Skuas still coming through and first Sanderling and Swift

The east wind freshened all day, ending up very strong by evening. Rain held off till late evening.

Seawatch report from Jean:

This morning's seawatch was disappointing. The easterly wind didn't result in the anticipated Arctic Terns, just Sandwich Terns again and one highlight in the form of a light morph Arctic Skua:

North Harbour Wall 0725-1000

Arctic Skua 1 in at 0815

Sandwich Tern 36 (all but 2 heading out of the Bay and 3 on the yellow buoy)

Sanderling 30 in (first record this year)

Common Scoter 15 in

Whimbrel 2 heading towards Red Nab

Red-breasted Merganser 2 prs floating in, the males displaying like mad

Swallow 11 

Linnet 3

Harbour porpoise 4

Rock Pipit displaying in the caged off area of the north wall

All this against a backdrop of noisily mating Lesser Black-back and Herring Gulls on the rooves of the Centrica and Petersen buildings. 

I checked the shore out from the saltmarsh on the rising tide (MD)

Saltmarsh:

Wheatear 2

Linnet 4

Whimbrel 2

Along rising waterline:

Shelduck 28

Oystercatcher c200

Curlew 14

Bar-Tailed Godwit 61, several in summer plumage.

Knot 2

Dunlin 7 in summer plumage 

This clip begins with the two Knot arriving, then some of the Godwits.

On these tides I just stand my ground and the tide brings the birds towards you. These are three of the Dunlin surrounded by Godwits, they eventually decide they are out of their depth. One of the godwits manages to grab the detachable tip of a lugworm tail.

Dunlin and a summer plumage male Bar-Tailed Godwit

Bar-Tailed Godwit

Inshore mud

Ringed Plover 12

Dunlin 93 (carefully counted, disappointingly added up to exactly 100 with the water's edge birds)

They were all feeding together, these are some of them.

One of four Little Egret on Red Nab - Janet

This 2nd calendar year Kittiwake, on their pipe in the harbour,
looks a bit bedraggled - Janet

It's Alder Leaf Beetle time again. There were 8 along the South harbour wall
Kevin Eaves

Heysham Head - Kevin Singleton 

Two displaying Rock Pipits

male and female Eider 

5 whimbrel 

2 little egret

male and female Wheatear 

Linnets too many to even guess 

I had a quick look on the skear this evening (MD). Birds (and seal) pretty much as yesterday. The east wind was very strong by this time, but there was a steady passage of 17 Swallow, being blown around like confetti as they struggled to get inshore.

Swift 1 flew over my house as I got home.(first record this year)

Plenty going on and lots of Sandwich going out!

A SE wind freshened slightly during the day. Plenty of sunshine.

Seawatch report from Jean:

Full list of what was seen on the seawatch from the North Harbour Wall from 0725 - 1000:

Pink-footed Goose 194 SW / out
Red-throated Diver 2 in, 1 out
Gannet 7 out, 2 in
Common Scoter 18 out
Guillemot 3 in 4 out
Sandwich Tern 163 out
Shelduck 12 out
Red-breasted Merganser 2 in
Bar-tailed Godwit 2 out
Little Egret 1 out
Eider 7 out

Swallow 121 N
Linnet 3 N
Carrion Crow 1 N

Can anyone cover the Heysham morning seawatching slot on Friday please? 7.30-9.30ish should be fine or even just an hour.  Thanks

I had a walk along the south shore late morning (MD)

Kittiwake 2 x 2nd calendar year on their pipe in the harbour.

No Turnstone today on the jetty.

Whimbrel 1 on Red Nab

Dunlin 1 summer plumage bird on Red Nab. It took ages to get a clear enough view to confirm species. Even then only a brief view.

Wheatear 8

Linnet 8 - this male was singing his heart out, unfortunately it is largely drowned out by the wind.

Janet checked Middleton Nature Reserve 

Common Sandpiper 

Little Grebe (dab chick)

Shelduck 

Grey Heron

Two clutches of Mallard chicks

Then Heysham Nature Reserve 

Female Speckled Wood

Male Orange Tip

Female Orange Tip

Nice healthy looking Rabit

Frog tadpoles

Water snail crawling and feeding under the water surface film

Heysham skear - low water 17:45 (MD)

Eider 52 (mainly males)

Red-breasted Merganser 9

Great Crested Grebe 6

Little Egret 5

Oystercatcher c1500

Curlew 2

Whimbrel 7 - this one thinks it has found a crab, and flies off to this quieter spot to eat it in peace. But it is just the shed external skeleton of a Hermit Crab. It is quickly discarded.

