A day of two halves

Heysham Obs
'Wet and wetter', the early update headline.........referred to the morning opening & closing of the NHW gate. The afternoon visit, coinciding with the passing of the cold front was altogether much better with a juv Iceland Gull accompanying a small 'passage' of Herring Gulls which appeared to have been tidally displaced from the Ulverston direction. It was lost into the sun heading down the main boat channel at 1505hrs and did not follow the incoming freight ferry back into port. Unfortunately it was too far out/I was not quick enough to get a record shot as the priority was to rule out a small Glaucous! See Bill Aspins site which has just been added to the Links. Caspian, Glaucous and Iceland found on the same day in Lancs - not bad in these rubbish-tip-free times! Well done with the Caspian, Bill. I have decided not to submit the Middleton bird from early 2007 as I was still in the pre-dinosaur period as regards cameras & this species needs to be documented as such so far NW.

North Harbour Wall 1045hrs
Twite - 4
Purple Sandpiper - one on rocks on the south side of the harbour mouth

North Harbour wall from 1500-1525hrs
Juv Iceland Gull out at 1505hrs (about 500m offshore at the closest point)
Purple Sandpiper - one on the end of the NHW, then ten minutes later, two with small group of Turnstones flying & landing on wooden jetty. I suspect, but couldnt prove, three birds
Med Gull - 2 Ads and the usual 2nd W joined the freight ferry as it turned into port
Kittiwake - 5 behind the freight ferry soon returned out of the bay

Elsewhere
Single Purple Sandpiper at the seaward end of the Stone Jetty at Morecambe. Water Pipit at a wet Leighton Moss. Zilch on Pine Lake (16 Goosander)

TWO Purps again

Heysham Obs
Just a very quick North Harbour wall trawl - TWO Purple Sands at the base of the south harbour wall next to the wooden jetty. Med Gull (Ad) offshore. Nothing finch-wise on the mound and the harbour waterfall remains celibate.

Elsewhere
TWO Purple Sandpiper Morecambe Stone Jetty morning and lunchtime. 3 Scaup in Glasson area still.

A moth!

Heysham Obs
Moth trap
A Dotted Border was the first moth of 2008

North wall early stages of incoming tide
Twite - 9
Med Gull - ad offshore
Purple Sandpiper - one below the south harbour wall next to wooden jetty

Elsewhere
Two Purple Sandpipers Morecambe Stone jetty and a Water Pipit at Leighton Moss

New Med behind ferry

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
Just 11 Twite seen on the journey to and from the end at lunchtime

IOM passenger ferry
Kittiwake - 5 adults following, 4 of which peeled off and flew out and the fifth fed in the turbulence created by the sharp turn after rounding the wooden jetty, then also flew out. It is unusual that the only chance of this species at present is following ferries or in 'gale transit'.

Med Gull - Adult and a 2nd W following the ferry until the turbulence then both quickly 'out' along the main boat channel. The 2nd W was a new bird, large with quite a bit of black on the head and just small amounts of black on the primary tips. The usual 2nd W (see previous pics for the extensive black outer primary shafts) and the Czech-ringed adult were not seen today.

Elsewhere
European White-fronted Goose still at Catshaw Fell from at least mid-morning. Two Purple Sandpiper as yesterday at Morecambe Stone Jetty near high tide. Four Bewick's Swan with 76 Mute Swan Jeremy Lane and three unringed Twite on the fence next to Conder Pool at high tide - c15 Linnet were in the vicinity. Ad Med Gull (female size, with dark on the head limited to very clearly defined masks which did not appear to join over the rear crown) with very muddy rear end in field of similar ilk along Hillam Lane. Hundreds of gulls grilled.

WeBS lowlights

Quality photographs taken in 2007 of any dragonflies, Purple Sandpiper and the Pale-bellied Brent Goose gratefully received for the annual report and will be fully acknowledged with contact e-mail if requested. Thanks in anticipation. Please send to Jean Roberts or Reuben Neville, NOT Pete Marsh who cannot receive Broadband!

Heysham Obs
Difficulties accessing the site this evening - probably ashamed of the quality of this posting.

North harbour wall
Ad & 2nd W Med Gulls
12 Twite

South of harbour
12 Snipe flushed from Ocean Edge saltmarsh by the tide otherwise....

