Typical fair weather fare

Heysham Obs
Office grounded stuff & vis 0630-0830
Didmnt arrive until 0630hrs and that was too late in clear slightly misty weather - what migrants there were were in the last stages of passing through
Grasshopper Warbler - singing male by classroom for about 30 secs 0630hrs
Willow warbler - at least 4 migrants 'first thing'
Redstart - female on fence for about 12 seconds 0645!
Tree Pipit - 2 over
Linnet - 11 over
Meadow Pipit - one over
Swallow - 6 over

North wall 0620-0810
IT'S BACK - the bigger of the two yellow buoys mysteriously disappeared recently but seems to have risen from the deep again! Other than that mega sighting:
Sandwich tern - 23
Common Sandpiper - 1
Red-breasted Merganser - 7
Great-crested Grebe - 16
Pink-footed Goose - flock of 150 NW
Whimbrel - 10
Turnstone - 180
Gannet - 2
Red-throated Diver - 7
Arctic tern - 25+14
Lesser Redpoll - 2
Swallow - 7
Skylark - very late singleton
Linnet - 1

BTO challenge box-ticking

Heysham Obs
Two very contrasting additions to the BTO challenge - a singing male Grasshopper Warbler on the tank farm (plus another in the BE section on Middleton IE) and a male House Sparrow gathering nest material from the SE corner of BE properties, then flying 'behind' Ocean Edge reception.  Please note that the BTO Business challenge refers only to British Energy/EDF property and therefore not Middleton IE apart from the sliver of scrub/hedge/fence-line running around the edge of the golf-course.  If anyone can persuade a Coot to wander into that area, that would be very useful!!!

North wall 0705-0905
Gannet - 23 in, 9 out
Common Scoter - 47 in, 3 out
Arctic Tern - 10+12 in
Whimbrel - 2 in
Red-throated Diver - 5 in (flock of 4), 2 out
Swallow - 6 NE
Meadow Pipit - 2 NE
Guillemot - one out
Sandwich Tern - just the one out

Migrants by the office
Willow Warbler - 2-3 non-territorial
Lesser Whitethroat - singing male passed through north
Grasshopper Warbler - one singing on tank farm distantly, then closer for about 4 minutes 0705hrs
Sedge Warbler - one singing very briefly

One round of a single 60' net produced no birds, so taken down

Tufted Duck - pair again on Obs Tower pond but the Little Grebe have gone

Middleton IE
Grasshopper Warbler - c8 singing males scattered over the whole site yesterday, Today there were 7 singing males in sunny weather at midday!!  One of these was in the British Energy/EDF corridor of land where it borders the golf course
Lesser Whitethroat - 3-4 singing males (mobile as usual)
Whitethroat - 4 singing males
Sedge Warbler - 7 singing males
Blackcap - one singing male
no sign of yesterdays Reed Warbler

Moths
May Highflyer was new for the year & 15 a good count for Early Thorn

A bitty messy morning

A whole wadge of stuff has been added from yesterday, courtesy of Sean's lengthy work-related vigil.  Thanks Sean.  Best = 3 x Little Tern & 180 or so Arctic Tern.  Note that 350 Arctic Tern, single dm Arctic Skua were seen at JBP yesterday prior to Heysham observations (c0600-0700hrs) 

Heysham Obs
Rain interrupted any mist netting & put the lid on vis, without seeming to 'drop' a great deal in the form of migrants and poor visibility hampered the seawatching. 

Ocean Edge/Red Nab foreshore
Med Gull - 1st summer with black head on the incoming tide tideline with 48 Common and 17 Black-headed Gulls

North harbour wall
Little Gull - ad blogging in the harbour mouth briefly, then out
Gannet - 18 in
Red-throated Diver - 3 (1 out, 2 in)
Guillemot - 5 (in or on sea)
Razorbill - 1 (on sea)
Sandwich Tern - 4 ('blogging', inc. 2 mating on yellow buoy)
Arctic Tern - 3 in, then at 11.45 - flock of 11 Arctic Terns out & at 12.00 - flock of 36 Arctic Terns in.
Common Scoter - 5 in
Eider - 50 (45 in, 5 out)
Whimbrel - 1 out
Swallow - 15 in
Turnstone - 354-ish jetty
Purple Sandpiper - 1 jetty
Meadow Pipit - 6
Linnet - 5
alba Wagtail - 3
Goldfinch - 5