Bar-Tailed Godwit 37 feeding on sandbar on north side (none in summer plumage)

Turnstone 26 (24 in one flock)

Dunlin 15 in a distant flock

Swallow 9 in ones and twos

House Martin 2 together 

This seal has a flatfish, they are messy eaters and the gulls remain close.

Another good seawatch........and an opportunity to participate!

A light SE wind in the morning, becoming lighter and more varied after lunch. Largely overcast but dry.

Early check from Stone Jetty - Nick Godden

Just a short visit 6.25-7.20

Common scoter 11
Arctic tern 67 in one flock
Sandwich tern c. 40
Arctic skua 1 dark morph in

Seawatch report from Pete:

Heysham sea totals 0725-1015 intermittent: 

46 outbound sandwich tern, 

c50 Common scoter, 

5 Red Throated Diver - including a flock of 3 2cy

9 Manx Shearwater - including a flock of 7

2 Gannet

2 dark morph Arctic Skua - flying out distantly and landed out of sight on the sea and presumably floated in (possibly one of these the one seen by Nick)

8 Guillemot, 

3 Canada goose, 

35 swallow, 

65 ringed plover high to north.  

This Saturday there is an opportunity to join in with a LDBWS seawatch from Heysham Head. With expert guides. Open to non LDBWS members - see link below.

https://lancasterbirdwatching.org.uk/meeting/sat-6th-may-07-30-ldbws-field-meeting-heysham-head-morning-migrants/

I had a walk along the south shore 08:30 - 10:00 (MD)

Linnet 8

Wheatear 20 at least - I saw 11 on Ocean Edge grass/foreshore - but they must have been moving through quickly today, when Jean checked at 11:00 there was only 1, but at 14:45 there were another 10 seen by Kevin.

Male Wheatear

Rock Pipit 4 - 1 on Red Nab plus 3 bickering around the lighthouse 

Whimbrel 2 - both feeding along the wrack line, this one at the base of the foreshore rocks.

and this one along the base of the sloping sea wall

Shelduck 11 resting on mud

No sign of any Kittiwake today

Turnstone c100 roosting on wooden jetty

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Alan:

Ringing at Middleton today 05.30 to 10.45. Good conditions this morning with light SE'ish wind although fairly heavy cloud cover all round.

Blackbird 2

Sedge Warbler 7

Common Whitethroat 2

Lesser Whitethroat 6 + 1 retrap

Garden Warbler 2

Willow Warbler 3 retraps

Lesser Redpoll 2

Blackcap 2

Great Tit 1

Greenfinch 1

Chiffchaff 1

Wren 1

Long-tailed Tit1

Dunnock 1

Tree Pipit 1

Blue tit 1 retrap

Extended seawatch pays dividends

A light west wind freshened in the afternoon. Mainly sunny after an overcast start.

Report from Pete Crooks:

A 5 hour sea-watch (7.15 am – 12.15 pm) – I hadn’t expected to stay that long, but every time I thought about going something would appear to maintain my interest.

7 Arctic Skua – 1 dark morph flew out at 7.21 am.
– 1 dark morph flew in, landed on the sea beyond the two buoys and floated in from 8.15 am.
– 1 light morph flew in, gaining height at 8.32 am.
– 2 dark morph flew in together, relatively close inshore and flew off over Heysham Head at 10.27 am. Presumably the same 2 dark morph then flew back from the direction of Heysham Head at 10.43 am, landed on the sea near the two buoys and gradually flew short distances / floated out on the ebbing tide.
– 2 (1 dark morph and 1 light morph) flew in together and continued past Heysham Head at 11.38 am.

2 Velvet Scoter – flew in at 8.27 am – seen while trying to keep track of the morning’s second Arctic Skua as it floated in.

480 Common Scoter – mostly flying out between 7.15 and 10.00 am, including groups of 25, 100, 89, 35, 40 and several groups of 10-20.

