Black Guillemot and Arctic Skuas top a good bill

Very light SSW breeze early on moved to SW and became slightly fresher. Sunny till lunchtime then overcast for the rest of the day.

A few observers were seawatching (Jean, Doreen, Dan and Pete - apologies if I've missed anyone) summary by Pete:

Sea incoming tide Heysham: 

Common Scoter 85

Razorbill 25

Guillemot 174

Razorbill/Guillemot c30

Sandwich Tern 74

Black Guillemot 1 in summer plumage

Red throated diver 1, 

Arctic Skua 4 (but a Pomarine and 4 other Arctic Skuas seen off  Rossall didn’t come through)

One of two dark morph Arctic Skuas missed passing through Heysham, but seen 
and photographed by Dan Haywood from the Stone Jetty in Morecambe 

Whimbrel 3

Pink-Footed goose 138 (plus one Unidentified small goose)

Dark- bellied Brent 1

Immature Dark-bellied Brent - see below for high water location

Manx Shearwater 7

Goosander 2 (not common here)

Mediterranean  gull 1 second calendar year

242 Common Gull. Many of these floating in. 

Not a single Arctic Tern despite small flocks passing Rossall - puzzling - maybe the Lune is the new overland route!

Harbour Porpoise 1

Grey Seal 3

One of yesterday's Grey Seals "bottling"
Picture by Kevin

Janet spotted the Dark-bellied Brent goose out from Half Moon Bay an hour before high water. It then drifted towards Heysham Head and back again. The shot below is one of mine just to show the location (MD)

This is the rocky outcrop at the northern end of Half Moon Bay, you can just make out the Brent.
It drifted between here and the rocks out from the Head and back again till high water,
and probably beyond. The detail shot above was taken from the path along the cliffs.

A couple more shots from Kevin:

Whimbrel and Little Egret 

Redshank and Dunlin

Another record of a colour ringed Grey Wagtail received (see scheme details on side bar to right)

Thanks to Mike Pickwell for this record and picture 

Amazingly the first from perhaps the theoretically most likely breeding river to the north - the Kent!

AXH0491/Lime over metal/red over red

Ringed:  Middleton NR, nr Heysham as 1st winter bird    31/8/20

Seen=male River Kent SD487980, near Staveley, Cumbria  26/4/21   38km NNE

Swift arrive

The wind from NNE to east was quite cool early on. The sun warmed the day up.

Pete and Jean conducted a, relatively quiet, seawatch from the north harbour wall - report from Pete:

0650-0850:

40 Arctic tern three flocks, 

1 Common Tern, 

c20 Sandwich Tern, 

1 Mute Swan, 

2 Red Throated diver

3 Whimbrel and a few swallows.  

Three Grey Seal around

Heysham skear - low water 05:20

Eider c80 close in

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Sandwich Tern 2

Whimbrel 20+

Swallow 2

Common Snipe 1

No sign of the Dark-bellied Brent

Bar-Tailed Godwit 8 - these weren't actually on the skear, but feeding on the mud just south of it. They continued feeding until the tide pushed them onto the rocks. These three circled south, picked up five more birds before heading off north.

This is just a still from the video, the summer plumaged male looks quite impressive.

Swift 2 over Knowlys Rd 18:30 (first of the year) - ref Alan Physick 

Still plenty of interest over the sea.

Very light variable breeze again, from NE to west and back to NE again. Very warm in the almost constant sunshine.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from John:

Another very quiet ringing morning. Although three nets set before 6.30am, no new birds caught in the first two hours. Just two retrap warblers a Willow and a Sedge. 

The only other birds caught later were seven Lesser Redpolls, in two small groups.

Jean and Pete conducted a seawatch from the North wall, and the resulting tally looks impressive, but things weren't as hectic as yesterday.

Report from Pete:

Early morning seawatch heysham north wall: 

52 Sandwich Tern

8 Red Throated diver - Nick had more rtd than us (10 in and 3 out)

1 Arctic Skua

32 Whimbrel

175 Pinkfeet

1 distant Osprey

141 Common Scoter

3 Gannet

9 Guillemot

2 Razorbill

2 Razorbill/Guillemot 

5 Arctic Tern - The arctic terns we’re going up the Lune flightline this am - Ian Hartley had 60 odd in a short high tide seawatch from Cockersands.

