Ruddy returns!

A warm dry day a SE breeze shifting to west in the evening.

South Shore (Malcolm)

Quite a productive day resulting in nine ringed Mediterranean gulls and a Cormorant being read. 

This morning I just checked the gulls on and around Red Nab.

Mediterranean gulls 40+

I located 7 ringed Meds. All previously read except for two yellow ringed juveniles.

Juvenile Mediterranean gull - yellow 2104
Ringed as a nestling at Scolt Head Norfolk 25/06/25. It was still there 09/07/25

Juvenile Mediterranean gull - yellow 2283
Both arrived on the same day and both in a similar sequence, you'd imagine that
they were from the same scheme. But they are not, the Norfolk scheme only has
rings to 2199.Where this one came from is still a mystery. A generous reward
is offered to anyone identifying the scheme.
No money involved of course, just a generous thank you.

A check this evening saw only c30 Mediterranean gulls. No sign of the ringed juveniles. Two additional ringed birds were seen, one new one.

A second calendar year Mediterranean gull - red HW56
Part of a Hungarian scheme - details awaited

Rock Pipit 3 on Red Nab, this one was taking a bath in the freshwater runoff, even remembering to wash behind its ears.

Plenty of Cormorants and a Heron on the wooden jetty.
No sign of any Shags at this time

A particularly pale juvenile Cormorant 

This Cormorant has an orange ring - 341
Ringed Hale Duck Decoy, Cheshire, on 16th June 2024.Seen twice at Seaforth in
August 2024 and on the canal near Garstang September 2024

Grey Seal at the seaward end of No.1 outfall

In the Nature Park

Red Admiral 5

Small Tortoiseshell 5

Large White 2

Small White 3

Speckled Wood 5

Common Blue 1 worn male

Migrant Hawker 2

Hummingbird Hawkmoth  1 zipped past, no chance of a shot

Poplar Hawkmoth 1 dead along the track

Poplar Hawkmoth

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet checked this afternoon 

Banded Demoiselle 1 flew from the lower car park at the main pond towards the wooden steps.

Ruddy Darter 1 male  - near the pond on the south side of the reserve

First Ruddy Darter record since 2007!

Male Common Darter

Common Blue

Small Tortoiseshell 

One of two Painted Ladies, also on the south side of the Reserve

The injured Swan is still feeding ok

Teal 3

Barn Owl 1 this evening - Pete

Med day

Calm overnight and into the morning, a light breeze then shifted from an easterly to NW by evening. Warm and dry with sunny spells

Middleton Nature Reserve early morning 

Swift 1 

Mediterranean gulls 9 over heading to the shore - Pete

Ringing included the first migrant Goldcrest of autumn

South shore

I went to check the gulls on Red Nab towards high water (Malcolm)

Whimbrel 1 at the saltmarsh 

Whimbrel 

Osprey 1 tried fishing between the outfalls, I didn't see it dive before it drifted south.

Distant Osprey

Mediterranean gull at least 40 including 3 juveniles. There was quite a high proportion of immature birds.

15 Meds chose to rest on the mud out from Red Nab

The one on the right has a metal ring above the knee on its right leg,
but it seemed determined not to show its coloured ring

Eventually it did, revealing itself to be a new bird for the area.
Details awaited

This one is part of the same scheme. We have seen it before, but this is
the first sighting this year. Ringed in France 2022, recent history awaited

Three other ringed birds read, but all seen previously this year

One of the juveniles

Little Egret 4

Little Egret

One of two Small Copper by the saltmarsh 

Shaun checked this afternoon:

Mediterranean gulls 67 - highest count this year! Initially there wasn't many, but as the tide ebbed more arrived. None attempted to feed on the beach by the wooden jetty, although 8 were resting on the sea out from the harbour. These were additional to the final count on Red Nab of 56 adult type plus 3 juvenile

Rock Pipit 5 between Red Nab and the lighthouse 

Shag 3 juvenile resting on the wooden jetty

I just had time for a very quick look this afternoon (Malcolm). And managed to spot this white ringed Lesser Black-Backed gull on No.2 outflow. 

Part of a Spanish ringing scheme - details awaited

Just out of the recording area, Heysham Moss Nature Reserve (Janet)

A quick look this morning saw only butterflies, but the dragonflies were showing in a second check this afternoon.

Black Darter

Common Darter

Speckled Wood

Green-Veined White

Comma and a Red Admiral 

Three Shag and an Osprey matinée

Calm first thing, then a freshening west breeze. Ending up quite warm with sunny spells increasing.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report by Alan:

This morning the catch was just 21 birds with a good spread of species including Chiffchaff, Common Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Cetti's Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat.  

A flock of approximately 70 Goldfinch were flying around the reserve during the morning but not a single one managed to end up in my nets.  

Two Grey Wagtails heard flying over, hopefully we shall soon start catching some of these for the colour ringing project (see sidebar for scheme details)

Janet checked this afternoon 

No Cormorants on the main pond, but the regular Heron was there

Common Darter

Migrant Hawker
Two Brown Hawkers managed to avoid being photographed 

Meadow Brown

Speckled Wood

Green-Veined White

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 08:00 - 09:15

I walked in the rising tide along the northern edge of the skear.

Eider 45 including several males coming out of eclipse 

Female and immature Eider and a Cormorant 

Some of the male Eider

Great Crested Grebe 8

Great Crested Grebes

Little Egret 12

Some of the Little Egrets on the south side, and a ship disappearing into
the mist. Not quite a Turner seascape, but not bad!

Shag 3 juveniles, all three ending up on Conger Rock.

Three juvenile Shag and a Cormorant (top) - It's worth checking Conger Rock
tomorrow around 09:00. It's easily visible from the shore. It's the large rock on 
the south side, much bigger than any of the other rocks.

Gulls 100 mainly Herring

Oystercatcher 200, most had already left the skear, there were 500 more on the shore to the south

Curlew 70

Redshank 65

Turnstone 30

Ringed Plover 15

Swallow 1 east

South shore (Malcolm) 15:15 - 16:45

A check along the foreshore saw nothing.

Then a pleasant walk along the sea wall.

Rock Pipit 3 - 2 on Red Nab and 1 near the lighthouse 

Lighthouse Rock Pipit

Shag - just one juvenile seen roosting with the Cormorants on the wooden jetty. Almost certainly one of this morning's birds.

Juvenile Shag amidst panting Cormorants (it wasn't that hot!)

A surprisingly fresh Six-spot Burnet in the scrub near the lighthouse 

Osprey 1 - fishing between the outfalls, it was very difficult viewing as the light was behind it, but fortunately I managed some shots of its successful dive.

It had grabbed quite a large Bass, and had to grapple with it.

The Osprey was pulled under a few times, but eventually emerged with its prize.

A decent sized Bass, it will be significantly heavier than the Osprey

It flew off with it to the north, but not without difficulty

There were lots of butterflies in the Nature Park:

Red Admiral 12

Peacock 1

Large White 3

Small White 4

Meadow Brown 3

Speckled Wood 5

Three Red Admiral and a Small Tortoiseshell 

Peacock