Sometimes you just have to irk the birds

Another hazy sunny day with a west(ish) breeze

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report by Alan

Another fairly quiet session this morning with only 23 birds caught, but there were seven species of warblers. The three adult Willow Warblers were all in an advanced state of moult of flight feathers.  A juvenile Song Thrush was a welcome catch as we only catch an average of 6 per year of this declining species.
The total catch comprised:
Lesser Whitethroat  1
Willow Warbler  3
Chiffchaff   3
Reed Warbler  2  + 1 retrap
Blackcap  4
Common Whitethroat  2 + 1 retrap
Sedge Warbler  2 + 1 retrap
Song Thrush  1
Wren  1
Great Tit  1 retrap  ( This was a juvenile fledged from a nestbox on Middleton this year).

This from Steve Edmondson:

Thought you might be interested in a Ruddy Darter that I've seen twice in the same area close to Middleton main pond on the west side.

Ruddy Darter

Janet saw at least two and probably three Ruddy Darter near the southern section pond

Ruddy Darters

Still no sign of the Copper-tip longhorn moths

North shore

Mark Jones had a walk over Heysham Head barrows

Cormorant resting on an empty beach

Gatekeeper resting on barren bracken 

South shore - Malcolm

Didn't have much time today but I managed an evening stroll out from the saltmarsh 

There were 200+ gulls resting on the mud. Mainly Black-Headed but also Lesser Black-backed, Common gulls and 15 Mediterranean gulls. 

Gulls resting out from the saltmarsh 

Unfortunately most were sat down so any ringed birds were impossible to see. The trick in these conditions is to encroach on their space just enough to annoy them, so they stand up. But not so close as to spook them. I eventually managed a white ringed Mediterranean gull seen earlier this summer and a blue ringed Black-Headed gull

2R76 ringed at Grange-over-Sands in 2019 it has been seen several times
since but only in the local area

Three Mediterranean gulls with Black-Headed and a Common gull

Carrion Crow tiptoeing past

An old friend returns

A warm day, plenty of sunshine but occasional high clouds. A fresh west breeze.

South shore - Malcolm

A walk along the sea wall this morning 10:00 - 11:15

Mediterranean gulls c50

Most (30+) were on Red Nab despite the tide being out.

Mediterranean and Black-Headed gulls on Red Nab

There were 2 adults and a juvenile by No.2 outfall and at least 13 on the feeding beach, by the wooden jetty.

Juvenile Mediterranean gull (bottom) and a Black-Headed gull

Adult Mediterranean gull on the feeding beach. The Sandmason worm
tubes are starting to show again

One of two Little Egret.

Starlings including Juveniles on the lighthouse 

Between the lighthouse and waterfall there were:

Rock Pipit 2 (plus 1 on Red Nab),

Pied Wagtail 3 (2 juvenile)

Linnet 5

Dunnock 1

Robin 1

3 Willow warbler/Chiffchaff

At least one was a Willow warbler, the other two just glimpsed 

Dunnock

Linnet

Worn looking Rock Pipit

The only butterflies seen here today were a Meadow Brown and a Red Admiral. West winds not good for insect migration here.

I returned at 15:00 to check Red Nab on the rising tide.

Mediterranean gulls at least 70. There were over 50 on Red Nab and at least 20 more seen flying directly south. As yesterday, the Red Nab Meds were also constantly drifting off to the south.

Always nice to see this Mediterranean gull has made it back for another year.
Ringed as a chick in Holland 2010. It has been seen here every summer since.
Last year it was seen in Spain in January, hopefully it has been seen
somewhere since it left us last us at the end of August last summer 

Adult Mediterranean gull, showing its pure white wings

This Lesser Black-backed gull has a metal ring

A number of gulls settled on the mud out from Ocean Edge. So I went for a look

The only ringed Mediterranean gull was the Hungarian bird already seen several times

Turnstone 4, Dunlin 1 and at least one Redshank calling at Red Nab

Lapwing 1 on the saltmarsh 

Ticking over nicely

A warm sunny day with a west breeze

North shore - Davis Kaye

Osprey 1 early on

Flocks of 19 turnstone plus 7 redshank north shore 

Red Nab - Malcolm 13:30 - 14:15

I went to watch the tide reaching Red Nab, but left before it got there as the gulls were already drifting off to the south.

Mediterranean gull 32 at least.

Mediterranean with Black-Headed gulls

I only saw one ringed bird. We had this one visiting as a juvenile last year.
Ringed near the Wash last year it was seen in Spain in February 

Curlew c200

Just a few of the Curlew coming in to land

Oystercatchers are omnipresent and rarely get a mention, these are some arriving.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet had an evening stroll around 

A Little Egret had joined the Swans

It had plenty to say as it left!

The Small Redeyes do like a feather

There weren't many Small Red-eyed Damselflies, most this evening were Common Bluetails

Common Bluetail Damselflies 

Black-Tailed Skimmer

On the south side

Ruddy Darter 

Broad-bodied Chaser

Peacock 

Red Admiral 

Green Lacewing

A few Ducks returning

A sunny day but cooler than of late. A fresh variable breeze.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Alan managed a ringing session yesterday.

This was about the first morning for a long time that there was no risk of being roasted alive and the wind was very light so I set off to Middleton at 05.15.
The three nets set produced a modest catch of 24 birds by 11-00, comprising:
 
Singles of Blackbird, Reed Warbler, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Cetti's Warbler (retrap) and Robin.
Chiffchaff  2
Wren  4
Willow Warbler  3
Sedge Warbler  4
Dunnock  2
long-tailed Tit   1 +  2 retraps

I checked some of the ponds this afternoon to see how widespread the Red-eyed Damselflies are (Malcolm)

Main pond - not checked

"No swimming" pond

Mute Swan pair

Mallard 25+

Gadwall 3 

Tufted Duck 1 female

Moorhen 3

Coot 2

Mute Swans and some of the Mallard

 male Gadwall in eclipse 

Gadwall

This clip shows more of the Mallard then ends up on the three Gadwall

Male Mallard in eclipse

Female Tufted Duck

Tufted Duck idly watching a damselfly pass by

There is a lot of surface weed on this pond, and there were dozens of Damselflies, but most were just our regular blue eyed varieties. I did manage to see three Small Red-eyed Damselflies, including an ovipositoring pair.

Small Red-eyed Damselflies 

Ovipositoring Emperor 

Also Brown Hawker

Fence pond had plenty of surface weed but only the usual Damselflies seen

Moorhen with just a single tiny chick

Grey Heron 1

Similarly with the other open water in the central marshes. Just the regular Damselflies and a couple of Common Darter

The only warbler seen or heard was a singing Blackcap 

Butterflies:

Mainly Gatekeeper 

But also Meadow Brown, Peacock, Green-veined White and Common Blue

Green-veined White and a Carder Bumblebee 

Imperial Rd - Malcolm

Just a brief check

Buzzard 2 - 1 calling from the copse and one flew over to it

Common Whitethroat seen

Sedge warbler seen

Sedge warbler 

Not many butterflies: Small White, Meadow Brown, GateKeeper and Small Skipper

No Dragonflies