Inshore Skuas, including Bonxie

The wind started SW but swung to WNW by lunchtime. Heavy showers in the morning with increasing sunshine after lunch

Seawatch report from Pete:

Sea early incoming tide Heysham north wall: 

Nothing inbound after sandbanks covered despite strengthening SW wind; all skuas and terns outbound: 

Bonxie (Great Skua) 1

Arctic Skua two dark morph

Gannet 20 (including seasonally unexpected 2Cy)

Sandwich tern 11

Arctic tern 7 & 3

Common Scoter 2

Kittiwake 16 & 1

At least five wheatear gate 38 road. 

South Shore (MD)

Just a quick check from Saltmarsh to Red Nab mid morning - it had just started tipping down - there were lots grounded!

Wheatear 21

Linnet 8

Rock Pipit 2

Greenfinch 4

Willow Warbler 1

Common Whitethroat  1

Sedge Warbler 1

The above three in saltmarsh scrub

This Wheatear has obviously pinched the Linnet's preferred shelter

They were relegated to second choice shelter

An afternoon walk along the sea wall in the sunshine:

Wheatear at least 20 visible from Red Nab including the first 100m of foreshore. Plus another 7 on the scrub near Lighthouse . So absolute minimum number today 33.

Whinchat - surprisingly, after yesterday's high numbers, just 1 male with the Wheatears near the lighthouse.

Shag 1 2nd calendar year on wooden jetty 

Rock Pipit 1

Willow Warbler 1 near waterfall 

Linnet 4 between Lighthouse and waterfall 

From Pete - juvenile Woodpigeon, already - Knowlys Rd

Another good variety of birds

The light wind started from east then moved down to SSE by mid afternoon, by late afternoon it had moved to SW. A few showers in the morning stopped around 11:00. The high cloud remained with some hazy sunshine.

Seawatch etc report from Pete (M)

Marsh harrier 1 female type north up Kent channel

flock 39 Arctic tern

1-2 dark morph Arctic Skua

2 Gannet

17 Sandwich Tern 

2 Wheatear on the north wall

Garden Warbler on singing along Moneyclose lane

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Jean's ringing session included this feamle Common Redstart

Female Common Redstart 

South shore 

I had a walk along just as the last shower was ending (MD) there were 4 Wheatear and 1 male Whinchat plus at least one other Whinchat on the east side of Red Nab. Pete had already checked before the shower and there were no Wheatear or Whinchat then, so obviously brought down by the rain. On my return at 12:20, there were still 4 Wheatear but now 2 female Whinchat.

Female Whinchat 

This clip shows front and profile views of the other female.

But the rain had brought others down and they were consolidating at Red Nab. Alan Physick initially had 4 then, later, 9, possibly 11 Whinchat! Plus at least 10 Wheatear.

Only one Whinchat remained after the wind had shifted to the west.

Whimbrel 8

Curlew 1

Common Sandpiper 3 (1 + 2 together)

Rock Pipit 4 - the one on the saltmarsh was obviously "drawing me away" from where presumably it has a nest site. It kept landing just in front of me looking submissive, then moving on as I approached.

Linnet 2 on saltmarsh, 6 near lighthouse - this is one of the saltmarsh birds having a bath in a rainwater puddle.

Grey seal 1 female between the outflows, 1 male drifting toward the north wall buoys.

Also from Alan - Singing male Grasshopper warbler  in fenced off cable farm area on path to Red nab this evening (plus Middleton Nature Reserve bird singing)

Heysham skear

The Osprey did not return this evening, there wasn't even a Peregrine to break the tranquility, if anywhere can be tranquil with 2000 Oystercatcher and 400+ Large gulls!

Eider 40

Great Crested Grebe 4 - 2 displaying 

Red-breasted Merganser 8

Whimbrel 6

Turnstone 5

Common Sandpiper 2

A good morning seawatch and a nice Osprey nightcap

 Light variable winds starting north then drifting to west, high clouds with some weak sunshine, 

Seawatch report by Pete Crooks:

An adult Puffin relatively close inshore (inside the yellow buoys) gradually drifted past the North Harbour Wall towards Heysham Head between 10.40 and 11.10 am on the incoming tide.

Puffin - picture by Andrew McCafferty

Arctic Tern – A total of 116 in a series of widely spaced flocks were seen gaining height (with some disappearing into the sky before reaching the yellow buoys): 62 at 8.28 am, 9 at 9.24 am, 15 at 10.10 am (including 10 repeatedly landing on the flat calm sea) and 30 at 10.30 am. 

