Three of note in quick visit

Heysham outfalls is an easy food source and can attract waifs and strays, notably coffin-dodging young Kittiwakes in winter gales.  This Arctic Tern appeared today and the anomolies may have impeded its migration.  Wheatear very late - a small female

Outfalls/Red Nab
Med Gull - at least one 2CY - didn't look like either of yesterdays with a lot of black on head
Arctic Tern - oddly plumaged adult-type

Wheatear - female OE foreshore

Two 2CY Meds

The cutting edge was a bit less blunt this am with 2 x 2CY Med Gulls on the outfalls in much better viewing conditions than yesterday

At least 5 singing Reed Warbler Middleton including one in SE corner of model boat pond

A Freyers Pug graced the moth trap but not a lot else

Grey Seal off outfalls

Fox ran across Moneyclose lane

Lots of common seagulls

Couldn't pull anything out of the bag on the outfalls this morning:

Sandwich Tern - 1 out
Gannet - 2 casually noted flying out

Late afternoon sunshine saw one male Red-veined Darter being seen in the SW corner of Middleton model boat pond and 'with' it a probable female (per Dave)

Broad-barred White in the moth trap

Grey Seal offshore and Weasel Middleton NR

A day of unsynchronised seasons

Stop press: three prob four male red veined darter over the water on model boat pond this afternoon also one male black tailed skimmer


ust out of the area - a Large Heath was photographed on Heysham Moss in one of the few areas not affected by the recent fire devastation........but why is it out a month early?

Mediterranean Gull - A 3Cy male was displaying to an adult female on the mudflats next to Heysham two outfalls - very early for this age class on ??autumnal dispersal and they should surely have already found a room in a BHG colony?

The third record of note was a flock of 17 Canada Goose adults floating in on the tide.  What on earth are they doing?

Nothing else of note on the outfalls but BHG were 700+ all seemed to be 2CY.  Watch this space! 

Outfalls bonanza

Things are really kicking off on the outfalls now the outage has produced a full flow.  A shortish visit on the incoming tide saw up to 450 Black-headed Gulls (all wandering 2CYs with obvious implications re-similarly wandering rares), 50-70 2CY Common Gull, lots of large gulls and some other odds and ends - see below:

Common Tern - at last!!  Adult seaward end Heysham one briefly (with one of the Arctics), then flew around the jetty into the bay
Arctic Tern - Ad with the above and another remaining on the inner end of Heysham one throughout
Little Gull - 2CY briefly seaward end Heysham 2 then couldn't find it - may have flown with BHG towards Middleton
Swallow - 2 in-off

Re-security and telescopes etc at Red Nab and along the seawall by the outfalls.   You will/may be paid a visit by security staff and will be expected to give full details - obviously something like a driving licence with you will help.  So no change, but assume more regular patrols - there are no restrictions unless eg some idiot tries to photograph through the power station fence.  In this respect you will be on camera at all times.  The harbour police are responsible for the north harbour wall and area and the same situation as above applies   

Too many moths

Tried to mix early morning coverage with moth traps today.  No chance !

A belated check of red nab and the outfalls saw nothing of interest with the gulls but a sanderling was on the beach and a late whimbrel on red nab

Insects included 15 b b chaser on middleton and three on the nature park ponds.   Three burnet companion heysham nr and silver ys at both reserves.

Yesterday evening saw five shaded pig at dusk on middleton at a hotspot for this species

Wednesday fare

Arctic Skua - dm in 0834
Gannet -8 imms sauntering around the bay
Auk - one in
Sandwich tern - 2 out

Gulls
Massive influx of 2cy black headed to outfalls -c300 but nowt with them

Sanderling day

Not too bad a seawatch this morning given the lack of any substantial wind or showers (as per promise a week ago!)

Sea 0715-0830
Arctic Skua - light morph flew in heading NE, then turned and circled up and headed "over Barrow" - not seen this migration strategy before (but regular with Kittiwake)
Red-throated Diver - 1 in distantly and a close 2CY out
Razorbill - I in very close (nearly 'under' the scope!)
Guillemot - 1 in
Razorbill/Guillemot - 6 in
Kittiwake - single adult out
Sandwich tern - just the one - in
Common Scoter - flock of c25 in
Gannet - 17 in and a few distant 'outs' presumed same
Sanderling - flock of 19 out

Outfalls/Red Nab
Sanderling - at least 40 amongst a mixed flock/tideline scattering of c350 small waders, mostly with 'pale bellies', therefore this or RP, mostly too distant to see in the heathaze.  Went round to Potts Corner but could not relocate them on the incoming tide
Black-headed Gull - 55 - an increase - mostly 2CY
Common Gull - 35 2CY
Med Gull - a 'masky' 2CY new in - quite a bright orange dark-tipped bill

End of spring season feel

Having said that tomorrows seawatching might be a bit better in the SW winds. 

