No Meds seen today

A dry and largely sunny day. A fresh NE wind.

South shore (Malcolm)

A quick late morning check of Red Nab

No Mediterranean gulls were resting on Red Nab

Meadow Pipit 2 SE

Sand Martin 3 (2 + 1) SE

Shelduck 3

Shelduck taking a drink from the freshwater run off at Red Nab

Osprey 1 fishing between the outfalls, after about 10 minutes it disappeared, presumably caught something and left.

The sea wall was closed for maintenance, so only a distant shot.
No sign of a ring on the right leg

I did have a walk along the sea wall after it reopened for the evening.

Not a single gull turned up to feed on the beach by the wooden jetty, and no Mediterranean gulls seen anywhere 

Wheatear 1 near lighthouse 

Rock Pipit 2 on Red Nab

Shelduck 10

Shelduck on and around one of the freshwater runoffs at Red Nab

In the Nature Park.

Migrant Hawker 1

Common Darter 7

Large White 1

Speckled Wood 4

Peacock 3

Peacock showing all its eyes as it soaked up as much as possible 
of the evening sun.

Treble-bar moth 1

Treble-bar - perfectly camouflaged on the stony path

Heysham Head 

Janet took this shot of a very young Wood Pigeon near the
path. Hopefully it soon moved to a safer area.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

Just a very brief check of the two main ponds

Tufted Duck now 7 on the main pond (5 males)

Managed to get all seven in this shot

Male and female/immature 

This winter plumage Little Grebe was preening on the "no swimming" pond.

Brown Hawker 1

Common Darter several

Speckled Wood 3

Red Admiral 1

Red Admiral, also displaying a full spread of its wings

Little Gull, but awkward with the sea wall closed

A few light showers in the morning otherwise dry and mainly sunny. A light west(ish) breeze.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report by Alan:

Just two nets set this morning owing to intermittent short showers. Four Grey Wagtails caught with a further six attracted but not caught.  One Swallow flew fast northwards over the reserve around 09.30, also ten Meadow Pipits attracted but again not caught.

Grey Wagtail  4

Wren  1

Robin  3

Reed Warbler  1

Lesser Whitethroat  2

Blackcap  5

Chiffchaff   3

Willow Warbler  1

Blue Tit  1

Great Tit  1

Janet had a look after lunch

Cetti's warbler 1 singing from reed bed on the main pond.

Tufted Duck, still 5 on the main pond.

Female/immature Tufted Duck

Tufted Duck drake

Migrant Hawker

Male Emperor 

South shore

Pete checked from Ocean Edge:

Little Gull 1 adult on the inner end of No.1 outfall

Mediterranean gull  7 including 1 1cy on No.1 outfall.

I had a short walk out onto the shore late morning (Malcolm)

Some of the gulls on Red Nab. Great Black-Backed on the left
Herring gull top right, Mediterranean gull top centre.
The rest Black-Headed gulls

Wheatear 2 (foreshore and Ocean Edge grass)

Pied Wagtail 12 and Linnet 8 also on Ocean Edge grass

Little Egret 5 on saltmarsh 

Little Egret 

Grey Plover 2 high up the shore

Male Grey Plover still in summer plumage

There were two main groups of Ringed Plover and Dunlin feeding high up the shore. 294 in total, at least 100 Ringed Plovers.

This is what they are feeding on, countless thousands of tiny snails.
If you zoom in on this shot you can see the tracks the snails leave as they feed.

Although there are other molluscs on the menu. Janet took these shots of a Ringed Plover close to the foreshore.

Each of the specks on the mud surface is a tiny snail

But this one found a larger mollusc just below the surface.

In the Nature Park

Peacock 3

Red Admiral 2

4 singing Robins

More Ospreys, albeit distant ones.

Sunny for much of the day, but it clouded over early evening and rained for a while. A light NW breeze.

South shore (Malcolm)

Just a check of the shore out from the saltmarsh late morning on the rising tide.

A mixed feeding group of 83 Ringed Plover and Dunlin high up the beach. These are a few of them.

They are feeding on tiny molluscs, every "pimple" on the mud either is one or is mud covering one.

Dunlin and Ringed Plover

Grey Plover 3, also high up the beach, but just resting and bathing.

Grey Plover

Osprey 2 - the bird(s) were south of the recording area fishing close to the waterline out from Potts Corner. So just  a "seen from" record. 

This one caught a fish, likely a Mullet, quite close to the waterline, lifting
all the waders. It then flew south with its catch.

I thought that was it, but just a couple of minutes later "another" was fishing in the same area. It was either a second Osprey, or possibly the same bird, having left its first catch with another bird. Either way two Osprey involved. It makes an unsuccessful dive in this clip.

