THURSDAY 22nd April: Good scoter count for here

Here is a camera-shot of the recent Chamomile Shark from the office trap plus a male Belted Beauty taken today at nearby Middleton saltmarsh where there are record numbers this year.  Please be very careful if you have large feet and poor close eyesight as it is easy to tread on them (which is why I stay away!). 

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall 0650-0930
Gannet - 28 out, 11 in
Razorbill - 2 in, 5 out
Auk spp - 3 in
Whimbrel - 7 in
Common Scoter - 131 out, 178 in - very little duplication
Red-throated Diver - 2 out, 1 in
Sandwich tern - 8 blogging
Guillemot - 1 out, 3 in
Arctic Tern - 14+8 in
Little Gull - one 2CY & 1 adult in (with the flock of 14 Arctic Tern)
Wheatear - 5 grounded
Jackdaw - one SE, then seen very high over reserve before heading SW
Swallow - 7
alba Wagtail - 2
Linnet - 2
Meadow Pipit - 23
Lesser Redpoll - 4 in
Turnstone - 173
Goldfinch - 8

Nature reserve office area
Ring Ouzel - female emerged from the dense willow clump next to the office calling (landed & roosted there during the night?), then flew on to the tank farm fence, thence to the far end of the tank farm (0730hrs)
Redstart - female on fences near the office for about 10 minutes
Tree Pipit - 2 NE together at 0740hrs
Jackdaw - see above
Swallow - 47 NE
Sand Martin - 4 NE
Linnet - 6 NE
Meadow Pipit - just 4 NE
Lesser Redpoll - 10 NE (4 ringed, first flock of 6 before nets set!)
Lesser Whitethroat - one singing intermittently
Willow Warbler - probably less than 5 migrants & all during the belated net setting bar one trapped
Dunnock - unringed bird trapped - unusual
Chaffinch - unringed female trapped - getting late, but unringed females a feature of April ringing here over the years
Tufted Duck - pair on Obs Tower pond = added to the BTO Business challenge - coming thick and fast now.

Ocean Edge
Just the one Wheatear in early morning visit
Common Whitethroat - one singing at the southern end of BE properties by the nature park

Aukfest and the survey from hell

North harbour wall 0705-0945
Auk spp - 141 with 105 in the first hour, all identifiable being Razorbill
Arctic Skua - dark morph landed on the sea
Gannet - 2
Sandwich Tern - 15
Sand Martin - 7
Swallow - 2
alba Wagtail - 4
Lesser Redpoll - heard x 1
Linnet - 4

Dog walk/nature park CBC
Dogs react to a clipboard in three ways: bark incessantly, snarl and growl or leap up at you thinking you are going to feed them.  21 dogs seen.
Tree Pipit - 1N
Meadow Pipit - 2N
Linnet - 2N
Goldfinch - 5N
Lesser Whitethroat - singing male by dog pond
a trickle of Willow warblers with 4 presumed singing migrants
Green Woodpecker heard

Early morning auks and a decent moth

An iconic blackberrying of a Chamomile Shark

Heysham Obs
The best has probably already been squeezed out of today's brisk north-westerly with the following, althought there is previous history of Kittiwake flocks moving with the tide, even in the afternoon, in these conditions:

North wall 0700-0830
Gannet - 7 in
Razorbill/Guillemot - 23 in, 3 out
Razorbill - 21 in
Guillemot - 1 in
Common Scoter - 4 out
Red-throated Diver - 1+2+3 in, gaining height
Sandwich Tern - 6 in
alba Wagtail - 4 in
Meadow Pipit - 2 in
Swallow - 3 in
Wheatear - one sandworks

Osprey
The first birding 'miss' due to temporarily being without a mobile as I could have intercepted this.  Flying towards Heysham from Rossall at 1100hrs.  Thanks for trying Ian.

Ocean Edge
No Wheatear 0720hrs

Moths
Included the first Chamomile Shark for yonks

All quiet ahead of the western front

Here are a couple of phone/scope pics taken by Mike Stocker yesterday when the bird visited the fences next to the nature reserve office. Thanks Mike.  It actually visited 3 10km squares, such is the configuration of these at Heysham!

Been a bit hit and miss for seawatching so far, but Sunday morning coming looks interesting for a bit of skua passage - keep an eye on Saturday if the weather system comes through a bit early.  Otherwise a couple of fairly useless looking north-westerly days coming up, followed by some calmish ringing/vis/a few seabirds (or getting on with early morning upland survey work!) weather on Thursday/Friday.  Saturday might be a passerine fall/useless strengthening southerlies/possible seawatching weather depending on timing 
Heysham Obs to 0900hrs
A line of rain out to the west stayed there forming a barrier across the bay and seemingly knocking most things on the head prior to 0900hrs.  No Wheatears in coastal check of Ocean Edge & north wall area.  Rain came in at 0910

North harbour wall
Sandwich Tern - 24 blogging
Gannet - 6
Swallow - 29 NE
Whimbrel - 1 S, 1 N
Greylag (as yesterday), one on sandworks
Red-breasted merganser - 6
Eider - 86
Great-crested grebe - 3
Linnet - 7 on the germinating nyger remains!

