More Meds

SW winds pretty much all day. Some sunny spells, but cool when overcast.

Report from Pete:

Bit too southerly on the sea with just 2 Gannet and two Razorbill/Guillemot in 30 mins 

but 3 x 2cy Mediterranean gulls -  Red Nab (2) and Heysham 2 outfall (1)

I had a walk along the south wall just after high water (09:10), probably should have left it till a bit later (MD)

No small gulls on Red Nab

Mediterranean gull 1 2nd calendar year flew along the sea wall. Another sighting of one briefly on the sea out from the harbour mouth could have been the same bird.

Mediterranean gull (top) with Black-Headed gull

Mediterranean gull 2cy out from the harbour mouth

Rock Pipits 5 - three together along sea wall, one in scrub near lighthouse and this one sat above the waterfall.

Young Rock Pipit on inner harbour wall above the waterfall 

Linnet 5 between lighthouse and waterfall 

A walk back through the Nature Park found that the Goldfinch young have fledged. They seemed to be everywhere. It's always worth a look at the newt pond. This clip shows one of the young Goldfinch and a female Blackbird having a bath.

You'll note the Song Thrush singing in the above clips. Be warned, it includes a very respectable Little Grebe trilling in its repertoire, possibly a Little Grebe does visit this pond when it is quiet. While I'm talking Song Thrush song, the one near the white barrier where the cars park, includes at least two different car alarms in its song. I keep trying to record it, but it is busy here and someone invariably talks or shouts. I'll keep trying!

Angela spotted this orchid amongst the grass next to Half Moon Bay cafe. There is usually something interesting to see, if you keep a look out.

Orchids are notoriously variable and prone to hybridisation 
but this looks like an Early Purple (MD)

Better than expected seawatch

A fresh SW wind all day. Mainly sunny.

Report from Pete:

Sample 35 mins seawatch in clear conditions Heysham - better than expected:

flock 5 Guillemot in then presumably the same out

Puffin a ‘probable’ in and out of wave troughs and distant 

5 Gannet out

2 Manx Shearwater out

2 Canada goose in 

Mediterranean gull 1 2cy red Nab

Incidentally 10 per cent of the usual annual LDBWS species total of c205 comes exclusively from spring seawatching.  Partly but not completely due to autumn seawatching being dreadful this last few years with September equinox gales from the right direction consigned to mythology!  

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Wildfowl as yesterday plus additional Little Grebe adult on "no swimming" pond

Swift feeding over main pond

Warblers heard/seen:

Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Common Whitethroat, Blackcap, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler (no Cetti's today).

The main interest were insects.

Dragonflies:

The strong SW wind focused a few in the Sheltered SW corner of "no swimming" pond. Difficult to see here, but at least:

Emperor 2 (Male and female) - another female Emperor seen near central marsh (first records here this year)

Four-Spotted Chaser 2

On the small ponds on the western marsh

Broad-bodied Chaser 2 male and an ovipositoring female (a male hovering above her for protection). Two points of interest in this clip. First, if you listen closely you can hear her wings "rattle" against the stems as she moves forward. Second, watch closely and you can see clusters of eggs floating down, especially the last few deposits towards the end of the clip.

These Azure Blue Damselflies were also on the small ponds

Azure Blue Damselflies 

Butterflies:

Speckled Wood 8

Small Heath 5

Red Admiral 4 - all showing some signs of wear, this one especially so.

Worn Red Admiral

Large Skipper 2 - first records this year

Large Skipper 

Moths:

Cinnabar 3

Burnet Companion 3

South shore (MD)

I had a pleasant evening stroll along the south sea wall.

Rock Pipits 3 - adult with two young in tow, feeding along the sea wall between the outflows. These could either be the Red Nab or Lighthouse breeding birds.

Canada goose 6 in

Shag 1 2nd calendar year flew to wooden jetty

Mediterranean gull  - almost certainly this morning's 2nd calendar year bird, now feeding on No.2 outflow.

