Distant Skua tops the bill

A very light variable north breeze early on freshened and settled to NW. sunshine for most of the day.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Alan:

John and I set nets at Middleton this morning. Conditions were fair although the sky cleared much earlier than forecast leaving the centre net on the east side in full sun almost from the start.

Wren 2

Robin 2

Reed Warbler 1

Lesser Whitethroat 6 ( one an adult)

Whitethroat 1 + 1 retrap (adult)

Garden Warbler 2

Blackcap 3

Willow Warbler 1

Blue Tit 1

Jay 1

Janet had a quick look 

Swallow bathing on the wing

Common Toad

I did a quick check of the two main ponds (MD)

Mute Swan 2 adult 8 cygnets 

Coot 3 adult and 3 young

Moorhen 2 adult and 1 young

Immature Moorhen

Mallard 6 female/immature 

Gadwall 1 female/immature 

Tufted duck 2 - male on the "no swimming" pond and the odd looking female on the main pond. This clip provides 360° views of the female. The soft piping calls are the cygnets preening.

Grey Heron resting with a Jay flying past just below it

Report from Pete:

Arctic Skua 1 dark morph miles offshore towards pylon chasing half a dozen feeding Sandwich Terns

Three other Sandwich Tern out

Mediterranean Gulls 7 - 5 on north side and just 2 around outfalls area.

Great Crested Grebe 8 in low tide channel 

Shelduck 12 north

Tree Sparrow 1 Heysham Nature Reserve 

I just had a short walk to No.2 outflow and back (MD)

Rock Pipit 3  - 1 on Red Nab and 2 feeding on the superstructure of the outflow. This is one of them.

This shot is one of Janets of the Dunlin yesterday. One of these is colour ringed, unfortunately not enough visible to identify it.

Colour ringed Dunlin

Well.......at least it was dry!

Dry with some sunshine and a light west wind.

South shore

I had a look towards high water (MD)

Sandwich Tern 36 on the beach, all but one flew south early in the rising tide.

Sandwich Terns and Black-Headed Gulls

Mediterranean gull 1 adult - just the metal ringed adult on Red Nab

Little Egret 8 they were feeding in two groups, high up the channels as the tide was reaching them. The returning water prompts the invertebrates (likely shrimps in this case) to come out from the mud where they buried themselves on the ebb tide.

Oystercatcher c500

Curlew c250

Bar-Tailed Godwit 4

Bar-Tailed Godwit and Oystercatcher 

Ringed Plover 3

Redshank 60 on Red Nab

Dunlin 1 on Red Nab

Wheatear 1

Rock Pipit 1

Pete Crooks also checked, these are his additional sightings 

Red Nab (incoming tide)
2 Mediterranean Gull – 1 adult, 1 juvenile
1 Harbour Porpoise – distant, off outfalls / wooden pier 

Ocean Edge (late incoming tide)
3 Grey Plover

Heysham Wooden Pier (high tide)
75 Cormorant – including 1 with a left leg red darvic ring, but too distant to read code
35 Turnstone

Janet had a walk along the wall a little later.

This is the same metal ringed adult Mediterranean gull that was on Red Nab earlier.
It was the only adult Med seen today.

20+ Dunlin coming in to land.......

.........and rest on the sloping sea wall

Oystercatcher and a Redshank 

Cormorant 

Starlings in the Harbour

It rained, hard, all day.......and we have sounds and pictures to prove it!

The rain started early morning and just varied in intensity during the day, but mainly heavy! A light NE breeze in the morning switched to SE by late morning. It freshened and ended up from NW

North wall (MD) 08:30

The sea was flat calm in the gentle NE early breeze. I had expected to see the Sandwich Terns feeding in numbers in the improved conditions but there were just 5 blogging.

South Shore (MD) 09:00 -11:00

Sandwich Tern - there was just a handful out over the sea, I wasn't expecting to see many resting on the shore, but I was wrong! But for whatever reason they were not in large groups today, but scattered all over the shore. The most I counted at one time was, a still impressive, 162.

