First Great White Egret of 2021

West wind all day, occasional cloud cover but mainly sunny.

Middleton Nature Reserve late morning (MD)

Mute two pairs with 2 and 9 cygnets

Coot 2 pairs with 3 and 1 chicks

Moorhen 5

Mallard pair plus 10 well grown young

Little grebe 1 adult

One of the Coot families 

Cetti's warbler 2 (central marsh and "no swimming" pond males singing - initially intermittently but by 11:30 much more regularly).

Up to 11:00 I hadn't seen a single butterfly and was a bit disappointed to see three in the return leg of the walk:

Common Blue 2

Small White 1

The butterflies were outnumbered by day flying moths!

Burnet Companion 3

Cinnabar 1

Dragonflies 

A couple of Black Tailed skimmer males on the main pond, but most of the blue bodied dragonflies on the main pond were Broad-bodied Chasers, which were also on most ponds and scrapes. Also:

Emperor 

Four-spotted Chasers

Heysham skear - evening 

Great White Egret 1. 17:20. Flew south along the line of the Kent Channel, too distant for a decent shot, but enough to confirm species. This is the first record since early December last year. Today's title reflects the change in status of this species, i.e. we expect to see more!

Great Crested Grebe 18 - this clip shows 11 of them.

Little Egret 5

Curlew c20

Grey seal 1 - it's caught a flounder and the gulls await any scraps

It always amazes me how confident gulls are on the water, when they know a seal is directly below them. It could easily grab one from below, but clearly never does (MD)

Red Kite

A surprisingly cool SW wind eased during the day. Rain showers early on then mainly overcast.

 Red Kite 1. This is only the second sighting for the recording area, the only previous one being last August.

South wall 14:23 (MD). The Kite was high above the Power Stations heading NE. Although the gulls weren't happy there was nothing like the commotion that they greet an Osprey with.

It must have turned to the east as a few minutes later it was seen passing over Middleton Nature Reserve by Alan Physick.

Not much else on the south shore, just one Rock Pipit seen taking food to the lighthouse nest area.

There was also little to see on the skear earlier (although it might had been better if I'd remembered to take my binoculars!)

Eider 2

Great Crested Grebe 1

Little Egret 8

But there were a lot of young Lion's Mane Jellyfish, c20 in the 100m of waterline just before the SE corner of the skear.

This one is just a bit paler than the adult jellyfish 

But most were almost transparent and white, which is typical for juveniles 

This clip gives you a better idea of the form:

And this shot an idea of size.

Even at this size, I would be reluctant to handle a Lion's Mane jellyfish.
The adults have a painful sting. But don't worry, it's not a mass invasion, the SW wind
had concentrated them in this corner, I didn't see any further away from the skear.

Spot the gull

A fresh SSW breeze, overcast till mid afternoon then mainly sunny.

South shore mid morning (MD)

There were lots of gulls feeding on both outflows including:

Mediterranean gull 1 x 2nd calendar year 

2cy Mediterranean gull 

Common gull at least 3 x 2nd calendar year 

2cy Common gull

This is No.1 outflow, there are five gull species in this frame.
Mediterranean, Common, BHG, LBBG and Herring.
But you may need to open the image to find some.

Rock Pipits 3 - both lighthouse adults were collecting food so there must be chicks in the nest. This is the ringed male waiting with food above the nest site, but he wouldn't go to it as there were a few people around. Eventually he flew to the female and left it with her.

A third bird was chased away.

Middleton Nature Reserve late afternoon 

Just a quick check of the two main ponds.

Cetti's warbler 2 - male singing from "no swimming" pond, plus one from the scrub on the north side of the road where the old brick building used to be. This area has become denser scrub over the last few years, this is the first time I've heard a Cetti's from here.

Dragonflies - both Black Tailed Skimmers (3) and Broad-bodied Chasers (2) males defending territory on the main pond.

Wildfowl- no change in status except the female Mallard has left the 10 young birds to fend for themselves, they have all remained together for now.

