More Meds and a belated Red Kite

Another strange weather day. Light breezes predominantly from south, but started from east and ended in west. Mainly overcast, but some showers and sunny spells.

Red Kite - Thursday 13th Aug 12.30pm. Per Brian Rafferty.
picked up flying over Red Nab, on over Sunderland Point and Cockersand, out of view south east. 

Red Nab/ Ocean Edge area 
Early morning (PM)
Mediterranean gull - at least 72 including one dark davic ringed juvenile.
Yesterday's white ringed bird read by Pete Crooks has been identified as being ringed in the Netherlands.

3745109 White 3LX9

Ringed:     nestling       20/6/19   San van Gent, Terneuzen, Zeeland, Netherlands 51 14N 3.49E

Seen:                            7/11/19   Nevern Estuary, Newport, Pembroke, Wales

Seen                            3/2/20      Gann Est, Dale, Pembroke       

Seen                            16/8/20    Heysham outfalls, Lancs

Mid morning - high water (MD)
Sandwich Terns seemed to be everywhere, but never saw more than 10 together.
Shelduck 4 - first for a while
Knot c1,000
Common Sandpiper 1
Rock Pipit 1
Wheatear 1

Middleton Nature Reserve mid afternoon (MD)
Just a brief check of the main pond to see how the mute are doing.
The two resident breeding birds are still holding territory on the south side of the pond. They still have two cygnets and seemed to have formed an alliance with another adult to keep the aggressive male at bay. 
The pair from the "no swimming" pond with three cygnets are, reluctantly, confined to the north side of the pond.

Dragonflies:
Emperor 3
Brown Hawker 2
Common Darter 6
Black-Tailed Skimmer 3

Black-Tailed Skimmer with a Common Blue Damselfly.

Lighthouse area (MD)

Checked at 14:45 as the beach was becoming exposed. Hoping for a chance to read any Darvic ringed Mediterranean Gull. 13 birds quickly turned up, unfortunately none ringed.
Whinchat 1
RockPipit 1
Wheatear 2

This male Wheatear was still looking quite smart.

There was a short but heavy shower at 18:00. I returned at 18:45.

Wheatear 5
Whinchat - at least 1, probably 2

Not great shots, it was very flighty

Mediterranean gulls- at least 28 including 2 juvenile. Again, unfortunately none with darvic rings.

This is a better shot of one catching a sand mason worm. 
First they grab it with the bill....

Then between tongue and, in this case, upper mandible.
I think it allows them a better "feel"
So as not to break the worm

.

Better coverage = better results

 It was a bit of a strange day weather wise. Breeze mainly NE, overcast with a few light showers, but nothing pronounced enough to ground migrants.

Ocean Edge and Red Nab area
Early morning  c3hr before high water (PM)
Mediterranean Gull, at least 68 including 12 juvenile 
Sandwich Tern 51 in quick sweep further out
Greenshank 1
Ringed Plover 8
Whimbrel 1
Grey seal 1

Mid morning - around high water (although these neap tides are not so high) (PC)

Mediterranean Gull 47 (38 adults, 7 x 3rd CY, 2 x 1st CY). One of the 3rd CY on Red Nab had a white darvic ring on its left leg. I didn't see the bottom letter sufficiently well so the options are being investigated 

Sandwich Tern 27

425 Dunlin, 

53 Bar-tailed Godwit, 

20 Grey Plover (all but one still in full summer plumage), 

c.1000 Knot, 

2 Common Sandpiper, 

1 juvenile Wheatear. 

Lighthouse area early evening (MD)

Mediterranean Gull - at 16:45 there were 15 easily catching sand mason worms. The numbers grew quickly and by 17:10 there were 33 including 2 juvenile. No darvic rings could be seen. There was still 2 hours before the tide would move them on, and I'm sure more birds would have arrived, but I had to leave.

Some of the feeding Meds

This male Kestrel appeared to come in off from the south. But it immediately perched then dropped onto and caught a rodent.

It seemed to know what it was doing, so perhaps It's a relatively local bird that knows where the easy pickings are.

Talking of easy pickings - The Jays that feed almost daily in my garden over winter and spring, have made a few summer visits. But have been much more regular over the last two weeks. This evening's visitor appeared to be a juvenile.

It is not obvious through plumage. But it looked like a juvenile bird.

It seemed to struggle removing the peanut from its shell

Then instead of swallowing it whole into its crop

It "daintily" ate it - not at all like the regular adults.

