Back to normal

 Calm early on then an easterly breeze freshened and shifted to NE. Sunny till mid afternoon then overcast.

Middleton Nature Reserve (JM. AD)

After the ringing bonanza yesterday, this morning was a disappointment. Weather conditions were not quite right and the catch was very poor.

Grey Wagtail - 3 (of nine seen)

Robin - 4 + 2retraps

Blackcap - 2

Chiffchaff - 8

Goldcrest - 2

Chaffinch - 1

Blue Tit - 2

Wren - 1

Cettis Warbler - 1 retrap (one singing from central marsh)

No Meadow Pipits were caught and only 9 seen on passage, 7 Swallows also flew south-east.

Miscellaneous:

Wheatear 3 - Ocean Edge foreshore in the afternoon 

Rock Pipit 3 on Red Nab plus 1 near lighthouse 

Goldcrest c10 Heysham Nature Reserve and Moneyclose Lane

Hopefully more to come

Even more going on today

Very light variable breezes, very warm after the sun got high

Middleton Nature Reserve (JR. PM)

NE F1, mostly thin cloud with sun breaking through later in the morning and then becoming quite hot. Vis was recorded during a ringing session but is probably a serious undercount of what went over.

Summary:

Grey wagtails moving from first hint of civil twilight with 32 or so over and 18 of these colour ringed - the highest daily ringing total (and nine were missed first thing!).  Other things on the move were Meadow Pipit and pink-footed goose with low three figures of MP.   A few warblers about: two Willow Warbler, one new Reed Warbler, at least 7 Chiffchaff and 5 Blackcap and a couple of Goldcrest.  Best individual bird was a Juv Marsh Harrier low to the south over the golf course and the western side of MNR.  Flock of 22 Jackdaw south and about 10 Carrion Crow heading south.  Swallow (16) and Pied Wagtail in pitiful numbers though.  No obvious finch movement   

Detail:

Vis 0625-1310 

Greylag Goose 2

Pink-footed Goose 208

Marsh Harrier 1 juvenile 

Carrion Crow c10

Jackdaw 22

Snipe 1

Skylark 4

Swallow 16

Goldcrest 2

Grey Wagtail 32

alba wagtail 16

Meadow Pipit 89

Linnet 2

Reed Bunting 2

Ringing totals

Mostly young birds passing through so very few retraps from previous days. Retraps are in brackets.

Grey Wagtail 18

Meadow Pipit 42

Reed Warbler 2 (1)

Willow Warbler 1

Chiffchaff  8

Blackcap 7

Robin 3

Goldcrest 2

Reed Bunting 2

Goldfinch 1

Dunnock 1

Blue Tit 2 (1)

Great Tit 3 (1)

Long-tailed Tit 1 (1)

Wren 1 (1)

South Shore (MD)

Mid morning - towards high water

Bar-Tailed Godwit c120 on the last remaining island of mud out from the saltmarsh 

Mute 2

Wheatear 1

White Wagtail 2

Meadow Pipit 18

Rock Pipit 2

Sandwich Tern 1

Looking less "comical" in flight.

Wigeon 1 male

The first returning Wigeon.

A check of the beach near wooden jetty in the afternoon found it empty. Presumably the Meds were off catching insects again (see yesterday's post)

Insects:

It was very hot and lots of insect movement again, but the almost lack of wind meant that there was no focus in direction.

Migrant Hawker two out south and one east along the sea wall

Common Darter - bizarrely there were three on the rocks around No.2 outflow. They appeared to be defending territories around the rock pools. This is salt water!

This one with the periwinkles and barnacles 

This one preferred sea anemones for company!

Large (cabbage) whites are not routinely recorded

but this second generation female looked very smart

Another short spell of "excitement" resulted from a yellow butterfly flitting in and out of view through the brambles

unfortunately it turned out to be a male Brimstone. 

Still nice though.

Quite a lot going on today

 Very light breeze started from the south then made its way clockwise around the compass to end in the east. Warm once the sun got higher, then warm all day.

Middleton Nature Reserve early morning

Ringing report from Alan:

A very clear and still morning with an incredibly heavy dew. Apart from a decent Grey Wagtail passage it was fairly quiet with only 6 Alba Wagtails, 8 Meadow Pipits and 9 Swallows seen overhead.

12 Grey Wagtails were captured and colour ringed.

Other birds captured were:

Great spotted Woodpecker - 1

Meadow Pipit - 5

Pied Wagtail - 1

Dunnock - 4

Robin - 2

Reed Warbler - 1

Blackcap - 1

Chiffchaff - 3

Willow Warbler - 1

Blue Tit - 1

Reed Bunting - 1

South shore mid morning (PM. JR. MD)

Mediterranean gull - at least 9 roosting on Red Nab adult plus 2nd calendar year. 2 adult roosting with Black-Headed gull on the beach out from Ocean Edge saltmarsh.

