A good day for kite flying!

A light NW wind all day with plenty of warm sunshine.

I had little time today so just managed two short walks (MD)

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Little change from recent days including 

Cetti's warbler singing from "no swimming" pond

Stock Dove 2

Alan Wilson also had a look around and managed these nice shots

Ringlet

Emperor 

Heysham skear - low water 15:45

Little Egret 2

Eider 1

A single Redshank was the only wader apart from Oystercatcher and Curlew 

Mediterranean gull 1 adult

It was the Kite Festival at Morecambe today and the weather couldn't have been better. Warm and sunny and a steady onshore light wind. From my prospective, the skear was the ideal place to view it from (nice and quiet and some wildlife). In this clip the Mediterranean gull is centre foreground with the Kite Festival behind, I couldn't  resist continuing the pan to end with Ingleborough in the background.

Sometimes, when you can't get out to see nature, you have to rely on nature coming to see you. This Brimstone moth was resting in the shade just outside my back door.

Brimstone moth

Not many Meds, but showing well

NW wind all day and sun pretty much all day too.

South shore 

I had a walk down to watch the beach next to wooden jetty become exposed (3 - 3.5 hours after high water for all tide heights). (MD)

Redshank 1

Rock Pipits 5 - 1 each foreshore and Red Nab. Three around lighthouse area, one still taking food towards the nest site, plus two together (one chasing the other)

Mediterranean gulls 5 adult - there were two waiting on the rocks below the sloping wall and two on the water in the harbour mouth. They moved to the beach while there was still a few centimetres of water covering it. They were obviously after Sandmason worms, but I didn't see any caught. As I was heading back a fifth adult was making its way to the beach, this must have been the German ringed bird as it wasn't one of the four but......

Alan Wilson had just arrived and took these excellent shots which includes the German ringed bird.

Five adult Mediterranean gulls

The lower bird here has caught a Sandmason worm and is defending its catch. Even
with its bill open, they keep hold of the worm between the tongue and either upper or
lower mandible. You may need to open this image to see the worm - it's only thin!

This one only has a metal ring and has proven, so far, impossible to read

This is the German ringed bird.
If you open this shot you can clearly see the letters ANLT

A nice shot of one of the Nature Park's Small Skippers

Hummingbird Hawkmoth 1 in the same location north of the saltmarsh slipway, this time seen by Kevin Eaves in the early afternoon 

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

An afternoon stroll didn't locate much new.

The mute were back on the main pond

Stock Dove 2 at least

Warblers singing:

Cetti's warbler 1 (central marsh)

Common Whitethroat, Blackcap and Chiffchaff were the only others.

Insects as yesterday except 

Brown Hawker 2

Another ring to be read

NW to west winds, mainly overcast with some hazy sun later in the afternoon 

South shore

I had a look mid morning (MD)

Grey Seal 1 female near No.1 outflow

Rock pipit 1 Red Nab and 1 carrying food near lighthouse 

Mediterranean gulls 14 minimum - there were 5 adult plus 3 x 2nd calendar year feeding along the tideline on beach next to wooden jetty. It seems at the moment, they can only catch the Sandmason worms when they are underwater. Hopefully that will change and allow them to feed all over the beach. 2 x 2cy feeding on the seaward end of No.1 outflow may have been duplication.

These are today's birds on the waterline 

Pete checked later from Ocean Edge and managed 14. Most in the outer SW corner of Red Nab and the seaward end of No.1 outflow, but not including any that may still have been on the beach next to jetty. One of the Red Nab adults had a yellow darvic ring on right leg, but much too distant to read. Hopefully it will hang around.

Heysham skear - low water 13:20 (MD)

Just a speculative check, I wasn't expecting much, and wasn't disappointed!

Eider 3 females together

Little Egret 3

The only waders were Oystercatcher and Curlew

Still a couple of hundred Herring gulls, but mainly resting or breaking large mussels, as were a handful of Lesser Black-backed gulls.

c20 Black Headed gulls and the regular Mediterranean gull - not quite as raggedy as the last time I saw it, but still not likely to win any grooming competitions!

