Mainly insects in the sun

A dry sunny day with a light west wind.

South shore (Malcolm)

Just a quick check of Red Nab as the rising tide approached.

Mediterranean gull 5 - 4 adult and a 2nd calendar year.

2nd calendar year Mediterranean gull

Fortunately, one of the adults was a white ringed bird, ringed in Belgium in 2018, it showed here last July, hopefully it will have been seen elsewhere since. Update awaited.

This juvenile Little Egret has pronounced yellow legs!

Peregrine Falcon 2 were being disruptive again.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet checked this morning

Common Darter

Broad-Bodied Chaser

Green-Veined White

Small Skipper and Six-spot Burnet

Yellow Shell

I checked mid afternoon, by that time it was quite warm (Malcolm)

Wildfowl unchanged 

Blackcap 2 singing

Reed Warbler 1 half-hearted singing

Chiffchaff 3 calling, one summoning its young.

Emperor 3

Female Emperor ovipositoring 

Brown Hawker 1

Female Brown Hawker ovipositoring 

Broad-Bodied Chaser 1 male

Blue-Tailed Skimmer 1 male

Male Blue-Tailed Skimmer

Common Dater several

The above were on and around the main ponds on the north side. I went to the south side to check the grass meadow where the Copper-Tipped Longhorn moths were located (see map and video 24/07/24). When Janet checked in the morning she couldn't see any, but the afternoon heat had brought them out and I located 4.

Copper-tip Longhorn - Nemophora cupriacella 

There is one on each of these three ragwort, the fourth was only a few metres away.

This is the location of the ragwort. Line up the wooden cross beams
 (middle distance) with the pylon behind 

Also in this area

Ringlet 3

Green-veined White 1

Meadow Brown 3

Strangely no sign of yesterday's abundant Skippers

Jay 2

The rain was a bit of a dampener

A light but freshening SW wind. Mainly overcast with the odd shower.

South shore (Malcolm)

A quick check of Red Nab towards high water found only 2 adult Mediterranean gulls. And they, with the few Black-Headed gulls they were with quickly moved on.

Adult Mediterranean gull

Mediterranean and Black-Headed gulls

Janet saw a mustelid scurry across the path to Red Nab. "Very dark with long tail" so either a very wet Stoat or possibly a Mink?

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

Mute Swan 2 adult with 2 quickly growing cygnets.

Mallard 17 on main pond 6 on "no swimming" pond

Gadwall 2 (female and immature) on "no swimming" pond

Coot 4 adult and 6 immature on main pond, 2 adult and 2 immature on "no swimming" pond

Little grebe 1 adult and 2 immature on "no swimming" pond.

Moorhen just 1 adult seen

The Mute family with a Grey Heron, 2 Mallard and a Black-Headed gull

This young Coot was begging to be fed, even though it was perfectly capable of feeding itself.

The young Little grebe are moving to winter plumage. This one provides a tour of the pond, passing a young then adult Coot and the two Gadwall.

I went to see if the Copper-tip Longhorns were still around. But there had just been a shower and I couldn't find them. Even so, there was a lot to see. The following list was seen in the area highlighted blue (see map yesterday)

Jay 2

Blackcap 1 singing (the only warbler heard singing on the reserve)

Chiffchaff 1 calling

Common Darter 2 male

Ringlet 3

Meadow Brown 4

Small Skipper 12

Large Skipper 2

Large Skipper by Janet yesterday 

Red Admiral 1

Large White 2

Speckled Wood 1

Gatekeeper 5

Gatekeeper 

Shaded Broad-bar 3

Six-spot Burnet 3

Silver Y 2

Common Green Grasshopper several 

Common Green Grasshopper 

I'm sure there would have been many more insects in this nice area of grassland if the sun had been shining.

Nice, and uncommon moths......for all to see

A light SW wind. Sunny spells in the morning becoming more cloudy in the afternoon, then light rain early evening.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet spotted these moths yesterday.

Copper-tip Longhorn Nemophora cupriacella - Only the fourth record for Lancashire 
The light is catching them perfectly in this shot highlighting their copper tip

They were on the south side of the reserve in the area highlighted blue on Janet's map below.