Just a final comment (MD)

The RNLI hovercraft I photographed yesterday was not called out in response to the young men lost at Lytham yesterday, but an earlier incident. But the tragedy, must serve to remind everyone of the dangers of walking out on the shore. It is perfectly safe if you know what you are doing, but potentially lethal if you do not. The simple guide is, only walk out when you know the tide is also going out. Don't just trust tide tables, pick a marker and keep checking that the water is getting lower.

Quite a lot going on - if you have varied interests.

Hot and largely sunny, gentle breeze predominantly from east, but it, perversely, briefly switched to west during a quick early afternoon check of lighthouse area.

Middleton Nature Reserve early - mid morning (JR. PM)
Visible migration during ringing session:
Tree Pipit 1
Grey Wagtail 1
Goldfinch flock of 12 purposely SE
Swallow 20

Ocean Edge shore 09:00 - high water (MD)
These neap tides do not cover the mud flats. A large flock of gulls roosted just out from the saltmarsh.  All the local gulls were represented: Great and Lesser Black-Backed, Herring, Common, Black-Headed and Mediterranean (at least 12, almost certainly many more. I only had x6 binoculars and didn't go too close)

There are least 850 gulls here

There was more activity at the water's edge, out from the foreshore.
Bar-tailed Godwit 19

Two of these in fading summer plumage the inner two probably immature

The godwits eventually flew south towards Potts corner

           If any of you are flat earthers, don't worry,
    the more distant wind turbines are not sinking into the sea.

There, really is, a simple explanation.......

Sandwich Tern - small group of 10 with three juveniles starting to moult into winter plumage.

This shot includes the three juvenile 

The second bird from the left is ringed.

Lighthouse area (MD)
A quick check at 14:00 saw the breeze briefly switch to westerly. No insects coming in, but a lot of Small Tortoiseshell around.
A second check at 17:30. Lots of Small Tortoiseshell coming in off, but no dragonfly seen.
Mediterranean gull 15 feeding on sand mason worms on the beach near wooden jetty

This one has just got one.
They hold them between tongue and mandible.

All the birds were flushed from the beach and the surrounding area by the RNLI  Hovercraft. It was responding to a callout, but I don't know for what or or what the outcome was.

Let's hope it ended well - I've not seen any missing persons alerts.

This is a Lion's Mane jellyfish in the harbour. Quite a small one, the bell diameter about the size of a large dinner plate. The stinging tentacles reach up to 3m. The official description is that they have a "powerful sting".........I've been stung - it hurts!

Don't touch!

This is something you don't see every day. This is the pond on the path to Red Nab. The water snails were "crawling" upside down on the water surface.
I'm not sure what the white particles that they were feeding on were, but you could see them going into the snails mouth.

They don't just drift with the water, but activity "crawl" under the water film. Science is only now starting to understand how.

I still don't know how they do it! 

The Mute war begins

Very warm and sunny again with the light breeze varying between NE to N

Ocean Edge around high water in morning (PM)
Mediterranean Gull 16
Sandwich Tern 19 resting on mudflats

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Two nets set from 05:45 to 10:00 (AD)

Resulted in only 14 captures.  However, these did include 6 different Warbler species.

The catch was:

Lesser Whitethroat  2

Reed Bunting  1

Common Whitethroat  5

Willow Warbler  2

Robin  1

Garden Warbler  1

Sedge Warbler  1

Reed Warbler  1 re trapped

Overhead were seen:

One Stock Dove flying high SE

Seven Swallows singly SE

Approx 25 Swallows roaming the reserve between the model boat pond and area towards the golf course.

Three Corvids (Carrion Crow/Rook) high SE 

Water Rail heard at northern end of reserve and in the central marsh.

Mid morning (MD)  - I was hoping that the aggressive male Mute family on the "no swimming" pond would be deterred from claiming the, better feeding opportunities, main pond, by the presence on the additional 4 adult/immature birds with the resident pair. But presumably the increased water level on the "no swimming" was the final straw, and they have now made their move.

The situation on the main pond this morning was:

The resident pair with two remaining cygnets were defending the south side of the pond, where the main visitor feeding area is.

The aggressive male with his mate and three cygnets were occupying the north end.

There was one dead adult/2cy on the peninsula, the other three were nowhere to be seen.

I doubt the aggressive male will be satisfied with this situation, but the resident male is bigger this year and has spent the summer warding off the visiting adults. Whatever the outcome, I very much doubt that it will be amicable!

The rest of the wildfowl and insects as yesterday.

Lighthouse area (MD)

Only a few Small White and Small Tortoiseshell coming in off the sea. There was more north in the breeze than east for most of the day.

Rock Pipit 1

Mediterranean Gull - 4 adult and 2 juvenile all almost in winter plumage.

