A seesaw day

A strong west wind with very heavy showers till mid morning. Then the wind shifted NW and the sun came out! Heavy showers again by evening.

South shore - Malcolm 09:30 - 11:15

I set off in heavy rain and wouldn't have believed that I would be walking back in bright sunshine!

Lesser Black-Backed, Great Black-Backed and Black-Headed gull 
in the lee of the foreshore 

Lesser Black-Backed (left) and Great Black Backed gulls

Wigeon 42 flew from Red Nab, later there were 32 on the saltmarsh 

Some of the Wigeon about to leave Red Nab

Wigeon

These two are later on the saltmarsh when the sun was out

Shelduck 1 south

1st calendar year Common Gull (top) and 1st calendar year Black-Headed Gull

Mediterranean Gull 1 1st calendar year feeding on No.1 outfall

1cy Mediterranean Gull, it has a very pale mask

It wasn't easy standing still in the blustery wind, but it was relatively easy tracking the gulls, as although they were doing a lot of flying against the wind, they weren't actually moving very far! This is the Mediterranean Gull.

On the way back the tide was full and at 9.2m covered most of the saltmarsh. So I walked around the edge.

Common Snipe 10 lifted and left towards Middleton Nature Reserve. I expect more would have left before I arrived 

Jack Snipe 3 lifted and resettled back in the marsh fringes. Good views, but too quick for me to get a shot today 

Linnet 150

Linnet

Greenfinch 8

Reed Bunting 3

There have been Harlequin Ladybirds along this fence leading to Ocean Edge
all summer. You can see there are still several on every post

Harlequin Ladybirds 

What a difference a day makes!

A clear night followed by a clear sunny morning. More overcast in the afternoon as the early NE breeze shifted to a westerly. Rain by evening 

Heysham Nature Reserve

Not a lot in crystal clear morning.  I only saw two small thrush spp take off from the tank farm and fly inland and the nets held very little but there were two chiffchaff caught first thing and a single coal tit notable for this autumn! - Pete

I took this photo as there are very few birds today!  - Jean

Fly Agaric, one of several interesting fungi around the reserve

100 Pink-Footed geese high to the south and 19 Wood Pigeons south

South shore - Janet

Just the regular stuff today.....

Linnets around the salt marsh

Redshank

Little Egret

Heliport - Janet

Oystercatchers on the Heliport wall

Knot, undecided where to roost

Lapwing 

House Sparrow picking Blackberries 

Middleton Nature Reserve - Rosemary and Peter

Shortly after arriving at Middleton, the clear blue sky of early morning was beginning to turn slightly hazy with the cloud already starting to move in and the breeze getting more noticeable.

Southern End:

Southern Hawker 1

Male Common Darter 8

Common Frog 1

Noon Fly 2

We didn't see any Migrant Hawkers, Lone Female Common Darters, Common Darters in Tandem or Ovipositing and no Speckled Woods.

Chiffchaff heard

Main Pond:

No RVD seen today 

Male Common Darter 4

Large Wainscot 1

Mute Swans 1 pr

Mallard 8

Coot 2

Heron 1 flying over

Long Tailed Tits heard

Southern Hawker on the south side 

This Common Darter settled on Rosemary's hand!

A more conventional, albeit artificial resting place

Mute Swans on the main pond

Large Wainscot

Noon Fly

Heysham skear - Malcolm 13:30 - 15:00

A flock of 30 Curlew were just arriving overland from the east as I set off

Eider 68

A handsome pair of Eider

Red-breasted Merganser 5

Red-breasted Merganser 

Great Crested Grebe 1

Great Crested Grebe looking scary 

Little Egret 3

Herring Gulls c50

They are still finding seed Mussels 

Waders similar to recent, although there weren't many Knot at first. Possibly they had already been dispersed by an attack as they were constantly arriving in small groups. At least 1500 by the time I had finished. Many young birds and only two previously seen colour coded birds seen.