100+ Kittiwake – groups of 3, 38 and 35 flew into the Bay, while a group of c.100 flew out at 11.54 am. This latter group probably included an earlier very distant group of c.40 flying part way out then landing on the sea.

20 Arctic Tern – groups of 3, 15 and 2 flying in

Gannet – 2 flew across the mouth of the Bay
Manx Shearwater – 3 flew across the mouth of the Bay at 11.25 am, during a brief deterioration in visibility
Guillemot – 2 floated in separately, but no auks seen in flight
Red-throated Diver – 1 flew in, 3 flew out
Sandwich Tern – 9 regularly flying back and forth closer inshore than most of the other species
Gadwall – 4 flew in at 9.15 am – a Heysham sea-watch first for me!
House Martin – 3 flew in over the sea – the morning’s only hirundines.
Whimbrel – 2 flew in
Rock Pipit – 1 along the sea-wall
Grey Seal – 1 offshore

Pete C (with Tom Walkington from 9.30 am onwards)

I had a walk along the south shore towards 09:30 high water (MD)

Some of the adult Kittiwake flying in. A 2nd calendar year was on their pipe in the harbour

Carrion Crow 15 flew in off at Ocean edge.

Some of the Carrion Crows coming in off the sea

Wheatear 14 (11 along foreshore plus 3 near lighthouse)

Linnet 15

Rock Pipit 4 (1 on Red Nab, 3 between lighthouse and waterfall).

Dunnock -  It was singing near the waterfall, not far from where a pair of Linnet are nesting, this is a new bird here this spring.

Shelduck 2

Bar-Tailed Godwit 27 near Red Nab

Curlew 11 out

Whimbrel 3 out

Whimbrel 

Shag 1 x 2nd calendar year. This clip shows it flying to its roost on the wooden jetty. But it came to rest somewhere out of sight, not where I normally see Shag resting on the jetty (the clip ends at an empty section of jetty where I was expecting it to land).

2nd calendar year Shag

Heysham Nature Reserve

Janet has got her camera back

The Common Scoter had moved on from Middleton this morning.

Heysham skear - low water 16:25 (MD)

There was very little on the sea and nothing passing over.

Eider c40

Great Crested Grebe 2

Even less variety of waders, just:

Oystercatcher c2,500

Whimbrel 23

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1

There were lots of Herring gulls. There were 600+ feeding on the seed mussels plus others waiting on the sea. This is a typical scene.

I noticed something this evening, which is probably contributing to the spread of the Honeycomb worm beds. The gulls were choosing to browse on the seed mussels that were forming on top of of the honeycomb worm beds. The mussels will be easier to dislodge from the sand based substrate. Left untouched the mussels would almost certainly regain the areas currently occupied by the honeycomb worms, they may still, but the gulls are favouring the growth of the honeycomb worm beds.

Tight packed seed mussels forming on the skear bottom, where the gulls are not currently feeding

Miserable weather, but still plenty of interest

A south wind, quite fresh at times. The rain started just after 07:00 and continued till early evening

Report from Pete Crooks:

Heysham North Harbour Wall – A 30 minute sea-watch (6.50 – 7.20 am) in light drizzle turning to steady rain:

4 Sandwich Tern – on black & yellow buoy

1 Gannet – flew in

6 Swallow – flew NE offshore

1 Rock Pipit on sea wall

Possibly some slight overlap with Nick Godden's seawatch from the Stone Jetty:

6.15-8.20. A bit of seabird movement which stopped soon after the rain set in, and a few grounded passerines

Red-throated diver 15 in
Shelduck 16 in
Common scoter 58
Red-breasted merganser 6
Gadwall 2
Sandwich tern 24
Common tern 2
Arctic tern 5
Dunlin 8
Whimbrel 16
Turnstone 2
Swallow 21 NE
Wheatear 10
Willow warbler 2
Blackcap 1 f

I had a walk along the south shore (MD). The forecast "light rain" had just started and predictably there were more Wheatears than usual grounded.

Wheatear 20 minimum - there were 12 along Ocean Edge foreshore, then as I walked along the sea wall there was a "light" cloudburst! Kevin Eave's weather station recorded it at 12mm/hr. When I arrived at the small patch of scrub near the lighthouse it was full of soaked birds, including at least 8 more wheatear.

By this time we were back to light rain and the birds set about getting themselves dry and taking an opportunity to feed before continuing north.

