South Side Story

The hot sun continues. Light east wind all day.

Morning report from Pete:

Heysham high neap tide

2cy shag wooden jetty

42 Sanderling and 4 Dunlin on sandy ‘spit’ off south end Ocean Edge

2 guillemot

2 Common scoter

6 Canada geese 

in 30 minute seawatch 

I had a walk along the south sea wall just after lunch (MD)

Curlew 25

Whimbrel 2

A flock of small waders flew in and settled along the waterline of the beach between the wooden jetty and No.1 outflow. Turned out to be 

Dunlin 1

Sanderling 132

Mainly Sanderling coming in to land

They quickly spread along the waterline feeding, but think I managed to squeeze in 130 of them into this clip.

This is a more relaxed clip of some of them.

Rock Pipits - lighthouse pair still feeding chicks in nest.

Heysham Skear - low water 16:15 (MD)

So, 174 Sanderling seen on the south side (presuming no overlap between mine and Pete's sightings). I was expecting a bonanza on the skear. Typically, it wasn't to be. Just....

Sanderling 11 (2, 8 and 1)

Slightly better views than of the south side birds though - 5 of the group of 8

Curlew 19

Turnstone 1

Summer plumage Turnstone

Redshank 1 (first seen for a few weeks)

Summer plumage Redshank

Kevin Eaves sent this shot from the sea wall yesterday 

The bug goes by the wonderful name of Denticulate Leatherbug.
 It's at the northern end of its range in Heysham and will undoubtedly be a new
addition to the, mainly sea covered, tetrad that includes the harbour mouth.

This moth was from his overnight trap.

This moth is a Scorched Wing. Although not particularly rare, it is one of my favourite
moths due to the exquisite wing markings which provide great camouflage.

Kevin Singleton took this clip at his daughter's house on Tranmere Crescent this morning

Very bold behaviour in daylight!

Sanderling numbers increasing and Med hangs around

A brisk east breeze till mid afternoon when it switched to NW. Sunshine all day.

Pete and Jean did a check at morning high water:

Mediterranean gull 1 adult still Red nab on its own,

no small waders Ocean Edge tideline today

Flock 12 immature Mute Swan on sea off heliport

Jean's shot of the immature Mute flock

1st Summer  Kittiwake SW corner Heysham harbour

short seawatch north wall saw:

one Guillemot

one Sandwich Tern 

and the first four Canada geese of their moult migration season

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a brief lunchtime check of the two main ponds

The Mute cygnets were getting a preening lesson.

Coot 3 adult one with quite a mature chick. This cip starts with the young bird, the adult is underwater, but the bubbles give the location away.

It might be quite a mature chick, but still deemed worth defending. Here the adult is seeing off a female Mallard.

Mallard 2 males and a female. No sign of the two families.

Swallow 2 and House Martin 4 feeding over the main pond.

Warblers:

Cetti's Warbler 2

Reed Warbler 1

Chiffchaff 2

Willow Warbler 1

Buzzard 3 - initially I thought it would be the breeding adults giving flying lessons, but two continued west while one, presumably one of the breeding adult, returned east to the breeding area.

Butterflies:

Brimstone 1 male

Large White 1 

Small White 2

Common Blue 3

Burnet Companion moth several 

Dragonflies:

Four-spotted Chaser several

Broad- bodied Chaser 2 male 1 female

Black-Tailed Skimmer several both male and female

Emperor 2 male

Common Darter 1

Immature Common Darter

Heysham skear - low water 15:25 (MD)

Eider 5 (2 female)

Red-breasted Merganser pair

Little Egret 3

Oystercatcher c150

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1 flew south

Curlew 15

Dunlin 3 - they wouldn't move out of my way! I had to skirt round them. The developing mussels on the skear are an ideal background to camouflage their summer plumage.  I haven't pre-sized the remaining shots in case you want to open them to check the summer plumage detail.

Two Dunlin, not three metres in front of me, but they refused to move.
They didn't even stand up!

This one reluctantly moved a little

Sanderling 57 at least. The most I counted in the main group was 44, but there were always some out of sight behind rocks etc. there was another 2 near by and 11 feeding closer to the shore.

This is a clip of the largest group, you can see the problem with accurate counting.

When there are a lot together as above, there is always one more flighty than the others and when one flies, they all fly, so I didn't try to get any closer and left them in peace. In contrast the two together just watched me as I walked past just a few metres away.

Sanderling 

This shot is from the clip below. One of the 11 feeding further up the beach catches quite a large shrimp (for a Sanderling). 

Sanderling with a shrimp

This is the group of 11 feeding, early in the clip, the Sanderling with the shrimp quickly exits stage left, to make sure it can eat it in peace.

Just out of the recording area - Heysham Moss

Janet had a walk around to see what dragonflies were about, but only managed to see Four-Spotted Chaser.