Black-Headed gull and Mediterranean gull

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

I just did a short circuit of the area were Kevin and myself saw the Clouded Yellow yesterday. No sign today but plenty of interest 

Mute Swan 2 + 7 cygnets now on the "no swimming" pond.

Gadwall 1 female with 2 chicks also on "no swimming" pond, but being harassed by the male swan. Fortunately, there is plenty of tree cover over the water to shelter behind.

Mallard 7 male 2 female one with 2 young

Little grebe 3 large juvenile 

Stock Dove 2

Cetti's Warbler - the "no swimming " pond male singing regularly 

Blackcap 1 near lower carpark

Sedge Warbler singing again in the reed bed near main pond peninsula 

Chiffchaff 2

Common Whitethroat 1

No Willow Warbler heard today

Dragonflies 

Common Darter - everywhere 

Black-Tailed Skimmers  - main pond

Emperor - just one seen

Butterflies in order of abundance 

Gatekeeper 

Meadow Brown 

Ringlet

Large Skipper 

Small Skipper

Small White 3

Summer generation female Small White with particularly pronounced wing "spots"

Not bad for a 10 minute circuit!

Clouded Yellow best of 11 butterfly species

Lighter NW winds sunny for large parts of the day making much warmer than of late.

South Shore (MD)

A check in the morning on the ebbing tide.

Mediterranean gull - just 2 adults seen on the beach next to wooden jetty

Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab and 1 carrying food near lighthouse 

Linnet 12

Goldfinch 2

Both the above feeding around the saltmarsh. These are the Goldfinch

It was the sunniest and calmest day since the Hummingbird Hawkmoth was first seen two weeks ago. I was hoping to see it feeding this morning, but there was no sign of it. Still, in the 150m stretch north of the saltmarsh slipway there were lots of butterflies feeding:

Small White 10

Large Skipper 2

Meadow Brown 3

Gatekeeper 2

Small Tortoiseshell 2

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Heron 1

Mute swan 2 adult 7 cygnets 

Moorhen 4

The female Gadwall was swimming around the "no swimming" pond, quacking, presumably lost her chicks again!

Mallard 2 female 1 with 2 largish chicks. 7 eclipsed males

Little grebe - just one adult seen

No sign of Stock Doves today

Dragonflies:

Black-tailed Skimmers several male and female around the main pond

Emperor 3

Common Darters - lots everywhere 

Butterflies in order of abundance:

Gatekeeper 

Meadow Brown 

Ringlet

Large Skipper

Small Skipper

Small White 3-5 (possibly a 2 of them Green-Veined Whites)

Speckled Wood 2

Comma 3

Red Admiral 1

Clouded Yellow 1 female - this was flying around the sparse scrub between the "no swimming" pond and the high plateau to the north. Just 200m from the last location of the previous sighting on 30/06/22 (later Kevin also saw it on the western side of the main pond). Very difficult to get a decent shot, it fluttered around very quickly and looked quite splendid. But as soon as they settle they close their wings and look like a pale leaf.

This is a typical at rest shot

These were about as close as I got to in flight shots

Female Clouded Yellow

When it was fluttering around, it was very easy to follow with the naked eye, but too erratic to follow with a camera, these few seconds were the best I could manage. 

Heysham Nature Reserve (MD, JP)

I just did a very brief circuit of the high plateau 

Butterflies:

Meadow Brown

Gatekeeper 

Ringlet 

Small Skipper

Large Skipper

Dragonflies:

Emperor 1

Brown Hawker 1

This male Brown Hawker never stopped, the background shows how quickly it was
moving. This was the only shot out of 10+ even slightly in focus

Janet had a more general walk around, and took these nice shots (Janet's pictures are always smaller as I do not pre size them, this allows them to be opened to appreciate the detail)

Comma - you can see the small white comma on the underwing
to which it owes its name.