Janet sent these shots of quite well grown fox cubs playing in the horse paddocks at Knowlys Road.

But not just playing, most dog owners will recognise this activity,
digging a hole. But for wild foxes it isn't just an instinct, it's a way of finding food.

Still plenty of interest......as long as you have plentiful interests

Light early SWS breeze became quite blustery and SW  by evening. Mainly overcast but still warm.

A morning check by Pete:

Canada goose 29 south c09:00

Mediterranean gull 1 3rd calendar year in summer plumage - with Black-headed gulls, a long way out from Ocean Edge toward Potts Corner.

Black-headed gull 1 1st calendar year 

Also on south shore (MD)

c40 geese north low over the caravan park. Only seen from a distance, but suggested Greylag

c30 geese even further away landed on sea out from the estuary - not possible to identify with my optics.

The 1st calendar year Black-headed gull was with two adult, but it at least 
tried to feed itself 

It very kindly did a pirouette to show both profiles 

Rock pipits 2 - the ringed male was standing guard at the lighthouse and chased off a second bird.

Grey Seal 2 a male and a female, just out from Red Nab. The male is the larger of the two on the left.

Here are a couple of details:

This is the female yawning, she is much smaller and females have
dark spots on a pale background 

Males are much larger and have pale markings on a dark background 

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick late afternoon check 

Cetti's Warbler - no swimming pond male singing

Summer plumage Little Grebe feeding on "no swimming" pond.

The Tim Butler pond Mute swans have, at last, at least two cygnets.
At one point they had up to 6 eggs, I thought they had all gone when I managed
a glimpse a few weeks ago, but she has either laid again or the eggs were obscured.
I hope they have the sense to remain on this pond, the aggressive male won't tolerate 
them if they move to the Main pond.

There were the remains of at least 7 Signal Crayfish on the peninsula of the main pond.
These are in addition to the few remains that were there a couple of days ago.
As far as I know, the only predator to leave remains like this are Otters, they were
active a moth or so ago, then went quiet, hopefully they will continue to rid the pond
of the introduced crayfish. A check first light might be productive, if we have any insomniacs.

This is a detail of the head - they do actually look like an alien species 

Slightly more "attractive",  Silver-ground Carpet moth.
Another common species, this is one of two seen this afternoon 

The only Dragonflies seen were Emperor 2, but just the three large ponds checked. 

The Spotted Orchids are starting to bloom
There are various varieties plus hybrids.
My knowledge limit only goes as as Spotted Orchid sp. (MD)

400 up, and still counting

Light SW to WSW breeze. Mainly sunny

A check of the Rock Pipits below Heysham Head found at least 3, probably 4 below the high cliffs, at least one young bird. Plus 1 male singing on the northern tip of the Head.

Canada Geese - this is what today's title refers to, there were a total of 110 today, bringing the count since the moult migration began on 29th May to 405, this is significantly higher than previous years.

Today:

Four flocks between 08:10 to 08:30

28 north

34 northeast, crossing overland at Heysham Head

17 north

31 north, then 10 minutes later, presumably the same 31 returned and landed on the sea and were still just out from Half Moon Bay at 09:30.

Some of the 31 Canada geese out from Half Moon Bay

Heysham Nature Reserve (Janet)

Painted Lady 1

Burnet Companion - lots

Burnet Companion 

Small moths, especially common ones like this rarely get a mention,
but seen close up they are nicely patterned - Crambus lathoniellus

Bee Orchids have started to bloom, they are much more abundant than
many think. But you need to get your "eye in" to find them both here
and on Middleton Nature Reserve.

Heysham Skeer - low water 17:45

Great Crested Grebe 6

No Eider or Red-breasted Merganser

The only waders were Oystercatcher and a handful of Curlew 

Still several hundred large gulls, mainly Herring.

Canada Geese still passing through

Almost breathless again first thing, what movement there was from SW. later a more obvious WSW breeze. Largely overcast but a few sunny spells.