Wheatear
One on the end of the wooden jetty, 2 on north harbour wall and 7 on Ocean Edge foreshore first thing

Middleton nature reserve/IE
Grasshopper Warbler - at least three singing males, one visible from the official community woodland footpath and the screen
Reed Warbler - one singing by the no swimming pond - very unusual record in April for here, they usually arrive very late in the protracted migration arrival period.  Hopefully it will stay
Sedge Warbler - 6+ singing males
Tufted Duck - pair on new scrape

Elsewhere
Dotterel still present Abbeystead Lane for third day.  Cuckoo Roeburndale and dm Arctic Skua (& 4 Arctic tern) JBP this late afternoon.  NEARLY went back to Heysham for the incoming tide.  Did anyone cover late evening?  Also 6 Yellow Wagtail in a field near Bank Houses - a record passage count for this species in our area in recent years.  Unless hear to the contrary in the next few days, Cetti's Warblers have presumed to have left Leighton Moss and no recent report of booming Bittern

Lengthy seawatching pays dividends

Apologies for this stuff not being on the site yesterday but the ongoing sim-card problems (replacement lost in the post(!) but new one imminent) meant I didnt know Sean was working at Heysham until today (Sunday).  Sean was responsible for all post 0900 coastal sightings

Heysham Obs
Seabirds 0650-0830

Sandwich Tern - 15 in (none blogging)
Gannet - 5 in
Red-throated Diver - one out
Arctic Tern - 6+3+2 in
Common Scoter - 8 in, 14 out
Guillemot - 1 in, 2 on
Whimbrel - 1 in


Half Moon Bay beach 9:45-12:45 and 14:15-17:15hrs
Common Scoter 40+
Whimbrel 2 (north)
Common Sandpiper (north)
Arctic Tern 100+ (out in bay from south, feeding for time then to NW)
Sandwich Tern 2
Swallow 99 (north)
House Martin 3 (north)
White Wagtail 8(north)
Meadow Pipit 20+ (north)
Tree Pipit 1 (north)
Linnet 2
Twite 3 (NE)

The Point, North Harbour Wall 13:00-14:00hrs
Common Scoter 40+ (same flock as above)
Whimbrel 6 (on flats south of Outflow)


Turnstone 300+ (highest count for there)
Common Sandpiper 1
Arctic Skua (dark morph - on water 0.5km to NW, flew off NE towards
Kent estuary/Jenny Brown's Point)
Arctic Tern 80 (on sandbank, then flew off to NW)
Sandwich Tern 6
Little Tern 3 (from NE, flew towards Point, then off to NW)
Swallow 24 (north)
White Wagtail 3 (north)
Meadow Pipit 6+ (north)

Late news (still havnt received simcard - sorry Malcolm)
Grasshopper Warbler - 4-5 singing males Middleton IE

Combined vis north wall & by the office 0650-0900 (0830 north wall)
Flava Wagtail - one NE just west of the office, probably also the one heard at the north wall at the same time, 0715hrs.  First spring record for two years.
Tree Pipit - singles at 0705 & 0802, latter grounded briefly, & 2 together at 0720
Grey Wagtail - very late northbound bird at 0650hrs
Swallow - 47 NE (not bad for so early - should be a lot later) - plus 7 casually recorded pre-0945hrs
Collared Dove - flock of 5 north at 0710hrs
Goldfinch - 18
Lesser Redpoll - 10
Meadow Pipit - minimum 28, all very high & many not seen - call = noted as one bird
Linnet - 14
Sand Martin - 2
Coal Tit - noisy one headed north
House Martin - first of the year (!) NE late morning

Would have thought this was an ideal day for Black Guillemot to return but a now rather historical single-date sighting of a bird which, unlike as I was led to believe, did not return to the nest hole, is beginning to look like it did not involve the returning male (although definitely adult)

Grounded
Common Whitethroat new in on reserve
Willow Warbler - just two presumed migrants by office
Wheatear - one north wall, 2 ocean edge (very rapid lack of milk-inspired visit)
Mallard - pair Red Nab

Moths
Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet new for the year

FRIDAY 23rd April Deadish

Heysham Obs
Male Redstart but not a lot else on land, sea or in air with uniform but high cloud cover and 'nothing' wind

Heysham Obs
North wall 0650-0830
Turnstone - 292
Purple Sandpiper - 1
Sandwich Tern - 7 on the now single yellow buoy
Gannet - 3 in and 3 out
Common Scoter 14 in
Auk sp - 5 on sea
Guillemot - 1 on sea
Wheatear 5 suddenly dropped in the quickly moved off
alba wagtail - 2 NE
Linnet 6 - NE
Lesser Redpoll - 2 NE

Vis pre-0930
Lesser Redpoll - 2
Meadow Pipit - 1
Linnet - 15
Goldfinch - 11
Swallow - 6

Grounded
Several mist nets just produced: 2 Willow Warbler (first female of year), 2 Chiffchaff, 2  Blackcap, 2 Wren (& one Dunnock, one Blackbird and a Jay).

