Must do better!

Heysham Obs
We will refocus on daily coverage soon - honestly!  Message for the rest of the team: Please could you post routine stuff, not just the 'unexpected'.  Thanks.

Shaded Pug and Peach Blossom graced the moth trap

A Tale of Two CES's

A fairly windless, although rather too sunny, morning allowed both Constant Effort ringing sites to operate their fifth visit of the season. At Middleton, 30 new and 16 retraps were caught, including the first numbers of migrant warbler young. In contrast, the Heysham site yielded 3 new birds and 5 retraps - not a good return on four hours' set time for 6 mist nets!

Heysham Nature Reserve

Whitethroat- family party of young around the hut area.
Linnet - pair at top of slope above hut.
Swallow - at least two pairs feeding around hut area.  Presumably local breeders
House Martin - also 1-2 pairs feeding as above.

Middleton
Swift - 32 south
Grasshopper Warbler - at least 3 singing plus two (ad & juv) caught
Reed Warbler - 2 possibly three extra singing males in the central marsh since the last visit - not unusual for late migrants to be dribbling in with this species - one was trapped and was unringed
Lesser Black-backed Gull - at least 63 pairs on industrial estate roofs
Herring Gull - Just 5 or so pairs as above

Manx Shearwaters

North Wall - 13.15 - 14.30hrs

Manx Shearwaters - 33 out (10, 6, 6, 5 and 4) - the group of 5 were very close in (less than a quarter of the distance to the buoys) and I did'nt have the camera to hand. Drat!!
Fulmar - 1 out

Middleton NR - model boat pond - 12.50 - 13.10hrs

 Middleton Skylark - a few days ago!

Mute Swan - 2 ad. + 7 cygnets
Little Ringed Plover still present

Plenty of Swifts, Swallows & House Martins over the water

Pete Cook

Outfalls need a real grilling at low tide!

Heysham Obs
Surely there is something amongst the clouds of immature gulls!

Saturday 22nd May
Kittiwake - 2 2CY outfalls at high tide

Sunday 23rd May
Outfalls incoming tide & 1 hr seawatching before wind went WNW
Manx Shearwater - 17 out, 9 of these in a loose group a long way out
Med Gull - 2 x 2CY Red Nab - legs on one not seen, the other unringed
Kittiwake - 2 x 2CY Red Nab/outfalls
masses of 2CY Common Gulls and smaller numbers of Black-headed Gulls

Moths
Included Cinnabar - a bit of a 'rare' in these ragwort-sensitive days (e.g. hay baling)

broody time

Heysham Obs
Long-tailed tit, Lesser Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and Blackcap family parties by the office as clearing out the mist net ride and setting the feeding station up again (first day of autumn?)

Decentish catch in the moth trap, notably a late Mottled Pug, Double Dart and Treble Bar

Wednesday 19th June. Middleton Nature reserve. latest photos.

Little Ringed Plover but very slow slow on dragonflies

Middleton model boat pond
Mute Swan - & 7 cygnets
Little Ringed Plover - one adult along the edge of the spit

Black-tailed Skimmer - one teneral
Four-spotted Chaser - c8
No sign of Emperor on this pond, but not the best for this spp

Heysham NR
At least one Mother Shipton on plateau and 2+ Burnet Companion on south-facing slope along road

The early morning delights of Middleton NR

Middleton CES early on till about 0930hrs
Grasshopper Warbler - at least 4 singing males
Reed Warbler - a seemingly unpaired male roaming about singing in the central marsh - eventually caught.  Another unringed male caught in the western marsh
Lesser Redpoll - early morning song flight again - surely nesting this year
Jackdaw - as with the above - a relative novelty at Middleton - flock of 7 roaming about early morning
Skylark - the singing male still on the high part west of the western marsh
Gadwall - male flushed from the pond adjoining the CES site

Timothy Tortrix
At least 30 disturbed early on by walking the paths through the tall fen vegetation

Moth trap at HNR
Shaded Pug made a belated appearance

Heysham Nature reserve and a quick walk around this afternoon.

Sunday 16th June.
Well finally the sun shone and the moths came out at Heysham Nature Reserve. A Burnet Companion feeding.
Also there were Mother Shipton Yellow Shell and Grass Rivulet and Scopria Pyralella

Scoparia pyralella

 

Janet Packham 

 

Saturday 15th June

 







North Wall 06.00-06.30hrs.

Gannet – 1 ad out at 06.18
Skua – 1 in very distant at 06.20 – Probably Arctic but could not be
sure.

Middleton NR 06.35 – 07.30hrs.
Mute Swan 9 (2 ad with 6 cygnets on MB pond / 1 ad on deep water pond
Gadwall 3 (1m/2f) on MB pond
Mallard 2 (pair) on MB pond
Grasshopper Warbler 4+ (4 reeling at each corner of central marsh + 1
seen briefly elsewhere)
no sight nor sound of Sedge or Reed Warblers
Whitethroat – only 2 males seen

Heysham NR 07.38hrs.
Buzzard – 1 over golf course opposite NR access road

 

Pete Cook

Golden swift

Heysham Obs
Actinic traps run by Justine produced the goods today with quite a variety and also a revival of sorts in the hut trap.  This included a new species for the reserve in the form of Gold Swift (in the heathland area) along with quite a few routine year ticks including Broom Moth, Sallow Kitten and an unseasonal Angle Shades.  Some micros yet to be identified