Eider creche grows

NW to WNW light wind. Overcast with the odd light shower in the morning, sunshine increasing during the day.

Only my stuff so far (MD)

Red Nab to saltmarsh 

A check towards high water to see if anything was roosting on the mud. There was today, but just Oystercatcher and Gulls

Mediterranean gulls 4 adult/3cy and 2 juvenile on Red Nab, two more adult with the gulls on the mud.

Rock Pipit 3 on foreshore 

Linnet 5

Little Egret just 2 today, this one looks like it's on a white string, I suppose in a way it was! 

Little Egret, and what my car manual euphemistically calls "bird lime"
You wouldn't want this on your windscreen! 

Middleton Nature Reserve 

I just called in briefly at the top car park to see if I could relocate the Purple Hairstreak. I did have one possible sighting, right size and colour and high in one of the oak trees, and it quickly disappeared. But I didn't get a good enough look to rule out other options. I'll keep checking when conditions suit.

Plenty of other stuff around the gun club/ car park

Red Admiral 1

Gatekeeper loads

Meadow Brown 3

Green-Veined White 2 mating

Small White 1

Large White 1

Common Darter 4

Heysham skear low water 17:30

Shag 1 feeding

Little Egret 6

Eider - the creche of ducklings has grown, very hard to count accurately as they were constantly diving, but at least 39 juvenile with one adult female. Another two adult female were seen sloping off.

One of the juvenile Eider, still with under developed wings. 

They were feeding in the NE corner of the skear and catching loads of crabs. I sat on a rock and watched a few minutes and saw several crabs caught. Two of these have a crab, they break off the claws before swallowing (I wonder if that is instinctive, or if they learn the hard way!).

Adult female Eider with two juvenile 

By this time, they had moved quite close to me, but when I stood up to move on, they formed a tight protective creche. I think they are all in this clip.

Great Crested Grebe 1

Redshank 50+

Turnstone 9

Plus Oystercatcher and Curlew 

Several people have told me that there have been a lot of jellyfish washed ashore recently. I can't say that I'm seeing more than normal, there were several on the mud south of the saltmarsh this morning, but I didn't see any this evening. This was the largest of this morning's, it's a Lion's Mane Jellyfish, they all were. Their tentacles do sting, and hurt, but are not normally dangerous.

Lion's Mane Jellyfish next to my size 9 wellie

Thick-thighed Flower Beetle........who could ask for more?

West to WNW fresh wind. Overcast all day with a few showers.

Mainly stuff from my check of the south shore (MD)

I had a quick visit at high water to see if there was anything roosting on the mud, there wasn't. 

Just Red Nab to Saltmarsh checked.

No Mediterranean gulls seen on Red Nab

Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab plus 1 on foreshore (also 1 on Near Naze, checked on way home)

Linnet 2 on saltmarsh 

Little Egret 7 - 1 on Red Nab plus 6 on saltmarsh 

These are five of the saltmarsh birds, the clip begins with a Curlew and a Redshank 

I returned 3 hours after high water to watch the beach near the wooden jetty become exposed.

Shag 1 resting on the wooden jetty

Mediterranean gulls 11 minimum  (3 adult plus 4 juvenile near jetty  - Pete also saw 7 adult or 3cy roosting on Red Nab).

It started off looking promising as the three adult and two juvenile were already waiting on the water before the beach was exposed, unfortunately only joined by two more juvenile when they started "feeding" (inverted commas as I didn't see them catch any Sandmason worms)

Adult  Mediterranean gulls waiting for the beach near jetty to become exposed
They are loosing their black heads now making individuals easier to recognise

Juvenile Mediterranean gulls 

Two adult and a juvenile Mediterranean gull 
The adult on the right has already lost its black head and has a very pale mask

This is one of the juvenile trying to catch Sandmason worms, yow can see the end of their tubes poking out from the mud.

This is the history of the German ringed bird seen last week

It was surprisingly cool, I was wearing my winter coat! Even so, there was some butterfly activity in the Nature Park.

Meadow Brown 4

Gatekeeper 2

Small White 2

Large Skipper 1

Common Blue 2

It's unusual to see two butterfly species so close together, but it was not coincidental.
The Skipper had followed it here and had chased off another male Common Blue.
Perhaps they are old friends! The Blue has certainly been around a while.

In this clip you can actually see the white wing border coming away from the very worn Common Blue.

In contrast, the other male was very fresh

A very fresh looking male Common Blue

But today's star is behind the butterfly, the green beetle. Unfortunately, my image isn't really good enough for Alison to confidently identify, but she suspects it's  a Thick-thighed Flower Beetle Odemera nobilis. Much too good a name not to use! If you wonder why they are called this check google images!

A day to enjoy the ordinary

SW to S fresh wind. Plenty of sunshine in the morning but overcast with showers in the afternoon 

South Shore

Shag 1 resting on wooden jetty seen by Pete.

I didn't have much time today and mistimed this morning's walk slightly, as the tide had not left the sea wall. Still it was a pleasant walk (MD)

The only passerine around saltmarsh and foreshore was a single Goldfinch.

Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab and 1 between the lighthouse and waterfall. This is one of the birds that had a bad foot, the foot is completely gone now and presumably the stump is not too sore as it was prepared to put some weight on it, and seemed to be getting around better now than when its foot was withered.

One of at least three Rock Pipits in the recording area with one foot withered or missing.

Mediterranean gulls - I could only make out 5 adult on Red Nab

Whimbrel 1 on Red Nab

Oystercatcher c2000 flew past the roundhead and flew to Red Nab. Something or someone must have flushed them from their Heliport roost.

Oystercatcher flying past the wooden jetty 

There was a single Curlew with them

This Great Black-Backed gull was in the harbour
To me they always seem to be looking at you, to decide if you could be swallowed
(Or maybe I'm just paranoid! MD)

This shot by Alan Wilson from earlier in the week shows the Herring and
Lesser Black-Backed gulls bathing in the freshwater stream on Red Nab

Despite the fresh SSW wind there had been some butterfly movement, perhaps from inland. Singles of three species ware amongst the scrub near the waterfall. 

Unusually, no Meadow Brown seen.

Small White 1

Small Tortoiseshell 1

Peacock 1 looking quite fresh, the lower wing eyes looking particularly realistic.

A walk back through the Nature Park located:

Meadow Brown several

Gatekeeper 4

Red Admiral 1

Small White 2

Large White 2

Comma 1

Speckled Wood 2

Small Skipper 1

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet had a walk around and located nothing new, but took these nice shots

Buff-Tailed Bumblebee (probably)

Small Skipper

Not sure what this insect is, looks like a large hoverfly
Nice shot of the Fleabane

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