Creeping tide clears the beach!

The breeze still from the east. Overcast all day apart from 30 minutes sunshine mid afternoon.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Alan:

An improvement in the catch this morning with a small selection of warblers that may have arrived over the night before last. Also caught were three Grey Wagtails. The catch comprised 3 Willow Warblers (+ 1 retrap), 3 Chiffchaffs, 2 Wrens and singles of Dunnock, Cetti's Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat, Garden Warbler and Blackcap.

I had a quick check mid afternoon (MD)

Gadwall just 4 again, no sign of Wigeon

Teal 5 on "no swimming" pond, later flew off to south

Common Snipe 1 flushed from edge of main pond - first record this autumn 

Dragonflies:

Emperor 4

Brown Hawker 2

Migrant Hawker 4

Common Darter 5

South shore

Rock Pipit 1

Wheatear just 2 along the same stretch and at same time that I counted 37 yesterday!

Again, the objective of today's walk was to check out the waders on the water line out from the saltmarsh, I could see there were high numbers from a distance, but as I got closer most of them flew off south, not a raptor today, and I was nowhere near enough to spook them. It was only when I got closer that I realised what had happened (MD).

The morning breeze was fresher than of late and due east, and the sea was quite calm. The net effect of this is that the wind holds back the waves that would normally lap the waterline. When this happens I think of the tide as "creeping" in. This is what a creeping tide looks like coming up the beach.

Creepy, isn't it! This is what it looks like looking down on it, you can just make out some very slight wave action at the end of this clip.

When waders normally stand on the waterline, it is the incoming waves that force them to move forward. But the wave only reaches one or two birds at a time and the flock tends to shuffle forward following the same wave action (even when there is no breeze at all, there are inevitably still small waves lapping the water line). When it creeps in like this, there is no single stimulus to move, the birds tend to just stand there till the water is higher than they are comfortable with, unfortunately this happens to all the birds at the same time, so when one moves they all move, this then spooks nearby birds. As they fly off they spook all the others further south in a domino effect, that is what happened this morning. 

By the time I'd reached a reasonable viewing distance, the only waders remaining were this group of Grey Plover and Bar-Tailed Godwit. The only reason they were still there, is that they would have been the northern end of the original line of waders. It was obvious that the Plover were as deep as they get without swimming and an exit was imminent. The water looks quite choppy in this clip, but that is a foreshortening effect, the birds were over 5m beyond the waterline.

Best estimate of waders seen:

Knot c600

Grey Plover c80

Bar-Tailed Godwit 50

Dunlin c150

Curlew c50

Redshank 12

Oystercatcher c300

Shelduck 4 juvenile together, no sign of any adult. I'm posting this clip, not so much for the birds, but it does clearly demonstrate how the east breeze was pushing back the waves that normally lap on the waterline.

Mediterranean gulls 8 adult - this was a bit frustrating, I could just make out that this one had a white ring, too far away to read, and as soon as it made its way to join a small group of Meds it promptly sat down. If it had remained stood, I might have tried to get closer, but I decided to leave them in peace.

4 of the 8 Mediterranean gulls roosting on the beach

Wheatear surge

Almost still first thing the slight air movement from the east, increased slightly by mid morning. Overcast all day.

South Shore - high water 09:45

Rock Pipits 3 - between Red Nab and the start of the foreshore 

Linnet 2

Goldfinch 16 

Both the above on the saltmarsh 

Swallow 5 (2 + 3) south

Wheatear - just the stretch from Red Nab to the rocky outcrop on the east side of the saltmarsh checked. The absolute minimum was 37.

They continued along the shore, Janet was just beyond the southern limit of the recording area and was seeing them there too.

There were almost certainly many more on the north side, Howard took these pictures of two birds on the Near Naze yesterday 

Wheatear on the Near Naze

Mediterranean gull 3 roosting with a small group of mixed gulls on the beach just out from the saltmarsh. One was the long staying green ringed German bird.

German ringed Mediterranean gull with
two Common and a Lesser Blacked-Backed gull

I went down to check the waders on the water line towards high water, but on these very low neap tides (7.3m high water today), the waterline is still a long way out, even at high water. Before I was close enough to check the wader numbers in detail they were spooked by, presumably, at least one raptor. This is them leaving before I got close, their erratic flight patterns suggesting that they were still under attack. I suspect that the two birds flying upwards towards the end of the clip could be raptors. (MD)

What I managed to count before they were spooked, plus those that remained:

Knot 400+

Grey Plover 50+

Bar-Tailed Godwit 43

Dunlin c140

Curlew c100

Oystercatcher c50

Greenshank 1

Heysham skear low water 16:20

Only half of the middle skear was exposed, and not a lot of birds.

