Red-throated Diver visits the harbour

Heysham Obs
A Red-throated Diver toured the harbour before returning to the channel off the north harbour wall. All observations before the rain swept in late morning.

Vis mig mainly from from north harbour wall 0700-1030
alba wagtail - 14 north
Meadow Pipit - c67 north
Goldfinch - 2NE
Jackdaw - 1SW

North harbour wall
Twite - 6 on feeder

Wooden jetty
Purple Sandpiper - 1 on jetty

Offshore
Red-throated Diver - one floated out, 2 inshore (including one earlier in harbour)
Kittiwake - flock of c250 swirling about and then landing on the water in the region of the moored freight ferries 1 mile or so south of the harbour c1000-1030 at least

Grounded migrants
Single figures of Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail plus:
Wheatear - 2 OE foreshore
Stonechat - 3 (2 males) Middleton IE - very late passage birds as has been the case elsewhere in this area this month - these same birds may have been around for a week.
Chiffchaff - 1 Middleton IE, 2 reserve

Middleton IE
Goldeneye 1, Tufted Duck 2, Teal 5, Coot 11

Elsewhere
Ross's Goose Aldcliffe Marsh. Pale-bellied Brent Goose Sunny Slopes groyne. Swallow Leighton Moss. NNEW any action at JBP over the tide - wind too southerly at Heysham

Another good Kittiwake passage

Heysham Obs
Most of these were recorded by Jenny Brown's Point observers whilst we were at work, knowing the bay was being 'covered'! 321 off JBP during mid-afternoon - best to include the Heysham birds mentioned below amongst them to be on the safe side. A 15 min seawatch & extensive scan was made as the JBP observers were just about to give up & there appeared to be no more Kittiwake on the move [but a flock of 7 Red-throated Diver]

North harbour wall 1200-1300 (immediately post-rain)
Kittiwake 1+2+14 in
Red-throated Diver 1+1 in 1200-1300 plus s.p. flock of 7 in, then landed at 1530hrs
Meadow Pipit - 4 in & no movement of any significance noted at Heysham today
Twite - 12 at the feeder (4 ringed), increasing to 15 (4 ringed) at 1530hrs

Ocean Edge
Wheatear - one male

Stage 2 outfall
Little Gull - one, later two adults

Moths
2 Hebrew Character & a Brown House Moth

Elsewhere
Ross's Goose, Barnacle Goose and two Whooper Swans Aldcliffe, visible from both sides of the Lune. JBP had c321 Kittiwake during the afternoon tide period when there was no equivalent (i.e. up to 20 mins or so before JBP sighting) coverage at Heysham, plus 4 RTD. 4 Scaup still at Conder. Chough still in Warton Crag quarry at 1715hrs & 873 Common Gull flew through Pine Lake 1730-1800 hours & about 1/3 of that number of BH Gull but no Meds!

Sorry its late 'cos quite a bit of stuff

Heysham Obs
Just checked site at 0130hrs having just been out on the town - misunderstanding, thought someone else was updating today. Apologies!

Vis mig intermittent 0700-1000, then 1045-1115
Meadow Pipit - just 134 recorded during first period, then 69 in 30 minutes passing 'through' a wide-angle 30x scope trained half-horizon at Piel Castle i.e. a seawatch! Casual glances away from this scope saw several birds flying above and, in conjunction with JBP observations, a lot of birds were missed late morning. However, an afternoon visit indicated the movement had finished
Goldfinch - 1 north!
Sand Martin - 1 north
Pied Wagtail - 4 north
Pink-footed Goose 80 north

Seawatching
Kittiwake - 62 were blogging, having arrived in 5 groups during the early low-tide period, before disppearing up the Bay. Two flocks at the same time during the later 30 minutes - about a mile apart (one close inshore, the other in Cumbria!) 32+61, giving a day total of 155. Unlike Meadow Pipit, the movement ceased thereafter with NONE seen off JBP when observation started about midday.
Sandwich Tern - the first of the year making its way slowly and distantly out of the Bay at 0955hrs
Red-throated Diver - 6+1+1 in during 0700-1000, 2 in sp in together at 1100hrs = 10 in total

Sandworks feeder
14 Twite (2 ringed), 2 Linnet and an inquisitve Meadow Pipit

Seaduck
100 Eider, 4 GC Grebe and a flock of 27 RB Merganser off the NHW at low tide.

Elsewhere
Ross's Goose still Aldcliffe. 4 Scaup Conder area.

Chiffchaff at last but otherwise...........

