Little Gull the pick of the day

After a bit of early morning sunshine it was overcast with several heavy showers. A south wind.

Heysham skear - low water 12:20 (Malcolm)

Back to neap tides now so low water barely exposed the inner skear, perhaps just as well, as not so far to walk, and it rained all the time!

Eider 2

Wigeon 5 flew south 2 males and 3 female type 

First returning Wigeon

Great Crested Grebe 2

Little Egret 7

Herring gull 70

Just a shot of the skear, with Little Egret, Herring Gulls, Oystercatcher, Curlew,
Redshank (two barely visible) and a Cormorant 

Cormorants resting on conger rock, with the Manxman approaching 
through the gloom 

Oystercatcher 300

Curlew 25

Redshank 20

Turnstone 40

Ringed Plover 4

Ringed Plover

South shore (Malcolm)

Just a walk along the sea wall late afternoon on the rising tide. It only rained for half the time.

Mediterranean gulls 15 at least - 3 adults 5 1st calendar year feeding on the outflows. 3 1st calendar year and 4 adults on Red Nab (probably more, but most of the gulls were hunkered down and facing away).

First calendar year Mediterranean gull with a first calendar year
Black-Headed gull above

Adult Mediterranean gull

Kittiwake 1 first calendar year feeding on outflows

Little Gull 1 adult feeding on No.1 outflow.

Adult Little Gull

Migrant Hawker, catching the early morning sun at Janet's house
First record this year

More Meds, plus a gander into the future

Mainly overcast, but dry, with a decreasing SW wind.

South shore

Report by Shaun:

Heysham Outfalls. 06:30 - 10:00:

Med Gulls  64 - Adults/3cy 38, two 2cy and a minimum of 24 1cy.

Kittiwake two 1cy.

Osprey fishing from 06:30-06:40.

Little Egret 7 Ocean Edge. 

Wheatear at Lighthouse.

I checked the shore out from the saltmarsh on the rising tide this afternoon (Malcolm). 

On the saltmarsh - feeding on and around the flotsam left by the recent high spring tides .

Linnet 32

Pied Wagtail 24 

Reed Bunting 1 female type

Wheatear 1

A particularly rufous female/1st winter Wheatear

Six Linnet in this shot

All scattered by a female/immature Kestrel passing over

Whimbrel 2

Whimbrel

Redshank 18

Little Egret 3

On the shore

The Manxman is back in service 

Curlew 130

Oystercatcher 30 were the only waders (indeed the only birds) along the waterline. And nothing other than Oystercatcher and Curlew could be seen further south beyond the recording area.

It felt like these Lesser Black-Backed gulls were laughing at me!

Swallow 5 feeding low over the saltmarsh fringes and over the mud.

Swallow feeding low above the mud

These Herring and Lesser Black-Backed gulls looked to be trying to invent rugby! A ball made from Whelk egg cases and a Carrion Crow making a fine referee.

These pictures by Janet 

The sole remaining cygnet on Middleton Nature Reserve is looking well

Silver Y in Janet's garden

More than "just" out of the recording area, but nevertheless very interesting. 

Pale-bellied Brent goose four (2 adult plus 2 youngsters) are already back at Roosecote just over the bay. Something to watch out for.

A decent tally

A fresh SW wind with heavy showers

South Shore

Shaun Coyle and Pete Crooks did the early shift. Report by Shaun:

Heysham Outfalls. 06:00 - 10:00.

Sanderling 5 on the beach next to Outfall 2.

Med Gulls 55 - Adults/3cy 28, single 2cy and a minimum of 26 1cy. Darvics : White left, White right, Green right, Metal right. 

Kittiwake 2 1cy on Outfall 1, and 2 adults heading out.

Osprey fishing (successfully) from 07:30-07:40.

I headed out as Pete and Shaun were leaving.

Many of the 1st calendar year Mediterranean gulls were feeding on the seaward end of No.1 outflow. Slightly easier to see them with a dredger behind.

Shag 1st calendar year flew low past the lighthouse, possibly heading for the wooden jetty.

First calendar year Shag

I had another quick look this afternoon (Malcolm), by this time the SW wind was strong. Two juvenile Shags were in the harbour mouth. Possibly including this morning's bird.

They ended up inside the harbour, hopefully they will hang around

There must be at least 5 juvenile Shag in the recording area, as David Kaye also saw 3 off Heysham Head.

Cormorant, just out from the harbour mouth

The 1st calendar year Kittiwake appeared to be enjoying hanging on the wind as it lifted up the sloping sea  wall.

Wheatear 1 female type on Ocean Edge foreshore.