Great Crested Grebe 1

Eider 3

Little Egret 2

Grey Heron 1

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1

Oystercatcher c500

Curlew c40

Turnstone c30

Ringed Plover 25

This feeding group was a bit of a puzzle, the tide had almost stopped ebbing. Both large and small gulls plus waders appeared to be finding plenty to eat in this shallow drain. It can only have been shrimps, but the feeding technique seemed too slow for the decent size of shrimps currently available. I can only think that another population of tiny shrimps have emerged (MD)

Wigeon.....but not where you would expect

It was warmer today and the wind a little more to the east, between NE and ENE. Some overcast periods, but mainly sunny by the afternoon.

South Shore - early afternoon 

Wheatear 15 (14 on Ocean Edge foreshore plus 1 near the lighthouse)

Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab

Mediterranean gull 1 resting on the rocks on the seaward end of the beach by the jetty. As the afternoon ferry left, its wash pushed the Med off the rocks, as the water quickly drains back it normally provides a feeding opportunity as small shrimps etc become stranded, but it didn't seem to be so today.

Insects: I was quite optimistic this afternoon, it was much warmer and the wind more to the east, but although slightly better than yesterday, it wasn't up to expectations.

Foreshore 

Small White 7

Small Tortoiseshell 1

Red Nab

Several Small White on the Sea Aster

Sea wall

Small White 3

Lighthouse area

There was a trickle coming in off the sea, about 1 butterfly every 3 - 4 minutes. While I was in the area 4 small White and 5 Small Tortoiseshell came in off. But nothing else of note.

The only dragonflies seen were 2 Migrant Hawker near Red Nab, they didn't get past the Power Station fence, before their thoughts switched away from migration!

Male and female Migrant Hawker.
No longer migrating 

There were decent numbers of butterflies in the nature park:

Red Admiral 6

Large White 1

Small Tortoiseshell 4

Speckled Wood 7

Common Darter 3

Middleton Nature Reserve - mid afternoon 

Just a quick check of the two main ponds

The Cetti's warbler was not heard during the short visit.

Gadwall 15 on the "no swimming" pond, accompanied by

Wigeon 1 - male either coming out of eclipse or a 2nd calendar year bird (MD). There has been a Wigeon here before, a female was with the Gadwall in the winter of 2019/20. Today's bird was preening most of the time, as per this clip.

Male Wigeon - this is just a still from the above clip

Little grebe 1 adult 

Dragonflies 

Brown Hawker 1

Migrant Hawker 8

Common Darter 3

Mainly insects, and not many of them!

Continuing NE breezes, overcast for much of the day, but sunny spells in the afternoon.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

John was keeping up appearances at Middleton this morning with three nets set until about 10.00hr.

The catch was again very poor - just five birds, 3 Willow Warblers and 2 Chiffchaffs.

The moth trap set on the previous evening did little better with singles of Sallow, Bulrush Wainscot, Flounced Rustic, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Silky Wainscot and Brown China Mark.

Janet also had a quick look:

The aggressive male Mute Swan chased off two visiting adult Mute.

The main pond Cetti's warbler was very vocal again, singing from the SE corner near the wooden steps. Eventually located in the reed bed in the corner, but proved impossible to see.......this time.

Janet can't resist turning over anything laying on the ground. Not a bad strategy to understand what is about, as long as you careful to replace whatever you move as Janet does. In this case a Black Ant's nest, complete with eggs, chambers and tunnels. The ants are just starting to take the eggs down the tunnels to safety, a process that will be reversed after the half pipe was carefully replaced.

Black Ant nest - like an iceberg, most is below the surface 

South Shore

I left it to late afternoon, in the hope the sunny spells would be sufficient, with the NE breeze to bring insects in off the sea (MD). There was some slight movement, hopefully this will increase in the coming days, weekend looks promising.

There was almost nothing coming in near the Lighthouse, just two Small White seen.

Along the sea wall there were several bees, wasps and flies, plus Two Red Admiral and a Small Tortoiseshell.

This fine looking Red Admiral was having a top up of sunshine on the 
Power Station perimeter wall

The Sea Aster on Red Nab was holding up some recent arrivals, including:

Small White 7

Meadow Brown 1 and Common Blue 1 - both these two worn and possibly resident.