2nd calendar year Mediterranean gull

The lowering sun meant looking along the outflow wasn't practical, so I had to walk a way along the wall and look back. It just means this clip is more distant than I would have liked.

15 minutes nature walk

 The wind started from west then swung round through south ending SE. Some sunny spells early on, then overcast with light showers.

I went to check the north side Rock Pipits (MD)

None found at the Near Naze or the cafe end of Half Moon Bay.

There were two adult and at least two young birds just north of the rocky outcrop at the north end of Half Moon Bay.

One of the young Rock Pipit

There was another adult below the high cliffs, unfortunately a hiker passed and flushed it and two other birds away, although I couldn't be certain the other two were Rock Pipits as there were lots of House Sparrows around too.

It's no wonder there were lots of House Sparrows , watch how quickly this female gathers food.

Also around:

Little Egret 3

Curlew 2

Linnet (no sign of any young birds)

Painted Lady 1

Tim also checked the Head in the afternoon, he also located 5 Rock Pipits, plus Linnets and Common Whitethroat above the foreshore.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

This is what today's title refers to. I just spent 15 minutes this morning checking out the main pond (hoping Tuesday's east wind did bring something interesting in). The sun had gone in by this time but it was still quite warm at 16C, even so the only dragonfly seen was a female Broad-bodied Chaser, plus a few damselflies. 

Mute Swan 2 adult, but now only 7 cygnets - so that's two they've lost. Still the ones that remain seemed lively enough. Here they have a spontaneous group bath (dad doesn't look overly impressed!). You might just be able to make out a Chiffchaff in the background.

Coot 4 adult - no young seen today

Moorhen 1 adult with 1 chick

Mallard 2 male 2 female one with 1 quite large chick the other with 6 small chicks

Little grebe 2 adult 1 chick.

This adult caught a relatively large fish in the middle of the pond and then headed off to the reeds in the SE corner. I though it was taking it to a chick, but it ended up eating it itself.

This is the young bird with the second adult. A Willow Warbler singing nicely in the background.

Apart from the Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler there were Blackcap and Sedge warblers singing and the "no swimming" pond Cetti's Warbler could be heard.

Swift 1 feeding over the pond

No sign of any Otter activity yet.

Plenty of Orchids out now.

An interesting quarter of an hour. If you haven't much time you could do worse than visiting here.

In the afternoon the wind switched to the east, it was cooler now and occasional light drizzle. I wouldn't expect any insects to be coming in off the sea in these conditions. Still, no point in having a theory if you don't test it, so I had a look down the south sea wall (MD)

Rock Pipits 5 (2 on Ocean Edge foreshore, the one seen in detail an adult, 1 adult on Red Nab and just 1 adult near the lighthouse (suspect the others were on the north side of the harbour)

Linnet 5 between lighthouse and waterfall 

Curlew 3 (2 + 1 flew past roudhead towards Red Nab)

Shelduck 9 south

Shelduck heading out

The only insect seen was a single Silver Y moth

The Herring Gull nesting on one of the harbour platforms has one chick, but she has more eggs to hatch. After a brief break, she went back to the nest.

The youngster quickly rejoined mum.

Only Canadas really

The wind was fresher today and from SW. Overnight rain held off during the day, occasional sunny spells.

Canada geese 52 minimum - Janet saw these 52 flying south over Middleton Nature Reserve this morning, a little later (10:30) they had either turned round or a second large flock was heard over Heysham Village heading north.

52 Canada geese bringing this year's moult migration total to 143

Heysham skear - low water 13:00 (MD)

I didn't have much time today, it doesn't take long to check the skear on these neap tides. I wasn't expecting much and wasn't disappointed, for a while it felt like doing a stocktake on Noah's Ark, just two of everything! Eventually I managed to scrape a few extra Eider to add to totals.

Eider just 5 - 2 + 2 male and 1 female - the female flew off south these shots show some plumage detail.

Female Eider

Great Crested grebe 2

Little Egret 2

Curlew 2

Even the Oystercatcher weren't as abundant as typical but still c750.

