"Highlighted" by Common Tern.............

Heysham Obs
..............a sad reflection of the current post-spring passage status of Common & Arctic Tern in this area

Ocean Edge/outfalls/Red Nab early morning
Med Gull - ad seaward end Stage 2 outfall
Little Gull - two at rest at long range on mudflats

Same site lunchtime
Sandwich Tern - one adult
Common Tern - one juv
Med Gull - small adult on Red Nab

Late afternoon NHW brief check
Shag still on wooden jetty

Moths
Eight Silver Y, but no startling migrants today! Tawny-speckled Pug new for the year

Another photo of yesterdays Cosmopolitan from Alan Draper. This is quite a well-marked individual. If this was a Bordered Straw or Painted Lady, it suggests that it is not a pale primary migrant of southern European/North African origin but dont know whether this principle applies to Cosmopolitan

Elsewhere
The LDBWS site is back up running & included a Short-eared Owl yesterday at Aldcliffe & 31 Little Egret and still 50+ Swift at Leighton Moss Lower Hide area last night. No news on any sightings at this evening's Leighton egret roost of the reported Great White Egret (Carnforth marsh) earlier this afternoon

Cosmopolitan surprise

Cosmopolitan, Heysham hut trap overnight 19/8/08-20/8/08 (top two Reuben Neville, bottom John Girdley)

Heysham Obs
A bit mediocre in many respects (e.g. breeding bird productivity), this year is certainly producing some 'one-offs' (previously White-throated Sparrow and a very early summer plumaged Sabine's Gull). This morning's offering, was, as far as I know, the first NW England Cosmopolitan moth

Red Nab/outfalls
Sandwich Tern - one
Little Gull - ad & 2nd W

Wooden jetty

juvenile Shag at high tide

Heliport

Ad Med Gull

(very) juvenile Common Tern

Moths
COSMOPOLITAN, Hedge Rustic, Silver Y and the first Agriphila latistria of the year.

Butterfly census HNR

A bit windy but: 12 Red Admiral, 3 Peacock, 6 Brimstone, 24 Meadow Brown, 12 Common Blue, 15 Speckled Wood, 5 Small White, 8 Green-veined White, 1 Large White, 1 Comma, 8 Gatekeeper. Thanks Doreen.

Elsewhere

Seemingly the Big Z, but cannot access LDBWS site

Unpredictable morning

Heysham Obs
A visit to OE foreshore and the north harbour wall in a theoretically promising WSWF3 on the latter stages of the incoming tide did not produce what was expected!

Ocean Edge/Red Nab/Stage 2 outfalls late stages of incoming tide & very brief pm visit to Red Nab
Sandwich Tern - 1 Red Nab
Little Gull - ad W outfall....... & the 2 x 2nd W were present during a very brief late afternoon visit
Whimbrel - one
Yellow Wagtail - juv on Ocean Edge football field with c35 Pied
Common Sandpiper - one Red Nab
Sanderling - moulting ad with other small waders on mudflats by Ocean Edge saltmarsh
Ringed Plover - 83 with Sanderling
Dunlin - 37 as above
No Meds at all - unprecedented at this stage of the tide at this time of year [incl. NHW]
Absolutely nothing offshore in 30 minutes of watching the mouth of the Bay (including behind incoming IOM ferry)

North harbour wall
Arctic Tern - juvenile blogging inshore
NO Meds (see above)!
No obvious sign of any Shag on wooden jetty
Absolutely nothing offshore in further 20 minutes

Moths
Single Dark Sword Grass & Silver Y plus the first Gold Spot of the year

Elsewhere
Ad Yellow-legged Gull reasonably close & very distant views of a 3CY gull which may on structure and mantle colour have been YLG, but which sported a "necklace" of winter plumage, which at long range appeared latticed like a Black Brant! (large - dwarfed the nearby AD LBB!)........ as seen from the Sunderland tidal road looking towards Glasson. The light however was dodgy - a lot of 'orange sky' silhouette. The personal zero Med day continued, despite loads of BHG on the Lune Estuary, but JC had one at Aldcliffe in the evening..

Afternoon small wader influx

Heysham Obs
Ocean Edge saltmarsh
Little Egret in the channel - reaching 'taken for granted' status at long last here, or at least this particular bird is, having been inexplicably scarce until this year. Later on Red Nab right over the tide period and still there 2 hours after high tide - some kind of record as regards "availability"!

Outfalls/Red Nab
Little Gull - 2 x 2nd W, 1 x 2nd S->Ad W
Med Gull - ad
Sandwich Tern - 3
Common Sandpiper - 1 Red Nab
Ringed Plover -the dizzy heights of 82 reached on the mudflats just to the south of Red Nab as the tide was starting to drop
Dunlin - 41 with the Ringed Plover
Whimbrel - one with the above waders
No sign of any Wheatear on the foreshore

North harbour wall
Ad Med Gull (probably Czech bird)
No sign of Shag

Elsewhere
A Black-tern-less thrash (c/f quite a scattering to the south of here) round the 'pits' produced a consolation prize in the form of a juv Common Tern on Pine Lake. Since the spring passage, Common/Arctic Tern occurrences have been rock bottom in this area with far too much disturbance for any nesting attempts on the Lune

Comprehensive early morning outfalls/Red Nab coverage

Good coverage by Mark & Malcolm before I have even left the house (comprehensive washing up)!

