Velvet Scoter highlight

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall 06.30-7.30 & 0845-1145
Arctic Tern - 15 in
Eider (6 in, 8 out, 15 across the end of the Bay N-S)
Sandwich tern (build up - 2 in and hanging round yellow buoys, 4 on red buoy, later 10 altogether wandering round)
Red-throated diver (1 out but landed by yellow buoys, 1 out, 3 in)
Gannet - 1 in, 3 out
Guillemot - 1 out.Common Scoter 30+20+130=180 ouy
Velvet Scoter - 2 out with common scoter flock
Little Gull - 2x AdS north, 2x 1stW north, 1 AdW on sea
Arctic Skua - 1 dark morph on seaMeadow Pipit - c36 NE
Swallow - c6 NE
Tree Pipit - 1 NE
alba Wagtail - 4 NE

Red Nab
Dunlin unusual & 2 Sandwich Tern

Wooden jetty area
Purple sandpiper - 1, later 2 seen
Black Guillemot - flying about and swimming, then up on top of pier.

Grounded
Wheatear - 3

Elsewhere
Nothing dramatic although belated news that the Alpine Swift on 15/4 was seen flying from Cockersands towards Glasson at 5pm!

Through Morning Mist

North Harbour Wall 6.00am to 10am

calm conditions but visibility very poor
Arctic Skua pale morph in at 7.20am though distant
Black Guillemot and Common Guillemot
Purple Sandpiper with Turnstones
Arctic Terns c25 : Kittiwakes 5

Sandwich Terns c35 (including 25 in view at one time on buoys ad outfall railings)
Scoter 48 (including flock of 40, which went out of bay then back in an hour later)
Gannet 1

Eider 33 (26m & 7f)

Greylag - 2 in

Red Throated Divers 5
Little Gulls 16 ( 11 adults ; all into bay)
2 Wheatear on mound

Shelduck pair inner harbour wall

Meadow Pipit 11 NE

Swallow 34 NE

alba Wagtail 8 NE

Redpoll spp - 3

Siskin - 3

Middleton Industrial Est (Evening)

Singing warblers:

1 Grasshopper

1 Lesser whitethroat

1 Sedge

Nice day for migrants

Wanted : experienced seawatcher(s) to cover Monday 20th & probably Tuesday 21st from the north harbour wall - early morning to 1000ish (or part of this period). No-one available at this end.

Heysham Obs
Unfortunately no mist netting was possible this morning but a good few odds and ends picked up by what was otherwise good coverage of the sea & land except early morning on the sea (see JBP)

North harbour wall 0645-0930, some hirundine/passerine vis from other sites, then 1215-1315
Manx Shearwater - distant bird, probably this species c1300hrs
Red-throated Diver - 6 in
Gannet - 24 (+) in
Common Scoter - flock of 6 in
Red-breasted Merganser - 4 in
Black-tailed Godwit - 1 SW (rare here)
Little Gull - flock of 7 summer plumaged adults, including a 'pink' bird in with c12 Black-headed Gulls at c1230
Arctic Skua - 1 pale morph at 0700hrs, 1 pale 1 dark 0720hrs, dark 0900hrs, dark 0930hrs - all in
Whimbrel - 4 in (first of year)
Sandwich Tern - 128 in, 7 out, then 70 in 1 out 1215-1315
Arctic Tern - 34 in, nearly all in first hour - JBP figures suggest a lot missed prior to 0645hrs (79 at JBP), then 103 in 1215-1315
Swallow - 61 NE
Sand Martin - 11 NE
Meadow Pipit - 31 in
alba Wagtail - 7 in
Linnet - 38 in
Goldfinch - 4 in
Siskin - heard once + 2 NE
Redpoll spp - 1+ in
Carrion Crow - 2+ 4 in
Tree Pipit - one NE (first of year)

Grounded definite migrants
Wheatear - 3 non-op, one Red Nab, 2 heliport
Redstart - male lingering on the north harbour wall mound!