Brown Silver-Line moth

A nice variety of shore birds

A light east wind with plenty of sunshine.

Report from Pete Crooks:

Red Nab
1 adult Mediterranean Gull – already moulting out of summer plumage, with some white around the base of the bill
2 Whimbrel – with 33 Curlew
c.200 small waders (probably a mixture of Dunlin and Ringed Plover) on the shoreline off Ocean Edge on the early morning ebbing tide, but too distant for specific identification

Heysham skear - low water 14:20 (MD)

Bar-Tailed Godwit 68 - flew in from the south before settling on the north side of the skear.

The tide was coming in so I had to get past them. I managed it, just, without spooking them, but it meant that I had to get close!

Sanderling 27 - 3 groups, 18, 6 and 3

These are the 18

The group of 6 were in the same area of the skear, but the 3 were closer inshore feeding around the rocks protruding from the mud. They seemed to be finding plenty to eat

The only other waders seen were Oystercatcher

South shore (MD)

A very pleasant early evening stroll. I bumped into Alison and Kevin checking out the insects, which was good, it meant I could focus on the sea. I'll post their tally when complete. But Alison has already provided this very interesting shot.

 a newly emerged 7-spot Ladybird
yet to take on its final colour and still with the pupal case.  

Rock Pipits 4. A displaying male on Red Nab. An adult with food near the waterfall. Two adult near the lighthouse. Their first brood must have failed to fledge, they were taking food to a new nest hole nearer the wooden framework. This hole has a larger opening so should at least give the chicks a chance to stretch their wings before making their first perilous flight.

Rock Pipit on the wooden framework near their new nest hole

Common Tern 1 on No.1 outflow

Common Tern

This young Herring Gull looked fed up with preening!

This Grey seal was having a nap. You can see why it's called "bottling".

This is slightly unusual, it is a small Compass Jellyfish (about the size of a poached egg - they get much larger). It was on the skear.

Compass Jellyfish, you can see at least a couple of invertebrates caught in its tentacles 

It isn't actually stranded but in a small puddle of water, so thankfully I didn't need to move it, they have nasty stings. They are not generally rare, but not common in the bay.

 

The breeze switches to the east......Insect time

A light east wind all day, mainly sunny but hazy at times.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

These are the bushes at the NW corner of the main pond where a Cetti's Warbler has been singing for the last few weeks. Janet caught its song in this clip.

Shelduck 2

Burnet Companion and Janet's boot!

Brimstone butterfly just to the NE of the reserve

South shore (MD)

An east wind, sunshine and the tide out usually means the south sea wall acts as an insect migration path, and always worth a check. I had a look early afternoon (later would probably have been better, but I didn't have the time today)

Dragonfly 1 in off then east along the wall. Some distance off but looked to be a 4 spotted chaser.

Small Tortoiseshell 3

Small White 1

Loads of beetles:

At least 10 Devil's Coach Horse

I'll add identification to the following later (I clearly don't know! But I know a lady who probably does - see post 6/06/23 for more information)

This seven spot Ladybird has a smaller beetle on its back 

Near the kissing gate just behind Red Nab was a Large Skipper. It is impossible to know if this had come in or has emerged here. Either way it is the first one this year.

Large Skipper

Birds:

Rock Pipit 3 - one adult stood above the lighthouse nest site. Two more adult close by both calling, but none of the birds was carrying any food.

Linnet 6 between lighthouse and waterfall 

Kittiwake 1 x 2nd calendar year on their pipe in the harbour 

Not bad for two quick checks

A light SW to west wind. Sunshine for most of the day.

I only had an hour free today, just after lunch, but it was relatively productive (MD)

Heysham skear - low water 12:00

Eider 3 (1 female)

Great Crested Grebe 3

Little Egret 3

Oystercatcher c150

Bar-Tailed Godwit 4 - 2 on the skear itself and 2 on the sandbar to the north.

Curlew 5

Dunlin 8 - 4 on skear plus 4 flew high to north from skear

Turnstone 3

Sanderling 16 - 7 + 3 feeding/resting on skear, plus 6 flew from skear low to the north.

Six Sanderling heading off to north

These are the resting seven, the bird at the very beginning of the clip gives one of their little "peeps", but you can barely hear it through my camera clicks.

These three were feeding on the western edge.

It isn't just the shore birds that take advantage of the bounty on the skear. I have shown Carrion Crows feeding here regularly, but Starlings also visit. This one has a youngster in tow, I think it is a small shrimp that is being fed.

On the way home, I called in on Imperial Rd.

Singing birds included:

Greenfinch

Goldfinch 

Chaffinch

Chiffchaff 

Lesser Whitethroat

Aslo:

Swallow 5

Jackdaw 5

Buzzard 2 adult seen, at least one youngster being fed but remained unseen. This adult is carrying in a rabbit.