This juvenile Knot settled at my feet. You can see the delicate patterning 
of its plumage 

This Curlew look like its looking up. But in reality it is both looking down
for food, and up checking for danger

The three Glossy Ibis again today at southern end of tidal road, Heaton Marsh

Plenty moving through, and RVD still emerging

A fine warm sunny day after overnight rain and a cool start. A NW breeze switching to NW during the day

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Ringing summary - Pete

The overnight rain saw a significant fall of Chiffchaff and Blackcap with the clear conditions from dawn leading to an initial ‘rush’ of grounded birds dispersing inland with most of those entering the nets in the first 1.5 hrs of daylight.  Ringing totals of migrants saw 24 Chiffchaff, 7 Blackcap, one Cetti’s warbler, just one Goldcrest and a single Robin.  In addition two Grey Wagtails were colour ringed and a few odds and ends at the feeder, mainly Goldfinch and tit species.  Once again a complete absence of Coal Tit and Bullfinch with none seen/caught

Some of the visible migration - Shaun

Pink-Footed geese 160, 40, 80, 240, 30, 140, 120, 40, 130, 30. = 1010
Pintail male + 4 female south high.
Cormorant 5 south high.
Blackcap 6 un-ringed birds. 
Raven 2. 

Jay 2. 

South shore

I checked 08:20 - 10:30 Malcolm

Pink-Footed Goose 535 south in 10 skeins. Some of these are definitely additional to those seen from HNR

Shelduck 6

Wigeon 23 on Red Nab

Wigeon

Teal 1 south

The Linnets on and around the saltmarsh were active but not disturbed. 60 was the most seen at one time.

Greenfinch 12 along the saltmarsh edge

Meadow Pipit 1 on the saltmarsh 

Reed Bunting 2 on the saltmarsh 

Reed Bunting

Wheatear 10 along the foreshore 

Little Egret 4

Jack Snipe 2 individuals accidentally flushed from the saltmarsh edges. There is no reason for them to be around the edges on such low tides, possibly just arrived?

Redshank 350 around the saltmarsh 

Redshank and Little Egret

I walked out to waterline. Initially there were lots of waders, but they were very flighty and all but some of the Dunlin left to the south. Best estimates of numbers

Curlew 25

Bar-Tailed Godwit 31

Oystercatcher 150 including one ringed in Iceland. Details awaited 

Knot 2000

Dunlin 600

Sanderling 5

Curlew, Oystercatcher and Dunlin on the Mud. There are 2 Sanderling just
in the sea to the left of centre. 3 more Sanderling with the Knot and Dunlin 
coming in. A few Godwits to the right in the water

Sanderling

And then they were gone! The Godwits leaving last

Some of the Dunlin ended up with the Redshanks around the saltmarsh 

Mediterranean Gull 6 on the mud out from the saltmarsh 

This adult having a yawn

This one had a metal ring only

This 1st calendar year  had a colour ring. Its scheme maintained on an
open database, so its history, albeit brief, was immediately available 

Janet checked this afternoon 

Linnets

Greenfinch 

There were still six Wheatears, or possibly another six Wheatears 

They look quite strange when stretching up!!

This one has a small insect in its bill

The males are still quite striking 

Stonechat 3 between Red Nab and the foreshore (they definitely weren't there earlier)

Stonechats

Common Darter in the Nature Park 

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Cetti's Warbler (not ringed) - Janet

Cetti's Warbler 

Peter and Rosemary visited and checked both the main pond and the south side. Several dragonflies seen including this immature Red-Veined Darter on the main pond.

Teneral Red-Veined Darter

Southern End

Common Darters Ovipositing 3 pr

Male Common Darter 12 (at least)

Female Common Darter 3

Hawker spec (they were too far away to determine whether they were Migrant or Southern)

Speckled Wood 3

Main Pond

Red Veined Darter 1

Common Darters Ovipositing 2 pr

Male Common Darter 8

Female Common Darter 2

Hawker spec (again, they were too far away to tell whether they were Migrant or Southern)

Mute Swans 1 pr

Mallard 4

Coot 3

Long Tailed Tits 3 

Female Common Darter

If you zoom in, this shot shows the female's abdomen in the water 

In this shot she has just taken her abdomen out of the water and it
has not returned to being "flat" once again.

Quite a faded Speckled Wood

Noon Fly

Heysham skear - Malcolm 13:00 - 14:30

Eider 64

Some of the Eider on a sandbar 

Little Egret 8

Not so many large gulls feeding now, but there were lots of feeding Black-Headed gulls in the drains as they were emptying. There must have been a shoal of Whitebait or Sandeels at risk of being stranded.

More Oystercatcher than recent at least 2000. Other waders similar to recent including 2000 Knot.

Some of the Knot. Despite the good viewing conditions I only saw one
colour marked bird, and that has been seen earlier

Pink-Footed geese were still heading south over my house after dark. Malcolm

Just out of the recording area - Heaton marsh

The three Glossy Ibis are still there