Similar numbers of Herring gulls. The seed mussels are still forming, but are becoming increasing difficult to extract from in between the larger mussels. They prefer to be in shallow water, presumably to help remove any mud. Watch the bird with the weed, it ends up with a mussel, probably more by luck than sound tactics. This size of mussel is what I think is just about their size limit for eating whole.

I'll hopefully have more time tomorrow.

Insect day, but not as insectity as it could have been.

Light wind starting from east but moving to west by mid morning, then back east by evening. Mainly sunny during the day, but overcast by late evening.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet took these shots this morning, all day flying moths.

Cinnabar moth

Silver Y moth

Burnet Companion moth

South shore (MD)

Rock Pipits minimum 7. I checked twice, in the morning there was one on Red Nab plus Two along the sea wall. There were at least 4 around the lighthouse area, but there were several visitors walking around, so it wasn't really possible to sort them out. 

In the evening I didn't see any on Red Nab, but they were everywhere from No.1 outflow, around the roundhead and as far as the waterfall (taking advantage of the gut of insects coming in off).

There were four feeding on the sloping wall near the lighthouse with the male standing guard. I took the four to be the female, two young birds and the long staying lame bird. This is the male standing guard.

The male, preferring to stand on one leg as the right foot is causing him problems 
But he still stands proud 

The young birds were feeding themselves, as it was easy pickings, but they took a rest. These are the two that I thought were the young ones (MD). If they are both young, they must both be from the lighthouse nest, I can't see the male tolerating one from another brood.

There was an adult with a young bird on the sea wall between No.1 outflow and the roundhead. There was also an adult with a young bird between lighthouse and waterfall, but I couldn't rule out them being the same two, or even if they were two from the roundhead sloping wall. But I didn't think so.

This is the adult along the inner harbour wall, it looks stressed, presumably as it didn't know where the young bird was. It flies off as soon as it hears it.

So, at least 5 birds around the roundhead, probably 7, possibly 9.

There are four local factors that attract insects in off the sea at the roundhead:

temperature - it was warm enough today. 

time of day - they need time to arrive from wherever they are coming from

wind direction - ideally an east wind or at least a wind with some east in it

tide - if the above three conditions are met insects will be drawn in off the sea, but if the tide is in, they can come in anywhere. When the tide is out, the roundhead is the only point where they can come in directly from the sea onto land.

Today was a frustrating mixture of mistimed factors!

The wind was from the east early morning, so I had a look at 10:30 to give any insects time to arrive. Unfortunately the wind swung towards the west just as I arrived, but there had been some movement and I just caught the end of of it.

Painted Lady plus Common Blue butterfly on Red Nab.

Another Painted Lady, 7 Common Blue and 2 "small" whites heading inland from the roundhead.

Painted Lady

The wind was forecast to shift back to the east by mid afternoon, but it stubbornly refused to move! I went back at 18:00, the tide was in and the wind still from the west, albeit a light wind. It started to shift to the north, then NE at 18:15, when a trickle of butterflies started coming in off (there were probably lots more but stretched all along the wall as the tide was in).

Painted Lady 4

Also seen on scrub near lighthouse 

Common Blue 2

Silver Y moth 2 - this one feeding on sea campion 

Although there were only a few butterflies and no dragonflies seen. There was all sorts of insects coming in, mainly small flies/beetles - hence the focused Rock Pipits. This Crane fly came in off and rested briefly on the sea wall. I think it is a Tiger Crane Fly (MD). The reference books say it's a common species. It's only the second one I've ever seen so they can't be that common locally.

Looks to be a Tiger Crane fly
Unfortunately resting with its wings over its body, hiding its black back markings

A bit warmer

North to NE light wind, mainly overcast with a hazy sun occasionally visible through the clouds.

First a Canada Goose moult migration record that almost fell through the net.

Canada Geese 5 north from Heysham Head 28th March, which makes this the first record for this year's migration - Thanks to David Kaye

Middleton Nature Reserve 

The Bee Orchids are out here too, joining the Spotted and Purple. This shot by Janet.

