Tidal mistiming and a decent drop of migrants

Heysham Obs
Plenty of Willow Warblers around this morning and a belated mist-netting session by the office is still proving productive at 1230hrs.  The record count attempt for juv Med Gulls needs to wait for another day as the tide was too far in yet still 12 were seen!

Office area
Willow Warbler - 30+
Whitethroat - at least 2
Swallow - c45 SE
Swift - two together south (late for here)

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Med Gull - 12 juveniles (no other birds seen!), mainly sat on the sea by Red Nab
Common Gull - 2 juvs
Common Sandpiper - one along the shore
Wheatear - at least three

Moths 
Another poor catch included a Silver Y

One man and his dog

A check of Red Nab on the incoming tide saw the above but not a lot else in good viewing position.  Certainly a good chance of beating the record count of juv meds in the next two-three days

Red Nab
Med Gull - 12 juvs, 2 2CY, one adult
Common Gull - 2 juvs (beware!)
Oystercatcher (high tide WeBS) 43
Tide and waves too high for any other waders roosting south of the harbour mouth/wooden jetty

Wooden jetty
Cormorant 24
Redshank 37
Turnstone - 41

Heliport
Oystercatcher - 350
Redshank - 52
Lapwing - 7

Moths
Rubbish - wind into the window

Dramatic increase in Meds

Heysham Obs
A late incoming tide check of Red Nab & Ocean Edge mudflats produced:

Med Gull:  13 juvenile, 5 ad/3CY, 4 2CY with about 400 gulls not checked as too far away
Little Gull - adult
No terns
Grey Plover - 180
Bar-tailed Godwit - 165
Dunlin - 320
Knot - 25
Rest of the waders not counted

A few early morning migrants

Heysham Obs
A dawn start with mist nets for an hour or so might have been profitable today.  Pretty hopeless after about 0745hrs with a strong easterly (but no low cloud) producing nothing new, despite three checks of the outfalls area

Office area
Willow Warbler - at least 10 calling at 0715hrs
Chiffchaff - at least 4 calling 0715hrs
Lesser Whitethroat - one by office
Tree Pipit - one south-east
Swallow - 4 SE

North wall
Goldfinch/Linnet - 10 or each on the north wall on thistles
Wheatear - one
Kestrel - one - seen there two days ago

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Med Gull - 4 2CY, 2 juv, 2 adult
Little Gull - adult
Grey Plover - 163
Knot - 85
Bar-tailed Godwit - 170
Dunlin - 185
all the above waders very distant along the tideline
Redshank - 419 - Ocean Edge saltmarsh creek/Red Nab
Oystercatcher - just 1950 Red Nab/OE beach

Moths
Brown Silver Line was a bit of a surprise this late in the season.  Double-lobed was new for the season in the hut trap.  Cochylis dubitana was also, I think, new for the year - a highly localised coastal species in VC60 with most records from here  Overnight sheet and light trapping below the classroom produced a Kitten which looks a candidate for Poplar - it is being checked out at the moment.  Also notable there were lesser Swallow Prominent (very rare in the hut trap!), Fen Wainscot x 2, Southern Wainscot and another Double Lobed

Butterflies
There was a Red Admiral next to the office yesterday and the north wall (SD36V) produced Peacock and Common Blue this morning with an excellent profusion of flowers - worth a moth trap session if they would switch the harbour lights off for a night!
 

Wader increase and a dribble of phylloscs

Heysham Obs
Rossall Point seawatching persistence seems to suggest we are missing a trick or two as the coverage has firmly revolved around checks of the outfalls/Red Nab area, a bit of routine monitoring ringing and moths.  Maybe we ought to start giving the sea (and overhead coastal vis) an hour or so each morning

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Med Gull - 5 2CY (all roosting together!), 3 juv, 2 ad or 3CY but at least half of the gulls too far away down the tideline towards Potts Corner
Little Gull - usual moulting ad
No terns
Bar-tailed Godwit - 260
Grey Plover - 172
Dunlin - 320
Sanderling - 1 adult
Redshank - c250 but some possibly missed on Red Nab
Curlew - 180
Oystercatcher - 3250 (75% on Red Nab)


Dog exercising statistics
A dog exerciser and a small child & a black lab-type were observed for 20 minutes on the tideline south of Ocean Edge just after high tide.  The action was to use a ball sling and throw it into the sea for the dog to fetch.  The child remained under 'close control' and was not an influence. Therefore all the movement was at right angles to the tideline.  Waders were displaced either side as follows
250m - Dunlin
300m - Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Black-headed Gull
400+m - possibly coincidence, but no Curlew within 400m
The remainder of the waders were not using that stretch of beach

I didnt see the walk out to the tideline but a previous check suggested that this was right in the centre of the feeding/roosting assemblage, hence equal numbers of the four main species either side of the activity


Office area
Trickle of migrant Willow Warbler (9 ringed), 3 Chiffchaff ringed (possibly migrants but a bit early) and, encapsulating the poor success during the recent breeding season, just the one Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat ringed.  No evidence of overhead passage with up to 30 House Martin and 25 Swallow probably just milling about.

