It was an ill wind.....

Overnight rain then amazingly a dry day with a sunny afternoon. A strong west wind.

North shore - Janet

Oystercatchers just out from Heysham Village, before flying to the Heliport
roost. The one with a white leucistic head is among them

South shore  

Malcolm 14:45 - 16:00

Nothing of note blown in by the strong wind, or at least nothing seen.

Wheatear 2 - one on Red Nab and another near the lighthouse 

Wheatear

Pied Wagtail 1 along the foreshore 

Rock Pipit 4 - one along the foreshore and three on Red Nab

There is some nice gutweed in this shot, but this is near the freshwater runoff,
generally on Red Nab the hot dry spell has left it with lower amounts of gutweed 
than typical at this time of year. There is still time for it to become more lush, but I
expect it to be "disappointing" for the returning Wigeon and Brent Geese

Several lots of Oystercatcher flew to Red Nab, likely including the ones
seen by Janet earlier

No Cormorants on the rails today, they were all hunkered down on the boards

This Black-Headed gull looked to be living dangerously, but it was actually feeding on the flotsam below the north roundhead

In the Nature Park

Red Admiral 2

Small White 6

Common Darter 7

Male Common Darter

Female Common Darter

This Small White seemed to be visiting every floret on this Buddleia. The little time spent at each suggesting that the cupboard was bare.

Pete - Nothing in 30 min Seawatch mid pm (but Leachs out past Rossall 1900hrs).  

c10 Mediterranean gulls red nab 

53 shelduck nearby on mud  

Middleton Nature Reserve - Malcolm

Just a wildfowl check of the two largest ponds

Main Pond

Mute Swan 2

Mallard 12

Little Grebe 2

Coot 3

Cormorant 1

Cormorant and Little Grebe

Little Grebe still in summer plumage

"No swimming" pond

No Mute Swan

Tufted Duck 2 females

Gadwall 1 male

Mallard 1 female

Coot 9

Moorhen 3

Tufted Duck

Gadwall

I am currently attracting a lot of birds to my feeders (Malcolm). Bolstered by large numbers of young birds, especially Goldfinch and House Sparrow. This inevitably attracts the small bird eaters!

This male Sparrowhawk was on my fence, you can hear the alarm calls of the other birds. He knew I was there, but he also knew how to make me disappear....

.......and there I was.....gone, at least from his point of view

Shelducks suddenly appear

It remained reasonably dry after a morning shower, until steady rain started in the early evening. A SW wind

South shore - Malcolm 10:45 - 12:15

Linnet 40+ flew onto the saltmarsh 

Wheatear 1 on Ocean Edge grass

Wheatear

Pied Wagtail 3

Rock Pipit 4 (1 on foreshore 2 + 1 on Red Nab)

Rock Pipit

Little Egret 5 along the sea wall

Grey Heron 1 by No.2 outfall

It had clearly seen something between the rocks and remained stock still.
If I had taken a video, the only difference to this shot would be a couple of
loose feathers moving in the wind. Both the Heron and its prospective prey
 had more patience than me and I left them to it

Mediterranean gulls 12 - there were 10 feeding on the beach by the wooden jetty, 1 resting between the outfalls and a 1st calendar year on No.2 outfall 

1cy Mediterranean gull

There were two white ringed Mediterranean gulls on the feeding beach, both ringed in Holland and both regular visitors and already seen this year.

This one is a veteran, ringed in 2010

This one ringed in 2019

There were a lot more Sandmason worm tubes showing today and reaching close to the sea wall. The gulls clearly anticipate their availability. The worms have to partially leave their tube to mate, the gulls work their own patch and watch for one showing and try and grab it before it retreats to safety. No luck in this clip, but I did see some being caught. The white ringed bird in this clip is the one ringed in 2019.

A little Egret also fancied its chances. Unfortunately I am busy at low water
tomorrow, so I won't be able to check if numbers continue to increase 

From bottom to top: Lesser Black-Backed, Herring and Great Black-Backed gulls

1cy Herring gull

Cormorant doing its best Usain Bolt impersonation. Piel Castle in the background 

One of four young Redshank on Red Nab. They haven't learned to be wary of
humans yet. They will! But not today.

Whimbrel 2 at least, probably 4. 2 likely candidates flew off without calling.

Whimbrel 

Shelduck 30 - when I walked out there were none, but when I got back to Red Nab there were 26 drinking and freshening up in a freshwater runoff just beyond Red Nab and at least another 4 feeding further out.

Some of the Shelduck, first records this autumn.

In the Nature Park

Hummingbird Hawkmoth 1 zipped past me.

Red Admiral 1

Small White 6

Wood Pigeons, the one on the right with no white collar is a juvenile 

A wet day!

Light rain in the morning turned heavy by lunchtime, before easing again in the afternoon, but basically wet all day. A SE wind

South shore - Malcolm 09:30 - 11:00

Light rain for the bulk of the walk.

Linnet 45 around the saltmarsh plus 3 on Red Nab

Wet Linnets

I took this clip yesterday of one feeding on Sea Lavender seeds on Red Nab

Rock Pipit 2 on the foreshore and 2 on Red Nab

This is another clip I took yesterday (anticipating a washout today). This Rock Pipit is feeding on the strandline between Red Nab and the foreshore. A more foraging approach compared to the clip of a Wheatear here the other day, that was more of a dash and grab.

Pied Wagtail 1 on the foreshore 

By the time I reached the end of the sea wall, the rain had eased briefly.

There were very few gulls on the feeding beach by the wooden jetty.
Most of those close in were Black-Headed gulls

Mediterranean gulls 4. 3 were feeding on sandmason worms close to the waterline plus 1 resting higher up the shore

Mediterranean gull

Mediterranean gull near the waterline, you can just make out the spikes
of the Sandmason worm tubes

All three feeding Meds show in this clip, all in the same frame for about a second 

Eider 6 out from the north sea wall

Eider

Sandwich tern offshore  - no meds and hardly anything on outfalls on drop tide - Pete

Home grown RVD

Mainly overcast with the odd sunny spell. A west wind

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet's injuries have improved enough to allow her to use one of her old cameras. Can't use the large lens yet but the small ones are fine for insects.

These were on the spit of the main pond

Teneral Red-Veined Darter

Common Darter

Black-Tailed Skimmer

Common Blue Damselfly 

Meadow Brown

Alder Leaf Beetle

These were on the southern section of the reserve 

No sign of a Ruddy Darter today 

Male Common Darter

Female Common Darter

Speckled Wood

Small White

Painted Lady

Alder Leaf Beetles here too

Common Drone Fly 

Garden Cross Spider - or as they are commonly called, A Big Spider!

I just did a wildfowl check of the two largest ponds - Malcolm

Main Pond

Mute Swan 2

Mallard 23

Coot 7

Moorhen 2

"No swimming" pond

Mute Swan 1

Mallard 4

Tufted Duck 2 females

Little Grebe 1

Moorhen 5

Coot 5

Grey Heron 1

Heron

Little Grebe

Both the Tufted Duck had some white around the bill

Tufted Duck with adult and immature Moorhen 

This Fox was patrolling Janet's garden last night.