Not much new but plenty happening

SE light wind, overcast with occasional showers.

I more or less did the same two walks as yesterday, and got, more or less the same results, but at least I managed to keep largely dry today (MD)

South Shore 09:00 - 10:00

Mediterranean gulls 13 adult roosting on Red Nab

Whimbrel 2 at least

Redshank 61

Common Sandpiper 1 feeding briefly in the corner of No.1 outflow, but unlikely to be the same as yesterday's, as both that bird and today's quickly moved through

A Kestrel was hunting around the saltmarsh resulting in a reduction in the small birds feeding on the ripening seeds. Just 2 Linnet each along the foreshore and Red Nab.

No Rock Pipits seen today.

Heysham skear - low water 14:50

Shag 1 x 2nd calendar year (it was feeding yesterday as well but I forgot to add to post)

Fish don't move around much at slack water. Flatties settle out of sight in the mud. So the fish eaters tend to rest at slack water too. The Shag was resting on Conger rock with two Cormorants, the tide was just starting to flood and one of the cormorants flew off.

Shag and 2 Cormorants on Conger rock

So the Shag moved up the pecking order.

They soon both flew off to the feeding ground to the NW of the skear. The cormorant set off first and took a more direct route, but the Shag quickly caught and passed it. This clip, start's  on the Shag.

No Great Crested Grebe seen today

Red-breasted Merganser 4 - what looks like a female with three young

Eider 30 mainly young ones. In this clip they are taking a rest from feeding and have a group preen. One displays its stubby wings.

Yesterday I wondered if they were feeding on the gutweed or any invertebrates amongst it. The answer is both. The top bird at the start of this clip is eating gutweed, but the one that comes in from the left has a crab.

Little Egret 4

Oystercatcher and Curlew plentiful 

Whimbrel 1 at least

Redshank 5

Turnstone 8

Ringed Plover 2

Ringed Plover

No Dunlin today, but again 7 wader species altogether with the Common Sandpiper

More waders returning

East to SE light wind all day. Overcast with showers.

Just my stuff up to now (MD)

South Shore - ebbing tide mid morning 

It rained for most of this walk, making visibility poor and use of optics awkward 

Mediterranean gulls just 7 adults seen

Whimbrel 1 - originally I wasn't certain about this bird. Fortunately it flew towards me and landed just below the sea wall, allowing a closer inspection.

Whimbrel - still soft focus through the rain

Common Sandpiper 1 next to No.1 outflow feeding with Redshank 

Rock Pipit 4

Grey Seal 1 near seaward end of No.1 outflow

Heysham skear - low water 14:45

On these neap tides only the inner skear is exposed. It only rained for half of this walk!

Little Egret 5

Red-Breasted Merganser 2

Great Crested Grebe 5 (2 + 3 singles)

Eider 3 females with at least 23 young - at slack water they were "dabbling", not sure if they were after the gut weed here or invertebrates amongst it.

Later, when the water was deeper, they were diving.

Redshank 11

Dunlin 1 (summer plumage)

Turnstone 4 (fading summer plumage)

So with the Oystercatcher and Curlew plus this morning's Common Sandpiper and Whimbrel, a total of seven wader species today.

This clip shows some of the Turnstone, but it's not about them. There was a Black-Headed gull with a longer than average bill feeding here last year. Presumably, this is either the same bird or a close relation, but it puts its long bill to good use, it catches three shrimp in this clip.

A word of caution for dog walkers

Light NW to west wind, overcast pretty much all day.

First, the words of caution. Janet reported that the main pond at Middleton had green bubbles this morning. The recent hot weather will have caused algae to bloom, both here and presumably all the local ponds. Pet owners are advised not to let their dogs drink water with algae as some forms of blue-green algae are toxic to them. The cooler weather and expected rain should soon return things to normal.

Just my stuff so far (MD)

South Shore

Mediterranean gulls at least 34 - 18 adult and a juvenile on Red Nab, including a white darvic ringed adult. 1 adult near No.2 outflow and 13 adult and a juvenile feeding along the tideline on beach next to jetty.

