Typical westerly hooley

Some rather inefficient seawatching due to periods of poor visibility and distant birds obscured by wave action suggesting Knowlys Road might have been better

Sea from back of harbour 0735-1000 (latterly joined by Alastair)
Manx Shearwater - 70 out (biggest flock 12)
Common Scoter - 3 in
Razorbill/Guillemot - at the very least 18 in
Guillemot - 5 in
Fulmar - one out
Gannet - 17 out, 14 in prob mainly different
Arctic Skua - lm east then out between showers
Kittiwake - adult plus flock of 16 adult in
Sanderling - flock of 18 in
Unidentified seabirds - c50; all bar two thought to be Manx or auks

Rock Pipit seen with food but not entering nest hole (people within view?)

Nicely timed!

Something resembling the cutting edge at last after being distracted by moth traps.  Setting off for Heysham in zero visibility and driving rain was all based on the rain alarm, suggesting some breaks after about 0745 and just about enough tide left to justify a visit.  An arrival at 0750 was only just in time! 

Sea 0750-0920
Pomarine Skua - three light morph adults, one seemed to have a 'broken spoon' or may not have been a full adult, headed in quite close inshore at 0758hrs.  These skuas appeared as the first short-lived clear slot appeared
Arctic Skua - at the same time as the above, two more distant skuas needed identification and they transpired to be a dark and light morph Arctic. 
Gannet - 5 out
Manx Shearwater - two out in the gloom
Sandwich tern - one in
Shag - a near adult flew out very close as the tide was dropping.  The same routine as the long-stayer but that hasn't been seen for ages.  A puzzle, no doubt resolved by any further sightings or otherwise


Harbour area 14:00
Both Rock pipits are taking loads of food to nest near lighthouse.

This bird with the more pronounced supercilium is presumed to be the female, as this was the one that collected the nesting material (MD)

N.B. They will not fly to nest entrance if they see anyone in the vicinity of nest. Best viewed at least 30m past steps towards waterfall, then look back towards lighthouse.

Guillemot still by waterfall, no sign of Shag.

Bits

Rock Pipit - a quick visit to the harbour saw a faecal sac being removed from the nest, the food had already been delivered before I raised the scope

Recent ringing recoveries
Chiffchaff
KTA420   1st W      27/9/18  Durlston Country Park, Dorset
Caught                     17/4/19   Heysham     389km NW

Lesser Redpoll
ADA3086  1st W     20/10/18 Whixhall and Fenn's Moss, Wrexham
Caught                     19/4/19   Heysham  125km N

Reed Bunting
S387264   1st W M  8/1/17  Chelmarsh Res, Bridgenorth, Shrops (winter roost)
Caught                     25/7/17 Middleton NR   174km N
Caught                     3/5/19   Middleton NR       
Clearly breeding near to ringing area

Clutching at clutches!

Middleton Nature Reserve - evening quick check (MD)
All three nesting pairs of Mute swan now have young:
Main pond  - pair plus 7 chicks. This is impressive, as at least one egg was destroyed from inital nesting attempt.
No swimming pond - pair plus 4 chicks
Tim Butler pond - pair hatched 4 chicks last week, only 3 visible today, but there could easily have been 4.
So, minimum of 20 mute in residence. This is the most here, that I am aware of.

Jackdaw - numbers growing. At least 20 around today. They take the emerging dragon/damselflies from pond margins.

Stock dove - at least one flying back anf forth between golf club area and SE.

House martin 2
Swift 1
Swallow c20

Cetti's warbler 1 singing

Wednesday - Same as, but with pics

Rock pipits still feeding young near south wall lighthouse, but portions are getting bigger.

Guillimot still feeding near waterfall in harbour.

Short seawatch

A short seawatch from the back of the harbour late morning

Common Scoter - 2
Dunlin - 15 in
Sanderling - 3 in
Sandwich Tern - two fishing

Rock pipits feeding young at harbour, single rather furtive bird at the other site

Mottled Pug in trap

Reduced NW wind covwrage

Tidal state early am didn’t help

Sea for 15 mins
Sandwich Tern - 1
Common Scoter - 5
(Two Razorbills off JBP high tide)

Rock Pipits Still feeding young in nest

Nothing new Moth wise but another Pale Prominent - a darker individual than yesterday

Bits and bats

At least one possibly two Spotted Flycatcher in the Royal Hotel woodlands today.  A perhaps surprising SW wind flock of Arctic tern and an even more surprising male Teal out in the low tide channel.  Pete Crooks, Malcolm and Nick.

Arctic Skua - blogging dm off Heysham probably that going in off the SJ later
Arctic Tern - one flock of 37
Common Scoter - at least 450
Sandwich Tern - 5
Great-crested Grebe - 8 in low tide channel
Red-breasted Merg - 5 ditto
Little Egret - 8 ditto
Teal - male
Common Sandpiper - one on skeer

Spot Fly - at least one prob two Heysham Head
Rock pipits intensively feeding young, two further birds loitering along the north wall

Mammals
Grey Seal 2+

Moths
Pale Prominent, Green Carpet (rare here), Heart and Dart, Common Wave, Lime-speck Pug new for year

Black Guillemot, skuas and scoters

Pleasant seawatching conditions today with a light north-easterly, calmish seas and a background of cloud resulting in the following being seen from the harbour and later from Half Moon Bay:

Black Guillemot - 1 whizzed out past the wooden jetty at about 1010h
Common Scoter - many milling about near the turbines then they all took off and headed NW as the sky cleared. Minimum of 600.
Arctic Skua - 2+ 2 (see phonescoped photos below - Thanks to Chris Vaghela) These appeared nearer to high tide.
Arctic Tern - 64 in, 1 out
Sandwich Tern - 18 in, 1 out
Swallow - 4. Worryingly low numbers this year.
Red-breasted Merganser - 1 in
Grey Seal -4 floated in

Harbour
The Guillemot was still floating about.
Rock Pipit(s) busy feeding young in the nest.

Middleton
Returning Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat caught on the CES (Constant Effort Site - a scheme to assess adult survival rates and abundance of adults and juveniles). Will check ages and report later, most only survive for 2 years but the oldest recorded Whitethroat (which winters in west Africa) was 7.7 years and the oldest recorded Lesser Whitethroat (which winters in east Africa) was 9 years.

Now for the stars of today’s show as they progressed along the Bay:

Hanging in there pays off

A first for Lancashire today - a Rock Pipit observed carrying a faecal sac!   Next best were a couple of Pomarine Skuas sitting out the rain on the incoming tide and lifting and heading north east as it lifted.  Doesn’t get much better than that on a routine local patch day!

Sea 0620- 0820
Arctic Skua - dark morph up the close channel before the heavy rain at about 0635
Pomarine Skua - two light morph as described above about 0740
Gannet - 6 in
Common Scoter - 3 out, 7 in
Sandwich Tern - one (!) out
Swallow - 16 in
Red-breasted Merganser - two in

Rock Pipit - attending best with food and see above

Office
A few nets left up and produced migrant-wise a couple of long winged Willow Warbler and a passage Lesser Whitethroat

Mammals
Two Grey Seal

Butterflies
First Small Copper