Just one dragonfly seen coming in off at Red Nab, unfortunately to quickly for positive identification, but female Migrant Hawker the most likely.

Butterflies in the nature park behind Red Nab included:

Red Admiral 2

Small Tortoiseshell 1

Speckled Wood 8

Rock Pipit 4 - 1 one foreshore, 2 on Red Nab, 1 near waterfall

Wheatear 5 - 3 on foreshore, 2 on Red Nab

Starlings c100 feeding on the grass in the corner of Red Nab, presumably something has had chance to emerge as a food source since is was last covered.

Some of the mainly juvenile Starling resting on the sea wall
One towards the left is ringed.

Grey Seal 1 between the outflows 

This clip "shows" small Grey Mullet coming in close to the water's edge as the tide comes in. They feed on the algae that manages to grow on the mud surface between the tides, when the sun shines. On very hot days they can become so frenzied to reach the algae mat that the front fish actually come out of the water.

Inevitably they were spotted by a predator. I thought I filmed this Grey Heron catching one, but I missed that the Heron also missed! Still you get the picture.

Kevin has had a Heath Rustic moth twice this week in his overnight light trap

The Heath Rustic is a moth that's uncommon away from heath and moorland 

and was possibly blown in from Heysham Moss on the northerly winds.

Passing Canadas

The light NE continues, overcast but dry.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Alan:

The catches can't get much lower!  This morning was overcast with a light NE breeze. Only six birds ringed comprising 2 Chiffchaff, and singles of Willow Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Meadow Pipit and Goldfinch.

I had a quick look around mid morning (MD)

Mute "pair" (the male is starting to distance himself) plus 9 cygnet. Plus 1 adult on "no swimming " pond.

Coot 4

Moorhen 12 including 5 juvenile 

Mallard 9

Gadwall 14 - all on "no swimming" pond.

Little grebe 1 adult  also on "no swimming" pond

Cetti's warbler 2 singing males. One on Tim Butler, which is a known territory, although no singing heard since spring. The other was in the SE corner of the main pond, easily heard from the bottom car park. This is likely to be the bird singing and calling from the car park last week. This area is not an historic territory.

The only dragonflies seen were a couple of Common Darter and an Emperor.

Only two species of butterfly too. Green-Veined White 2 and Speckled Wood 30+. The Speckled wood were more active today than through the warm spell, they seem to appreciate the cooler weather. Both species were quite fresh looking.

Green-Veined White, showing how effective the veins are at breaking up its outline.

Speckled Wood - looking fresh

Red Nab and Foreshore 

Just a quick check on the way back from Middleton 

Rock Pipits 3 on the small beach between Red Nab and the foreshore. Pete advises that any movement at this time of year will just be the local population mixing and matching (more mixing than matching going on yesterday).

Wheatear 8 - at this time of year I find it very difficult to decide what age and even what sex they are. This clip is actually one of yesterday's birds. It very kindly displayed both profiles, but I'm still not confident, so I'll say nothing....((MD)

One thing I have noticed though. In spring, all the birds pass through in silence, but some of the adult retuning birds in autumn produce a click. I've always taken this as a warning call to youngsters, presumably as result recent habit, as they do it when they are alone as well as in groups.

A flock of 37-38 Canada geese came in off the sea and landed on the mud out from the foreshore, they only hung around a few minutes before setting off again to the east.

In contrast to Middleton, the only butterfly in the nature park was a single Meadow Brown 

Knot and Grey Plover arrive in numbers

NE to ENE breeze all day, overcast.

Just my two checks of the south shore so far (MD)

08:00

Common Sandpiper 2 together briefly on the foreshore before leaving south

Linnet 32

Mediterranean gull 5 adult 1 juvenile on beach next to wooden jetty,

Robin 1 near the lighthouse 

Wheatears none on the out leg, first one seen flying in across the harbour near the waterfall then another 2 had come in near the lighthouse and 6 on the foreshore - so minimum 6 individuals, probably 9

Rock Pipit, again none seen on way out, but 4 arguing on foreshore on return. Suspect 2 were passing through.

Rock Pipits in "dispute"

High water 17:15

Wheatear 4 on foreshore 

Rock Pipits at least 5, that was the highest single count, but they were all along the foreshore.

I really just went down to see what was on the saltmarsh and foreshore, I had expected it to be busy, but unbelievably for a Bank Holiday Monday there was no one walking on the beach out from the saltmarsh, and better, the water line was full of waders.

It was good to see flocks of waders again, even if you couldn't tell what they were! This first clip is just a flavour of the evening with a flock of small waders coming in to land on the waterline.

