Sunday 16 September 2007

At least the music was good

Heysham Obs
Seawatching
The highlight today was a perpetuated seawatch from 1315 to 1400. The seawatch itself saw a pair of Common Scoter out and a balloon with a tag floating in. Ensemble 415 and the renditions of Vivaldi etc from the Edinburgh baroque festival seemed to be the perfect music to accompany the empty wilderness which represented the sea and the three (Ad & 2 x 2nd W) Mediterranean Gulls feeding on an overripe banana. A Guillemot recorded early morning at low tide was unexpected

Red Nab
Two Sandwich Tern at high tide but no (further) Meds.

Moth trap
A bit of a disaster but the description may be good enough. 'What looked a bit like an Uncertain' was accidentally released with subsequent investigation pointing towards Vine's Rustic [one previous from Heysham & just one other (recent) Lancs claim]. Definite new species for the year were: Black Rustic (3) and Pink-barred Sallow (2) . Lets hope the VR goes back in tonight and is confirmed

Elsewhere
Mixed messages from the EM Pools with one report of GW Egret (written in LM book) amidst several negative ones........along with a reduction in Little Egret (18). 6 Little Stint & 4 Curlew Sandpiper reported by reliable observers. No sign of the female Ferruginous x Pochard hybrid on Pine Lake but may have been too early (still at Leighton Moss=roosting site now the Fountain Pool is disturbed with the main Pochard flock??). Juv Sabine's Gull located late evening at Halforth (Upper Kent Estuary), initially in a ploughed field, then surface feeding on the estuarine mud. Remained to at least close to dusk but was latterly a bit flighty.