Mute 1 

Whimbrel at least 1

Black-Tailed Godwit 2

Sandwich Tern 1 on Red Nab

It was a sleepy sort of day on Red Nab

There was quite a lot going through to south. Hopefully a more complete report later, but included:

Swallow 13

Meadow Pipit 29

Alba Wagtails 8 (all one group, pausing briefly on Ocean Edge foreshore)

Five at least were White Wagtails

There were lots of insects about, Kevin took these nice shots

A Brown Hawker ovipositing on the small pond 

a lovely fresh Comma on the Buddleia 

Middleton Nature Reserve - mid afternoon (MD)

All the insects were taking advantage of the first really warm day for a while. Many must have been undertaking mating flights as the gulls were feeding on them. Not concentrated as they are with just flying ants, but gulls were feeding all over the reserve.

A significant proportion of the gulls were Mediterranean gulls. The most I saw at one time was 5, but I suspect that most of the local population must have been involved.

Adult Med

Not yet an adult...

Buzzard 1 north

Cetti's warbler 1 singing on central marsh

Water Rail - also calling central marsh - they seem to react to Cetti's 

The dragonflies were also taking advantage of the abundance of insects:

Emperor - just two, not feeding but ovipositoring 

Common Darter c25

Migrant Hawker c20

Brown Hawker 4

Spotted Flycatcher - 1 juvenile had dropped lucky with today's glut of small insects. It was feeding from the trees along the track on east side of golf course. It seemed to be catching plenty.

More good birder coverage = more good birds. But it wasn't easy.

 A third day of reasonably strong southwesterlies, easing off by evening. Mainly overcast.

Five birders located at strategic points along the observatory area's seaward range (Shaun Cole, Pete Crooks, Pete Marsh, Bill Martin and Nick Godden). This following aggregate of sightings looks impressive, but the birds were thin on the sea and took some locating.

Leach's Storm-Petrel 3 - (08:00, 09:25 and 11:10)

Manx Shearwater 1

Gannet 1 adult

Razorbill 1

Guillemot 1

Sandwich Tern 1

Red-Throated Diver 1

Black-Throated Diver - At 12:54 a probable Bk throated diver flew out then landed by yellow buoys.

Mediterranean gull - Some seen by most observers, comprising at least 14 adult/2cy plus 8 juveniles

There were 10 waiting to feed as the beach next to wooden jetty Became exposed. 

The pinkish bit in the foreground is the sea wall.

Later the Numbers increased to 14 adult/2cy plus 1 juvenile. If my assessment of recent trends is to be believed, the next three to four days should see an increase in feeding activity here (MD)

The wind, again, fails to provide

 The strong SSW to WSW winds continued, but easing during the day. Some sunny spells and light showers.

South shore - mid morning (MD)

There were 75 gulls roosting on the mud out from Ocean Edge saltmarsh (this area of beach does not get covered by these neap tides). Most were Black-Headed gulls, but at least one was a Mediterranean gull, probably 2.

This is a small section of them. 

One Med is just left of centre, a probable second just right of centre.

A juvenile Med was seen out from the harbour mouth, the roosting gulls on Red Nab were not checked.

Meadow Pipit 3 grounded

Rock Pipit 2 + 1

Wheatear 1

Shelduck - these were the only birds seen to be moving around.

10 on the Beach

3 and 6 flying north

12 and 6 flying south

These are some of the 12 flying south. This is the same location as yesterday's struggling Pinkfoot. The Shelduck also flew low, but seemed to manage easily enough. The wind had eased slightly. 

Nick Godden viewing from the Stone jetty also saw 9 Shelduck flying south, plus:

Pintail 11 south.

The lull......throughout the storm!

 Strong winds starting SWS then to SW. Heavy showers later in the evening.

I have had no reports of any sightings. And my own forays were underwhelming (MD).

South shore

Wheatear 1 Red Nab

Meadow Pipit 1 Ocean Edge foreshore 

Rock pipit 2 on Red Nab plus 1 near waterfall 

Mediterranean gulls - 4 adult and a juvenile on the beach near wooden jetty. One 2nd calendar year behind the midday ferry.

Pink-Footed goose - a flock of 34 battled against the wind as they flew south low over the shipping lane.

The "formation" became that of necessity. They moved like a caterpillar track, the leading birds quickly tired, gained height then dropped back and down, to allow the next leaders to repeat the process. Progress was painfully slow. Hopefully they were only going as far as the Fylde roosts.

