It was a busy bird ringing session at both Heysham and Middleton NRs today. 8 species of warbler were caught at Middleton:
Sedge Warbler (15)
Willow Warbler (11)
Whitethroat (7)
Chiffchaff (3)
Blackcap (2)
Reed Warbler (1)
Grasshopper Warbler (1)
Lesser Whitethroat (1)
Plus the usual Blue Tits (9), Great Tit (2), Robin (4) and Dunnock (1)
Heysham NR office nets
Young Chaffinches were a feature at Heysham, with the numbers keeping pace with the usually much commoner Greenfinch. Three each of Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Whitethroat were duly ringed, a young Willow Warbler ringed at Middleton was caught and more surprisingly two young Reed Warbler, already 'out of habitat', were caught. 44 new-ringed birds with retraps including a couple of local nestbox-pullus-ringed Great Tit
Migration
CUCKOO - male heard early morning at Middleton, a last minute addition to the year list for this species (definitely not someone taking the xxxx)
Swift - 3
Swallow - 1
Sand Martin - one south over HNR
Moths
New for the year were Small Fan-footed Wave and Dotted Clay
Little Egret
11-14 over recent days in sheltered shallow water by Heysham skeer but none this morning in calm weather with plenty of other feeding opportunities
Middleton pics - thanks Janet
JR