Red Nab/Stage 2 outfall
Med Gull - 3 adults (including small bird) and two juveniles which were definitely not ringed below the knee [one possible metal ring above knee left leg]
Little Gull - at least one 2nd W
Sandwich Tern - 4

Wooden Jetty
Juvenile Shag
Turnstone - 221 (+/-10 or so) at high tide but couldn't see Shag

North harbour wall
Czech-ringed adult Med on railings along with newly moulted 3rd W=Ad W. Not necessarily two of the birds on the 'other side' earlier on
Golden Plover - adult 'out'; scarce on passage here
Gannet - one distant bird [nothing pushed in by rather too slow-moving showers]

Middleton IE
No obvious migrants in the WeBS count: Tufted Duck (1), 16 Coot, 5 Moorhen, 7 Mallard and 7 Little Grebe

Insects
2 Wall Brown early morning on Middleton IE i.e. probably many more. 4 Gatekeeper, 3 male Common Blue, 13 Meadow Brown, one late Small Skipper, 2 Small White, 6 Speckled Wood on the Hey Nature Reserve in marginal afternoon conditions. Also 3 Migrant Hawker & 30 Common Darter NR pm.



Elsewhere
Three second brood Devon Carpet trapped at Lord's Lot wood - the site where they were discovered this spring. Sorry about photo (now deleted) - this was a Small Phoenix - a result of an 'in the dark' mix up with pots.

Juvenile Shag returns

Heysham Obs
Combined effort from low to post-high tide including a major contribution from Wigan RSPB group. Thanks for this.

Ocean Edge to the harbour mouth
Shag - presumably the same juvenile as the other day reappeared on the wooden jetty late morning
Med Gull - at least one adult and one juvenile
Little Gull - 2 1st S->2nd W, one 2nd W->ad W
Little Egret - 1 in OE/Red Nab channels
Kittiwake - 2 1st S on outfalls post-ferry
Wheatear - 1 OE, one harbour area
Gannet - one far offshore
Whimbrel - one Red Nab

Moth trap
One Silver Y

Elsewhere
Juv Yellow Wagtail Aldcliffe the only new sighting of note. Ad Med Broadway area.

Gull grilling

Heysham Obs
During August, it is usually one or two juvenile Common Gull as the pitfall for the unwary amongst a small number of juvenile Med Gulls. This year it is currently the other way round with at least 6 juv Common Gull today and 2 juvenile Meds.

Ocean Edge/Red Nab/Stage 2 outfall 0820-0920
Common Gull - minimum of 6 juvenile, some looking quite 'contrasty'
Med. Gull - 2 juveniles but not possible to see whether ringed. 2 unringed adults (one small)
Little Gull - 2 1st S->2nd W
Gannet - just the one from 4 well-spaced offshore 'sweeps'

Coastal recording area WeBS highlights
Med. Gull - one of the juvs was on Red Nab and had a "whitish" ring which did not appear to be lettered, & probably therefore a metal, on the right leg during very brief view before it settled down. Ad Heliport
Sandwich Tern - 4 Red Nab
Turnstone - 182 on wooden jetty

Middleton IE
A ringing session again saw very few Whitethroat (2 ringed) but a reasonable catch included 6 House Martin and 5 Willow Warbler

Elsewhere
2 Little Egret Hest Bank

Gannet influx

See yesterdays posting re-these two recent additions to the Heysham list - Stenoptilia zophodactylus (note the diagnostic white legs) and Plain Pug. Thanks John

Heysham Obs

Offshore from Ocean Edge/north harbour wall

Gannet - very difficult to work out how many but a minimum of 27 and maximum of 41

Manx Shearwater - 4 very distant birds together

Mute Swan - one south

Red Nab/Ocean Edge inshore

Little Gull - the usual three

Med. Gull - one adult

Sandwich Tern - 3

Wooden jetty/north wall mound

Wheatear - one mound

Turnstone - 62 on wooden jetty

Moths

Barred Rivulet the most notable, also one Silver Y

Elsewhere

Ad Yellow -legged Gull alongside the Lune Estuary between Glasson and Sunderland on the Fylde side late afternoon

Quite a few waders

Heysham Obs
Red Nab/Ocean Edge foreshore on a neap high tide
Mute Swan - imm on the sea far offshore!
Little Gull - the usual three
Sandwich Tern - 2
Greenshank - one juv Red Nab
Little Egret - one OE saltmarsh channel
Ringed Plover - 31 Red Nab
Dunlin - 6 Red Nab
Knot - one Red Nab!
Med Gull - Ad W
Whimbrel - one

Moths
A small plume moth Stenoptilia zophodactylus, a mainly southern species, was found in the hut trap on 8/8. The occurrence here has a degree of logic as the preferred larval foodplants are common, especially Yellow-wort, which is otherwise a rare plant in the north-west (also Centuary spp.). This is the first record for VC60. Thanks to Steve Palmer for determination. A Plain Pug at a sheet and light session at Middleton IE on 22/7 was the fifth record for VC60 with one of these nearby in SD46B. Last night saw the first autumn brood Treble Bar in a small catch with cool overnight conditions

Butterflies
Red Admiral increased to 7 on the office buddleia but the only other species were Large & Small White (i.e. no Peacock or Small Tort.)

Mammals
Tree Rat Moneyclose Lane (scarce here!)

Elsewhere
Osprey Leighton Moss then flew off. Four Meds at Glasson - 3 adult (one green ringed) and a juvenile. Ad Yellow-legged Gull by green No 9 buoy between Glasson and Sunderland low tide late afternoon

Minimalistic

Heysham Obs
Outfalls/Red Nab early morning rain
Little Gull - 2nd S->Ad W
Med Gull - Ad W
Whimbrel - heard

Same area pm - sunny
Not a single bird on Stage 2 outfall which was strewn with anglers sitting inside the railings

Elsewhere
30 Little Egret in the Leighton roost last night (40+ at Freckleton, unknown number at Ashton Hall). Chough Warton Crag quarry this afternoon. Ad Med Aldcliffe but no obvious sign of Garganey. 8 Crossbill over Silverdale Moss.