5 Manx Shearwater 

13 Swallow and 1 House Martin over sea

Nick Godden also a lot of Bar-Tailed Godwit (130 north plus 25 on the shore) which may have been feeding north of Heysham Head - they are on the move nationally in big numbers and strong easterlies seem to be diverting them from the usual English Channel route 

Also:

1 Chiffchaff, 

1 Wheatear, 

1 Displaying Rock Pipit along wall 

Redpoll and Linnet overhead.

Pete also checked Red Nab and located 2 x 2nd calendar year Mediterranean gull 

Pictures of both Meds by Pete

Also on south shore:

Kevin took these three pictures:

Linnet with nest material 

Sandwich Tern

Two Whimbrel 

Grey Plover, there has been a couple hanging around the saltmarsh all winter, they are now well on the way to summer plumage.

Heysham skear - low water 17:00

Red-breasted Merganser 6

Eider 93 counted close in, there would have been more

Whimbrel 2

Teal 4 (2 male and 2 female preening before flying north)

Dark-bellied Brent goose - it was on the north side of the skear again 16:15. But further out, the same distance from shore as Conger rock (the largest rock of the skear located on the south side). It was still visible as I was making my way back at 17:00. No reason why it won't be there again tomorrow, but higher tides mean it will become increasingly difficult from the sea wall.

Just for the record - Dark-bellied Brent

Auk day!

Another almost breathless day with the gentle breeze making its way around the compass. The air was much warmer today so very warm in the sunshine.

Seawatch report from Pete:

Heysham north wall 0630-0830.  

Unidentified fest ie an auk day: 100 plus dots on sea/whirring wings in heat haze, 

125 identifiable as Razorbill or Guillemot, 

20 Guillemot

6 Razorbill

2 Arctic Skua (plus additional bird by Alan Physick) all dark morph

132 Sandwich Tern

3 singleton Arctic Tern (unusual)

8 Red-Throated Diver

71 Common Scoter

4 Gannet

1 Manx Shearwater

1 Harbour Porpoise

Later up to 0930, 

9 more Manx Shearwater 

1 Red-Throated diver

c6 Guillemot

1 Razorbill 

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Janet reported Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming here plus along the dog walk track. Plus these nice butterfly shots.

 Brimstone

Peacock

South shore

Wheatear 2

Rock Pipits 3 - one displaying on Red Nab, the ringed bird on the harbour wall near the lighthouse plus this feeding bird that was closer to the lighthouse - it still isn't clear of the status of the ringed male.

White Wagtail 1 - this male was feeding on the sloping wall next to the lighthouse 

Whimbrel 2 - one north plus this one resting on the sea wall

Heysham skear - low water 15:30

I went down a bit earlier in the tide cycle today, the water was still ebbing.

Dark-bellied Brent goose 1 - it was already feeding in the same location as yesterday. So presumably it had been there a while, and I fully expected to stay till moved on by rising tide. So possibly another show tomorrow? If so 90 minutes either side of low water (15:30 - 18:30 tomorrow). If you want to see detail of the bird, see yesterday's post. Today's pictures are to help show where it was. 

Close in on the north side of the skear,  so no chance of seeing it from the south side. Best place from the sea wall would be the fishing platform near to where the Grosvenor hotel used to be (Grosvenor Rd)

This is just before low water, the Brent is on the water in the middle of the image.

It then moved in to the NE corner of the skear, it's to the left of this image.
That's the Stone jetty top right.

Eider c50

Great Crested grebe 1

Red-breasted Merganser 6

Whimbrel 5

Dunlin c20 - I really enjoyed this, I was just walking off the inner skear, when I had to stop to allow a small troupe of Dunlin walk past. An interesting variation of plumages from winter towards summer.

Just occasionally, to me special occasions (MD), the beach sings. Not really a song, more like the white noise when you play a record and the music has stopped. It tends to happen on warm calm days, I think of it as the sound of life, millions of invisible bubbles popping, presumably oxygen from the algae and carbon dioxide from the tiny creatures. Today was such a day, the sound although not loud completely surrounds you. I wasn't sure If I could record it, and at one level I couldn't, this recording although conveying the sound, falls way short of conveying the sensation. Turn up the volume and try and imagine the sensation (there is nothing to see in this clip, it's just for the noise).