Middleton NR
Whilst setting up the CES rides, a migrant Willow Warbler & male Sedge Warbler were trapped.  Also:
Grasshopper Warbler - one singing western marsh.  Targeters please stay out of the marsh - much easier to see from raised roads.  Also singing Common & Leser Whitethroat
Tufted Duck - 5 on model boat pond (3 males)

Insects
Large Red Damselfly Middleton NR central marsh (IOY)

Elsewhere
Male Dotterel still in field along Abbeystead Lane at 0745hrs SD550560 - still there 1100hrs, but mobile & flighty with the Golden Plover flock.
Lune valley whimbrel roost reached 29 birds (cf 10 2 days ago)

THURSDAY 22nd April: Good scoter count for here

Here is a camera-shot of the recent Chamomile Shark from the office trap plus a male Belted Beauty taken today at nearby Middleton saltmarsh where there are record numbers this year.  Please be very careful if you have large feet and poor close eyesight as it is easy to tread on them (which is why I stay away!). 

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall 0650-0930
Gannet - 28 out, 11 in
Razorbill - 2 in, 5 out
Auk spp - 3 in
Whimbrel - 7 in
Common Scoter - 131 out, 178 in - very little duplication
Red-throated Diver - 2 out, 1 in
Sandwich tern - 8 blogging
Guillemot - 1 out, 3 in
Arctic Tern - 14+8 in
Little Gull - one 2CY & 1 adult in (with the flock of 14 Arctic Tern)
Wheatear - 5 grounded
Jackdaw - one SE, then seen very high over reserve before heading SW
Swallow - 7
alba Wagtail - 2
Linnet - 2
Meadow Pipit - 23
Lesser Redpoll - 4 in
Turnstone - 173
Goldfinch - 8

Nature reserve office area
Ring Ouzel - female emerged from the dense willow clump next to the office calling (landed & roosted there during the night?), then flew on to the tank farm fence, thence to the far end of the tank farm (0730hrs)
Redstart - female on fences near the office for about 10 minutes
Tree Pipit - 2 NE together at 0740hrs
Jackdaw - see above
Swallow - 47 NE
Sand Martin - 4 NE
Linnet - 6 NE
Meadow Pipit - just 4 NE
Lesser Redpoll - 10 NE (4 ringed, first flock of 6 before nets set!)
Lesser Whitethroat - one singing intermittently
Willow Warbler - probably less than 5 migrants & all during the belated net setting bar one trapped
Dunnock - unringed bird trapped - unusual
Chaffinch - unringed female trapped - getting late, but unringed females a feature of April ringing here over the years
Tufted Duck - pair on Obs Tower pond = added to the BTO Business challenge - coming thick and fast now.

Ocean Edge
Just the one Wheatear in early morning visit
Common Whitethroat - one singing at the southern end of BE properties by the nature park

Aukfest and the survey from hell

North harbour wall 0705-0945
Auk spp - 141 with 105 in the first hour, all identifiable being Razorbill
Arctic Skua - dark morph landed on the sea
Gannet - 2
Sandwich Tern - 15
Sand Martin - 7
Swallow - 2
alba Wagtail - 4
Lesser Redpoll - heard x 1
Linnet - 4

Dog walk/nature park CBC
Dogs react to a clipboard in three ways: bark incessantly, snarl and growl or leap up at you thinking you are going to feed them.  21 dogs seen.
Tree Pipit - 1N
Meadow Pipit - 2N
Linnet - 2N
Goldfinch - 5N
Lesser Whitethroat - singing male by dog pond
a trickle of Willow warblers with 4 presumed singing migrants
Green Woodpecker heard

Early morning auks and a decent moth

An iconic blackberrying of a Chamomile Shark

Heysham Obs
The best has probably already been squeezed out of today's brisk north-westerly with the following, althought there is previous history of Kittiwake flocks moving with the tide, even in the afternoon, in these conditions:

North wall 0700-0830
Gannet - 7 in
Razorbill/Guillemot - 23 in, 3 out
Razorbill - 21 in
Guillemot - 1 in
Common Scoter - 4 out
Red-throated Diver - 1+2+3 in, gaining height
Sandwich Tern - 6 in
alba Wagtail - 4 in
Meadow Pipit - 2 in
Swallow - 3 in
Wheatear - one sandworks

Osprey
The first birding 'miss' due to temporarily being without a mobile as I could have intercepted this.  Flying towards Heysham from Rossall at 1100hrs.  Thanks for trying Ian.

