Plenty to see and hear in just a short stroll

Another warm sunny day, although the sun was hazy at times. A light variable breeze.

No other sightings received so far, and I only had chance for a short stroll in the afternoon (Malcolm)

Middleton Nature Reserve 14:45 - 15:45

Mute Swan pair plus 8 cygnets 

Mallard 11 plus 10 chicks - 6 on the main pond, 2 on the "no swimming" 2 males on the Fence pond plus a female with 10 very young chicks.

Although I said "with" she was nowhere to be seen at first.

Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff singing in this clip.

Gadwall 2 on the Fence pond

Gadwall

Coot 4

Moorhen 4

Grey Heron 1

Pheasant 1 calling

Swallow 4 north

Stock Dove 2

Stock Dove

Peregrine Falcon 1

Peregrine Falcon

You can hear a Sedge warbler in this clip.

These are the minimum numbers of warblers heard singing:

Cetti's warbler 5

Chiffchaff 5

Willow warbler 3

Blackcap 1

Common Whitethroat 3

Reed Warbler 2

Sedge warbler 1

Insects:

Broad-bodied Chaser 4

Male Broad-bodied Chaser

Female Broad-bodied Chaser

Four-Spotted Chaser 3

Four-Spotted Chaser

Loads of damselflies everywhere.

Large Red Damselfly in front of a Reedmace seed head

Common Blue Damselfly 

Two different pairs of Azure Blue Damselflies ovipositoring 

Plenty of butterflies, but not many species: Small White, Large White, Orange Tip, Speckled Wood.

Nothing to see in this clip, but the loud "barking" is from a Roebuck. I clearly encroached too close to his territory and he is telling me that he knows that I'm there. The diminishing volume showing that he is moving away.  There is also a Reed warbler singing.

Quite a mixture

Another warm sunny day with a light variable breeze

Seawatch report Stephen Dunstan 08:00 - 09:50:

2 Red-Throated Diver

1 Sandwich Tern

2 very distant Gannet 

c29 distant Common Scoter

Middleton Nature Reserve 

These shots by Janet from yesterday.

Coot

Moorhen 

Some of the cygnets having a snooze

The Mallard still has two chicks,
but the male Mute Swan was chasing them this morning 

Green-Veined Whites

Rudely interrupted by a Common Blue

Female Broad-Bodied Chaser near the golf course

This looks to be a protective nest for Nursery Web Spiders,
but happy to be corrected if anyone knows for sure (Malcolm)

Angela Gillon checked this afternoon 

The Mute Swan family looking serene 

No sign of the Mallard family but there was a Coot with 2 chicks, could have been more but they were hiding well in the reeds.

Blackcap and Whitethroat heard but not seen.

Heysham Nature Reserve

I joined the children's Watch group in a walk from the Office to Red Nab 10:00 - 11:00 (Malcolm).

The children recorded each species seen and heard.

Carrion Crow 

Jackdaw 

Magpie

Wood Pigeon

Blackbird

Robin

Dunnock 

Wren

Treecreeper 1 - not a known breeding bird on the reserve. It was in the woodland strip near the pond in the middle of the dog walking path.

Greenfinch

Goldfinch 

Chaffinch 

Willow Warbler

Chiffchaff 

Lesser Whitethroat (no Common Whitethroat seen or heard)

Blackcap

Moorhen pair with 4 chicks on the dog walk pond

Pied Wagtail 

The only tit seen was a single Blue Tit.

At Red Nab

Little Egret

Rock Pipit

Great Black-Backed gull

Lesser Black-Backed gull

Herring gull

Both the above were also seen during the walk

Oystercatcher 

Curlew

All in all a very pleasant walk. If you would like to learn more about the children's Watch group, contact Emma Garston at the Observatory office 

Visit webpage for further details 

https://www.lancswt.org.uk/our-work/projects/connecting-nature

Janet checked the north side of the Reserve (where dogs are excluded)

Blackcap

Large Red Damselfly - note the aphid keeping out of sight below the leaf

Common Blue

Green-Veined White

Burnet Companion 

One of the Reed Beetles (Donacia sp.)
Thanks to Alison for this identification 

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 14:00 - 15:00

Eider 6

Little Egret 4

Great Crested grebe 1

Great Crested Grebe 

Oystercatcher c1,000 and Whimbrel 1 were the only waders.

