Incredible 187 Little Gulls! Plus even more just to the south.

 A light NE overnight wind freshened slightly by mid morning and remained E-NE all day. Sunny.

Pete and Jean made an early start and were duly rewarded with a phenomenal Little gull spectacle!

Little gull 187! - summary from Pete:

Initially, 62 little gulls were located in the channel south of the outfalls on arrival in two compact groups on the water in the middle of the feeding trail of mainly 2cy Common Gull.  Then they got up and spiralled high into the sky heading east to the south of Heysham two power station.  No hesitancy as is usual in clear conditions and if they had aborted and spun back round we would have seen them do that.  I’m convinced all three groups (62, 55, 70) were separate birds as were the 43 over Knott end and 50 going high east at Rossall to the south of us

There were 270 Common gulls here plus more strung out to Heysham Head. 

Also:

Bar-Tailed Godwit 19 north (1 plus 18)

Whimbrel 2 north, 

2 Sand martin

48 Swallow

1 House Martin

1 White Wagtail

4 blogging Sandwich Tern on northern yellow buoy 

Myself and Kevin Eaves also checked the south shore but too late to see the Little Gulls.

Wheatear 4

Kittiwake 2 x 2nd calendar year 

Swallow 10 in addition to above

Rock Pipit 3

Shag 1 immature on wooden jetty

Grey Seal 1

It was a nice morning for a swim, for these Red Nab Redshank

I had another walk along the sea wall early evening (MD). Really just in the hope that some interesting insects had come in (and it was a nice day!). There was lots of small stuff, beyond my identification skills. This Devil's Coach Horse was also seeing what was around.

Devil's Coach Horse

The only other large insects seen were a Peacock and a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly.

Shelduck 2

Little Egret 8 including 2 flying into the bay.

Great White Egret 1 flying into the bay

This pigeon was asleep on the wall, and looked to have been there a while (it was surprisingly quiet)

I had to wake it as a couple were approaching with a dog.

Presumably a racing pigeon, but previous ones I've seen had brightly coloured rings

It looked weary, but managed to fly off before the dog arrived.

This male Black Blackcap was in the Nature Park. My camera almost behaved itself (noise wise) you can hear a burst of song at the end of the clip.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a very quick check

Mute swan - pair nesting plus 2 non-breeding adults and today only 4 immature on the main pond

Mallard 5 male and a female with at least 10 chicks 

You get a sense that this was their first outing. They reminded me of kids getting out of lessons and running to the playground (there's always one tearaway!) 

Hope they fare better than last year's clutch here

Coot 4

Moorhen 2

In a 15 minute visit 4 warbler species heard:

Willow Warbler 3

Chiffchaff 4

Cetti's Warbler 4

Sedge Warbler 1 - first record this year

But as far as singing goes, the tiny Wren takes some beating!

Kevin Singleton also paid a brief visit:

Brimstone male , Speckled wood , Small Tortoiseshell.

warblers included:

Cettis near the small pond, chiffchaff, willow warbler, blackcap and common whitethroat.

two shelduck circling pond

Litter Grebe

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Mark Jones saw a pair of Kestrel mating on one of the pylons.

Kevin Eaves had this Puss Moth in his overnight trap.

Always nice to have one of these in the trap. I seem to get just the one every year!

More Arctic Terns and a couple of Little gulls

A NE wind in the morning moved more east and freshened in the afternoon. Sunshine for much of the day.

Seawatch report from Pete:

This am: sea c0810-0955:

Gannet 3

Little gull 2 ad and probably another distantly, 

Arctic tern c30 - They ‘caught up’ the two little gull and all of them swirled up high into the air splitting into two groups - not sure where they ended up.

4 Common scoter

33 linnet

2 white wagtail

2 pipit spp

22 Swallow.    

16 northbound migrating bar tailed godwit 1,2,13 - quite a movement nationally today 

2 whimbrel north

1 adult kittiwake

No Sandwich tern seen!

