Youngsters beginning to arrive

Early showers then dry and quite sunny after lunch. A SW wind

South sea wall - Malcolm 10:00 - 11:00

I was earlier in the tide this morning and much of the shore was still exposed. The Curlews didn't start arriving from the north side until I was back to Red Nab.

Many gulls were resting on the mud between the outfalls. Mainly Black-Headed
but the second bird from the right is a 2cy Mediterranean gull

2nd calendar year Mediterranean gull (centre)

The first juvenile Black-Headed gull was by No.2 outfall

Peregrine Falcon 3 flying and calling around the Power Stations. Presumably, at least one of them a juvenile

Unusually, no Rock Pipits seen or heard

Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

Azure Blue Damselfly 

Amber snail

Celypha lacunana (apparently)

There were at least five Ringlet today

Painted Lady, seen on both sides of the reserve 

Heysham skear - Malcolm 16:45 - 18:30

Little Egret 8

Eider 1 female

Great Crested Grebe 2

Great Crested grebe, almost hidden by gulls

Gulls c450 on the skear, but more on the sea on both sides.

Herring gull next to a stranded Barrel Jellyfish 

Some of the gulls were feeding on seed mussels, but many were just resting. There is so much food available now they can soon fill their crops. This Herring gull has found a crab, but can barely bring itself to eat it. Even more unusual is that the other gulls totally ignore it. They normally fight over every scrap!

These are just some of the Oystercatcher and gulls

Then an Osprey arrived and cleared everything 

I say, an Osprey "arrived", but in reality it was very high to the north to begin with.

Osprey

This clip shows just how high over the sea it was fishing.

I saw it dive twice without success as it moved further south.

The gulls resettled on the water and waited for the ebbing tide to expose the skear below them. I eventually managed to see four green ringed birds, but all seen previously this summer.

I did see one new green ringed bird though. But not a gull.

This Oystercatcher is part of a Mid Wales scheme. It was ringed at Ynyslas National
Nature Reserve, Ceredigion last year, identified as a bird hatched in 2023

Oystercatcher c2000

Curlew 10

Another bird with a crab, but this one went down quickly!

Burnet day

A warm day but largely overcast and humid. A light variable breeze.

South shore

A check along the sea wall 10:00 - 11:00 - Malcolm

Mediterranean gull 1 adult between the outfalls

Adult Mediterranean gull

Plenty of small gulls on the outfalls

Curlew a total of 85 flew from the north side in groups from 1 to 28

One of the larger groups of Curlew

Redshank 1 in summer plumage by No.1 outfall

Redshank

Rock Pipit 2 along the sea wall plus 1 displaying by the lighthouse 

This one along the sea wall had plenty to say

Meadow Pipit 2 at the saltmarsh 

This one had just landed after a display flight

The other was foraging above the strand line

Grey Seal where it was yesterday, between the outfalls

Grey Seal having a snooze

Kevin checked the wall later

Giant Dark Horsefly

One of several Cinnabar moth caterpillars towards the end of the sea wall

First Six-spot Burnet this year near the gate behind Red Nab

Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet - first of the year. I was quite excited to see my first one and then they flew up from everywhere, on the south side of the reserve

Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet

Ringlet 2 and better behaved today!

Ringlet

Bullfinch and Greenfinch

Heysham skear - Malcolm 15:45 - 17:30

Little Egret 8

Red-breasted Merganser 1 female, she started to do a bit of snorkelling, then switched to preening

Great Crested grebe 2

Gulls c400 but many stayed on the flat sea to feed on the seed mussels, note the one at the back swimming left with a small crab.

I did see one green ringed Herring gull, but one already seen this summer,
 indeed it was the one seen most regularly last summer, so I doubt this is its last
sighting. Ringed at Bowland in 2024

A Common Tern was also taking advantage of the flat sea to fish along the northern edge of the skear

After several failed attempts it caught a decent sized Whitebait and flew with it towards the south.

Oystercatcher 1000+

Curlew 9

Knot 1

Knot and Oystercatcher 

Just a touch of insect movement

A warm day but not a lot of sunshine. A  SE breeze

Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

Canada geese 13 over silently to the north

Common Whitethroats

Common Darter

Common Blue Damselfly

Large Skipper

Burnet Companion (upper wing pattern)

Burnet Companion (under wing pattern)

Drinker moth caterpillar 

South shore - Malcolm

I walked along the sea wall and back towards high water in the morning then towards low water in the afternoon.

Common gulls c20 2nd calendar year birds on No.2 outfall this morning 

Some of this morning's Common Gulls

Mediterranean gull 1 2cy on No.2 outfall this morning, then on the mud between the outfalls this afternoon 

The Med opted to share the opposite rail with the Black-Headed gulls

2cy Mediterranean gull

Immature Herring and Great Black-backed gull this afternoon 

Curlew 9 flew from the north side this morning, 38 flew to the north side this afternoon 

Turnstone 1 in summer plumage at the seaward end of No.1 outfall this afternoon 

Rock Pipits at least 5 around 

Linnet 8, including 4 likely young birds together between the lighthouse and waterfall 

Male Linnet on one of the bollards 

Grey Seal one between the outfalls on both visits.

Grey Seal

An east wind like today's in summer normally attracts migrating insects in off the sea, but it hasn't really been migration weather recently. However a Peacock Butterfly flew in along the sea wall as I was leaving this morning. It was that that prompted me to return when the tide was out this afternoon.

I didn't see any insects as I walked out this afternoon, but between the lighthouse and waterfall there were:

Painted Lady 6

Red Admiral 3

Plus 5 probably resident Cinnabar moths.

I should have gone out later, as when I walked back along the sea wall there were

Painted Lady 3

Red Admiral 5 

And the frequency was increasing 

Cinnabar moth

Red Admiral

Painted Lady and a Beetle sp sharing a bramble

Painted Lady

Painted Lady resting on the sea wall

As I approached the end of the wall heading back, a light shower began. This Painted Lady was undecided between continuing along the sea wall or stopping for a rest