Miscellany
Black Guillemot returned = around wooden jetty or just offshore
Purple Sandpiper - at least 2
Grasshopper Warbler - FOUR Middleton IE
Lesser Whitethroat - 2 singing male Middleton IE - first of year
Common Whitethroat - singing male by office - first of year

Middleton Industrial Est
3 mute
12 coot
3 moorhen
4 little grebe
6 tufted
6 shellduck
1 teal
4 mallard

Elsewhere
Early morning coverage of JBP indicated what had been missed past Hey prior to 0645. There was obviously a very early movement of Arctic Tern with 79 picked up at JBP (& most of the Heysham birds prior to 0730hrs), not always the best site for this spp., e.g. how many went inland via the Keer flightline? Two Great Skua also seen at JBP . 2 Osprey Leighton Moss mid afternoon, single Osprey Cleveley Mere early morning

Thank goodness for the Gannet!

Wanted : experienced seawatcher(s) to cover Monday 20th & probably Tuesday 21st from the north harbour wall - early morning to 1000ish (or part of this period). No-one available at this end.

Heysham Obs
No observer until 0830hrs this morning due to early morning work. The Rossall seawatch stuff hadn't yet kicked in on the pager [Little Tern, 3 Arctic Skua 12 Arctic Tern by 0730hrs] & it seemed to be "dead", therefore just about to make a beeline for the nearest coffee when a Gannet flew in.....give it another 5 minutes or so. The reward was the biggest (and one of the closest) flock of Arctic Skua I have ever seen from here. No sign yet again of the Black Guillemot.

North harbour wall 0830-0945
Arctic Skua - flock of 7 (3 lm) in at 0850hrs, just inside the line of the yellow buoys - picked up again off north Morecambe at 0915hrs (following phone calls), whence they circled high and disappeared in a NW direction into the haze (just south of Humphrey Head)
Gannet - one in at 0845hrs
Arctic Tern - flock of 16 in at 0900hrs
Sandwich Tern - 5 in with the above Arctic Terns & one out at 0920hrs
Purple Sandpiper - 3 together below the wooden jetty and almost certainly an additional singleton with the Turnstone below the NHW by the gate
Turnstone - 392
Swallow - 26 NE
Linnet - 8 NE
Meadow Pipit - 5 NE

Elsewhere
See above for same flock of Arctic Skua off Bare. Curlew Sandpiper again Allen/EM Pool and adult Spoonbill at Leighton Moss. Stunningly routine on the Lune & north Fylde.

Struggle against a 'blocking' wind but late afternoon Osprey saves the day

Alpine Swift
This was seen very well by Bill and Chris Ashby accompanying a single Swallow from their house overlooking the bay on Twemlow Parade. It was around at 1100hrs before heading north. This does suggest that the theories re-roosting on the power station or the cliffs at Heysham Head probably had some substance! Unfortunately the only morning observer in the area was doing a VP the wrong side of the 'Heysham ridge'

Heysham Obs
Just one hour on the north wall this morning 0730-0830 & an afternoon visit by a group of eminent Fylde birders. A bit of vis along the seawall but nothing happening offshore after a little flurry 0730-0735. The Black Guillemot was also nowhere to be seen! Some Germans were photographing the departing Moondance - apparently it is due to move to pastures new - pity it cannot take the axphixiating rust bucket West Express with it.

North harbour wall 0730-0830
Meadow Pipit - 69 NE
Linnet - 48 NE
Swallow - 7 NE (all in last 10 minutes) & about 25/hr subsequently
House Martin - 2 NE in the afternoon - first of the year for here
alba Wagtail - 5 NE
Siskin - heard once
Arctic Tern - flock of 6 'in' at 0733hrs
Common Scoter - 4 'in' 0735hrs
Purple Sandpiper - THREE under the wooden jetty

Work along Heysham bypass
Osprey - one flew over the ridge where the new housing is on Mossgate heading north and gaining height. Therefore above SD46A and therefore the Obs recording area. This was during a lull in the wind at about 1750hrs, prior to quite a cloudy and wild spell of weather with a bit of rain which apparently did not reach Lancaster!