I had a walk along the south wall mid morning (MD)

Wheatear 5

Linnet 7

Whimbrel 1

Kittiwake 2 x 2nd calendar year feeding on No.2 outflow

Shag 1 immature on wooden jetty

Rock Pipit 2  - 1 on the sea wall, 1 above lighthouse nesting hole. This clip is actually from yesterday, but the same feeding behaviour was observed today.

Grey Seal 1

Heysham skear - low water 18:40 (MD)

A pleasant evening walk, but the east wind was quite fresh by this time. Despite the sunshine I was glad I was wearing two pullovers!

Eider 20

Red-breasted Merganser 6

Great Crested Grebe 4 - these are two of them with a couple of Eider. The clip begins with one waving a leg.

Little Egret 3

Swallow 3

Not many waders again, Oystercatcher c200, Redshank 30, Curlew 2, Whimbrel 8

The seed mussels are becoming more widespread and growing.

Seed mussels are beginning to carpet many areas

Two weeks ago I suggested that "in a fortnight the gulls will be taking an interest in the seed mussels". Well, here they are.

The gull numbers will quickly increase as the mussels continue to grow

There are plenty of Orange Tips around at the moment. I took these shots yesterday in the Nature Park

Male Orange Tips are nice and bright when their wings are open......

......but well camouflaged when their wings are closed

Black Tern, first Arctic Terns, Cuckoo and an Osprey top a decent day

A slightly fresher, but still light east wind. Sunshine all day.

Pete and Jean did a thorough morning check of the sea. Report by Jean:

0710-1010 this morning:

Seabirds

Black Tern - 1 east at 0825hrs

Arctic Tern - 4 east at 0930hrs (came in over Ocean Edge foreshore)

Sandwich Tern - 4 on the red buoy

Guillemot - 1 out 

Great Crested Grebe - 1 in

Whimbrel - 3 north

Pink-footed Goose - 30 very distantly going north

Common Scoter - 1

Teal - 3 (M and 2F) in-off then north

Common Gull - groups of 30 and 50 mid way out going into Bay

Marine mammals

Harbour Porpoise - 1 into Bay

Grey Seal - 1 into Bay

Visible migration

Swallow - 22 north

House Martin - 1 north

Carrion Crow - 11 north

Linnet - 15 north

Meadow Pipit - 1 north

Grounded 

Wheatear - 13 

Other

Rock Pipit - 1 on the North Harbour Wall

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Alan:

A short ringing session after a clear night and early morning produced only a few birds as expected. The catch did include a Cetti's Warbler ringed elsewhere, a returning Chiffchaff and a Willow Warbler ringed at Heysham in 2018 that has returned to be retrapped at Middleton each year since then. The small catch comprised:

Willow Warbler 9 + 1 retrap

Chiffchaff 1 + 1 retrap

Lesser Redpoll 1

Goldfinch 1

Cetti's Warbler 1 previously ringed from another location, details awaited.

A trickle of swallows totalled about 15 north by 11.00.

A Cuckoo was heard twice in the vicinity by a reliable observer at 08.50.

Later Janet took these shots:

Common Whitethroat, Janet saw the last one last year (latest in Lancashire)
and now sees the first one this year.

Female Kestrel

Heysham skear - low water 18:00 (MD)

Eider just 19

Great Crested Grebe 6

Red-breasted Merganser 7

Shag 1 immature feeding

Little Egret 4

Swallow 3 north

Very few waders, most would be on the rarely exposed sections of the outer skear. A distant flock of 25 Whimbrel/Curlew flew out. 5 Whimbrel confirmed around the middle skear.

Whimbrel

Grey Seal 1 - this clip is quite distant, but you can see it taking several breaths before diving

And that was it, I'd left the skear behind and was walking back to the sea wall. What happened next was almost a comedy of errors, fortunately experience plus a bit of good fortune prevailed. It had been so bright that my reaction glasses were too dark to be able to see through my camera, so I had been wearing an old pair of varifocals. But my back was to the sun now so I put my reactions on. Then I heard the gulls screaming I looked back and a Great White Egret was approaching from the west with the sun behind it. It flew right over my head, but I hadn't reset my camera viewfinder to my glasses, so all I could see was a blur through my camera. I had to trust my experience that I had it in focus, and took this clip. Fortunately it was reasonably focused. It isn't easy filming something going directly overhead, I nearly fell over!

