Yet another extremely quiet day at Heysham today. No wind, very hot and the only birds were walking on 2 feet on the beach in clothes, mostly with their dogs

Only real surprise was a flock of Knot of 26 birds on the mussel beds near the point, which flew off on the incoming tide north west. Also had a surprise Bullfinch near the car park near the beach in the trees, a new site species for me and I think this takes me to 120 species for the site now in the last 9 months, so I can't complain too much for a quiet 4-5 weeks or so . The low tide was around 1030hrs and high tide 1630hrs. All observations made between 0900hrs and 1530hrs:

Eider 1
Red-breasted Merganser 2
Oystercatcher 120+
Knot 26
Ringed Plover 2
Sandwich Tern 1
Swallow 5
House Martin 4
Meadow Pipit 2
Whitethroat 2
Chiffchaff 1
Linnet 8+
Bullfinch 1

Back next week, hopefully quieter people-wise and busier bird-wise!

Out in rather cooler weather at Heysham this morning for 6 hours of surveys over the high tide. In comparison to recent weeks I had a relatively good day, with several new site ticks (Fulmar and Sanderling). As you may have noticed Heysham has not had a particularly productive spring in terms of any species this spring, so I'm hoping a late flurry may occur this week and maybe next!?!?. The weather was overcast with a couple of 5 minute spells of light rain, very light winds from the East and a high tide around 10:00. All observations made between 0730hrs and 1400hrs:

Gannet 2
Fulmar 1
Shelduck 3
Common Scoter 12
Eider 1
Oystercatcher 30+
Sanderling 1 (spring plumage like the one in last months mystery bird competition !!)
Ringed Plover 5 (now 4 resident birds, 1 pair with chicks)
Wheatear (nominate race)
Swallow 20+
Swift 1
House Martin 2
Meadow Pipit 2
Linnet 8+

Looking forward to getting back on Thursday, I think a bit of rain is forecast, so hoping somthing might drop out of the sky for me!?

Very cold start this morning, but warmed slightly as wind moved to a southerly, bringing sunshine bu midday, but air still cool than normal for May. As with other days oflight winds at Heysham and no showers little if any movements on the sea, but birds of note seen below from 0730hrs to 1400hrs:

Red-throated Diver 1
Shelduck 4
Eider 3
Kestrel 1
Oystercatcher 70+
Dunlin (10 in briefly, then straight out)
Whimbrel 3
Ringed Plover 3 (1 resident, 2 in and out with Dunlin)
Kittiwake 35 (in with tide)
Swallow 10+
Swift 5
Meadow Pipit 2
Linnet 14+

After surveys today I went up into the hills of Lancs (purposely withholding location) with Pete Marsh from the Heysham Observatory. Never been up there before, what a lovely area. I was helping a little to check on a few nest boxes, counting eggs and checking what species were sitting in which boxes etc. Some really nice views of Pied Flycatchers on eggs, Blue Tits in boxes staring up whilst sitting tight and others, but sadly a local Tawny Owl nest was too close to the floor and had been predated the night before, probably by a fox, with only downy feathers left of the young birds, shame! So many Curlews up there too. Didn't have a lot of time up there today, but with Wood Warbler, Redstart, Whinchat and others breeding I'm looking forward to my next visit .

Again, it was another pretty quiet day at Heysham despite a mid strength Westerly and South Westerly wind throughout. Cloudy all day, but rain held off, as did most of the birds:

Gannet 3
Red-throated Diver 1
Great Crested Grebe 7
Shelduck 4
Eider 7
Common Scoter 2
Red-breasted Merganser 2
Oystercatcher 350+
Turstone 200 (Still no sign of Purple Sandpiper, possibly migrated now?)
Curlew 1
Bar-tailed Godwit 2 (both in stunning summer plumage )
Whimbrel 5+
Ringed Plover 1
Sandwich tern 2
Swallow 2
Meadow Pipit 1
Wheatear 1
Linnet 6

2 Arctic Skuas were observed mid morning by another observer, with a few more gannets too, but I was doing surveys at a different spot. Hopefully will pick up again on my visit next week!?