A good day - something for everyone to enjoy!

Very light east wind early on again switching to west by mid morning. Sunny for most of the day.

There was plenty of stuff moving over the sea, plus all 8 regular warblers are now around to be seen/heard.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Report from Alan:

Another frosty start, was this the last one ??

Very quiet ringing session with only nine new birds ringed.

Lesser Redpoll  2

Willow Warbler  3

Blackcap  2

Robin  1

Grasshopper Warbler   1 (first of the year)

Plenty of Willow Warblers singing around the reserve plus at least two Sedge Warblers. No Whitethroats heard this morning.

A single swallow fed over the reserve and then moved on.

Two sparrowhawks circled high towards the northwest.

6 Carrion Crows that came from the direction of Ocean Edge and flew northeast were possibly part of the flock that Pete saw grounded in that area.

Jean and Pete had a fruitful morning seawatch then quick check of the reserves. Report from Jean:

We watched the sea from 0715-0915. I was on Heysham Head, Pete at Ocean Edge

Sandwich Tern 246

Arctic Tern 31

Manx Shearwater 11

Gannet 1

Fulmar 1

Auk sp 5

Razorbill 1

Guillemot 2 floating out

Common Scoter 11 (7 and 4)

Red-throated Diver 2 out

Whimbrel 8 on Red Nab plus 2 others flying past

Vis

Linnet 33

Lesser Redpoll heard 6 times

Meadow Pipit 2

Tree Pipit 1 (Ocean Edge)

Carrion Crow 28 on the shore and 5 flew inland.

Heysham NR

Grasshopper Warbler reeling 

Lesser Whitethroat singing (first of the year)

Middleton NR

Reed Warbler 1 (first of the year)

Ocean Edge 

Rock Pipit displaying

Heysham Head foreshore - mid morning (MD)

I just went down to see how the Rock pipits were doing, most of the sea passage stuff was beyond my range, but I did see several of the Sandwich tern.

Whimbrel 10 (these almost certainly additional birds to Pete and Jeans)

Whimbrel

Rock Pipits - there were at least two solitary birds "standing guard" between Half Moon Bay and the high cliffs.

This is the "I'm on guard" pose. This is the high cliffs bird.
The implication being there are two nesting territories along this stretch.
With, possibly, a female on the nest.

There were a pair just below the northern point of the Head. The male was very agitated and noisy (including displaying) at my approach, meanwhile the other bird was looking for food, hopefully for some nestling chicks, in what would be a third territory.

This one, is stalking a Whimbrel, I initially thought it was the male "seeing it off", and it may well be, but it is also taking advantage to eat the invertebrates disturbed by the Whimbrel.

It could be busy this year, if all three territories result in chicks!

Heysham skear - low water 15:00

Eider not counted but at least 50

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Wigeon 2 (male and female, presumably off passage)

Whimbrel 4

Dark-bellied Brent goose 1

This immature bird was feeding on, the now plentiful, weed on the north side of the skear

Sandwich Tern 10 - popular slabs appears to be a recurrent theme at the moment, most were resting on this one. Sometimes you see a male bring the female a fish, I got the impression that this returning bird is being told to go and do just that!

There are reports of further tern movement this evening, involving over 100 birds. But it isn't clear yet what species. This post will be updated when more details become available.

Manx Shearwater

A much cooler NE breeze first thing, moving due east by evening. Mainly overcast with a few sunny spells.

Jean made a valiant effort from Heysham Head, but there was nothing over the sea and not much moving overhead. Still she managed the following in 50 minutes.

Linnet 14

Redpoll 1

Siskin 1

North shore

An evening check by Nick Godden (18:15 - 19:15) located

Manx Shearwater 2 (first of the year)

Sandwich Tern 30

South Shore

Bar-Tailed Godwit flock of 3 heading in to the bay.

Nothing at all heard overhead, but there were 5 Wheatear grounded

These two males were near the lighthouse (I do like pictures of land birds
with the sea as a backdrop - you can see it's much choppier today (MD))

Rock Pipit 2 - the ringed male was standing guard at the nest site near lighthouse. 1 on Red Nab, possibly same bird as one displaying along the sea wall.

