Log entries unfortunately not transferred - sorry

Heysham Obs
No information received today - the first blank entry since we started in mid-December 2006 and due to lack of time because of problems with some management work, not lack of activity. Todays moth catch should be posted tomorrow

Elsewhere
The Eagle Owl situation in Whitendale is now in the public domain. Comments can be found on the LDBWS site

Goosander surprise

Heysham Obs

Sea/vis from the north harbour wall
The routine two-hour 'seawatch' was undertaken between 1200 and 1400hrs. A very pleasant 'deck chair in the sun' experience, uninterrupted by notebook entries!

Eider - A group of 3 floating in with the tide was the sum total of the offshore observations other than a few meandering immature gulls. There was no hirundine passage at all in the two hours.

Inshore (north wall)
Turnstone - 6 back and forth along the north wall
Goosander - A quality Heysham rarity in the form of a female which flew south above the NHW and cut across over the large cable-carrier towards Red Nab (1325hrs)
Arctic tern - 5 on outfalls
Shag - 2 juvs on the wooden jetty

Grounded migrants
A Spotted Flycatcher by the Obs and two Wheatear on Middleton IE

Breeding birds
One of the Middleton Grasshopper Warblers was singing intermittently. The 'No Swimming' pond held a pair of Little Grebe with 3 young.

Insects
New for the year in the moth trap were: Clouded Bordered Brindle, Small Clouded Brindle, Eyed Hawk-moth. Two 4-spotted Chaser seen Middleton IE

Elsewhere
At least one Spoonbill Leighton Moss

Even worse...........

Heysham Obs
This must be the least productive day at theoretical migration time ever experienced in north Lancashire..........................but what a result at Wembley where at least one local patch birder was celebrating! Congratulations to Morecambe.

Seawatching of sorts 0630-0930ish
Shag - one around
Arctic Tern - 6 on Heysham one outfall

Not a thing moving offshore but was anyone watching in the Walney direction at 0900ish? (Spoonbill circling the Obs)

Insects
A very early immature male Emperor dragonfly seen on the 'dog-walk' (Landscape strip) pond

Elsewhere
Two Spoonbill still at Leighton Moss (per pager). Male and Female Cuckoo seen/heard upper Hindburndale this evening - they have been scarce this year so far. Absolute zilch recorded on JBP seawatches today, reflecting the earlier complete dearth at Heysham.

Utter rubbish

Heysham Obs
As the modified posting on the LDBWS site implied after last night's weather forecast, seawatching today was a complete waste of time. There was nothing weather-wise to the south of here to push anything into the Bay and more evidence that the windfarm is stopping even minor deviations by Gannet, Fulmar and Manx Shearwater which should have been in reasonable numbers today

Sea coverage north wall 0630-1400ish
Gannet 4
Manx Shearwater 2
Fulmar 2
Arctic Skua dark morph out - the ONLY skua seen in the Bay today!
Red-throated Diver 1
Pink-footed Goose - late flock of 14 to the NW at 0840hrs

Inshore
Whimbrel - 1
Little Gull - 1st S Heysham 2 outfall low tide
Arctic Tern - c17 Heysham outfalls low tide
Common Tern - 2 outfalls low tide

Elsewhere
Male Scoter spp on the sea off JBP before flying out & landing in the 'middle of the bay'. (The) Black Scoter not ruled out but no features whatsoever to suggest this was not just a male Common other than circumstances!

PS I went to the Solway just after midday!!

"Typical" seawatching weather!

Heysham Observatory
Sea 1200-1400
Everything was flying out bar one very distant skua spp at about 1341hrs. This watch coincided with the rapid clearance after a cold front & birds swept into the bay must not have liked what they saw as regards an overland route!

Pom Skua - light morph out and across, then south 1236
Bonxie - one out, close inshore, at 1310
Kittiwake - 7+1 out
Manx Shearwater - one distantly across the mouth
Arctic Tern - one out - the only tern seen
Dunlin - c110 out (about 6 flocks)
Sanderling - 2+2 out
Turnstone - 17+5+2 out [none on the wooden jetty this last few days]
Ringed Plover - c10 out (3 flocks)

Sea 1800-2000
Petrel spp.: almost certainly a Storm Petrel - It was trying to flutter out but was progressively swept into the Bay at about 1830hrs

Inshore
Shag - 3 juvs

Heliport roost at HT
Oystercatcher - 450
Turnstone - 23
Ringed Plover - 17 (excluding breeding pair)
Dunlin - 5

Insects
Reasonable moth catch with the scarce and local Broad-barred White new for the year as also was Silver Ground Carpet and Turnip Moth

Broad-barred White. Thanks to Jean Roberts

Elsewhere
JBP: dm Arctic Skua up the Kent channel as soon as the rain cleared at 1200hrs. Another dm Arctic Skua seen distantly offshore about a hour later.