Moths
Pristine Heart and Dart and True Lover's Knot were unexpected.  Another latish Dingy Shears

A bit of coastal coverage

Heysham Obs
No ringing this morning although the dumbed-down TV forecasts of "rain from the word go" did not happen. Always best to look at the fine detail in proper forecasts in this sort of weather

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Med Gull - 6 juvs, 3 2CY, one adult & could have been more with one large chunk of gulls too far away down the tideline to the south (locations a mixture of Red Nab and on the sands)
Little Gull - moulting ad Red Nab
Sandwich Tern - juv Red Nab
Grey Plover - 141
Bar-tailed Godwit - 75
Dunlin - 52
Whimbrel -1

Moths
Checked rather late (0900) and they were very flighty.  Square-spot Rustic new for the year and Dingy Footman getting a bit late

Shoveler surprise

Heysham Obs
No migrants and nothing new with the outfalls collection other than a couple of 1CY Shoveler - most unexpected at this time of year

Outfalls/Red Nab high tide
Med Gull - 2 ads, 3 2CY and 2 juv
Little Gull - moulting ad
Shoveler - 2 1CY in the saltmarsh channel
Whimbrel - 3
Grey Plover - 115 but distant
Dunlin - c150 distantly
Bar-tailed Godwit - 75 distantly

Grounded migrants
No evidence


Moths
Not a lot in the easterly wind

Routine stuff

Heysham Obs
A stiff easterly breeze restricted the mist netting but there didn't seem to be any great number of migrants around, although perhaps Willow Warblers were missed very first thing.  Moths were similarly knocked on the head as the trap window faces east

Red Nab/outfalls/Ocean Edge dropping tide
Grey Plover 93
Bar-tailed Godwit 86
Dunlin - 32
Redshank - 168
Med Gull - 2 ads and a juv

Moths
Best were single White-line Dart, Barred Rivulet and (for here) Ruby Tiger

Great weather at last for the butterflies

Heysham Obs
The flower-rich grassland next to the office was a hive of activity today with Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and Common Blue in good numbers.  Ten years ago for Gatekeeper you would have read Wall Brown, but the latter seems to have mysteriously disappeared from this area.  Warblers seem to be moving around a bit with the retrap evidence suggesting at least some of this involves dispersal of locally born birds.  Unusually, two Whitethroat and a Reed Warbler ringed as recently fledged juveniles about 1.5km away at Middleton NR in July have been caught next to the office in the last two days.  In the absence of rings, these would have been labelled as 'early migrants'

Office area
Unringed Sedge warbler, Reed Warbler, Willow Warbler (3) and Chiffchaff but not many Greenfinch today

Red Nab/Ocean Edge well before high tide
Med Gull - at least 4 juvs, 2 x 2CY and at least one adult

Moths
A nice mixed catch including a rather late Barred Red (uncommon here), Barred Rivulet, White-line Dart, 3 Dingy Footman, Dingy Shears, Agriphila latistria.  Of the specialities, Bordered Beauty conspicuous by its absence - maybe its having a late emergence like a few other species

'Enjoy your birding' or see it as a challenge?

Heysham Obs
There were 760 small gulls on Ocean Edge beach, mostly asleep, mostly facing in all directions, mostly in various stages of moult, mostly 'into the sun' and all in a shimmering heat-haze.  It took about 8 slow 'pans' with the newly cataract-free eye to sort them out.  All due to a ginger and white spaniel-type-thing flushing them from the more observer-friendly Red Nab

Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Grey Plover - c110 silhouettes along the tideline
Redshank - c230 as above
Oystercatcher - c2950 as above
Med Gull - 5 juvs (these were easy!), 2 ad and 2 2CY
Common Gull - one juv
No sign of Little Gull or any tern spp

Office area
Quite a bit of movement in the context so far of this low-key post-breeding season with 3-4 Whitethroat the first for over a week!  About 40 birds were ringed, including two juv Bullfinch, 3 Whitethroat, 2 Willow Warbler, one Chiffchaff, 4 Swallow and about 15 Greenfinch.  11 Swift recorded flying south in the afternoon

Moths
Quite autumnal with the first Sallow, Rosy Minor and a local speciality Agriphila latistria   

Butterflies & dragonflies
A walk round the reserve saw c40 Meadow Brown, 15 Common Blue and a few Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper, Small White, Green-veined White, Small Skipper.  Best were two Peacock (scarce recently), Red Admiral, Small Copper, Large White.  Single Emperor, Brown Hawker and a notable three Common Hawker