What a difference a month makes heh. My last day surveying in Heysham was 19th March, today was 24th March and what a difference. No jacket needed for a start, but the assemblage of birds has contracted sharply from that of a month ago, with migrants aplenty and many of the wintering birds now reduced to small flocks or non-existant at all Surveys today split between the beach of Half Moon Bay and the Point/Sand Mound of the North Harbour Wall:

Half Moon Bay beach 9:45-12:45 and 14:15-17:15hrs

Shelduck 2
Eider 45+
Common Scoter 40+
Red-breasted Merganser 2
Whimbrel 2 (north)
Oystercatcher 500+
Turnstone 20+
Common Sandpiper (north)
Arctic Tern 100+ (out in bay from south, feeding for time then to NW)
Sandwich Tern 2
Swallow 99 (north)
House Martin 3 (north)
White Wagtail 8(north)
Meadow Pipit 20+ (north)
Tree Pipit 1 (north)
Linnet 2
Twite 3 (NE)

The Point, North Harbour Wall 13:00-14:00hrs

Shelduck 1
Eider 2
Common Scoter 40+ (same flock as above)
Whimbrel 6 (on flats south of Outflow)
Oystercatcher 45+
Turnstone 300 (highest count for there)
Common Sandpiper 1
Arctic Skua (dark morph - on water 0.5km to NW, flew off NE towards Kent estuary/Jenny Brown's Point)
Arctic Tern 80 (on sandbank, then flew off to NW)
Sandwich Tern 6
Little Tern 3 (from NE, flew towards Point, then off to NW)
Swallow 24 (north)
White Wagtail 3 (north)
Meadow Pipit 6+ (north)

A very sunny day with little wind from Northerly in morning and the a Southerly from midday. Also Blackcap and Chiffchaff heard from beach, but not much landing in beach and fields as lots of people and dogs today, it was a lovely saturday afterall, still back there for two more days this week, so hopefully less disturbance and a southerly wind and a bit of cloud might bring me something to watch in close quarters on the beach area!?

Had a cracking day in a long awaited warm day at Heysham, is that the end of the bitter cold winds and frosts for another winter up there!? I completed a 7 hour tidal survey there yesterday, which brought a mixed bag of results, but definite signs of migration having started.

Red-throated Diver 7 (all to the N and NW of the North Wall viewed early and mid morning)
Shelduck 8
Shovller (a single male on the sea 10m from the North Wall, very strange record)
Eider 93 + 4
Red-breasted Merganser 4

Knot 10
Dunlin 12
Redshank 46
Oystercatcher 350+
Curlew 40+
Ringed Plover 2
Black-tailed Godwit 7 (some with lovely orange necks and heads)
Bar-tailed Godwit 1
Turnstone 30+ (mainly on jettys)
Purple Sandpiper 2 (on jettys)

No signs of the Med Gulls for the last week, as I think they may have departed to their summering grounds, which could be anywhere considering the two wintering birds were ringed in Czech Republic and Poland respectively!?

Skylark 1 (south to north over Point)
Linnet 1
Twite 45 (mainly locally colour ringed birds, but some non-ringed birds, showing movement through Heysham)

With the dissappearance of the Med Gulls, Lapwings and some Knot and movements of Twite and Skylark some migration is occuring. Shelduck and Ringed Plover are now establishing teritories on the beach and surrounding areas, while Black-tailed Godwits are pretty scarce off the North Wall, so definite migration there. I expect there to be Terns and hirundines flying past in a couple of weeks, bring it on .

Belated report from a survey I completed on tuesday this week, Feb 23rd. Another fairly quiet day, with high tide only reaching 7.3m late in the day at almost 6pm, so few birds came in to roost at all. From the low tide mark in the morning I saw the following:

Cormarant 12
Great Crested Grebe (6 far out to North in channel)
Eider 5 off harbour wall, a further 60+ in Bay
RB Merganser 6 (equalling the max count for me this winter)
Shelduck 2 in bay, 4 flying NE to SW
Lapwing 12
Knot 4 and 60 on beach, 700 flying N midday, 800 SW to NE before high tide
Curlew 18 feeding on beach a high count, with 20+ flying N and S over day
Oystercatcher 300+ on beach, with none in for high tide!!
Turnstone 12
Bar-tailed Godwit 30 N and 20 NE
Redshank 45+
Song Thrush 1
Mistle Thursh 1
Meadow Pipit 1
Linnet 4

Pretty cold start up there this morning at 8am. A small flock of Pink-feet flitting between fields near Overton on route started the day well. High tides not as great as the last few weeks, so minimal numbers of Oystercatcher on the helipad roost, just approx 400. They were joined the usual cast including:

Curlew 3 (up to 30 flying north south though)
Knot 140
Dunlin 5
Turnstone 8
Redshank 38
Ringed Plover 2
Lapwing 14
Bar-tailed Godwit 1

A pari of Eider, a very white headed Cormarant and a female RB Merganser were in the bay. A Meadow Pipit and several Linnet flew overhead, but not much else other than a single adult Med Gull on the beach.