Gatekeeper 

Dingy Footman

These are lovely shots of a Hoverfly, I know very little about Hoverflies,
but checking my reference book, this looks to be a Pellucid Hoverfly,
Please advise if you know (MD)

Common Green Grasshopper (probably)

Likely Rudd, but possibly hybridised 

Finally this patch of grass was in the middle of the high plateau.

It's not obvious from this shot, but the patch of flattened grass is where a Roe Deer
has spent at least one night recently. A Roe Buck, unfortunately, saw me before I
saw it as I was leaving the reserve  

First juvenile Med, but, perhaps, migrant moths top the bill

The west wind continues, mainly overcast but largely dry.

South shore 

Report from Pete:

Quick Heysham outfalls and Red nab scope  from OE shore

19 Mediterranean gull visible but did include an early unringed juvenile 

Other stuff (MD)

Rock Pipits 1 on foreshore, 1 on Red Nab plus the female and the helping bird both still taking food to young near the lighthouse. But it's not clear if young were still in nest or just out of sight.

Peregrine Falcon 2 minimum - this one flushed all the birds from Red Nab before resting, empty taloned, on the sea wall.

Adult Peregrine Falcon 

But not for long, a Lesser Black-Backed gull is very territorial in this area and quickly chased it off.

Later it, or its partner, must have been successful, as two birds were flying high above the Power Station, the trailing bird "begging" like a juvenile.

Lapwing 1 

A solitary Lapwing on the saltmarsh 

Starling numbers starting to grow too

Hummingbird Hawkmoth 1 - still in the same location, it's been there for at least 12 days now and starting to show its age! This shot shows that it is losing its scales on its head and shoulders.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth showing signs or wear
(the red patches are where the scales are missing)

I finally managed to get a shot with its wings open, just as it was settling.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth 

Another moth migrant (even rarer) - this from Kevin:

A fairly rare migrant in the moth trap this morning. It's a Bordered Straw and they breed in Southern Europe and North Africa. This one is a pale individual and it's thought that ones like this originate from desert regions .. perhaps carried north after a Saharan dust storm.

Bordered Straw

There are generally two or less Lancashire record per year, and there are some years when there are none recorded .. even in the whole of the UK.

First Med ring read

The west winds continue. Overcast till mid afternoon then sunny spells.

Janet took this nice sequence of a Herring gull dropping a mussel to break it open on the harbour wall.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

I went to check if the female Gadwall was tending her two chicks, she was.

There was also a male and female Gadwall on the Tim Butler pond. This is the eclipsed male (with just a glimpse of a Mallard at the end of the clip).

Other wildfowl as yesterday, except no juvenile Little Grebe were seen on the main pond, at least one had moved to the "no swimming" pond.

Stock Dove 2

Big increase in Gatekeeper numbers, they probably out numbered the Ringlet today.

South Shore - late evening 

A Sabine's gull leaving Leighton Moss this afternoon prompted a check of the outflows myself (MD), Shaun and Alan Physick all had a look. No sign of the Sabine's (yet), but the Meds were catching sandmason worms on the beach near the wooden jetty

Mediterranean gull 17 - 12 adult, 4 x 2nd calendar year and 1 x 3rd calendar year. This adult catches a worm, they are very thin when "stretched" from their tubes, but protein packed.

Mediterranean gull with a Sandmason worm

Shaun managed to spot a green darvic ringed adult. Just within reading range. It was ringed as a nestling in Germany in 2012 and has visited Heysham each year since 2018

Insects sparse but of some interest

A steady west wind and overcast for most of the day, a few sunny spells in the afternoon.

South Shore (MD)

Mediterranean gulls 13 - A check of the beach next to wooden jetty as the tide covered it found only 3 feeding and three resting adults plus a couple of 2nd calendar year. At least 4 more adult and a 2cy between outflows - Red Nab not checked.