Great White Egret

The gulls had gone quiet, but I don't know why, directly behind the egret was an Osprey, perhaps it wasn't a coincidence that it was following. I hadn't had chance to correct my viewfinder, so again I had to trust to experience that I had it in focus. At this point it was flying east, and again directly over my head.

After it passed over me it turned and headed off to the north.

Female Osprey. No rings visible 

30 seconds after I took the second clip, my camera shut down as the battery was dead. I carry a spare, but was very pleased that it didn't happen a minute earlier!

Inland records top the bill today

Almost breathless in the morning, a light east breeze in the afternoon followed by another calm spell before the breeze resumed in the west this evening. The still morning air resulted in misty sea conditions.

Pete and Jean had an early morning session.

Summary from Pete:

Shag wooden jetty, 

9 sandwich tern grounded Red nab but offshore vis too poor for seawatch session, 

Wheatear 2 Heliport

Grasshopper warbler 2 singing. 1 at Middleton NR and 1 at Heysham NR first thing

Also at Heysham NR

Redstart 1 male 

Tree Pipit 1

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Jean:

Ideal for ringing today - no wind and murky conditions. Should have got there earlier than  the 0630 start, but still some action till 9am.

New birds:
Willow Warbler 8 
Chiffchaff 5
Lesser Redpoll 2
Blackcap 1 
Song Thrush 1
Wren 1

Retraps
Chiffchaff 1
Long-tailed Tit 2

Hummingbird hawkmoth in Heysham SD416608 at 3pm today.  Thanks to Amy Grew

South shore late morning (MD)

It was light drizzle at this point, not helping the already poor visibility 

Wheatear 7

Linnet 12 around Red Nab plus 4 near lighthouse 

Greenfinch 2 Red Nab

Robin 1 Red Nab

Rock Pipit 3 - 1 each Red Nab, Lighthouse and waterfall 

Kittiwake 1 x 2nd calendar year feeding on No.2 outflow

Heysham Skear - low water 17:10 (MD)

Pink-Footed goose 80 north not long after the tide turned.

Eider 58

Great Crested Grebe 2

Red-breasted Merganser 6

Shag 1 immature feeding

Little Egret 3

Great White Egret 1 flew east from the middle of the bay.

Great White Egret

Sandwich Tern 2 - initially resting till the tide turned, then they began feeding.

Sandwich Terns

Whimbrel 28 - 6 on the south side of the skear another flock of 20 flew over to the north side before continuing north. 2 more flew inland from the skear. These are the 6.

Whimbrel

This is them flying off, initially west but then north. I've left the volume on, if you can ignore the camera clicks, you can just make out their characteristic calling.

Swallow 2, 1 and 1 north close to the sea wall

Whimbrel arrive and first Med for a while

A light south wind, dry but overcast.

Report from Pete Crooks:

Heysham North Harbour Wall (7.40 – 9.25 am) – A rather underwhelming sea-watch:
7 Sandwich Tern
5 Red-throated Diver (distant)
2 ‘Auk species’ (probably Razorbill, but again distant)
8 Common Scoter (very distant)
1 Harbour Porpoise
1 Whimbrel (my first of 2023)
1 Rock Pipit

Pete (M) also managed intermittent checks 0625-0900

Mediterranean gull 1 x 2cy ocean edge tideline,

Shag wooden jetty

3 x 2cy Kittiwake on pipe

Total seawatch tally, including Pete (C) records above:

6 Red throated diver

11 sandwich tern

2 Razorbill/Guillemot 

1 plus 8 probable distant common scoter

2 plus 1 Harbour porpoise

1 grey seal

I checked the south shore 09:00 -10:30 (MD)

Whimbrel at least 1 - a loose group of 8 "Curlewish" birds flew high to the east over the saltmarsh at high water. Their bills on the short side for Curlew. As they passed over one Whimbrel called, but I couldn't be certain that it wasn't from the saltmarsh. No further calls after they had passed over, so at least 1 around, possibly all 8 flying over were Whimbrel.

