Birds and Bee

Light wind, predominantly NE in morning then NW by afternoon. Sunshine all day.

Heysham skear - low water 06:00 (MD)

I watched the tide cover the skear.

Canada Geese 8 drifted in with tide 

Eider 1 female

Red-breasted Merganser pair

Great Crested Grebe pair plus 1. This is the single bird and the Eider. I have seen this foot waving behaviour before, presumably a form of signal. Not sure who it was intended for.

Oystercatcher c150

Curlew 7

Sanderling just a solitary bird.

Summer Plumage Sanderling

Heysham Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a quick check of the central meadow (SD46)

Common Blue Butterfly 7

Burnet Companion 5

Narrow-bordered Five Spot Burnet 1

Narrow-bordered Five Spot Burnet moth

South Shore (MD/KE)

Mediterranean gull 1 adult showed briefly on the beach between the wooden jetty and No.1 outflow. The mud here is still deeper than ideal for sandmason worm hunting 

Rock Pipit 2 between lighthouse and waterfall

Pictures by Kevin.

Mediterranean gull

Rock Pipit

This is where the Bee in today's title comes from, Janet spotted the first Bee Orchids showing on Middleton Nature Reserve.

Bee Orchids 

Me and Kevin also found some in the Nature Park

The arrow shows the location of the Nature Park orchids. These are the wooden posts set in the concrete section just past the newt pond. There are Bee Orchids behind the Birds-Foot Trefoil plus a few other spikes around.

Just out of the recording area - Heysham Moss Nature Reserve 

Janet had a look this morning.

Large Heath 2 - these are the flagship butterfly species for the reserve.

Large Heath

Large Skipper

Common Blue

Same routine as yesterday......different result

Quite a fresh, mainly NE breeze. Another sunny day.

South shore (MD)

I checked the shore south of the saltmarsh on the rising tide again.

No Sanderlings seen today, in fact the only waders were 3 Curlew and c50 Oystercatcher 

Mediterranean Gull 2 - same adult and 1st summer as seen yesterday 

Ist summer Mediterranean gull watching the adult fly off when flushed by the tide.

Then the 1st summer flew off too

We are moving to spring tides again now, and the tides will completely cover the shore. But much of the shore hadn't been covered for a week, there has been no rain and the sun hot, so the mud was as dry as it ever gets. As the tide starts to cover the dry shore the water fizzes as the tide rising below the mud forces air through the myriad of invertebrate tunnels. This clip is actually from yesterday, you can hear the fizzing above the wind, even more dramatic in reality when the whole tide line was buzzing - sorry I lose focus for a while in this clip, but it is the sound of the shore that I wanted to convey.

Heysham skear (MD)

I went down early again but no Sanderlings here either. More Oystercatcher than of late though c300, 1 Curlew and 1 Whimbrel. 

Whimbrel and Oystercatcher 

Red-breasted Merganser pair

Eider 1 female

Eider and Oystercatcher 

Middleton Nature Reserve

Janet took these shots in the morning

Silent warbler - Willow or Chiffchaff

Common Blue Damselfly

Straw Dot moth

Mark Jones also had a look early afternoon 

Four-Spotted Chaser

Male Broad-bodied Chaser

Female Broad-bodied Chaser ovipositoring 

Male Azure Blue Damselflies holding the females as she lays her eggs below the surface.

I just did a circuit of the main pond mid afternoon (MD)

Male Emperor, one of several patrolling the margins

One of the Mallard families ventured out from the SE reed bed.

But quickly and aggressively driven back by the male Mute Swan
Don't know what he has against the young birds, he tolerates the four individual adults.

Things almost went to plan

Hot and sunny again with a freshening east wind.

South shore (MD)

I went onto the shore out from the saltmarsh as the tide was rising. There were no small waders feeding today, but some did fly north.

Sanderling 14 - 2 flew low along the waterline before gaining height to fly over the Power Stations. Another 12 were further out and remained low over the sea and probably past the end of the south wall roundhead.

Mute Swan 1 immature north

Shelduck 2

Curlew 28

Mediterranean gull 2 - 1 adult, clearly the one described by Pete Crooks on Monday, plus a 1st summer bird, resting on the mud just out from the saltmarsh.

Adult and 1st summer Mediterranean gulls, with a Black-Headed gull behind

The adult had a metal ring, but impossible to read any detail 

Wheatear 1 on the foreshore 

A late but lean Wheatear

Yesterday Pete noted several large pink jellyfish stranded on the shore out from Ocean Edge. Today there were at least 30 in our section of the shore and more further south.

