Attacked by a Sandwich!

 The light wind started SE before switching to the west. Overnight rain eased off by 08:00.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a quick check of the two main ponds, just as the rain was easing.

Mute pair plus 7 cygnet 

Coot 4 adult 2 young

Moorhen 2

Mallard 25

No sign of the odd Tufted Duck.

Goosander 1 juvenile. It gives a nice plumage display in this clip.

Heysham Nature Reserve (JP)

Looks to be a young Roe Deer, you can still make out the dappling on its flanks.

Kestrel 

Burnet Companion moth

Silver Y moth - there have been loads this year

Don't know.....but looks interesting. Please advise if you know

South Shore (MD)

A walk along the foreshore and sea wall in the morning an a check of the shore out from the saltmarsh in the evening.

Little Egret 5

Eider 2 female south

Wheatear 5 including 2 juvenile 

This one looks barely old enough to be out on its own!

Two juvenile and an adult in this clip, but Pete advises that they will be independent migrants.

Pied Wagtail 5

Rock Pipit 1 near the waterfall 

There were no gulls at all on the beach near the wooden jetty, despite Oystercatcher, Curlew and Redshank seeming to be catching Sandmason worms easily enough.

Whimbrel 3 at least (2 seen in morning, 3 seen/heard in evening)

Whimbrel 

Turnstone 4 

The following are this evening's records

Curlew 310 in one group, resting on the shore out from the saltmarsh, plus several others along the waterline. The only other waders were Oystercatcher and Redshank, plus a couple of Lapwing on the saltmarsh.

Swift 2 

Swallow 5

Mediterranean Gull 8 - 4 adult and 4 first summer

Sandwich Tern 2 adult and a juvenile came in off from the west and settled with the gulls. 

Today's title isn't some long lost Lou Reed song, I really was attacked by a Sandwich Tern! This clip begins with the juvenile Sandwich Tern centre with an adult to its left. The other adult was further to the left, but it took umbrage at me filming its family and flew over to mob me.

I didn't feel threatened, just unwelcome! At least it allowed me some close up shots.

Adult Sandwich Tern

I left them to it, but soon after they flew off south.

Southern Hawker - 1 male patrolling the path in the Nature Park, just before you reach the Power Station perimeter fence. Unfortunately it wouldn't settle and I couldn't manage a decent shot

Eight wader species on the skear.....not bad for summer

The light wind started in the east then gradually swung through the south before ending from the east. Dry and largely sunny till late afternoon when the rain started.

First some stuff from Janet.

These excellent Swift shots from Heysham Nature Reserve are worth opening to see the plumage detail, that you never see as they zip past.

Swift

Also on Heysham Nature Reserve was a Brown Hawker.

These shots from the Nature Park 

Male Common Darter

Brimstone 

Comma

Heysham Skear - low water 12:20 (MD)

Nothing seen on the sea.

Little Egret 6

Not much of a walk this, at least distance wise, were are on neap tides now and very little of the skear is exposed. Still it was good to see an increasing variety of waders.

Oystercatcher c200

Curlew c150

Whimbrel 3 together flying north 

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1

Bar-Tailed Godwit

Redshank 25

Turnstone 35 in one group which moved off south

Ringed Plover 3

Dunlin 21 in one feeding group.

Dunlin

South shore (MD)

Just a check of the foreshore and Red Nab towards high water. Unfortunately by this time it was tipping down!

Rock Pipit 2 on foreshore 

Wheatear 1 on foreshore 

Washed out Wheatear

Mediterranean gull - just one adult remained with the Black-Headed Gulls on Red Nab

Again, there were no small waders along the rising tideline.

Odd duck and another Hummingbird Hawkmoth

A west wind freshened after a calm start. Dry with sunny spells.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Alan

John and I set nets at Middleton this morning - the conditions were initially good with little breeze and plenty of cloud. Sunny spells developed and the breeze increased during the morning. The catch was 41 birds including a Sedge Warbler ringed elsewhere:

Wren 1 +1 retrap

Dunnock 1

Robin 2

Cetti's Warbler 1

Grasshopper Warbler 1

Sedge Warbler 7 + 1 from another site

Reed Warbler 5

Lesser Whitethroat 3

Common Whitethroat 2

Blackcap 5

Chiffchaff 3

Willow Warbler 1

Long-tailed Tit 2

Blue Tit 3

Chaffinch 1

Reed Bunting 1

The majority of the birds were juveniles.

