Mist netting in the eye!

Heysham Obs
After a very wet morning in a lightish easterly,  from 1315hrs it was flat calm, high cloud and no sign of any incoming rain.  Put a mist net up for about an hour as there were quite a few warblers around.  The eye must have been very slow moving as we didn't get the westerly hooley on the south flank until about 1700hrs.  Bizarre!

Seawatching tomorrow am?

Outfalls/Red Nab area am
Black Tern - moulting adult flew in and landed on the rocks then sneaked off on the incoming tide whilst I was watching elsewhere
Little Gull - adult outfalls/Red Nab with about half the primary feathers moulted i.e. about 5 old primaries
Med Gull - 9 x 1CY, 2 x adult
Whimbrel - 1

Heysham NR
Whitethroat - low double figures and none seen appeared to be ringed
Lesser Whitethroat - at least two
Chiffchaff - new one ringed

Insects
Clouded Yellow this afternoon in the balmy weather in the "eye" - on fleabane NE corner of reserve

Ringing
11 birds in an hour, mainly unringed finches (2 Bullfinch)

Saturday 9th August

Heysham Obs
Scraping the barrel a bit for interest on a clear blustery day and top spot fell to Homeosoma sinuella, the second record for the reserve

11 juv and two adult Med Gulls around the outfalls after at or just after high tide - not the best time!

In contrast to yesterday, not a single warbler was heard during the 10 minutes or so topping up the feeder. 

Quality vis mig and record numbers of Common Whitethroat

Heysham Obs
Sacrificed the latter part of a very crowded music session at the Hill Inn for some early morning coverage of what looks like the last of these sorts of morning for a bit (but some possible sea-watching coming up or at least some weather which might spice up the variety on the outfalls).  THREE birds obviously on vis - see below!




Vis mig
Wood Sandpiper - one high to SE at 0615hrs
Flava Wagtail - one (not an adult male) fairly low to the SE at 0820hrs
Grey Wagtail - one high to SE




Grounded
Unremarkable in the relatively clear conditions apart from one species - Common Whitethroat where record numbers were present and 56 ringed between Middleton and Heysham in a very limited number of nets (4 x Midd, one line of  3 x Hey).   Other fare included five Lesser Whitethroat but very few Phylloscs or Acros.   Just over 100 birds ringed in total.

Predictably clear and fairly birdless

Heysham Obs
Clear overnight with a westerly wind seemed to shift a high proportion of the warblers from around the office although two new Whitethroat, a Lesser Whitethroat and a Blackcap were ringed.  The highlight again was hearing Tree Sparrow, seemingly grounded but out of sight and involving at least two birds from the noise


22 Med Gulls seen on a scan from Ocean Edge, including 16 juveniles.  Once again, no ringed birds seen


Moth interest was limited to Ypsophola scabrella, but the sun beat me to the trap this morning!

Mid-morning retrieval of sorts

Heysham Obs
Wasn't on the ball this morning - the small print (detailed perusal of rainfall movement) suggested the heavy rain forecast was a bit dodgy and so it proved yet the conditions were sufficiently cloudy and humid with little pulses of rain to produce a decent number of migrants. Problems was, no birders until 0900hrs and immediately the presence of contact calling Willow Warblers was obvious!

A couple of nets were set in slightly breezy conditions which then became sunny and breezy, yet a mixture of warblers found their way in.

Around office:  c20 Willow Warbler (which soon melted away), 4 Chiffchaff, 6-8 Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, at least one Blackcap and the highlight a flock of 5 Tree Sparrow which headed south having had a look at the feeders

The evening Swallow roost was again a little windy and only 50 or so birds seemed to attend the roost, yet 32 were ringed

The moth trap saw the first Sallow of the autumn

Clouded Yellow alert

Heysham Obs
Three male Clouded Yellow on Middleton midday and also a female Wall Brown along the concrete road between the western and central marsh at about 0830hrs


1320 update - 6-8 Clouded Yellow around Middleton model boat pond area

Thanks to Dave Talbot

Toadflax Pug in actinic on the north harbour wall (new for SD36!)


Middleton CES saw reasonable numbers of Whitethroat but the only obvious migratory activity was two Sand Martin south and a bizarre tide displacement-unrelated flock of 23 Oystercatcher which tried to land on the model boat pond edge - very odd at this time of year.  c30 Swallows headed purposefully NE over Heysham NR

There were nine species of dragonfly seen today with the rarest for here being Southern Hawker - still less than ten records but most of them recently.  Thanks to Arnside Natural History Society for info.

Thanks to Dave Talbot

Monday 4th August

Heysham Obs
Of note were a juvenile Reed Warbler 'out of habitat' by the office and c200 Swallow in the Middleton roost (51 ringed)

August 1st to 3rd

Heysham Obs

Not a great deal new to report this last three days other than a few decent moths along the southern fringe with Mullein Wave and Grass Emerald on 1/8 plus 4 x Bordered Beauty in the office trap.  Meds have been in variable numbers but the main feature has been a large early influx of unringed juvs with many of the Ads and other older age classes from early July having moved on

1st August
Med Gull - 27, including 19 Juv, 4 adult, 3 2CY and a 3CY
Little Egret - 2

2nd August
Late in the tide cycle and just 11 juv and one adult Med

3rd August (thanks Gav & Ian)
Whimbrel - 1
Med Gull - 15 juv, 3CY, Ad

Mainly moths

Heysham Obs
The new glasses arrived this afternoon - mow how to use a scope with variefocals coming up...........

Moths included fleabane-eating plume number 1523 at Heysham NR along with a Southern Wainscot.  An actinic along the southern border of SD45 produced a second brood Pale Shouldered Brocade and Fen & Southern Wainscot

What sounded like a cockatiel flew over HNR this am but was not seen

More Meds milling around

Outfalls/Red Nab
7 Adult Mediterranean Gulls, 2 x 3CY, 4 x 2CY, 15 x 1CY