Webs early pm
Purple Sandpiper - definitely just the one left at the moment
Turnstone - 176
the rest stunningly undramatic apart from a female Mallard on Red Nab!

Post-rain Wheatear check
Ocean Edge - 7 after the rain, none before
North wall - one after the rain, none before

Marsh harrier
Some obtuse stuff on a local website which seems to indicate a female passed by over the sea mid-afternoon, but it may have been further to the north.  Presumably missed it travelling between sites on the Stone Jetty-Heysham WeBS

Reserve office area
Just single Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff & Blackcap ringed (& Greenfinch) prior to the rain and two Willow Warbler, single Blackcap, Greenfinch and Chaffinch after the rain

Hoopoe day

More pics to come - these are from Chris Piner & Tony Moriarty.  Thanks for these.

Heysham Obs
Cloud cover accompanying the poor vis - yippee....................

Hoopoe
Found by John Mason on the north harbour wall in the old sandworks.   Photographs later.  Later present on and off around the harbour area before flying over towards the nature reserve and being located by the office next to the mist nets ride.  Here it sat on fence posts and fed on the ground before heading off over the 'cream store' and thence north-east towards the traffic light at about 1235hrs

Reserve office area
3 male Redstart - these disappeared, but at lunchtime, these or three others were around the office area with one using the bird table as a perch!
30+ Willow Warbler around office (9 ringed)
2 x singing Sedge Warbler
singing Lesser Whitethroat
2 x Tree Pipit over (0902 & 1017hrs)
Lesser Redpoll - 17 NE
Goldfinch - 27 NE
Linnet - 5 NE
Swallow - 37 NE
Meadow Pipit - 26 NE
alba Wagtail - 3 NE

Middleton IE
singing male Grasshopper Warbler
singing male Lesser Whitethroat (afternoon)
yesterdays Sedge Warbler still singing
Greylag - two blogging late afternoon

North wall (vis from 0700-0920 then severely distracted by the Hoopoe. Virtually no movement until 8am when the mist began to lift)
Purple Sandpiper -one wooden jetty
Wheatear - 2-3
Linnet - 11 NE
Goldfinch 1
Meadow Pipit 14
Sparrowhawk 1 (very high and heading N)
Swallow 20

In the low tide channels:
Sandwich Tern 18
Great-crested Grebe 11
Red-breasted Merganser 9

On the skears:
Turnstone - 170
Whimbrel - 11
Eider - 97
Ocean Edge
Wheatear - 8

A good morning at the local patch

Heysham Observatory
This morning was an excellent example of what goes on if you have a local patch and you are an imperfect birder and why having your own is just great for getting the most out of your birding!   The morning had its 'RSPB moment', a very definite 'Heysham moment', a Mainwaring/Pyke 'stupid boy' piece of misidentification, a sensible decision not to go for the third blank morning in a row with the mist nets, a disappearing 'v-shaped' large raptor, a completely unexpected Wren-fest.....and no sign of the targeters target.  The 'Heysham moment' comprised the second seawatch shift which saw asphyxiation by a lurid green rust bucket called Maersk Importer, a few seagulls and some unidentified auks.  The 'RSPB-moment' occurred early on when there was a good movement of Kittiwakes, including a swirling flock of 80 close enough to hear the multiple calls as per Bempton cliffs.  The observer also works for the RSPB.

North harbour wall in two-person shifts 0730-0900, 0900-1030
Kittiwake - not possible to be sure of exact figures as early morning coverage was in the fog but it included a flock of c101 and 80.  Two other flocks were heard but not seen in the fog.  As the fog lifted so did the Kittiwakes which had floated in as far as the yellow buoys.  As per the terns they circled higher and higher until lost again in the cloud, presumably heading north east.
Sandwich Tern - just 2 - the only terns
Razorbill - one floated in
Auk spp - three flew out
Purple Sandpiper - one under jetty
Turnstone - 122+ under jetty
Great-crested Grebe - 5
Red-breasted Merganser - 2
Whimbrel - one in
Redpoll sp - flock of 6 NE plus 8 others
Swallow - 8 NE
Meadow Pipit - 20 NE
alba Wagtail - 5 NE
Goldfinch - 6 NE

 No sign Black Guillemot

Nature reserve CBC & vis
Little Grebe - the first record for the Obs Tower pond involved a calling pair.  In retrospect, the muffled "odd trilling noise" heard the other day - dismissed as a strange Great Tit - was exactly this - the excuse being that I had forgotten there was a pond there!  A great record for the Business challenge
Grey Wagtail - one very late migrant NE - adding to the rather time-warped vis this morning (e.g. a minor re-surge of Meadow Pipits, lack of terns plus the Kitt passage being more like late March)
Meadow Pipit - 24 NE
alba Wagtail - 5 NE
Goldfinch - 11 NE
Linnet - 16 NE
Marsh Harrier/Common Buzzard - probably the former glimpsed in disappearing silhoeutte (NE) pursued by gulls at about 0840hrs
Wren - after just one, then two, then three singing males appearing, the latter during the last week, this morning saw NINE singing males scattered around the reserve.  It was not a brilliant morning for song (frosty) and these were all singing pretty continuously apart from the long-stayer by the office.  I would suspect that these have just infilled vacant suitable habitat in the last day or so, hence the continuous song.  Ringing has revealed a small but significant movement of Wrens during mid-late April.  These birds were not there previously in non-singing mode.  I wonder if they will all stay and how many were actually paired up this morning?
Willow Warbler - just one burst of song from a presumed passage bird on a circuit of the reserve
Chiffchaff - just two singing males on the reserve, one wide-ranging & continuous, suggesting not paired
Blackcap - just two singing males on the reserve CBC circuit - below par

