Mega - pigeon in-off

Heysham Obs
Few Arctic Terns made it from the Home Counties to Heysham and the title sums up the seawatching today from the North Harbour Wall.  Two watches were done, one early morning (0630 to 0800hrs) and one on the incoming tide (1120 to 1340hrs).  Visibility was excellent throughout, skies were clear early morning but cloudier late morning and the wind was NNE F3 then 2:

Arctic Tern - 13 (2 early morning and 11 on the incoming tide)
Sandwich Tern - 8
Red-throated Diver - 4 in
Pigeon - 1

Vis:
Swallow - 16

On the skears:
Whimbrel - 6
Turnstone - 88
Dunlin - 12

Elsewhere 
Dotterel still at Abbeystead Lane - sorry this should have referred to YESTERDAY lunchtime (2nd)

Masochistic Marsh Harrier

ARCTIC TERN ALERT
From the Lee Evans summary for today (see Links for UK400)
"The Home Counties have had a good day passage-wise with huge numbers of ARCTIC TERNS displaced, several BLACK TERNS, a few LITTLE TERNS and the odd SANDWICH TERN, along with OSPREYS and MARSH HARRIERS". 

For here: Maybe tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday - is tomorrow morning too early - will the wind change direction too soon???

Heysham Obs
The early morning seawatching was rubbish - too northerly, not enough easterly, and too strong.  The late morning seawatching on the incoming tide was no better with one exception

North harbour wall 0630-0930
A great morning for a lie-in with comments from the early morning seawatchers limited to "a few Swift & blogging Sandwich Tern"

North harbour wall 1046-1146
Marsh Harrier - female/imm battling north low over the water surface with an entourage of gulls 1110-1115hrs, seeming to be being forced further towards the centre of the bay.  Why on earth wasnt it migrating over land, unless forced offshore to the south of here by the Middleton IE nesting large gulls?   A dark-chocolate individual with some yellow on the head & leading edge of the wing
Sandwich Tern - 1
Turnstone - c110

Mammals
A large Grey Seal

Elsewhere
Two Dotterel Abbeystead Lane early morning only - not visible lunchtime, but there is 'dead' ground here to conceal birds....public domain updates from this site have been rather thin on the ground this last two days

Typical bits and bobs at a local patch

Heysham Obs
Vis mig/seawatching/miscellany during the light winds 0630-0930
Gannet - 3 in
Whimbrel - 4 in
Sandwich tern - 12 blogging
Common Scoter - 5 in
Red-throated Diver - 2 in, one floating in mid pm
Arctic tern - 1+7+2 in
House Martin - 1
Swallow - 48
Meadow Pipit - 4 late migrants
alba Wagtail - 1
Linnet - 6
Goldfinch - 2
Lesser Redpoll - 4
Turnstone - 118 on the rocks
Greylag - 4 on Middleton IE flying about between ponds
Grasshopper Warbler - at least 6 on Middleton but singing quite intermittently
Whinchat - 2 males early morning at Middleton IE, one in the BE 'finger' of land, putting it on the business challenge list!
Little Egret - one flew east to the souh of Middleton IE
Goosander - in keeping with the theme of odd sightings of strictly local interest, two males flew out of the bay during a very short seawatch to see if the early stages of the NE wind was producing anything
Arctic Skua - bearing in mind a great swathe of the incoming tide was un-watched at Heysham, it is not surprising we missed the two dark-morph Arctic Skua seen at JB Point at c1500hrs

Ringing by the office/Middleton
Seven Bullfinches were a major surprise, especially as three of these (2 x 2CY male & one 2CY female) were unringed.  Other birds included 3 unringed Lesser Whitethroat and a couple of Willow Warbler.   Middleton ringing was highlighted by a Moorhen, a Sedge Warbler ringed elsewhere and a top shelf Mallard which escaped

Mammals
Grey Seal off the north wall

Moths
Common Wave new for the year

Elsewhere
2 Dotterel Abbeystead Lane first thing at least.  Bearing in mind the 15 Dotterel on Ward's Stone on at least 23/4, it was interesting to note that 15 were on Ingleborough this morning - the next 'mountain-hop' to the north-east

A few Cumbrian-range seabirds, a Swift and a Flame Shoulder

Heysham Obs
Pretty dire this morning so far in a 'nothing' southwesterly and high fluffy clouds, unlike the more promising sharp rain showers inland at High Tatham.