Sea for about 30 minutes
Sandwich tern - 3 blogging
Gannet - one out
Turnstone - 129 on wooden jetty

Nothing at all of note around the other side with only 15 Common and 5 Black-headed Gulls accompanying small numbers of big gulls

No waders other than Oystercatcher and 5 Curlew on Red Nab/along tideline

White-shouldered House Moth in trap

More bits

sea 0630-0800

Kittiwake - 1

Gannet -  14

Auk spp - 6 distant 

Sandwich tern - 5-20 bloggers

Moth

Ruddy high flyer in trap

Seabits

Sea 0745-0845

Arctic Skua - one dm on then in
Sandwich Tern - loose flock of 6 flying out slowly
Kittiwake - flock of 13 across then seemingly out
Razorbill or Guillemot - one in
Manx Shearwater - 2 out distantly
Common Scoter - one out
Gannet - one out
In addition a big thing was being mobbed by seagulls in the heat haze in line with Roa Island - could have been anything from a heron to a harris hawk which leaves a lot of options

EDF breeding bird survey

A fairly comprehensive breeding bird survey of EDF property took place today - if anyone within the operational areas of the power station has anything to add, please email Pete (see sidebar for details).  Examples would be Mistle Thrush, Pied Wagtail and other things which like using buildings.

On the positive side were a singing male Goldcrest, singing male Garden Warbler (possibly a late migrant) and an Oystercatcher on a nest - none of these three have been proved to breed successfully before. On the downside, no Ringed Plover, no Grasshopper Warbler (Trimpell tanks were checked)no Reed Warbler (yet? - they can be late), seemingly no Great Spotted Woodpecker and similarly no Water Rail.  Willow Warbler were in above average numbers with most of the rest of the stuff 'as expected'

Chiffchaff

For the first time for a long time, the sea received no coverage!

Middleton news (thanks Malcolm)
Little grebe on Tim Butler, not sure if this is a different bird or a commuter from model boat pond (or visa versa).
No swimming pond Cetti's singing.
Grasshopper warbler very vocal to west of western marsh.
1 Gadwall

Insects
The moth trap held Poplar Hawk-moth, Rustic Shoulder Knot (both NFY) and a few Small Square Spot - poor reward for a good night.  Chrysoteuchia culmella was photographed by Janet

Overland skuas

Not a bad little seawatch considering expectations were not high

0745-0900 north wall
Arctic Skua - lm and dm flew NE high over Heysham Head 0805hrs having come from the general direction of Walney lighthouse, climbing and circling when they reached the yellow buoys
Gannet - flock of 6 (4 ads) in
Guillemot/Razorbill - 22 in
Guillemot - 14 in
Common Scoter - flock of 7 out
Kittiwake - 8 in very distantly

Survey boat out there from about 0815 - be nice if a birder was aboard and got on to the single presumed auk flying out which appeared to show big white upperwing patches - just too much heat haze to get enough definition on the bird

Middleton (thanks Malcolm)
Insect morning
Damsel flies out in great numbers, large red and blues (the ones I checked closely were Azure).
3 X Broad bodied chasers (1 mature male). 2 along strip next to golf club.
Only 2 X 4 spotted chaser
Lots of common blue butterflies now (m & f)
2 small copper (I've attached a record shot of one)

Heard all three Cetti's, unfortunately not at the same time.
Grasshopper warbler reeling on slope west of western marsh.
3 male Gadwall

Insects HNR
The moth trap actually produced some moths at last:  Two Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet, 4 Small Square Spot and a Scalloped Hazel

Watch out for the possibility of Small Yellow Underwing moth if you are wandering about e.g. the hay-meadows by the office - just a possible glimpse this morning of something of that ilk.  Small Copper seen by office

No early coastal coverage

Middleton (thanks Malcolm)
Little grebe on model boat pond, pretty sure they have nest in reeds in SE corner.
Newly fledged long tailed tits (still being fed).
Female Mute on no swimming pond constantly adjusting eggs, I suspect that hatching is imminent.
No Swimming pond Cetti's singing (twice) from western edge.

