The early bird catches two seabirds

***Doubtfully any Storm Petrel weather tomorrow, not windy or squally enough on the latest forecast - already been contacted by targeters re-the time and place for them based on the forecast & posting two days ago! The next hour (posted at 1900hrs) looks possible for a few bits and bobs

Heysham Obs
..........whilst the latecomers managed one each

Offshore
Some stunningly desultory seawatching at various times in a wind which was too far to the north west was won by Malcolm with two seabirds
Gannet - one out 0700ish
Manx Shearwater - one in then out 0700ish, one out 0900ish
Fulmar - one across the mouth of the bay

North harbour wall
Common Sandpiper - one

Red Nab/Ocean Edge foreshore
Med Gull - 3 adults, one 2CY

Elsewhere
Really poor recently in this area; due a Pec at the EM Pools at the very least

Dreary weather

Heysham Obs
Ocean Edge early morning, then late afternoon
Med Gull - 2 x adult, 1 x 2cy late afternoon on incoming tide

Moth trap
Small Dotted Buff quite scarce here

They think it's all over

Heysham Obs
Sunday and Monday am look possibilities for Storm Petrel
Best from the end of the north harbour wall, checking off the seaward end of Heysham one outfall and the area around the red buoy. Perhaps most likely Sunday pm

Middleton industrial estate
60 Swifts south between 0800 and 0930 - does this mean summer is over?
7 Swallows south
1 Meadow Pipit
5 Pied Wagtails SE

Ringing (0700-0945):
2 Willow Warblers (adult and juv)
Sedge Warbler (3 adults, 1 juv)
Reed Bunting (juv)

Other birds (minimum numbers, these are just the ones seen/heard):
2 Grasshopper Warblers reeling, 4 Reed Warblers chuntering, at least one Lesser Whitethroat singing, 2 Whitethroats, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Ringed Plover, Coot feeding young, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Greenfinch, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, Wren, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Woodpigeon.
50+ Lesser Black-backs, 3 Herring Gulls and a Black-headed Gull at the sewage farm.

Warning: Guard gull! Nearly had my head taken off by a Lesser Black-backed gull the other day when I wandered into the Tim Butler territory to investigate dragonflies.

Moth trap
Gothic a welcome new species for the year (millenium?!) % another Dingy Footman.

Darters and skimmers

More Middleton Red-veined Darter pics from John Rayner. Thanks John

Middleton IE model boat pond

Red-veined Darter - just the one seen in rather marginal windy conditions

Black-tailed Skimmer - 13+, including 2 ovipositing

Common Darter - plenty of tenerals and two in tandem

Common Hawker - one northern side of model boat pond

Brown Hawker - as above

Welcome Blackwits

Heysham Obs
Red Nab/Ocean Edge foreshore
Black-tailed Godwit - 8 islandica adults in the channel alongside OE saltmarsh. Not all that common here.
Med Gull - FOUR adults on Red Nab (could only see that one was unringed) plus 1 x 2CY, probably the usual fairly black-headed one

Elsewhere
Male Yellowhammer showing well early morning in LDBWS area at western side of Wakebarrow Scar, visible from road. SD597877

Bits and bobs

Heysham Bird Observatory
CES ringing study
Not a great deal ringed but did include an adult female Swallow

Red Nab/outfalls
Med Gull - one adult

Mainly insects & gulls

..........unless more materialises

Red Nab/Ocean Edge 1215hrs
Med Gull: 2 x adult, 1 x 2CY
Little Gull: 1 x moth-eaten 2CY

Heysham NR dragonflies
Common Hawker - one male
Brown Hawker - 2
Common Darter - 5

Butterfly census HNR (rather windy)
32 Meadow Brown, 4 Speckled Wood, 24 Small Skipper, 3 Large Skipper, 2 Small White, 1 Red Admiral, 4 Gatekeeper

Dragonfly group

Thanks to John Rayner for these Red-veined Darter pictures

Heysham Obs
Efforts today were concentrated at Middleton IE with ringing in the central and western marsh and a very well-attended dragonfly workshop organised by Graham Jones from the wildlife trust. What a change to get an excellent day for dragonflies i.e. could be found & studied, not whizzing all over the place in sweltering conditions, especially as it was forecasted to be cloudy. Thanks Graham.

Ringing at Middleton
Promising number of Willow Warblers for this site this early in the "autumn" and another three Grasshopper Warblers ringed [16 so far this year including 4 adult males]. The following were ringed: Grasshopper Warbler (3, an adult female and two juveniles), Willow Warbler (8), Whitethroat (3), Lesser Whitethroat (1), Sedge Warbler (5), Reed Bunting (3), Dunnock (3). A Reed Warbler was caught bearing a ring from elsewhere.

Vis mig at Middleton

One Sand Martin flew south along with c25 Swift

Middleton insects
At least 6 male Red-veined Darter including one male showing signs of immaturity. One tandem pair with the female ovipositing. Other dragonflies included 4 Black-tailed Skimmer, 3 Four-spotted Chaser, 3 Emperor, 20+ Common Darter (majority tenerals), 1 Emerald Damselfly and abundant Common Blue and Blue-tailed Damselfly.

Elsewhere
3rd summer Yellow-legged Gull still at Glasson

More Meds and reluctant dragonflies

Heysham Obs
Red Nab
Awful heat haze & just 2 ad Meds noticed

Moths
Toadflax Pug the pick - a quite common moth here

Middleton IE
Nothing (temperature marginally too low & wind too strong) until two female dog 'walkers' threw a long rubber thing, like a refugee from Ann Summers, into the pond which the dogs enthusiastically retrieved:
Red-veined Darter - one shot off the edge to the opposite side of the pond
Black-tailed Skimmer - 2 shot off the edge to the opposite side of the pond

Elsewhere
Nothing as yet

Med gull rear ends

Heysham Obs
Red Nab high tide
Med Gull - 3 x adult summer, 1 x 2CY (black-headed bird), mostly facing away in the WWNW wind

No obvious sea passage in the 5-10 minutes!

Moths
Lychnis notable for here plus another Dingy Footman

Elsewhere
3rd summer Yellow-legged Gull still Glasson/Lighthouse cottage area yesterday evening