Lapwing 1 on Red Nab

Rock Pipit 2 on foreshore and 1 on Red Nab.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Mute Swan 2 adult 7 cygnet 

Mallard 6 male 2 female 1 with well grown young.

Water Rail 2 squealing

Common Snipe one flushed from edge of main pond

Swift 5

Swallow 4

House Martin 2

Stock Dove 3 flew east together 

It was unusually quiet. The only warblers heard were a few Blackcap and a single Reed Warbler (no Chiffchaff is unusual).

Butterflies - the only really abundant species was Gatekeeper - at least 30 seen. After that in order of abundance 

Meadow Brown

Speckled Wood 5

Green-Veined White 4

Small White 3

Ringlet 3

Small Skipper 2

Comma 1

Red Admiral 1

Moths 

Shaded Broad-bar 3

Silver Y 3

Clouded Border 1

Clouded Border
Caught my eye as it looks to have a white poodle painted on its wing!

Clay 1 - this was sat quite happily in the open, but as soon as the sun came out briefly it ran for cover.

Dragonflies - very few, and no Common Darter seen!

Black-Tailed Skimmer just 1 female

Emperor 2

Brown Hawker 1

There were two medium sized Hawkers flying high along the golf course boundary. Size and behaviour suggested Migrant Hawker, as did the only half decent shot I managed.

One of two Hawkers, likely Migrant Hawker

Finally, with help from the scheme organiser and Pete's meticulous examination of my pictures we have identified the yellow ringed Mediterranean gull seen on Tuesday. Ringed as a nestling in 2019 in Germany it has since been recorded at breeding grounds in the Czech Republic. More information to follow.

Better seabirds

Cooler today with quite a fresh SW wind.  Still hot in the few sunny spells though, but largely overcast.

First this is the history for the Netherlands ringed Mediterranean gull read yesterday:

South shore

Pete Crooks did a thorough check:

Heysham Nature Park (10.30 – 10.45 am)
1 Lesser Whitethroat
1 singing Blackcap
Butterflies: 2 Red Admiral, 1 Comma, 4 Gatekeeper, 7 Meadow Brown and 2 Speckled Wood

Red Nab – Heysham Stage One outfall (10.45 – 12.40 pm)
43 Mediterranean Gull – between Red Nab and the wooden pier – 33 adults (including 1 with white darvic ring right leg, 2 with green darvic ring left leg – all distant), 2 2nd summer, 6 1st summer and 2 juveniles.
1 1st summer Little Gull – Heysham Stage Two outfall

First summer Little gull

1 Whimbrel – Heysham Stage One outfall.

Just after lunch Pete (M) spotted a tern on No.2 outflow from Ocean Edge through the heat haze. Jean went to check, and confirmed it was a Common Tern.

It was still feeding when I checked at 13:15 (MD)

Common Tern

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet took a couple of shots while exercising this morning

Shaded Broad-Bar moth - there seems to be lots this year

Cinnabar moth caterpillar

I just did a very short check of the top path where the Purple Hairstreak was yesterday. The wind was fresh and the sun was behind clouds, there were no insects around. Yesterday I was serenaded by a male singing Blackcap. Today I was scolded by a female, I was too close to her young. 

Heat brings down the Hairstreak......but not where you might expect it

Another very hot day even though hazy cloud shielded Heysham from the full glare of the sun. There was even a light shower in the morning. Light mainly east breeze till early afternoon then freshened and turned to west.

South Shore early(ish) morning

The tide was fully out, even so there was a large small gull roost on Red Nab. Unfortunately just a little too far for my optics (MD). Even so I managed to count a minimum:

Mediterranean gull 43 including 7 juvenile, 2 x 3rd calendar year and 1 x 2nd calendar year. Many others sat down with heads buried could easily have been Meds too.

At least three of them had coloured darvic rings. A green one on wrong leg to be ANLT, a yellow one that I almost managed to read, but not quite and a white one which I did.

