Gutweed action and some old Knot shots.....what could be better!

The warm sunny weather continues. A NE to NW breeze.

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 09:00 - 11:00

Low water was at 10:00.

Eider 23 - it would seem that only one eligible female remains.

Great Crested Grebe 1

Grey Heron 1

Little Egret 6

Swallow 1

Very few waders today

Oystercatcher 1,000

Curlew 1 

It was strange not hearing any Whimbrel today, they have been an almost constant background noise over the last few weeks.

Knot 1 in non breeding plumage

Ringed Plover 3 (2 + 1)

Gulls 1,200 mainly Herring, but there was a 2nd calendar year Kittiwake resting amongst them.

Kittiwake top centre

The majority of the gulls were on the water beyond the skear, but I did see two ringed birds, one was new for here.

I was a bit puzzled yesterday as to why the gulls feeding in the shallow water were quite so frantic, after all a mussel isn't going to try and dodge. Is it? So I had a look at the area where they were feeding yesterday.

The latest seed mussels are attaching to the gutweed. The dark specks are seed
mussels, presumably most of the crop already harvested by the gulls.

The gutweed out here is up to 2m long now, and as it sways in the ebbing tide (and in the flood tide of course), the seed mussels sway with it. So, the mussels were dodging after all. The water was deeper and moving much more quickly here when I took the clip of the gulls feeding yesterday.

These are some of Howard's Knot shots from earlier this year. I have been saving them for a rainy day, but I doubt there will be much rain before the Knot have completely left us. Knot here live in permanent risk of death from raptor attacks, but their day to day life also is far from trauma free!

Oystercatcher regularly unceremoniously move Knot out of their way.
So much so, that the neighbouring Knot don't take any notice.

This is the second time that Howard has photographed a cockle firmly clamped
onto a Knot's foot. This will really hurt, in this case it has drawn blood. The Knot
has stood on the cockle while it was partly opened, they immediately clamp shut.
It will not release its hold until it feels safely underwater again. Presumably a 
regular hazard in the life of a Knot.

Gulls, picking and choosing, and a splendid evening session

Another dry sunny day with the morning light NE breeze freshening and shifting to NW by the afternoon and West by this evening.

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 07:20:10:00

Low water was at 09:20.

Eider 6

Female Eider

Grey Heron 1

Little Egret 3

Swallow 2

Oystercatcher 1,000

Curlew 2

Whimbrel 2

Bar-Tailed Godwit 24 - these are 13 coming in to land.

Bar-Tailed Godwit and Oystercatchers 

Knot 3

Knot, one in advanced summer plumage 

Not sure if they were feeding on the seed mussels or finding invertebrates between them.

Ringed Plover 7 in one flock

Ringed Plover, although this shot is to show the size of the smaller seed mussels.

Seed mussels are arriving all the time and cover much of the skear, but the earlier ones to arrive are now quite large and require breaking before the gulls can eat them. The ones in the above shot are the lower size and there are a full range of sizes in between. Some of the gulls have changed their feeding habits and are swallowing several of what must be the optimum size mussels. That is, small enough to swallow whole but providing much more protein for minimum effort. They then just rest a while before eating more.

Gulls 1,500 mainly Herring.

Many of the gulls were standing openly and at first I couldn't find any ringed ones amongst them. This is a typical group of the ones selecting larger mussels.

Other groups were feeding more franticly on smaller mussels. But these chose to do so in shallow water.

But as the tide ebbed, the birds were left on the skear, and after two hours I managed to locate and read 7 ringed birds. 3 new for here this year.

This one from a new scheme, just two characters J|R
This gull was eventually identified as a 2nd summer Caspian gull
See post 28/07/25 for details and more shots.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet just managed a 30 minute check around the main pond.

The adult Mute Swans were lifting weed to the surface for the cygnets to feed on.

Two of four feeding Swifts

Broad-bodied Chaser

Common Blue

Green-Veined White

I couldn't resist another look this evening as the tide was uncovering the skear (Malcolm). 17:40 - 19:40

The wind was now due west and quite fresh. It was a lovely evening, but the low sun made looking out to sea difficult. Which was a shame as soon as I got on the beach I could hear.......

Kittiwakes calling directly between me and the sun! 

They were milling around, only 300m out from the promenade, but very difficult to see. After a while they decided to head off north and gained height. I just managed to count them as they left. 56 at least.

