Routine winter seawatching in a westerly gale

HEYSHAM OBS
The afternoon tide produced the goods in the gale-force westerlies, especially displaced Little Gulls

North harbour wall
Morning seawatch 0950-1020
Kittiwake 35 out (including flock of 27)
Little Gull 3 ads out

Afternoon seawatch 1350-1500hrs
SIXTY ONE Little Gull (just 4 x 1st W) either out or milling around in Half Moon Bay
65-70 Kittiwake
1 Fulmar
2 1st W Razorbill on sea just off wall
Ad & 1st W Med Gulls patrolling the seawall

A check just before dusk produced another Razorbill off the NH wall

Harbour area
c25 Kittiwake behind a freight ferry
18+ Shag in the PS intake area of the harbour
7 Kittiwake in the PS intake area of the harbour with the Shag
3 Twite on the mound feeding site

Outfalls
Checked morning only and the 'usual' Ad & 1st W Little Gulls plus c8 Kittiwake were present

Penrod Way (road between Heysham Head and Harbour)
3 Linnet

ELSEWHERE
Stone Jetty
5 adult Little Gull during a brief visit at lunchtime

Leighton Moss
The mystery deepens over the drake Ferruginous Duck where the lime-green-ringed male has been replaced by a yellow-ringed male (after a gap of 3 weeks); both were on the right leg. It would be useful to know whether this is a 'watery' yellow which could indicate the green having faded or an obviously different colour.

Heysham Obs
c19 Shag in the harbour


Ad Little Gull. Product of a cold vigil alongside the picturesque Heysham 2 outfall today. Thanks Simon

Ad & !st W Little Gull Heysham 2 outfall - checked at long range from Ocean Edge
16 or so Kittiwake behind the IOM ferry, 5 1st W Kittiwake in the SW corner of the harbour
1st W Med along the north harbour wall

Elsewhere
(Presumed) escape drake Ferruginous Duck on the Public Mere at Leighton Moss and a puzzle over the ring as this was described as yellow, whereas surely the same bird last autumn (up until about Christmas) sported a green ring

The sudden disappearance of the Pochard from Pine Lake is assuming a degree of permanence with just 17 on there this morning (and only c100 at Leighton Moss, therefore a departure out of the area of 150+ birds). Nothing of interest on Pine Lake.

Ad Med Gull on the floodplain between Melling and Hornby along with 8 unexpected Shelduck but no sign of the Whooper Swans in flooded conditions

Routine "lunch hour(ish)" coverage

Heysham Obs



Thanks to Cliff Raby for these pictures of the heliport roost taken this afternoon

Ad & 1st W Little Gulls Stage 2 outfall

1st W Med Gull NH wall

19 Shag in the harbour or scattered around nearby. NB This lot do not seem to like roosting on the wooden jetty apart from one individual - otherwise all the birds thereon have tended to be Cormorants

Kittiwake 5 1st W in the harbour SW corner but only 10 or so behind the IOm ferry

Eider: 2 male and female on the sea in the harbour entrance

Seawatch 1125-1155: zilch. Even just 5 years ago, Red-throated Diver & Guillemot would have been a good bet for a half hour slot on the incoming tide - all of us still "need" both of these for the year.

Elsewhere: nothing new, but 4 Scaup still off north Morecambe and the 2 Bewick's Swans on Jeremy Lane.

The annual Observatory report for 2006 is well on its way and should be out by the last week of January. It will be available from Leighton Moss shop or (at cost price) from Heysham Nature reserve office.

8th January - Same again plus one more Little Gull

Heysham Obs

TWO adult and one first winter Little Gull Heysham 2 outfalls late morning.
Thanks for the pics, Simon.



Ad & 1st W Med Gulls north wall

At least 17 Shag in the harbour & one roosting on the wooden jetty

Bit late for the IOM ferry but at least 10 Kittiwakes behind as it was turning in the harbour & 2-3 in the SW corner.

Local area:
nothing new of interest on pagers etc.

7th January - Sabbatical

Nothing much happened today in this area - everyone appears to be 'birded out' with the most prolific local lister resorting to shopping in Ambleside!