Linnet 2 on Red Nab eating dandelion seeds

There were c150 Turnstone on the rocks near No.1 outflow. This slab was particularly popular, they appear to be prising off small barnacles. There is quite a plumage range between winter and summer plumage.

Whimbrel 3 - two singles flying in plus one calling on Red Nab

Middleton Nature Reserve - afternoon 

Swallow 1 having a drink from the main pond.

Little grebe 1 on Tim Butler pond, they bred here last year

Common Whitethroat 2 - I'd bumped into Kevin earlier and he commented that we hadn't heard a Whitethroat yet. Later, on independent checks, we both heard them. This one was near Tim Butler pond - not quite full throttle yet.

welcome back

Redpolls and Redstart

Hardly any early morning breeze again. What there was came from the north. Early morning sea mist didn't clear till the breeze moved to west and freshened. Overcast for most of the day with some hazy sunshine.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Report from Alan:

Ringing this morning produced:

Blackbird  1

Cetti's Warbler  1 retrap

Sedge Warbler  1 + 2 retrap

Lesser Redpoll   21  (12 caught together)

Willow Warbler   8 +  3 retrap

Blackcap  3

Wren   1 + 1 retrap

Long tailed Tit  1

11 Swallows seen moving north through the reserve.

Three Greylag Geese and two Canada Geese commuting noisily back and forth between the various water bodies.

North Shore

The early morning sea mist significantly reduced the viewing range

The buoys out from the north wall were just visible
(There are actually 4 Sandwich Tern resting on the buoy and another flying over)

There was no sign of any Arctic Terns again this morning, but the calls from Sandwich Terns were almost constant, occasionally drifting into view and flying in both directions so very hard to estimate the actual number passing through. Eight was the most I saw at once, but overall there seemed to be fewer than yesterday.

Swallow 2 singles flying north low along the water line.

Redstart 1 male in garden near the horse paddocks/sunny slopes (thanks to Dominic for this one)

South Shore

Wheatear 4 on Ocean Edge foreshore

A slightly unusual, albeit unmistakable, shot of two of theWheatears

Rock Pipit 1 displaying on Red Nab, no sign of the lighthouse birds

Still plenty of Sandwich passing through

Again, almost breathless early on, eventually it freshened slightly from the west. Hazy first thing then largely sunny.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Jean:

A bit better for ringing today:
Lesser Redpoll 11
Willow Warbler 7 new and a returning bird from last year (There were at least 20 migrant Willow warbler around first thing)
Chiffchaff 1
Sedge Warbler 1 retrap
Blackcap 1

Vis:
2 Canada Geese flew east, probably the same 2 that came in-off.
Just 2 Meadow Pipits heard overhead
A few Swallows heard at 10:45

A short early afternoon walk located, in order of abundance:

Warblers

Willow warbler several

Blackcap 3 - 4

Chiffchaff 3 - 4

Sedge warbler 1

No Cetti's heard this afternoon 

This Common Buzzard drifted in from the NW, but was quickly chased off
by the Carrion Crows.

Butterflies:

Peacock several

Small Tortoiseshell several 

Speckled Wood at least 6

Orange Tip one each, male and female

Brimstone 1 male

Comma 1

This Mallard on the "no swimming" pond has just hatched 11 chicks. Last year's female had 9 and did very well fledging them all, particularly as she was constantly chased from one pond to the other by the breeding mute. Today at least, the mute were ignoring her and her chicks, and they were spread right across the pond. As with most large families, there is always one tearaway!

North shore

Pete checked the distant channels from the north wall 07:55 - 08:30. Leaving me to check the inshore stuff from my walk along the water line 07:20 - 09:45 (MD)

No Arctic Tern seen

Red-Throated Diver 3 drifting out with the tide

Guillemot 2 feeding

Canada Goose 2 came in off and flew over the mud towards Half Moon Bay cafe 07:45 - presumably the same two subsequently seen flying over Middleton Nature Reserve. 5 more flew south 08:45

The two Canada geese flying over the mud heading towards Middleton 

Greylag goose 1 flying south 08:40

Greylag goose

Sandwich Tern - c35 at Kent channel and beyond range. Closer in it was difficult as many were feeding and resting as well as moving through, but at least 30 birds involved. So c65 total.