There were c300 gulls around, but I couldn't see any ringed ones. Then soft calls alerted me that there was something else of interest out there and moving quickly. This time heading south, but again I couldn't find them till they had moved out of the light.

Avocets 2

Avocets

Avocets circled in this location shot

Sanderlings 4 - this is the species I had been hoping to see on the skear, and I think these four had been, but I only saw them flying off low to the north.

Black-Tailed Godwit 2 - they fed for a while on the skear before continuing north.

Black-Tailed Godwit

Unfortunately, I am busy tomorrow evening, but will check again in the morning 

Just out of the recording area. Janet also got a shot of a male Common Heath moth on Heysham Moss Nature Reserve yesterday 

Common Heath moth

A bit of gull ring variety

Another warm sunny day. The freshening breeze switching from NE to NW in the afternoon.

Heysham Skear (Malcolm)

Two visits today 08:30:10:30 and 17:00:18:30 (numbers are highest total unless stated)

Eider 5

Great Crested Grebe 1

Little Egret 4

Grey Heron 1

Grey Heron and Little Egret

The Heron's style of fishing is much more sedate than yesterday's Little Egret.

Swallow 2 this morning 1 this evening 

Oystercatcher 1,000

Curlew 2

Whimbrel 1 this morning 4 this evening

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1 this morning 2 this evening

Whimbrel (left) with 2 Bar-Tailed Godwit

Turnstone 5 were flying around this evening.

Turnstone 

Dunlin 4 with Ringed Plover

Ringed Plover 10 (3 + 7)

Gulls - this morning there were 1,100. Many too distant to check for rings, nevertheless I still checked a few hundred and couldn't locate a single ringed bird. 

Some of this morning's gulls after the tide had lifted them of their feeding grounds

I returned this evening to try to understand why the birds I can see in the morning do not include any ringed birds.  l still don't really know although I have some thoughts. Only 500 gulls returned to feed this evening, but they did include two new ringed birds. One from the North West England Gull Project and another ringed as part of a NE Scotland ringing scheme.

Ringed in the NE of Scotland, details awaited

Just out of the recording area

Heysham Moss Nature Reserve (Janet)

Four-spotted Chaser

Broad-bodied Chaser

Large Red Damselfly 

Common Heath moth

Sundew

These shots by Mark Jones at his caravan at Potts Corner

Lesser Whitethroat 

Rook

Loads of gulls

Another warm sunny day. The NE wind again shifting to NW mid afternoon.

Middleton Nature Reserve - main pond (Janet)

Mallards catching the morning sun

Male Broad-bodied Chaser

Azure Blues

Marsh Orchids on the main pond spit

Heysham Skear (Malcolm) 09:00 - 10:30

Eider 5

Little Egret 4 - this one fishing on the incoming tide.

Five Cormorants heading east

Oystercatcher 1,000

Curlew 1

Whimbrel 6

Bar-Tailed Godwit 2

Bar-Tailed Godwit with Oystercatchers 

Turnstone 1

Dunlin 6 (1 by itself plus 2 and 3 with Ringed Plovers)

Dunlin

Ringed Plover 10 - 3 and 7

Six Ringed Plover and a Dunlin

Gulls, more than 1,200 today

Five Whimbrel flying over a few of the gulls

This is only some of the gulls, I must have checked over 300 pairs of 
legs, but didn't see a single ringed bird. 

This young Herring gull has found a Pipefish. They are the same family as
Seahorses, and are basically just a straightened out Seahorse. That's its head
just above the water

Unfortunately, it was just too long for the gull to be able to swallow it. Although, it wasn't for giving up and took it away for another try. It would be easier head first, so it might manage eventually.

Heysham Head (Edward Wilkinson)

Rock Pipit

Wren

Goldfinch 

Common Whitethroat 

Linnet

House Sparrow

South shore (Malcolm)

Shelduck 2

Linnet 2

I wasn't going to go along the sea wall as the wind was again from NW. but there were more gulls on the outfalls than of late so I went to check.

Most of the gulls were immature Black-Headed, they seemed to be 
finding plenty to eat.

Grey Seal dozing between the outfalls

Rock Pipit 1 near the lighthouse 

Swallow 3 north

The only butterflies seen coming in/off were 3 Small White. There were still c20 Common Blue on the scrub near the lighthouse.

The Six-Spot Burnet were just emerging, they will be everywhere soon.

This large (18mm) beetle is a Common Burying Beetle. They are not called burying 
because they bury underground, but because they burry small animal carcasses for
them and their young to feed on safely