Dwindling wader numbers

Still a cool west wind. Dry with plenty of sunshine but temperature never reached 15°C.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Shelduck on main pond

Chaffinch in full song

Black-Tailed Skimmers

Orange Tip

Speckled Wood

Silver Y

An exceedingly worn (Burnet Companion?) moth.

North shore 

I watched the ebbing tide uncover the inner skear rocks this afternoon (Malcolm)

Eider just 1 female seen

Red-breasted Merganser 3 - a bit of a wobbly video this, as I was precariously balanced!

Great Crested Grebe 1

Oystercatcher initially c150 but 300 before I left.

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1

Bar-Tailed Godwit

Sanderling 1 - it flew in then settled, if I hadn't have seen it fly in I wouldn't have seen it at all. They almost disappear in this terrain when they don't move.

Initially it had its back towards me

So I skirted around it for a front view. It never moved, but each time I looked back I had to search for it again.

It clearly needed to rest so I left it in peace.

200 Gulls, mainly Herring with a few Lesser Black-Backed waiting for the tide to go out further.

About a quarter of the waiting gulls

Lots more Canadas

A cool NW wind. Sunny spells, somehow it managed to stay dry, although rain threatened several times. 

Seawatch - Pete 0730-0845: 

Canada geese 102 - 50 plus 35 plus 27 north past Heysham north wall 

20 Sanderling south, probably displaced from skeer

2 Common scoter out 

Lack of post breeding season small gulls around outfalls as opposed to the 2cy Common Gulls - much later than eg last year

Heysham Head

These shots by Edward Wilkinson were taken on Saturday 

Mating Linnets

Wren

Goldfinch 

Greenfinch 

Dunnock

There's always a fox watching you here, but you don't always see them.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet checked in the morning

Common Blue Damselfly 

Lesser Whitethroat 

I waited till mid afternoon, hoping things would warm up a little (Malcolm). But it never got above 14°C at any point today and my short visit was accompanied by the darkest clouds of the day!

The only dragonfly seen was a single Four-spotted Chaser, and that was accidentally disturbed.

The warblers were subdued just: Cetti's 3, Willow 2, Chiffchaff 3, Common Whitethroat 1, Reed 1.

This Chiffchaff had the decency to sing in clear view.

Reed Bunting 1 singing male

The female Mute is still sitting with her mate in attendance.

Gadwall 1 male

Mallard 15 - 2 female

Tufted a pair were on the "no swimming" pond, the female with no discernible tuft.

Coot 3

Moorhen 2 plus 1 chick

Moorhen with quite a well grown chick

Little grebe 1

Female/immature Bullfinch - just as I got back to my car, the sun came out again!

Another Skua, Scoters, Kittiwakes, Canadas and a boat.

A strong SW wind freshened further as it drifted to NW. showers, some very heavy in the afternoon. Sunny spells by evening.

Seawatch from North wall - Mark Prestwood

c90 plus c55 plus 5 Common scoter in

flock of 50 kittiwake out

dark morph Arctic skua in at 0825, 

12 plus four Canada Geese north

South wall (Malcolm)

I managed a dry walk in the morning

The flock of 12 Canada geese were on Red Nab till moved on by the rising tide.

Canada geese

Another flock of 5 came in and landed on the sea, so at least 21 through this morning

There were lots of gulls feeding on the outflows and they appeared to be finding plenty to eat.

The young Herring gull's feeding technique isn't exactly graceful........

.....but it got what it was after. Only a small titbit, possibly a shrimp

This Peregrine falcon was just hanging on the wind high above the sea wall

Occasionally it got too close to the nesting gulls and was chased off.

Peregrine Falcon being seen off

By mid afternoon the rain had "stopped", and the wind stronger and still not yet from the north, so I went out to see if the outflows had anything more interesting feeding on them.

As I was walking out the skies ahead were black and getting blacker and closer quickly. I needed to get to the shelter of the lighthouse before the rain! But I stopped to take this short clip of the dredger heading to the Lune deeps to dump its load. It seemed very low in the water for such rough seas, and seas that were about to get much rougher. It made my risk of getting wet seem insignificant.

I just reached the lighthouse in time, the rain was heavy and almost horizontal 

As the squall eased, a very wet looking Rock Pipit turned up above the nest site,
with quite a large morsel

There was still nothing but the regular gulls on the outflows.

Curlew 3

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

These shots from yesterday 

Carrion Crow with a looted fat ball

Mallard getting in a flap!

Cormorant feeding on the main pond today.

Mussels provide the main interest.........yes, it was a quiet day.

Largely overcast, but it managed to reman dry. A NW to west wind.