One of the thirty or so large Barrel Jellyfish stranded on the shore (that's my size 9 wellie)
There were also several smaller Moon Jellyfish 
Although Barrel Jellyfish look threatening, and they must have some venom in their tentacles,
but their tentacles are short and easily avoided and any "sting" isn't normally painful.
Moon jellyfish are pretty much harmless to humans, but always best to avoid any jellyfish.
Although I feel that I'm preaching to the converted!

Heysham skear mid afternoon (MD)

I went down early just as the skear was becoming exposed so that any waders would be concentrated. And so they were:

Curlew 17

Dunlin 4

Sanderling 44 - 41 in the main group plus another group of 3. These are some of the Sanderling and Dunlin waiting for the feeding areas to become exposed.

This is them setting off to feed.

Mainly Sanderling with 3 Dunlin

When they were feeding I spotted that one of the Sanderling was ringed, but couldn't see what sort of ring. So I positioned myself in the direction I expected them to head, and sure enough it headed towards me.

Only to discover that it was just a metal ring

Eider 1 male

Great Crested Grebe pair

Red-breasted Merganser pair

Common Tern 1 - trying to have a rest

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Nikon have loaned Janet a camera while they continue to repair her own. Not as high a specification as Janet's, but somewhat better than a mobile phone camera.

Swallow

Small Heath

Four-spotted Chaser

I just did a circuit of the main pond to see if the east wind has brought any Red-Veined Darters in (MD). I couldn't find any but as well as several Four-spotted chaser there were:

Emperor 3

Broad -bodied Chaser 2

Black-Tailed Skimmer several

Male (top) and female Black-Tailed Skimmers

Mute pair plus 9 cygnet 

Mallard 4 male 1 female

Coot 2 adult I large chick

Moorhen 1

Little Grebe 1 trilling

Cetti's Warbler 2

Reed Warbler 1

Reed Bunting 1

Common Sandpiper 1 - the bird zipping across the frame is the Moorhen

Last summer we fixed a stripped down Sycamore sapling in the NE corner of the pond, hopefully to eventually attract use by a Kingfisher. No reports of it being used yet. Based on the materials used, I estimated it should last 2 - 3 years, we could then replace it, if it had started to be used. But I passed close by today and it is sprouting fresh growth! If it is also growing roots it could become self sustaining. 

Perching post in the NE corner of the main pond

South Side Story

The hot sun continues. Light east wind all day.

Morning report from Pete:

Heysham high neap tide

2cy shag wooden jetty

42 Sanderling and 4 Dunlin on sandy ‘spit’ off south end Ocean Edge

2 guillemot

2 Common scoter

6 Canada geese 

in 30 minute seawatch 

I had a walk along the south sea wall just after lunch (MD)

Curlew 25

Whimbrel 2

A flock of small waders flew in and settled along the waterline of the beach between the wooden jetty and No.1 outflow. Turned out to be 

Dunlin 1

Sanderling 132

Mainly Sanderling coming in to land

They quickly spread along the waterline feeding, but think I managed to squeeze in 130 of them into this clip.

This is a more relaxed clip of some of them.

Rock Pipits - lighthouse pair still feeding chicks in nest.

Heysham Skear - low water 16:15 (MD)

So, 174 Sanderling seen on the south side (presuming no overlap between mine and Pete's sightings). I was expecting a bonanza on the skear. Typically, it wasn't to be. Just....

Sanderling 11 (2, 8 and 1)

Slightly better views than of the south side birds though - 5 of the group of 8

Curlew 19

Turnstone 1

Summer plumage Turnstone

Redshank 1 (first seen for a few weeks)

Summer plumage Redshank

Kevin Eaves sent this shot from the sea wall yesterday 

The bug goes by the wonderful name of Denticulate Leatherbug.
 It's at the northern end of its range in Heysham and will undoubtedly be a new
addition to the, mainly sea covered, tetrad that includes the harbour mouth.

This moth was from his overnight trap.

This moth is a Scorched Wing. Although not particularly rare, it is one of my favourite
moths due to the exquisite wing markings which provide great camouflage.

Kevin Singleton took this clip at his daughter's house on Tranmere Crescent this morning

Very bold behaviour in daylight!

Sanderling numbers increasing and Med hangs around

A brisk east breeze till mid afternoon when it switched to NW. Sunshine all day.

Pete and Jean did a check at morning high water:

Mediterranean gull 1 adult still Red nab on its own,

no small waders Ocean Edge tideline today

Flock 12 immature Mute Swan on sea off heliport

Jean's shot of the immature Mute flock

1st Summer  Kittiwake SW corner Heysham harbour

short seawatch north wall saw:

one Guillemot

one Sandwich Tern 

and the first four Canada geese of their moult migration season

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a brief lunchtime check of the two main ponds

The Mute cygnets were getting a preening lesson.