Kittiwake – a single tight-knit flock of 60 flew in while gaining height at 8.28 am (when the first Arctic Terns appeared).

Gannet – A total of c.33, including a high flying group of c. 15, then 6 + 3 + 8 + 1.

Also: 3 Sandwich Tern, 46 Eider and 8 Red-breasted Merganser in the first channel
34 Swallow – in groups of up to 5 low over the sea
2 Rock Pipit along the North Harbour Wall
1 Grey Seal
1 Harbour Porpoise – visible thanks to the calm sea surface

Additional records from Andrew McCafferty:

Red-Throated Diver 1 in

7 common scoter also in

1 Guillemot going out, all before high tide

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Greylag goose 2

Grasshopper Warbler reeling - same location as yesterday, towards the Tim Butler pond

South shore (MD)

Linnet 2 pairs around the saltmarsh plus 8, seemingly in pairs between the lighthouse and the waterfall.

Rock Pipit 3 one each at the lighthouse and waterfall, but no sign of the ringed male. 1 along the sea wall

Wheatear 2 

Shag 2nd calendar year on the wooden jetty 

Whimbrel just 2 

Common Sandpiper 2 together along the sea wall.

Common Sandpiper, well camouflaged amongst the wrack covered rocks

Easier to see when they move

This is just a clip of them flying down towards No.2 outflow.

Heysham skear (MD)

Low water wasn't till 19:50, I went down at 17:30

Shag 1 2nd calendar year feeding on the north side, presumably the bird on the jetty this morning

Eider 26

Red-breasted Merganser 5

Great Crested Grebe 3

Little Egret 13

Grey Heron 1

Whimbrel 6

Dunlin 17

No Turnstone 

Peregrine 1

Osprey 1 - at 18:00 all the gulls and Oystercatcher went up, I knew a large "predator" was about and suspected an Osprey, but I couldn't find it! Turned out it was just a distant speck about 1km north of the skear. Even when it got a little closer, it was difficult to get my camera on it and keep in focus.

This is it scanning the shallow lake just north of the skear.
There are about 20 large gulls just behind, but it managed to keep scanning.

Fortunately, I managed to keep a clip in focus long enough to show the dive and capture.

These are some stills from the above clip

Just before hitting the water

Caught a reasonable sized flattie (plaice or flounder)

I like this clip, as it shakes the water off its feathers before flying off with its catch, followed by some of the gulls.

This time last year when I saw an Osprey feeding here, it returned the following day. If we are to get a repeat performance tomorrow, it could be any time after about 17:45.

Still some stuff through the gloom

Light SSE wind with very fine rain reducing visibility. By evening the rain stopped and the breeze drifted to SSW, before easing to nothing.

Seawatch report from Pete:

Sea 0820-0920: Bit of sea action off north wall despite poor and variable vis: 

dark Arctic Skua out

4 Arctic tern

blogging Common Tern

5-7 Sandwich Tern

4 Gannet

a couple of Whimbrel in 40 mins.  Then nothing for rest of hour other than 5 swallow in poor vis. 

Earlier Pete Crooks had

two Common Sandpiper

one Wheatear.  

No coverage by me of anywhere else other than north wall

Grasshopper Warbler reeling on Middleton Nature Reserve - ref Janet

South shore mid morning on rising tide (MD)

Wheatear 1

Little Egret 3

Whimbrel 7 (1,1,2,1,2) moved from feeding areas by rising tide, most ended up on Red Nab

No other waders except for Oystercatcher 

Rock Pipit just 1 on Red Nab, no sign of lighthouse birds

Linnet 7 near lighthouse including one female collecting nest material. There have been two on territory a while.

This Lesser Blacked-Backed gull was also collecting nest material.

Shag 1 2nd calendar year on wooden jetty 

Grey Seal 1 out from harbour mouth

The persistent light rain encouraged this Sea Slater to make a hazardous crossing of the sea wall.

Heysham skear - low water 19:25 

Eider c50

Great Crested Grebe 4

Red-breasted Merganser 6

Shag 1 2nd calendar year - this clip starts with the Shag, two Merganser and two Eider, within a few seconds they are all gone!

c400 large gulls, mainly Herring feeding on the seed mussels

Whimbrel 8

Turnstone c120

Dunlin 1

Little Egret 9

Grey Heron 1

Carrion Crow 12

Grey Seal 1 - I like this clip, this seal is eating a fish, meanwhile the fishermen are oblivious to it!