Also around this small area were:

Warblers 3 - at least 2 and probably all 3 Willow Warbler

Rock Pipit 3

Robin 1

Wren 1 

Presumably at least one of the Rock Pipits and likely the Wren and Robin were residents trying to see off the new comers.

This is a wet Willow Warbler doing its best to get dry in the rain.

Rock Pipit and Wheatears

In total there were 5 Rock Pipits. 1 above waterfall and 1 on Red Nab.

Shelduck 23 resting on mud out from the foreshore 

Bar-Tailed Godwit 28 near Red Nab

Whimbrel 1 in

It was still only 09:15, and I knew I wouldn't be getting out again today, so I decided to call in for a quick check of the two main ponds at Middleton. 

Mute Swan - breeding pair plus 5 x 2nd calendar year 

Shelduck 2

Greylag Goose 2

Greylag Geese on the main pond

Mallard 2 males plus a female, still with 9 chicks.

Common Scoter 1 female - whether she was brought down by the very heavy shower or she arrived overnight can't be known, but I suspect the continuing rain and associated absence of visitors was the reason that she, and the Greylag were still around. We had one here last April, but as far as I know these are the only two inshore records for this species in the recording area. 

Female Common Scoter, with rainwater running off the duck's back.

Unlike last year's bird however, today's bird was feeding.

In common with last year's bird, she was constantly head bobbing, I wondered then if it was related to her drinking freshwater for the first time in months? She was certainly having sips of water.

The Scoter was still there, and still head bobbing, when I checked in passing this evening at 20:10 (isn't it nice having light evenings!)

Coot 2

Moorhen 2

Swallow 5

House Martin 2

Both the above feeding low over the main pond.

Cetti's warbler 2 singing

Jo Bailey posted a comment on yesterday's post (it was Jo who took the clip of the Grasshopper Warbler - thanks). Comments are always welcomed, but unless you include a contact email of phone number, there is no mechanism to reply. Jo wondered where the ringing takes place at Middleton. The answer is in the central marshes. But these areas are not accessible to visitors, as unnecessary disturbance can ruin a session. (Malcolm)

Something for everyone

A light predominantly SE breeze in the morning switched to the NW by lunchtime. A couple of light morning showers.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from John:

Three nets set at Middleton this morning, and although only seventeen birds were caught over a four-hour period, they comprised a nice selection :

Lesser Redpoll        x3

Willow Warbler       x2

Sedge Warbler        x2 including one, which was first ringed as a young bird in 2020.

Bullfinch                   x2 

Blackcap                   x2

Garden Warbler        x1

Cettis Warbler         x1

Lesser Whitethroat    x1

Grasshopper Warbler  x1

Robin                             x1

Dunnock                        x1

Report from Pete:

Sea Heysham 0700-0850:

Red-Throated Diver 1

Manx Shearwater 2

Guillemot 2

Common scoter 1

Arctic tern 1

Sandwich tern 17

Swallow 52

House martin 2

Whimbrel 10

Goosander 1 male.  

All inbound - vis poor with eg main scoter line not visible. 

Bar-Tailed Godwit 40 on mud by Red Nab at high water

I had a walk along the south shore 07:30 -09:00 (MD). 

Shelduck 12 - 8 east and 4 in

Eider 2 males, one on harbour mouth and one in.

I managed 8 Whimbrel and 2 Sandwich Tern, but probably already included in Pete's count.

Wheatear 4

Linnet 4 (all males)

Rock Pipit 4 - 1 on Red Nab, 2 near lighthouse and 1 above the waterfall.

Rock Pipit above the lighthouse nest hole

Talking of nest sites, the female Carrion Crow is now sitting on their nest on the wooden jetty. We do not normally reveal the precise location of nest sites, but it would be a keen egg collector indeed to scale the wooden jetty (there is no longer a connection to shore).

Female Carrion crow on nest, visible from the lighthouse.
 The male was resting further along the jetty

No sign of any Kittiwakes today

Kevin Eaves heard singing male:

Sedge Warbler in the scrub directly behind Red Nab

Lesser Whitethroat in the Nature Park

Angela Gillion relocated the singing Grasshopper Warbler near the go kart track (see post 27/04/23 for location). And was clearly delighted when she also managed to see him.

A nice clip, particularly with a mobile phone.