Coot 3 adult one with quite a mature chick. This cip starts with the young bird, the adult is underwater, but the bubbles give the location away.

It might be quite a mature chick, but still deemed worth defending. Here the adult is seeing off a female Mallard.

Mallard 2 males and a female. No sign of the two families.

Swallow 2 and House Martin 4 feeding over the main pond.

Warblers:

Cetti's Warbler 2

Reed Warbler 1

Chiffchaff 2

Willow Warbler 1

Buzzard 3 - initially I thought it would be the breeding adults giving flying lessons, but two continued west while one, presumably one of the breeding adult, returned east to the breeding area.

Butterflies:

Brimstone 1 male

Large White 1 

Small White 2

Common Blue 3

Burnet Companion moth several 

Dragonflies:

Four-spotted Chaser several

Broad- bodied Chaser 2 male 1 female

Black-Tailed Skimmer several both male and female

Emperor 2 male

Common Darter 1

Immature Common Darter

Heysham skear - low water 15:25 (MD)

Eider 5 (2 female)

Red-breasted Merganser pair

Little Egret 3

Oystercatcher c150

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1 flew south

Curlew 15

Dunlin 3 - they wouldn't move out of my way! I had to skirt round them. The developing mussels on the skear are an ideal background to camouflage their summer plumage.  I haven't pre-sized the remaining shots in case you want to open them to check the summer plumage detail.

Two Dunlin, not three metres in front of me, but they refused to move.
They didn't even stand up!

This one reluctantly moved a little

Sanderling 57 at least. The most I counted in the main group was 44, but there were always some out of sight behind rocks etc. there was another 2 near by and 11 feeding closer to the shore.

This is a clip of the largest group, you can see the problem with accurate counting.

When there are a lot together as above, there is always one more flighty than the others and when one flies, they all fly, so I didn't try to get any closer and left them in peace. In contrast the two together just watched me as I walked past just a few metres away.

Sanderling 

This shot is from the clip below. One of the 11 feeding further up the beach catches quite a large shrimp (for a Sanderling). 

Sanderling with a shrimp

This is the group of 11 feeding, early in the clip, the Sanderling with the shrimp quickly exits stage left, to make sure it can eat it in peace.

Just out of the recording area - Heysham Moss

Janet had a walk around to see what dragonflies were about, but only managed to see Four-Spotted Chaser.

Brown Silver-Line moth

A nice variety of shore birds

A light east wind with plenty of sunshine.

Report from Pete Crooks:

Red Nab
1 adult Mediterranean Gull – already moulting out of summer plumage, with some white around the base of the bill
2 Whimbrel – with 33 Curlew
c.200 small waders (probably a mixture of Dunlin and Ringed Plover) on the shoreline off Ocean Edge on the early morning ebbing tide, but too distant for specific identification

Heysham skear - low water 14:20 (MD)

Bar-Tailed Godwit 68 - flew in from the south before settling on the north side of the skear.

The tide was coming in so I had to get past them. I managed it, just, without spooking them, but it meant that I had to get close!

Sanderling 27 - 3 groups, 18, 6 and 3

These are the 18

The group of 6 were in the same area of the skear, but the 3 were closer inshore feeding around the rocks protruding from the mud. They seemed to be finding plenty to eat

The only other waders seen were Oystercatcher

South shore (MD)

A very pleasant early evening stroll. I bumped into Alison and Kevin checking out the insects, which was good, it meant I could focus on the sea. I'll post their tally when complete. But Alison has already provided this very interesting shot.

 a newly emerged 7-spot Ladybird
yet to take on its final colour and still with the pupal case.  

Rock Pipits 4. A displaying male on Red Nab. An adult with food near the waterfall. Two adult near the lighthouse. Their first brood must have failed to fledge, they were taking food to a new nest hole nearer the wooden framework. This hole has a larger opening so should at least give the chicks a chance to stretch their wings before making their first perilous flight.

Rock Pipit on the wooden framework near their new nest hole

Common Tern 1 on No.1 outflow

Common Tern

This young Herring Gull looked fed up with preening!

This Grey seal was having a nap. You can see why it's called "bottling".

This is slightly unusual, it is a small Compass Jellyfish (about the size of a poached egg - they get much larger). It was on the skear.

Compass Jellyfish, you can see at least a couple of invertebrates caught in its tentacles 

It isn't actually stranded but in a small puddle of water, so thankfully I didn't need to move it, they have nasty stings. They are not generally rare, but not common in the bay.