Good coverage, Shag new in and Twite increase

Heysham Obs
Shag - 3CY or older harbour, then flew out (thanks Margaret and Mark)

Kittiwake - 19 harbour, 1 outfalls
Little Gull - up to 8 outfalls
Guillemot - 3
Twite - 74 on seed
Linnet - 14 on seed
Red-throated Diver - 2

Nothing new

Heysham Obs
An unpleasant day at high tide kept the handful of inconsiderate dog walkers off the heliport and there was a nice roost of 3,600 Knot.  No obvious sea passage despite promising conditions but maybe didn't leave it long enough!


Med Gull - 2 adults
Kittiwake - 13 harbour, 3 outfalls
Little Gull - max of 31 outfalls (15 2CY)
Guillemot - 6 harbour
Twite - at least 46
Linnet - at least 16
Scaup - 2CY male Middleton model boat pond
Wigeon 127

Also on Middleton:
Skylark - 2
Meadow Pipit - 2
Jack Snipe - 1
Common Snipe - 2 (& 4 OE saltmarsh)
Teal - 54
Mallard - 8
Gadwall - 7
Pochard - 3
Coot - 9
Moorhen - 9
Mute Swan - 5 ad 7 juv
Tufted Duck - only 7

Thanks for a lot of this, Malcolm

Harbour Wall Visit Only

Heysham North Harbour Wall

Mixed finch flock this morning numbered 80 birds.  Very unsettled and feeding spread out amongst rubble beyond feeding area in spite of much fresh seed put down.  Flock being spooked by every passing gull.

Twite - c55, large proportion ringed
Linnet - c15
Goldfinch - c10

Great Crested Grebe - 2 offshore
Red Throated Diver - 1 offshore


ajd

Black Guillemot surprise

Heysham Obs


A Black Guillemot was reported indirectly as being seen off Morecambe a few days ago and I wonder if this mornings sighting was indeed that report coming to fruition.  It flew past the end of the outfalls and disappeared either into the troughs or re-landing on the sea.  A quirky feature of this morning was that the only other auk seen was a dead Razorbill on the sea off the harbour mouth


I suggest this might be a good week to check tidelines for ringed seabird corpses. 


One lengthy seawatch is still in the observer's notebook so hopefully more later


Sea/outfalls
Black Guillemot - one 'out'
Kittiwake  72 'in' including flock of 47 (more to add).  At least 15 inshore with 11 in harbour
Little Gull - At least 17 'out', some having previously been on the outfalls.  In addition, 28 still on outfalls after seawatching finished
Common Scoter - male floating in on sea
Red-throated Diver - one out
Med Gull - adult
Razorbill - dead one on sea off harbour mouth

North Harbour Wall
Twite - 35
Linnet - 8
Goldfinch - 2


Middleton NR
Scaup - 2CY male still

Wild and wilder

Heysham obs

Little gull - c30 at once late pm with a 'running total' on outfalls - max of 12 2cy and 21 ad seen during day. 'Ad' includes a few 3cy.
Med gull - ads north wall and midd boat pond
Scaup - 2cy male midd mbp
Barn owl - one midd early am
Pochard - 5 (1 f)
Razorbill - one offshore
Guillemot - 3 harbour, 2 offshore
Kittiwake - 10 inner harbour plus about 5 others inshore
Twite - c40 nhw
Linnet - 13 nhw
Red t diver - one out am

Routine day

Heysham Obs
A bit windier today, so the Little Gulls were back, but the IOM ferry was a disappointment.  Otherwise as you were apart from the first moth of the month in the trap - no good off southerly/south-easterly winds


Guillemot - two visible in harbour
Little Gull - max of 5 x 2CY, 2 x ad outfalls (in am)
Med Gull - adult
Kittiwake - 11 (3 x 2CY) harbour, 3 adult behind ferry
Scaup - 2CY male Middleton model boat pond
Pochard - 4 males and female as above
Tufted Duck - 13 as above
Little Egret - one as above
Twite - at least 33 with at least 8 unringed, possibly many more north wall
Linnet - 15 north wall
Goldfinch - 6 north wall  


Moth
Dotted Border

More Finches

Heysham Obs
North Harbour Wall
Increased number of Finches to c60 although very flighty including
Twite 30+ and very vocal
Med Gulls - 2 Adults

Harbour Area
Kittiwakes 4 Adults & 2 2CY, c10 later

Outfalls / Red Nab
Little Egret
Rock Pipit
2cy little gull main channel off hey 2 outfall

Middleton model boat pond/nr
Scaup 2CY
Pochard 4
Water rail 2 heard mid pm
Jack snipe 1 flushed mid pm
Barn owl 1 late pm

Roller coaster

Heysham obs
Morning sightings included

Little gull - five adults out, 20 plus harbour mouth or outfalls
Kittiwake - c10 harbour
Guillemot - 3 hArbour
Scaup - 2cy male Middleton

North Harbour Wall
Finches about 35 including
20+ Twite, with 18 Linnets and 5 Goldfinch

Can someone please check the outfalls tomorrow am if the Ross's gull does not reappear at Leighton. The low tide should enable the area to be an obvious feeding magnet. Ok a long shot but......

Some complaints today about the local grapevine . I usually text people when things like this materialise but was in transit between Catterick and home via the dales and mobile free zones. A couple of short stops and a bad line at least enabled RBA to receive the details which had unfortunately been deemed in the 'reportedly' category on another bird info service and not altered!!

Managed to miss it by seconds - shades of the Plymouth first winter many years ago!

Some signs of spring!

Heysham Obs

Skylark increasing to two at Middleton, Coot starting to return and pair up, the Mute Swan adults continue trying to kick the young out, otherwise it was the usual howling gale and pulses of rain

Middleton NR (thanks Malcolm)

Mute 2 pair + 7 cygnet

21 tufted duck

4 pochard (2 male)

10 mallard

1 2CY male Scaup

42 teal

3 gadwall

7 coot

2 moorhen

2 skylark (together on plateau were linnet used to feed)

1 meadow pipit (with above)

2 stock dove

10 wood pigeon

Coastal sightings

Kittiwake - 2 ad & 2 2CY harbour

Little Gull - 4 x 2CY, 1 Ad outfalls, later 3 ads outfall and another ad off harbour mouth and increasing to 16 on outfalls by 1600hrs

Guillemot - two in  harbour

Med Gull - two adults harbour area

Grey Wagtail - one harbour wall 

No food and no finches north wall - quite at bit put out at 1200hrs

Nothing apparently happening offshore in rough-ish seas

Late news for yesterday - flock of 12 Kittiwakes flew 'in'

Nothing new

Heysham Obs


Kittiwake - ad & 2CY harbour
Little Gull - 2 x 2CY outfalls
Scaup - 2CY Middleton model boat pond
Pochard - 4 males and female Middleton NR
Eider - 71 offshore
Red-throated Diver - 2 offshore
North wall finches - c60 first thing then disappeared