I walked out on the beach, but didn't want to get too close and spook them, so images not great. But this isn't a bad clip. It includes: Curlew, Bar-Tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Knot and Dunlin.

Estimate of numbers, these are woefully undercounted as I couldn't separate the species of the more distant birds.

Mediterranean gull 6 with roosting BHGs

Oystercatcher c3,000

Curlew c200

Bar-Tailed Godwit 40 

Grey Plover 150 minimum 

Knot 650 minimum 

Dunlin 240

Many of the above 4 species in summer plumage 

This clip is part of one on the groups of waders, this is the one where most of the Grey Plover were. Also Knot and Dunlin.

I managed not to spook them, but as the tide ebbed, more and more groups flew along the shore to feed. This flock contains Bar-Tailed Godwit, Grey Plover Knot and Dunlin, it ends as we started with silhouettes of waders against the evening light, but at least this time we know what they are!

This is just a still from the above clip, not a great shot but you can make out:

 Bar-Tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Knot and Dunlin

Afternoon Wheatears

NE to NNE breeze all day, mainly sunny but some overcast spells.

Heysham skear - low water 10:45

Great Crested Grebe 5

No Eider seen

Little Egret 8

Mediterranean gull 1 adult, again occupying a small island on the north side of the skear.

Curlew c40

Whimbrel 1 at least

Oystercatcher c1,000

Redshank c100

Turnstone c40

Ringed Plover c20

Juvenile Ringed Plover (both pictures)

South Shore 

A walk along the sea wall mid afternoon located nothing on the way out, but on the return this Wheatear was feeding on small insects on the wall, allowing some close views.

Northern Wheatear 

I hadn't checked the foreshore on the way out, as it was very busy with holidaymakers, but did check on the way back and was surprised to find:

Wheatear 9 (4 + 5) so 10 in total and the one on the wall, at least, had just arrived from somewhere.

Rock Pipits 2 on Red Nab.

Insects

The object of the walk was to see if today's NE breeze and sun had brought any insects in off the sea. There was nothing around the lighthouse area. A couple of Small White in off along the sea wall and around Red Nab.

Interestingly, but not obviously why, the demographic of the butterflies around the Buddleia was completely different today. The only large butterfly was a single Painted Lady (no Red Admiral, Peacock, Large White, Comma, Meadow Brown or Small Tortoiseshell). All that remained were:

Small White 5

Speckled Wood several

Common Blue 2

Female Common Blue looking quite faded.
This picture is actually one from here yesterday

Dragonflies near small anemometer 

Common Darter 4

Migrant Hawker 1

Hawker sp 1 (pretty sure it was a Southern, but it wouldn't settle in view)

Pete managed a check of Red Nab towards high water. Not easy, many of the birds had already been flushed to the western edge, by holidaymakers. Further complicated by two Peregrine flying around and a drone being flown, spooking the waders (drones are becoming an increasing problem (MD)). 

Mediterranean gulls 5 adult 2 juvenile 

Plenty of balloons!

Almost no wind early on, what air movement there was from the NE, by the afternoon it had moved to WSW and freshened. Mainly sunny.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Early morning Vis/audio report from Jean:

Nothing much to report today. 

7 Grey Wagtails flew over in 2 hours. 

Green Woodpecker heard again. That was it!

Pete also managed 

Garden warbler 2 together

Teal 3 in flight

Janet paid a quick visit

Painted Lady, one of many butterflies on the Buddleia 

Male Brown Hawker

South Shore

At 09:30 near the small anemometer, there were two Chiffchaff singing, none recently. Plus two Robin singing (normally one maximum) and this one, between the two sining birds, making the most pathetic call I've ever heard from an adult (looking) Robin (MD). The guest appearance of butterflies are Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral.

Towards lunchtime Kevin located this Red-legged Shieldbug.. or Forest Bug ..halfway along the sea wall

Red-Legged Shieldbug

A check of the lighthouse area in the evening

Mediterranean gulls - there were 2 adult/3rd calendar year and 2 juvenile on the sea out from the harbour, presumably the same 2 + 2 that came to the beach as it became exposed. This is one of the juvenile meds coming into the beach just before the mud was showing. It had a swim around with the impatient Oystercatchers.

Rock Pipit 1 - on the sea wall

Whimbrel 2 - high and vocal to the south

The light was fading when I was leaving and the birds were heading to their roosts

Pied Wagtail 40+ into the Power Station

Starlings c1,500 to the wooden jetty although some were making the most of the last of the sun. This small groups was moving along the sea wall like locusts.

