Highest Gannet count of the year

Heysham Obs
Subtitle: 'should have done an earlier seawatch'

North harbour wall seawatch 1050-1220
Gannet - 34 out, including an initial flock of 13 close inshore which prompted the seawatch! Just two which appeared to be full adult.
Sandwich Tern - 8 out
Med. Gull - 2nd S patrolling the north wall, after earlier being on Red Nab
Black Guillemot - briefly around wooden jetty before disappearing into a hole thereon

Red Nab high tide roost am
Sandwich Tern 2 adult + 2 blogging offshore
Knot 165
Curlew 74

Moths
Another Shaded Pug, otherwise the usual suspects with Shoulder-striped Wainscot still in second position after Heart and Dart

Elsewhere
A visit to Leighton Moss reavealed some odds and ends around - e.g. Osprey past JBP with a fish, 2+ Little Egret still around. The Marsh Lane Heversham Quail has been showing occasionally without any "need" to use tape lures.

Med Gull returns "for the winter"?

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Black Guillemot still present in harbour mouth a.m. but not seen afternoon/evening
Mediterranean Gull - 2nd S 1900hrs. patrolling
Knot - 160 skeer opposite Sand Plant Gate - no adults.
Linnet - pair at Sand Plant

Stage 2 outfall
Black-headed Gull min. 250.
No sign of any Knot, but tide not far enough in during late afternoon check

Mammals
Grey Seal off north harbour wall

Moths
Shears new for the year

Elsewhere
Quail heard again along Marsh Lane, Heversham (pm)

Black Guillemot connected with again

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall 0900-0915
Black Guillemot - in the harbour mouth, then below the wooden jetty; also there late in the afternoon (per pager)
Sandwich Tern - 3 'in' together

Red Nab/outfalls 0915-0930
Good number of gulls for this stage of the tide but nothing notable e.g. Med.

Elsewhere
[R-C Starling Inskip, c30mins drive to south: SD453380]

Cool north-westerly blast

Heysham Obs
North wall/Red Nab/outfalls
30 minutes early morning on either side of the harbour +/- reading the paper logged a negative for Black Guillemot (a lot of boat/dredger disturbance), a distant Cumbrian Gannet and absolutely nothing, albeit at an unhelpful stage of the tide, on the outfalls.

Red Nab late afternoon tide
Med Gull - moulting adult with inner primary missing on at least right wing - probably one of the two the other day
Knot - 587 in non-breeding plumage - unprecedented at this time of year - see discussion on LDBWS site via Links

Moths
Garden Carpet was new for the year (cue mirth from suburban trappers). Heart and Dart & Shoulder-striped Wainscot the most common moths at the moment

Elsewhere
Two Crossbill over Rigg Lane, near Quernmore. NNEW Leighton area.

10th June 2008

Heysham Obs
Birds
By far and away the best record from today was a 1st summer Med Gull with a red darvic. This was on Red Nab in poor afternoon light and was impossible to read - so much so I forgot which leg it was on! Also c210 Black-headed and 6 1st S Common Gull. Black Guillemot not searched for.

Moths
A major milestone today. A Figure of 80 moth in the trap whilst I was actually there! This species has been just about annual in recent years but remain scarce in north Lancs. Dearth of Cinnabar so far this year - ragwort removal is regular in this area, including certain individuals on the reserve.

Elsewhere
An astonishing c10,000 Knot estimated at Sunderland yesterday but no sign during long-range scans along Middleton Sands from OE foreshore at high tide. NNEW on Spoonbills from Leighton Moss.

A low-key day of work!

Heysham Obs
Apart from being rumbled at last in a 'give me some money' spam [Dear Sir: It has come to our attention that you are an alien.........], it was a fairly quiet day with a couple of excursions to look at dragonflies and the tide.

Insects
Middleton IE
Several [5-6] Black-tailed Skimmer & 4-spotted Chaser on the model boat pond plus a glimpse of a smaller dragonfly, presumed teneral/female darter. Taken to task off-line for suggesting that teneral darters by the model boat pond at Middleton at this time of year are most likely to be Red-veined. This is based on eight years of observation where all darters until June Week Three at the very earliest have proved to be Red-veined at this site. This does not mean that there cannot be exceptions and this will obviously be the case if last summer's weather prevented pairing and ovipositing (the flying window suggests that they should have had time)! Therefore the original statement was not dogmatic. Lets see how this week, with its unfavourable temperature forecast, pans out.

Dog walk-track/pond
This refers to the 'landscape strip' running from the cream building towards Ocean Edge.

14-16 4-spotted Chaser
4 Emperor

Birds
225 Black-headed Gull outfalls but no sign of any Meds or terns
Harbour mouth not checked. Single 1st summer Knot on beach.

Elsewhere
Male Black Redstart singing from building-tops in NEW STREET, Lancaster, opposite the 'Junior Library'.

Kittiwake surprise & Black Guillemot seen again

Heysham Obs
The bird interest today was limited to a short visit by Mark Prestwood. This follows a National Moth Night which should have ended after the moorland session at about 1145, followed by a decent nights sleep and then wide-awake overnight trap checking & some birding, instead of being in sleep-deprived zombie mode for much of the day. The post-midnight 'sheet and lighting' was on a par with waiting at Aberdeen airport for the Citril Finch fog to clear - a complete waste of time. Interestingly, in retropect, we should have stayed at the original trapping site high on the Ward's Stone fell road [e.g. 7 Fox Moth, Northern Eggar, Glaucous Shears, Dark Brocade, Narrow-winged Pug, Red Twin-spot Carpet (strictly a moorland species in this area?) by 1115hrs, but another half hour or so might also have produced Grey Scalloped-Bar & Light Knot Grass], instead of trying to be clever and also include what turned out to be temperature-inversed lowland woodland later in the night. Hindsight is always stunningly logical. Thanks to Ian Savage and staff for giving special permission to use the fell road.