It was heading for the tall stand of trees to the west of the road (within the recording area). Unfortunately, the bright sun was directly above the trees and I couldn't tell whether this bird handed the rabbit to its mate and flew off again or whether as it arrived, its mate flew off. Either way one adult flew off and another, with a rabbit, was lost from view by the trees. A few minutes later an adult perched on one of the outer branches, I was trying to see if I could see the nest, but got too close for comfort for the adult and was "warned off".

So I left, I continued to be shouted at till I was 100m away. Towards the end of this clip a Great Tit is blithely going about its business, oblivious to the Buzzard.

Common Buzzard and Great Tit

Well, there are some Rock Pipit youngsters..........somewhere

A light wind drifting from SE in the morning to NW by evening. The sun didn't break through till lunchtime, then constant sunshine.

Heysham skear - low water 11:00 (MD)

Greylag goose 2 low to north

Greylag geese

Eider 3 (2 females, first time they have outnumbered the males for a while)

Great Crested Grebe 2

Little Egret 4

Oystercatcher c150

Curlew 3

Bar-Tailed Godwit 3 - this one initially grabs a large section of tail, before getting the rest of the lugworm. It finishes off with a small section of tail that must have detached. The tails are just hollow tubes, but still protein. 

Turnstone 1

Sanderling 4 together

South shore (MD)

Just an afternoon walk down the sea wall to see what the Rock Pipits are doing.

Red Nab - 1 male display calling - not sure what has happened here.

Lighthouse - pair, at least one of them still feeding young, but it is unclear where the young are. I saw a bird with and one without food over the nest site, but didn't see one go to the hole, and I did see one fly towards the wooden jetty.

This one is collecting food before flying off with it.

Adult Rock Pipit with food on the harbour wall near the lighthouse 

Waterfall - again two adult seen. One without food sat on the harbour wall near the waterfall. Another with food perched, and calling, on the Power Station perimeter fence.

So both the Lighthouse and Waterfall pairs are still feeding young, but their whereabouts remains unknown.

At least 10 male Common Blue on the scrub near the lighthouse. One Small White.

Janet managed this clip of a Kestrel taking advantage of the inshore breeze on Heysham Head this lunchtime.

A more subdued day

A light west wind, plenty of sunshine again.

Heysham Skear - low water 10:10 (MD)

We are back to neap tides again, which means they don't go out (or come in) very far. These can be good tides if there are lots of Sanderling around as there is no outer skear exposed for them to hide on. But it wasn't to be today.

Eider 1 male

Great Crested Grebe 4

Little Egret 3

Grey Heron 1

Oystercatcher c100

Curlew 5

Sanderling 1 possibly 2 feeding on the honeycomb worm reefs on the north side.

Turnstone 12

Ringed Plover 1

Both the Turnstone and Plover were quite close in on the inner skear, they both react by remaining perfectly still as you approach and trust to their camouflage. It is quite effective, there are five Turnstone in this shot (I haven't pre-sized the shot as you may need to open it to see the birds)

Five Turnstone

Unfortunately, the tactic doesn't work so well when you're up to your ankles in water.

Ringed Plover

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

I had a walk around in the afternoon 

Mute Swans and two female mallard with 9, 8 & 8 young respectively on the main pond. But today, for some reason, the male Mute took exception to the young Mallard. In this clip, he had separated one chick from its mother. She made sure the other chicks were safe in the reeds, then flew out to draw the Mute away from her other chick. It worked. Even so the chick had to dive and swim underwater for some distance. I've not see Mallards dive before. The clip begins with mum drawing the Swan away, the chick resurfaces during the clip.

Male Mallard 4 (they were no help!)

Coot 3

Little Grebe 1 trilling in SW corner of main pnd

Eight species of warbler heard again, although I didn't hear the eight (Reed Warbler) till I got back to my car at the main pond.

Cetti's warbler 7 and that's assuming only one each on the two marshes and the "no swimming pond"

Reed, Sedge, Willow, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Lesser and Common Whitethroat.

Chiffchaff singing with Blackcap in the background.

Butterflies:

Brimstone 1 male

Large White 3

Orange Tip 2 males

Comma 2

Speckled Wood 2

Small Heath 2

Comma

Burnet Companion moth 6

Damselflies:

Common Bluetail, Common Blue, Azure Blue and Large Red. Lots of each

Common Blue damselfly

Azure Blue damsefly

Dragonflies:

Black-Tailed Skimmer 3 female/immature 

Broad-bodied Chaser 5 male 2 female

Four-Spotted Chaser 8

Four-Spotted Chaser

This Broad-bodied Chaser was ovipositoring.

Another feeding Osprey......and we finally hit The Wall!