Another adult Med Gull flew over my car while driving through Morecombe later on whilst driving up to Leighton Moss.

Rob Thorpe wrote:

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Sean Sweeney wrote:

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Meadow Pipit (3, 1 with a tail missing - must be from the local Spar or Merlins)

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Spar sell Meadow Pipits?

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Presumably as "slight seconds"

Managed to get to Heysham this morning despite the snow and general chaos on the roads . A very snowy start to the day on site, with the low tide just before 9am. 12 Curlew feeding on the beach, with 90 Oystercatcher resting on the sand not moving in the snow. Small numbers of Eider, GC Grebe and RB Merganser were on the water, while a lone Wigeon drifted by several hours in. Only one flock of 100 PF Geese flew N to S mid morning, with two flocks of Knot (30 south, 25 in to roost on the harbour wall).

Lots of Fieldfare (30 + 24), Skylark (2 + 5), Twite (4 + 5, plus 20 at the point), Linnet (1), Meadow Pipit (3, 1 with a tail missing - must be from the local Spar or Merlins), Reed Bunting (3) all moving round lots between the fields and beach areas.

Several Snipe were raised by dog walkers, 3 Ringed Plover close in on the snow covered beach, 30 Turnstone huddled together with 130 Redshank before high tide (14:30), while 18 Lapwing moved between beach, fields and the helipad. Oystercatcher reached approx 2000 birds today during high tide, with only 25 Knot in amoungst them, this despite a height of 9.5m for the tide.

The afternoon did bring in some sunshine, which brought a lovely view over to the Lake District with all the snow over there. A quick stroll to the point after my surveys led to me locating the usual Med Gulls, near the fishermen, 20 Twite on the mound at the point and unusually for here a Dunnock and a few Fieldfare .

Almost forgot, finally saw a Purple Sandpiper, a lone agent on the jetty off the north harbour point, cracking little bird and about time I caught up with one. .

-- Edited by Sean Sweeney on Tuesday 5th of January 2010 10:23:30 PM

Fairly quiet day on site yesterday while completing an inter-tidal survey along Heysham Harbour North Wall area. A sllety start made it pretty fresh, but after 8:30 it turned into a sunny day with clear skies and a cracking view over to the Lakes with their whilte mountains .

Over low tide the bay had several Eider, 2 GC Grebes, a pair of RB Mergansers and the odd Cormarant knocking about. A first year Grey Plover was on the point briefly, stunning bird with a few golden flecks still on its back . They are rare at Heysham in general, so loveley to get close if only brief views for a few minutes. Small flocks of 100-400 Knot flew back and forth, sometimes landing near the point, while unusually only a few Curlew feeding on the sands and no sign of any Barwits

The harbour had the usual pair of Med Gulls, which came with 10 metres on the harbour wall later on, a standard practice for them. I even managed a photo of them both next to each other on the railings, a photographers dream for this bird here! Beautiful birds in adult plumage with pure white wings and a little blackening on the head, with lovely thick and bright red red bills and feet.

A small flock of Twite (25-30) are still present and very approachable on the mound near the point, while a pair of Reed Bunting and a lone Meadow Pipit are still knocking round the helipad area. 6 Pink-footed Geese flew low over the south of the nuclear plant, while other birds did not seem to move about much yesterday. The large flock of Knot at the Helipad roost from earlier in the week (circa 40,000) was nowhere to be seen, with only 600 briefly stopping, and only about 40 for the high tide along with 30 Redshank, 20 Turnstone, 8 Lapwing and 900 Oystercatcher.

No sign of the Black Redstart on the beach despite scanning throughout the day, but with all the snow about it could be hiding anywhere around the harbour, port buildings or other areas locally. The Purple Sandpiper that was seen earlier in the week on the jetty didn't come in for the high tide either, but hopefully pick it uup at some point over the next month or so.