Wheatear 10 along foreshore, sea wall and lighthouse area, but moving through quickly. This clip is of one finding wind collected, presumably, invertebrates along the sea wall.

Male Wheatear - I had a practice with my camera, getting better! Sometimes.

Rock Pipit 1 each on top of the sea wall at the waterfall and lighthouse 

Linnet 4 on Red Nab, 5 between lighthouse and waterfall 

The Shag was still on the wooden jetty, same location as yesterday, and I wouldn't normally bother posting another shot, but this has a secondary interest. The Cormorant to the right of the Shag has a large orange ring, too distant for me to read, but possible with a scope. Pete suggests that it is probably part of the scheme run at the Hale Duck Decoy colony (near Widnes). One to look out for.

Immature Shag plus orange ringed Cormorant 

The 3 Kittiwake were feeding on the outflows

Turnstone c100

Knot 1

Solitary Knot with Turnstone on wooden jetty

What was probably the most interesting ......was just too distant!

An overnight frost but a mainly warm sunny day. A light NE breeze to begin with moved to west mid morning.

Report from Pete:

Sea Heysham 0655-0755.  

11 sandwich tern in, 

5 Red throated diver out (including one in winter plumage and three high birds), 

just 3 Common Scoter 

Shag 1 on wooden jetty

a possible White Stork in the heat haze over the other side - thought circling distant adult gannet then obviously further away as disappeared behind trees - shame about the heat haze!!! If it was a Stork, it would most likely be one of the free flying birds at Dalton in Furness Zoo.

South shore 08:00 - 09:00 (MD)

Shelduck 12 - 8 near Red Nab plus another 4 flew north. These are some of the Red Nab birds, just arriving and enjoying the fresh water in the run off from Red Nab.

Linnet 3 on the foreshore plus 9 between lighthouse and waterfall.

Rock,Pipit, just the lighthouse bird seen today

Wheatear 1

Not had a Wheatear shot for a while 

This Cormorant has almost swallowed a decent sized Bass, but the second bird is still trying to prevent it!

Kittiwake 3 x 2nd calendar year alternating between feeding on the outflows and resting on their pipe in the harbour

Yesterday I managed to read this colour ringed Herring Gull resting on No.2 outflow (part of the NW England Gull project - see link on the sidebar).

The reason I am mentioning it now is that there was a surge of large gulls this morning, first on the sea, then some moved to the wooden jetty. Out of range today, but always worth checking any you see for rings. 

This clip shows some of today's gulls resting on the wooden jetty, it pans to where the Shag was (and favours) resting. You may also notice roosting Turnstone.

There were also quite a few young gulls on the platforms in the harbour, unfortunately none ringed today. This one's instincts tell it that this is the time of year to collect nesting material, but it doesn't know why yet! You can see an adult Herring Gull sitting on a nest on the platform behind.

Turnstone 75 seen resting on wooden jetty, probably another 25 out of sight.

Heysham Skear - low water 14:50 (MD)

14:50 was the predicted low water time, in reality it was more like 14:20. Neap tides are much more difficult to accurately predict precise timings for, fortunately they come in so slowly it rarely matters. Still you should always watch the water to ensure you know if it is going out or coming in.

Eider 53 - once again mainly males attracted to the few remaining females. There are 10 males and 1 female in this clip.

Red-breasted Merganser 12

Great Crested Grebe 3

Little Egret 4

Shag 1 almost certainly the one on the wooden jetty earlier. It flew to the NW side of the skear to feed as the tide started to make.

Immature Shag, probably the 3rd calendar year 

Not many waders today:

c500 Oystercatcher, c100 Redshank, 5 Turnstone, 2 Curlew

It's green jelly blob season again! For new post readers, these blobs of green jelly are the egg sacs for some species of Ragworm. At this time of year, they are often strewn across the beach, but for now, most remain anchored, where they were laid. They may have a good year, this year as there are no obvious storms on the horizon.