Elsewhere
Curlew Sandpiper Allen/EM Pools (second day), Ad Spoonbill Griesdale Hide, Leighton Moss. 11 Arctic Terns off Cockersands late afternoon but none of the significant number of Little Gulls grounded on inland waters to the south of here were seen in our area

Common Buzzard & Arctic Terns highlight meagre fare

Heysham Observatory
The rain and far too northerly wind conspired to produce a big fat zero as regards night migrants other than three Wheatear at each of the heliport and OE foreshore. Later 9 Wheatear on OE as the wind went more easterly

North harbour wall
Black Guillemot - in the harbour mouth first thing, then sitting offshore
Purple Sandpiper - three under the wooden jetty
Common Scoter - 7 'in' + 10 'in' & 3 'out'
Arctic Tern - 3 flew into the bay at 1200hrs
Turnstone - 385 including one with non-British metal ring but no colour ringed/flagged birds

Office area
Common Buzzard - one drifted SE at 0830hrs - rarer than Osprey here!
Coal Tit - unringed bird caught

Vis
Very little in the murky conditions and F3 NE wind
Meadow Pipit - 8 NE
alba Wagtail- 5 NE
Linnet - 2 NE

Outfalls
A good collection of gulls but nothing of interest! Good magnet though
Black-headed Gull - 285 - mainly 2CY - a good number for this time of year and augurs well for something decent with them
Common Gull - 115, mainly 2CY

Middleton IE
Grasshopper Warbler - singing male western marsh
Sedge Warbler - 2 singing males

Elsewhere
ALPINE SWIFT seen to fly into SD35, therefore our recording area mid-afternoon - heading for Heysham Power Stations, perhaps via Sunderland Point! Unfortunately a little too murky to follow for any length of time

Flurry of early morning migrants

Heysham Obs
A 0715hrs start would have been a waste of time on the NHW yesterday but landfalled Wheatears and 'vis' were in full swing on arrival this morning and an '0600er' might have been worthwhile. We were also anticipating some tern passage, at least Sandwich, in a SEF2-3 - the result - not a single tern seen 0715-0930hrs!

Vis mig 0715-0900 north wall, 1 hr OE foreshore
Marsh Harrier - female north over the golf course, then Heysham Head at 0815hrs
alba Wagtail - 24 north-east, as were all subsequent sightings
Meadow Pipit - 188
Linnet - 40
Siskin - 3
Swallow - 20
Reed Bunting - one
Redpoll spp - 3
Sand Martin - 2

Grounded
Wheatear - 13 north wall/OE foreshore
Willow Warbler - probably 40-50 minimum over the whole site (21 ringed)
Chiffchaff - 2 new birds trapped
Redstart - 2 males caught together

Miscellany
Purple Sandpiper - THREE together on the rocks by the harbour entrance (north side) as the tide was dropping
Black Guillemot - this was sat offshore between the harbour mouth and the yellow buoys
Med Gull - first winter with stand-along 'masks' on the outfalls

Moths
V Pug was new for the year

Elsewhere
Lesser Whitethroat - three Aldcliffe early morning

No reward for the early start!

Heysham Obs
This was a peculiar day with a SE wind kicking in late morning and if the 'vis' from a nearby almost day-long vantage point survey is included, it reveals a significant increase during the day, with Meadow Pipit peaking at about 1400hrs! The other peculiar thing was the complete (as far as we undertand & certainly until at least 1145hrs) non-appearance of the Black Guillemot in "perfect" conditions

Vis mig from the office, later NHW 0700-1145hrs, later Middleton IE late evening
Redpoll spp. - 2 north
Siskin - 4 east
Linnet - 2 NE
Meadow Pipit - just 46 NE
alba Wagtail - 4 NE
Swallow - 5 NE, 51 E late evening at Middleton
Willow Warbler - at least 6 migrants passing through the bushes
Goldcrest - just one
Sandwich Tern - minimum of 4 blogging, then out
Merlin - one eventually flew north out to sea towards Ulverston climbing very high at c0830hrs

Vis from a VP just to the east
Absolutely nothing 0830-1000!

1030-1230, all heading NE as the south-easterlies freshened to F 2-4, 2-3 oktas
Meadow Pipit - c150
Siskin - 30
Linnet - 25
Redpoll spp - 1
Swallow - 18
Sand Martin - 8

1230-1630, (peaking around 1400h) SE F 2-4, 5 oktas
other species dried up but:
Meadow Pipit - c600, heading NE

Middleton IE
Grasshopper Warbler still singing in western marsh - stay on the raised concrete roads please
Stonechat - singing male on territory
Tufted Duck - 5

More info on yesterdays Heysham-ringed Twite seen at NR608209 (c.r. info)
1) one of 10 ringed between 31/10/2008 and 26/11/2008 (narrowed down by final digit of metal ring being visible!)
2) one of 31 ringed between 04/02/2009 and 24/03/2009

Cannot narrow them down any further without full metal ring numbers

Insects
First Holly Blue of the year in Heysham village (also one at the VP site just to the east "miles away" from the 'correct' habitat!)

