New moth and the low tide med gathering kickstarts

Heysham Obs
Not a lot on a dropping tide check of outfalls but a later check of the wooden jetty area and Heysham one outfall by Phil saw a gathering of Med Gulls in the usual place between Heysham one and the wooden jetty and also a return of the two Little Gulls ...but no terns and the 2CY Kittiwake may have succumbed after yesterdays health check.  Later on there were 15 x adult, 6 x 3CY and one x 2CY meds! The toilet moth trap was surprisingly good, including the inexplicably scarce Elephant Hawk-moth!

Outfalls/Red Nab early on
Med Gull - unringed Ad

Outfalls low tide check by Phil Simpson
Med Gull - 8 adults (6 between wooden jetty and heysham one, 2 between outfalls) early afternoon then by late afternoon a minimum of 15 x ad, 6 x 3CY and 1 x 2CY - these were definitely not present yesterday!
Little Gull - adult and 2CY
Kittiwake - adult

Moth trap

Aethes rubigana new for the site and Elephant Hawk-moth, True Lover's Knot, Herald, Anania coronata of note

Much quieter on the Heysham front

Bit of a change from yesterday with much reduced numbers on the outfalls, Red Nab and Ocean Edge.

Today's sightings thanks to AC, PW, JR, JP and MD

Best birds:
Whimbrel on Red Nab at low tide
Mediterranean Gulls - ad and 3CY at Ocean Edge at low tide and the 3CY seen later on the outfalls
Kittiwake - adult flew past as the tide rose.  A juv sat on the seawall at high tide
Bar-tailed Godwit seen at high tide
Little Egret - 4
A white-looking gull was seen this afternoon but not well enough to rule out leucistic Black-headed Gull. Worth checking again in case it's something more exciting!

Ringing 0630-1130
44 birds caught: 32 new and 12 retraps. Only 4 adults, the rest were this year's young.
Good variety (new birds only):
Reed Warbler (1)
Willow Warbler (1)
Chiffchaff ( 3)
Whitethroat (5)
Lesser Whitethroat (1)
Blackcap (1)
Goldfinch (3)
Greenfinch (7)
Chaffinch (1)
Great Tit (3)
Blue Tit (2)
Robin (2)
Wren (1)
Dunnock (1)
Great Spotted Woodpecker (1 retrap)

Photos showing the different eye colour of Whitethroat in an adult bird (upper photo) and young bird (lower photo)

Middleton NR this am - thanks Malcolm
There is certainly a feel of autumn now! Mute - pair with 4 young boating pond. Second pair (appearing to be bonding) on Tim Butler. Coot - 6 all mature Moorhen - 3 plus 2 immature Tufted - m & f together Mallard - 3 female type, one with 3 young Lots of small birds around, particularly common whitethroat. 5 males singing. 4 female type seen. One must have been adult female as it was protecting at least 3 newly fledged birds (surely local). Also heard singing: Blackcap 1 Sedge warbler 2 Reed warbler 1 Chiffchaff 1 House martin - 2 feeding Swallow - 5 feeding (near Tim Butler) plus 2 singles over to south. Swift - 2 feeding over boating pond at 10am. Increased to 10 by noon.

Middleton NR insects - thanks Janet.  The Ringlet was from a completely new area on the south side of the access road (the 'community woodland' bit):

Middleton NR later this afternoon - thanks Andrew and Pete W - Southern Hawker, Comma and many Gatekeepers seen in the afternoon sunshine

Good variety for mid July

Heysham Obs
Outfalls/Red Nab/harbour low/incoming tide.  Thanks for the pics Janet

Arctic Tern - adult
Common Tern - adult - with the above on red nab late pm
Med Gull - 2-3 adults and 3cy
Kittiwake - adult-type and 2CY
Little Gull - 2CY on red nab late pm

A waste of decent seawatching conditions

Heysham Obs
Thanks to Mark for putting in 30 minutes before other jobs this morning

Gannet : adult diving for fish off end of Heysham one!   2CY out

No outfalls check I am aware of or tidal seawatching

Saturday sightings

Heysham Obs
Just enough time to see Ad summer and 2CY Little Gull flying on the outfalls

Moths included the first Straw Underwing of the year

Darvic ringed adult Med

Heysham Obs
One of the two adult Meds had a darvic on the left leg - a dark colour with yellow or white letters.  Hopefully someone with better eyes can read this.

