Overlanding skuas

Heysham Obs
Seawatching/vis
Bits and bobs of seawatching during the day comprising about 4.5 hours between 0900 and 1700 by three observers. A bit slow.

Arctic Skua: single dark morphs in at 1245 and 1445 and a flock of three (2 dark one light) watched from Jenny Brown's Point flying up the Bay after Hey observations had ceased (c1800hrs). These then spiralled high into the sky and headed overland. In addition, two distant all-dark birds wheeling 'in' during the morning were probably skuas.

Aythya spp: female 'out' was not seen until only rear views were available but was narrowed down to Tufted or Scaup
Manx Shearwater: 2 in
Common Tern: 4 seen (first of the year)
Arctic Tern: just 2 seen
Sandwich Tern: probably no more than 35 seen but difficult to be sure
Gannet: 24 in during the morning
Kittiwake: Flocks of 30 + 10
Whimbrel: 8 out
Swallow: 45 north
Goldfinch: 6 north
Meadow Pipit: 3 north
Grey Wagtail: one "in-off" - very late for migrants

Misc
Shag: Up to 4 juvs around
Little Gull: Ad still around in the morning

Grounded
19 Wheatear and two White Wagtail. "Quite a few" Willow Warbler around in the morning but ringing hampered by wind and only 4 trapped along with a 'new' Blackcap. In common with Walney, this has been a record spring for Blackcap so far.

Mammals
A tiny deer spp crossed the road at the reserve entrance late afternoon - it was not seen very well but could, I suppose, have been a Muntjac. Nothing however is being claimed at this stage. Please keep an eye open and look for tracks. Thanks

Elsewhere
Male Garganey at Pine Lake this morning. Nothing new of interest on the LDBWS postings although the two Ad Med Gulls continue to be seen at Leighton Moss

Reasonable, but what was missed from first light to 0915hrs!

*Please note the LDBWS meeting next Monday is at HORNBY INSTITUTE

Heysham Obs
What a pity that the best migration morning of the spring so far was only "picked up" by one observer from 0915-1115 [and he should have been working!]. An unfortunate combination of key observer's cars being serviced, being out of the area.........or on fixed working hours! The same workshy observer returned 1515-1645.

Sea/vis 0940-1040
This was done from the car with telescope fastened to the window, therefore some 'call-based' vis could have easily been missed:
LONG-TAILED DUCK - adult male in winter plumage flew into the Bay at c1000hrs and is probably on the sea in a low tide channel as I type this. Could not find it on a 'trawl' along the prom mid-afternoon.
Common Scoter - flock of 6 in
Gannet - 10+7+2+1 in (then all out on the 'far side')
Arctic Skua - dark morph in rather distanrly at 0942ish
Arctic Tern - flock of 4 in (how many earlier on?)
Sandwich Tern - c25 - 23 in & 2 blogging
Whimbrel - flock of 7 in
Swallow - 106 north

Sea/vis (phase 2!) 1515-1645hrs
Arctic Skua - dark morph was sitting on the sea next to the yellow buoys on arrival at 1515. It was then mobbed by two passing Sandwich Tern, flew for a short distance then landed on ther sea, floating into the bay on the increasingly speedy incoming tide.
Arctic Tern - the first two decent flocks of 45+40 were already gaining height as they passed the north wall
Sandwich Tern - the maximum count of several pans of the whole sea area from the NHW was c150 at c1615hrs. Most were 'blogging' but numbers increased until about 1620hrs, then most slowly drifted out
Red-throated Diver - 1+3 floating in
Swallow - just 5 north

Interestingly, I had no watch on and the best way of timing the sightings was to check Barrow Town Hall clock as there was no heat or any other haze whatsoever!

Middleton IE
Grasshopper Warbler - 2, possibly 3 singing males (stay on the concrete roads if you are visiting, please)
Sedge Warbler - 3 singing males
Garganey - pair on the central marsh pond unfortunately flushed but appeared to land on the Tim Butler pond in the NE corner.
Willow Warbler - c30 migrants in the bushes
Whinchat - 4 along the entrance road - well spread out

Other grounded birds
Wheatear - 41 grounded birds found in the usual coastal circuit
White Wagtail - 5 on Ocean Edge football pitch and two on the grass near Red Nab
Common Whitethroat - singing male near Ocean Edge

Misc
Ad Little Gull still around Stage 2 outfall (why?)
Shag - at least two around

Mammals
One Harbour Porpoise close inshore and two beasties together much further out fitted this species

Elsewhere
Similar spread to Heysham of the more 'obvious' migrants located at Aldcliffe viz: 5 Whinchat and 23 Wheatear. The pair of Garganey at Middleton were much warier than the Aldcliffe Marsh birds and this was duly confirmed via a pager message indicating the Aldcliffe Garganey were still present. The first Garden Warbler reported this year (from Scorton). JBP late afternoon observations only produced a small 'flock' of Kittiwake - observers were puzzled why they could not see at least the Sandwich Terns i.e. deception caused by crystal clear visibility making the likes of the wooden jetty look much closer (and perhaps larger) than it really was. Rather severe flooding of the Lune valley will unfortunately have destroyed all shingle nests and flooded quite a few Sand Martin holes (water max. c1ft from top of bank at Gressingham colony). 63 Common Toad on the road between Wray and High Tatham 0002-0010hrs!

