Redeyed Damsels arrive.......at last!

 The early morning east breeze died to nothing before switching to a light NW breeze. Wall to wall sunshine saw temperatures raise to 29.8°C by late afternoon 

Middleton Nature Reserve - main pond

Pete checked first this morning:

Small red-eyed damselfly at least two scoped in the middle defending bits of emergent vegetation from common blue. This is the first record for the recording area. Eventually saw at least 5 but likely more nearer the margins

Lesser emperor chased off by two male Emperor. 

Just one worn male Red-veined darter and an ovipositing female to begin with then a pair in tandem

I checked early afternoon (Malcolm)

There were at least six male Small Red-eyed Damselflies close to the edges on what little floating vegetation there is on this pond (the record highlighted in bold red to signify that these are new to the area, but they weren't unexpected. Pete has been monitoring their sightings as they edged closer and closer to us at sites to our south. They will likely soon be relatively commonplace here).

male Small Red-eyed Damselfly 

male Common Blue Damselfly 

Lesser Emperor 1 male flew right past me as soon as I arrived. Too close and quick to get a shot.

Emperor 3 males and a female 

Brown Hawker 1 male and 1 female

Female Brown Hawker

Black-Tailed Skimmer 5 males

Common Darter 1

Swift 2

Swallow 1 

House Martin 1

Reed warbler 1

Cetti's warbler 2

Blackcap 1

Stock Dove two flew south

Little Grebe in the middle of the pond, the damselfly on the right is a 
Small Red-eye

I had a quick look on the "no swimming'" pond, there is a much larger area
of the floating vegetation the redeyes like....

....but I only saw one. To be fair I only checked a small area of the pond, and
my original plan to check the other ponds too was postponed for another day.
It was just too hot!

Janet managed a quick, but successful check of the main pond this evening.

Female Redeyes had joined the males and at least two pairs were ovipositoring.

Where there is no surface weed, a feather is something to reflect on

 male Black-Tailed Skimmer

South shore - Malcolm

A walk along the sea wall 10:30 - 12:00

The early east breeze had already stopped and a light west breeze was developing. There were still a few butterflies drifting in as I walked out

Small White 2

Red Admiral 2

Painted Lady 1

The Painted Lady stopped for a top up on this clump of Sea Mayweed

A lot of the earlier arrivals has stayed to feed in the scrub and brambles between the lighthouse and waterfall.

Meadow Brown 6 (possibly residents)

Small Tortoiseshell 4

Small White 9

Painted Lady 1

Red Admiral 1

Willow Warbler trying to cool down amongst the brambles

The Herring gull adults were trying to get the juveniles on the harbour platform to test their wings

Cormorants panting on the wooden jetty. A white butterfly is coming in
to the right of the right hand side Cormorant 

This ferry is leaving port, just as the tide is about to expose the feeding beach
by the wooden jetty. This shot demonstrates the two main reasons why this beach
is ideal for Sandmason worms. First it is clearly protected from damaging waves
on three sides. But a rock bar between the end of the outfall and the end of the jetty
also provides some protection on the fourth side. The other reason is the gentle wash
that both departing and arriving ships create over the beach, providing the worms
with a regular supply of nutrients. An early arrival Mediterranean gull is arrowed

This is the arrowed Mediterranean gull. This clip demonstrates the wash provided up the beach by the leaving ferry.

Only four Meds turned up today

And there were no gulls on either of the outfalls

They were all away anting. This was one of three Mediterranean gulls anting
with Black-Headed gulls over my house at 14:00

East breezes forecast for the next few days, we could get more interesting insects arriving!

Mist out

A misty start everywhere, but soon the mist was restricted to out at sea.  The mist cooling the onshore breeze managed to keep the temperatures lower than yesterday, but it was sticky.

Middleton Nature Reserve southern section - Janet

Common Darter

Comma

Green-Veined White

Speckled Wood

Peacock 

Ringlet

The Gatekeepers seem to have taken over from the Ringlets as the
most abundant butterfly.