When I looked back again a minute or so later, there was no sign of it.

Little Egret 5 on saltmarsh 

Linnet 4 on saltmarsh 

Wheatear 1 on Ocean Edge grass

Pied Wagtail 8 on Ocean Edge grass

Mediterranean Gulls 8 around Red Nab - Pete

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Some nice shots from Janet this afternoon.

Common Darters deemed to be everywhere today

Migrant Hawker

Female Emperor ovipositoring, again with a following of Damselflies 

An unusual configuration of a Bullrush (Reedmace)

I called in briefly this evening (Malcolm)

Wildfowl unchanged except

Tufted Duck 5 on the main pond, 4 males and a female/immature. These are 3 of the males.

The female/immature, looks happy enough

Mediterranean gull 2 adults on the main pond.

Mediterranean gull (left) with Black-Headed gulls

Swallow 3, House Martin 3 south

A lot of miles, a lot of rain, and little to see!

A very heavy and prolonged mid morning shower, followed by a few lighter and shorter showers. The breeze picked up at lunchtime and freshened slightly from the west in the afternoon.

South shore

If I wanted to get as soaked as possible, I couldn't have timed my walk any better! (Malcolm). The morning rain was just beginning as I got to the saltmarsh, it lashed it down all the while I was on the shore, then eased as I returned to the saltmarsh.

This Mute Swan was grounded just out from the saltmarsh as I set off

It hadn't moved all the while I was on the shore,
then headed off north as the rain eased

A mixed flock of 71 Ringed Plover and 58 Dunlin were feeding high up the shore.

Grey Plover 6 summer plumage birds were the only waders along the waterline, and they left quickly.

Knot 3 resting halfway up the shore

Oystercatcher 300 resting in two groups

Curlew 50 scattered around

Shelduck 5 together flew south

Linnet 12 on the saltmarsh 

Robin 1 grounded along the rocks on the east of the saltmarsh (not normally one here)

Rock Pipit 2 along foreshore 

Wheatears 10 along the foreshore 

Janet checked Red Nab and the foreshore after lunch. By that time there was only 1 Rock Pipit and 3 Wheatears. But she got some nice shots.

Rock Pipit

I

Wheatear

Juvenile Ringed Plover

Oystercatchers at Red Nab

In the Nature Park 

Red Admiral 

Peacock

I had a (mercifully dry) walk along the sea wall after it reopened this evening (closed during weekdays for maintenance).

Mediterranean gulls 18 - 15 adult and a 1st calendar year resting on the beach by the wooden jetty. Another 1st calendar year feeding on No.1 outfall and another adult between the outfalls.

Six adult Meds resting on the beach by the wooden jetty

Wheatear 1 near the lighthouse, so a minimum of 11 today

Plenty of Wheatears and hirundines

Dark and overcast but dry till early evening, then steady rain. A very light east breeze.

South shore (Malcolm)

I went to check the shoreline again this morning on the rising tide. The fire brigade had just brought a fire in Ocean Edge buildings under control. There were ten fire engines plus support vehicles and ambulances, fortunately it seems the ambulances weren't required as there are no reports of casualties.

There was a lot of commotion and a large drone flying overhead. Probably just a coincidence, but there were almost no waders along the waterline, even further south towards Potts Corner.

Curlew 114

Whimbrel 2

Oystercatcher 120

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1

Knot 11

Bar-Tailed Godwit with some of the Knot
Not much of a shot, but it's only to be expected when there isn't much to shoot at!
The almost monotone effect reflects the greyness of the day.

Further up the beach a mixed feeding group of 48 Dunlin and Ringed Plover (roughly half each)

Linnet 25 on the saltmarsh 

Pied Wagtail 8 on foreshore and Ocean Edge grass

Grey Wagtail 1 east

Rock Pipit 3 along foreshore (1 + 2)

Wheatear 16 at least between saltmarsh and Red Nab

Male Wheatear

Female/immature Wheatear

Ruby-tailed Wasp, spotted by Kevin Eaves in the Nature park

Shaun checked the north side:

Nothing much on Heysham Head besides 4 Little Egrets and 9 Eider.

Heliport Wader Roost:

Oystercatcher c.1200

Lapwing 14

Turnstone 78

Common Sandpiper 2

Redshank 365

Curlew 12

Whimbrel 1

Also 8 Wheatear (24 Wheatear in total today)

5 Red Admiral 

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

There were at least 30 hirundines feeding, bathing, drinking on the main pond early afternoon. House Martins and Swallows, there seemed to be more House Martins.

Jay

Grey Heron