Freezing cold blocking rubbish

Heysham Obs
NE4-5 mainly clear. A quick look around the coastal recording area, including half an hour on the sea 0815-0845, was quite unproductive

North harbour wall
No obvious sign of the Black Guillemot
Purple Sandpiper - one on the wooden jetty
Red-throated Diver - one in non-breeding plumage out close inshore
Sandwich Tern - 2 in distantly
Linnet - 2 north the only evidence of 'vis'

Ocean Edge foreshore/Red Nab
Common Gull - 82

Elsewhere
Nothing of interest reported locally except the 4 Scaup still at Conder Pool. Also 2 Brambling and still 4 Reed Bunting at a feeding station in Upper Hindburn catchment and 200+ Fieldfare nearby. Avocet up to 22 on Allen/EM Pool/flood. 1000+ Sand Martin Lower Hide at dusk and the Little Egret roost is back into double figures at 11 - what is going on!

Presumably the male Black Guillemot returns

Heysham Obs
A clear morning with a F1 easterly produced some slow and steady migration and one or two other points of interest. This included displaying Sandwich Tern on Red Nab (for the first time?)

North harbour wall 0745-0900
Black Guillemot - present in the harbour mouth but very nervous re-ferries and flew offshore for at least 15 minutes 0815. Later defended the sea area below marker No 9 on the wooden jetty = chasing off two juv Herring Gull. Present to 1100hrs when it had moved far offshore. As last year, recommend morning is best.
Purple Sandpiper (single) roosting on the wooden jetty with 78+ Turnstone
Red-throated Diver - 2 in
Sandwich tern - 8 in 2 out
Eider - flock of 11 out
Swallow - 17 NE
Meadow Pipit - 13 NE [plus a further 8 by the office 0940-0950]
Linnet - 29 NE [plus a further 5 by the office as above]
White Wagtail - 2 NE (seen well)
Goldfinch - 3 NE [& 2 by the office as above]

North harbour wall mid afternoon
No sign of the Black Guillemot but
Purple Sandpiper - feeding on the shore next to the inner wooden jetty
Red-throated Diver - one offshore
Teal - 2 pairs on the sea
Sandwich Tern - 2 in

Ocean Edge
Ring Ouzel - male on the bank by the touring park at least 0930hrs
Meadow Pipit - 11 grounded, then NE
Sandwich Tern - 3 on Red Nab, including displaying pair

Grounded night migrants
Not so good apart from R.O.
Wheatear - just 5 along the coastal strips
Blackcap - 3 new birds ringed & one retrap
Willow Warbler - 1 ringed
Chiffchaff - 2 ringed

Elsewhere
Whimbrel Teal Bay. 2 White Wagtail & 6 Wheatear Potts Corner, another White Wagtail Stone jetty. 2 Common Sand. Pine Lake. Pale-bellied Brent Goose still on the tideline off Sunny Slopes with 245 Eider just offshore nearby. Please note that the tits around Leighton Moss are Marsh, not Willow (c/f at least two entries in the Leighton Moss book). Still 13 Avocet on the Allen/EM Pools. Short-eared Owl caught a vole at Whitray Fell this late afternoon - the first there for 12 months or so.

High-flying Red-throats

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall 0930-1015
Red-throated Diver - 4+1+1+1 in - all very high (x3 the height of Black Coombe)and a sharp reminder than 'half horizon telescoping' during the spring seabird passage is likely to miss high-flyers
Purple Sandpiper TWO on the wooden jetty, one in summer plumage, the other still in winter plumage (for what it is worth with this species!)
Lots of immature large gulls around
Two Linnet one the remains of the nyger seed

No perceptible passerine vis this morning but not on site until 0930 c/f small numbers of Meadow Pipit over High Tatham in flat calm conditions 0800-0830 - F3WNW wind at Heysham at 0930.

