A good day for insects

Quite a fresh east wind. Hot and sunny all day

First, this shot by Kevin Eaves, of a Whimbrel on Red Nab yesterday.

Whimbrel 

Heysham skear - low water 10:20 (MD)

Great Crested Grebe 10 - including this juvenile fending for itself 

Red-breasted Merganser 3 female/immature feeding together.

Eider 22 including 5 males at various stages of breeding plumage. This clip,shows two of the males plus the feeding mergansers.

Little Egret 15

Oystercatcher c500

Curlew c100

Redshank 80

Turnstone 60

Knot 5

Ringed Plover 2 - none seen on inner skear, these came in off and rested on the middle skear

Dunlin 1

Several butterflies were coming in off, 5 Small White, 1 Small Tortoiseshell and 1 Red Admiral, so I went to check insect movement on the south side.

Red Nab (MD)

Mediterranean gull - just 2 adult seen.

Adult Mediterranean gull, top left, with Black-Headed gulls

Redshank 150

Dunlin 1

Ringed Plover 13 - they were feeding on the small cobbles, a terrain that they are perfectly camouflaged for. There are nine in this clip.

The tide was just reaching Red Nab when I arrived. The insects will still have been coming in off the sea, but no longer focused along the sea wall, as they are when the tide is out. Even so there had obviously been some significant movement. Along the track from Red Nab to the Nature Park there were:

Migrant Hawker 1

Small White 8

Red Admiral 4

Small Tortoiseshell 1

There wasn't many more in the park itself, just:

Migrant Hawker 1

Common Darter 3

Large White 2

Red Admiral 2

Small White 3

Speckled Wood 3

Treble-bar moth in the Nature Park

This Common Whitethroat was eating the blackberries, a Robin singing in the background.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet checked in the morning, there were plenty of active dragonflies, but mainly Common Darters. Their activity ensuring future generations.

Common Darters

The only other dragonfly was a Migrant Hawker.

I went to check early afternoon to see if anything interesting had moved in.....it had (MD)

Black Darter 4 male and a probable female - the males were defending small territories amongst the shallow pools that you have to cross to get to the peninsula on the main pond. I only got a quick look at the female as she moved through (obviously not impressed!).

This is the area, plus the very edge of the main pond behind me in this shot

They were all quite mature, but some still with hints of yellow markings.

Male Black Darter - uncommon here

Other dragonflies - only the main pond checked:

Common Darter 10+

Brown Hawker 3

Migrant Hawker 4

It was very hot. But the "resident" Heron was presenting its wings to the full glare of the sun. I can't think that this is to cool it down. Its wings appear to have insects amongst the feathers, perhaps it is using ants to help rid it of parasites. 

Grey Heron covered in insects

Janet called back in passing in the evening. She quickly found the Black Darters. These shots are with her mobile phone, they are just to show that you do not need an expensive camera, especially with these very approachable dragonflies.

Black Darters, snapped with a phone

Hopefully they will still be in the same area tomorrow

Hirundinidae action shots

A light breeze started from the east, gradually working it way clockwise around the compass to return to NE. Sunny and very hot.

Middleton Nature Reserve (JP)

Some nice shots from Janet, these first six from yesterday. It's worth opening these to appreciate the detail

Swallow having to turn its head to catch a fly.....

.......got it

They were taking insects (looks like flying ants) to feed the young on the wing.

House Martins were also hunting 

Today's action was more about refreshment 

Juvenile House Martin grabbing a drink

and then a bath

Meadow Browns

Common Darters, already finding a use for the Hawthorn berries

Male Common Darter

Great Tit with one of the seeds left by visitors 

There were two additional adult Mute Swans flying around.

The Coot are still bickering 

and the female Tufted is still on the main pond

South Shore (MD)

I had a walk along the wall around lunchtime on the rising tide, although it was still a way out.

Mediterranean gull 4 - just a juvenile and a second calendar year seen on Red Nab plus one adult on the beach and another out at sea.

Guillemot one drifted past the wooden jetty on the incoming tide.

Ringed Plover 10 Red Nab

Grey Plover c150 in a distant flock heading NW, they may have returned a little later as a similar sized flock flew south, but too distant to identify species.

Grey Heron with Cormorants on wooden jetty

Starling numbers continue to increase between the lighthouse and waterfall. They were like a swarm of locusts working their way over the vegetation.

They looked like locusts when they moved on too

I'd watched this grey blob drifting in on the tide for a while, thinking it was some sort of duck. Then it woke up, scratched its chin, had a yawn, a quick look around then back to sleep again - Grey Seal

Nature Park

Migrant Hawker 1

Common Darter 1

Large White 1

Red Admiral 1

Small,White 3

Meadow Brown 1

Speckled Wood 4

Osprey.....not missed today!