Heysham Obs
Ad & 1st W Little Gull Heysham 2 outfall

Ad & 1st W Med Gull north harbour wall

Brief scan of harbour produced 19 Shag

Broadway
The elusive Med Gull P96 may have disassociated itself from its usual haunt, Lancaster City Football ground (peruse the league table), as it was on the rocks by the Broadway Hotel in late afternoon. This bird has an interesting ringing history:

Poland FM11199 (Darvic red P96 (formerly P70)
Ringed Skoki Duze, Wroclawek, Poland AdF 19/5/01
Seen Battery car park, Morecambe 31/1/03
Retrapped and reringed: Skoki Duze 19/5/03
Seen Morecambe Stone jetty (with 5HR) 8/3-18/3/04
Seen urban Lancaster, mainly Marsh estate area winter 2004/5
Seen urban Lancaster, mainly Marsh estate area autumn 2005-11/3/06
Seen urban Lancaster, mainly Marsh Estate area about 25/7/06-mid Nov
Seen Morecambe Broadway area of promenade 7/1/07

This bird was paired up with the famous Morecambe winter resident 5HR (now presumed dead) and nested at Skoki-Duze in 2003. As it was similarly paired up with 5HR whilst at Morecambe in spring 2004, it was expected to nest at Skoki-Duze again. However this did not happen and presumably they nested together at an unknown site. There was no evidence of these two operating as a pair in the 2005 breeding season and 5HR was not seen after bonfire night 2005!

Lune valley
8 Whooper Swan still in the floodplain fields between Hornby and Melling - view distantly from high point layby on A683.

A cursory glance for the Mandarin at Hatlex proved a negative experience.

6th January - Acanthisised

Heysham Obs

Twite Heysham north harbour wall mound taken today by Gavin Thomas. Thanks Gavin.

A flock of 9 Linnet on Middleton Industrial Estate around the de-activated Tim Butler rubble-recycling mounds (because they double up as Great-crested Newt hibernacula!). Three Twite were showing very well to visiting birders on the north harbour wall mound and they represented birds ringed at this site in 2002/3 winter, 2004/5 winter and autumn 2005

The Shag flock in the harbour reached 20 mid-afternoon with one bird preferring to feed along the north harbour wall = 21 altogether.

Ad & 1st W Med Gulls north wall

Ad & 1st W Little Gulls Heysham Stage 2 outfall

Up to 12 Kittiwakes around the outfalls/harbour. Thanks for the picture, Rosie.

Local area:

Most of the interest was a result of a thorough grilling of the Lune Estuary: adult Scandinavian Herring Gull opposite the Golden Ball early morning, the European White-fronted Goose was located on Aldcliffe, the single Whooper Swan was still present on Aldcliffe, Spotted Redshank & Greenshank at Conder Pool, 2 Bewick's Swans off Glasson and 1st W male & female Scaup on the Glasson basin. A ringed Little Owl was found dead near Lancaster Quay. Details (thanks to Bob Danson for these):

Little Owl EL54366 was ringed as a pulli 2/2 in nest box 299 at Muffys Platt near Pilling Lane Preesall SD369489 on the 16/06/2006.

5th January - first auk of the year!

Heysham Obs
An adult winter Razorbill flew out of the Bay just before the IOM ferry reached port.

15 Shag were in the harbour and one additional bird was close inshore along the north harbour wall. All juvs.

46 Kittiwake were behind the IOM ferry with 3-4 already in the harbour

1st W Med Gull patrolling the north wall

3 Twite on the mound (at last, personally!)

One Reed Bunting Ocean Edge saltmarsh

No Little Gulls on outfalls but only checked at high tide.

Elsewhere
2nd W Med Gull with the large field-feeding group commuting between Heaton Marsh and the bypass fields. This is a "new" bird (per Mark Prestwood). Nothing of interest amongst the dwindling numbers of large gulls in the area late morning (c/f rubbish tip closure)

Ad Razorbill far up the Kent Estuary at Halforth about 1400hrs, then seen floating out of the estuary past Sandside. Surely not the same bird as flying in the opposite direction two hours earlier at Heysham.

Kent Estuary "Twite" resolved as (60ish) Linnet

8 Whooper still on the Gressingham Bridge-Melling Lune floodplain

4th January - Bonxie

Shag flying into the harbour today. Thanks Simon

Heysham Obs
Fieldworker in situ all day at the heliport. Time spent at a coastal site inevitably produces something and, perhaps predictably, it manifested as what was presumably one of the two BONXIES seen on and off this winter period. This flew out, close inshore, at 1350hrs. Another species which rewards those who sit patiently is Kingfisher and the first record for the Heysham area this year was briefly on the Near Naze rocks.

A nice Knot roost on the heliport comprised about 14,000 birds (flushed by the Bonxie)

14 Shag & 3 Kittiwake in the harbour and 1-2 additional Shag on the wooden jetty.

2 x 1stW and Ad Little Gull & Kittiwake Heysham Stage Two outfall

The lunchtime IOM ferry was trailed by 56 Kittiwake & a rather small long-winged dark brown 'wheeling thing' which peeled off and flew out and across about 1.5-2 miles out. The dark Arctic S seen 2 hours later off Formby would be a reasonable explanation but it remains firmly unidentified [it wasn't the Bonxie].