The green ringed Med (top left) never showed any more of its ring than this.
The yellow one was tantalising, managed to identify the scheme, but not certain of characters.
The white one was ringed as a nestling in the Netherlands in 2019, hopefully when we
receive its updated history there will be further sightings 

This clip shows the yellow ringed bird and the Meds around it, not all these gulls are Meds, but a decent proportion are.

Meanwhile Alan Wilson was checking the jetty area. Alan had at least 3 more adult and a juvenile Med, so the minimum total for Mediterranean gulls today was 47 (almost certainly many more). These are some of Alan's shots from the jetty area.

Adult Meds with Oystercatcher and  Redshank feeding along the tideline 

Joined by a Little Egret (juvenile Med bottom right, BHG centre)

Cormorant and a 2nd calendar year Shag on the wooden jetty
The Shag is mid picture stood on the planking

Shag detail enhanced by Alan

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

It was still only 08:30, but 25C! So I decided to check the main pond to see if anything came in with yesterday's easterly. I was also here in the afternoon and there were many more insects flying at 09:00 than 13:30. But nothing different found in the morning check.

Little grebe 1 adult

Stock Dove 2

Dragonflies:

Black-Tailed Skimmer 8+ (2 ovipositoring)

Common Darter 6

Emperor 3

Butterflies:

Brimstone 1 male

Green-veined White 1

Small White 2

Large White 1

Small Skipper 4

Gatekeeper several

Meadow Brown several

Still no sign of Otters feeding on the crayfish yet.

But it was my short afternoon visit that paid dividends. I was exercising my daughter's dog so deliberately chose shaded paths. The one from the top car park to the wooden steps is ideal. c20m before the top of the steps I saw a "blue butterfly". Turned out it was a

Purple Hairstreak - my immediate thought was Holly Blue, so I must have seen plenty of blue, and had assumed it was a male. But the only sightings after that were with its wings closed, so best settle for "probably male".

Pretty sure this is the first record for the Reserve, and possibly for SD45 (the oak trees on Heysham Nature Reserve are in SD 46). There are a few quite immature, and therefore low, Oak trees here, but this one settled in a Hawthorn. I expect the priority was shade not food. Even so, not very easy to spot.

It is in this shot

Purple Hairstreak - it is in the same location here as the shot above. But zoomed  in.

From this angle you can see its tail spikes

This clip isn't really any different to the above shot, but you can make out the tail spikes better when they move slightly (and a nice Blackcap accompaniment)

It wasn't practical to investigate further today, but I'm hoping that this wasn't just a passage insect, but part of a local group. If so, they will be much easier to see on the lower Oak trees here than at Heysham Nature Reserve. I will be checking again! (MD)

Some like it hot......but not many!

Light east winds till just before lunch. The afternoon west breeze brought in a heavy shower, apart from that sunshine. The breeze shifted to north and NNE in the evening.

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

Mediterranean gulls 23 - 18 adult, 3 juvenile and 2 x 2nd calendar year. 2cy are getting increasingly difficult to identify mid moult,  I managed the top bird, but had to check with Pete for the lower picture.

2nd Calendar year Mediterranean gulls 

Rock Pipits 1 each lighthouse and Red Nab

Linnet 6 near lighthouse 

Starlings 88 near the waterfall in the morning but none in the evening. They normally gather here to eat brambles, but they are not ready yet.

It was hot and the morning breeze was from the east, although mainly SE. 

Butterflies:

9 Small White on the foreshore and Red Nab, 2 seen coming in off the sea near the lighthouse and 4 in scrub near waterfall 

Painted Lady 1 in off along the sea wall

Small Skipper 2 in scrub near lighthouse 

Meadow Brown 22 between lighthouse and waterfall - none actually seen coming in off, but the evening check only located 9 (5 more than yesterday's benchmark), so they must have been coming in and moving through. There were no other butterflies in the evening 

Dragonflies 

Just 2 Emperor - 1 in off the sea wall in the morning and 1 patrolling one of the rock pools on Red Nab in the evening. It had a very pronounced kinked posture, almost as though it was ovipositoring, but it was a male. I managed to track it for this short clip.

A rubbish shot, but does show the posture - they normally fly with an arched
body, but kinked like this is unusual.

