Plenty of rings and things

Almost breathless early on then the westerly breeze returned. Hot and sunny.

South shore - towards high water

Pete Crooks did a thorough check of Red Nab, but started slightly later than planned. This white ringed 3rd calendar year Mediterranean gull must have moved on before he arrived. It was too far out for me to read (MD).

White darvic ringed 3cy Mediterranean gull, bottom centre.
This bird has not been read here before, and it wasn't today - an opportunity for  someone.

Report from Pete:

(mid-morning incoming tide) 

7 Mediterranean Gull (6 adults, 1 2nd CY – all unringed) 

1 Sandwich Tern

7 Whimbrel

colour-ringed Oystercatcher seen around Heysham last winter (Yellow flag with code LA on left leg; Yellow ring on right leg - (details of any sightings in between awaited)).

Heysham Nature Park

Good numbers of butterflies mid-morning 

27 Gatekeeper

14 Common Blue

5 Small Skipper

4 Ringlet

6 Meadow Brown

5 Small White

2 Speckled Wood

On the gull roost just south of the saltmarsh there were:

Mediterranean gulls 10 - 8 adult, 1 x 3rd calendar year and 1 juvenile. The 3cy bird wasn't ringed so at least two around, there was still one adult on Red Nab when I saw Pete so the absolute minimum number of meds was 13.

Three of the adult on the mud were colour ringed

Green ANLT - an annual visitor since 2017 - originally ringed in Germany as a nestling 16/06/2012

White LCG - also annual since 2018 - originally ringed in the Netherlands as a nestling 24/06/10. Since it was here last year it was seen several times wintering in Spain

Plus another Green Ringed bird we have not seen before, we're still working on the characters, hopefully better views tomorrow 

This is the white ringed LCG Mediterranean gull

This is a nice collection - Juvenile Mediterranean gull left
Green Ringed ANLT Mediterranean gull
plus a Common gull and two Black-Headed gulls

Sandwich Tern at least two flying around.

Adult Sandwich Tern

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet had a look in the morning:

Quite a lot of butterflies but few large ones yet.

Green Veined White

Small Copper

There were Emperor and Brown Hawkers around plus Common Darters

The male Common Darters are starting to turn red.

I made the mistake of having a short walk around in the afternoon. The walks on the shore and sea wall are quite refreshing in the breeze but it was oppressive in the shelter of the reserve. Didn't see much of note either, apart from this wasp. It was very distinctive and I thought I would easily identify on the internet, but all I could find was the American species Great Black Wasp. Fortunately, I asked for help, and Kevin sent me a link for Amblyjoppa proteus. I'm happy that it is a female of this species, a big one, I estimated 3cm, but the species limit is 2.5cm, so I'll settle for that. (MD)