Bee Orchid 

I had a walk around this afternoon, it was warmer, I thought there might be a few insects around. And so it proved......just a few insects! (MD)

Mute Swan 2 adult 8 cygnet 

Coot 8 adult plus at least 3 chicks

Moorhen 3

Gadwall 1 male on Tim Butler pond

Mallard 4 male plus this female on the main pond with 9 young chicks - she's giving them a good work out!

Little grebe just one adult seen and another heard.

The warblers were more vocal today, but I didn't hear a Lesser Whitethroat or Grasshopper warbler.

Cetti's warbler 2 (central and western marshes)

Common Whitethroat 3

Willow Warbler several

Chiffchaff 3

Blackcap 2

Sedge Warbler 3

Reed Warbler 1

This clip is a Reed Warbler, unfortunately not singing, you can see it has been ringed.

Reed Bunting 4 singing males

House Martin 1 and Swift 2 feeding over the main pond.

Butterflies:

Small Heath 8

Green-veined White 6 (4 confirmed, 2 presumed)

Speckled Wood 3

Orange Tip 1 male

Moths

Burnet Companion 

Cinnabar 

Cinnabar moth

Dragonflies:

Four-spotted Chaser 1

Broad-bodied Chaser 1 male

Male Broad-bodied Chaser

This is a Tree Bumblebee. They have colonised from the continent, the first record in the UK was only 2001. Now, they are everywhere!

Tree Bumblebee 

Freezing, not flaming, June!

A cold ENE wind, with no sunshine to warm the day. Some showers but thankfully, dry for most of the afternoon for Morecambe's street party along the promenade, but I bet they were cold!

Pete managed an accurate count of the gulls this morning:

865 immature herring gull, mainly 2cy

6 Great Crested Grebe 

2 Red Breasted Merganser  

The above on/around the skear

15 adult Black Headed Gulls on the outflows

Shag 2cy on wooden jetty

I also had a look on the skear at low water (MD).

I was back in full winter plumage, including woolly hat and fingerless mitts!

Apart from Pete's records there were:

Eider 44

Curlew 3

Whimbrel 1

Shag 1 - by this time resting on Conger rock with three cormorants, waiting for the tide to ebb a little further before feeding.

South Shore (MD)

Just an evening stroll along foreshore and sea wall.

Rock Pipits - none seen on the saltmarsh or Red Nab, but four near the lighthouse. But I could only find one juvenile. This is the female:

She is still feeding the youngster, but there were lots of small flies around so it was trying to catch its own supper:

Unfortunately, the Power Station was blowing off steam, otherwise you would have been able to hear the male trying to distract me in the above clip. This isn't the male, it is the lame bird that has been around all year. You can see its contorted foot as it scratches itself in this clip (wonder how it scratches its left side). But plenty of small flies this evening  making for easy pickings.

Linnet - a male standing guard next to the known nest site near the lighthouse. It saw off at least two other pairs.

Shag 1 2nd calendar year - showing well in the harbour.

2nd calendar year Shag 
All three of today's Shag records likely to have been this bird

In this clip an immature Great Black-Backed gull walks by. Not sure if it shows how slight shags are or how large Great Black-Backed gulls are:

One the way back through the Nature Park, this Blue Tit was having a bath in the rain.

More Canadas through

 A cool NE quite fresh wind. Warm in the frequent sunny spells

I didn't have much time today, just a quick check of:

Heysham skear  - low water 09:30 (MD)

Eider 36 - the additional females not present today

Great Crested Grebe 9

Red-breasted Merganser 2 (probably immature) males

Shag 1 feeding - presumed long staying 2nd calendar year bird

Little Egret 5

The only waders other than Oystercatcher were:

Curlew 5

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1

Bar-Tailed Godwit

Canada Geese:

c20 north 07:30 over Trumacar - thanks Joanne

c20 NE 12:30 over golf course - thanks Garry

Heysham Nature Reserve 

This was actually located last weekend by one of the young naturalists with the Family group day. It is a Water Ladybird, not generally uncommon, but I can't say that I've seen one before (MD). Thanks to Emma for the picture.