Heysham Obs
Heysham NR
Not a lot, but it did include the first (two) singing male Chiffchaff of the year and a Wheatear on the PS non-op land. A female Blackbird was trapped with a continental wing length, along with two male Goldcrest & unringed Blue and Great Tit. Just 8 Meadow Pipit over!

Middleton IE
Male Teal, 4 Tufted Duck, at least 3 pairs of Little Grebe [two pairs fighting on the new scrape]

Absolutely zilch worth mentioning from the coastal area - a long time since that has happened and it was pretty well covered during the morning.

Moths

Early Thorn (above), Hebrew Character & Common Quaker in the trap

Elsewhere
Ross's Goose, Barnacle Goose and 2 Whooper Swan on Aldcliffe, but first two not visible from west side of river. 32+19 Kittiwake at JBP in poor visibility, the conditions hampering any attempt to seawatch at Heysham

Kittiwakes missed but 'picked up' at JBP!

Heysham Obs
It's the spring seawatching season with a vengeance at the moment and the good thing about this is that if observers at Heysham or the SJ are unavailable, there may be someone at JBP to "rescue" the data (and vice versa). This is what happened today and no doubt a 'healthy' situation of observers at all three sites trying to correlate e.g. skua sightings will again be a feature of the spring.

Vis. (from office and north harbour wall) 0730-1000 hrs
Meadow pipit 9
Pied wagtail 10
Grey Wagtail 1

North Harbour Wall 0730-0830:

10 Twite (3 with pale blue over white rings) and 4 Linnet.
1 Red-throated Diver "in" at 0815.
19 Red-breasted Merganser (one flock of 17) in main channel.
7 Great-crested Grebe.
2 male and 1 female Eider.

NHW 1015-1100hrs
Purple Sandpiper below wooden jetty
Turnstone min. 161
Common Scoter F 'out' 1100 hrs
NOTE: NO Kittiwake seen prior to 1100hrs, thereafter observers had to leave

Heysham Head
Sparrowhawk 4 together diving/chasing 0900 hrs & 1 soaring above Non-Op land 0950 hrs

Moths
3 Hebrew Character, 1 March Moth, 1 Clouded Drab and 1 Common Quaker in the trap this morning

Common Quaker

Elsewhere
Jenny Brown's Point: 2 Red-throated Diver & three divers perceived to be larger circled around for 30 minutes before heading overland. 1025 accurately counted Kittiwakes from 1155-1500hrs plus three other smallish 20-30ish flocks whilst the divers were being watched = c1,100 for the day. 3 Scaup Conder Pool. 8 Whooper Swan still just NE of Gressingham bridge. Ross's Goose, Barnacle Goose and two Whooper Swan Aldcliffe Marsh (& PFG flock)

Early morning Kittiwake

Heysham Obs
A significant movement of Kittiwake during the calm early morning ceased abruptly as soon as I texted a few people & the wind started to get up! None seen between 0910 and 0945hrs when both observers left. This involved flocks entering the Bay or descending from height, sometimes landing on the water before heading off high to the NNE. There was no evidence at all of birds turning round, leading to duplication.

North harbour wall 0715-0945
Kittiwake: 75+120+15+210+17+21+11+80 as described above = 549 (the fact the first three add up to the fourth is definitely a coincidence!)
Red-throated Diver: 12-13 (1 out, 2+7+1+2 in)
Red-breasted Merganser: 24 (largest group seen for many years) +3+2 in
Eider: 6
Mute Swan: 2 out close inshore

Passerine vis mig during the above seawatch
All north
Pied Wagtail - 3
Meadow Pipit - just 11
Grey Wagtail - 3
Crow - 2+3 north over the Bay - one of the two appeared to have dark grey body feathers indicative of a hybrid but this was not seen clearly enough to be certain.

Wooden jetty
The incoming tide displacement allowed a comprehensive count:
Purple Sandpiper - 2
Turnstone - 151

North harbour wall feeder
Twite 6 and Linnet 2 early morning

Elsewhere
6 Common Crossbill Thrushgill plantation mid-morning and 10+55 Kittiwake off JBP c1130-c1300hrs. Pale-bellied Brent Goose Sunny Slopes groyne area & single Ross's and Barnacle Geese on Aldcliffe plus the two Whoopers (viewable from both side of river).

Sub-zero birding (allowing for wind chill)

Heysham Obs
A successful ringing session on the heliport

North Harbour Wall 0730-0830
Red-throated Diver - 2 fishing in the channel then flying "out" and 1 flying north across the Bay.
Great-crested Grebe -8 fishing in the channel.
Mute Swan - 1 floating out as far as the end of the harbour wall then flew back "in".
Eider - 26 on the far side of the channel near the sand bank (18 males).
Red-breasted Merganser - 4
14 Gulls flying "in" in a tight knit flock but rather far out to identify accurately - behaviour suggests Kittiwake
Twite - 4 at the sand plant, 2 with local rings.