Quite a bit of morning movement

 Light southerly winds to begin with, then shifted more to west. Overcast all day.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing session (JM. AD)

Weather conditions were ideal for mist netting, however, the solid cloud cover to the north and west was not great for bird passage. There was some movement after a quiet early period.

Ringing captures were reasonable with single figure numbers of five species of warbler: Reed Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler.

Other species ringed were:

Meadow Pipit - 4

Pied Wagtail - 1

Grey Wagtail - 8 (of 9 seen - a good capture ratio)

Robin - 2

Dunnock - 2

Wren - 1

Blue Tit - 5

Long tailed Tit - 2

Great Tit - 3

Moths caught were:

Square Spot Rustic - 1

Copper Underwing - 2

Flounced Rustic - 1 

Lesser Y U/W - 1 

Frosted Orange - 1

Evening (MD)

Just a quick check. 

Gadwall back down to 3

Little Grebe 2 - one still largely summer plumage, the other juvenile or winter plumage.

Visible migration report- focused on Ocean Edge shore (JR)

from 07:30-10:30 all south unless stated:

Meadow Pipit 48
Alba Wagtail 14
Linnet 8 (plus a gang of 13 roaming around)
House Martin 65
Swallow 95
Pink-footed Goose 224 
Sparrowhawk 1
Grounded: Wheatear 4

Mediterranean gull - there were just two resting on the beach next to the wooden jetty. One flew off and fed briefly on No.2 outflow.

Revealing itself to be a 2nd year bird in 2nd winter plumage 

Imperial way (Road to recycling centre) (PM)

This is the eastern boundary to the recording area

Whinchat 1 juvenile 

Buzzard 1 juvenile 

Curlew Sandpiper and a Gadwall influx

 The wind shifted more to north, averaging WNW. Some sunny periods.

South shore 

Late morning - rising tide (MD)

Mediterranean gulls - just three juveniles located one on No.2 outflow, one on beach near the wooden jetty (the only gull on the beach), plus one out from harbour mouth.

Wheatear 1

Rock Pipit 1

Linnet 12 on wall near No.1 outflow - not regular here.

Afternoon - towards high water (PM. JR)

Mediterranean gull at least 30 roosting  

Curlew Sandpiper - 1 juvenile with Dunlin out from Ocean Edge. It spent most of the time preening then went on its own to southern end of the flock.  

 

Middleton Nature Reserve - afternoon (MD)

Mute as yesterday 

Coot 4

Moorhen 3

Little Grebe 1

Gadwall at 15:00 I couldn't find any, on return at 16:15 there were 19 on the "no swimming" pond.

Mallard 1

Insects:

Dragonfly - Just three species seen 

Common Darter c20

Brown Hawker at least 7

Migrant Hawker 3 together near bottom car park

Butterfly

The predominant species were very fresh Red Admiral at least 20

Also

Speckled Wood

Small White

Small Tortoiseshell 

This large and faded Small Tortoiseshell, got me excited for a moment.

(Excitement isn't what it used to be!)

Better variety

 The gentle SW winds continue, mainly overcast with just a few light showers.

South shore around high water - 15:15 (MD)

There were over 300 gulls roosting on Red Nab c1.5 hours before high water. Too far out for me to separate, but I did manage to pick out two Mediterranean gulls. There were almost certainly more.

There were over 100 small waders on the mud out from the saltmarsh. They were scattered around in small groups and very mobile but at least:

Knot 9

Ringed Plover 56

Dunlin 45

Three of the Dunlin

Linnet c30 alternating between saltmarsh and foreshore 

Rock Pipits 3 on Red Nab

Wheatear 1 on foreshore

A very rufous male. Suggesting Greenland race.

Swallow 6 south. These two took a short break on Power Station perimeter light.

They seemed to be having a last minute "discussion"
albeit one sided

Then the male flew off south,
followed shortly afterwards, by the second bird.

Shelduck top the bill.......oh dear

The southwesterly winds continue, but with little venom. Long periods of heavy rain.

South shore early afternoon (MD)
Very little!
Mediterranean gull just one juvenile seen on No.1 outflow
Rock Pipit - 2 on saltmarsh plus 2 on Red Nab
Shelduck - there were at least 58 grazing on the mud out from the saltmarsh. First large gathering seen this autumn, some appeared to be juvenile, but it was difficult viewing through the driving rain.

A few of the Shelduck. Looking enigmatic through the rain.

Middleton Nature Reserve 
Just a brief check of the two main ponds was disappointing.
Mute - 2 adult with 3 cygnet were the only wildfowl on the main pond. 1 adult plus 1 cygnet on "no swimming" pond.
Also on "no swimming" pond
Coot 1
Gadwall 6

Swallow 1 south