Warm sector scraps

Nowt yesterday other than 130 Eider in low tide channel

Spent about 30 minutes this morning in absolutely superb haze free visibility trying to see Brent Geese at Rampside!!   Just too far away, but there was nothing to look at in between Heysham and the Furness coast - absolutely dead bar one Eider flying out, despite a strong incoming tidal flow

Middleton
Grasshopper Warbler - singleton giving a few bursts of song
Lesser Whitethroat - ditto
Cetti's Warbler - two possibly three singing males
Teal - two pairs still

Heysham NR
Sedge warbler singing by office for a short time

Absolutely zero hirundine passage contra elsewhere eg over the sea

Zero yet again on Wheatear which have been incredibly scarce after an early flurry

Brown House Moth in the moth trap along with Early Grey and Early Thorn

Fulmar on the year list

Probably about an hour in total watching the sea during the early stages of the incoming tide but about a third was during poor visibility

Gannet - one in, 14 out
Fulmar - one out

One Gannet

One distant Gannet in 30 minutes

Middleton NR (Malcolm)
Cetti's warbler(s) singing:
Fence pond/central marsh - 1 burst
NE corner of central marsh - 3 bursts
NW corner of "no swimming" pond - 1 burst.
Unfortunately, I never heard two at the same time, but I suspect more than one bird was involved.
2 Tufted
6 Gadwall
2 Teal

Gannet duo

A couple of adult gannet and a single red throated diver from about an hours incoming tide seawatching this am.

Six little egret best of the rest!

OSPREY ne across the se corner of the recording area about 1208 yesterday

Migration still low key

Heysham NR
Vis 06:15 - 10:00
Meadow Pipit 26
Alba Wagtail 3
Lesser Redpoll 12
Carrion Crow 3

Seen from the North Harbour Wall
Knot 1000  flew from the skears towards Middleton
Turnstone - at least 150 on the wooden jetty
Dunlin 160
Common Gull 39
Bar-tailed Godwit 5
Little Egret 5

Middleton NR
Little change here. Willow,Warblers and Chiffchaffs singing, a single Blackcap, Cetti's Warbler in NE  corner of central marsh. No other types of warbler yet.
Pools:
Tufted Duck 2
Teal 2
Mute Swan 3 pairs
Little Grebe 1
Buzzard soaring to east.

JR

Swallows

Early WeBs count saw two distant Sandwich Tern and a Swallow heading north.  Records elsewhere suggest a significant coastal (but not up the Lune) Lesser Redpoll passage from first light and about 10 were caught later on in the morning Heysham/Middleton

Other than the redpoll, vis mig was very slow or high with occasional pulses of Meadow Pipit including a flock of 16 mid morning

6 Little Egret Red Nab!

The door remains closed

This comment certainly seems to apply to migrant birds at the moment but it is also embarrassing when, on a whistle stop visit to see if anyone was in (so could check the moth trap), you have to refuse a regular visitor access to the toilet.......because the door to the new office remained firmly locked all day and you do not possess a key.  They have only been issued to paid staff.  

Red Nab
Little Egret - 5
Meadow Pipit - 4 NE
alba Wagtail - 8 grounded (all Pied)

Offshore
A survey vessel plonked in the outer Kent channel area appeared to have two birders aloft - hope we get the seawatching data!
Red-throated Diver - 1 out

Very quiet

Heysham NR
Apart from a couple of early morning Willow Warblers there was not much in the way of grounded or visible migrants.
Just 3 Meadow Pipits and 2 Pied Wagtails over in 3 hours.

No moths in the super new mothroom.

Hoping for a big improvement on Saturday when the winds are southerly.

Tuesday: one decent bird but a repeat for the year!

Iceland Gull - Middayish: 2CY flew from the WSW (but didn't see how far away it came on that line) and joined a gang on they seaward end of Heysham Two outfalls for 10 minutes or so before flying purposefully north west-ish in the direction of Roa Island causeway

Meadow Pipit - 5 north in 30 minutes
Little Egret - 3 Red Nab/outfalls area  

The early bird .....

Middleton NR

The early bird (Malcolm) caught the worms today with a fall of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaff. By 08:10 when I arrived there were only two Willow Warblers and two Chiffchaffs  singing.

Model Boat Pond
Mute Swan - 1pr
Teal - 1pr
Gadwall - 2prs

No Swimming Pond
Nowt

Tim Butler Pond
Mute Swan - 1

Cetti's Warbler - 2 singing, one in central marsh, other north of NS Pond (NB 2 birds heard on 1 April).

Sparrowhawk hunting over the rough ground in the north.

2 Meadow Pipits and a Lesser Redpoll over.

LATE NEWS
2 April - Fox in the new scrapes area.

Hoping to catch up with the Willow Warblers, I went round Heysham NR
Willow Warbler - 1 called from the willows on the northern edge of the reedbed
Chiffchaff - 3 singing and 1 calling.

JR