Very little migration yet again.....although no-one here early morning

Heysham Obs
Inshore
Purple Sandpiper first summer below wooden jetty
Sandwich Tern - 6
Little Gull - usual ad
Shag - at least one

Vis mig
Rubbish: c1.5hrs on seawall
Swallow - 9
alba wagtail 1

Sea
Even worse:
Eider 3m 1f 'in'
Shelduck 2 'out'
flock of 3 Ringed Plover and one Sanderling out mid-afternoon

Grounded
No early morning visit but just one Wheatear located 'on the rounds' and no obvious arrivals based on singing birds. However, the first Sedge Warbler 'for the Heysham area' was singing at Heysham Moss along with a Grasshopper Warbler

Elsewhere (LDBWS recording area)
Summary of Bittern and Marsh Harrier situation at Leighton Moss on LDBWS website

More useless winds from due south

Heysham Obs
As was also the case at Leighton Moss (see LDBWS site trip report), this was a really disappointing day for migrants and the key, at Heysham at least, is the long-standing trend of winds from the due south producing few birds. This was despite the 'perfect' intermittent drizzle.

Grounded
Two year ticks which were a product of good coverage - Whinchat on Middleton IE early morning and a singing Common Whitethroat by Half-moon Bay car park. No Wheatear on the usual circuit, but most of it post-dogs! Lesser Whitethroat singing males on BE property alone numbered at least 6.

Inshore
Elusive 1st S Med Gull, usual Ad Little Gull (why has it not gone?), at least 4 juvenile Shag, 2 Sandwich Tern (afternoon)

Vis Mig
Vis on the north harbour wall for 3 hours (= work!) produced a nice simple piece of mathematics with Swallow (3), Meadow Pipi (3) and alba Wagtail (3). Less easy were Linnet (2) and Siskin (heard but not seen). More exciting was a Greylag flying 'in-off', perhaps one of those subsequently on Middleton

Middleton IE
3 Greylag, 7 Tufted Duck, and 3 Grasshopper Warbler. Two of these were singing males - please watch from the raised concrete roads.

Elsewhere
Nothing new of any interest other than another Whinchat at Sunderland and 6 Swift at Hornby

Very little happening

Visible migration

Pink-footed goose c100 NW + 10 South
Swallow 12
Meadow pipit 3 + 1 south
Goldfinch 4 south
Linnet 6

Shag 4 juv harbour area
Little gull adult outfalls
Mediterranean gull 1st s wooden jetty area
Bar-tailed godwit below NHW
Red-breasted merganser 'in'
Wheatear 1 NHW + 2 Ocean Edge
Raven 2 over Middleton Ind. Est.
Grasshopper warbler in bushes at Red Nab 0630 hrs

No sign Caspian gull this morning

Major surprise at Middleton

Heysham Obs
Middleton IE
A late afternoon visit saw a 1st W/S Caspian Gull, probably female bathing, preening, swimming, flying (etc) on the Model Boat pond with other large gulls. It showed all the requisite features with the slight worry about overall size probably indicating it was a female. It flew towards the outfalls/Red Nab after ten minutes and could not be found as all the large gulls were quite a distance off shore in poor light courtesy of raptorial gull-scaring activities around the power station

Four Common Sandpiper were also on the Model Boat pond [=5 for the day, a spring record!]. 3 Snipe lingering.

Two singing male Grasshopper Warbler - please observe these birds ONLY from the concrete roads. Thanks

The rest of the day was a bit of a disappointment

Grounded/ringing
Wheatear - At least 15
Redstart - 2 males (one ringed)
Willow Warbler - disappointing with just 4 ringed
Blackcap - 3 ringed
Lesser Whitethroat - absolute minimum of 7 singing males in the Obs recording area. An odd feature of this week has been listening to this species daily without any Common Whitethroat

Vis mig 0815-1115 mainly from the north harbour wall
Pink-footed Goose - two late flocks of 65 and 19 north
Collared Dove - 1 north
Cormorant - one high to the north
Goldfinch - 1 north
Linnet - 7 north
Meadow Pipit - 62 north
Swallow - 37 north
Siskin - 1 north

Sea passage
Just three Arctic Tern (first of the year) north together early morning
2 Sandwich Tern early morning
ZERO on the early incoming tide

Inshore
Common Sandpiper - first of the year on the rocks by the harbour
Shag - 5 juveniles
Med Gull - 1st S by the north wall first thing - female bill structure rules out the return of the wintering bird
Little Gull - adult by Stage 2 outfall late afternoon - presumably the long-stayer

Elsewhere
Osprey over Jenny Brown's Point mid-afternoon.

Other
Please note that the email address for Jean Roberts has now been corrected.

