Seawatching mainly undertaken by Pete Crooks this morning with me arriving in time for the skuas produced a nice little selection in pleasant conditions
Red-throated Diver - 8 in and 7, not necessarily the same, out
Great Skua - one flew in on the far side about 0835hrs (IOY)
Arctic Skua - light morph flew in including a brief landing at 0730hrs
Gannet - 1
Common Scoter - flock 20
Carrion Crow - one in-off
Sandwich tern - c15 blogging
Arctic Tern - rather odd! Flock of 63 see quite close inshore but high, heading in from OE side, not seen NHW side (flew overhead?), then about 30 mins later a very distant flock of about the same size and presumed this species flew out on the far side (poor visibility inland for overland migration this am)
Guillemot - one on and one in harbour
Whimbrel - 2 OE side, one past NHW
No landbird migration during this seawatch other than the crow!
Harbour Porpoise - ad & juv close inshore (IOY)
A few odds and ends seen by Janet between Ocean Edge and the south harbour - thanks for these:
The observatory was set up in 1980. It involves ringing,'vis mig' counts (including seabirds) and general monitoring in the Heysham Nature reserve/power stations/harbour area. The statutory moth trap is in place and also a daily log for butterflies, dragonflies etc. We share an office, kindly provided by EDF Energy, with the County Wildlife Trust. This is located next to the Nature Reserve car park. Do call in. Please leave sightings in the letterbox, ESPECIALLY 'fly-by' seabirds.