The pond top right is the main pond, the one to its left the "no swimming" pond
This part of the reserve is on the south side of the road from the main pond.

Janet returned this morning and managed to locate a third individual. All three are here.

They are not called Longhorn for nothing

Kevin and Alison went this afternoon and also located three.

Kevin took this clip panning around the area marked blue on the map and focusing on the ragwort where the moths can be found.

There were plenty of other insects on and around the ragwort. These shots by Janet.

Hoverflies and a spider awaiting unwary visitors 

Oedemera either lurida or virescens. 

Fly sp, but a particularly spiky one

Male Common Darter

Green Veined White

Six-spot Burnet

South shore (Malcolm)

Mediterranean gull just 10 seen today - 4 adult, 1 x 3rd calendar year and 5 juvenile.

Sandwich Terns 2 an adult and a juvenile resting on Red Nab (well, the adult was trying to rest, the juvenile was begging to be fed)

Sandwich Terns

Summer Plumage Redshank

Grey Heron and some of the 62 Cormorants on the wooden Jetty

Peregrine Falcon 1

Sun brings out the butterflies

A dry and sunny day, a light west wind freshened slightly in the afternoon.

South shore (Malcolm)

Two checks again, a quick look at Red Nab this morning as the tide covered the beach, and a walk along the sea wall in the evening when the tide was ebbing.

Mediterranean gull 15 including at least 3 juveniles 

Juvenile Mediterranean gull feeding on the outflows yesterday 

8 Meds turned up at the beach near the wooden jetty, and they were catching the odd sandmason worm. Apart from a juvenile who kept trying to pinch worms off others, in this sequence an Oystercatcher.

Unsuccessful attempt to pinch a Sandmason worm

This juvenile Oystercatcher has paler legs than me!
There were several of them amongst c150 Oystercatcher 

Rock Pipit 1

Peregrine Falcon 2 - spooking everything again!

This Common Whitethroat was near the slipway at the end of the foreshore.

The sun brought out plenty of Butterflies in the Nature Park.

Ringlet 4

Meadow Brown 1

Gatekeeper 4

Small White 3

Large White 2

Large White

Small Skipper 1

Large Skipper 1

Large Skipper - feeding on Knapweed

Speckled Wood 3

Speckled Wood

Red Admiral 1

Red Admiral 

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Male Emperor

Small Skipper also feeding on Knapweed 

Gatekeeper 

An Osprey day

Showers till mid morning then dry but overcast. A fresher SW wind.

South shore (Malcolm)

A quick check of Red Nab on the rising tide this morning found only 11 Mediterranean gulls. 5 adult, 1 second calendar year and 5 juvenile.

Six of the Meds with Black-Headed gulls in the foreground 

A check of the beach by the wooden jetty this afternoon saw only 3 adult and a juvenile.

Juvenile Med

The juvenile bird wasn't making any friends.

Adult Mediterranean gull

Cormorant numbers increasing again on the wooden jetty

Peregrine Falcon 1

Osprey 1 - it was feeding between the outflows just after 16:00. It caught a Bass at 16:10 and flew off NW across the bay with it. I managed to film its successful dive, although I did overshoot a bit.

I've been thinking about the timings of the recent sightings of an (this) Osprey feeding here, and perhaps more tellingly, when it hasn't shown up. I've come to the conclusion that Bass are not its food of choice. Bass are heavily defended with strong sharp spines in the dorsal fin on the back, plus sharp spines on their other fins too. These have evolved specifically to deter attacks as the one above. The Osprey will have to take great care to time its grab perfectly and risks serious injury to itself if it gets it wrong. Also Bass are covered with coarse scales and have a very tough skin. On the recent calm days, when the Osprey didn't show, large flatfish would be available in multiple areas of the bay. Flatfish have no defence against aerial attack and have a soft smooth skin. Only a theory for the time being, more observations will be required to support or dispel it. But if correct it predicts that the Osprey is unlikely to feed here when calmer conditions allow safer fishing elsewhere, and possibly north in the wind will make this location more attractive, as it is sheltered by the sea wall from north winds. (Malcolm)