Mutually-exclusive seabirds!

..........but not the black seaduck that we all wanted. A feature of today was that seawatching from Knott End, Heysham and JB Point all recorded different birds from each other! There is no way that the two Heysham observers would have missed flocks of 4+2 dark-morph Arctic Skuas passing between 1030-1130 and subsequently recorded at flying into the Bay at JBP (then 4 up the Kent estuary/2 over Leighton Moss). This has happened before and one common denominator could be the faster flowing sea on the increasingly 'spring' tides could possibly encourage these skuas to remain sitting on the sea 'going with the significant flow' in the right direction. They would be too far offshore to be picked up in this mode off Heysham. Perhaps similarly, the birds which were picked up in flight off Heysham were intent on gaining height and overlanding before reaching the inner Bay, hence unrecorded at JBP! Any thoughts when this posting is reproduced on the LDBWS site later tonight?

Heysham Obs
Sea/vis 0900-1200
Arctic Skua - lm and dm about 300m behind each other heading NE about 0930. 2 lm in close inshore together at c1035. One very distant pale morph skua at 0950 was presumably Arctic but looked a bit 'lightweight'
Bonxie - one very distantly in
Kittiwake - a rarity this spring was a flock of 33 in at c1030hrs
Linnet - 2 late birds north
Swallow - c30 north
Whimbrel - flock of 12 north

No terns seen!

Inshore
Shag - 2 juvs on wooden jetty after feeding along NHW

Insects
Setaceous Hebrew Character new for the year

Mammals
Grey Seal off NHW

Elsewhere
JBP seabirds: 1+4+2 Arctic Skua 'in' - ALL dark morph! See above for comment. Osprey seen from JBP heading out towards Heysham but not 'picked up' there (despite being alerted) & presumably headed inland over Morecambe. Pair Garganey still on Barrow Scout. Two Spoonbill still at Leighton Mos but a bit elusive. No sign of the escaped Night Heron at Lancaster Uni during brief check.

A tale of two matching two-hour vigils!

Heysham Obs & other seawatching sites
.........both producing a single Arctic Skua and a few Swallows.............but there the similarity ends - one was 'science', the other was pure desperation as the Black Scoter failed to emerge from the depths of the inner Bay (see below)

Sea: Heysham north wall 0730-0930
Arctic Skua - light morph in - already flying quite high - at 0828hrs. DM in around lunchtime
Swallow - a substantial passage in a clear slot between the rain - 291 NE, mainly 0825-0855hrs. This movement included 3 Sand and 4 House Martins

Inshore
3 juv Shag
2 Common and 11 Arctic Tern around the outfalls

JBP seabird observations when Heysham was not covered
Arctic Skua: 2 dark morph in together about 1130hrs and a light morph in at c1410hrs - all seen flying into the Bay from long range and all flying up the Kent Estuary
Guillemot - one seen over the tide

Stone jetty c1530-1730
Arctic Skua - one flew out at long range before presumably the same headed in at about 1640hrs and was last seen gaining height flying in the direction of the Kent Estuary. Conditions were seemingly not very suitable for overlanding with rain and low cloud. This individual supports the impression that migrating skuas do not really care whether there is water or mud beneath them and low tide mud/seawatching could be productive from JBP or the slagtips! In this respect many birds have been seen entering the Bay from Heysham this spring at or near low tide.

Elsewhere
A drake Black Scoter was finally identified as it was found on the railway line near the Eric Morecambe Hide and taken to a vet, before being released whilst there was still some tidal water off JBP. Great disappointment when this bird did not float out past the Stone Jetty.
Thanks to observers for prompt release of the news once the identity was determined. NNEW on the escaped Night Heron but the ring is of identical design to a Spoonbill in captivity at Dalton-in-Furness wildlife park. Two Spoonbill stll at Leighton Moss and the pair of Garganey still on Barrow Scout

Some half-decent early morning calm-weather seawatching

Heysham Obs
Sea/vis 0630-0930
Arctic Skua - SIX singly 'in'/to the NE - all but one pre 0900hrs (5 dark, 1 light)
Bonxie - One 'in' and then over an hour later perhaps the same 'out', before landing far offshore "near" the turbines
Arctic Tern - 2 + 27 'in'
Kittiwake - 3 'in'
Common Scoter - 4
Canada Goose - 2 north during a quick visit at 1022hrs!
Mute swan 'in' on tide 0900 hrs
Shelduck 4 'in' 3 'out'