Middleton IE
Singing single Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat but no Groppers as yet

Ground Level

No reports of the Black Guillemot today.  Whaaaat!  Just checked the tally counter & 800+ visits to this site in c36 hours c/p usual c100/day - surely not the due to a Black Guillemot!!!   Thanks very much to people who covered the sea this morning and to Tom & Mick for posting the sightings

Please note that I lost my mobile phone yesterday evening and therefore SIM cancelled.  Please text/ring Jean Roberts re-any sightings/work issues.  Thanks. Pete

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall 0640-1030
Red-throated Diver     14 Kent Channel  incl groups of 6 and 4
Red-b Merganser        12
Eider                            7
Teal                             5 and 6 on sea then in (mega!)
Sandwich Tern             20
Linnet                           5
Redpoll sp                    2
Whimbrel                     5
Meadow Pipit              3
Swallow                      4

Mammals
Grey Seal                    1

Red-l Partridge!!!!       1 calling from an area south of the south round head, presumably within th PS perimeter fence. Counting this for the BTO Business challenge is on a par with Eagle Owl listing, but we'll have a try at getting away with it!  Presumably the bird seen in suburban Heysham a few days ago.

Its back!

Heysham Obs
Interesting sky with no vapour trails, but some nice volcanic dust shapes, including what appeared to be huge 'v' sign, presumably relating to the money our  northern friends owe us.  Bits of vis but no evidence of any grounded stuff in pretty clear weather

Black Guillemot - this returned about 0930hrs & sat in the harbour mouth, disappeared mid-morning bit seen again late afternoon

Vis mig/sea combo (most of Meadow Pipit & Goldfinch cutting across via natgure reserve, rest from NHW), vis heading NE
Sandwich Tern - 38
Arctic Tern - 16
Red-throated Diver - 2
Gannet - 17
Whimbrel - 1 (IOY)
Kittiwake - 44
Common Scoter - 1
alba Wagtail - 6
Goldfinch - 64
Linnet - 47
Lesser Redpoll - 22
Carrion Crow - 4 in-off
Meadow Pipit - 29
Sparrowhawk - 2 high to NE
Swallow - 4
Purple Sandpiper - one with c50 Turnstone on wooden jetty
Guillemot - 2 on sea
Razorbill - 1 on sea

Hopefully some coverage whilst the regular observers are away tomorrow morning & we are not too 'gripped off'!

North-East winds and Arctic terns

Heysham Obs
One was belatedly reported yesterday, but the first (small-scale) movement of my favourite migration event in this area, the Arctic tern passage, began today on the early-morning low/incoming tide.  No Wheatear on thorough coastal trawl

North harbour wall 0640-0920
Arctic Tern - 1+1+2+8+11+2 north-east= 'in', all but the first group of  two at a low level in a quite strong headwind
Sandwich Tern - 52 'in' plus low single figures blogging to the south of the harbour
Gannet - 14 in, 6 out plus 8 'u-turning in the mouth of the bay
Razorbill - 2 on water
Razorbill/Guillemot - 5 'in'
Red-breasted Merganser - 8 on water together
(no Red-throats or scoters, small passage of Black-headed & Common Gulls)
Linnet - 24 NE - up to 17 on the Twite(less) food
alba Wagtail - just one NE
Meadow Pipit - 10 NE
Lesser Redpoll - 2 NE

Ocean Edge foreshore
Redshank - 220
Dunlin - 33
Black-tailed Godwit - 11
Common Gull - 74
Black-headed Gull - 38
Eider - 8

First Arctic Tern

Male Lesser Redpoll taken by John Mason

Heysham obs
North Harbour Wall
0700-0800
1 Arctic tern
12 distant Sandwich Terns
1 Reed Bunting NE
1 Meadow Pipit at the sand plant
NO TWITE

Nature Reserve
4 Redpoll (of a group of at least 9), including an adult male (see above pic) and 1 Willow Warbler ringed.  Chiffchaff calling.

Heysham Head & Barrows – 07.40hrs.-08.30hrs. Sunny but cold, little breeze.
10-12 Greenfinches & 20-30 Linnets in gorse bushes. 5+ singing Wrens. Song Thrush singing near castellated wall again but further down slope. 5-6 pairs Blackbird – no singing. 2-3 pairs Dunnock. C.25 Meadow Pipits flying over NE. C.15 Curlews near Throbshaw Point