RVD arrive, plus a Demoiselle

Another hot (27°C) sunny day, with a light NW to W breeze

Seawatch report - Pete

As expected not much on the sea but bit of mammalian magic with two porpoise and a grey seal in scope at same time. 

Otherwise 

3 sandwich tern in

1 guillemot out 

10 greylag in including leucistic bird

Definitely a pair of Rock pipit on north harbour wall in 36V

Middleton Nature Reserve 

These shots at the main pond by Peter and Rosemary Silvester

Male Banded Demoiselle 

Black-Tailed Skimmer

Azure Blue Damselflies 

Green Lacewing

These shots by Janet on the southern section of the reserve

Azure Blue Damselflies

Broad-bodied Chaser

Burnet Companion 

Silver Y

Brimstone 

This is one of the Mute Swans from the "no swimming" pond
It has a metal ring

The main pond Heron was panting in the heat

Later Pete and Jean checked from the bottom car park

Red-Veined Darter at least 2 males were flying very quickly over the water. They kept heading for the SW corner.

Heysham skear - Malcolm 11:15 - 12:45

Eider 16 mainly males

Nine male Eider

Red-breasted Merganser 1

Great Crested Grebe 1

Little Egret 5

Gulls c350 mainly Herring 

This green ringed Herring gull is an old friend from last summer, I saw it at
least 10 times! Ringed in Bowland in 2024, unfortunately it hasn't been seen
since it left us last August 

Sandwich Tern 5 - 4 south and 1 hanging around 

Sandwich Tern

Oystercatcher c800

Curlew 24 - 10 and 13 south plus 1 feeding

Sanderling 7 - none until I was getting ready to leave then 7 arrived, fed a while then continued north

Sanderling 

Dunlin 6 north

Painted Lady 25 north all singles and reasonably evenly spaced at 15 per hour

Red Admiral 2 north

Surprisingly, the algal bloom that was so abundant on Sunday has almost disappeared. I had expected it to worsen in the warm weather and calm conditions. It just goes to show that there are more factors at play than those that are immediately obvious.

South shore Malcolm 15:45 - 17:00

Osprey 1 on the post at the end of No.2 outfall

Rock Pipit 3 in the inner harbour 

Rock Pipit between the lighthouse and waterfall

Linnet 4 between the lighthouse and waterfall 

Linnet

The Carrion Crow's nest on one of the platforms isn't abandoned after all. There were at least two chicks panting in the heat. No sign of the adults again, but they must be feeding the chicks.

Carrion Crow chicks

There were no insects seen along the sea wall itself. It is best here with the wind from the east. But between the saltmarsh and Red Nab there were:

Small White 12

Painted Lady 5

Common Blue 9

Silver Y 8

Painted Lady

Then between the lighthouse and waterfall there were:

Silver Y 10

Cinnabar 2

Silver Y feeding on the tiny Sea-milkwort plants on the roundhead

This Silver Y is feeding on the bramble flowers

Cinnabar moth

Just out of the recording area - Heysham Moss Nature Reserve - Janet

Buzzard crossing over the bypass

Four-Spotted Chaser showing its hairy underside 

Common Heath

Brown Silver-line

Insects starting to move in the hot weather

Hot and sunny (temperature peaked at 28.5°C this afternoon). A light breeze mainly from NW.

Heysham skear - Malcolm 10:30 - 12:00

Eider 11 (8 males)

Red-breasted Merganser 1 male

Great Crested Grebe 2 together 

Great Crested Grebe 

Gulls - there were c350 large gulls, mainly Herring on and around the skear, plus 30+ Black-Headed gulls to the south and north (many more further north)

Some of the large gulls waiting for the seed mussels to become exposed

Sandwich Tern, constantly calling but just 2 seen.

Sandwich Tern

Little Egret 4

Oystercatcher c1000

Curlew 6

Knot 46

Sanderling 90

Dunlin 1 

The Knot arrived from the south, fed for a while then continued north

The Sanderling also arrived from the south. Four flocks, 30, 11, 33 and 16.
Some fed for a while before continuing north, others didn't stop to feed at all.

Knot and Sanderling 

There's a lot going on in this clip. Herring and Lesser Black-Backed gulls, Oystercatcher, Knot and Sanderling all looking for food.

 

Knot and Sanderling heading north. This is 11:45 and it left the skear empty 
of small waders.

There was still quite a bit of algal bloom, but not as much as yesterday. No idea why!

Painted Lady 3 (2 north and 1 south)

White butterfly sp 2 south

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Jean briefly saw an immature Darter sp fly out over the main pond.

These shots by Janet

Chiffchaff 

Painted Lady

Common Blue

Silver Y

A Red-Veined Darter and Lesser Emperor were seen at Crosby marina today. Hairy dragonfly Leighton moss yesterday. Hopefully we will have something interesting here in this warm spell. 

As the insects move in, so too do the insect eaters. A possibility, albeit an outside possibility, of a Bee-Eater over the next few days. Worth watching out for!

A little bit of bloom goes a long way.....take care

A warm sunny day with a light west breeze

Heysham skear - Malcolm 09:00 - 11:00

Eider 3

Red-breasted Merganser 1

Male Red-breasted Merganser

Little Egret 5

Gulls c250. Two green ringed birds were seen, one not seen before, so details awaited. But this one N:05S was here last summer.

Ringed at Bowland as a chick in 2023.
It was also seen at Darwen in September last year

Oystercatcher not counted 

Curlew 9

Curlew

Sanderling 250 arrived in three groups. Later they were attacked by a raptor and left to the NW. Either some returned or more arrived (or both) as there were 200 around the skear when I left.

200 in this shot

A later flock arriving 

Dunlin 1

Dunlin

Apart from its dark belly, its plumage is similar to some of the Sanderling now.

There was an algal bloom and most of the uppermost pools were full of algae. This is a natural phenomenon and just the result of longer warmer days and calm seas.

The pink "fog" is red algae

It is easier to see in this clip, where the pool is still subjected to light wave action 

This pool is still draining 

And this is open water

As far as I know this type of bloom is harmless, but some blooms can be toxic to animals. So, to be on the safe side, best to keep pets away from the pools and any that may be on the mud. 

Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

Coot, but not cute, chicks!

Male Kestrel 

Small Heath

Drinker moth caterpillar 

South shore - Malcolm 14:30 -16:30

I went to see if there were many insects, but it is much better here with an east breeze. 

Painted Lady 3 around saltmarsh and foreshore and 3 more along the sea wall

Large White 4 around saltmarsh and foreshore and 1 more along the sea wall

Cinnabar moth 3 in the scrub near the lighthouse 

A faded looking Cinnabar 

Rock Pipit 1 on sea wall and at least 5 in the harbour. I suspect that there are three breeding pairs in the harbour.

Rock Pipit with food in the harbour 

Linnet 2 and Pied Wagtail 1 on the perimeter wire between the lighthouse and waterfall.

The Carrion Crows nest still looked deserted 

These were working hard trying to free the car from the mud. It got stuck 
just out from the slipway on the foreshore at 10:00 and this was 14:30.
Only a few more hours till the tide returned......

I couldn't resist taking this shot, but I wouldn't have made light of things if
they had lost their car. They somehow managed to get it free by 16:00