More bits

sea 0630-0800

Kittiwake - 1

Gannet -  14

Auk spp - 6 distant 

Sandwich tern - 5-20 bloggers

Moth

Ruddy high flyer in trap

Seabits

Sea 0745-0845

Arctic Skua - one dm on then in
Sandwich Tern - loose flock of 6 flying out slowly
Kittiwake - flock of 13 across then seemingly out
Razorbill or Guillemot - one in
Manx Shearwater - 2 out distantly
Common Scoter - one out
Gannet - one out
In addition a big thing was being mobbed by seagulls in the heat haze in line with Roa Island - could have been anything from a heron to a harris hawk which leaves a lot of options

EDF breeding bird survey

A fairly comprehensive breeding bird survey of EDF property took place today - if anyone within the operational areas of the power station has anything to add, please email Pete (see sidebar for details).  Examples would be Mistle Thrush, Pied Wagtail and other things which like using buildings.

On the positive side were a singing male Goldcrest, singing male Garden Warbler (possibly a late migrant) and an Oystercatcher on a nest - none of these three have been proved to breed successfully before. On the downside, no Ringed Plover, no Grasshopper Warbler (Trimpell tanks were checked)no Reed Warbler (yet? - they can be late), seemingly no Great Spotted Woodpecker and similarly no Water Rail.  Willow Warbler were in above average numbers with most of the rest of the stuff 'as expected'

Chiffchaff

For the first time for a long time, the sea received no coverage!

Middleton news (thanks Malcolm)
Little grebe on Tim Butler, not sure if this is a different bird or a commuter from model boat pond (or visa versa).
No swimming pond Cetti's singing.
Grasshopper warbler very vocal to west of western marsh.
1 Gadwall

Insects
The moth trap held Poplar Hawk-moth, Rustic Shoulder Knot (both NFY) and a few Small Square Spot - poor reward for a good night.  Chrysoteuchia culmella was photographed by Janet

Overland skuas

Not a bad little seawatch considering expectations were not high

0745-0900 north wall
Arctic Skua - lm and dm flew NE high over Heysham Head 0805hrs having come from the general direction of Walney lighthouse, climbing and circling when they reached the yellow buoys
Gannet - flock of 6 (4 ads) in
Guillemot/Razorbill - 22 in
Guillemot - 14 in
Common Scoter - flock of 7 out
Kittiwake - 8 in very distantly

Survey boat out there from about 0815 - be nice if a birder was aboard and got on to the single presumed auk flying out which appeared to show big white upperwing patches - just too much heat haze to get enough definition on the bird

Middleton (thanks Malcolm)
Insect morning
Damsel flies out in great numbers, large red and blues (the ones I checked closely were Azure).
3 X Broad bodied chasers (1 mature male). 2 along strip next to golf club.
Only 2 X 4 spotted chaser
Lots of common blue butterflies now (m & f)
2 small copper (I've attached a record shot of one)

Heard all three Cetti's, unfortunately not at the same time.
Grasshopper warbler reeling on slope west of western marsh.
3 male Gadwall

Insects HNR
The moth trap actually produced some moths at last:  Two Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet, 4 Small Square Spot and a Scalloped Hazel

Watch out for the possibility of Small Yellow Underwing moth if you are wandering about e.g. the hay-meadows by the office - just a possible glimpse this morning of something of that ilk.  Small Copper seen by office

No early coastal coverage

Middleton (thanks Malcolm)
Little grebe on model boat pond, pretty sure they have nest in reeds in SE corner.
Newly fledged long tailed tits (still being fed).
Female Mute on no swimming pond constantly adjusting eggs, I suspect that hatching is imminent.
No Swimming pond Cetti's singing (twice) from western edge.