Janet had a check mid morning:

Cetti's warbler singing from "no swimming" pond.

Plenty of Gatekeeper

Late yesterday evening I called in passing to check the ponds (MD). There was a duck on the "no swimming" pond that looked like a female Scaup. But its size compared to the Mallards was too small, more like a Tufted Duck. The light wasn't good enough for definitive shots so I returned early this morning and got some better ones.

White around the bill, no sign of a tuft and only the nib of the bill black

This clip of it feeding gives an impression of size.

It suggested a Lesser Scaup, but during a visit early evening today it provided some wing flaps which showed that it couldn't be a Lesser Scaup. 

Today's duck showing full white wing bars 

Pete advises - Definitely tufted with bill possibly indicating hybrid 

Hummingbird Hawkmoth 1 zipped through Kevin Eaves' garden today, that's the second one through his garden this year.

South shore (MD)

Two visits, one early morning on the ebbing tide and one towards high water in the afternoon.

Little Egret 5

Whimbrel 1 probably 2 seen and heard on both visits (saltmarsh and Red Nab)

Linnet 22 on saltmarsh 

Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab

Meadow Pipit 1 on saltmarsh 

Wheatear 1 on Red Nab.

Wheatear 

Mediterranean gulls 16 on Red Nab

There were no small waders along the waterline at high water.

Sanderling and Dunlin passing through.

A mercifully dry and mainly sunny day, after yesterday's deluge. A light north wind.

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Jean:

5 hours of ringing caught 26 birds, only one of which was a retrap. The rest were almost all juveniles.

Greenfinch 8

Chaffinch 3 new and 1 re trap

Goldfinch 1

Great Tit 8

Blue Tit 3

Robin 1

Wren 1

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet had a look around this morning, no sign of the Goosander.

Male Common Darter

South shore

I checked from Red Nab to the shore out from the saltmarsh towards high water (MD)

Mediterranean gulls 32, just one juvenile 

Rock Pipit 1

Pied Wagtail only 4 after yesterday's high numbers

Curlew 100+ flying south

Whimbrel 1 heard only

Lapwing 2

Oystercatcher c300

Redshank 57

Dunlin c400

Sanderling 7. Initially they were feeding with the Dunlin, but after a while they flew south leaving the Dunlin behind.

These are three of the Sanderling, still largely in summer plumage, as were the Dunlin

Dunlin and a Sanderling coming in to land

Sanderling 

It rained! All day!

Very heavy overnight rain continued throughout the day. A light NE wind.

South shore (MD)

A wet morning walk was all I had time for today.

Moorhen 1 - Moneyclose Lane was awash and one was swimming in one of the larger puddles

Pied Wagtail 34 - on the foreshore and Ocean Edge grass. There has been a small presence throughout the summer, but no more than 6 till this morning.

Rock Pipit 3 - two on Red Nab and one sheltering below No.2 outflow superstructure.

Redshank 30 - a feeding group of 23 on the beach near wooden Jetty the others scattered along the shore.

Whimbrel 1 - flew out from the foreshore 

Curlew 8 - along the shore, the bulk will have left to feed on the skear.

Oystercatcher c30

Mediterranean gull 2 adult/second summer on the seaward end of the beach next to the wooden jetty.

These Mediterranean gulls aren't today's birds, but from a couple of days ago.
Second summer at the back. The adult was ringed in Holland in 2019.
It has also been seen in Portugal, Spain and France 

I took this sequence the other day in the Nature Park, and was saving it for a rainy day. I didn't have to wait long! 

It always disappoints me that the splendid colour of male Brimstone butterflies in flight disappears when you photograph them after they have landed. This is because their underwings are a paler yellow than the upper wings and they alway close their wings when they land. You can see why in this clip, their wings mimic a leaf, quite green when the sun shines though them, pale yellow otherwise.

So I tried to get some in flight shots, with only partial success, still it's a bit of colour on a dull day!

Male Brimstone butterfly 

At 20:30 Kevin Eaves' weather station had recorded 60.2mm of rain since midnight, and it is still raining! The forecast is brighter for tomorrow though.

Feeding Osprey and the Goosander lingers

 A light south wind. It rained pretty much all day, but it varied in intensity.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a brief call in to check on the Goosander, it was still on the main pond.

