It's all about food.......finding it, or not being it!

 Showers all day particularly in the morning. A light east wind.

South shore

Report from Shaun Coyle:

Red Nab to Heysham Harbour 11:00 to 13:00. 

Mediterranean Gull 22 (adult 13, 2nd summer 6 and 3 1st summer). 

First summer Kittiwake harbour entrance area. 

Common Tern adult followed the Steam Packet ferry in, then headed off towards the outfalls.

Peregrine Falcon 2 spooking the gulls

I had a stroll in the rain (Malcolm)

One of the adult Meds had a darvic ring, but not easy to spot as it was the
same shade of red as its legs. It is from a Czech Republic scheme, details 
awaited. It is the first Czech ringed bird since the metal ringed bird was last
seen in December 2019 after overwintering every year from 2003!

When I reached the beach by the wooden jetty there were only six resting Meds, then the beach was cleared by the Peregrines. I took these shots on the skear yesterday, but they are pertinent to the beach by the jetty.

Honeycomb worms do not have a monopoly on the skear, there are several 
samdmason worm tubes in this shallow pool. Because they are still underwater 
the worm's feeding tentacles extend beyond the end of the tubes. You can see where
a gull has walked through the pool, the worms would have quickly retracted deep
into their tubes and would have been slow to return.

This is a detail of the tubes and feeding tentacles, the tentacles extend from
the worms head. The worm itself is very thin but can be as long as 30cm, so
plenty of protein. These are what the Mediterranean gulls feed on when they 
feed on the beach by the wooden jetty. You can see how when they are feeding 
in shallow water with their tentacles showing, the gulls can trap the worm by 
grabbing the tube behind the worm's head. I suspect the occasions when they 
catch them on the dry beach relates to the worm's breeding cycle 

This beach by the wooden jetty is ideal for Sannmason worms, protected from
disruptive waves on all sides. Plus the wakes of ships entering and leaving the
harbour will regularly wash in nutrients, and there will be lots of nutrients in
the outflows. I can't imagine that there will be a denser population of
sandmason worms anywhere else in Morecambe Bay. (Malcolm)

The gulls were finding plenty to eat on the outflows, no need to fly they were just swimming around picking tiny fish as they rose to the surface

This is what they were feeding on. Tiny fry (this year's hatchings)

Grey Seal 1 - This is interesting and I can't pretend to completely understand it. The seal was dozing and happily drifting along, but close by small fish kept leaping out of the water. There are six in this short compilation.

Fish will only leap like this if they are chasing food or being chased for food. I suspect the latter. The seal is likely attracting small creatures, perhaps the tiny fry. These will attract larger fish, the size jumping out of the water, and of course these attract big fish that then cause them to leap clear. The details are just speculation of course, but it will be a scenario similar to this. The sleeping seal is basically the centre of a temporary ecosystem.

Redshank 23 (8 and 15)

Rock Pipit 1 along the sea wall

This young Blue Tit seemed to be finding plenty to eat on the newt pond in the Nature Park

Some nice shots from Janet yesterday 

Juvenile Black-Headed gull

Oystercatchers

Pied Wagtail on Red Nab

Common Darter in the Nature Park

Six-spot Burnet near the lighthouse 

House Sparrows at the heliport