Heliport/seawall
Still c2,000 Knot

Outfalls/Red Nab
Very quick visit saw 71 Common Gull, including 13 adult

Elsewhere
Osprey Leighton Moss late afternoon. Osprey Whitray Fell area yesterday pm. Chough on Carnforth slag tips - landed briefly near stock car track mid-morning.

Quiet again

Heysham Obs

North Harbour Wall
0730-0840
N3 mostly clear, excellent visibility
Red-throated Diver 1 out
Sandwich Tern 5 in
Swallow 4 NNE
Meadow Pipit 44 NNE
Pied Wagtail 1

Wooden Jetty
Ringed 3rd winter Herring Gull, metal on right leg and yellow darvic on left leg but too far away to make out the lettering.

Sandwich Terns

Heysham Obs

To coin a phrase there was "not a lot" today. Here are the 'highlights':

North Harbour Wall
0730-1000 NE 2 mostly cloudy

Red-throated Diver 5 (3 in channel, 1 out, 1 in)
Sandwich Tern 30
Skylark 1
Meadow Pipit 5
Goldfinch 1
Greenfinch 1
Linnet 1
Goosander 1 in -unusual for here.

Also - Harbour Porpoise

Outfalls
280 gulls, mainly immature Herring Gulls

Vis. 1545 - 1745 from Office -
Very quiet but 4 Black-headed Gull SW possibly three times height of pylons
Swallow 1 SE; 1 S
Shelduck 1 S

On Reserve
Pair Sparrowhawk
Chiffchaff in song

Elsewhere
Lane Ends, Pilling - Ross's Goose, Tundra Bean Goose, Barnacle Goose, Raven.
Glasson - 200 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Raven.
Conder - 4 Scaup (3 M, 1F), 2 Spotted Redshank, 2 Little Ringed Plover
Aldcliffe - Little Egret (hardly worth a mention these days).
Leighton Moss - ad 2nd S Med Gulls on the pools, 2 Little Egret, Marsh Harriers
Botton Mill - 200 Fieldfare. It's still winter in the back of beyond, inland from Wray.

Irritating weather

Heysham Obs
What does it do - go crystal clear, without a shower cloud to be seen in the mouth of the Bay, during the optimum early afternoon incoming tide! Not a sausage during a 45 minute seawatch for the second day running, despite a reasonable wind strength & direction.

NHwall 0800-0900
Kittiwake - flocks of 28+14, blogging, then high into the sky & lost
Red-throated Diver - 3 out
Purple Sandpiper - on rocks below wooden jetty (& 85 Turnstone)
NO passerine vis at all

Outfalls/OE foreshore
Ad Kittiwake stage 2 outfall early morning
2 Wheatear Ocean Edge foreshore

Middleton IE
1 Swallow, 2 Greylag, 2 Tufted Duck, 6 Mallard, 2 Little Grebe, 3 Mute Swan, 9 Coot, 2 Wheatear, 4 Chiffchaff

Elsewhere
Drake Garganey on Bela at Dallam on 10th & Osprey over Over Kellett on 8th. Nothing new of interest anywhere else other than perhaps a Med Gull 'over Warton' in the afternoon. Spot. Red. Teal Bay, 13 Avocet Allen/EM Pools, at least 4 Scaup Conder area.

Meadow Pipits overtake the cloud & light rain!

Heysham Observatory
North harbour wall
Twite - single at feeder along with 2 Linnet
Common Scoter - 2 offshore but distant
Black-tailed Godwit - 1 north into Bay
Cormorant - 1 high North into Bay

Nothing at all during a 30minute seawatch following very heavy showers 1330-1400hrs, but 120+ large gulls, with many immatures, in and around the harbour

Visible migration 0745-1000
Nothing until about 0830 when pulses of Meadow Pipit started to head north-east despite no perceptible improvement in the weather. They had 'overtaken' the clearance which precipitated them to move. An even larger movement during the first 20 minutes of the clearer weather, after which the passage reduced to a trickle

Meadow Pipit - All NE: none until 0830, 30 between 0830 & 0900, 82 between 0900 & 0920, 9 between 0920 & 1000, just one casually noted after that. 122 in total.
Linnet - 4NE
Swallow - 1S, 1N
Jackdaw - 2S - unusual

Grounded migrants
Mist netting produced just four unringed Robin and two unringed Goldcrest in this category [& a few Greenfinch, Chaffinch, tits]. Just 2 Wheatear - both Red Nab.

