useless nice day with a northwesterly breeze

Heysham Obs
Ocean Edge late afternoon
Med Gull - 2 x Ad, 1 x 3CY

Moths
Nondescript

Dunno...but possibly a Robin

Heysham Obs
A well-deserved lie-in after last night's moth-trapping on Carnforth Slag Tips which turned into a virtually mothless puffball/horse & field mushroom-picking session.  If only a small area of this could be fenced off from the rampaging woolly maggots, we could see some interesting vegetation, possibly followed by some good coastal moth species.  At the moment it is too overgrazed and nitrogen-rich. 

Most of the day was spent in Heysham NR office sorting out the 2010 county ringing report - this takes ages these days for a very good and welcome reason - all the 'read in field' sightings from various birders with an assortment of videograbs and digiscopings at their disposal.  Thanks very much for these and please keep them coming

Outfalls/Red Nab
Med Gull - two adults in wing moult, along with a single juvenile

Moths
The moth-trap check saw a rotund brown thing disappearing out of the window which was 'probably a Dunnock but might have been a Robin'. The behaviour seems a bit 'brave' for a Dunnock.  Acleris hastiana was the highlight with Dotted Clay taking over pole position (just) from Straw Underwing

Little reward, lot of effort

Heysham Obs
Mist-netting at Middleton and Heysham
Rogue shower(s) seriously affected play at Middleton this morning whilst amazingly avoiding Heysham NR.  Very little around with the 'highlights' being an out of habitat juv Reed Warbler by Heysham NR office and a smattering of both Whitethroat species.  Willow Warblers were conspicuous by their absence at both sites

No time to look at the sea. 

Mothing was a disaster with the HNR moth trap bulb giving up the ghost during the night...........and missing out on a new moth species having "farmed out" my usual trap check at Millhouses in favour of an early start at Heysham - the first VC60 Beautiful HOOK TIP (not Snout as originally posted)

A smattering of moth migration and Sedge warbler schottische

Heysham Obs
An early(ish) morning start at Middleton where the fare was fairly routine; quite a few Sedge Warblers first thing, suggesting a 0430hrs start would have been better (!), followed by a slow trickle of Whitethroat and Willow Warbler and a smattering of southbound Swift.  The largest catch occurred in the net where a MP3 player (not mine!) mysteriously started playing Scottish Dance music, interspersed with a voice which seemed to be from Pink Floyd's 'small furry animals grooving together with a pict'.   I wonder if this indicated the origin of the Sedge Warblers...........

Moths
It was not possible to check the moth trap until mid-morning and this revealed a sudden influx of 6 Silver Y to accompany Scarce Bordered Straw & Rusty Dot Pearl in a trap at nearby Sunderland

Middleton NR
Sedge Warbler - c20 first thing (8 new ones ringed)
Whitethroat - 5 new ones ringed
Reed Warbler - one new juv ringed & no obvious evidence of any adults still around
Willow Warbler - just 4 ringed
Swift - 18 south
Grasshopper Warbler - still four singing males first thing - one western marsh, one on the slope, one towards Solrec and one in the central marsh. 

Outfalls/Red Nab
just two adult Meds on the early stages of the incoming tide

A butterfly on the buddliea at last!

Heysham Obs
The office buddlieas had been flowering in vain until today - a really dire situation which looks particularly ominous for the autumnal emergence of    Peacock.  One Red Admiral appeared today...............although I am sure they are a hive of moth activity at night

Ocean Edge/Red Nab/outfalls
A bit late on the incoming tide today and some of the birds had been flushed from Red Nab
Med Gull - 2 juvs, 2 ads, one 3CY
Little Gull - 2CY Heysham 2 outfall
Whimbrel - 3

Moths
Didnt get to check until 1145hrs and it was very noctuid-dominated, suggesting much of the flighty stuff had departed. One Blackneck, one Plain Golden Y (both Golden Ys are rare here) and two Pediasia aridella the highlights with 30 Straw Underwing topping the bill

Mammals
Common Shrew - 1 dead on path below Princess Alex. Way. Used to be frequently reported around reserve but infrequently noted in last couple of years.

Migration morning in the mist and cloud... and a new plume

Heysham Obs

Yet another new plume moth for Heysham NR with a name more like a dinosaur:  Hellinsia osteodactylus (thanks John)

Bit of an early calorie burner this morning with a rather birdless and windier-than-forecast (what a surprise!) session at Middleton being terminated in favour of an obvious landfall of Whitethroat and Willow warbler around Heysham office............also enabling the multitask of work, moth trap check and ringing

Middleton NR 0600-0730
Green Sandpiper - first of the autumn flushed from the central marsh
Grasshopper Warbler - juvenile ringed (26th of the year)

Heysham office area
Whitethroat - at least 15, including two in the buddleia under the moth trap
Willow Warbler - 5-10
Lesser Whitethroat - 2+
Sedge Warbler - adult ringed ('out of habitat') by the office

A young Dunnock discovers chain-link fencing (thanks Janet)

Outfalls/Red Nab

More arrivals:

