Lots of 2cy meds

Outfalls/red nab
Grey plover - 28 on tideline
Med gull - 14 2cy, 5 juvs 6-7 adults
Green shank - one red nab

Heysham nr Office area
Green woodpecker showed well for a short time

Subtle autumnal changes

Middleton NR
6.5C and a whole load of dew all over the car when I left my house

A session using three nets in the western marsh was different to previous visits this month which saw a scatter of warbler species and very little else other than above average numbers of Reed Bunting for this time of year.   The catch of 53 new birds this morning saw far fewer 'scattered' warblers, with the night presumably more about departure than arrival, but quite a few warblers latched on to small tit flocks, mainly (as usual) Willow Warblers.   Noticeably absent were Sedge Warbler (one heard), Blackcap (just one ringed) and Common Whitethroat (only 9 ringed, mainly later in the session)

One "notable" feature was the first Sand Martin ever to be caught in morning mist-netting, as opposed to the small numbers as a by-product of Swallow roost ringing, of which two were ringed birds, both from the same artificial colony in Dumfries and Galloway.  The other notable feature is  more typical of here - all the common warblers ringed, including Grasshopper Warbler, with the exception of Sedge Warbler.  This species tends to 'dry up' at this site at the end of July unless the ringing session is during cloud cover ahead of a warm front, when there can be the odd decent late 'fall'

Vis mig
ONLY aerial feeders - where are all these early autumn Tree Pipit!
Swallow - difficult - minimum of 135 S
Sand martin - 2
Swift - 3+1+1
House Martin - H+ 4+18

Grounded
Single Garden and Grasshopper Warblers caught at Middleton

Red Nab
At least 11 Meds but very heat-hazy

Swallow roost Middleton NR
Some good teamwork allowed 134 Swallow, 5 Sand Martin and a Reed Warbler to be ringed before dark.  Even better was a juv Cuckoo seen by two of the team and the Green Woodpecker calling again.  Thanks to Kevin, Richard, Jean and Malcolm for help  

Brief encounter

Outfalls/Red Nab
Curlew - 217
Med Gull - at least 16 but facing away and many gulls not fully viewable (only 2 x juv)

Outfalls at the right time

Heliport high tide
Oystercatcher - 3300
Redshank - 420
Turnstone - 35
Lapwing - 6

Outfalls etc early incoming tide
Med gull - 24 (11x 2cy, 8 x 1cy, 5 x ad)
Little gull - ad

No waders of interest along oe tideline

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!