Pale bellied Brent heads north

Heysham Obs
Lengthy seawatching by Mark produced a small reward but no proper seabird movement in the early stages of the incoming tide

North harbour wall 0600 to 0915 (ongoing)
Pale-bellied Brent Goose - one headed north accompanied by 6 Shelduck at 0645hrs. Worth checking Shelduck concentrations north of the Stone Jetty?
Common Scoter - 14 blogging, then out
Sandwich Tern - 14ish
Black Guillemot

Half Moon Bay
1 wheatear - unusually perched on top of lamppost next to car park

Moths
Quite a nice selection including Peppered, May Highflyer, Herald, Poplar Hawk-moth

Elsewhere
Nothing yet

Summer mode after a trickle of seabirds

Heysham Obs
Looking at the weather forecast, I think today is probably 'it' for attempting to connect with skuas etc. this spring. This last fortnight has been the most frustrating period of spring seabird coverage since we started proper monitoring in the late 1990s. We have never been fans of other than morning coverage, not the least because of the light conditions, and I suspect that we have missed quite a few skuas in what have been rather good conditions in the last week or so as many of the birds have been passing through the Irish Sea in the afternoon/evening...............apart from yesterday when there was no-one here! Thank goodness for a car-less John Wood who rescued one afternoon's worth by 'bussing' to the Stone Jetty. More work committments than usual have also taken their toll amongst the regular observers. However, I dont think we missed the early May Arctic Tern passage. It did not appear to exist through this area in any numbers other than during late April. Thanks to Tony who valiantly covered JBP and confirmed that this site is (usually) too far into the bay unless the skuas are "kept down" (from circling up and heading overland e.g. via the Keer) by fresh south-westerlies and poorish visibility.

You post the above rubbish and then Ian has a flock of 95 Arctic Tern going into the bay, then out again off Cockersands at 1140hrs. This most be the latest large passage flock seen in this area and fits in with a strange disruptive spring as regards migrant arrival/passage

North harbour wall 0600-1015hrs
Arctic Skua - lm in at 0650, dm in at 0850
Sandwich tern - 15 in
Arctic Tern - 6 in (but see above)
Common Tern - 2
Wheatear - 1
Black Guillemot
Ringed Plover - pair with 2 mobile chicks at the heliport end (SD46A)

Middleton IE
Four-spotted Chaser - at least 23
Large Red Damselfly - 49
Common Blue Damselfly - 13+
Painted Lady - 2 (see Portland site for last few days) & one north harbour wall
Wall - one - recently scarce in this area
Mute Swan - at least one small cygnet 'under' the mother

Mammals
Harbour Porpoise of NHW

Elsewhere
10 Sanderling and 95 Arctic Terns on/off Cockersands

Bank holiday fare

Heysham Obs
Two jetskis cleared the area to the south of the outfalls quite effectively

North wall
Black Guillemot - 1
Sandwich Tern - 1

Red Nab
Whimbrel - single flushed
Med Gull - 1st summer, then flew towards Middleton Sands

Wheatears
1 Ocean Edge
2 North Wall Round Head

Jonathan Livingstone birding

Heysham Obs
A heaving great feeding flock of smallish/medium sized white things on the Cumbrian side of the Bay in early afternoon seemed to indicate some sort of fish spawn-fest. In the most coordinated seawatching effort ever in this area, simultaneous watches from Jenny Brown's Point, the Stone Jetty and Heysham heliport came to the very distant heat-hazy conclusion that they were.....seagulls

North harbour wall 0930-1045
Kittiwake - 2CY harbour area
Gannet - 6 in, 2 across bay, 2 out
Grey Plover - 2 out
Sandwich Tern - 3 in
Common Scoter - 25 in then landed on sea
Black Guillemot - on the wooden jetty

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Whimbrel - 5

Elsewhere
Nothing yet but a few Quail in Northern England on the pager

G-horizon

Heysham Obs
** Mega news. Definitely TWO Black Guillemot by/on the wooden jetty on 9th May. Please check the nest site carefully if visiting & one bird is on the water (= 3 sections to the right=seaward side of number '9' as viewed from the NHW) . Thanks Derek. See http://bamberbridgebirder.blogspot.com

I thought I'd heard of the above title, so googled it. It transpires to be Acrylic Album Cardstock Patterned Paper with the slogan 'every moment matters'. The latter is relevant as this mornings 45 minute seawatch was unbelievably inattentive due to four work-related phone calls and being shown the contents of a moth trap! What was missed? The G-horizon referred to the Gannets. Can you successfully google any combination of words/letters these days?

North wall 0810-0850
Gannet - 5 along the horizon, only visible during the upper part of the 'wheeling'
Arctic Skua - LM in very distantly at 0820hrs
Sandwich tern - 1+3 out
Whimbrel - 2 in
Black Guillemot - spent all the time in or next to its hole on the wooden jetty

Elsewhere
No Ortolan as yet at Bradshaw Lane (North Fylde c/f yesterdays good performance). Spoonbill on the 'flood' at the eastern end of the Eric Morecambe Pool

Heysham Obs

North harbour wall 0930-middayish

Arctic Skua dark morph 'in' 1015 hrs

Kittiwake 12 'in'

Gannet 4 blogging, 10 across the mouth of the bay

Sandwich Tern 1 'out' & 10 around later

Common Tern - 1

Arctic Tern - 1

Auk sp 'out'

Swallow 3 in-off

Med Gull - the 'usual' black-headed 1st summer

Half Moon Bay 7:15pm

5 “comic” tern blogging in distance for about 10 minutes before 4 flew out and 1 in

Elsewhere

Spoonbill Leighton Moss

The bird of the year slips through the fingers?