South Shore (MD)

It's been a warm week since the tide was high enough to cover Red Nab. The shallow pool near the sea wall is normally c4x5m, but it has dried to a puddle.

This puddle is all that remains of the pool nearest the sea wall

The good news for the Little Egret is that the shrinking pool is concentrating the remaining fish and shrimps.

Curlew 34 on beach out from Ocean Edge

Canada Goose 7 - 09:35 - initially on the beach until flushed by a walker, then flew west then north.

Some of the Curlew are also on this clip.

Another small flock (line) of c20 flew north past the wooden jetty at 10:15

A line of Canada geese flying low to the north over the flat sea.

Grey Seal 1

Butterflies included

Painted Lady 1

Skipper sp 1

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet went to check out the Broad-bodied Chaser nymph cases with her Granddaughter.

They look more impressive in Phoebe's hands!

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Kevin's shot of a Burnet Companion nectaring on Clover 

The sea reluctant to provide

Very light west breeze again. Some cloud but mainly sunny.

Seawatch report from Pete:

Poor over the sea with no ‘meat’ just random odds and ends 0630-0830

c4 distant Gannet together

very distant gang of presumed Kittiwake (30 ish)

one distant Fulmar, 

one late 2cy Red throated diver

10 Sandwich Tern

238 Black-Headed gull Ocean Edge 0835 

Other stuff from the south shore (MD)

Quite a few insects around the saltmarsh at 09:15

Emperor dragonfly 1 male

Butterflies:

Small Tortoiseshell 3

Small White 5

Common Blue 5

Also c8 Common Blue on scrub near lighthouse but no other butterflies (none expected to be coming in, with a west wind).

Canada Goose 14 north 10:15

Canada Geese on moult migration

Rock Pipits 2. The ringed lighthouse male was feeding, but I didn't see it take food to the nest. The waterfall male was resting on the upstands singing regularly (the background noise is the Power Stations)

On the way back a check of the small pond between the end of the dog walk path and Red Nab found .

Broad-bodied Chaser 1 male.

Plus this female Chaffinch searching for food on the dense weed cover. I suspect that the thin thread hanging from her bill is the breathing tube of a "rat tailed maggot", the larvae of some hoverflies.

The only other thing I have so far is this Cinnabar from Janet

Cinnabar moth just beyond the northern boundary of 
Heysham Nature Reserve 

The one (or ones) that got away!

Very little air movement early on, later developing into a west breeze. Some cloud cover, but mainly warm and sunny.

Seawatch report from  Pete:

Just 30 minutes seawatch 06:15-06:45  then switched to search of Heysham Head area, because:

Calls - thought golden plover initially until the penny dropped (it sounded like a Bee-eater) but right over the car and couldn’t get out in time to see it/them as flying straight into sun 0635 - so, unfortunately, that's it as far as any record goes.

Canada goose - flock of 30 floating in

Gannet - 3 in

Guillemot  - 2 in

Grey seal - 2

Lots of small 4-6 inch fish leaping out like they were being chased - at or just beyond yellow buoy range (sounds like small mullet being chased by large bass or Harbour Porpoise (MD))

C1600 gulls on skeer late afternoon mainly 2cy Herring.  

Heysham Head 

I went down to see how the Rock Pipits were doing (MD)

Below the high cliffs there were two adult with at least two newly fledged young.

Presumably this is the male, I don't know if he helps with the feeding when there is 
no threat, but judging by the amount of guano on this rock, he spends some time there

This is the other adult, walking on water. She's hunting for flies on the wrack.

She caught a couple of flies, then managed to find a Harbour Ragworm

Meanwhile, the young were spread out and waited on the rocks to be fed. Two were the most I saw at one time, but it was difficult to keep track as they were mobile and House Sparrows and Starlings were also feeding their young in the same area.

This one would have been quite happy to have been fed by a sparrow!

Before the female fed the chick she spent some time making sure the food was correctly arranged.

Finally! The feed.

