Thursday 4 June 2009

Very early gull bonanza

Heysham Obs
After a few days of creepy-crawly recording, the neglected outfalls/Red Nab area had presumably been transforming from the usual "breeding season" 200-300 small gulls to a veritable end of June/early July level. There has got to be a rare gull with this lot soon!

Outfalls/Red Nab early dropping tide
Med Gull - three 1st summers (but others could have been missed), including what was presumably the long-staying black-headed bird. None ringed
Black-headed Gull - 1,300 - unprecedented so early
Common Gull - 171 - par for the late spring course
Whimbrel - one

a shimmering white blob way in the distance on the edge of Middleton saltmarsh could have been a swan, white goose, Little Egret, the recent Spoonbill or plastic box with a neck(ish). No time to check from Potts Corner.

Middleton IE model boat pond
Sun too intermittent and temperature too low for RVD , but a single Black-tailed Skimmer and transient Clouded Yellow late morning. Unfortunately:
The only Jackdaws in this recording area have now increased to 12 and seem to be systematically scouring thbe ground along the western shore of the model boat pond. Presumably teneral dragonflies, or even torpid adults are amongst and perhaps the sole targets?

Single Red-veined Darter early afternoon

South-eastern boundary of recording area
Spotted Flycatcher - by the old ICI huge "nissan hut-shaped" building
Stock Dove - presumably nesting in the above building