This one has caught a fish

This is one third of a second later - one gulp and it's down!

This is a second  calendar year bird showing its worn tail feathers

Several birds had a rest on the mud, I think at least one of these two was thinking about "starting a family".

Marsh Harrier over and Middleton Barn Owl confirmed

Again the very slight breeze started from south before freshening slightly and drifting round to the west. Some hazy sunshine, but mainly overcast

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Alan:

After John's five bird ringing session yesterday, I managed five again today, plus three retraps. A poor catch considering my nets were set from just after 05.30.  What air movement there was came from the south, not a good direction for here - SE to E is much better in spring.

Lesser Redpoll  4

Blackcap  1

Three Swallows moving north were the only migrants noted.  The highlight was a Barn Owl hunting over the northend of the western and central marshes between around 10.00 and 10.15 

North shore

Marsh Harrier 1 high heading north - seen by Pete

Report from Pete Crooks:

Heysham Head (7.50 – 9.20 am) 

 c.210 Eider

8 Red-breasted Merganser

4 Great Crested Grebe

15 Sandwich Tern 

2 Grey Seal, but no offshore seabird movement on the falling tide. 

2 Tree Pipit flew overhead together calling (first record of the year for here)

I also checked from the water line and resulted in a similar count of Sandwich Terns (13 between 08:15 and 09:00 with a later 3 at 10:10(MD))

I managed a slightly better feeding sequence, but it left empty billed on this occasion 

This one is calling, a surprisingly small opening for so much noise!

Early Arctic Tern surge

Almost breathless again early on, the west breeze freshened slightly during the day. Mainly sunny.

North shore - low water 09:30

Pete and Jean had a good seawatch in the last couple hours of the ebbing tide. 07:40 - 09:20

Report from Jean:

Sandwich Tern 42

Arctic Tern 356 in seven flocks

Whimbrel 2 (first records this year)

Common Scoter 5 in 

Little Gull 1 adult

Meadow Pipit 8

Redpoll 6 heard spread throughout the morning but this means there was anything between 12 and 24 of them at least

Linnet 8

Carrion Crow 4

Willow warbler 2 near gate 38

In the low tide channel:

Eider 245

Great Crested Grebe 6

Red-breasted Merganser 13

On the sandbanks:

Herring Gull 600

Lesser Black-backed Gull 150

Black-headed Gull - I didn't count but 100+

The tern movement stopped when it got to low water.......

........which is a shame, because that's when I started (MD). Yesterday I couldn't quite make out the detail of the terns from the lighthouse. I either needed better optics, or to get closer. I went closer, today I walked along the north shore waterline.

Nothing was going through, but there were still c15 Sandwich Tern hanging around and feeding. They were using the buoys out from the north wall as a resting point:

By this time the tide was making and a mist rolled in with it. It made it very difficult to focus on the pale terns against a light background. This is the best I managed of one feeding:

At least today I was close enough to make out the detail

They hung around till 10:40 then they all drifted off. Another 2 flew in at 11:15.

Orange Tip 1 male (another emerging butterfly) - seen in garden on way back.

South shore

A walk along the sea wall late afternoon.

Wheatear 1 Red Nab

Rock Pipits 5

2 on Red Nab one displaying.

Three near the lighthouse. Goings on here are more complicated than a Coronation Street plot (what's that Elsie Tanner like!). But at least the ringed bird helps to make some sense of things. In this clip the bird "cowering" in the middle must be the female. The second bird seems to be either displaying or begging (perhaps there's no difference) to her. A third bird (stills reveal it to be the ringed male) then chases the other bird off. The female follows the ringed bird and they both resume feeding. 

The vanquished bird stood on the wall near the lighthouse for a while, then moved to the mid point between lighthouse and waterfall. Things are pointing to the ringed male being the lighthouse territory bird.

This grey seal was on the north shore this morning, drifting past the buoys with the tide, apparently fast asleep. This was 11:15, it was still visible near the green marker at 11:45. This is a well known seal "activity", it's known as "bottling", you can see why.