This shot is from an angle that will not familiar to most of you. The two buoys are the two out from the north wall. Obviously Blackpool Tower in the background, the "mushrooms" between the buoys are the return water outlets discharging the water from the water treatment plant near Middleton Nature Reserve.

Pomarine Skua tops the seawatch

The light winds started SE before swinging through south and ending up WSW by evening. The morning sun eventually gave way to light rain in the afternoon.

Seawatch report from Pete:

Sea Heysham: 

Adult summer plumage Little Gull

Adult light morph Pomarine Skua - picked out flying out (having floated in unseen on the sea?) just beyond the buoys then went further out before turning and gaining height whence flew towards the wooden jetty when I lost it behind fences.  At 0920, Dave Hawkins, who missed it high in the sky due to communication problems, picked it up flying low past him roughly down the shipping lane.  Didn’t fly back in again by 1100hrs. Presumably after the initial sighting, dropped down on the sea Lune deeps area and carried back in by the incoming tide

3 Arctic Skua

51 in Arctic Tern in 6 flocks

c35 Sandwich Tern

Guillemot

Kittiwake 2cy

12 Gannet

24 Common Scoter

8  Whimbrel.  

Hard work with a lot of birds flying high and fixed Half horizon wide angled scope not covering the flight zone.  Rewarded though!  

Also:

126 Eider

4 Great Crested Grebe (one flew in north wall, 3 in channel)

10 Red-breasted Merganser (3 flew in north wall, 7 on channel) 

6 Canada goose

c60 Swallow

2 Redpoll in 

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Alan:On my arrival at 05.30 I was a little surprised to find a sharp grass frost although this quickly cleared. The sky was very clear and a SE breeze got up by about 09.30 although the promised cloud cover did not really materialise. The catch was modest and comprised 

7 Willow Warblers

3 Lesser Redpoll

and singles of Robin, Common Whitethroat, Long tailed Tit, Great Tit and Reed Bunting.

There are plenty of warblers apparently on territory now. Only three Swallows were seen moving northwards. Two Kestrels were hunting over the reserve.

Janet took these shots of some of the Swallow moving through Middleton Nature Reserve.

Swallow

This shot of a Lesser Black-backed gull was taken by Kevin Eaves yesterday, on the Near Naze.

Lesser Black-backed gull in nice contrast to the bright blue sea.
The sea here is only this blue on calm days or easterly winds.
Neither of which disturb the inshore sediments.

Lots passing through, then the wind turned

 Light NE wind to begin with, but by lunchtime it had moved to west and freshened and more NW by evening.

Seawatch report from Pete:

Sea Heysham: 

133 Arctic tern in 12 small flocks

1 Common Tern

c50 Sandwich Tern plus 25 south of harbour

4 Teal in

6 Red-breasted Merganser in

15 Gannet

200 plus swallow - sample 75 in 20 mins. Main swallow line was in off near Red nab 

2 sand martin

1 house martin

7 2cy Mute Swan in

In scrub on north wall: 

2 female whinchat

2 willow warbler

one brief glimpse of prob grasshopper warbler.  

Big wheatear ocean edge. 

In addition two Arctic Skua LM singly past Stone jetty

South Shore - high water 11:20 (MD)

Almost breathless when I started but light westerly by the return walk

Whimbrel 8

Redshank 1

Turnstone 1

Dunlin c50 in one flock in

Wheatear 2 - not noticeably large

Common Sandpiper 1 feeding along sea wall

Common Sandpiper

The tide was still rising and the sandpiper was catching the insects displaced by the tide.

Just cutting trough the Nature Park from Red Nab located.

Singing Warblers:

Common Whitethroat 1

Lesser Whitethroat 1

Blackcap 2

Willow Warbler 2

Chiffchaff 1

Butterflies:

Small Tortoiseshell 4

Orange Tip 3 male

Brimstone 1 male - here it is drinking nectar

Some nice shots from Kevin Singleton:

Rock Pipit - Near Naze

Common Whitethroat - Middleton Nature Reserve 

Male OrangeTip - Middleton Nature Reserve 

Heysham skear - low water 18:20 (MD)

Pete advised that the wind swinging round to the west would mean no passage terns tonight, and so it proved. Still it was a pleasant walk.

Eider 38

Red-breasted Merganser 6

Little Egret 7

Apart from the Oystercatchers, the only waders were:

Whimbrel 14

Turnstone 2

Knot 1

A solo Knot always looks strange

The large gulls (predominantly Herring) have started feeding on the seed mussels, there were c150 in this group, not all in the clip, plus a similar sized group further out.

