Greenfinches back to form

The feeder nets next to Heysham nr office  were used today and produced 29  new greenfinch amongst a catch of over 60 birds.   Other species included willow warbler, chiffchaff, blackcap, reed warbler and whitethroat.

A visit to the outfalls coincided with a spell of blazing sunshine and the great mass of gulls on the sands to the south of ocean edge were black silhouettes against glistening wet mud.

Better luck the other way with 14 meds on red nab/outfalls including 7 juvs.

Green woodpecker again by reserve office

Vis mig
Swallow - 70 plus
House martin - loads for here - in excess of 50 plus  40 grounded briefly near ocean edge
Sand martin - 2
Grey wagtail - 1
Probable tree pipit heard once distantly flying over

Middleton NR
Mute Swan 9, Coot - 1, Mallard 9, Gadwall - 5, Tufted Duck - one, Moorhen - 5, Heron - 2
Also Cetti's Warbler

5 male Emperor and 6 Brown Hawker

Bits and bobs

Outfalls and red nab
Dropping tide saw about 30 meds scattered amongst hordes of gulls on the mudflats including 5 2cy together

Ringing in marginal conditions at middleton was highlighted by a juv Kingfisher, a new grasshopper warbler  and a retrapped juvenile Cetti's warbler

Med Gulls and a wedge

When I was a teacher, noticeable wedge haircuts were synonymous with lads you hadn't come across before (in a cover lesson) who sneaked towards the back of the class for a bit of quantitative easing.  Risking the European court of human rights, I usually stuck them under my nose at the front.  One decided to lob some stones at the gulls today and at least enabled an accurate count of 28 Med Gulls on Red Nab

Med Gull - 29 - c15 2CY, c9 adults, 4 juvs plus another juv on the outfalls
Little Gull - moulting ad on mudflats
Swift - one south

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