Great weather for Great Newts

It rained pretty much all day, but not always as heavily as expected. A light variable breeze early on freshened slightly from the north.

Heysham skear - low water 09:30(MD)

It was raining steadily, but I do like to check out the ever morphing geography of the skear on these spring tides. Birds pretty much as Thursday, but no Eider, Knot or Dunlin today.

This archipelago of rocks are always a good indicator of the south side status. They are called the Severn Sisters.........

Cormorants resting on four of the severn sisters 

.........some years when they are left fully exposed, I have counted 15. After that it is a moot point as to if others are more rocks or just large stones. Other years they are totally covered by mud, mussels or honeycomb worm reefs. This year there are actually seven showing, the others covered by mussel and honeycomb worm beds.

The Seven Sisters rocks looking back to Heysham Head

The Cormorant numbers are increasing as both adult and juvenile return from the breeding grounds. These shots are actually from the harbour yesterday (I kept them back in case today was a complete wash out!)

All the above are juvenile Cormorants 

Juvenile Cormorant left with adult

Middleton Nature Reserve ((JP)

Juvenile Goldfinch 

The wet conditions suited this Great Crested Newt

Red Nab to saltmarsh (MD)

A quick check as the tide was reaching Red Nab

Mediterranean gulls 10 at least on Red Nab

This Herring gull was also on Red Nab
Another of the NW England gull project - details awaited 

Rock Pipit 1 on foreshore 

Wet look Rock Pipit

Linnet 6 on saltmarsh 

Wheatear 1 on saltmarsh 

All the regulars present

A light NW wind, dry with prolonged sunny spells.

South Shore (MD)

Mediterranean Gull 22 on Red Nab including 4 juvenile 

Dunlin 34 along the foreshore edge

Lapwing 5 on saltmarsh 

Whimbrel 1 on saltmarsh, resting here with Redshank and Starlings.

Rock Pipit 3 - 1 on Red Nab and 2 on foreshore 

Wheatear 2 on saltmarsh including this juvenile beginning to moult out of its juvenile plumage.

Nature Park 

Red admiral 3

Comma 2

Green-Veined White 1

Gatekeeper several

Speckled Wood 4

Holly Blue 1

Second generation female Holly Blue

Juvenile Wood Pigeon

Tomorrow is looking like being another washout!

Spring tides provide new opportunities

The NW breeze freshened slight throughout the day. A dry and mainly sunny day.

Heysham Skear - low water 08:00 (MD)

Tonight's high water at 10.1m is the highest tide since March an is the second highest tide this year so far. Spring tides not only come a long way up the shore, they also go out a long way and today the skear was fully exposed. The waders seemed thinner on the ground, but that is because they were spread over a very large area. 

Little Egret 15

Red-breasted Merganser 2 (male and female together)

Great Crested Grebe 6 all adult in summer plumage 

Greylag Goose 1 flying north

Eider 4 - looks to be a female with 3 well grown young.

Oystercatcher c100

Redshank c100 - this was one large flock seen arriving, but then, as the other waders they appeared to be fewer than normal.

Turnstone c40

Dunlin 2

Knot 6 - 1 flew south plus 5 together on skear all still in partial summer plumage.

Knot

Swallow 3 together flying north

The low spring tide allowed access to the green marker post and it was repaired before the tide returned.

The now not so green marker post being re affixed to the old waste pipe

I thought this was interesting, the NW wind was blowing the low clouds across the south lakes hills, but as they reached the lowland or possibly the shore there were obviously thermal updrafts lifting the clouds to a higher level.

You can see the effect of two, quite compact, thermal updrafts in this shot

South shore

Red Nab to Saltmarsh towards high water (MD)

Mediterranean gulls 7 on Red Nab - 4 adult, 2 first summer and 1 juvenile. One of the adults was a returning regular visitor.

Ringed as a nestling in Germany in 2012
It was first seen at Heysham in 2013, and been seen every year since 2017

Sandwich Tern 3 blogging out fromRed Nab

Dunlin 21 on Red Nab, these are some of them.

Ringed Plover 4 flew from Red Nab

Lapwing 3 on saltmarsh 

Whimbrel 1 on saltmarsh 

Redshank, Oystercatcher and Curlew plentiful 

Rock Pipit 2 on foreshore

Wheatear 5 including 1 juvenile near the saltmarsh slipway

South sea wall around high water (JP)

Oystercatcher 

Juvenile Black-Headed gull with a small fish

These are Grey Mullet, they come in close to the sea wall on the rising spring tides to eat the algae that has formed on the wall and is dislodged by the rising tide.

Grey Mullet 

Nature Park (JP)

Male Common Darter

Female Common Darter

All today's butterflies were looking worn

Gatekeeper 

Speckled Wood 

Red Admiral 

Comma

Female Wolf Spider 
 you can tell she's a female as she is carrying her silk egg case with her

Osprey fishing in the rain

The wind shifted to NE. Very heavy overnight rain and it more or less continued throughout the day till evening.

Red Nab to saltmarsh (MD)

A quick morning check

Little Egret 6

Wheatear 2 near the slipway including 1 juvenile 

Rock Pipit 5 - 2 on foreshore, 1 Red Nab and 2 together on sea wall.