Green jelly blobs as they should be seen, safely anchored in a small rock pool

Kevin Eaves took this nice shot of a male Reed Bunting near the main pond on Middleton Nature Reserve 

Male Orange Tip butterfly on Heysham Moss Lane is the first record for this year - ref Janet

Gannets showing today, early on

A light SE wind for most of the day switched to NW by evening. Some sunny spells.

Pete and Jean managed another early visit. Report from Pete:

Sea heysham 0635-0755: 

Common Scoter 79

Red throated diver 6

Gannet 2

Whooper swan flock 10

Canada goose 1 (!)

Sandwich Tern 2

Razorbill/Guillemot 1

Common Gull 232 out

All outbound except Gannets and Whoopers

Harbour Porpoise 2-3. 

 

Three willow warbler and two Chiffchaff ringed in short session Heysham NR

South Shore (MD)

I had a walk along the foreshore and sea wall a little later

Meadow Pipit 1 grounded

Linnet 6 on foreshore plus two pairs between the lighthouse and waterfall. This female seen with nesting material, this is the opposite end of the brambles to the other pair's nest site, which are nesting in the same bramble bush as last year.

Rock Pipit 4 - 2 near the lighthouse and 2 near the waterfall. This is one of the lighthouse birds just above the nest hole.

Shag - the 3rd calendar year bird had just returned to the wooden jetty and was having a good preen before settling down.

3rd calendar year Shag

This young Great Black-Backed Gull pinched a young Herring Gull's dinner!

Zoomed in still from the above clip

Redshank 48

Turnstone 14

Heysham Head (MD)

I had a very pleasant stroll around in the evening sunshine. The tide was almost high, but there was no sign of the Shag feeding. The trouble with evening feeding opportunities is that they depend on how much has been eaten during the day.

Great Crested Grebe 2

Linnet 8 at least

Rock Pipit 2 displaying males, but only the middle section checked.

Harbour Porpoise 2 - an adult, presumably female, with a youngster. It must be one of last year's young. You can see the smaller porpoise breaching a couple of times early in this clip.

Better by the sea

Overnight rain but just light showers during the day. A strong west wind.

Seawatch report from Pete:

Sea Heysham a belated 0715-0845  

Manx Shearwater 1 

Arctic Skua 2 - 1 dark morph in Cumbria 0730, plus another nice close Lancs dark morph 0818

Red throated diver 6 (3 of these together on sea)

Common scoter 9

Kittiwake 24 (plus now four 2cy on pipe in harbour)

Razorbill/Guillemot 2

All outbound on dropping tide bar flock of 18 Kittiwake.  Gannet would usually be expected as bread and butter on this sort of seawatch but zero.  May have exited the bay earlier.  

Also 3cy Shag heading for its fishing grounds off Heysham head

I had a walk along the south sea wall (MD), but the tide was out and it was 09:00 before I reached the lighthouse and the sea beyond. Unfortunately there was nothing moving within my range. 

This is of interest though. This young Herring gull has the remains of a Whelk egg cluster. This is the beach near the wooden jetty where the Mediterranean Gulls like to feed on the Sand Mason worms in the summer months. The mud here has been deep and soft in recent years, resulting in only limited feeding by the Mediterranean Gulls. But today, somewhat surprisingly considering how much dredging there has been recently, the mud looked firm and the worm tubes were clearly visible above it. If it remains like this, it should be better for the Meds this year, fingers crossed!

You can see the tops of the Sand Mason worms tubes poking above the mud.
It doesn't take much for silt to return, but I haven't seen it like this for over 2 years

Nature Park

It was nice to get out of the wind, there were 2 Chiffchaff and a Willow Warbler singing, plus a couple of competing male Chaffinch, the wind only allows you to hear the one singing in this clip.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a quick check on my way home.