The seed mussels are still tiny and embedded in mud.
There is very little meat in these seed mussels, the gulls will have to eat a lot of them.

One advantage, for the remaining waders at least, of having lots of gulls around, is that they do not tolerate the Peregrines.

Female Holly Blue on Moneyclose Lane - from Janet

Plenty going on

The light easterlies continue, ESE in morning NE by evening. High cloud with little sunshine.

Seawatch report from Pete:

Sea this am: 

Arctic Tern: 18 plus perhaps the same 8 into the Bay then distantly out then back in, 

Arctic Skua - two DM together (also seen SJ)

Common Scoter 30

Sandwich Tern c25

Red-throated Diver 3

Black Tern 1 (also seen SJ)

Swift 1

Swallow 5

Whimbrel 3

96 Eider

2cy Shag

3 Red-breasted Merganserlow tide channel

Ringing reports:

Middleton Nature Reserve - John.

Three nets were set at Middleton this morning, with not a very large catch, but a reasonable selection, with a first Grasshopper Warbler for the year being caught.

The catch comprised:

Willow Warbler          5 new and 1 retrap

Sedge Warbler            2

Goldfinch                    2 

Lesser Whitethroat     1

Grasshopper Warbler  1

Cetti's Warbler             1 retrap

Blackcap                      1

Dunnock                      1 retrap

Whitethroat                 1

The retrap Willow Warbler was ringed initially at Middleton in 2018 as a young bird.

Heysham Nature Reserve - Jean

Meanwhile at Heysham NR I caught 

Willow warbler 3

Lesser Whitethroat 1

Blackcap 1

Song Thrush 1

And it felt flippin freezing! 

South shore on ebbing tide (MD)

Wheatear 3

Rock Pipit 3 - Red Nab, Lighthouse. The bird that appears to only have one leg is still around, today between the lighthouse and the waterfall. But it does have two legs, presumably something is wrong with the right one. If you watch this clip carefully (near the beginning) you can see it try to correct its balance with its right foot.

Whimbrel 3 on Red Nab

Turnstone 1 one Red Nab and none on the wooden jetty. The only other waders seen were the Oystercatchers.

Heysham skear - low water 17:45 (MD)

White Wagtail 1 male flew north from promenade 

Pink-Footed goose 1 looking bedraggled on the shoreline 

Eider only 40 close in but the outer channels not checked.

Red-breasted Merganser 7

Shag 1 2nd calendar year seen flying to north side to feed. This clip is actually from yesterday, but this is the same area where it was feeding today.

Sandwich Tern 12 feeding

Arctic Tern 40 north 17:30

Whimbrel 6

Turnstone again the only other wader apart from Oystercatcher, and again just one seen on the skear. But c100 flew in from the south and started feeding amongst the rocks near the promenade.

From Kevin:

The sea wall continuous to deliver the goods ....... 

in this case a lovely little Figwort Weevil.

I certainly find this little creature interesting, and it has striking features, but I'm not sure that I could bring myself to call it "lovely" (MD)

More Puffins and an exciting evening passage

The ENE light wind continues moving more to NE by evening. High cloud with plenty of sunshine.

Morning seawatch report from Pete:

Stone jetty this am had a flock of three Arctic Skua which descended from height before heading up the Bay towards the Kent Estuary 

Also:

one flock of 31 Arctic tern after we left Heysham.  

We ‘only’ had a couple of Puffin, two dark morph Arctic Skua 

and low single figures of

Red-throated Diver

Common Scoter

Whimbrel.  

Only 10-15 Sandwich Tern.  

Pair of Canada Geese on mudflats off Red nab 

Heysham skear - low water 17:00 (MD)

Eider c60

Great Crested Grebe 2

Red-breasted Merganser 9

Little Egret 5

Whimbrel 11

Shag 1 2nd calendar year 

Kittiwake 2 flocks 24 and 11 flew into the bay before circling higher. One flock left east over Heysham Head, the other also headed east towards the harbour, but may have turned south and headed out.

Some of the Kittiwake gaining height

This is the larger group circling before, later, disappearing over Heysham Head, again they could have turned south later and headed back out.