Redshank 46 together

Common Sandpiper 1 in the evening.

Common Sandpiper (right) with Redshank on No.1 outflow.

It preened for a while then set off feeding

Ending up below the sea wall before moving off south

A little bit of morning movement

Very light and variable east breeze till lunchtime then mainly from the south. It became very hot by the afternoon 

First, a selection of shots from Alan Wilson taken on Middleton Nature Reserve this week:

Typical scenes on the main pond

Shaded Broad-Bar moth

Black-tailed Skimmer

Common Blue Damselfly

I just did a couple of checks along the south sea wall, mainly to set the baseline for resident insects, before (hopefully) the east wind and sun bring in any migrants. (MD)

First check was late morning, the air was almost still with just a few breaths from SE, by the time I'd reached the lighthouse area it had moved round to south. The only insects were a few feeding bees, 5 Meadow Brown and one "white" came in off. (There were even less in the evening check).

Linnet 27 feeding around the saltmarsh, 2 near lighthouse 

Rock Pipit 6 - three on the foreshore, 1 on Red Nab, 2 near the lighthouse. These were the breeding female plus one of the birds with a bad foot. This clip was in the late afternoon, it was hot, you can see it panting, then it appears to be eating aphids off a Mayweed. Even with its restricted mobility, it is more than capable of finding sizeable insects. I can only think it was taking the aphids for their high moisture content rather than nutrition (the clip begins with a young Pied Wagtail in the background).

Blue Tit 1 flew from north landed on harbour wall briefly before continuing south

Willow Warbler 1 adult came from somewhere rested on Power Station perimeter fence before flying into the Power Station

Goldfinch 3 flew south past the roundhead

The above three records in the morning and these species have not bred here.

Common Sandpiper 2 together in the harbour wharf (seen earlier morning by Jonathan)

Redshank 15

Mediterranean gulls 18 adult 1 juvenile 

This Painted lady in the Nature Park was so worn that you could see through its wings.

Worn and faded Painted Lady

This isn't really a record just an observation of behaviour. It rained overnight and presumably this Garden Snail wandered over the wall from the Power Station side (it definitely didn't fly here). The sun was hot today and it had spent the day in the shade under the lip of the wall. But now the sun was getting lower and the snail finds itself on the terminator of the shade. It will have to move higher or be cooked in its shell (the concrete on the exposed wall was so hot that the only walkers with a dog were having to carry it). I was tempted to move it, but might have done more harm than good.

Garden Snail on the shade terminal on the sea wall

Grayling, plus some nice Stock footage

Light and variable NW(ish) wind. It clouded over after a clear start, but the sun broke through again by lunchtime.

Heysham Nature Reserve 

A nice shot of a Brown Hawker ovipositoring from Kevin

Brown Hawker

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Alan:

Three nets set on the East side this morning from 06.30 to 11.00. It was rather clearer than expected.

The catch was again very low with no Sedge Warblers and low numbers of other species except for 4 Common Whitethroats. Not sure why numbers of juveniles are so low but the site is extremely dry which may have resulted in birds moving elsewhere.

Birds caught:

Wren  1 + 2 retrap

Cetti's Warbler  1juv + 1 retrap

Great Tit  3 juvs

Robin  1 juv

Whitethroat  4 juvs

Dunnock  1 juv

Blackcap  1 juv

Chiffchaff  2 juvs

Long tailed Tit  1 juv

Janet had a walk around but saw nothing new, so took some butterfly shots:

Worn Small Tortoiseshell 

Male Speckled Wood

Small Skipper

Common Blue

Tomorrow should see the start of a few days of east wind, which hopefully will bring in some new and possibly interesting insects.

Imperial Way (road to the Waste Recycling "Park" off the bypass) 

This is the eastern boundary of the recording area, I just checked it out briefly on my way along the bypass (MD)

Swift 6

Swallow 2

Jackdaw 12 - one flock heading north

Blackcap 1 male singing

Chiffchaff 2 males singing

Stock Dove 2 probably 3 possibly more - there is hardly any traffic along this road at weekends and two were feeding on seeds along the kerb of the road. These slightly hazy shots were taken through my car windscreen.

