Little gull, for a little while

A dry, largely sunny day with a freshening NW wind

South shore (Malcolm)

I went 08:00 this morning as the tide was reaching Red Nab. On these tides, at this time of year, normally lots of small gulls roost on Red Nab (these neap tides are not high enough to cover the rocks so they can rest there over the tide). But with the recent Peregrine activity I wasn't optimistic. Sure enough, before I got in position a Peregrine flushed all the small gulls from Red Nab. Fortunately, some returned, including one very small gull....

Little Gull 1 2nd calendar year

Little Gull with Herring Gull

Not a lot of gulls had returned, but there were Meds amongst them

Mediterranean gull 7 adult plus 1 3rd calendar year 

This adult Med (left) has already lost its hood

I couldn't see any ringed birds, but before I had managed to see every leg the Peregrines cleared all but the large gulls again.

Gulls and Curlew chased from Red Nab. The Little Gull is amongst them,
but you can't really make it out. If you want to try it is one of the lower birds
to the left of centre (but you will have to open the image)

The gulls scattered and ended up resting on the mud, but being dry many
sat down, like this Mediterranean gull. No chance of checking for rings

Osprey 1 "resting" on the post at the seaward end of No.2 outfall. It was late in the tide for fishing, possibly it had caught something earlier and had eaten it while on the post. I'm sure it would have loved to rest a while, but the gulls weren't for having it. This clip from Red Nab.

The next time I looked it had moved on

Curlew 150+

Little Egret 9

Three Little Egret on the saltmarsh 

This shot from the edge of the saltmarsh shows how the roots of Samphire and
 Marsh grass consolidate the mud. Not enough to stand up to a serious storm.
But enough to allow the saltmarsh to extend slightly further in most years.

Juvenile Wheatear by the saltmarsh, looks to be the same as yesterday's bird

Painted Lady on the saltmarsh 

Heysham skear ((Malcolm) 14:45 - 15:45

The skear was just becoming exposed as I started.

Gulls - there were none to begin with, but they were arriving all the time, the following numbers are maximums:

Herring 300 - including one new ringed bird

Lesser Black-Backed 20

Mediterranean 2 adults - they just stopped off for a drink and a freshen up before continuing north. They look to be drinking seawater, but they were in a freshwater runoff and the water would have been brackish 

Black-Headed 10

Waders:

Oystercatcher 400

Curlew 45

Redshank 24

The Redshank flocks are getting larger

Also:

Eider 2 - a male in eclipse and a separate female

Female Eider

Little Egret 1

Heysham Nature Reserve- Kingfisher - I recorded one perched by dipping pond and then flew off 

Kevin Eaves had this moth in his overnight trap.

A rather uninspiring looking Crescent-striped in the trap last night. A local and nationally scarce species, the larvae of which feed on sea grasses. 

It does show a nice silky sheen from a certain angle and in a certain light.