No reports of any migrants today and seemingly negative news on the Brent Geese

A Small Square Spot graced the moth trap (Silver Y yesterday)

First Common Blue reported this year (thanks Janet)

Bits

Brent goose - the three still red nab am at least
Manx shearwater - two very distant pm
Common scoter - flock 5 very distant pm
Arctic Skua - dm sat on sea mid range pm
Red-throated diver - 2cy out close inshore pm
Spotted flycatcher - at least one heysham head royal hotel area

Southerly rubbish

Gannet - 3 out
Brent Geese - still in situ
Common Scoter - c7 distantly in as viewed from OE

Better than expected

A better than expected sea-watch from Heysham North Harbour Wall this morning (0630 - 0940 hrs) (Peter Crooks) with not a lot seen after then by the follow-up observers!

Coastal/offshore
Arctic Skua - 1 dark morph flew in at 0810 and landed on the sea before continuing into the bay 5 minutes later.
Common Scoter - mid-distance groups of 4, 3 and 7 were completely overshadowed by flocks of c.250, c.70, and finally c.1000 swirling about on the horizon and landing on the sea at very long range.
Gannet - 81, including 32 in a single scan across the Bay
Kittiwake - 3, then flocks of c.60 and c.85 suddenly appearing at mid-range (descending from higher?), then forming tight 'kettles' and gaining height, but seeming not to fly further into the Bay.   Later 40 similarly
Guillemot - 1 in
Sanderling - groups of 4 and 7 flew out, then 9 flew in/across the Bay
Fulmar - 2
Red-throated Diver - 1
Sandwich Tern - 6
Light-bellied Brent Goose - 2 Red Nab/OE saltmarsh
Dark-bellied Brent Goose - one with above

Willow Warbler singing in bushes near parking area at end of NH Wall

Cetti's Warblers (thanks Malcolm)

WEBs "nightmare"
1,500 Dunlin decided that they would leave the incoming tideline and fly on to Red Nab where they unfortunately met a repeat performance from the "B and B":

They then tried to land but then veered off over the Bay and seemed to 'climb'.  Looking at the Lune counts they were quite low for the WeBS today - I had far more on the Sunderland mudflats this early am and presumably these were some of the same birds?  Problems with WeBs counts at migration time - these birds could just not be registered as anything as they had gone well before high tide

If any of the Ocean Edge people are reading this, please could you have a bit of a blitz on tides and quicksand -  a couple of girls and a dog from the site were actually jumping up and down miles out near the old sewage pipe and one of them had difficulty extracting one of her legs from the mud and they only just missed being cut off by the channel which runs alongside the seaward side of the saltmarsh .  This channel has deepened and become more "obvious" further out to at least the old sewage pipe over the last few months and is clearly a serious potential hazard, including quicksand.  Need to be off the shore two hours before high tide if you intend to cross this channel on your way back and not face a lengthy detour via eg the beach by the old Pontins site.  See how quickly the recent car has disappeared.

Scattering of interest, mostly in Cumbria!

Rain and a south-westerly this morning

Arctic Tern - one early on
Arctic Skua - distant light morph in, picked up by two separate observers about 1005hrs
Gannet - 5 out
Common Scoter - 54 out in three close bunches
Brent Goose - the gang of three were still around on the usual routine ie Red Nab then OE saltmarsh at high tide

No evidence of any hirunding or landbird migration

Spotted flycatchers.....eventually

A few bits this morning but definitely not worth an early start in what was "a nice calm sunny morning" at that time.

Egret spp: quite possibly a great white heading very distantly into the bay
Spotted flycatcher - three heysham head when cloud arrived, nowhere else checked at this time
Brent goose - the three still there on the same routine
Marsh Harrier - female type north east early am over middleton
Sandwich tern - two blogging
Swift - 15 heysham head
Swallow - c50 northbound or blogging
Sand martin - 1
House martin - 1
Whitethroat - 6 ringed
Cetti's warbler - central marsh breeding male retrapped on CES
Reed warbler - singing male in bramble hnr, at least three middleton
Wheatear - 3 small ones oe foreshore
Large gulls - 2500 on skeers

Grey seal - 1


Five 4-spotted Chaser Middleton NR

Itsy bitsy not a lot

The easterly did not really kick in until after 0900 and the start of the morning was cold clear with a full moon and a light northerly - a good recipe for staying in bed i.e. subtly unfavourably different to yesterday