Outfalls/Red Nab
Two very brief visits at low tide and incoming tide
Med Gull - 2 x ad, 1 x 3CY
Little Gull - same 2CY
Arctic Tern - adult
tern spp - seen very briefly seaward end of Heysham one outfall - looked like ad 'commic'

Moths
Scalloped Oak new for year

Biodiverse outfalls

Heysham Obs
Outfalls/Red Nab one hour before tide
Too late for Meds but:
Arctic Tern - adult inner end Heysham 2
Little Gull - 2CY Heysham two outfall then disappeared (IOA)
Sandwich tern - adult Red Nab (IOA)
Greenshank - adult ocean edge saltmarsh (IOA)
Whimbrel - one displaced by tide from Red Nab
Little Egret - 1

Thanks for these pics, Janet, including the first Ringlet open winged shot ever taken here and a 'proper' Riband Wave!

 

 

Moths

A small catch but good variety as the trap was checked prior to any sunlight.  Double Dart was unusually topping the list until pipped at the post by two Dark Arches on the last egg packing.  Catch included White Satin and Blackneck

 

 

 

Baby bird breakout and belated Cuckoo

Heysham Obs

It was a busy bird ringing session at both Heysham and Middleton NRs today. 8 species of warbler were caught at Middleton:
Sedge Warbler (15)
Willow Warbler (11)
Whitethroat (7)
Chiffchaff (3)
Blackcap (2)
Reed Warbler (1)
Grasshopper Warbler (1)
Lesser Whitethroat (1)
Plus the usual Blue Tits (9), Great Tit (2), Robin (4) and Dunnock (1)

Heysham NR office nets
Young Chaffinches were a feature at Heysham, with the numbers keeping pace with the usually much commoner Greenfinch.  Three each of Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Whitethroat were duly ringed, a young Willow Warbler ringed at Middleton was caught and more surprisingly two young Reed Warbler, already 'out of habitat', were caught.  44 new-ringed birds with retraps including a couple of local nestbox-pullus-ringed Great Tit 

Migration
CUCKOO - male heard early morning at Middleton, a last minute addition to the year list for this species (definitely not someone taking the xxxx)
Swift - 3
Swallow - 1
Sand Martin - one south over HNR

Moths
New for the year were Small Fan-footed Wave and Dotted Clay

Little Egret
11-14 over recent days in sheltered shallow water by Heysham skeer but none this morning in calm weather with plenty of other feeding opportunities

Middleton pics - thanks Janet

JR

Ringlet premiere

Heysham Obs
Highlight today was a detailed search by Janet of where Arthur recorded the Ringlet on 30th June and two were found (both photographed below)

Sunny breezy north-westerly so the gulls were at an awkward angle and heat-hazy - only 1 x ad and 1 x 2CY Med were immediately visible

Moth trap highlight was yet another fleabane eater - Ebulea crocealis plus a Blackneck was seen by day on Middleton NR

Some nice pics by Janet - thanks very much:

Two novelties

Heysham Obs
Nothing posted by the ringers, so the only thing I am aware of is the first conclusive proof of successful Cetti's Warbler breeding with a single recently fledged juvenile, but, given one territory was within the CES area, we were really expecting this before now and it suggests a first brood failure.  Arthur recorded a Ringlet on the Middleton butterfly transect on 30th June and this is the first fully-confirmed record after a previous second hand report from an otherwise well-recorded part of the site.  This one was from the corridor of EDF energy land with the underground cables running east-west alongside the golf course and is not often checked for butterflies

Outfalls/Red Nab
Late check of seagulls which were already wheeling their way towards Middleton spring tide roost.  Single adult and two 2CY Meds remained

Moths
Two of a Heysham micro specialist Phtheochroa inopiana (spelling correct from memory?) - a larval fleabane eater not very common in the north