A fresh WNW wind. Sunny.

Heysham skear - low water 09:30 (MD)

I walked the tide in.

Osprey 1 female. The tide had already turned as I reached the western edge of the middle skear. All the gulls and Oystercatchers on the middle and outer skear suddenly lifted. For once the culprit was within visual range. This clip starts with some of the Oystercatcher above the Osprey. She flew into the wind, oblivious to the other birds, with her eyes fixed on the sea.

She was fishing for over 30 minutes, sometimes just a distant speck to the west, other times almost overhead. 

Unringed female Osprey

I didn't see her dive, but it's difficult keeping track of something like this when you are on the skear, particularly when the tide is coming in. You have to watch your step and keep an eye on the tide. Anyway, eventually I looked back and there was no sign of her, but all the gulls were up again. I presumed she had managed to catch something and landed with it, probably somewhere on the skear, but I failed to relocate her.

Little Egret 3

Shelduck 1

Eider 1 male

Great Crested Grebe 3

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Oystercatcher c300 - more on outer skear

Curlew 5

Whimbrel 2

Turnstone 5

Ringed Plover 1

Dunlin 4

Sanderling 13 - there was a flock of 12 flushed by the tide from the outer skear, these flew low to the north. A single bird was in association with the four Dunlin on the middle skear.

Sanderling with Dunlin

Detail of Dunlin

Detail of Sanderling

This is interesting, the Sanderling fails to catch a smallish shrimp, then when it disturbs a larger shrimp, the shrimp bounces around (they do this till they re-land in water or wet mud). In this case the bouncing appears to scare the Sanderling off - don't think it's cut out to be a shrimper! 

A quick check in the evening as the skear was becoming exposed again didn't locate any Sanderling

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet advises that the Cetti's Warbler has been singing in the bushes at the NW corner of the main pond for at least two weeks now.

This is the Wall from today's title. Kevin Eaves spotted this The Wall butterfly near the gate at the back of Red Nab. It was there both on his way out and on his return. So may hang around. This is the first confirmed record for several years.

The Wall male - not behaving badly for a change!

A few more Sanderling

The wind freshened throughout the day mainly from the west. Plenty of sunshine, but hazy at times.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

I had a walk around lunchtime. Eight warbler species were soon located: Cetti's Warbler (5 including one singing from the bushes of in the NW corner of main pond, possibly a new territory if it remains), Sedge, Reed, Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff.

Mute pair plus 9 cygnets

Mallard 4 males 2 females both with 8 quite mature chicks (both on main pond, Tim Butler pond not checked).

Both Mallard families. These are the largest chicks and will be the first seen this year.
She had nine originally, last year all nine were quickly taken by predators
 (a Great Black-Backed gull took the blame, probably deservedly)

Coot  3 adult no chicks seen

Moorhen 2 adult

Grey Heron 1

Pheasant 2 males calling

Butterflies (not so many today):

Common Blue,

Speckled Wood

Green-veined White

Orange Tip

Small Heath

Lots of Damselflies, including several pairs ovipositoring.

Dragonflies:

Broad-bodied Chasers 10+ this one looks like it has just emerged, a female I think (MD), you can see her abdomen contracting, they do this initially to pump liquid to spread their wings. That process has obviously been completed, so not really sure whats going on. I've left the annoying camera sound on as there is a Lesser Whitethroat singing in the background.

Four-spotted Chaser 8+

Four-spotted Chaser

Black-Tailed Skimmer 1 female at least

Female Black-Tailed Skimmer

Roe Deer 1 male

Heysham skear - low water 21:00 (MD)

The west wind was quite fresh by this time. I went down a couple of hours before low water, before the outer skear was exposed. Unfortunately, a wind surfer was also heading to the skear corner and he managed to stir everything up, still it was a good walk.

Shelduck 2

No Eider or Grebes seen

Red-breasted Merganser 6 - this clip gives a good impression of this evening's conditions.

Oystercatcher c500 (easier to estimate when they are all flying)

Curlew 2

Turnstone 8

Bar-Tailed Godwit 10 - they were on the waterline exactly where the windsurfer was heading. A wave of gulls in front of him

Bar-Tailed Godwit

Sanderling 3 - keep an eye on the bird that starts on the right as it catches a small shrimp.

Sanderling 

Unfortunately, another close pass of the windsurfer lifted everything. This clip is them flying off, it is really just to show how tiny they are compared to the Oystercatcher they end up settling in front of.

They quickly returned to the skear to continue feeding. I left them to it.

Janet took this clip of what looks to be a pair of bees mating. I'm not good on bees, but think these are Carder bees. I thought bees only mated in autumn when the fertile males emerge to mate with the new queens.

Both bees flew off after the "encounter".  (if anyone knows more please advise, my e-mail is on the sidebar, thanks Malcolm)