North wall 0800-1030
Arctic Skua - dark morph in at 0915hrs
Sandwich Tern - 2 out
Gannet - 4 out
Common Scoter - flock of 6 in
Common Gull - 61 blogging
Black-headed Gull - 23 blogging
Swift - first of the year in
Swallow - 3 in

Moths in the hut trap
Pretty decent catch, as usual in lightish westerly winds, including the first Flame Shoulder of the year, a late Shoulder Stripe, yet another Herald and a good total of 10 Powdered Quaker

Elsewhere
Two female Dotterel at Abbeystead Lane until flushed by birder(s) at 0720hrs.  Please stay in your car until you have assessed the range of the flock - the range of the Golden Plovers being as/more important than the 'target'.

Hard work for marginal reward

Here is a spring 2010-ringed Heysham Twite on the sunny Mull of Kintyre at Machrihanish Seabird Observatory last week, along with several other Heysham-ringed birds.  They will either remain in that area or disperse over the nearby inner Hebrides or coastal mainland Scotland if previous ringing recoveries are anything to go by.  Thanks to Eddie Maguire for this pic (see website on Links)

Heysham Obs
Middleton IE CES
Spoilt by being a little windy during the last hour of the three but a few Sedge Warblers, two Reed Bunting and a Whitethroat & Wren were caught
Greylag Goose - pair blogging - the only thing of note other than the obvious residents which included Grasshopper Warbler

North wall all day (thanks Sean)
Arctic Skua - 2 (morphs not known - reported to Sean whilst he was surveying elsewhere)
Gannet - c6
Common Scoter - 2
Red-throated Diver - 1
Turnstone - 200
Whimbrel - 5
Wheatear - 1
Swallow - 2!
Linnet - 6

Elsewhere
Two female Dotterel on Abbeystead Lane with the Golden Plover flock today after none yesterday (despite the full quota of GPs).  Therefore 5 individuals presumed to be involved in sightings there this last week

0800ish flurry on sea, then dead

Today's Streamer - thanks Reuben

Heysham Obs
Not a lot happening other than a group of 3 Arctic Skua.
 
North wall (0615-1030hrs) High tide = 1248hrs
SSE F4/3 overcast. Rain shower at 0620hrs.  Visibility good to start with then becoming hazy.

Arctic Skua - 3 (2 light and 1 dark morph).  Seen distantly at 0700hrs floating in.  They ended up on a sandbank, then got pushed off by the tide at 0800hrs when they flew into the Bay.)
Gannet - 2 out, 4 in
Kittiwake - 16 floated in then flew up high at 0710hrs
Sandwich Tern - 12
Great Crested Grebe - 3 in
Red-breasted Merganser - 2 in
Sanderling - 4 out
Whimbrel - 7+24 out
Wheatear - 4 plus one in-off
Sandwich Tern - 3 blogging
Sparrowhawk - one 'in-off'
Knot - 200 north
Turnstone - 170
Swallow - 57 N
Sand Martin - 1
Goldfinch - 5 N
Linnet - 1N
alba wagtail - 4 N, two White Wagtail on beach
Meadow Pipit - 2
Pink-footed Goose - 8+1
Common Scoter - 17 out
absolutely nothing seabird wise 0900-1030

Ocean Edge foreshore
Common Sandpiper - 1
Whimbrel - 1

Moths & butterfly
Streamer was a good record - the first since 2004 & only about 4 in total.  Pebble Prominent was also new for the year.  A Peacock butterfly was seen heading NE along the north harbour wall - this is probably a new 10km square record (SD36)!

Wheatears
A lot of postings about 'Greenland' Wheatears on various sites over the last week or so.  The reason they havn't been mentioned here is that there have only been two candidates out of what has been a  rather late passage of (especially female) Wheatears.  We had about 30 Wheatears during survey work on moorland on western Northumbria yesterday and these were 'British-sized' birds still in 'loose flock', but (with one exception) not territorial mode.  Maybe some of these are Scandinavian birds, or even still Scottish or northern English birds?

Elsewhere
Secondhand, but evidently reliable, report of 15 Dotterel on Ward's Stone on 23rd April - report from keeper that they have been around since 15th April

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