Still good stuff passing through

A freshening NW wind. Mainly sunny.

Sea off Heysham - Mark Prestwood

a late flock of 7 Arctic tern

one dark morph Arctic skua

12 common scoter 

1 Gannet

I had a walk along the south sea wall mid morning (Malcolm)

Rock Pipits 4 - 1 along sea wall and at least 3 between lighthouse and waterfall.

Rock Pipit on the wooden structure near the lighthouse 

This clip begins on the pipit, then pans out to show the wall full of holes where they normally nest. They probably still are.

This Rock Pipit, near the waterfall, already has a bill full of food, but keeps hunting, partly as they don't like to fly to the nest when they know they are being watched.

It flew off into the Power Station at the end of the above clip, but shortly after it was stood above the harbour wall near the waterfall with the same bill full of food.

This Herring Gull was just hanging on the wind and having a preen

This Cormorant makes short work of a small Bass on No.1 outflow.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet is hampered with a cracked rib at the moment and is unable to carry her large lens. She still managed some nice shots though.

Common Blues - both the damselfly and the butterfly

Small Heath

Burnet Companion - a nice underside view

Shelduck

I had a walk around just after lunch (Malcolm)

Wildfowl, warblers and Dragonflies species as yesterday (although no Common Darters seen today)

Spotted Flycatcher 1 along the east side of the golf course. But very elusive, I only saw it briefly on two different perches 100m apart. Fortunately with a half decent line of sight for one of them.

Spotted Flycatcher 

There are some nice stands of Ragged Robin in the meadows

Must be summer, five Dragonfly species.

A light NE wind shifted to NW mid morning and freshened slightly. Dry with long sunny spells.

Just my stuff so far (Malcolm)

Heysham Head - lunchtime (accompanying a field trip)

Rock Pipit 3 seen from the path looking down to the shore.

Blackbird, Linnet, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Dunnock, Common Whitethroat, Great Tit, Blue Tit singing and many feeding young.

No Swift but 2 House Martin.

Not a single wader seen

Little Egret 3

South sea wall mid afternoon 

Plenty of large gulls and a few Black-Headed gulls feeding on the outflows but no sign of Little gull today.

This Cormorant was enjoying the sun and wind on its feathers.

Curlew 2 together south

Grey Heron 1 north

Linnet 4

Rock Pipit 3 - Red Nab, waterfall and lighthouse. This is the one near the lighthouse, clearly feeding something, but I didn't see it fly to the previous nesting area below the harbour wall.

Rock Pipit with a bill full of juicy snacks

This Pied Wagtail was feeding on Red Nab

This gave me a bit of a start when it landed on the lens of my binoculars. It looked huge!
Alison advises that it is one of the Nettle Weevils, probably Polydrusus formosus

In the Nature Park

Blackcap and Common Whitethroat singing.

Four-spotted Chaser

Broad-bodied Chaser

Speckled wood

Also: Small Tortoiseshell and Common Blue

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick check on the way home.

Warblers and wildfowl as yesterday, although there were at least three small ducklings today. I still didn't manage to see Mum, she saw me first. This is what is known as "legging it!"

Dragonflies:

Emperor 1

Four-Spotted Chaser several

Broad-bodied Chaser several

Black-Tailed Skimmer 3

Black-Tailed Skimmers

Common Darter 1 (first of the year)

Common Darter

Another Little Gull

A NE wind switched to NW late afternoon. A dry day, but the sun was generally hazy.

South shore (Malcolm)

Just a walk along the sea wall mid morning on the ebbing tide.

Little Gull 1 second calendar year

Initially, resting on the mud between the outflows. Some distance out,
but clearly a different bird than the one photographed by Martin (see yesterday's post)

This clip shows the location (and just happens to have the Sea Cat in the background).

It then went to feed at the seaward end of No.1 outflow, and was still feeding there 20 minutes later.

Rock Pipit 2 - one each on sea wall and Red Nab. No sign of the lighthouse birds.

Linnet 2 - clearly a pair.

Female and male Linnet halfway along sea wall 

The female dropped down and started to gather fine nesting material, looks like dog hairs.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

It was quite warm in the afternoon but the sun was hazy and there wasn't a great deal of insect activity.

Janet managed this Emperor - first record this year

The only dragonflies I saw (Malcolm) were Four-spotted Chaser and Broad-bodied Chaser.

Female Broad-bodied Chaser

Male Broad-bodied chaser

Lots of Silver Y and Burnet Companion

Burnet Companion showing underwing 

Burnet Companion

Plenty of Common Blue butterflies, these are all female

The warblers were not singing so frequently today, at one point I thought I would complete my visit without hearing a Cetti's warbler - but eventually I heard four.

All the other regular warblers were also heard: Willow, Reed, Sedge, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common and Lesser Whitethroat.

Reed Bunting 1 male singing

The female Mute is still sitting with male in attendance. 8 Mallard, 2 Male Gadwall, 4 Coot, 2 Moorhen.