This is a typical loose group, together with Dunlin, Oystercatcher and Black-Headed gulls.

Mediterranean gull 5 adult on the shore, Red Nab not checked 

Plenty of waders today:

Curlew c150

Bar-Tailed Godwit 34

Oystercatcher 200

Grey Plover 16

Redshank 82

Knot 41

Dunlin c600

Lapwing 4 on saltmarsh 

Common Sandpiper 1 on saltmarsh 

These are some of the Grey Plover, Knot, Dunlin, Oystercatcher and Rain!

The rain had eased a bit for this clip, which also includes Bar-Tailed Godwit

Bar-Tailed Godwit

Wheatear 5 on Red Nab

Rock Pipit 3 on Red Nab

Chiffchaff 1 on foreshore after a particularly heavy downpour, it dried itself as best it could before it flew off to the north.

Chiffchaff 

Linnet 1 feeding a juvenile by the saltmarsh. Sorry about the shaky nature of this clip (I was trying to maintain balance on loose rocks) but it is worth persevering with. The female is feeding the young with, what I can only describe as a gloop of partially digested seeds.

This is what a "gloop of seeds" looks like

Janet checked Red Nab just after lunch. It was still raining, and the quality of Janet's shots shows it so much more clearly. Worth opening to see the details.

Four of the Wheatear were still around

Wet look Rock Pipit

Impressive Sandwich Tern numbers........followed by Arctic Skuas......then Little Terns!

A fresh SW wind, overcast with showers.

At least three Arctic Skua involved in this mornings sightings.  One chasing terns 0820, two more out close inshore at 0833 and two chasing terns 1009 (Dave Hawkins)

Red Nab to saltmarsh shore

Report from Pete Crooks:

An impressive 288 Sandwich Tern – 268 roosting in a single group on the sands off the south side of Ocean Edge on the rising tide, with another 20 roosting on Red Nab at high tide (10.30 am).

5 Mediterranean Gull – 2 adults and 1 2nd winter at Ocean Edge, 2 adults at Red Nab at high tide, but many of the gulls were hunkered down and obscured among the rocks in the fresh SW wind so perhaps more were present.

2 juvenile Wheatear – Red Nab
1 Rock Pipit – Ocean Edge

I started a bit earlier than Pete and watched from the shore (MD).

As the tide was reaching Red Nab there were Sandwich Tern on the waterline some close inshore, lots on Red Nab many of which were flying over my head towards the saltmarsh. Sandwich Terns can't do anything quietly and their calls were deafening! Sadly all my camera picked up was the wind noise!

These are some of the birds near the waterline 

Some of the Sandwich Terns from Red Nab flying towards the saltmarsh 

But many of the Red Nab Sandwich Terns remained with the gulls.

The ones moved on by the tide, began congregating on the shore. This clip is before Pete arrived to check from the slipway, and is to demonstrate location. Many others joined them throughout the rising tide.

I had thought that the rough sea conditions over the past few days would make it impractical 
for the terns to feed. But this one was returning with a Whitebait. 

It somehow managed to locate its mate and young...fast asleep. Hardly starving!
There must be large shoals of Whitebait around. So, impractical fishing but obviously not impossible.
 Possibly why the tern numbers are increasing. (MD)

Shelduck 11 including 3 juvenile. Note the sea conditions in this clip, I could hear Sandwich Terns calling from out at sea all the while that I was along the tideline.

Curlew 150

Oystercatcher 60

Dunlin 200

Redshank 10

Lapwing 4

Evening check by Alan Physick

c60 sandwich terns on the sand by North wall this evening before being moved by the tide, 

2 Little Tern on the bay feeding - First of the year

Even more Terns

A fresh SSE to SW wind. Some heavy showers, particularly in the morning. A couple of sunny spells in the afternoon.

