Three Shag and an Osprey matinée

Calm first thing, then a freshening west breeze. Ending up quite warm with sunny spells increasing.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report by Alan:

This morning the catch was just 21 birds with a good spread of species including Chiffchaff, Common Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Cetti's Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat.  

A flock of approximately 70 Goldfinch were flying around the reserve during the morning but not a single one managed to end up in my nets.  

Two Grey Wagtails heard flying over, hopefully we shall soon start catching some of these for the colour ringing project (see sidebar for scheme details)

Janet checked this afternoon 

No Cormorants on the main pond, but the regular Heron was there

Common Darter

Migrant Hawker
Two Brown Hawkers managed to avoid being photographed 

Meadow Brown

Speckled Wood

Green-Veined White

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 08:00 - 09:15

I walked in the rising tide along the northern edge of the skear.

Eider 45 including several males coming out of eclipse 

Female and immature Eider and a Cormorant 

Some of the male Eider

Great Crested Grebe 8

Great Crested Grebes

Little Egret 12

Some of the Little Egrets on the south side, and a ship disappearing into
the mist. Not quite a Turner seascape, but not bad!

Shag 3 juveniles, all three ending up on Conger Rock.

Three juvenile Shag and a Cormorant (top) - It's worth checking Conger Rock
tomorrow around 09:00. It's easily visible from the shore. It's the large rock on 
the south side, much bigger than any of the other rocks.

Gulls 100 mainly Herring

Oystercatcher 200, most had already left the skear, there were 500 more on the shore to the south

Curlew 70

Redshank 65

Turnstone 30

Ringed Plover 15

Swallow 1 east

South shore (Malcolm) 15:15 - 16:45

A check along the foreshore saw nothing.

Then a pleasant walk along the sea wall.

Rock Pipit 3 - 2 on Red Nab and 1 near the lighthouse 

Lighthouse Rock Pipit

Shag - just one juvenile seen roosting with the Cormorants on the wooden jetty. Almost certainly one of this morning's birds.

Juvenile Shag amidst panting Cormorants (it wasn't that hot!)

A surprisingly fresh Six-spot Burnet in the scrub near the lighthouse 

Osprey 1 - fishing between the outfalls, it was very difficult viewing as the light was behind it, but fortunately I managed some shots of its successful dive.

It had grabbed quite a large Bass, and had to grapple with it.

The Osprey was pulled under a few times, but eventually emerged with its prize.

A decent sized Bass, it will be significantly heavier than the Osprey

It flew off with it to the north, but not without difficulty

There were lots of butterflies in the Nature Park:

Red Admiral 12

Peacock 1

Large White 3

Small White 4

Meadow Brown 3

Speckled Wood 5

Three Red Admiral and a Small Tortoiseshell 

Peacock