Rock Pipits 4 - 2 each Red Nab and Lighthouse 

Hummingbird Hawkmoth 1 resting on pebbles close to were it was on Friday

Middleton Nature Reserve

Grey Heron 1

Mute Swan pair plus 7 cygnets 

Moorhen 3 adult

Little grebe 2 adult 3 large juvenile 

Mallard 6 male

This was odd. This solo chick swam the full length of the ""no swimming" pond.

Not a Mallard chick, and the only other birds on the pond were a Little Grebe and a couple of Moorhen, clearly the chick didn't belong to them. I suspected Gadwall, but no sign of Mum. The chick then swam all the way back to the other bank. Then Mum flew in and landed in the middle of the pond and immediately began soft quacking to attract the chick. In this clip, you can just make out the chick top right of the frame.

She eventually spotted it and flew over, seems there were two chicks (there is always an adventurous one!). The only reason I can think of for her to leave her chicks alone would be if she has some unhatched eggs and her instincts were torn between brooding eggs and tending chicks (pure speculation of course (MD)). Hopefully she will concentrate on tending her chicks now.

Stock Dove 2 minimum - these have gone from being scarce to be seen on every visit. Two seen flying together plus three occasions a single bird was flushed.

A slightly better Stock Dove picture 

Just five species of warbler seen/heard: Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Lesser and Common Whitethroat.

Once again numbers of butterflies were low, but a good variety. In order of abundance:

Ringlet

Meadow Brown

Large Skipper

Small Skipper

Gatekeeper 3

Fresh Gatekeeper 

Speckled Wood 3

Red Admiral 1

Comma 1

Comma - presumably first of this year's generation 

Another hairy caterpillar choosing to rest on a trackway.
This looks to be a Ruby Tiger, but I would be happy to be corrected (MD)

Dragonflies were even sparser, and mainly away from the ponds

Common Darter 3

Emperor 2

Black-Tailed Skimmer 2 (male and female)

Female Black-tailed Skimmer

Broad-bodied Chaser 1 male

Worn looking male Broad-bodied Chaser

I think this Damselfly is one of the many incarnations of a female Blue-tailed Damselfly. It appears to be eating a maggot.

Damselfly eating a "maggot"

A thorough check, but nothing new

West to WNW wind, mainly overcast with a few sunny spells and showers

South Shore

Initial check by Pete Crooks:

34 Mediterranean Gull between Red Nab and Heysham Harbour at low tide – 25 adults, 4 2nd summer, 5 1st summer. Most were rather distant off the the far end of the HS1 and HS2 outfall channels. Two of the most distant birds were colour-ringed: adult with white darvic on left leg, 1st summer with white darvic on right leg.

Also: 4 Rock Pipit around the Lighthouse, including 1 flying into a long horizontal crevice on the harbour wall.

I had a walk along the wall late morning, accompanied by the only prolonged period of rain of the day! (MD). The only thing I would add to Pete's report is that as the tide was covering the beach near the wooden jetty there were 6 adult and a 2nd calendar year Mediterranean gulls. The significance today was that they were at least searching for Sandmason worms, although I didn't see any being caught.

This is the white darvic ringed adult Med, pictured here yesterday

Nearer high water Pete (M) had a look

38 Meds at 1315 including 8 1st summer/2cy as the tide was starting to cover Red nab. About half the number of bhg and Meds cp the other day when 63 Meds and suspect some of the Red nab roosting Meds may already have left for the lune estuary before I arrived

Not many Meds mid morning

Very heavy overnight rain eased by 08:00, just a couple of showers after that. A fresh SW wind and mainly sunny after mid afternoon.

South Shore (MD)

I went along the wall mid morning to check the beach next to wooden jetty before he tide covered it.

Rock Pipits 1 on Red Nab. No sign of the male near lighthouse but the female was standing guard. The helping bird was still carrying food, presumably to take to the nest site, but I didn't actually see where it went.