Worthy of note....
Gannet - 2 out
Arctic Tern - 8 in
Sandwich Tern - 2 blogging and one bizarrely dip-feeding over wet mud next to Red Nab for 30 minutes
Brent Goose - the two pale and one dark-bellied birds still Red Nab but hidden in the back channel until the tide moved

More phonescoping practice! (Pete)

Swallow - c130 NE with a significant number in-off at OE
House Martin - 5 NE
Lesser Redpoll - 1 NE and one ringed
Willow Warbler - 4 or so ringed, one in-off over the mudflats at OE
Wheatear - 3 big and one enormous bird arrived together on OE foreshore 10ish
Large gulls - 2000 + checked on low tide skeers
Cetti's Warbler - possibility/probability of extra singing male Middleton
Mallard & 6 young Middleton (also Gadwall, Tufted Duck and 3 x nesting Mute Swan)

Insects
Broad bodied Chaser - teneral Middleton (thanks Malcolm) (IOY)
also Common Blue or Azure seen

Black goose fest

Spent most of the time going through 2100 large gulls on or around the skeers to the south of Heysham head - wish these were closer - very hard to find even eg a 'winger' amongst the masses.   Nothing could be found amongst the 99% imm Herring

Arctic Tern - flock of 16 in as soon as I got there at 0650 and that was it
Sandwich tern - 3 bloggers
Canada Goose - 3 'in' - rarer than Brents on seawatches!!
Swallow - just 5 in an hour
Black-tailed Godwit - flock of 5 2CY (or certainly non breeding plumage) in
Whimbrel - 2 in

Dark-bellied Brent Goose x 1
Pale bellied Brent Goose x 2 - still at Red Nab with the above

Whimbrel - 2 red nab

Visibility not good enough to see the scoter line of yesterday

Grounded
Better than yesterday but didn't seem to be any ringers about today
Whitethroat - one north wall (and more eg Heysham MNR than yesterday
Willow Warbler - one north wall
Garden Warbler - singing males Moneyclose lane and Heysham NR
Wheatear - 6

Dont give up

All the decent stuff was courtesy of Chis ringing me from Knott End about a summer plumaged Great Northern Diver which had flown and seemingly landed on the sea general heading 'in'.   No sign but distracted a bit by other things!

Sea 0645 onwards on and off
Sandwich tern - 7 in
Swallow - c40 in
Osprey - one flushed everything on Red Nab and all the power station gulls at 1000ish and headed north just inland of PS
Pale-bellied Brent Goose - 2 Red Nab later Ocean Edge saltmarsh as the tide came in
Dark-bellied Brent Goose - one with the above

Common Scoter - absolute minimum of 750 flying into the bay 1000-1030 with some almost certainly missed as I switched from OE heat-hazed views to the NHW
Wheatear - three big males OE
Lesser Redpoll - flock of 4 north
House Martin - one in
Raven - one in-off then east at OE
Whimbrel - 2 Red Nab and area

Moth
A very early Burnet Companion on Heysham Nature reserve (thanks Janet)

Mulleted

c2000 Grey Mullet feeding on algae on the incoming tide on Red Nab (pic later).  Seawatching included yet another Puffin or two and a distant inbound Marsh Harrier.  The "cold air heat-haze" was causing problems with many of the auk spp i.d.

Mullet (thanks Malcolm)

Sea 0700-0930 & 0955-1020
Puffin - one in 0900ish then probably the same out close inshore before landing on the sea off the wooden jetty at 1000ish
Marsh Harrier - one in 0855 (struggling with gulls in tow - seemed to be on a SE to NW line across the Bay (didn't pass Rossall) but an odd decision!)
Arctic Tern - 66 in
Guillemot - 4 in
Guillemot/Razorbill - c10
Auk spp v distant - c10
Goose spp - 2 in
Sandwich Tern - 3
Gannet - 5
Swallow - 60+
Sand Martin - 2
House Martin - 2
Swift - 3

Inshore
Wheatear - 3
Whimbrel - 1 red nab
Common Sandpiper - 1

Office area
Ringing included a female Redstart

More seabird unpredictability

Lighter winds this morning and it seemed to knock the regular things with faster wingbeats on the head - common scoter, red-throat and auks but there was an unexpected calm weather passage of Gannet and Kittiwake.  Also a late start which may have cost a Pom or two on Rossall observations, but it was a good morning for skuas to start climbing to go overland before reaching the north wall