South shore (Malcolm)

A check around high water, mainly to see if there were any waders on what remained exposed of Red Nab. There were:

Oystercatcher 1!

There were 8 Curlew resting on the saltmarsh before flying off south.

Eider 1 female south

Little Egret 2

Linnet 6 - 3 each saltmarsh and near lighthouse 

Rock Pipit just one seen today, gathering food between the lighthouse and waterfall 

Plenty of Oystercatcher on the north side heliport wall

Heysham skear - low water 16:20 (Malcolm)

Little Egret 7

Eider 81

Eider

Oystercatcher 300

The only other waders were 6 Curlew. These are three of them.

And that was it apart from the gulls

Lesser Black-Backed gull 30 feeding mainly on the northern side of the skear

Herring gull 100 scattered all over the skear.

This time last year there were seed mussels all over the skear and hundreds of Herring gulls feeding on them. I hadn't seen any seed mussels at all this year, until I reached the western limit of the middle skear. And here, it was covered in them, and quite well developed considering that I didn't see any when I last checked here a couple of weeks ago.

Seed mussels

You can see the Herring gulls scattered around, many not bothering with the seed mussels

A few were pecking at them, but not with any enthusiasm.

It will be interesting to see how this develops, the seed mussels have been a major source of food for the, mainly immature, Herring gulls for the last few years.

The Sea Cat was coming in. It is still a long way off the harbour and at full speed.
The speed lifts it high above the waves.

Still good stuff passing through

A freshening NW wind. Mainly sunny.

Sea off Heysham - Mark Prestwood

a late flock of 7 Arctic tern

one dark morph Arctic skua

12 common scoter 

1 Gannet

I had a walk along the south sea wall mid morning (Malcolm)

Rock Pipits 4 - 1 along sea wall and at least 3 between lighthouse and waterfall.

Rock Pipit on the wooden structure near the lighthouse 

This clip begins on the pipit, then pans out to show the wall full of holes where they normally nest. They probably still are.

This Rock Pipit, near the waterfall, already has a bill full of food, but keeps hunting, partly as they don't like to fly to the nest when they know they are being watched.

It flew off into the Power Station at the end of the above clip, but shortly after it was stood above the harbour wall near the waterfall with the same bill full of food.

This Herring Gull was just hanging on the wind and having a preen

This Cormorant makes short work of a small Bass on No.1 outflow.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet is hampered with a cracked rib at the moment and is unable to carry her large lens. She still managed some nice shots though.

Common Blues - both the damselfly and the butterfly

Small Heath

Burnet Companion - a nice underside view

Shelduck

I had a walk around just after lunch (Malcolm)

Wildfowl, warblers and Dragonflies species as yesterday (although no Common Darters seen today)

Spotted Flycatcher 1 along the east side of the golf course. But very elusive, I only saw it briefly on two different perches 100m apart. Fortunately with a half decent line of sight for one of them.

Spotted Flycatcher 

There are some nice stands of Ragged Robin in the meadows

Must be summer, five Dragonfly species.

A light NE wind shifted to NW mid morning and freshened slightly. Dry with long sunny spells.

Just my stuff so far (Malcolm)

Heysham Head - lunchtime (accompanying a field trip)

Rock Pipit 3 seen from the path looking down to the shore.

Blackbird, Linnet, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Dunnock, Common Whitethroat, Great Tit, Blue Tit singing and many feeding young.

No Swift but 2 House Martin.

Not a single wader seen

Little Egret 3

South sea wall mid afternoon 

Plenty of large gulls and a few Black-Headed gulls feeding on the outflows but no sign of Little gull today.

This Cormorant was enjoying the sun and wind on its feathers.

Curlew 2 together south

Grey Heron 1 north

Linnet 4

Rock Pipit 3 - Red Nab, waterfall and lighthouse. This is the one near the lighthouse, clearly feeding something, but I didn't see it fly to the previous nesting area below the harbour wall.

Rock Pipit with a bill full of juicy snacks

This Pied Wagtail was feeding on Red Nab

This gave me a bit of a start when it landed on the lens of my binoculars. It looked huge!
Alison advises that it is one of the Nettle Weevils, probably Polydrusus formosus

In the Nature Park

Blackcap and Common Whitethroat singing.

Four-spotted Chaser

Broad-bodied Chaser

Speckled wood

Also: Small Tortoiseshell and Common Blue

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick check on the way home.

Warblers and wildfowl as yesterday, although there were at least three small ducklings today. I still didn't manage to see Mum, she saw me first. This is what is known as "legging it!"

Dragonflies:

Emperor 1

Four-Spotted Chaser several

Broad-bodied Chaser several

Black-Tailed Skimmer 3

Black-Tailed Skimmers

Common Darter 1 (first of the year)

Common Darter