North harbour wall
Kittiwake - surprisingly an adult decided to follow a freight ferry into port - usually a midwinter phenomenon, especially at low tide!
Black Guillemot - in the harbour entrance early morning
Sandwich Tern - 2

Outfalls
Unproductive at low tide with no Meds.

Insects
Moth traps
The hut trap was highlighted by a Figure of 80, just about annual here, plus a Narrow-winged Pug. The actinic trap set in the marsh produced what was the first record for the site of Silky Wainscot [sorry, misidentified from pic. as Obscure]

Middleton IE dragonflies etc.
Colin Whittle's census was highlighted by a teneral darter spp. next to the model boat pond which was lost in tall vegetation. This is very early for Common but would be spot on for Red-veined. Hopefully a hot sunny day next week will produce the goods at this long-established breeding site. Black-tailed Skimmer emerged in force with 8 males and one female all on the model boat pond. Scattered throughout were: 9 Emperor, 59 4-spotted Chaser and plenty of the three common 'blue' damselflies with Large Red reaching the end of its emergence period (just four seen). The 'etc.' included Large Skipper, Small Heath, but no Wall Brown which have had a reasonable spring on here compared to other recent years

Elsewhere
By far and away the best local NMN moth which I know about was a Clay Triple-lines taken at Linda & Alec Greening's garden at Dalton near Burton-in-Kendal. This is in VC60 but also in Cumbria -its a third vice-county record but may be a new county record if that makes sense!! A phone conversation included the description of Leighton Moss as "quiet", other than two Spoonbill.

Bottle-nosed Dolphin highlight

Heysham Obs
Birds
Autumn is here. A supposedly routine scan from Ocean Edge foreshore, concentrating on the outer end of Heysham 2 outfall as the starting point for a gull count, revealed a passing Bottle-nosed Dolphin and a flying Ad Med. Gull in the foreground. Another ad Med. was at rest alongside the outfalls and a 1st summer was flying about with 2 1st summer Common Gull for comparison on the seaward 1/3 of Stage 2 outfall [2 x Ad & 1st summer Meds Stage 2 outfall]

On the negative side, continued disappointment with the Black Guillemot situation, with no sign of any birds this morning. If, and it is a very, very big 'if' something was happening in one of the harbour wall holes [the wooden jetty seemed to have been deserted for as the main focal point for some time], the highest ones were (just) flooded by the SW wind-pushed tide two days ago. The previous day had seen extremely agitated behaviour by the male IN the harbour.

Insects
Two Mother Shipton moths "nailed" for NMN day/night on Middleton IE, along with a Treble Bar. The Friday night moth trap catch does not qualify for NMN but included first of the year in the form of Dusky brocade, Flame, Ingrailed Clay, Setaceous Hebrew Character and a Buff Tip i.e. (very) routine species! More notable was a high count of four Shaded Pug.

Mammals
Unexpectedly impressive with a single (?) Bottle-nosed Dolphin making its way out of the bay in front of the freight ferry 'Shield', a Grey Seal off the north harbour wall (by no means a routine sighting) and another freshly dead Hedgehog on Moneyclose Lane along with an unseasonal and unwelcome (live) Grey Squirrel. Finally a stoat crossed the road between the office and entrance gate.

Elsewhere
Two Spoonbill Leighton Moss area (following just one reported yesterday). 20+ Clouded Magpie Moths trapped at Dalton (near Burton) on sheet and light last night! Adult Long-eared Owl on a tree-shaded fence alongside the conifer plantation next to the Lower Lee fell road just before dusk but no squeaking gate calls from any young when in audible range for a short period just before midnight(2+ Short-eared Owl further up the road).

Ornithological doldrums but another county first in a North Lancs moth trap

Heysham Obs
Birds
Just about as bad as you can get at high tide with one distant Manx Shearwater the star of the show. Black Guillemot seen in the harbour mouth in the morning, but no sign afternoon. One Sandwich Tern the only other transitory bird worth mentioning. Little Grebe & 3 young on fence pond, Middleton.

Moths
A reasonable catch highlighted by a late Least Black Arches (rare here). Also single Shaded Pug, Foxglove Pug, Poplar Hawk-moth, Broom, Rustic Shoulder and 3 Shoulder-striped Wainscot, a very common moth here.

Dragonflies
A little windy and cool at Middleton IE with no sign of any Black-tailed Skimmer or darters on the model boat pond. Two Emperor and about 6 4-spotted Chaser casually noted on other ponds

Elsewhere
Lancashire's first Saxon moth came to light in more senses than one as a j-peg was received by the county (micro) moth recorder of a capture near Haweswater last week. Nothing of interest found on the pager/LDBWS site yet i.e. no news on Spoonbills, Ospreys or Xbills.

Thanks for the late info!

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
A late message saying the Black Guillemot was still present

Red Nab/outfalls
c100 Black-headed and c15 Common Gulls

Moths
Eyed Hawk & Latticed Heath of note

Mammals
Grey Squirrel and freshly dead Hedgehog along/on Moneyclose Lane

Elsewhere
Nothing as far as I know. NNEW (to me) re-Leighton Moss.