Offshore 0730 to 0900 thence very intermittently to 1215
Osprey north along coast then circling high over Heysham head 0810ish
Goosander - redhead north - very tricky year list species under the belt
Arctic Skua - dm in at 0739 and one chasing Sandwich terns then in at 1200
Arctic Tern - 124 (61+43+20)
Sandwich Tern - c25 blogging, mostly south of harbour

Kittiwake - 26 (8+10+5+3)
Gannet - 15 (6+6 (definitely different) + 2+1)
Ringed Plover - 14 in
Dunlin - 20 in
Swallow - c75 N
Swift - 2 N

Grounded (too late an arrival on a morning like this)
Willow Warbler - gang of 11-12 sandworks vegetation
Whinchat - female OE foreshore
Wheatear - just 2
Garden warbler - singing male by obs t pond
Heysham Head wood warbler and spot fly search saw 48 dogs and a singing wren

Inshore
Whimbrel - 4 Red Nab until....................

B and (St) B Oystercatcher botherers

Insects

Four-spotted Chaser - first of year on Middleton (thanks Malcolm)

Oddities!

A Cuckoo on a seawatch and a flock of Pintail sat on the tideline, the latter more unexpected than the former for here, especially this time of year!

Sea 0650-1015 (all in unless stated otherwise)
Swift - 6
Auk spp - 7 & 4 out (2 definite Guillemot and the rest probably this spp)
Red-throated Diver - 5
Common Scoter - 61
Gannet - 4
Arctic Tern - 168 (biggest flock 77)
Pintail - 12 on tideline
Whimbrel - 2
Cuckoo - 1 in at 0810
Lesser Redpoll - 2
Swallow - just 16

Even closer Puffin and swift passage

About 1.5 hours of rather messy coverage rather than complete concentration on the sea.  This was because there was clearly nothing happening looking from the north wall beyond the yellow buoys and therefore some later Ocean Edge grass watching seemed in order with an eye kept on the nearest channels offshore.  This is a better vis mig site and so it proved with swift and hirundines and 'invisible' redpoll.

Coastal coverage 0725-0900 (ie when cafe opened!)
Puffin - at about 0830 one flew round the wooden jetty and then towards me on the north wall, gaining height before dropping down again in the near channel and heading up the Bay!  Bizarre and surely the same bird Ian had seen from Rossall at 0630ish which had sat on the sea for a bit?
Guillemot - one in 0815
Red-throated Diver - one out - the only distant bird of any note
Swift - 9 from the north wall heading NE over the sea, 14 in-off at Ocean Edge
Swallow - 7 as above, then 44 in-off Ocean Edge
Sand Martin - 2 in-off Ocean Edge
Sandwich Tern - 4 in
Lesser Redpoll - 5+H+H+2+H+H
Whimbrel - 1 in
Dunlin - 55 in
Ringed Plover - 24 in
Black-headed Gull - 19 in

Grounded
Whinchat - female OE slipway area
Wheatear - at least 7 OE foreshore
Meadow Pipit - 2 OE foreshore  

Puffin!

Clear and north easterly again so this seemed to have the hallmarks of  'going through the motions patch coverage'.  The tide was also in, not usually the best scenario.  However there was a real hooley blowing down the Bay and that looked a whole lot more promising and the next 1.5hrs saw a decent variety

Sea 0715-0845
Arctic Tern - 20 in joined by 31 dropping out of the sky + 8 in
Sandwich Tern - 5+2 in (no bloggers)
Puffin - 1 in 0735 - nice colourful bill visible, not just a distant jizz id!
Guillemot - 8 in
Auk spp - 2 distant in, 3 out - no reason why they were not Guillemot
Great-crested Grebe - pair in sp flew in (odd?)
Red-throated Diver - 4 singletons in - all in sp
Gannet -3 - sub ad in, ad & imm in
Black-headed Gull - 32 purposefully in (mostly 2CY)
Whimbrel - 1 in

Wheatear in sandplant

Grey Seal

Scraping the barrel

Trying to find some birds this morning from the North Harbour Wall was like looking into an empty cup and seeing a few tea leaves at the bottom.