Visitors from the east

Again hot and sunny with breeze varying between NNE and NE.

Red Nab area early - mid morning (PM)
Mediterranean gull - at least 27
Sandwich Terns 37 - one flock
Grey Plover 320
Knot 1100  
Yellow Wagtail 1 juvenile on OE grass then flew on to saltmarsh

South shore (MD. KE)
Four checks to see in there were any insects coming in against the NE breeze - just a few Small White and Small Tortoiseshell. Plus this Migrant Hawker seen resting on the sea wall by Kevin.

Migrant Hawker resting on sea wall
after coming in against the quite brisk NE breeze.

Wheatear 4
Rock Pipit 3
There were at least 8 juvenile Oystercatchers with adults, waiting for the tide to expose the mud.

Three juvenile Oystercatcher in foreground 

Grey Wagtail recovery - see scheme details on right side bar.
Ringed: Heysham Nr 8/9/19 as 1st calendar year 
Seen Fife (female) 12/8/20.   250km NNE 

Photo: Ceres Burn, Thanks to Jonathan Dean and Chris Batty 

Today's title refers to a remarkable capture in Kevin's moth trap this morning SD46A

When I got to the trap this morning, I could see a large Hawk moth flying around inside. I got it into the greenhouse just in time, as it escaped from the trap. I managed to pot it and realised to my joy that it was a Bedstraw Hawk-moth. My joy turned to astonishment when I discovered another one lurking inside the trap.

The moth is a fairly regular migrant to the east coast
but is scarce in Lancashire.

so to have two is quite exceptional. 

Correction- on Tuesday I identified some purple flower spikes showing above the flood water, as "Spotted Orchid". A quick look today, now that the water has retreated revealed the leaves, clearly not spotted orchid (I did think they were late for here). Probably Purple Loosestrife - I've added today's picture to Tuesday's post - I should know better........always check! (MD)

Little change

The weather remained hot and sultry. With light variable breezes from SW to N.

Ocean Edge/Red Nab - a bit late in tide due to hold ups resulting from chemical spill (on road not sea) PM
Mediterranean gull 14 including 3 juvenile

Middleton Nature Reserve 
The water level on the "no swimming " pond has risen 1m since yesterday's early morning deluge.
Today no Little Grebes could be found on this pond, but an adult and a juvenile were feeding on the much shallower main pond.

Juvenile Little Grebe

Adult in summer plumage
The birds were feeding themselves,
but close  together in the shallow area near the peninsula.

Common Sandpiper 1 - did a circuit of the "no swimming" pond.
Water Rail 1 calling from central marsh
Remaining wildfowl as yesterday.

Dragonflies as yesterday too, except add 1 Black-Tailed Skimmer.

Lighthouse area
Just a quick check as the tide was starting to cover the beach next to wooden jetty, found almost nothing - no gulls on beach, no sign of any Rock Pipits and no insect movement (none was expected with the westerly breeze).
The only sign of life were a couple of Willow Warblers near the waterfall, plus the resident Linnets.

Deluge of Biblical proportions!

Overnight produced the longest thunderstorm that I have ever experienced. Sheet lightening and the almost constant rumble of thunder started 11:45. The rain didn't start till after midnight, but then both continued till 04:00, with additional bursts till 05:00. After that it cleared, the sun came out and the day was very humid, not helped by the almost negligible breeze.

Middleton Nature Reserve early am (JR. PM)
Two tree pipit, small influx whitethroat (8 ringed), five more Snipe - one flock, c35 swallow SE

Ocean Edge/Red Nab 10:00 (MD)
Just 2 Wheatear.

Middleton Nature Reserve - mid morning 
It seemed strange walking around with the constant background noise of running water, as the overnight rainwater sought out the ponds and culverts.
Mute:
Main pond - 5 adult, 1  x 2nd calendar year, 2 x 1st calendar year
No swimming pond - 2 adult, 3 x 1st calendar year
Tim Butler pond - 1 adult
Coot 5
Moorhen 6
Mallard 14 (Most comprising 10, now mature, chicks)
Gadwall 2 - first since spring, no breeding success this year
Little grebe 2

Little grebe, starting to moult to winter plumage

Butterflies included: Comma, Peacock, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Common Blue, Speckled Wood, Small Skipper, Small White.

Dragonflies: Common Darter, Emperor, Brown Hawker, Migrant Hawker 4, Southern Hawker 1.

Southern Hawker

Emperor ovipositoring

The floodwater made for some unusual, but attractive pictures. These are Spotted Orchids.