Gulls 500, mainly Herring gulls. One new ringed bird was seen today.

It has a seed mussel in its bill - ringing details awaited

These two began courting after he gave her a seed mussel - oh the romance!

I do like a happy ending.......

It's mainly about insects today

A warm sunny day with a light NW breeze.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Grey Heron

Common Whitethroat 

Peregrine Falcon 

Male Broad-bodied Chaser in the southern section of the reserve

Another on the main pond

A worn female Brimstone, laying eggs. Brilliant shot and brilliant camouflage!

South shore (Kevin)

Burnet Companion in the scrub near the lighthouse 

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 13:30 15:00

Eider 6

Little Egret 2

A slightly different shot of a Little Egret with nicely spread out Oystercatchers

Oystercatcher 1,000

Whimbrel 3

Gulls 600 mainly Herring. Two new ringed birds were seen today.

This one giving me a suitably respectful salute!
We have received the histories of the 5 ringed gulls seen on Wednesday.
Unfortunately, in each case that was their first sighting since being ringed.
Ringing sites involved were: Bowland and the Ribble Estuary 

Swallow 2 in/off

Green-Veined White 1 (not seeming to know which direction to fly but last seen heading west)

Arctic Skua best of the day

A dry day, but more cloud than of late. A NE cool breeze.

Seawatch report - Pete

Heysham 0630-0830

1  light morph Arctic skua

10 Common scoter

44 Sandwich tern

1 Guillemot

1 Red-Throated Diver

6 Whimbrel 

2 Pale bellied Brent Geese

Heysham Nature Reserve (Janet)

Female Common Blue

Male Common Blue

A fresh Female Speckled Wood

Very worn female Speckled Wood

Common Carpet moth

Alder Leaf Beetles

Red-headed Cardinal (quite apt for today)

An elusive Rabbit was the only mammal seen

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 12:30 14:30

Eider 6

Little Egret 2

Oystercatcher 1,000

Whimbrel 13 minimum, but likely twice that. They were everywhere you looked, but also flying around making eliminating duplication difficult.

The bottom left bird has something in its bill

This one appears to eat a small mussel

Curlew just 1

Gulls, mainly Herring 600 - fewer than yesterday but I managed to check more of them for rings today. Slightly surprisingly, after yesterday's five, I only managed to find one and that was a Herring gull that I also saw yesterday.

Colour ringed 2nd calendar year Herring gull - details awaited

Avocet passes through and dragonflies emerging

Another dry sunny day with a light variable breeze.

Seawatch report - Pete - 0620-0800: 

Pretty dead this morning at Heysham after first 20 mins - should been there earlier.    

41 Sandwich tern in (16? of these out)

Gannet c19

guillemot 7

razorbill/guillemot 2

common scoter 23

Avocet 1 in - first, possibly the only, one of the year.

Canada goose 2

whimbrel 2

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Common Whitethroat 

Four-Spotted Chaser - first of the year
Also a glimpse of a dragonfly with a blue abdomen 

Female Orange Tip

Small Heath

Cranbus lathoniellus

Noon Fly

Second day in a row a large military plane flew low over the reserve 

Heysham skear (Malcolm). 11:45 - 13:45

Eider 7

Little Egret 2

Oystercatcher 1,300

Whimbrel 6

Whimbrel

Dunlin 4

Dunlin

Swallow 2 north 

Gulls 850 - mainly Herring but c50 Lesser Black-Backed

These neap tides do not expose much of the skear and the gulls were waiting 

for the seed mussels to become exposed.

Not always patiently

At least it was possible to get closer to the gulls today and I managed to read five ringed birds, all from the  North West England gull project - see the link to this scheme on the sidebar

One Lesser Black-Backed......

....and Four Herring gull - note the Whimbrel in the background 
Details of all birds awaited

Then the low military plane went over. It really was quite intimidating,
particularly when its shadow zipped over me and everything around me!

It lifted everything!

Look how lush the gutweed is now in places. The oxygen released by
photosynthesis becomes trapped in the tubes it is made of, when it
is like this, it's similarity to gas filled guts is obvious.

Barrel Jellyfish