Heysham Obs

Morning seawatch
Red-throated Diver - 1
Gannet - 1




North wall 1430-1645
This was a cock-up and a good example of why you should follow up everything, just in case.



Pomarine Skua
Four (all light morph, two with full tails, the other two were the same size but "tailless") were picked up distantly in the mouth of the bay, sitting on the sea, at c1500hrs and dismissed as "gulls"!!! They took flight about 5 minutes later and the initial niggle of "why are they sat so close together on the sea for gulls?" was answered. These circled round and drifted/gained height towards Black Combe as soon as what transpired to be the last of the squalls had passed.


dark-rumped Whimbrel
After an hour of increasingly flat sea and dropping wind, chilled out on a seat by the seawall using binoculars, trying to get rid of the oilseed rape pollen clogging my system after a morning working on the Nottinghamshire/Lincolnshire border and a round the houses via Harrogate return, courtesy of an overturned lorry on the M62. Therefore a Whimbrel calling to my right near the sandplant entrance was presumed to be in transit and ignored. About 15 minutes later a Whimbrel call was heard and a bird seen in flight, having been displaced from the inshore skeer by the incoming tide. It headed south along the seawall and I casually glanced at it with the naked eye as it was level with me at about 60 or so metres range. NO white on the rump which was concolourous brown (to the naked eye) with the mantle and tail!!!! A quick check of this feature with binoculars saw me then erroneously attempt to scope the bird, therefore a valuable second or so whilst there were possibilities of at least binocular views of the head pattern were missed. On reaching the harbour entrance, the bird swung "right" and began a shallow gradual climb as it headed north-west towards the south Furness coast. It was calling all the time IF I had had the scope set up and IF I had bothered to check the bird out on the skeer, I might have clinched the head pattern and other subtleties allowing confident identification as Hudsonian Whimbrel. The only hope of anything definite coming out of this is if it is quickly relocated on the Cumbrian side. Fingers crossed
Arctic Tern - 1 out




Elsewhere
2cY Rose-coloured Starling seen at Arnside in the promenade bushes at 1245hrs by at least four obsevers

Not a lot

Heysham Obs

North Harbour Wall 0630-0830
Grey Heron 1 high NE
Swallow 1 NE
Pied Wagtail 1 in-off and landed on jetty during a heavy shower
Sandwich Tern 2 out
Black Guillemot - usual area

Elsewhere
Little Gull still in Aldcliffe area

Calm and seabirdlessish early morning

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall 0640-0740
Tree Pipit - 2 NE
Redpoll - 3 NE
Swallow - 14 NE
Fulmar - high flying bird eventually flew towards Cockersands
Shelduck - two birds still behaving territorially
Black Guillemot - invisible in the hole for 30 minutes, then more active - again harried by Carrion Crow
Med Gull - black-headed 1st summer did one circuit of the end of Stage one outfall (then towards stage 2?)

Late afternoon update:
Arctic Tern - 4 on outfalls
Sandwich Tern - 1
Gannet - 2 near turbines
Whimbrel - 1 heard
Swallow 1 NE
Black Guillemot - still hanging around the jetty

Moths
A Small Square Spot was the sole exciting occupant of the trap

Elsewhere
Little Gull in ploughed field at Aldcliffe

Why did we not turn round at Shap when the Gwynedd skuas came on the pager at lunchtime???

Heysham Obs
...........work can wait in these circumstances

Fortunately John Wood was able to retrieve the situation at the Stone Jetty and some observations were made by Tony at JBP. Here is John's report. Note the caution as the light is tricky looking out of the Bay in the afternoon and therefore the flock of 23 was not rubber-stamped as Poms.

1515-1815 hrs. A phone call from PJM suggesting a sea watch this afternoon as "the winds are blowing Poms up the Irish Sea". No car available so had a bus ride to the Stone Jetty.....
1540 Pomarine Skua 'in' fairly high steady flight.
1610 Pomarine Skua 'in' again fairly high.
1615 Skua flock of 23 much higher and more distant NW towards Black Combe, finally going out of range.
1625 Arctic Skua 'in'
1650 flock 5 Skua 'out' very low, all appeared dark but silhouetted.
1725 after heavy shower -
Fulmar 2 'in'
Gannet 2 'in'
1735 Gannet 3 'out'
1742 Arctic Skua dark morph 'in' then landed on sea.
1750 Arctic Skua 'in' and attacking Lesser Black-backed Gull. Followed immediately by
2 Arctic Skua 'out' one light & one dark morph. Both attacked one of a flock of 6 Kittiwake forcing it to disgorge which they both dropped to on the sea.
1758 Arctic Skua 'in'
Red-throated Diver 'out'

Heysham north wall 1840-1920
Pomarine Skua - light morph seen at 1845 and probably the same more distantly at c1910 - seemed to land on sea

Earlier:
North harbour wall 0750-0840
Black Guillemot - in residence throughout
Med Gull - a nice summer-plumaged 1st summer on the sea 0750-0800 Purple Sandpiper - summer plumaged adult mobile between NHW and under wooden jetty with about 35 Turnstone
Swallow - 18 NE - all via the harbour!

Absolutely nothing moving offshore!

Middleton Industrial Est
1 Wheatear

Elsewhere
At least one Pom Skua and 30 Common Scoter off JBP early evening