Red Nab to saltmarsh shore (PM, MD)

Sandwich Tern 125 at least - initially there were 80+ on Red Nab but they quickly moved, with the gulls, to the beach out from the saltmarsh. When Pete arrived a little later their numbers had grown to 125. It wasn't possible to complete a thorough check though, as by this time the SSE wind was driving the rain directly into Pete's scope.

I'd walked out to the edge of the recording area to allow me to walk back with my back to the wind and rain to check the waders. When I returned to the saltmarsh the gull and tern roost was gone, but 66 of the Sandwich Tern flew back in two groups complete with.....

Common Tern 2

Presumably these 66 were from the birds counted by Pete, there were also small groups of Sandwich Terns all along the water line. Not sure what they were doing, but they seemed to be looking for easy snacks.

This is the first group of the 66 terns coming in to land on the beach

When the rain stopped, they flew closer to the waterline and all had a good preen. Both Common Tern are in this clip.

Some even went into the sea for a bath.

Common Tern with Sandwich Terns

Juvenile Sandwich Tern

Mediterranean gulls 8 - 7 on Red Nab and only 1 seen on the beach

Curlew 150

Oystercatcher c200

Bar-Tailed Godwit 5

Dunlin c500

Redshank 20 (saltmarsh)

Lapwing 4 (saltmarsh)

Turnstone 14 (Red Nab)

Loads of birds, and all before breakfast!

A dry and mainly sunny day after an early morning shower. A fresh SW wind

First a ringing report for yesterday by John:

Three nets set at Middleton yesterday morning. Very calm initially but a bit brighter than ideal. 26 birds caught, with 18 of these being young birds.

Willow Warbler    6

Blackcap   6

Garden Warbler   4

Sedge Warbler   3

Chiffchaff   2

Lesser Whitethroat   2

Blue Tit   2

Cetti's Warbler 1

The only retrap was a Willow Warbler ring number JVJ052, which was ringed here in July 2018, and recorded each year since, apart from 2020 . It would have been here or close, even though we didn't encounter it. As Willow Warblers spend their winters in sub-saharan Africa, the estimated minimum distance it would have travelled in migration over this period is 50,000 miles.

Red Nab to saltmarsh shore (MD)

I had very little time today so just had an early morning (6:30 -8:30) walk on the shore out from the saltmarsh towards high water. We are back to neap tides now and much of the shore beyond the saltmarsh remains uncovered at high water.

There were loads of gulls roosting on the shore. I didn't try to count them, but easily as many as Pete counted yesterday, including:

Mediterranean Gulls 30+ - three had darvic rings including one new one - details awaited.

Roosting with the gulls were Sandwich Terns - at least 122

There were 100 on this middle section.........

..........plus another 20 on the beach just in front of me, and another 2 flying at this point. A further 10 on Red Nab, may have been additional.

Two Sandwich Tern in flight and a sense of today's conditions 

Juvenile Sandwich Tern

Adult Sandwich Tern on Red Nab

8 of the 13 Cormorants seen heading SE

Shelduck 15 including 7 juvenile 

Shelduck and Dunlin

There was a good selection and high numbers of waders. The following refers to one group well within the recording area, there were more further south towards the recording area boundary.

Curlew 100+

Oystercatcher c200

Bar-Tailed Godwit c50

Grey Plover c200

Knot 60

Dunlin c250

Ringed Plover 6

Redshank 10 on saltmarsh 

Lapwing 2 on saltmarsh 

These are Grey Plover, Bar-Tailed Godwit and Knot, with Dunlin and more Grey Plover coming in.

Bar-Tailed Godwit and Knot

Dunlin

Grey Plover and a Knot

Grey Plover and a Bar-Tailed Godwit

High early morning counts.

Very light variable breeze till mid morning, when it freshened from SSE. Another sunny day.

Pete managed a 30 minute check from Ocean Edge.

51 Sandwich Tern including one with a yellow darvic ring. Unfortunately far beyond reading range.

43 Mediterranean gulls 

750 Black-Headed gull

The above on Ocean Edge beach 

Tree Pipit south, possibly two together.