Elsewhere
In the context of this winter and indeed former track record, the presence of three Blackcap at the Leighton Moss main feeder this last two days is unexpected (2 males). The Morecambe Prom WeBS produced the Light-bellied Brent at Sunny Slopes, TWO Purple Sandpipers at the Stone Jetty and the female Scaup close inshore at Bare. Much reduced numbers of Redshank and small gull species - presumably wet fields being the answer. Two Scaup and two Greenshank in the Conder area. European White-fronted Goose still by Catshaw Fell

Traffic census of the Barrow-Ulverston coast road

Heysham Obs
Seawatching from the north harbour wall
A bit of long-range scoping a fairly calm incoming tide in the hope of one or two of the Walney 'goodies' from yesterday - see Links. In one hour, 234 vehicles went north and 155 south. No birds were seen during the two hour watch other than:

Common Scoter - male flew in (first of the year)
Red-throated Diver - 2 very distant in & landed on water
Eider - 2 in

There were not even any Great-crested Grebe floating in with the tide - this would have been unthinkable 15 years ago.

Closer inshore/onshore
Ad & 2nd winter Med Gulls
Single Purple Sandpiper on the rocks at the end- flew over to south side of the harbour
Twite - 10 at the sandworks entrance

Middleton IE webs
2 Pochard (male new in), one Tufted Duck, c20 Mallard, 10 Coot, 2 Mute Swan, 13 Teal, 3 Goldeneye, 18 Snipe. Also 2 Raven east and c350 Pink-footed Geese north

Elsewhere
Little Egret over the Stone Jetty early morning was unusual

Half a whistle stop

Heysham Obs
Apologies to the hordes accessing the site this evening for the late posting. I have been working away, then what turned out to be far too major a detour to pick a revamped accordion up from near Consett!

North wall
Drove down to the sandworks gate, then drove back again & away (1000ish).
Twite - 2 on seed by gate
Goldfinch - 4 on seed by gate
Med Gull - 2nd W along wall

Anything else?

Elsewhere
Nothing startling other than perhaps 60 Goldfinch at Conder. Three Scaup still at Glasson basin and the female off Morecambe Stone jetty but no Purple Sandpipers reported/nearly run over today

Stick to the highway code

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall
'Look ahead rather than out to sea, even at 10mph' as a Purple Sandpiper shot from under the bonnet at the end of the north harbour wall.
Kittiwake - 13 behind the IOM passenger ferry (1 1stW)
Med Gull - 3 - the large ad followed the ferry in, the Czech-ringed ad was already in the harbour and the 2nd W was along the north wall

Red-throated Diver - 1 'out', close inshore
Goldfinch - 3 on the mound (36V) but no other small finches in the short visit

Wooden jetty
Single Pink-footed Goose on the sea late afternoon (SD35Z)

South harbour wall/Gate "38"
3 Twite

Red Nab
47 Wigeon

Elsewhere
2 Bewick's Swan still Jeremy Lane, at least one male Scaup still Glasson basin.

Seawatching year ticks

Heysham Obs
'Created' a spare couple of hours this morning. What would normally have been a pretty tedious routine seawatch was elevated by the 2008 factor. Most of the birds seemed to be coming from across the Bay, then flying 'out' i.e. not blown properly into the Bay.

North harbour wall 1005-1135
Fulmar - 2 out - not at all regular in winter
Kittiwake - 31 out, bits and bobs other than a flock of 13
Little Gull - 6 adults out as 3+2+1
Guillemot - One out
Red-throated Diver - One out
Bar-tailed Godwit - 3 out (scarce here)
[What appeared to be a fem/imm Long-tailed Duck was seen very briefly at long range flying 'in' then ?landing on rough sea]

Med. Gull - 2nd W briefly along the seawall in the morning and adult during late afternoon check. c12 Twite were seen briefly at the sandplant entrance.

Ocean Edge side
Watched sea/IOM passenger ferry in 1140-1205 & there were 24 Kittiwake behind the ferry & 12 Ringed Plover on Ocean Edge west field

Elsewhere
European White-fronted Goose with Greylags roadside near Catshaw Fell. TWO Purple Sandpiper Morecambe Stone Jetty at lunchtime. Two Bewick's Swans with just over 100 Mute on Jeremy Lane and 12+ Whooper in semi-darkness at Melling, Lune valley. Nothing on Pine Lake during quick check in fading light [19 Goosander].

Quick check of the ferry

To add to yesterdays request, please could we also have any 2007 dragonfly records which have not been posted on the site. Thanks.

Heysham Obs
Not a nice day - just a quick visit to the north harbour wall at lunchtime, therefore near HT. Amazing anything actually found the ferry to follow it in the lunchtime visibility and, not surprisingly, the Kittiwake numbers were down to 8 adults

Ad & 2nd W Med Gulls along the north harbour wall

Elsewhere
The female Scaup was very easy to see off north Morecambe. The ad female Ferruginous Duck x Pochard returned (from Stocks?) to Pine Lake and was present along the eastern edge. Pale-bellied Brent Goose at Sunny Slopes (reportedly). No Purple Sandpipers seen anywhere today