No reports of any migrants today and seemingly negative news on the Brent Geese

A Small Square Spot graced the moth trap (Silver Y yesterday)

First Common Blue reported this year (thanks Janet)

Bits

Brent goose - the three still red nab am at least
Manx shearwater - two very distant pm
Common scoter - flock 5 very distant pm
Arctic Skua - dm sat on sea mid range pm
Red-throated diver - 2cy out close inshore pm
Spotted flycatcher - at least one heysham head royal hotel area

Southerly rubbish

Gannet - 3 out
Brent Geese - still in situ
Common Scoter - c7 distantly in as viewed from OE

Better than expected

A better than expected sea-watch from Heysham North Harbour Wall this morning (0630 - 0940 hrs) (Peter Crooks) with not a lot seen after then by the follow-up observers!

Coastal/offshore
Arctic Skua - 1 dark morph flew in at 0810 and landed on the sea before continuing into the bay 5 minutes later.
Common Scoter - mid-distance groups of 4, 3 and 7 were completely overshadowed by flocks of c.250, c.70, and finally c.1000 swirling about on the horizon and landing on the sea at very long range.
Gannet - 81, including 32 in a single scan across the Bay
Kittiwake - 3, then flocks of c.60 and c.85 suddenly appearing at mid-range (descending from higher?), then forming tight 'kettles' and gaining height, but seeming not to fly further into the Bay.   Later 40 similarly
Guillemot - 1 in
Sanderling - groups of 4 and 7 flew out, then 9 flew in/across the Bay
Fulmar - 2
Red-throated Diver - 1
Sandwich Tern - 6
Light-bellied Brent Goose - 2 Red Nab/OE saltmarsh
Dark-bellied Brent Goose - one with above

Willow Warbler singing in bushes near parking area at end of NH Wall

Cetti's Warblers (thanks Malcolm)

WEBs "nightmare"
1,500 Dunlin decided that they would leave the incoming tideline and fly on to Red Nab where they unfortunately met a repeat performance from the "B and B":

They then tried to land but then veered off over the Bay and seemed to 'climb'.  Looking at the Lune counts they were quite low for the WeBS today - I had far more on the Sunderland mudflats this early am and presumably these were some of the same birds?  Problems with WeBs counts at migration time - these birds could just not be registered as anything as they had gone well before high tide

If any of the Ocean Edge people are reading this, please could you have a bit of a blitz on tides and quicksand -  a couple of girls and a dog from the site were actually jumping up and down miles out near the old sewage pipe and one of them had difficulty extracting one of her legs from the mud and they only just missed being cut off by the channel which runs alongside the seaward side of the saltmarsh .  This channel has deepened and become more "obvious" further out to at least the old sewage pipe over the last few months and is clearly a serious potential hazard, including quicksand.  Need to be off the shore two hours before high tide if you intend to cross this channel on your way back and not face a lengthy detour via eg the beach by the old Pontins site.  See how quickly the recent car has disappeared.

Scattering of interest, mostly in Cumbria!

Rain and a south-westerly this morning

Arctic Tern - one early on
Arctic Skua - distant light morph in, picked up by two separate observers about 1005hrs
Gannet - 5 out
Common Scoter - 54 out in three close bunches
Brent Goose - the gang of three were still around on the usual routine ie Red Nab then OE saltmarsh at high tide

No evidence of any hirunding or landbird migration

Spotted flycatchers.....eventually

A few bits this morning but definitely not worth an early start in what was "a nice calm sunny morning" at that time.

Egret spp: quite possibly a great white heading very distantly into the bay
Spotted flycatcher - three heysham head when cloud arrived, nowhere else checked at this time
Brent goose - the three still there on the same routine
Marsh Harrier - female type north east early am over middleton
Sandwich tern - two blogging
Swift - 15 heysham head
Swallow - c50 northbound or blogging
Sand martin - 1
House martin - 1
Whitethroat - 6 ringed
Cetti's warbler - central marsh breeding male retrapped on CES
Reed warbler - singing male in bramble hnr, at least three middleton
Wheatear - 3 small ones oe foreshore
Large gulls - 2500 on skeers

Grey seal - 1


Five 4-spotted Chaser Middleton NR