11 Swallow and one Sand Martin south 

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Jean:

Did a bit of ringing this morning and caught 30 new birds, almost all juvs:
Greenfinch 10
Goldfinch 4
Willow Warbler 3
Whitethroat 2
Blackcap 3
Robin 2
Dunnock 1
Blue Tit 2
Blackbird 1
Great Tit 2

And 4 retraps:
Great Tit 1
Greenfinch 1
Goldfinch 2

100 Black-headed Gulls, 2 Med Gulls and 16 Starlings were catching flying ants.

These are the ants emerging from the ground and some flying off. They all went after a few minutes.

Middleton Nature Reserve (JP)

The juvenile Goosander was back on the main pond
It was just preening, presumably it had already eaten.

Immature Cormorant 

Everything was anting today, not least the Swallows and Swifts.

Swallows and Swift

Swift

All the birds seem to like a drink when feeding on ants (who wouldn't!)
The swallows were swooping down to drink from the pond surface.

Common Darters

Teneral Damselfly

Female Common Blue

South shore 

A walk mid morning when the wind had quite a bit of east in it. Saw a few insects coming in off, including a couple of Dragonflies. One probable Broad-bodied Chaser and one probable Brown Hawker. Small White butterflies were also coming in but at a very slow rate. I only saw 4 along the wall. Kevin checked after lunch and I had another look later, but no further dragonflies seen.

Wheatear 3 including what appears to be the regular two juvenile near the slipway.

Two juvenile Wheatear moulting to first winter plumage 

Rock Pipit 3

Rock Pipit and one of the 100+ Sunflowers that are still managing to bloom.
Some succumbed to the dose of salt water from the last spring tide

Between the foreshore and the lighthouse there were at leat 18 Pied Wagtail and 500 Starlings all feasting on flying ants. Mainly taking those that had landed on the sea wall but also taking them in the air. I felt like Moses parting the Red Sea as I walked along the wall. The feeding birds reluctantly lifted as I got close, rested on the Power Station perimeter fence before returning to the wall when I had past. These are a few of the starlings towards the end of the wall.

Sandwich Tern 1 adult out past the wooden jetty.

All the gulls were away anting. There were none on the beach near the jetty or on either of the outflows.

Willow Warbler 1 in brambles near the waterfall.

Of fruit, flies, ants and flowers

Another dry day with some sunshine. The light west wind continues.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

A quick look round in the morning found nothing new. Still the male Tufted duck on the "no swimming" pond.

The warm still conditions meant there were plenty of flies around, and there were plenty of Swallows feeding on them. At least 21 in two main groups. One group attacked by an optimistic Sparrowhawk. 

The Hawthorns are already laden with berries.
Hopefully they will hold any winter Thrushes later in the year.

Red Nab (MD)

I went early evening to check the gulls on Red Nab, but knew as I was driving there that it would be hopeless. By this time it was overcast and "heavy", all the gulls were overhead anting. Sure enough on reaching Red Nab, there wasn't a single gull on the rocks. There were a few that had come down onto the beach to have a drink from the freshwater run offs, including this Black-Headed Gull

Black-Headed gull ringed as a nestling last year at Martin Mere (09/06/22)
This is the first subsequent sighting 

Similarly, yesterday's Oystercatcher was the first sighting since it was ringed 08/06/2020 at Nordlysvegen, Bryne, Rogaland, Norway as a breeding adult male incubating a nest with 3 eggs.

Passing Oystercatchers

Mediterranean gull - just one 2nd calendar year.
Sandwich Tern 1 adult having a preen on the beach.

Rock Pipit 1

Saltmarsh not checked.

Chaffinch having a drink on the Nature Park newt pond

Finally the flowers. The late summer rain has boosted the blooms on Middleton Nature Reserve meadows, providing a good show.

These are mainly Knapweed, Fleabane and Willowherb.