1st W Med Gull patrolling the north harbour wall

Watching the tide in at Ocean Edge saltmarsh produced a rather unsatisfactory Jack Snipe sighting plus two Reed Bunting. No sign of the Linnet flock seen before New Year - most if not all of us still "need" Linnet for the year in the local area. Please ask at reception before you wander across the caravan site to reach the saltmarsh. Thanks.

Local area
Med Gull 36W was seen further south than usual around the Stone Jetty. See 23rd December for full details of the ringing history of this bird.

The Whooper Swan flock between Hornby and Melling on the Lune floodplain has increased to 8 birds. There is a layby on the raised section of the A683 for distant views.

3rd January- first moth of the year.

Heysham Obs
1st W Little Gull Heysham 2 outfall

14 Shag seen in the harbour but the wooden jetty not checked at the same time

Ad & 1st W Med Gulls along the north wall

Just 3 Kittiwake seen in SW corner of the harbour (incoming IOM ferry not watched)

Moth trap
One Mottled Umber - the first moth of the year at Heysham

Elsewhere
One sub-adult Scandinavian Herring Gull amongst the dwindling numbers of gulls on the saltmarshes near the rubbish tip - early departure due to lack of food led again to an invasion, mainly by 1st W Herring, of the Shag waterfall during the early afternoon. Maybe this lot will attract a white-winged? A Water Rail ran across the road near Mellishaw Park!

Mass exit of wildfowl from Pine Lake as can be expected from a watersports site - windsurfers are the usual cause of a complete exit (other than Coot) as their (!) best runs are right through the usual feeding/loafing areas. Water skiers are not usually a problem. As usual Leighton Moss benefited, especially by housing the Ruddy Duck, but certainly did not receive all the Pochard - hopefully they have not dispersed out of the area .

2nd January - Seawatching strategies

Heysham Obs

Adult Kittiwake and a well-marked 2nd winter Little Gull Heysham outfalls. Thanks Simon.

Seawatching strategies

Today was the sort of day which benefits the car wash operators [or possibly encourages you to do it yourself] as a sloppy sea crashed against the north harbour wall indicating that all was not well with the wind direction - it was too far round to the north-west to push anything into the Bay. For Heysham, the best winds are between WSW and WNW. JB Point and the Stone Jetty are better in gale-force SW winds as birds tend to be too far offshore at Heysham with respect to the sea conditions. HOWEVER, the power station outfalls are an important lure and you run the risk of missing something thereon [most notably during Storm Petrel conditions in mid-summer]. Therefore the smart money option during SW gales, assuming you do have all this spare time, is to seawatch/outfall check at Heysham until about two hours before high tide, then go round to JBP or go on the Stone Jetty. Heysham is a non-starter if the wind is to the S of SW but JBP can be productive, especially in spring.

Important Notice

For those of you 'in the know', the access we cannot publicise, colloquially (but formerly accurately) known as "Gate 38", was closed today complete with new padlock and chain.

Todays birds

At least 14 Shag in the harbour in the morning but much fewer in the afternoon as an influx of large gulls made the waterfall feeding area very congested (this is what happens when you close a perfectly good rubbish tip)

5 adult, one second winter and a 1st winter Little Gulls were feeding in the breaking waves off Red Nab at high tide but all appeared to have dispersed by mid-afternoon

Kittiwake: 12 on Heysham outfalls, c5 in the SW corner of the harbour and 41 behind the IOM ferry.

Med Gull - once again just the 1st W cruising the north wall & no sign of the adult at the heliport high tide roost = the usual 'plan b'.

Ocean Edge saltmarsh saw a higher than expected tide and one Jack Snipe was forced out. Please ask at Ocean Edge reception if you can traverse the caravan site to visit this area. Thanks.

Late news: 4-5 Twite on the mound by the north wall but very mobile and elusive

Elsewhere

Other than the Scaup flock off Bare increasing to 11, the only 'new' sighting of interest which reached the information services was disappointingly retrospective - a 'small flock' of Waxwing seen by an experienced observer at High Bentham........yesterday morning. The Salt Ayre rubbish tip looked as though it was closed as regards the "action" area and it was sad to see amber-listed Herring Gulls soaring above the edifice in vain - this is a gull-friendly blog if you hadn't already noticed.