Elsewhere
Red Kite flew north Langden Valley early afternoon. Spoonbill arrived Leighton Moss late afternoon. Male Garganey Griesdale Hide Leighton Moss. Osprey N over Aldcliffe 1620ish

Early Sedge Warbler & Orange Tip

Heysham Obs
Practically no movement today but a few bits and bobs of interest. Anything else from the coastal observers after 1015am, please? Please post as a 'comment'. Thanks

Twite
Two birds ringed at Heysham between 31/10/08 and March 2009 were seen on 12th April 2009 on spring passage at Machrihanish Seabird Observatory NR608209, near Campbeltown on the Mull of Kintyre. Thanks to Eddie Maguire.

In perfect visibility just the following seen NHW 0700-1015hrs
"Comic" Tern - 2 very distantly in, prob Arctic
Black Guillemot harbour mouth
Sandwich Tern - 4-6 blogging
Little Gull - ad Stage 2 outfall
Jackdaw - one in-off
Red-throated Diver - 2
Single-figure trickle of Meadow Pipit, Linnet and alba Wagtail & 3 Goldfinch

Middleton IE
Grasshopper Warbler - one singing male
Sedge Warbler - one singing male
Mute Swan - 2 nests - both sitting
Tufted Duck - 2
Teal - 2
Pochard - female
Little Grebe - 4+
Coot - 7+
Mallard - 9

Mammals
Roe Deer Middleton IE

Butterflies
First Speckled Wood & male Orange Tip - the latter very early. Brimstone by OE caravan site entrance - first for 45E this year

Elsewhere
Nothing of dramatic interest

Osprey at last & first Grasshopper Warbler!

Heysham Obs
The Rossall Osprey was actually at 0710hrs, not 0610hrs therefore obviously the same bird as that seen at Heysham. The male Black Guillemot returned inshore at 1020hrs.

North wall 0700-1100hrs
Osprey - one north along the Kent channel line at 0725hrs (one NE over Rossall Point at 0710hrs)
Shag - a juv on the pager as being on the wooden jetty around 1000hrs but not before 0945 or after 1025
Black Guillemot - the ad male returned inshore about 1020hrs and remained alongside the wooden jetty to at least 1100hrs
Gannet - 6 in then out, 1 out
Med Gull - 2 x 2CY - one with stand-alone 'masks' , one where obviously joined over the rear crown - generally messing about offshore with Black-headed & Common Gulls
Sandwich tern - at least four, two latterly sitting on buoy
Swallow - one north!
Meadow Pipit - just 17 north
Linnet - 8 north
alba Wagtail - 5 north
Goldeneye - ad male on the sea
Red-breasted Merganser - 12 on sea
Great-crested Grebe - 5 on sea
Purple Sandpiper - a least one below the wooden jetty

Red Nab
Kittiwake - 36 inland over the caravan site at 0830hrs

Outfalls
Ad Little Gull
Ad Kittiwake (high tide)

Middleton IE
Canada Goose - 2
Greylag - 2
Both these pairs on the model boat pond

Evening visit Middleton IE
Grasshopper Warbler 1 in song
Goosander pair North
Great Spotted Woodpecker over
1 Fox

Moths
Good catch for here (32 moths of 10 species): Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet very early. Shoulder Stripe not common here. Chestnut exceptionally rare here & quite late for this hibernating species which re-emerges at the first hint of warmth! Agonopterix propinquella - first record for here? 13 Early Thorn a record one-night catch

Elsewhere
Tree Pipit Warton Crag. Redstarts Freeman's Pool and upper Hindburndale (but no Pied Flycatcher upper Hindburn). Willow Warblers everywhere after yesterday afternoon's dramatic major arrival during the short but sharp rain belt, including 3 singing males within earshot of Leck View Cottage at High Tatham. Bittern almost certainly left Leighton Moss to the south this evening.