Sandwich Tern 2 feeding

Arctic Tern 161, three flocks 65, 32, and 83 plus one hung around to feed

Arctic Terns

The first two flocks flew along the channels and gained a bit of height before crossing the skear, then dropped again and continued into the bay. The third flock was as the tide was flooding. They came in low, but quite close to the shore. When they approached the skear, they lifted high and kept getting higher. I lost them high to the east, but it wasn't clear which way they actually continued. This clip is where they started lifting, pretty much over my head. One of nature's special moments! I stopped filming and just watched.

Janet took this shot of the first Cinnabar moth of the year on Knowlys Rd

Puffin through

The wind was much lighter than of late, but still predominantly from ENE. Plenty of sunshine.

Seawatch report from Pete:

Heysham: 0700-0930 on and off: 

2cy Shag on wooden jetty 

2 Puffin

2 Razorbill

4 Razorbill/Guillemot 

c35 Sandwich Tern

57 Arctic Tern

104 in 52 out Common Scoter

13 Whimbrel

7 Red throated Diver

1 male  Goosander

18 Dunlin in

Also:

Singing male Garden warbler HNR

3 Rook over HNR.

Janet also had a look around Heysham Nature Reserve 

Large Red Damselflies 

Grey Heron

Female Orange Tip
Both the two pictures above from a couple of days ago, but both also  present today.

I spent a fascinating day with a geologist around Heysham Head, so my only records today are from there (MD).

Whimbrel 4

Wheatear 2

White Wagtail 1 female

Rock Pipits 3

Sandwich Tern 2 feeding in the afternoon 

100+ terns including Black and Arctic

The wind was much lighter today, but still mainly ENE. High cloud with some sunshine and very light afternoon showers.

Seawatch report from Jean:

0700-1000:

Arctic Skua 1 in at 0925hrs

Black Tern 1 in at 0828hrs

Arctic Tern 9 in ( none till 0828 and largest group was 3!)

Sandwich Tern 95 in (eventually)

Auk sp 4 

Common Scoter 79 in, 71 out but given their locations and timings probably different birds

Red-throated Diver 1 out

Black-headed Gull 42 in

Dunlin 30 in

Knot 140 in

Shelduck 6 on the water

Swallow 4 

Two distant white things resembled Little Egrets  flying into the Bay.

Wheatear 1 at Ocean Edge

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Alan:

The forecast for this morning with clear sky and NE breeze did not promise any migrants.  However, after a week of poor conditions and blustery winds we were keen to get out and set some nets.

The catch was much as expected, that is very low numbers, but rescued by two groups of four and three Lesser Redpolls.

Lesser Redpoll  7

Willow Warbler  2

Blackcap  1

Sedge Warbler  1

Goldfinch  1

Dunnock  1 retrap

Long tailed Tit  1 plus 1 retrap

Plenty of warblers taking up residence but little overhead movement noted. Seven Swallows flew low over the reserve northwards.  Better conditions for migrants expected later this week.

I had a walk around mid morning (MD)

Mute 2 pairs, no sign of the Tim Butler pond bird.

Greylag goose 2

Shelduck 1

Coot 4

Moorhen 3

Mallard 5 (1 female)

Gadwall 1 male

Swallow 9, minimal overlap if any with Alan's.

As Alan said, there were plenty of warblers on territory. The following heard singing:

Cetti's, Willow, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Sedge, Lesser Whitethroat and Common Whitethroat 

Singing male Common Whitethroat 

What Alan didn't say was that it was cold! Only two butterflies seen, a Small Tortoiseshell and this Green-veined White.

Green-veined White

Heysham skear - low water 14:45

Eider c80 close in

Red-breasted Merganser 6

Little Egret 3

Swallow 2

Waders:

Oystercatcher c2,000

Curlew 1

Whimbrel 8

Redshank c10

Turnstone c100

Dunlin c120

The light was better for seeing the Dunlin today, but their current plumage (half way to summer plumage) is a perfect match for the skear. They trust their camouflage and just move out of your way as you walk by.

Sandwich Tern just two of this morning's passage remained. They had been preening, but the tide had turned and they were getting ready to go off to feed.

Just a quick evening check from the north wall located

Shag 1 2nd calendar year 

Sandwich Tern 1

Swallow 2

Just out of the recording area - Heysham Moss Nature Reserve 

Yesterday's fire was very destructive. This shot from Janet is just some of the devastation.

Reuben had to call the fire brigade again as some areas were still smouldering down into the peat, and could easily have flared up again. As Reuben said, all a bit depressing!

On a brighter note Janet managed to spot 4 Roe Deer in an area not affected by the fire.

Female Roe Deer