Mute Swan unchanged

Mallard 5 male

Coot 5

Moorhen 3

Little Grebe 1 trilling

The hirundines were also glad to get out of the wind, there were 6 Swallow and a House Martin feeding on the west side of the sheltered "no swimming" pond. This clip starts with the House Martin. (The bird flying across after the Chiffchaff starts singing for the second time is a Heron).

Not great shots, but I have little else today

Swallows

House Martin - first record this year

Willow Warbler 2

Chiffchaff 4

Cetti's Warbler 4 (one either side of the "no swimming" pond plus one each central and western marsh.

Barely buoyant buoy!

Very strong SW wind last night eased before midnight. By daylight it had and moved to the south then SE, before easing further in the afternoon and shifting to NW. showers on and off all day.

South shore (MD)

I checked twice, once in the morning to see if any waifs or strays had been blown in and again at high water in the afternoon, neither were particularly productive (as you may have guessed by today's title).

Wheatear 1 on foreshore both visits

Linnet 9 on foreshore plus 2 near lighthouse in the morning, an additional 5 near waterfall in the afternoon.

Rock Pipit 5 at least - 2 by waterfall and 3 near lighthouse in the morning. 1 on Red Nab in the afternoon.

Common Gull 75, mainly 2nd calendar year, most on seaward end of No.1 outflow in the morning, just a few remained at high water.

Kittiwake 3 on outflows in morning, 1 on outflows plus 2 on harbour pipe in the afternoon. This is the afternoon bird on the outflow.

Redshank 60

A few of the Redshank

Turnstone 16

Redshank and Turnstone 

Shag 1 immature on the wooden jetty in the afternoon 

This Carrion Crow flew to the wooden jetty with nesting material, then disappeared in the tangle of planks in the first section 

Herring Gull heading towards the old Fishers building with nesting material 

This is what today's title refers to. After the last storms I prematurely announced one of the buoys out from the north wall "missing". In fact it was just underwater, something must have been caught on its anchoring chain. Today, I was initially confused, it was "almost missing".

This was what remained of the buoy 30 minutes before high water

I eventually realised that what was visible was just the tip of the buoy, again something must have been caught on the anchoring chain. Bizarrely, 10 minutes later, after I had been down to the waterfall and back, it had returned to normal. Presumably the extra force on the buoy from the rising tide, must have freed the chain.

Same shot 10 minutes later!

Another arrival of Great Crested Grebes

A fresh SW wind in the morning shifted to SE in the afternoon. A bright sunny start with the anticipated rain not starting till mid afternoon 

Heysham skear - low water 09:50 (MD)

Eider 29

Great Crested Grebe 2

Red-breasted Merganser 8 - there were only 2 for most of the walk, but they like the NE skear corner as the tide is making and others arrive (Jean checked later in the tide and again there were only 2). They don't seem to congregate here to feed, it seems more like a forum for squabbling! Although, to be fair, one did get surprised by a Great Crested Grebe surfacing. 

Little Egret 4

Waders only Oystercatcher, Redshank, Curlew 10, again no Turnstone on the skear, although there were three close to the sea wall.

I found this recently dead Greater Pipefish a week or so ago. Seeing the Seahorse on Attenborough's Wild Isles reminded me of it. As far as I know the nearest Seahorses to here are North Wales (think I might have heard of them in Liverpool docks) and over in the Isle of Man. But Pipefish are the same family and are basically a straightened Seahorse, and as Seahorses, it's the males that carry the young. 

Male Greater Pipefish - you can see his empty brooding pouch between my fingers
and running right down to his tail 

Pete and Jean checked a little later in the tide.

Shag 1 3cy feeding inshore

Great Crested Grebe 27 drifted into the bay over an hour. Plus the 2 already in.

Swallow 1 NW

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Report and pictures by Jeff Gorse:A few before the rain set in today, decent amounts of insect life besides chiffchaff and blackcap singing.

Chiffchaff 

 

Large queen wasp presumably looking for nest site.

Female tawny mining bee (seen not photographed) 

and these other solitary bees.

Hoverfly, which I think looks like a bumblebee mimic but it seems too
early in the year for them – will ask around!

Also a gorse shieldbug (not photographed)