I think this lone chick on the fence pond, could be a Gadwall (Malcolm)

You can just make out mum calling it (quack!) in the background.

Belated Little Gull, but little else!

First, these splendid shots of a second calendar year Little Gull. Taken by Martin Loftus at Heysham on 26 May on the outflows but only briefly c14:00

Thanks Martin

Today - After early morning showers the rain somehow managed to hold off. Some sunny spells, interspersed with some very dark spells! A fresh NW wind.

Male Pheasant on Middleton Nature Reserve 

Heysham skear - low water 13:45 (Malcolm)

Eider 119 - this is the largest of three main rafts.

Red-breasted Merganser 4

Great Crested Grebe 2

Little Egret 5

Oystercatcher 500

Dunlin 2

Knot 1

Turnstone 1

Turnstone

Swallow 1 battling against the NW wind to cross the bay.

Gannet....at both ends of the day!

A SW wind all day. Sunny periods in the morning showers in the afternoon, then sunny again late evening.

Pete did an early seawatch

Sea 0510-0620: 

7 Manx Shearwater

1 Gannet

2 guillemot

3 plus 6 common scoter.  

All out except 3 c Scoter

Middleton Nature Reserve 

These shots by Janet

Lesser Whitethroat 

Goldfinch 

Burnet Companion 

Male Common Blue

It was sunny for an hour or so mid morning so I had a walk around (Malcolm). The only dragonflies I could find were a couple of Four-spotted Chasers.

Cetti's warbler, Chiffchaff, Willow warbler, Common Whitethroat, Blackcap, Reed warbler and Sedge warbler all heard singing.

The female Mute Swan wasn't sitting on her nest and appeared to be trying to salvage something from under the water. It looked like yesterday's heavy rain had raised the water level again (note the Little Grebe behind the swan at the beginning of this clip).

On the way back, I checked from the other side, expecting to confirm that the water level had risen. But is was at its normal height. I could just make out the female, now stood over her nest. There only seemed to be one egg. 

I had assumed that they had mated again after the first batch was swamped and that she was sitting on a new clutch. But perhaps this lone egg is just a remnant from the first clutch. Either way it doesn't look promising for a large mute family this year.

I checked the inner skear rocks as they became exposed again this evening (Malcolm)

Eider 12

Herring Gull 206

Lesser Black-backed gull 6

Oystercatcher 400

Knot 200 - when the Knot arrived, many took advantage of the freshwater running off to take a bath.

Gannet 1 adult had come overland from somewhere. It was clearly exhausted and the gulls were merciless, pecking at the back of its neck. It barely reached the shore and landed. The gulls then just landed around it and left it in peace!

Just another 20m and it could have landed on the sea and drifted out. It was fine for now, it tucked its head under its wing and rested, safely surrounded by alert gulls. But this beach is patrolled by the Heysham Head foxes after dark so I hope it moved on. It was still there at 20:15.

Sleeping Gannet and Herring gulls

Osprey sandwiched between showers

A SE switching to SW wind. Overcast with regular showers very heavy by evening 

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Male Common Blue from yesterday 

Roe Deer today

Heysham Head high cliffs from the shore (Malcolm)

Just a quick check in the morning when the tide was out. This shot, later at high water shows the location.

Heysham Head high cliffs, just left of centre - the cove is actually called Blaise's Bathtub

Rock Pipits 3 at least, 2 were taking food to nest sites.

One of the nesting areas is near this "dog's head". A Rock Pipit makes a fine dog's ear!

Common Whitethroat 3 singing males between Half Moon Bay and the high cliffs.

Linnet several

Goldfinch several - presumably these are feeding, but sure on what.

This Wood Pigeon has a recently fledged youngster begging to be fed.

Adult with juvenile Wood Pigeon

Heliport - just a quick passing check at high water (Malcolm)

Knot and Oystercatcher on the sloping sea wall

Male Eider resting on the Near Naze rocks - no sign of his mate

I checked the inner skear rocks as they became exposed this evening (Malcolm).A very heavy shower had just finished, and another was clearly on the way, but for five minutes the sun shone creating striking lighting conditions.

Knot under dark skies and the first beams of light

Suddenly we were in full sunshine and the Knot were coming in to land.......but not for long.

Osprey 1 - it must have rested through the previous shower, possibly on Heysham Head as it came from that direction lifting everything in its path. It then turned around and flew out over the sea into the onshore wind. The Oystercatchers after their initial panic, were continually "bothering" it, although to be fair, it wasn't much bothered! 

By this time the sun had turned the sky white

I couldn't see any rings

The Osprey continued west and was lost in the sun, it didn't return.

Oystercatcher 600

Knot 800

Curlew 1

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1

Bar-Tailed Godwit

The waders were just beginning to return, but the black clouds had again covered the sun, it was time to leave. The heavens opened as I was heading back, but fortunately with the wind and rain to my back. Quite an enjoyable 20 minutes!