Whitethroat - Not so easy to get the shots with all the leaves on the trees.

South shore - Malcolm 13:15 - 15:00

This is yesterday's orange flagged Curlew, I incorrectly identified it at 117,
but it was 111, they only got to 112. Ringed as a breeding adult of 2026.
 The project is on Bransdale Moor, 16,000 acres of moorland within the North
Yorkshire Moors National Park. There were four eggs laid, but only two hatched.

Even at 13:30 it was still misty and the sun couldn't burn through. It was
 pleasantly cool walking along the sea wall. But some of my shots are a bit hazy

Some of the large gulls have fledged young. These are Lesser Black-backed

The Black-Headed gulls seem to have had a successful breeding season.
Six juveniles in this shot

Mediterranean gulls 31. 

It was a lazy sort of day, all the Meds were just resting and preening.
These are mostly Meds, and this is on the feeding beach by the wooden jetty

Three Meds, from top to bottom: 3rd calendar year, 2nd calendar year and adult.
(They could have made the effort to get in sequence!)

We've seen this one before, or at least one in the same condition.
Its right leg is missing below the knee, so it walks on the stump and 
its left knee. It didn't stop it moving another Med from its bit of beach.

I had counted 30 Meds and hadn't seen any rings, although several were sat not stood. Then an adult flew in from the north side and landed on feeding beach revealing a white ring.

3LX9 - ringed as a chick in the Netherlands in 2019. It has been seen at 
Heysham every year since apart from 2021. Unfortunately it hasn't been 
seen since leaving us last August

Looks like the Lighthouse Rock Pipits are feeding young again

Between the lighthouse and waterfall 

Linnet several 

Linnets

Pied Wagtail 1

Goldfinch 1

 

2 Meadow Browns were the only butterflies, that is likely to change tomorrow 

In the Nature Park 

Juvenile Robin

Painted Lady 1

Red Admiral 1

Speckled Wood 2

Meadow Brown 2

Small White 4

Small Skipper 2

Small Skipper

Just out of the recording area

Quail singing Heaton marsh 

Gannet drama!

A sunny day with a west breeze. The temperature increasing throughout the day, reaching 24°C by evening.

Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

Gannet 1 in the bottom car park! Me and another guy moved it by herding it to a safer area so it didn't get run over. 

This is Steve from Wolfwood wildlife rescue who came to capture it

He was going to release it on the sea, to give it chance 
He said he's had a few these in the last couple of weeks he thinks because
of the windy weather we've had. Poppy the Springador was being very good

Not often I get a close up of a Gannet.

Later, this shot of its release was posted on Facebook 

Swallows over the main pond

Swallow and House Martin

Also patrolling the main pond. Emperor and Brown Hawker

South shore - Malcolm 15:30 - 16:30

I set out from the saltmarsh to check the birds on Red Nab as the tide came in. Things didn't bode well, there were already a group of gulls sat on the mud out from the saltmarsh.

Gulls, including an adult Mediterranean gull out from the saltmarsh 

Sure enough, as I approached Red Nab something lifted everything 

Many landed on the mud, but they drifted back to Red Nab

Mediterranean gulls at least 16

This is the same red ringed 2nd calendar year Med that I couldn't quite read
the third character of yesterday. The scheme narrowed it down to one of three
birds all ringed near Székesfehérvár Hungary last year. A 3cy Med behind 

Today's shots showed the third character to be an 8. So a more detailed 
history will be provided soon

On Sunday, I had seen an orange flagged Oystercatcher but couldn't make out the code. Today I managed to relocate that as well!

117 - Details awaited

There ended up being just a small group of gulls, including 9 Meds, just 
below the sea wall. But it wasn't long before they moved on too. I didn't 
see what flushed them, but juvenile Peregrines are the main suspects 

In the Nature park

Red Admiral 1

Painted Lady 1

Ringlet 3

Large Skipper 1

There are lots of Buddleia flowering now. If migrant butterflies start coming in towards the end of the week many could top up on the Buddleia before moving on. A Hummingbird Hawkmoth would be nice too.