Water Ladybird - as the name suggests, normally found near water
This one was spotted (sorry about the pun!) from the wooden viewing platform 

Feeding day

East to NE lightish winds. Steady rain till early afternoon then fortunately clearing up and becoming sunny in time for the many Jubilee events this afternoon and evening.

Just my stuff so far (MD) 

I made the mistake of trying the south shore after the rain had stopped. But, of course, all the dog walkers and all the holiday makers had the same idea. I just checked the foreshore, the only thing of note was a Common Whitethroat taking food to the nest near the slipway.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Fortunately, this was virtually visitor free.

Mute Swan 2 adult plus 8 cygnets on main pond

Moorhen 3

Coot 5 adult feeding 3 young - the young are larger now.

Mallard 6 male and a female with a single small chick on the main pond

Little grebe 4 adult, but I only saw one chick. In this clip the adult catches a small fish, but makes sure it is stunned before trusting the chick with it. You can see the bubbles the feeding adult is making.

This adult is having a spruce up. They seem so buoyant you wonder how they manage to dive so effectively.

There weren't many warblers singing and the ones that were, somewhat subdued. The following heard in order of abundance:

Willow Warbler 

Chiffchaff 

Blackcap 

Common Whitethroat 2

Lesser Whitethroat 1

Sedge Warbler 1

This Common Whitethroat was also taking food to the nest

Buzzard 2 hanging on the east wind like Kestrels over the eastern open field.

Common Buzzard

Kestrel 1 male, also hanging on the east wind like a Kestrel. The two smudges in the background are the Buzzards.

Male Kestrel 

Insects, not a lot around despite it being quite warm in the sun.

The only butterfly seen was a very faded Green-veined White male.

Common Cardinal beetle 

There were plenty of damselflies around, but the only dragonfly seen was this immature Four-spotted Chaser

First record of a Four-spotted Chaser this year

Eider take to dabbling

Very light breezes again moving around the compass, but mainly east in morning and west in afternoon, calm by evening. Sunny in the morning, then largely overcast, with heavy shower late evening.

Heysham skear (MD)

Canada goose 6 + 4 north

Canada geese single file, low and silent - easily missed.

This clip is the 4, it is just to show how low they were , if I hadn't have seen them first, I wouldn't have known what the dark wings were appearing over the sandbar.

N.B. Pete has started a thread on the LDBWS website to try and capture all this year's Canada Goose moult migration. If you see any in or out of the Observatory recording area please either let me or Pete know, or add to the LDBWS thread - thanks

Greylag Goose 2 north - nether low or silent!

Greylag Geese 

Eider 54 - a marked increase of late and the additional birds mainly female. My first thought was young families, but I thought, and Pete confirmed that it is too early. So either failed or non breeding birds.

The ratio of male to female birds was completely reversed. This male suddenly finds himself surrounded by 10 females.

This small group were dabbling for gutweed, can't say I've seen them do that before.

Gutweed here is an easy option, some of it is 1m long and will float just below the
surface when the tide is slack (how the Brent would love it!)

Great Crested Grebe 6

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Little Egret 3 

Heron 2

Shag 1 feeding

The only waders this morning were the Oystercatchers plus single Dunlin and Ringed Plover

I had a very brief check again this evening as the inner skear was becoming exposed.

Sanderling 7 - 5 came in off and joined 2 already feeding

South Shore (KE)

Canada goose 30 south over the lighthouse - although flying out they will likely be northward bound (MD)

Near the harbour entrance:

Female Linnet collecting nest material.

Rock Pipit displaying distraction behaviour near the nest.

I found this lovely patch of Bee Orchids in the landscaped garden, near the pond. I hope they don't get picked!

Bee Orchids 

Middleton Nature Reserve (JP)

Two Heron on main pond

Little grebe with chicks on main pond

Burnet Companion moths numerous 

Burnet Companion moth