Popped up to the Leighton Moss shop to pick up the Cumbria Atlas for bagain price of £20 and saw a few Marsh Tits around the feeders for a bonus bird, cracking day as ever, especially a work day. Happy Christmas to you all. Sean
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-- Edited by Sean Sweeney on Thursday 24th of December 2009 01:17:54 PM

Thank you both. I shall certainly be going up there soon.

Hi Julia,

I only used to occasionally visit Heysham, but since doing some survey work up there since September have come to admire the abundance and diversity of the birds that can turn up there. Heysham now have their own Birding Website, more of a blog site with sightings, but still a good place to start if you are unfamiliar with it. The website is:

http://heyshamobservatory.blogspot.com/

Although I am no expert on Heysham the area is basically split into 3 zones of:

The North Harbour Wall - This can be accessed by car to near the point, where seawatching can be good looking out West or North. Passage from here in the right conditions is excellent, where Skuas, Petrels and large numbers of Terns can be seen during Spring/Autumn. Even if you spend a few hours strolling up the harbour wall to the point searching between the waders something normally turns up of interest. Turnstone, Oystercatcher and Knot can be found feeding and roosting, with the odd Purple Sandpiper on the wooden jettys. Eider, RB Mergansers and other diving ducks and auks can be found. Seed is placed down to encourage Twite to stay the winter and currently there are up approx 80 birds, with the odd linnet in between. Lots of other passerines can drop in to the mounds of sand/grass on the point here, with Rock Pipits, large numbers of Meadown Pipit and fly over Lesser Redpoll and Siskin of late. It is worth scanning the harbour for auks with Common Guillemot presetn this time of year and sometimes Black Guillemot during the summer months.

The South Harbour Wall/Outflows - The warm water coming out from the Nuclear Plant outflows is a favourite place for passing rare or scarce gulls, particularly Med and Little Gulls, of which you can regularly pick out from the others. This is one of the best places in the North West to pick up Sabines Gull too, with the chance of other white wingers here and there.

The Nature Reserve and pools/woodland/shrubland - This has an amazing list of birds, although at first glance it may not seem like an obvious place for lots of good birds to be hiding. However, they ring lots of birds here, so the nets catch lots of birds that would probably go unnoticed by a passer by, as with most observatories.

Other than that the high tide roost at the old helipad can produce large numbers of Oystercatcher (over 3500) during very high tides, accompanied by redshank, knot, curlew, lapwing and other passers by - notably Bar-tailed Godwits, Whimbrel, Curlew Sandpiper, Grey Plover can be found within the flock!

If you are passing up to Leighton Moss or visiting Morcombe Bay in general it is well worth popping by Heysham, as with many coastal locations you never know what might be blown in that day!?!

For a more detailed guide/breakdown of the site you might want to read the recently revised 'Where to Watch Birds in the North West' too.

Another day of surveys (inter-tidal ones today) up in Heysham proved fruitful today.

Started off with a little rain, but nothing a good coat couldn't keep out . The low tide was pretty quiet, with Turnstone (12), Oystercatcher (200+), Redshank (100+), Curlew (40+ mostly flying over), a single Bar-tailed Godwit and a lonely Knot!

At the point around the mounds were a single Rock Pipit, 82 Twite (Pete Marsh the local Ringer counted them, not me), 15 Linnet and a Meadow Pipit. Lovely birds Twite and very approachable here too, especially when they are eating seed.

2 RB Mergansers, 8-10 Eider (including a 1st winter male), 1 Great Crested Grebe and lots of Cormarants on the water, while a couple of adult Mediterranean Gulls brighted up the day with the sunshire arriving at the same time.

Just before I went to count the high tide roost at the helipad (which now contained approx 1200 Oystercatchers, 120 Redshank, 12 Turnstone, 12 Lapwing, 2 Curlew) I noticed a small dark bird over the water by the harbour wall. There fighting against the wind was a lone Leach's Petrel about 20m from the wall. It fought through the wind coming to within 10m, running on the water as they do for show. I watched it for about 8-10 minutes as it battled westwards in line with the north harbour wall, glacefully tip-toeing over the water as it went. Cracking birds and one I've not had for a few years, so just goes to show what can turn up when you are out there in all conditions