Finally, there were several hot air balloons drifting over the south lakes. It occurred to me that they are the airborne equivalent of jellyfish, in that all they can only control movement up and down in the atmosphere. Although, unlike jellyfish, they can decided when and where to start from. I doubt they would have started from there in a strong east wind. Unfortunately, it was quite hazy in the distance so the best I can say about this shot is that "it is enigmatic" (rubbish really! MD).

Oystercatchers making their way to the skear,
with 2 of 5, at that time, hot air balloons drifting over the South Lakes

Another Purple Sand sighting, plus kids with attitude

The breeze started NNE but NW by mid afternoon. Mainly sunny.

Heysham skear - low water 09:45

Great Crested Grebe 10

Eider 6 - the males are now coming out of eclipse. I'm posting this clip of a male preening, not for the Eider, but if you watch behind it at the beginning of the clip, you'll see a fish breaking the water. This is almost certainly a Garfish feeding on Whitebait  or Sand Eels. You can't see the fish, but I am familiar with the way they feed. If you are unfamiliar with a Garfish, Google it, they are pretty unique! (MD)

Little Egret 15

Grey Heron 2

Oystercatcher c500

Redshank c100

Curlew c50 

Whimbrel 1 at least 

Dunlin 4

Turnstone 250+ - a large increase in this species, I'm tempted to say 250 more than the regular birds

South shore 

An evening check 4 hours after high water.

Mediterranean gull 3 - turned up on the beach as it became exposed - none ringed

Purple Sandpiper 1 - on the sloping wall next to the lighthouse at 18:15. It seemed to be finding plenty to eat, so hopefully will hang around.

Purple Sandpiper - this is just a still from the clip, in case you can't view videos.

The juvenile gulls along the sea wall seem to be developing attitude, I suppose they are now the equivalent of a cocky teen!

This young Herring gull steadfastly refused to move out of my way. I had to walk around it, still it gives a nice opportunity to see the plumage in detail.

Juvenile Herring gull 

This juvenile Lesser Black-Backed gull was pestering an adult for food.

It continued pestering when they went on the beach. Finally the adult relented, but the juvenile only wanted the bit that the adult had!

Finally I really like this clip. I've no idea if these two Redshank are juveniles, but their behaviour certainly appears childlike. They reminded me of a couple of kids visiting the seaside for the first time, and possibly they were (MD).

An Old Lady and rodent control

The light breeze started off NE but had drifted to NNE by late morning. An overcast start but sunny for the rest of the day.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Jean:

Ringing 0640-1015

New birds consisted of:

Reed Warbler 1

Whitethroat 3

Lesser Whitethroat 2 (1 was an adult)

Grasshopper Warbler 1

Robin 1

Retrapped birds:

Blue Tit - First ringed on 13th May this year at Middleton as a bird born in 2020. So middle aged for a Blue Tit as the average age they live to is 2.7 years, although the oldest recorded was over 21 years old! 2/3 do not survive the first year of life but the odds on surviving longer increase after that. 

Not much overhead:

2 Kestrels hunting over the Reserve and a Sparrowhawk lurking in the bushes

2 Grey Wagtails over

9 Goldfinches

A Greenshank heard in the distance.

South Shore

Wheatear 3 on foreshore

Rock Pipit 2 on foreshore 

Whimbrel 2 near Red Nab

No Mediterranean gulls seen feeding on the beach near the jetty

Both myself and Kevin checked for any insect movement, but there was almost nothing near the lighthouse (just a single Small White and a Small Tortoiseshell in the evening). There were a few more Small Tortoiseshell and Small White at Red Nab and they did appear to be coming in off. There were plenty of insects in the nature park behind Red Nab, including:

Migrant Hawker at least 3 

Common Darter 2 - this male Common Darter appears to be eating at the start of the clip, but I can't see anything, perhaps it was just "working its jaws".

Butterflies - these numbers represent the highest count at any one time

Painted Lady 4

Peacock 4

Red Admiral 5

Small Tortoiseshell 8

Meadow Brown 5

Large White 2

Small White 6

Common Blue 2

Speckled Wood 3

Faded and worn Comma

This is the Old Lady, not an uncommon moth, but quite splendid. This one has unfortunately lost a chunk of one wing. 

Old Lady moth, from Kevin's light trap last night

........and this is the rodent control. Janet took these shots of a Fox with a rat in the horse field next to Knowlys Rd.