Swallow - c150 north
Swift - 4 north

Grounded
Unfortunately no time to check OE foreshore/Red Nab, although the 'mound' area did not hold any Wheatear & only 2 could be seen at Middleton (c/f Aldcliffe posting below)

Inshore
Shag - 2 juvs
Common Tern - 3 blogging
No Turnstone left on the wooden jetty at high tide

Mammals
Harbour Porpoise close inshore for a short time

Insects
A very low-key addition to the moth year list, as was also the case with Walney, was Small Square Spot (& there were two more rather early Poplar Hawk-moth). Just two 4-spotted Chaser seen during a quick check of Middleton IE ponds

Elsewhere
The presumed escape Night Heron (assuming not an unconventional ring attached to a captured wild bird) has resurfaced on the pond at Lancaster University. Visiting the pond does not currently seem to be a problem, but parking on campus is! Miscellany from Leighton Moss this morning included an Osprey for a short period, female Red-crested Pochard, 2 Spoonbill and a partially leucistic Swift. Drake Garganey still on the 'YW Darter' pond at Aldcliffe this evening along with good numbers of Wheatear and a single Whinchat

No early morning coverage

Heysham Obs
Grounded
Good numbers of Wheatears (19 located mid-morning & non-op land not checked), extremely variable in size, and perhaps including Scandinavia-bound birds [e.g. yesterdays weather synopsis] as well as Iceland/Greenland. Single White Wagtail on Ocean Edge foreshore - late for this form here. A singing male Reed Warbler on the NR was probably a new arrival.

Sea 1345-1645
Arctic Skua - light morph 'in' at 1450hrs, seemed to go high and overland over Morecambe west end

Inshore
Common Tern - 2 outfalls
Arctic Tern - 6 outfalls
Shag - 3 juvs

Elsewhere
2 Spoonbill, pair of Garganey and a single Egyptian Goose in the Leighton Moss area with an Osprey through at 1300hrs. Last night's weather seems to have clobbered Lapwing chicks in Upper Hindburndale

Reasonable variety including first Cuckoo for about 10 years!

Wood Warbler ringed at Heysham this morning. Thanks Alan.

Heysham Obs
Todays sightings reminded me of those cricket pitches which are said to offer a little to both bowlers and batsmen but nothing extravagant. The seawatchers had their little bits and pieces and it was one of the better days for landbird arrivals this spring, but the rainbelt was unfortunately too far to the south at dawn for a major 'fall'. No doubt the Heysham N.R. working party and Leighton Moss Spring Fair organisers were grateful for this!

Heysham north wall 0630-1000, 1100-1135
Arctic Skua - 3 dark morph which were also picked up at JB Point whence two flew inland over Leighton Moss and one flew up the Kent Estuary
Little Gull - 1st summer which was presumably the bird also seen at Cockersands
Pink-footed Goose - late flock of 24 north-west
Gannet - 6
Sandwich Tern - 2
Common Scoter - 2

...............but please note the following posting from Walney!
"Morning observations over the tide (0800-0900 & 1050-1150) were highlighted by a single pale phase Pomarine Skua and 8 Arctic Skua (5 dark, 3 pale), all heading into Morecambe Bay".

Swallow and House Martin moving north in small numbers <20/hr>

Inshore
Shag - 2 juvs
Arctic Tern - 7 on outfalls

Middleton IE
It needs to be re-stressed that away from the formal footpaths, access to this site is not considered safe and is most certainly completely at your own risk. No-one unfamiliar with the site should leave the formal paths or concrete roads.

Wheatear - 5
Grasshopper Warbler - the males have stopped regular singing but one pair was silently active today
Garden Warbler - One, presumably a singing male, logged - they have not bred here for many years

Other grounded migrants
Unringed birds caught in the mist nets included: Wood Warbler along with 7 latish Willow Warbler, 4 Sedge Warbler, one Lesser Whitethroat.........and a Moorhen! Even better on recent status was a calling Cuckoo from the region of the tall anemometer at midday. The exact recent status of this species will be checked tomorrow when the old reports are accessed

2 Raven within sight of the recording area flying over the bypass at lunchtime

Mammals
2 Grey Seal offshore

Insects
A very irregular species in the form of Marbled Coronet was new for the year in the moth trap along with other more predictable year ticks in the form of Rustic Shoulder-knot, Flame Shoulder and Garden Carpet.
First 4-spotted Chaser of the year on Middleton

Elsewhere
Two Spoonbill still around Leighton Moss. Pair of Garganey transferring from Barrow Scout to Griesdale Mere at Leighton Moss - this pair have probably been in the area for 6-7 days. Summer plumaged Little Stint at Cockersands along with two Sanderling. Yellow Wagtail at Grab Lane just east of Lancaster.