Elsewhere
Ross's Goose Pilling Lane Ends area before flying over seawall with PFGs. 5 Scaup Conder Pool. Pale-bellied Brent Goose Sunny Slopes groyne.

Brief early morning low tide visit

Heysham Obs
Vis 0740-0900 office area
Meadow Pipit 41NE
Pied Wagtail 1NE
Swallow 2N
Woodpigeon 10E
Skylark - late bird high to the NW
Reed Bunting 1NE
Goldfinch 17NE
Linnet 6N

Grounded
Yet again, no ringing possible, so difficult to discern but at least one Willow Warbler passed through next to the office & one Wheatear on the NHW. Ocean Edge/Red Nab not checked

North harbour wall - short visit
No white-winged gulls on the exposed sandbanks
Linnet - three on nyger seed (no Twite)
Gannet - two very distantly south across the mouth of the Bay
Eider - c40
Red-breasted Merganser - just 3
Red-throated Diver - one in non-breeding plumage
Great-c. Grebe - 5

Elsewhere
No sign WS Bluethroat. Ross's Goose in field just NE of Pilling Lane Ends. Osprey at Leighton Moss c1700-1800hrs. Now FIVE Scaup on Conder Pool. Pale-bellied Brent Goose Sunny Slopes groyne. Two Spotted Redshank north Morecambe seafront again - on Teal Bay groyne today. Small flock of Common Scoter & the first (definite) migrant skua of the year in the form of a mid-afternoon Bonxie loitering off JBP. This eventually flew high NE overland right over the heads of people at JBP and a single RTD was also observed to apparantly head overland. 3 Common Scoter on the Lune estuary by the south end of Aldcliffe Marsh. NNEW Chough since Monday's sighting

Iceland Gull straddles two counties

Couldn't resist a Bluethroat pic - it only just missed Heysham on landfall! Thanks Margaret (Breaks)
Herald was new for the year in the moth trap

Heysham Obs
A (very) low tide observation from the NHW during (fairly) early morning saw a distant Iceland Gull, almost certainly a juv. Fortunately it was quite a small one in relation to nearby Herring and LBBG, otherwise ruling out small Glaucous or even a leucistic 'Hessing' might have been a problem. The structure was spot-on for Iceland.

North harbour wall 0810-0910
Iceland Gull - Probably a juv on a rather distant Lancashire sandbank, first noticed at 0830 with Herring and LBBG, then at 0840, coinciding with a burst of sunlight and heat-haze flew towards a distant Cumbrian sandbank and landed as an unidentifiable shimmering dot in the direction of Piel Castle. It was impossible to keep tabs on it amongst other similar shimmering dots and it was lost from view. I'll name the sandbanks later when can view detailed map - closest views approx SD380610.
Sandwich Tern - 2 in distant channel
Purple Sandpiper - one underneath the wooden jetty with Turnstone
Red-breasted Merganser - at least 13 offshore
Twite - 5 on the nyger seed
Linnet - 3 on the nyger seed
Meadow Pipit - 72 NNE in the hour - in a series of small groups during gaps between the showers
Alba Wagtail - 6 NNE
Linnet - 2 NNE

Negative on Wheatear or any other grounded migrants on OE foreshore, Red Nab & Heliport 0910-0920. No Willow Warbler anywhere today.