Ocean Edge
No Wheatear 0720hrs

Moths
Included the first Chamomile Shark for yonks

All quiet ahead of the western front

Here are a couple of phone/scope pics taken by Mike Stocker yesterday when the bird visited the fences next to the nature reserve office. Thanks Mike.  It actually visited 3 10km squares, such is the configuration of these at Heysham!

Been a bit hit and miss for seawatching so far, but Sunday morning coming looks interesting for a bit of skua passage - keep an eye on Saturday if the weather system comes through a bit early.  Otherwise a couple of fairly useless looking north-westerly days coming up, followed by some calmish ringing/vis/a few seabirds (or getting on with early morning upland survey work!) weather on Thursday/Friday.  Saturday might be a passerine fall/useless strengthening southerlies/possible seawatching weather depending on timing 
Heysham Obs to 0900hrs
A line of rain out to the west stayed there forming a barrier across the bay and seemingly knocking most things on the head prior to 0900hrs.  No Wheatears in coastal check of Ocean Edge & north wall area.  Rain came in at 0910

North harbour wall
Sandwich Tern - 24 blogging
Gannet - 6
Swallow - 29 NE
Whimbrel - 1 S, 1 N
Greylag (as yesterday), one on sandworks
Red-breasted merganser - 6
Eider - 86
Great-crested grebe - 3
Linnet - 7 on the germinating nyger remains!

Webs early pm
Purple Sandpiper - definitely just the one left at the moment
Turnstone - 176
the rest stunningly undramatic apart from a female Mallard on Red Nab!

Post-rain Wheatear check
Ocean Edge - 7 after the rain, none before
North wall - one after the rain, none before

Marsh harrier
Some obtuse stuff on a local website which seems to indicate a female passed by over the sea mid-afternoon, but it may have been further to the north.  Presumably missed it travelling between sites on the Stone Jetty-Heysham WeBS

Reserve office area
Just single Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff & Blackcap ringed (& Greenfinch) prior to the rain and two Willow Warbler, single Blackcap, Greenfinch and Chaffinch after the rain

Hoopoe day

More pics to come - these are from Chris Piner & Tony Moriarty.  Thanks for these.

Heysham Obs
Cloud cover accompanying the poor vis - yippee....................

Hoopoe
Found by John Mason on the north harbour wall in the old sandworks.   Photographs later.  Later present on and off around the harbour area before flying over towards the nature reserve and being located by the office next to the mist nets ride.  Here it sat on fence posts and fed on the ground before heading off over the 'cream store' and thence north-east towards the traffic light at about 1235hrs

Reserve office area
3 male Redstart - these disappeared, but at lunchtime, these or three others were around the office area with one using the bird table as a perch!
30+ Willow Warbler around office (9 ringed)
2 x singing Sedge Warbler
singing Lesser Whitethroat
2 x Tree Pipit over (0902 & 1017hrs)
Lesser Redpoll - 17 NE
Goldfinch - 27 NE
Linnet - 5 NE
Swallow - 37 NE
Meadow Pipit - 26 NE
alba Wagtail - 3 NE

Middleton IE
singing male Grasshopper Warbler
singing male Lesser Whitethroat (afternoon)
yesterdays Sedge Warbler still singing
Greylag - two blogging late afternoon

North wall (vis from 0700-0920 then severely distracted by the Hoopoe. Virtually no movement until 8am when the mist began to lift)
Purple Sandpiper -one wooden jetty
Wheatear - 2-3
Linnet - 11 NE
Goldfinch 1
Meadow Pipit 14
Sparrowhawk 1 (very high and heading N)
Swallow 20

In the low tide channels:
Sandwich Tern 18
Great-crested Grebe 11
Red-breasted Merganser 9

On the skears:
Turnstone - 170
Whimbrel - 11
Eider - 97
Ocean Edge
Wheatear - 8