Mediterranean gulls no more than 10! I didn't see any walking down to the wooden jetty. There was only 1 adult and 1 x 2nd calendar year on the beach. They were briefly joined by a white darvic ringed adult, but too distant/brief to read.

On my return along the wall there were 3 adult and 6 x 2nd calendar year resting on No.2 outflow rocks. 

The low number of Meds could just be a reflection of my limited range, or possibly flushed early and left for the estuary.

This shot is one of Kevin's from a couple of days ago. They really are very smart in summer plumage.

Adult, summer plumage Mediterranean gull
You can make out the tips of the Sandmason worm tubes

Kevin, had a look for the Hummingbird Hawkmoth this afternoon, but there was no sign.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

I just did a 15 minute circuit of the main pond in the evening sunshine (MD)

Mute Swan 2 adult plus 7 cygnet 

Mallard 5 males in eclipse plus a female with 2 largish chicks.

Little grebe 1 adult plus 3 large juvenile 

Female Mallard and young with juvenile Little grebe behind

The three juvenile Little grebe were feeding themselves, under the watchful eye of an adult. These are the three juveniles.

Cormorant 1 feeding

Stock Dove 2

Swift 2

Swallow 3

Singing warblers:

Sedge Warbler

Willow Warbler 

Chiffchaff 

Blackcap 

Common Sandpiper 1 - it kept flitting from one bank to the other

Common Sandpiper zipping past a sawn

It eventually landed on the tip of the peninsula, unfortunately the strong sunshine washed out much of its plumage detail.

Butterflies 

Ringlet - the path from the top of the steps between the long brick building (gun club) and the abandoned building towards the top car park is full of them.

Meadow Brown several 

Large Skipper several

Red Admiral 1

Dragonflies 

Emperor 3

Black Tailed Skimmer several, including ovipositoring females

Common Darter several

Highest Med count for two years!

Winds mainly from SW, occasional sunny spells and the showers held off till evening.

South Shore

Report from Pete:

Heysham outfalls area: Comprehensive Med count based on Ocean edge foreshore watching incoming tide.  

Mediterranean gull 63 comprising 35 ad, 14 each of 3cy and 2cy.  32 of these flew over to Lune estuary before rocks covered at all but many still on Red nab at 1317 with no disturbance today.  One green ringed ad but most of the observations of flying birds. 

Curlew 420

Whimbrel 1 - About on time for return 

I had a look at high water 13:40 (MD)

There were still at least 10 adult on the remaining Red Nab rocks, but most sat down so no rings seen, plus one with the BHGs on saltmarsh. Pete advises that this means at least 4-5 to add to his total.

Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab, no sign of any near the lighthouse, so all three options are possible (young still in nest, young fledged and being fed elsewhere or the young failed to fledge - I'll continue checking)

Hummingbird Hawkmoth 1 - located resting on the pebble shore of saltmarsh just where I saw one last Friday. I assumed then that it was just passing through, but I now suspect it is feeding on the impressive Thistle stand near the bank and resting on the shoreline when not feeding. It is very difficult to find when resting, so checks of the Thistles is probably the best bet for relocation. This is where it was resting today, this spot is 100m north of the saltmarsh slipway.

The circle is where the Hummingbird Hawkmoth was resting today.
You can see the Thistles on the other side of the banking

Hummingbird Hawkmoth 

These are the Thistles where I suspect it is feeding, when conditions are favourable (MD)

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a short morning walk exercising my daughter's dog, so didn't go near the ponds (daren't take him back dirty!).

Little Grebe 2 adult plus 2 large juveniles feeding on the main pond, easily visible from the top car park.

Stock Dove 1 flew towards the water treatment plant

Stock Dove

It was coolish and overcast, but there were still a few insects around

Butterflies:

Ringlet 10

Meadow Brown 2

Small Heath 1

Large Skipper 1

Dragonflies 

Emperor 1

Common Darter 1