Little Ringed Plover new for year

Heysham Obs
Middleton IE
Male Little Ringed Plover on the model boat pond late afternoon

Heysham NR
...........Otherwise rather low-key today with a sneaky Marbled Minor aggregate located during the 'second phase' check of the moth trap the 'highlight' along with  Spectacle and Common Pug which also seemed to be new for the year

Elsewhere
Single dark-morph Arctic Skua JB Point early morning

Foggy CESes

Heysham Obs
Both CES sites were given their allocated time this morning.  That key CES species - Tufted Duck - escaped from the top shelf of a mist net at Middleton (the second duck, following a Mallard, to do so since we started the CES)!  Otherwise the highlights were rather modest - a migrant male acredula-type Willow Warbler, with a supercilium an Arctic Warbler would have been proud of, was caught at Middleton where a passage Garden Warbler gave a few bursts of song before moving inland (the only common warbler species which does not breed there)

Just the one singing male Reed Warbler at Middleton (see late entry for yesterday) which was part of a nice array of singing warblers all heard at the same time from the same spot (can the Leighton dawn choruses compete with this?):  Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat, Grasshopper Warbler, Blackcap, the abovementioned passage Garden Warbler, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler.........and the habitat looks perfect for a Cetti's in the next year or so!

The most unexpected sighting was a Grey Wagtail which visited the sewage works - not known to breed anywhere nearby and 16 Swallow & 5 House Martin comprised the only northbound vis.

Dragonflies
Azure, Common Blue, Blue-tailed and Large Red damsels.  One 4-spotted Chaser on the 'scrape' pond

The cycle is broken

Heysham Obs
Early morning seawatching ground to a halt with the forecasted (and actual) poor visibility.  No time to do any mist netting/vis mig or anything other than:

Puss Moth - one in the hut trap
Garden Warbler - one singing along Moneyclose Lane

THREE singing male Reed Warblers at Middleton late afternoon with two of these in the circular reed bed by the fence pond (but these two departed overnight)

Vigil rewards

Heysham Obs
North harbour wall early morning low tide
Sandwich tern - one on yellow buoy
Swallow - three blogging

Incoming tide early pm
Arctic Tern - 2 in
Pomarine Skua - light morph in 1215ish
Sandwich Tern - 2 in
Auk spp - 2 distant
Whimbrel - one on shore

Breeding birds
Pair of Ringed Plover with 3 small chicks on (ex)heliport

Even quieter

North Harbour Wall 0715-0815
Calm, clear.

Gannet 1 out
Swallow 8 NE

Quiet

North Harbour Wall 0650-0820
WNW, F2-3, 4oktas cloud, excellent visibility


Common Scoter - 20 in then out
Swallow - 23 NE
Red-breasted Merganser -1 out

Not enough showers!

Heysham Obs
After getting soaked checking rather moth-deficient national m.n. traps, the conditions for the seawatch were a bit disappointing with high fluffy cloud.  Dont think the early morning/low tide seawatchers saw anything of note.

Sea 0915-1015
Shelduck - flock of 8 out
Dunlin - flock of 36 out
Arctic tern - one in
Arctic Skua - dark morph out then landed on sea 0940hrs
Skua spp. - light morph seen in flight for about a second, then landed on sea in Kent channel.  Very hard to follow on sea with incoming tide & higher waves but glimpses suggested a Pom, but too far/not enough of a flight view to be certain.  NO-ONE at the Leighton/JBP end had their mobiles switched on - I did try!

Middleton industrial estate WeBS count:
2 Mute Swan, 8 Coot plus 8 chicks (3 broods of 2+2+4), 2 Moorhen, 6 Mallard (5 males, 1 female), 12 Tufted Duck ( 7 males, 5 females), 5 Little Grebe

Moths
NMN in the hut trap produced Eyed Hawk & Rustic Shoulder Knot - both new for the year

Elsewhere
Jenny Brown's Point:
0920hrs 1 dark phase Arctic Skua
1225hrs 1 Great Skua
1310hrs 1 Great Skua
1400hrs 1 Great Skua
Arctic Tern - 3

Skuas again

North Harbour Wall 0630-0845
Clear, calm, then W F2

Arctic Skua - 2 dark phase NE.  The first floated in at 0745 then took off and flew high; the second flew in at 0810.  At the same time a third but very distant  skua sp floated in but was unfortunately lost to view.
Swallow - 121 NE
Whimbrel - 1
Sandwich Tern - 3 blogging
Teal - 1 floated in
Great-crested Grebe - 2 in the low tide channel
Eider - 64 off Morecambe

Elsewhere
Jenny Brown's Point:
early pm 3 pale phase Arctic Skuas
1500hrs 5 pale phase Arctic Skuas (possible the 3 above plus 2 others)
Also Spoonbill flew NW at 1240hrs

Drizzle drops a Spotted Flycatcher

Heysham Obs
Nature reserve
Spotted Flycatcher - One around the Obs Tower fence at 1130hrs

North harbour wall/offshore
Common Tern - this was the highlight of the early morning.
The Common Tern hung in on Hey 1 Outfall and was joined by 4 Arctic Tern. Also an eventual buildup of 17 1st s Common Gull , otherwise sea completely dead in light but persistent rain.

Mammals

Grey Seal   1 in close offshore

Useless wind develops

Heysham Obs
Any logical summary of migration should suggest that southerly winds were something to anticipate.  Not the case - everything seems to 'move parallel' and nothing seems to land.  Add clear conditions and there is a recipe for uselessness

Office area 0650 - 0820
Tree Pipit - 2 north together 0700hrs - a good spring for this species, +1 at 0915hrs
Siskin - one north (or at least one heard flying north) 0750hrs
Swallow - 22 NE
nothing obviously grounded other than an unringed male Lesser Whitethroat trapped by the office (in addition to perpetually singing bird) before the wind put paid to any further mistnetting

Sea
Kittiwake - flock of 35 floating in
Mute Swan - four sat on the sea off the north wall
Sandwich Tern - 3
Swallow - 2
Red-throated Diver - 1 out
Whimbrel - one inshore

Mammals
Grey Seal early morning in low tide channel