These were in the horse field on the road to the recycling centre

Ooops! The receding water the next day revealed the leaf pattern of these flowers - clearly not Spotted Orchid - sorry about the fake news (MD).

Best "guess" now is Purple Loosestrife (MD)

Lighthouse area - just a brief look at high water.
Rock Pipit - the juvenile bird is still around and was, at least trying, to feed itself.

Better

Brisk northerly breeze swinging both from east and later west. A few light showers and sunny spells.

Middleton Nature Reserve early morning (PM. JM)

vis mig: 

Yellow wagtail 1

Grey Wagtail 1

Tree Pipit 3

Snipe 14 plus 4 - amazing early, eventually heading SW
Swallow - 26.  

Redstart 1 female/immature seen 

Best ringing record was a Garden Warbler

Ocean Edge early morning (PM)

Mediterranean gull 32 minimum - off Ocean Edge 

Greenshank 1 in saltmarsh creek 

Lighthouse area early evening (MD)

Willow Warbler 2 in scrub near waterfall 

Rock Pipit 1 juvenile being fed near lighthouse, there is nothing to suggest that it is from the earlier nest site near lighthouse.

These 18 Cormorant came t roost on wooden jetty from north.

By 19:30 there were at least 104 on the last section of the jetty.

Clear skies continue

 Breeze still largely from the east. Clear and sunny for most of the day.

Middleton Nature Reserve early morning (PM. JR) 
Bit too clear this am- tomorrow looks better especially if early morning shower materialises.
Low double figures new birds ringed - mainly willow warbler plus a juvenile Male Sparrowhawk and two out of the three tree pipit.

Green Sandpiper best of casual sightings/hearings - prob flushed from model boat pond 06:10ish

South shore (MD)
Started 10:30 - low water. The breeze at that time was from NE
There were a few gulls on the beach next to wooden jetty, including 1 adult Mediterranean gull 
There were plenty of butterflies coming in off the sea, but the north in the breeze brought them ashore mainly along the south facing south wall and Ocean Edge foreshore. Almost all small white, the highest rate counted was 4 per minute along the foreshore at 11:00.
By 12:00 - tide still out - the breeze was ENE, resulting in more butterflies along the north side of the Power Station. There were 22 Small White between the lighthouse and the waterfall.
Another quick check on ebbing tide at 18:00 - tide out as far as No.1 outflow, found only a handful of butterflies remaining.
Other butterflies seen today, presumably after coming in off:
Red Admiral 4
Small Tortoiseshell 1
Common Blue 3

I'm not sure if this female Common Blue is faded
or just half way between the brown and blue variant (MD)

No Dragonflies seen

Rock Pipit 1 Red Nab
Ringed Plover 8 out from salt marsh
Willow Warbler 2 in brambles near lighthouse
There are large numbers of recently fledged Herring and Lesser Black-Backed gulls around. This group photographed yesterday by Kevin.

Juvenile Herring gull

Enough to maintain interest

 Early morning cloud cover quickly cleared, leaving clear skies till evening. Breeze started from east, then strengthened and shifted to the north - hot.

Middleton Nature Reserve early to mid morning (AD, MD)
A steady ringing session included:
Cetti's Warbler 1 plus one singing in central marsh
Garden Warbler 1
Common Whitethroat 9
Willow Warbler 13
Sedge Warbler 5
Reed Bunting 1

Water Rail calling from central marsh
Grey Heron 2 + 1 flying around, noisily, early on.

Dragonfly activity started early with first Common Darter at 08:10. Also, Brown Hawker and Emperor. An increase in Migrant Hawker numbers was reported later in the day.

Lighthouse area checked twice to check for insects coming in. Tide out both times (MD)
11:00 - unfortunately the breeze had shifted to north by this time. No sign of any current  or earlier movement.
19:00 wind now NE. Still no sign of any insects coming in off the sea.
Rock Pipit 1
Wheatear - at least 2 (2 seen both visits but none when Kevin checked in between)

One of this evening's Wheatears

Some pictures from Kevin:

From the overnight trap - a rather lovely Bordered Beauty.

I reckon it could give many butterflies a run for their money

a lovely pristine Brimstone feeding on Buddleia near the old anemometer.

Just an aside from this morning's visit to Middleton (MD)

Grey squirrels are regularly seen here, you normally get a glimpse of one feeding in the perimeter trees. So this one was unusual, to say the least!
It approached me along the road and I had to "shoo" it away, but it wasn't for going.

When I sat on a low wall it sat itself opposite me, no more than 3m away. It was as if it was a lost pet. But then I realised that.......he........."was, just pleased to see me"!

My wife suggested that he must need glasses!

I made my excuses, and left.