigeon - 13
Lesser Redpoll -4
Linnet - 6
Swallow - 4

Middleton model boat pond
Tufted Duck - 13
Gadwall - male
Little Grebe - 1
Coot seem to have disappeared

Miscellany
5 Little Egret OE/Red Nab
Cetti's Warbler - both singing males - one by no swimming pond the other  singing from brambles between fence pond and fence at west end
Common Gull - 10 seaward end Heysham one outfall
Willow warbler - at least 4 Middleton

Black Redstart

Heysham Obs

Thanks Janet

Female type Black Redstart showing well along edge of Ocean Edge salt marsh. (MD) - all morning and afternoon.
Also 13 wheatear
Please remember that this area is on private land. Access only around foreshore perimeter.
Thanks

Arctic Skua and marine mammal fest

Heysham Obs
A bit of coverage today not without interest, although the sea would surely have been better but for the ring of turbines in the outer bay funnelling stuff to the west of them

Sea on and off to 1030hrs
Arctic Skua - dark morph in at a vast rate of knots at 0925hrs
Gannet - 1+1+1+1+3 out once it cleared

Miscellany
Siskin - at least 4 on the feeders by the office
Wheatear - Ocean Edge: gang of three males moved rapidly inland over the caravans followed by two more later
Ringed Plover - 38 Ocean Edge grass
Dunlin - 10 Ocean Edge grass

Mammals
Harbour Porpoise - one off the north wall at 0740
Grey Seal - one south wall area high tide

Strong west wind

Middleton Nature reserve
Just the Cetti's warbler by the "no swimming" pond (see yesterday for detail) heard singing today. But both territories were only visited briefly. Several chiffchaff singing but no willow warbler heard. (MD)
10 tufted, 1 gadwall and 2 shelduck on model boat pond.
1 little grebe on fence pond
2 swallow (south!)
3 wheatear

Ocean Edge
2 little egret
10 wheatear
7 ringed plover

0930-1000 circuit
Gannet - one wheeling ' over the horizon'
Twite - male giving burst of song north wall with 6 linnet nearby
No wheatear around at this stage

A Tale of Two Cetti's

Cetti's warblers singing from two locations on Middleton Nature reserve this morning. Northern edge of the pond just west of the model boat pond, plus resident bird near Fence pond. Several alternating visits to these two locations strongly suggest two, rather than one highly mobile bird. (MD)
Other MNR records
6 mute
6 coot
2 moorhen
10 tufted
3 gadwall (1 female)
3 mallard
1 little grebe
1 water rail
2 Cetti's warbler
2 willow warbler (singing)
5 chiffchaff (singing)
4 wheatear
3 swallow (north)

Heysham NR
A rather desperate ringing session from dawn this morning proved what was expected after a night of heavy cloud and continuous drizzle - no grounded migrants and little early vis.
The only Goldcrest trapped was a bird ringed yesterday and only one Chiffchaff was ringed.
The remainder of the catch consisted of finches at the hut feeders, but did include an adult female Bullfinch.

NHWall
A number of brief visits during the morning produced no sightings of note.

Sandwich Tern

Heysham Obs
Coverage mainly around mist nets this morning with just a small sample of vis mig and short late morning visit to outfalls area

Vis mig
Lesser Redpoll - 2 caught - one a control D848 sequence
Siskin - at least one N
Meadow Pipit - sample of 51 NE in 20 minutes
alba Wagtail - 5 as above
Linnet - 13 as above
Reed Bunting - passage male caught

Grounded
Meagre fare with fat scores suggesting many of the newly ringed 5 Goldcrest and 3 Chiffchaff were not new arrivals

No Wheatear seen (early morning and late morning coverage of Ocean Edge)

Outfalls/offshore
Big influx of large gulls with good numbers of imms - a good white-winger recipe - 280-300 around outfalls
Med Gull - 2CY tideline
Common Gull - 35 ish
Black-headed Gull - 6
Sandwich Tern - one flew out along the shipping lane .

Moths
March Moth a surprise in the context of this year!

Low key coverage

Heysham obs
Just half a dozen each of pied wagtail and meadow pipit grounded ocean edge along with three wheatear. No further coverage other than topping up feeders!

Meagre fair for the fool

Heysham obs
2cy med gull new in on the outfalls

A good count for here of five little egret

Just one wheatear ocean edge

Another pollinated chiffchaff ringed along with a couple each of lesser redpoll and goldcrest