A light, but increasing SW wind Sunshine all day after the early mist cleared.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

First a ringing report from John for yesterday:

Nets set at Middleton yesterday morning. Bright conditions and slow start, only five birds in first two hours. Then a movement of birds through, helped to increase this to a total of twenty, which comprised:

Blackcap 4

Chiffchaff 6

Robin 3

Great Tit 2

Blue Tit 2

Willow Warbler 1

Lesser Whitethroat 1

Wren 1

South shore (MD)

A late morning check on the rising tide

Mediterranean gull 9 at least - the gulls on Red Nab were all sat down, many with their heads tucked in, so difficult to check. 6 adult, 2 second calendar year and 1 first calendar year. A first calendar year at the end of No.1 outflow may have been the same bird.

Shelduck 26 flew off to the west, presumably they had been on the shore as they started off low.

Osprey 1 - it had caught what looks to be a decent sized Grey Mullet. When first seen it was out from No.1 outflow and gripping the fish towards its tail.

Osprey with a blue ring on its right leg

It clearly wasn't satisfied with its grip, it spent over a minute circling out at sea till it was gripping it towards the front. This clip it the last 30 seconds of this process.

Fish gripped to its satisfaction it was ready to run the gauntlet of the inshore gulls

It managed to get through the gulls and headed east.

Falcon sp probably Peregrine 1 came in off high from the west and continued SE

Swallow 2 south

Ringed Plover 13 plus a single Dunlin near Red Nab - these are a few of them.

Just out of the recording area (actually quite a way out of the recording area, but still of interest) Pilling.

Little Tern 2 - ref Pete

Black Darter and Pinks start to return

 The east wind switched to NW late morning, but remained light. Dry with long sunny periods.

Heysham skear - low water 08:30 (MD)

Eider 23 - 10, 12 & 1 all female/immature 

Great Crested Grebe 13

Red-breasted Merganser 3 female/immature in one feeding group.

Little Egret 19 

These spring tides come in very quickly, these are some of the birds trying to feed while being displaced. Note the young Little Egret with quite yellow legs, towards the end of the clip.

Grey Heron 1

Pink-Footed goose 3 low to the east.

First Pink-Footed geese returning

There wasn't a great number of waders, no doubt more were on the outer skear

Oystercatcher c200

Curlew c150

Redshank c120

Turnstone c80

Knot 1

Harbour mouth early evening, Craig Bell 

Pink-Footed goose 4

Whimbrel 2

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet had a look in the morning

Cetti's Warbler 1 singing between the main and "no swimming" ponds

Black Darter 1 male on the flat area to the west of Tim Butler pond (the first record within the recording area this year)

Male Black Darter

I had a walk around just after lunch (MD)

Brown Hawker 2

Migrant Hawker 10 - just 1 female

Common Darter 10+ - these are two ovipositoring in the "no swimming" pond (my camera seems to be making up its own sound effects now!)

There wasn't a lot of butterflies, in order of abundance:

Speckled Wood several

Meadow Brown 4

Small White 4

Red Admiral 2

Brimstone 2

Large White 1

Mute Sawn 2 adult 8 Cygnets 

Mallard 4

Tufted Duck the odd looking female is still on main pond

Coot 8

There are still no wildfowl on the "no swimming" pond

Swallow - continuous high number feeding and moving through. 30 minimum 

Grey Heron 1 - it catches a small fish here

Long Tailed Tits at least 15 in one feeding flock, plus 1 Chiffchaff with them.

Sparrowhawk 1

The late summer rain has swollen the Hawthorn berrries. There were already high numbers but now they are large too. I suppose this will be the case in most of the rest of the country too.

Heavily laden Hawthorn bush

I thought this female/immature Blackbird had already started eating them, but it was actually eating Blackthorn fruit (sloes).

Quite often, sloes are the only berries/fruit to remain late into winter. I think the larger ones are just too large for even the largest thrushes to swallow.

Black Tern and some interesting recovery news.

A light east wind, dry with sunny spells.

South Shore

Report from Pete:

Mediterranean gull. 35 on Red Nab including one adult with green ring on right leg

Black Tern 1 juvenile seaward end hey 2 then in shipping channel behind sea truck

loads of gulls outfalls 

We have received the history of the young Mediterranean gull seen yesterday.