There could have been two additional adults, one either side of this territory. Or perhaps the male regards the whole length of the cliffs his territory and met me early and followed me off. There was another adult below the northernmost outcrop. So the very minimum number 3 adult plus 2 young.

I like this shot - Little Egret fishing by the near rocks
Anglers fishing on the far rocks

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Myself, Kevin and Janet all had a look at different times today.

Wildfowl as recent except 

Little grebe 2 adult feeding together on "no swimming" pond.

Water Rail 1 calling from western scrape 

Cetti's warbler 3 singing males, possibly 4 ("no swimming" pond, western marsh, plus the Fence pond and one from the opposite side of central marsh near the path - possibly just one bird)

Butterflies again not many species:

Painted Lady 1

Common Blue

Small White

Speckled Wood ( now looking vey faded)

Small Heath

Burnet Companion moth

Broad-bodied Chaser by far the most common dragonfly, at least 20, followed by

Four-spotter Chaser 

Black-tailed Skimmer 1 male on the main pond

Emperor 1 male on the main pond

A couple of shots from Kevin:

Broad-bodied Chaser male

Four-spotted Chaser

Puffin best of interesting early morning variety

Light WSW wind moving to WNW by evening. Some cloud early on but quickly breaking up to leave a largely warm and sunny day.

Early morning report from Pete:

Sea 0630-0745, 0810-0825 north wall SSW 2: 

Gannet 33 - mostly immatures 3-4cy

Raz/Guill 30

Guillemot 12

Greylag goose 4 south

Canada goose 12 + 18 north

Puffin - one out c0710

Raven - one in-off then south. 

Ocean Edge

Mediterranean gull 1 2cy

Plus 125 Black-Headed gull and 19 Common gull

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Mute and Mallard status unchanged.

Gadwall 1 male

Little grebe 1 immature 

Between myself and Kevin, we managed to hear all nine of the regular warblers singing (although we both only managed eight apiece).

Including :

Cetti's warbler 2 (central marsh and "no swimming" pond males)

Grasshopper warbler 1, possibly 2 either side of the dividing road between central and western marsh.

Insects

Not many butterfly species:

Small White, Speckled Wood, Small Heath.

Lots of Damselflies everywhere 

Female Large Red Damselfly (one of several variants)

Male Large Red Damselfly 

Dragonflies:

Broad-bodied Chaser 6+

Broad-bodied Chasers are very distinctive, even when resting in the tree tops.

Four-Spotted Chaser 7+

Emperor 1 female plus possibly a male (or large Hawker)

Black-tailed Skimmer 1 female

Female Black-tailed Skimmer

I bumped into David Poole by the small scrape on the SW corner of the western marsh. He had already found several empty nymph cases on the rushes in the SE corner of the pond. After only a few minutes we had found at least 9!

This is the area in question 

The width of the abdomen make Broad-bodied Chaser favourite.
I thought at first that the white strands on all of the cases suggested some sort 
of parasite. But I've looked into it and they are the tubes the nymph needs to
transport oxygen from the gills around its body. Not required in the air breathing adult form (MD)

 This is an indicator of size - I have long fingers

There was one on almost every path out of the water

This one had fallen from where it had emerged, but hadn't moved far or taken on
much water. I suspect that most, if not all,  the cases are from a very recent emergence.

Lots more Canada geese moving through

WNW breeze was surprisingly cold after the recent hot spell. Low cloud and occasional drizzle.

Seawatch report from Pete:

06:00-07:00

Mediterranean gull 1 second calendar year bird on Ocean Edge  shore

2 Gannet out

15 Common Scoter out plus another 5 close in later.

1 Razorbill out

2 Raz/guill out.  

No terns or small waders in an hour's watch

Canada goose - 117 in 6 flocks - all north low over sea at varying ranges 

Heysham skeer low water 13:40

I only managed a very brief check to see if the Sanderling were gone. They were. The only waders apart from Oystercatchers were 19 Turnstone

There are still hundreds of large gulls on the skear,
but no longer feeding on the seed mussels

The seed mussels are now too large and too well anchored