Mothfest

Heysham Obs
A ringing session by the hut, somewhat interrupted by moth collecting activities, produced 12 birds, including 4 Tit sp.,  2 Common Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff.

Moths: The hut trap produced 210 moths of 58 species - a good catch for this site. Thanks to John for his unexpected but timely arrival to complete the identification of the catch.  Silky Wainscot perhaps the pick of the bunch

Silver Hook and Obscure Wainscot were the highlights of a short sheet and light session at Middleton IE - both are presumably breeding there

The model boat pond produced a distant sighting of a photographer with head in hands (asleep??) so presumably no Red-veined Darters!    Looks like this last winter/'premature' autumn emergence might have put paid to this species and there is absolutely no evidence of any along the south coast e.g. Dungeness BO website.  Still a bit early to be certain.

(ajd)

Elsewhere
The Channel Wagtail x female flavissima pairing in the Lune valley now has fledged young on the shingle at Wenningfoot

Still no news

Haven't been to Heysham to check it out so any news will be added in due course.

No news received yet

No news of birds, moths or dragonflies yet for today.

Tits galore

Heysham Obs
A quick visit to the reserve office early morning saw at least 40 tit species in the usual ringing bushes - however we had already committed to a session at Middleton.  It looks like its been a very good breeding season for tits (also supported by provisional nestbox data) after a reasonable feeder-assisted survival this last winter.  A significant proportion of the flock was Long-tailed Tit - I dont think this would have been the case after winter 1962/3, before they discovered fat balls

Middleton IE
Only two hours ringing due to work committments produced a steady trickle of warbler species (including Grasshopper) and a few rather myopic Swallows.  Worryingly, two ringing sessions there totalling over 70 birds have not included a single Reed Bunting, implying first brood failure.  Memo: add to the records an unseasonal fly-over Siskin during the CES on 20/6

Moths
Rather a lot and most of the flighty stuff was intercepted before the sun blazed into the trap.  As far as I am aware, a mass breakout of Common Footman (14) was actually new for the year, also apparently new were:  Map-winged Swift, Satin Wave (a bit belated), Dingy Footman and Grass Emerald.  Need to get the records out of the log on to MapMate, rather than trying to plough through 5 varieties of handwriting!

Dragonflies
Colin unfortunately could not make it today - can someone please do the Middleton butterfly/dragonfly transect in the decent weather - I'm away till Thursday & its going off then by all accounts.  A VERY brief check of the model boat pond did not produce any darters

snatches of time

Heysham Obs
Middleton IE
Model boat pond
Darter spp - a red darter was briefly in the centre of the pond before being chased off by Bk T Skimmer.  The variable-height flight mode was not convincing for Red-veined, but this might have been due to being harrassed.  If it was a RVD, it was not a full adult male.
Black-tailed Skimmer - minimum of 12, possibly up to 20

Ocean Edge
High tide produced:
Med Gull - single adult (Ocean Edge saltmarsh) and ad/3CY with only the upperparts visible (Red Nab) with c350 Black-headed Gull

Moths
The catch included two Broad-barred White.  Two nights ago produced a convincing e.g. of Heart and Club which is being thoroughly checked following quite a few false alarms with extralimital claims (has appeared here once before)

Decent Middleton ringing session

Heysham Obs

Middleton IE
A ringing session using the CES net sites in the central marsh and the western marsh net sites produced a significant number of warbler species including Grasshopper Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat and reasonable numbers of Common Whitethroat.  Of the 7 Lesser Whitethroat caught, one was ringed elsewhere - the first time we have had either a recovery or a 'control' of this species and about time!   

Today

The only news so far is from elsewhere  - a Guillemot at Far Arnside.

Mundane June morning...

Moths:
Continued influx of the Heysham speciality Double Dart. (5).
Light Arches (1) dubiously worthy of note.

Elsewhere:
Red Kite at Yealand Redmayne

A Quiet Morning

Heysham
Reserve CES this morning produced little of note - some evidence of breeding success with two juvenile Lesser Whitethroat, one Chiffchaff and three Great tits trapped.

Moths
Double Dart 4 and Clay 4 amongst the fairly average catch.


ajd

Little news yet

Moths:
Buff Arches (2) new for the year.