Stock Dove

As was this clip:

After a while they flew off to the pylon to the west of the road (definitely in the recording area not just along the boundary) then flew off towards Middleton. Later a single bird then "another" pair flew east.

2nd sighting of two Stock Doves

South Shore (MD)

Grayling butterfly male seen by Pete. Ocean Edge grassy edge near Red nab working its way south along the edge - unfortunately too quick to get a photograph. This is the first record here for a number of years.

I had an evening stroll along the sea wall (MD)

Mediterranean gull 8 adult 1 juvenile 

Rock Pipits 6, 2 each, foreshore, Red Nab and lighthouse. One chasing the other at the lighthouse.

Finally, Janet sent this shot of recent graffiti on Middleton Nature reserve. Graffiti can never be condoned, but well crafted artwork on a derelict brick building, is less offensive than most (MD)

Mainly Meds

West to WNW fresh wind, overcast with a few showers for most of the day, but the sun broke through early evening 

South Shore

Pete managed a brief check:

Mediterranean gull - At least 54 Red nab/Heysham outfalls in quick scope sweep from Ocean edge foreshore - could have missed some eg 2cy (5 juvs)

I just had a walk along the sea wall early evening. Not so many Meds around but this juvenile was feeding on No.2 outflow.

Juvenile Mediterranean gull

Juvenile Black-Headed gull

The wall was noisy today, a number of the large gull young are now fledged. Adults were defending them from all intruders (me and a Peregrine). Plus many youngsters begging to be fed. 

Newly fledged Lesser Black-Backed gull walking along the sea wall

In contrast, the lighthouse Rock Pipit was waiting for something (anything!) to beg. She offered me a nice selection of beetles.

Rock Pipit missing feeding the chicks which now seem to have moved on with Mum

There were two more Rock Pipits on Red Nab and one of those flew into the Power Station grounds with a bill full of food, so perhaps they have a second brood too.

Little Egret 3

Redshank 25 in one flock

Curlew seemed to be in constant passage north, as were the Oystercatchers

Shag a 2nd calendar year flew into the harbour and started feeding. It didn't bother with the waterfall, even though the gulls there were catching Sandeels. It dived a couple of times near the platforms before moving around in front of new customs building, and out of sight.

2nd calendar year Shag 

Sandeel bonanza

Quite a fresh WNW wind, some cloud, but plenty of sunshine 

South shore (MD)

A morning check on the rising tide

Rock Pipits 2 arguing on Red Nab. The helper bird near lighthouse with a bill full of food, but no mouths to feed. Presumably a non breeding female, she seems obsessed with feeding the young (I didn't dare yawn!). Hopefully, she'll have her own young to feed next year. 

Mediterranean gulls 19 minimum - there were 5 adult on the beach next to the wooden jetty, but only resting not feeding. 3 juvenile feeding on the seaward end of No.1 outflow. There were 15 adult and a 3rd calendar year on Red Nab, possibly including the 5 from the beach.

Turnstone 1

Redshank 30+ ended up on the wooden jetty. Nice to have them back shouting at you. These three seem to have forgotten that the sea rises!

There were probably about 30 gulls feeding on each outflow, pretty typical. Then very quickly there were hundreds! This is No.2 outflow. No.1 was the same.

Janet said there were high numbers yesterday too and sent this shot. This Black-Headed gull looks to have a small Whitebait (you'll probably need to open the shot to see detail).

Black-Headed Gull feeding on the outflows 

But it wasn't Whitebait today that got them all feeding, it was Sandeels. 

Black-Headed gull with a large Sandeel

A large shoal must have been in the harbour and many drawn through. There were so many that it took quite a while before this Black-Headed Gull was challenged for its bigger than average prize. Normally any gull with a fish is immediately harassed by the other gulls.

There must be a lot of sandeels this year, the Rock Pipits were even feeding small ones to the chicks, presumably gathered from the waterfall area. Let's hope they stay around Sandeels are ideal for terns, and the smaller diving birds.