Heat brings down the Hairstreak......but not where you might expect it

Another very hot day even though hazy cloud shielded Heysham from the full glare of the sun. There was even a light shower in the morning. Light mainly east breeze till early afternoon then freshened and turned to west.

South Shore early(ish) morning

The tide was fully out, even so there was a large small gull roost on Red Nab. Unfortunately just a little too far for my optics (MD). Even so I managed to count a minimum:

Mediterranean gull 43 including 7 juvenile, 2 x 3rd calendar year and 1 x 2nd calendar year. Many others sat down with heads buried could easily have been Meds too.

At least three of them had coloured darvic rings. A green one on wrong leg to be ANLT, a yellow one that I almost managed to read, but not quite and a white one which I did.

The green ringed Med (top left) never showed any more of its ring than this.
The yellow one was tantalising, managed to identify the scheme, but not certain of characters.
The white one was ringed as a nestling in the Netherlands in 2019, hopefully when we
receive its updated history there will be further sightings 

This clip shows the yellow ringed bird and the Meds around it, not all these gulls are Meds, but a decent proportion are.

Meanwhile Alan Wilson was checking the jetty area. Alan had at least 3 more adult and a juvenile Med, so the minimum total for Mediterranean gulls today was 47 (almost certainly many more). These are some of Alan's shots from the jetty area.

Adult Meds with Oystercatcher and  Redshank feeding along the tideline 

Joined by a Little Egret (juvenile Med bottom right, BHG centre)

Cormorant and a 2nd calendar year Shag on the wooden jetty
The Shag is mid picture stood on the planking

Shag detail enhanced by Alan

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

It was still only 08:30, but 25C! So I decided to check the main pond to see if anything came in with yesterday's easterly. I was also here in the afternoon and there were many more insects flying at 09:00 than 13:30. But nothing different found in the morning check.

Little grebe 1 adult

Stock Dove 2

Dragonflies:

Black-Tailed Skimmer 8+ (2 ovipositoring)

Common Darter 6

Emperor 3

Butterflies:

Brimstone 1 male

Green-veined White 1

Small White 2

Large White 1

Small Skipper 4

Gatekeeper several

Meadow Brown several

Still no sign of Otters feeding on the crayfish yet.

But it was my short afternoon visit that paid dividends. I was exercising my daughter's dog so deliberately chose shaded paths. The one from the top car park to the wooden steps is ideal. c20m before the top of the steps I saw a "blue butterfly". Turned out it was a

Purple Hairstreak - my immediate thought was Holly Blue, so I must have seen plenty of blue, and had assumed it was a male. But the only sightings after that were with its wings closed, so best settle for "probably male".

Pretty sure this is the first record for the Reserve, and possibly for SD45 (the oak trees on Heysham Nature Reserve are in SD 46). There are a few quite immature, and therefore low, Oak trees here, but this one settled in a Hawthorn. I expect the priority was shade not food. Even so, not very easy to spot.

It is in this shot

Purple Hairstreak - it is in the same location here as the shot above. But zoomed  in.

From this angle you can see its tail spikes

This clip isn't really any different to the above shot, but you can make out the tail spikes better when they move slightly (and a nice Blackcap accompaniment)

It wasn't practical to investigate further today, but I'm hoping that this wasn't just a passage insect, but part of a local group. If so, they will be much easier to see on the lower Oak trees here than at Heysham Nature Reserve. I will be checking again! (MD)