Great day for flying

The best record today was the first Green Woodpecker for quite some time frequenting the northern end of Middleton NR.   Birds, butterflies and dragonflies were making the most of today's sunny weather and light winds.

Middleton NR 0600-1200
Vis (done in between net rounds so numbers are a minimum)
Swallow - 133 south
Swift - 7 south
House Martin - 8 south
Sand Martin - 1 south

Ringing (new birds)
Whitethroat - 13
Lesser Whitethroat - 3
Willow Warbler - 12
Chiffchaff - 2
Reed Warbler - 1
Sedge Warbler - 2
Grasshopper Warbler  -1
Goldfinch - 1
Great Tit - 2
Blue Tit - 2
Long-tailed Tit - 3
Wren - 1
Swallow - 4
Reed Bunting - 2

Outfalls
Little Gull - adult
Mediterranean Gull - 8

Ocean Edge saltmarsh
Redshank - 320

Today's butterflies and dragonflies (thanks to Janet for these)

 Brown Hawker

 Common Darter

 Emperor

 Comma

More passage waders show up

Lovely weather for a walk - sunny, warming up to 19C but with a cooling northerly breeze (F3).

A walk from Red Nab to Heysham 1 outfall resulted in the following:

Red Nab
Mediterranean Gull - 7 adults
Little Egret - 3 feeding in channels just west of Red Nab

Heysham 2 outfall
Mediterranean Gull - 1 adult, 4 juvs
Little Gull - 1 adult, 1 x 2CY (latter per PW)
Whimbrel - 1
Redshank - 8 feeding frantically and flew south as they got displaced by the tide

Heysham 1 outfall
Dunlin - 40 (mostly juvs but one or two adults)

Wooden jetty
Turnstone - 124 (all but one in summer plumage)
Redshank - 14 roosting on the rocks

Bits and bobs of interest

Vis over Middleton 0630-1100
All heading south
Sand Martin - 6
Swift - 13
Swallow - 54
Grey Wagtail - 1
Curlew - 5 (2 and 3)

Heliport roost at high tide
Redshank - 490
Oystercatcher - 4500
Lapwing - 10

Ocean Edge
Redshank - 320

Outfalls
Med Gull - 4 2CY & 3 juv
Common Gull - juv

Ringing at Middleton and by office
Included 5 x Lesser Whitethroat, 12 x Whitethroat, Garden Warbler but only ones and twos of Willow, Sedge and Reed Warblers

Incoming tide check

Never known the grass so wet on Ocean Edge!  Thanks to Malcolm and Janet for selection of pics, including the accreting saltmarsh:

Outfalls/Red Nab etc
Med Gull - 15, including red darvic 2CY and 6 juvs
Little Egret - 2
141 Redshank
Again no sign ad Little Gull

Middleton PM
Swallow - c120 in roost (76 ringed)
Sand Martin - at least one in roost (ringed)

Good effort in marginal weather

Middleton NR
A couple of sheltered nets at Middleton western marsh saw about 25 birds ringed this early morning and some vis mig records

Raven - heard (really scarce recently)
House Martin - flock of 6 south
Swift - 4 south
Swallow - 7 south & 120 ex-roost in central marsh
Water Rail - at least one

The catch included (new birds):  9 Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, 2 each of Reed and Sedge Warbler and three Reed Bunting

Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff completely absent other than two distant calling Willow Warbler.  No vocal evidence of Grasshopper or Cetti's Warblers

Outfalls/Red Nab/Ocean Edge saltmarsh
Med Gull - EIGHT juvs (6 at least unringed) & 6-8 of other ages:  4-5 x 2CY, 1-2 x Ad.   This was on the incoming tide and previous experience suggests some adults may already have headed towards the Lune
No sign of anything else notable eg Little Gull or Greenshank

Grey plover brighten up a day dominated by dunnocks!

Sad to hear that Harry Shorrock has passed away.   I remember him in my early birding days at Leighton moss as a teenager and will miss his yarns.

Birding wise it was all very hard work in a sunny north westerly right in the middle of the gull moult fest.  Four sweeps of red nab produced a new med each time and the grand total of partially hidden rear end birds could have been higher than the 8 (three juvs) but it all went rather Catherine Tate.

Little Egret - flocks of three JUVS Red Nab
Med Gull - Czech-ringed adult roosting at base of heliport seawall
Grey Plover - 27 in summer plumage along shoreline between OE and the DONG pipe

The office saw a record day catch of nine new Dunnocks and not a lot else!

Juv Med further increase!

A bit of outfalls and Red Nab coverage (thanks Malcolm)

Greenshank - presumed same bird still OE saltmarsh
Med Gull - 6 juvs, 5 of other ages
Little Gull - adult summer
Common Gull - the first juv of the autumn

Juv med increase

Middleton nr held seven gadwall today and seven adult and two juvenile mute swan

Outfalls
Little gull - ad summer
Med gull - 11 (5 juvs)

Rain alarm app proves its worth

Ringing at Middleton
A short session before the rain with two nets was timed to perfection thanks to the rain alarm app - taking notice of the main forecasts would have seen the rain arrive about an hour early!  20 birds comprising mainly Willow Warbler and Whitethroat with three Reed Bunting

Outfalls/Red Nab (Malcolm)
Greenshank calling from SE corner of salt marsh 6:30 then from Red Nab 8:00. Didn't see bird on either occasion but confident with identification. Salt marsh was silent at 8:30, so I am presuming this was same bird.
71 Redshank feeding along OE foreshore on incoming tide.
9 Dunlin flew east
1 Little Egret on salt marsh and another on Red Nab

Foreshore Rocks
C20 Pied Wagtail
14 Linnet
1 Meadow Pipit

Outflows
Nothing on No.1
Very nice adult SP Little Gull on No.2 outflow at 7:45 not there at 7:15.
About 6 Med Gulls around (3 juvs)

Greenshank new in

Adult Greenshank in ocean edge low tide channel this am

Gulls scattered all over the place on the early drop tide so only 3 Meds (2 x juv).  Will check later