Office 0930-1000
Meadow Pipit - just 16 N
Goldfinch - 7 N
alba Wagtail - 1 N

Elsewhere
Despite the clear starry night, the male White-spotted Bluethroat was still in the same place as yesterday. Please make sure you leave a gap for farm vehicles to access the lower (barriered) track at the Aldcliffe Lane parking area & try and car-share by parking alongside the canal before Aldcliffe village. Pale-bellied Brent Goose still Sunny Slopes groyne & Spotted Redshank on the 'bend' groyne between the Town Hall & Broadway. Northbound Osprey over Aldcliffe Marsh at 1510hrs. Three Spotted Redshank at Conder. Chough seen at Warton Crag quarry on evening of 7/4 but NNEW since. Two Med Gulls on Allen Pool (ages unknown). Ross's Goose Pilling Lane Ends area

Interrupted webs count - see elsewhere!

Heysham Obs
Poor coverage with no early morning observations or ringing possible on a promising morning and the already belated WeBS count rudely interrupted/ceased by a phone call from Dan prowling along the Lune cycletrack & tideline!

Moneyclose Lane
At least 5 Goldcrest & 2 Willow Warbler [mid-morning]

Outfalls & Ocean Edge
96 Common Gull - the start of the usual spring build-up
Wheatear - 6 [mid-morning]
c10 Meadow Pipit north in 20 minutes or so [mid morning, reading the paper with the window open waiting for the tide to come in a little more, so hardly scientific vis].

North Harbour Wall
6 Red-throated Diver floating in in 20 minutes
4 Great-crested Grebe similarly
No obvious grounded migrants other than 1 Wheatear on heliport. No small finches seen around the feeder.

Wooden jetty
Purple Sandpiper - one with 116 Turnstone

Elsewhere
One of THE best passerine finds in this area (usually these are at Heysham!) - a male White-spotted Bluethroat found by Dan Haywood feeding amongst the abundant tidal debris at the northern end of the cycle track 'deep cutting' about half way between Aldcliffe Lane and Stodday sewage works just north of the pylon crossing. This followed a night of lightish winds right through to at least the middle of France and also produced one at Dungeness. Nothing else new, including the Ross's Goose again at Pilling

Unfortunately the work logistics for the regular observers means we are in a little bit of trouble this spring covering Heysham Obs, especially trying to cover mid April to mid May for visible migration/seabird passage.

The other problem is that the wildlife trust people [volunteers and paid staff] on the reserve are either not birders or dont have time to spend on casual bird recording, therefore we have a problem trying to 'fulfil' the expectations placed upon us by British Energy Estates when they entered us, as usual, for the 2008 BTO Business Challenge. This basically means we need as high a species list as possible for the Power Station land ownership during 2008. This CAN be achieved for some species by viewing from the north harbour wall as the 'ownership' includes species which enter the sea area off the end of the wooden jetty/by Heysham one outfall.

The 2007 annual report [for availability, see RHS of page] contains a map outlining the BE properties and they also include a useful finger of land around the southern perimeter of the golf course adjacent to the Middleton IE site.

There are two ways you can help:
1) PLEASE make sure records are passed on from casual visits - we rarely seem to receive any feedback from birders known to be specifically 'targeting' Purple Sandpiper, Twite etc etc. . I am sure some of you must see other species during your albeit rather short visits? For example, yesterdays Osprey was heard about purely by chance via a third party. Records can be posted through the reserve letterbox, posted on this or LDBWS website, emailed to the contacts (RHS of page) or even left in the 'Leighton Moss' sightings book which is for ALL local records from people passing through the reception area, not just those on the RSPB properties. Thanks in anticipation.

2) Would you be interested in helping with the more systematic recording e.g. early morning seawatching from the north harbour wall or just walking around the reserve? The latter option is really useful for picking up species which can be tricky e.g. passage Whinchat or a 'one morning only' singing passage Grasshopper Warbler.

It would be a great pity if this 'baseline' site suffers from poor coverage as the data provides excellent annual comparison [have a look at the Arctic Tern species account in the 2007 report or, for a broader picture, in the recently published Lancashire Avifauna].

Thanks in anticipation

Pete