Vis 0730-0830
Meadow Pipit 4
Skylark - 1
Pied Wagtail - 1
Linnet - 3

Stage 2 outfall
1st W Little Gull

Wooden Jetty
one Purple Sandpiper

Ringing
530 Knot and 5 Oystercatcher were cannon-netted at the heliport this morning. Provisional data on ringed birds:

1)Ringed in North Wales (Bangor harbour, Llanfairfechan or Wig) in Jan or Feb this year
2)Ringed 14/2/1998 at Heysham heliport
3)Probably ringed on the North Solway in 2003. Confirmation to follow
4)Not confirmed this yet however I think it is another one from SCAN in North Wales
5)Ringed sometime since 2006 in Posangerfjord, Northern Norway

Mammals
Grey Seal mid-channel off NHW

Elsewhere
A surprise in the form of Polish-ringed Med Gull p96 paired to another adult on the Lune near the Golden Ball. Ross's Goose, Barnacle Goose and 2 Whooper Swan on the Aldcliffe side. Wheatear Borwick Waters late afternoon [but no Sand Martin at all on Pine Lake or other pits]and news of a male Ring Ouzel in Croasdale on 19/3. Chough seen at Warton crag quarry at least 1715hrs

More Kittiwakes

Heysham Obs
Unfortunately car trouble prevented the early morning tidal coverage for seabirds.

Stage 2 outfall
Little Gull: adult & 1st W early morning, 1st W remaining for the day
Kittiwake: Adult until at least mid-afternoon
Wigeon: just one seen today

Offshore
Brief check from OE at lunchtime saw a tight flock of 32 Ad Kittiwake on the water in the shipping channel, identified when they rose briefly! You have to be careful estimating these flocks at this time of year as they are sometimes joined by a few Ad Common Gull, also presumably heading north. Eider off NHW.

Evening check saw 1st W & ad summer Red-throated Diver off the wooden jetty

Elsewhere
Leaving my camera in HNR office, went to check for the Ross's Goose from the Golden Ball side, following a request. Bad move: missed a photo-op of an adult (or perhaps 4th summer) Yellow-legged Gull with excellent comparison in flat light with argenteus Herring and graellsii Lesser Black-backed Gulls [group of c70 gulls on Heaton Marsh]. Started dispersing & few left when returned with camera! Ross's Goose and Barnacle Goose with c500 PFG on the Aldcliffe side of the river. Chough Warton Crag quarry late pm. Pale-bellied Brent Goose Sunny Slopes groyne area. Ad Med Gull Lilian's Hide. 12 Whooper Swan (& a few Mute) still present in a field just N of Gressingham bridge on the Melling side

Rewards for the early birders

Heysham Obs report 2007 almost ready to print - will be available next week. Apologies for delay this year - my fault

Heysham Obs
Surprisingly good early on given the N wind

North harbour wall 0740-0840hrs
Little Gull - one blogging ad
Red-throated Diver - 3
Eider - 2 in
Kittiwake 21+63 in, 46+18 out - probably all different birds

Wooden jetty
Turnstone - 57
Purple Sandpiper - 1

Stage 2 outfall
Little Gull - 5 (3 ad 2 1st W) but soon dispersed
Kittiwake - 1st W & ad but soon dispersed

Middleton IE
3 Teal, 13 Coot & nesting Mute Swan

Red Nab/Ocean Edge
2 Bar-tailed Godwit

Elsewhere
Ross's Goose Aldcliffe Marsh, northern end, but elusive and mobile, also single Barnacle Goose and 2 Whooper Swan

A Tale of Two Twite

Heysham Obs
An earlyish morning circuit with the tide slopping over the various seawalls produced nothing worth logging other than two windblown Twite on the nyger seed by the sandworks entrance. This included a 30 minute, 3 LBBG seawatch. A second (afternoon) circuit did not even produce any Twite. No moths in the trap.

Elsewhere
3 ad Med Gulls passed through Pine Lake with 350+ other gulls this late afternoon. Two were together and the one on its own appeared to have a white darvic, surprising as I would have thought Dutch ads would have been back on territory by now. Goodness knows what is going to happen to all the Sand Martins (e.g. 25 Pine lake late pm) in the next few days as insects will be at a premium and wind-chill pretty excessive. As regards human behaviour - why not build up brownie points at home in what is surely going to be a static weekend as regards birds....in anticipation of sudden break-outs needed later in the spring/year?