Med Gull - 3 x juv, 2-3 x ad, 3CY

Little Gull - 2CY & adult summer

Whimbrel - 6

Oops!  Cant be everywhere at once - yesterdays posting from walney

19th July 2011 – overcast WNW2/3/4OffshoreEarly morning observations (0600-0800) were led by 2 Pomarine Skua, 2 Arctic Skua and a Great Skua all moving out of Morecambe Bay

Moth trap

Biggest catch of the year with a few oddities and firsts for the year.  Four more Pediasia aridella were found along with an unseasonal Common Emerald and 'routine' year ticks such as T. advenella, Least Yellow Underwing, Dun-bar, Cloaked Minor, Bordered Beauty.  Notable for its obscurity was Metzneria lappella.  5 Dingy Footman was a record catch for here

Cinnabar larvae near Ocean Edge - this species has been scarce in the moth trap with removal of some of the ragwort in that area necessary so the hay in the surrounding grassland can be baled as 'uncontaminated' (thanks Janet)

Foreshore Fare

Heysham Obs
Ocean Edge/Red Nab at high tide, then walk to wooden jetty post-tide
Med Gull - 3-4 adults, one 3CY, one (unringed) juv.  One of the adults appeared to be metal-ringed above the tarsus as per returning Czech bird
Redshank - 191 OE saltmarsh
Greenshank - one adult with above
Turnstone - 2 OE saltmarsh
Whimbrel - one OE saltmarsh

Moth trap
Not too bad as on the lee side of the building with a rather unseasonal Herald the highlight and Straw Underwing, as usual this time of year, the only spceies in double-figures.  No weak-flying species other than single Agriphila tristella and C. culmella

Decent stormy weather

Heysham Obs
If its going to be grotty at this time of year, its usually more productive when it goes the whole hog.  Two very different highlights today, both probably a result of the onshore winds and rough sea.  These were a single Storm Petrel and an unprecedented four Pediasia aridella in the moth trap.  P. aridella is a salt-marsh pyralid and cannot possibly have liked being covered by a rough sea/high night tide, so did they disperse as a result? 

North harbour wall 1130-1210ish
Manx Shearwater - 3 together out on th edge of the low cloud
Storm Petrel - one by No 7 buoy jst after the IOM ferry arrived, then the weather closed in & it was lost
anglers blocking the road - one car-full

Ocean Edge/Red Nab pre-tide
Med Gull - 4 x adult, 1 x 3CY
Whimbrel - 3
Arctic Tern - one adult

Moths
Highlighted by 4 Pediasia aridella, some distance from the nearest saltmarsh with previous records here being just the occasional singleton.  Also new for the year/of note were: Eucosma campoliliana, Common Rustic (agg), Southern Wainscot and the iconic Lesser Yellow Underwing

Humdrum WeBS

Heysham Obs
High tide WeBS
Too high for any birds with just seagulls, Oystercatcher and Cormorant above low single-figures.  Enjoyable if you like looking at moulting 2CY argenteus Herring Gulls.

Count within the recording area
Oystercatcher (655 heliport seawall, 4 Red Nab), Black-headed Gull (17 harbour area, 5 Red Nab), Lesser Black-backed Gull (108 in total), Herring Gull (61 in total), Great Blac-backed Gull (3 in total), Cormorant (11 wooden jetty), Redshank (one wooden jetty), Lapwing (one Ocean Edge saltmarsh), Ringed Plover (one Ocean Edge foreshore).  Everything else had been pushed out of sight towards Middleton/Lune Estuary, presumably including a 'wadge' of Meds. 

Here endeth the ultimate 'non-posting'!

Insect day and a few ringing recoveries

Heysham Obs
Ringing recoveries
The two 'vis mig' Lesser Redpolls bearing rings from elsewhere were next to each other in the net, but had very different ring numbers and were not surprisingly from completely separate locations.  A wadge of Twite were from the 'usual' stop-off site at the feeder at Machrihanish Seabird Observatory on the Mull of Kintyre.

Twite

L445310 5F 21.01.11 Heysham
Controlled 4F 15.04.11 Machrihanish Seabird Observatory (Argyll & Bute) 239km

R687796 6F 24.03.09 Heysham
Controlled 4F 15.04.11 Machrihanish Seabird Observatory (Argyll & Bute) 239 km

V240449 3F 25.10.10 Heysham
Controlled 4F 16.04.10 Machrihanish Seabird Observatory (Argyll & Bute) 239 km

V240496 3F 07.11.10 Heysham
Controlled 4F 15.04.11 Machrihanish Seabird Observatory (Argyll & Bute) 239 km

Lesser Redpoll
X948530 5F 17.03.11 Warsop (Nottingham)
Controlled 5 09.04.11 Heysham 148 km

X546179 3M 16.10.10 Orfordness (Suffolk)
Controlled 5 09.04.11 Heysham 370 km

Insects
The HNR butterfly census saw 28 Gatekeeper but no sign of any Grayling.

The moth trap was productive species-wise if not numbers with the following highlights:  single Garden Tiger, Toadflax Pug, Dingy Footman, Beautiful Golden Y (very rare here), Agriphila geniculea and two of the migrant pyralid Rusty Dot Pearl