Goosander 1 juvenile - I got there just as it was swallowing a fish. By the time I'd got my camera out it was washing it down with a drink.

South shore (MD)

I managed to walk out along the wall while the rain wasn't too heavy.

Mediterranean gulls - just 5 seen on Red Nab

Rock Pipits 3 - 1 on foreshore and 2 on Red Nab

Osprey 1 it was near the end of No1 outflow. It had already caught a fish when I spotted it.

Originally I presumed it was a Bass, but it looks more likely to be a Grey Mullet

Pete spotted that it has a blue darvic ring on its right leg, but too distant to read.

Initially it was being harried by gulls, but it took that pretty much in its stride (the shadow around the edges of this clip is my hand keeping the rain off the lens).

But then a Peregrine Falcon started diving it, which wasn't so welcome! You only get a glimpse of the Peregrine as it drops through the frame at the end of this clip (watch in slow motion)

Peregrine diving, this is a still from the above clip

It was raining quite hard by this time and everything was greyed out beyond the buoys. The Osprey disappeared into the murk as it headed south, but it wasn't clear if it was actually planning to go in that direction or was just trying to get beyond the Peregrine's territory.

Another, or returning? Goosander

After some early morning showers, the threatened thunderstorms didn't materialise and the day remained dry, with the odd sunny spell. A light west wind.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet was exercising a dog but still managed some great shots and records.

This Roebuck was looking for cover

Looks like it has been reading the Ostrich book of hiding!
(Yes, I know it's only a myth)

This doe was nearby 

Greenfinch 

Swallow upside down chasing flies

Goosander 1 juvenile on the main pond - historically they have been extremely rare here, but this year we have had two females and a male visiting during spring passage. And we had a juvenile, as early as June 30th, this could well be the same one. Janet took some good shots, but it was quite distant. Fortunately she let me know and I popped down with my zoom camera (MD)

Juvenile Goosander 

Initially it was just resting

Perhaps, it had already eaten, as a little later it was fishing. Same technique as last time, snorkel first then dive. It didn't catch anything on this foray.

Dragonflies:

Emperor 1 male

Four-Spotted Chaser 1

Black-Tailed Skimmer 1 male

Male Black-Tailed Skimmer

Red Nab

I checked towards high water (MD)

Mediterranean gulls 12. Just one previously read white ringed darvic bird seen

Curlew c100 heading south

Whimbrel 1 heading south

Whimbrel 

Redshank 20

Ringed Plover 2. In the same patch of rocks as yesterday, but both striving to keep out of sight (slightly better at it than the Roebuck!)

Adult Ringed Plover

Juvenile Ringed Plover (head)

Kevin Eaves spotted a Painted Lady on the Nature Park Buddleia, as well as:

Comma

Red Admiral

Peacock

Large White

Gatekeeper

Meadow Brown

A nice sunny day......so, butterflies and sunflowers

Another dry and largely sunny day with a slight NW wind.

Red Nab

I didn't have much time today, just a quick lunchtime check of Red Nab towards high water (MD).

Mediterranean gulls 36+ there were 26 on Red Nab, but many of today's gulls were flying directly from where they had been resting on the shore towards Potts Corner. At leat 10 Meds seen doing this.

The ones that were on Red Nab were mainly squatting, making darvic ring spotting difficult. I did manage two, but they had been read previously this year. These are some of the Red Nab gulls.

This was one of yesterday's new birds and the first German ringed one this year.
Ringed in Saxony in 2019 as a nestling and has subsequently been seen in France,
Wales, Portugal and Holland. This is its first record at Heysham

Redshank 15

Ringed Plover 2

Ringed Plover

The rest of today's stuff from Janet

Rock Pipit on Red Nab

Janet also reported flushing a "silent Snipe" from Middleton yesterday.

There was a good selection of butterflies on the Nature Park/dog walk Buddleia.

Comma

Red Admiral

Worn Small White

Large White

Brimstone 

Peacock

Female Common Blue

Male Common Blue

Also abundant were Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper 

Janet took this shot of the Sunflowers growing along the sea wall at Red Nab. They have done really well this summer as the tides have been relatively low and the the weather was calm during the higher tides. There must be 100+ plants along the foreshore and Red Nab, but not all as splendid as these.

Sunflowers along the high water line. The seeds obviously deposited 
by the tide, but you wonder where they come from in such numbers
Unless we get storms, they should be fine till the first week of August