The bird comes from a small colony in inland Germany - Löbnitz Gravel Pit, Colony, Leipzig, Sachsen 51° 34' 49'' N 012° 28' 22'' E

Ringed as a nestling 18/06/22 it has already been seen in three different locations, including Dawlish Warren Nature Reserve Devon.

While we are on rings. A scan of the winter roosting Oystercatcher reveals a significant number with metal rings. Many of these will be from the ringing programs conducted on the Heliport earlier this century. Oystercatcher can live a long time.  Jean was contacted by Catherine Ramsay who found the ring of a recently dead bird on 09/07/23 on the Island of Mousa, Shetland. The BTO had confirmed that the bird was an Oystercatcher ringed at Heysham 12/12/08.

Found 5322 days after ringing as an adult, 671kn north of Heysham - many thanks Catherine

I only had chance for a very quick check of the south side mid afternoon, not a time of the tide I would choose (MD). 

Wheatear 2

Rock Pipit 3

Eider 1 female drifting out with the tide.

There were a number of Turnstone feeding along the sea wall. A duller bird amongst them looked promising, but it turned out to be a juvenile Knot.

Turnstone and Knot

A pair of yellow ringed Meds

A dry day with plenty of sunshine. The wind shifted to SE.

South Shore

Janet had an early walk along the sea wall.

Water vapour was still rising from the seaward end of No.1 outflow
No wind at this time

Looks like this young Black-Headed gull wanted to play "sticks"
But the others weren't interested today

I walked down a little later to watch the tide cover the beach next to the jetty (MD)

Mediterranean gulls 13 at least. There were 8 adult, 1 second calendar year and 2 first calendar year on the beach. Plus at least 2 additional second calendar year on Red Nab later.

The pickings are still easy here and the gulls were mainly resting and flew off as the tide reached them. One of the adults had a yellow darvic ring, but remained just beyond reading range.

Fortunately, I relocated it later on Red Nab, it is one of the German scheme adults read earlier this month. There was also a yellow ringed immature Med on Red Nab which is also part of a German scheme. This is a new bird for Heysham.

German ringed Mediterranean gull - details awaited 

Rock Pipit 1 on foreshore 

Swallow 2 south

Heliport 

Howard had a quick look

Nothing exciting on the heliport today other than 3 visits from a male Sparrowhawk, think it got a Turnstone on it's last attack.

Wheatear 1 juvenile 

Rock Pipit 2 on Near Naze

Rock Pipit

Feeding time.......

A heavy downpour at 07:00 after that dry and largely sunny. A fresh NW to NNW wind.

South Shore (MD)

I couldn't get down till 09:30, probably missed most of anything that had been grounded by the rain. Still, along the foreshore:

Robin 2

Robins rarely make the picture gallery 

Goldfinch 2

Linnet 4

Pied Wagtail 1

Rock Pipit 2 plus 1 on Red Nab

Wheatear 4

Wheatear 

Mediterranean gulls 6 - 4 adult on Red Nab in the morning plus, later in the afternoon, 2 x 1st calendar year on the end of No.1 outflow. This is one of the Meds at the end of No.1 outflow, a Grey Seal reveals itself at the end of the clip.

1st calendar year Mediterranean gull and a Grey Seal

I walked along the wall in the afternoon to check the beach next to the wooden jetty, only 2 adult Meds turned up. The new ferry obviously has a greater displacement and more power than the old one, and has a proportionally larger wake. This is the wake running up the beach next to the wooden jetty.

It clearly reached further up the beach than the Oystercatchers were expecting. I am confident that this additional replenishment of nutrients up the beach can only benefit the Sandmason worm colony. We'll see.

This Redshank found a crab in the wash. It was just about small enough to pass its gape, when all its limbs were removed. Even so it made short work of it.

In contrast this young Black-Headed Gull didn't seem to know what to do with this small fish. What's it been eating up to now? Perhaps it was already full. It took it almost two minutes to eat this Whitebait, it spent most of that time washing it.

I mentioned yesterday about honing survival skills, hopefully it will soon learn that it will seldom be allowed to play with its food for so long. It probably only got away with it today as there was plenty of food to go round. In this clip it finally managed to eat the fish, meanwhile an Oystercatcher casually catches a Sandmason worm.

The Starling numbers in the harbour continue to grow. There are 500+ now, these are some of them on one of the platforms, I'm pretty sure they are not feeding here, just breaking off pieces of barnacle shell for grit.

Juvenile Turnstone 

Some nice shots from Janet:

Redshank and Oystercatcher on the Heliport wall
plus the Manxman turning into the harbour

The top of the heliport wall looking out into the bay

Female Migrant Hawker on Middleton Nature Reserve 

It's caught a Crane Fly