Rock Pipit 5 (1, 3, 1) on Red Nab

One of the solitary Rock Pipits

When I got back to my car this morning, an old lady was waiting for me 

Old Lady moth, teased till it flew to safety 

Industrious worms

A west wind, mainly overcast with a couple of showers and the odd, brief sunny spell. Thunder and lightning beginning late evening 

South shore (Malcolm)

Two walks along the sea wall (need to take advantage while access available). One on the rising tide this morning and another on the ebbing tide this evening.

Mediterranean gulls 25 - just 17 adults turned up to feed on the beach by the wooden jetty this morning, but 22 adult and 3 1st calendar year turned up to feed this evening.

First calendar year Mediterranean gull

These are four adult Meds plus initially three, then four Black-Headed gulls waiting on the sea for the beach by the jetty to become exposed.

The sandmason worms have been busy, most of their tubes were fully
restored by this afternoon (see yesterday's post)

There is just one area where a particularly deep layer of mud was 
deposited, that isn't fully restored 

Kittiwake 2, possibly 3 1st calendar year in the morning. Just the one, looking like the regular bird in the afternoon.

This one resting and preening on the sea wall by No.1 outflow is 
definitely a newcomer, not the same clean lines as the regular bird

This 1cy has nice clean lines

This one not so

It had a go at feeding on No.1 outflow, but didn't seem keen on flying.

There were two feeding on No.1 outflow as I left. When I reached No.2 outflow this one was resting on the rocks.

Possibly a third 1cy Kittiwake this morning

In the Nature Park 

Common Darter 3

Meadow Brown 1

Large White 1

Speckled Wood 3

Speckled Wood with a slightly unorthodox resting spot.
Presumably the pipe has warmed in the sun.

Female Common Blue at Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

Forest.......swamped!

A strong west wind eased slightly during the day. Mainly dry with some sunshine, after early morning showers.

Arctic Tern 1 juvenile in low water channel seen from Knowlys Rd - Pete

South shore 

A late morning check on the rising tide (Malcolm)

Mediterranean gull 16 including a 2nd calendar year and 3 1st calendar year

2nd calendar Mediterranean gull above an adult and 1st calendar 
black-Headed gull

It was a different terrain on the beach by the wooden jetty today. The overnight heavy
sea had deposited a fresh layer of mud. There were still some sandmason worm tubes
exposed, but nothing like it was yesterday, the  lower section of this shot is the area I 
described as being forested with tubes. The worms will be fine, they will just have to 
extend their tubes.

Shaun did a thorough count of the Meds this evening, even so these are only minimum numbers, plus they were still arriving from inland as he was leaving.

Adult/3cy 36, 1cy 4, so with this morning's 2cy - 41 Mediterranean gulls

Kittiwake 1 1st calendar year on No.1 outflow (still there when Shaun checked this evening)

Common Tern 1 adult intermittently feeding on No.1 outflow.

Common Tern

Osprey 1 first calendar year battled south against the wind, past the roundhead at 11:30.

1st calendar year Osprey

Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab

In the Nature Park it was quite warm where sheltered from the wind.

Peacock 2

Red Admiral 1

Meadow Brown 1

Speckled Wood 3

Common Darter 4

Red Admiral 

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet just had a short walk in the southern section.

Common Darter

Meadow Brown

The long and the short of it

Heavy rain till mid morning then just the odd shower with sunny spells.

South shore (Malcolm)

Just an evening check again.

Eider 1 female/immature some distance out from the harbour mouth

Cormorant 54

53 on the wooden jetty

This one on No.1 outflow

Whimbrel 2 flew south together

Kittiwake 1 1st calendar year feeding occasionally on No.1 outflow

Mediterranean gull 19 at least.

There were 2 1st calendar year feeding, 1 on each outflow.

3 adults milling around

Just 12 adult and 2 1st calendar year turned up at the feeding beach by the wooden jetty. None of the darvic ringed birds were seen. Presumably those that were absent weren't hungry, they have had all day to feed. Those that did show were easily catching the sandmason worms.

The sandmason worm tubes were even more pronounced than yesterday 

This metal ringed Med catches a sandmason worm.

Extracting the worm from its tube is not as easy as they make it look.
The worm, understandably, doesn't want to be extracted and swells its 
tail to grip the tube sides. Its body stretches as the gull tugs, pull too
hard, or too quickly and the worm will snap and half the meal lost.

This is another worm, probably a similar size to the first one, but now
 contracted and much shorter

Not all the Meds relied on their hunting skills, some resorted to bullying instead. This Oystercatcher catches two in this clip, before the Med pinches its third, presumably odds that the Oystercatcher is happy to live with.

Note how the Med tries to appear not to be interested in what the Oystercatcher is doing.

First calendar year Mediterranean gull