07:00-10:00
Pink-footed Goose - 22 N at 07:40
Red-throated Diver - 2 in at 07:46 and 09:05
Arctic Tern - 8 in then up on reaching the outfalls at 09:00
Black-headed Gull - 32 in 3 flocks
Swallow - 8

Lunchtime
Sandwich tern - 2
Med Gull - 2CY with mask and dark joining over the rear crown

Wheatear - 1 grounded on the south harbour wall.

Turnstone 115 on the wooden jetty

Decent migration coverage

The mist nets below the old obs tower saw a blast from the past today - a decentish catch of 20 or so female Willow Warblers with a few other odds and ends including three Lesser Whitethroat.   The sea was a real mixed bag with early morning reports from elsewhere suggest quite a few terns from early doors (eg 100+ Arctic and a few Black off JBP early am).  Heysham observations saw the back end of this movement with nothing subsequently other than a few blogging Sandwich Terns.  However, following an extremely distant probable, the incoming tide once again produced skuas, this time three Arctic in conditions which were clear and flat calm!  Unfortunately there was no known coverage when the easterly kicked in again later in the tide sequence.  The first Middleton CES was carried out and the single Willow Warbler showed just how more concentrated migrants are at Heysham NR, much nearer the landfalling area

North harbour wall am
Vis
Lesser Redpoll 2
Swallow 18
Meadow Pipit 1

Grounded
Willow Warbler singing by twite feeder but no Wheatear or any other migrants

At sea
Arctic Tern 78 (36, 38, 4)
Black Tern 1 (with the 38 Arctics)
Red-throated Diver 2 in
Little Egret 1 south, close inshore
skua spp - very distant bird, almost certainly dark Arctic

South harbour/O edge
Wheatear - 7

Early incoming tide north wall (lunchtime)
Arctic Skua - single dark morph in then two together in close inshore
Little Gull - two summer adults in with a flurry of Black-headed Gulls
Eider 127 off the skear
Sandwich Tern 8 blogging
Dunlin - 20 on skeer
Whimbrel - one on skeer
NO hirundine passage during this calm spell

Moneyclose Lane
Pied Flycatcher - male singing briefly from two locations as it moved north along the lane

Heysham village
Swift - 1 (IOY)

Grey Seal offshore

Waiting for Godot delivers in style

The early morning vigil on the sea from 0700 drifted on via negative news from Rossall, extensive negative searching of the skeers for the Iceland Gull, a café stop and an office visit until 1100 when one of us gave up and the other decided just to let the tide come in a bit.  At this point, Alan arrived and it all started to happen!  Yet yesterday the early morning low tide period was quite productive.  Seawatching can be so unpredictable.

The tern behaviour was also different this morning with just a bit of north in the easterly wind.  There were two lines used by birds heading in the bay and no sign of any heading inland over the wooden jetty or even further south as yesterday.  The first line was 'yellow buoyish range' and the second line was in the second channel beyond the first sandbank and it was along this line the star of the morning, three Pomarine Skuas, materialised

Osprey - one flew NE over the reserve at 1130 (Alan D and John M)

Offshore
Arctic Tern - 301 in, mainly after 1130
Black Tern - 48 in with largest group 23.  Some could have been missed on the 'inner line' whilst keeping tabs on the Poms.  All after 1130
Pomarine Skua - three low over the water just beyond the first sandbank at 1140, then landed for about 12 minutes before heading slowly and low up the channel.  Two were obvious light morphs with full tails, the third looked a bit 'messy' underneath where the others were clear cut pale but still had a full tail.  A nice new species for Alan!
Whimbrel - 4 in
Sandwich Tern - 7 blogging early on then a further 15 in with the main movement
Black-headed Gull - c150 in, mainly 2CY
Meadow Pipit - 11 in
Swallow - c150 in (and single/low double figures over Middleton and HNR)
Sand Martin - 13 in
Red-throated Diver - one in summer plumage on
Great-crested Grebe - one on
Eider - 278

Grounded
Wheatear 2

Middleton NR
Mute Swan - 3 pairs all on nests
Tufted Duck - 4
Gadwall - 1
Mallard - 3
Little Grebe - 1
Common Sandpiper - 1
House Martin - 2 NE
Cetti's Warbler - three singing males
Grasshopper Warbler - 2 singing males
Lesser Whitethroat - three singing males
Reed Warbler - still just two singing males
Big increase in Whitethroat and plenty of Sedge and Willow Warblers but Blackcap and Chiffchaff starting to be 'quieter', as befits earlier nesters