A few decent seabirds including first Manx Shearwater of the year

Heysham Obs
Lengthy coverage of the sea today but starting not quite as early as perhaps we should, despite the low early morning tide. Having just read the recently set-up Walney site: http://walneybo.blogspot.com
.........the absence of an earlier seawatch cost us quite a few sightings. If and when the spring seawatching really gets going, comparison with the Walney site, any seawatching data on the Fylde site and the Solway skua data should be interesting. (For the latter see www.trektellen.nl , click on English in the top right corner and then Great Britain along the top and then choose Bowness on Solway from the list).

Seawatching
1000-1530
VELVET SCOTER - 2 males flying out at 1323hrs
Manx Shearwater - At least 6, possibly 8 seen - the first of the year
Gannet - adult
Common Scoter - flock of 6
Red-throated Diver - c15 sightings but possibly only 10 or so individuals - included a flock of 5 'in'
Skua spp - one flew into the Bay, gaining height, in the early morning. It was considered to be a light morph Pomarine but will have to remain as a 'spp'.

Inshore
1st S Med Gull and adult Little Gull. 5 juvenile Shag. 88 Turnstone on the wooden jetty at high tide (but no Purple Sandpiper)

Vis
Just one Swallow north during the coverage from the north harbour wall!

Grounded
Nothing obvious

Mammals
Distant Harbour Porpoise late morning

Elsewhere
The pair of Garganey still at Aldcliffe - back on the YW Darter pond this evening. Red Kite Langden area

A useless 'nice sunny day'

Heysham Obs
Vis mig
Just about the only sign of any migratory life was a small Swallow and Meadow Pipit passage of about 11 per hour for the first two hours (0800-1000) and, in the case of Swallow, impressions of a similar rate for the next two hours. Two Goldfinch flew north

Grounded
The ringers had a sensible day off and the only definite grounded migrant was a Wheatear on the mound.

Sea passage
Zero unless you count two northbound Shelduck -this was at the optimum start of the incoming tide 0800-1000. I cannot recall the sea being so dead in mid-April on the incoming tide

Inshore
Better: 1st S Med Gull, ad Little Gull (probably the long-stayer) in with c60 Common and c20 Black-headed Gull. Unfortunately Stage 2 Power Station is on a 58 day 'outage' and it may be some time before nice warm dilute 'soup' starts flowing along the outfalls. The juvenile Shag total definitely reached 4 and could have been 5 - commuting to and from the wooden jetty and feeding sites

Middleton IE
Singing Grasshopper Warbler. Water Rail reported by visiting birders. 5 Tufted Duck.

Quiet day with clear north-westerlies

Heysham Obs
Grounded/ringing
The ringing optimist seemed to be heading for a Norwegian Eurovision entry sort of morning but four migrants were eventually caught, including this Lesser Whitethroat:.


Thanks to John Wood for this photo

Inshore
Shag 4 juv wooden jetty
Mediterranean gull 1st S around the wooden jetty
Common gull 38
Turnstone 56 wooden jetty
Oystercatcher 520 heliport
Redshank 14 Heliport/wooden jetty

Rest of WeBS (other than Cormorant (13) & large gulls) displaced elsewhere by very high tide

Offshore movement
Ringed plover 7 'in'
Shelduck 2 'out'
Mute swan 2 in/across

Vis mig
alba wagtail 2
Meadow pipit 9
Sand martin 1
Swallow 4
Linnet 1

Elsewhere
Ad summer Purple Sandpiper on Morecambe West End Battery groyne with Turnstone & Redshank (probably displaced from Regent Road groyne (next one to the north) by pit bull types being exercised there). Very dodgy Red-breasted Goose on the most SW pit of Borwick Waters fishing complex (formerly Dockacres) - visible from the footpath along the Keer or by paying £1-50 to enter the site. In a similar vein, one of the Mandarin on the pond at Ashley's Farm, High Tatham is 'wild' & not therefore part of the collection.

Upper Hindburn this evening provided the Silly Lane Short-eared Owl, a wandering 1st CY Hen Harrier over White Moss and Pied Fly and Redstart attending boxes. There were still 45+ Fieldfare.

The Pied Fly was ring-read attending the nest (earliest ever in Britain?!) = male ringed as a nestling at Colleyholme Wood, Slaidburn on 10/6/04. Thanks for the details.

NB check Portland BO website this evening to find out what a 'fall' really is as the cross channel birds hit the weak cold front over the south coast this morning !

First Whimbrel of the year

Heysham Obs
Grounded/ringing
Only about a dozen birds ringed including 7 Willow Warbler , 2 Blackcap and a Jay. Redstart male on Tank Farm fence. Wheatear male on willows in Tank Farm; female Ocean Edge

Inshore
Whimbrel Red Nab
Oystercatcher c550 RN
Common Gull 18 RN
Shelduck 8 RN
Red-breasted merganser male off RN
Eider 3m 2f off RN
Ringed plover RN
Redshank c50 OE

Vis Mig
Meadow Pipit 10 North
Swallow 3 North

Insects
Large Red Damselfly Middleton IE

Elsewhere
3 Short-eared Owl on moorland to the east of Lowgill this evening