Heysham Head (JP)

Two Kestrel hovering 

Hovering Kestrel with a nice view of Black Combe behind

Heysham skear - low water 19:25 (MD)

I went down a couple of hours before low water. It was still raining, but not so hard when I started and it had stopped by about 18:00.

Osprey 1 - 17:15 it had caught a large flatfish and all the gulls and waders lifted, some giving chase. But, undeterred, it made a beeline east and flew off over Heysham Head.

Osprey with a flatfish

Little Egret 6 - the tide was ebbing quickly and they just wait and pick off small fish and shrimps as they move with the tide.

Eider 13 all female type except for 1 eclipsed male

Great Crested grebe 3 in summer plumage

Red-breasted Merganser 1 female type

Oystercatcher c200

Curlew c150

Whimbrel 1 at least

Redshank c60

Turnstone c100

Dunlin 11 (7, 3 and 1)

Arctic Skua tops the bill

A fresh west wind in the morning continued to ease through the day. Several showers.

Pete managed an hour's seawatch this morning from the back of heysham harbour looking out through the harbour mouth, no Storm petrel but:

Arctic Skua 1 dark morph

Gannet 1

Sandwich tern 2

South shore

Janet had a walk along the wall in the afternoon, unfortunately catching one of today's showers.

Little Egrets on Red Nab, there were at least 8 around today

Some of the almost constant passage of Curlew

This Guillemot was just below the sea wall near No.1 outflow

(It was still there when I passed a little later. It looked unwell, this is another species that I have found several washed up dead this year. Hopefully this one will not join them. (MD))

At the Nature Park entrance one of the regular visitors, who leaves food for the birds daily had just replenished stocks. Several species were taking advantage.

Chaffinch 

Dunnock

Magpie 

Wood Pigeon

And, of course........gulls!

Lesser Black-Backed and Herring gulls

My afternoon walk along the wall, was better timed, weather wise (MD). The rain was just easing off then it remained dry.

Wheatear 3 - 2 adult and 1 juvenile near the slipway 

Greenfinch 2 on the saltmarsh, they normally arrive when the pepper seeds are ripe.

Rock Pipit 2 on the foreshore 

Whimbrel 1 on the shore out from the foreshore 

Mediterranean gull 11 - 9 adult/3rd calendar year and 2 juvenile turned up on the beach near the wooden jetty, but again, I didn't see them catch anything today.

This Herring gull was in the Harbour, part of the NW England Gull project.
See link on side bar. It was ringed as a nestling at Bowland Lancashire July 2021.
It was seen in the harbour January 2022
and was at a landfill site near Accrington In February 2023
Not quite as cosmopolitan as the Meds, but still interesting, and informative.

Thwarted by the rain

The SW wind continues, but not quite so fresh. Overcast all day with spells of heavy rain. 

South shore (MD)

Two checks, one towards high water to check the gull roost, a second in the afternoon to watch the beach by the wooden jetty become exposed. Both coincided with heavy rain! The period in between remained dry.

Little Egret 5

Wheatear 1 juvenile, again near the saltmarsh slipway

Linnet 6

Rock Pipit 4 - 1 on Red Nab and 3 on foreshore 

Whimbrel 1 at least

Curlew and Oystercatcher plentiful 

Redshank c30

There was at least 200 gulls roosting on Red Nab, but the rain was driving into the only direction they could be viewed from. I managed to identify 5 Meds before giving it up as hopeless!

I got to the beach by the wooden jetty in plenty of time to watch it become exposed today, but again it was raining, and for whatever reason not many meds turned up today.

Mediterranean gulls 7 - there had been a juvenile on No.1 outflow and two landed on the beach, only 5 adults arrived to feed.

The gulls clearly understand the behaviour of Sandmason worms better than I do. The few that turned up today were struggling to catch any. This is a juvenile and two adults running around in fruitless circles.

Once again the rain was easing as I was returning from the sea wall, so I decided to call in at Middleton Nature Reserve on the way home.

Mute Swan pair plus 8 cygnets, all together on the main pond.

The Mute family

Mallard 18

Gadwall 4 - 1 on the "no swimming" pond and 3 on the main pond

Shoveler 2 on the main pond. The background racket is a combination of the cygnets begging for food, a helicopter and my noisy camera.

Tufted Duck 1 - the odd looking female was back 

(see post 25/07)

Coot 4 adult 2 young

Moorhen 2

Nice inshore Gannet views

The fresh SW to W wind continued overnight and through the morning, easing slightly after lunch. Just a few light showers.

Pete managed a morning check:

Arctic tern 1 adult out 

114 turnstone heliport seawall

South shore (MD)

A laboured morning walk down the wall towards high water and another sprightlier one in the afternoon towards low water (cold seems to be improving!)

Little Egret 4

Wheatear 2 adult

Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab

Whimbrel 2 at least

Gannet 1 adult flew past the harbour mouth then continued south (09:20)

Gannet being chased off by a Herring Gull, providing a nice comparison of size.

It was good to see a live Gannet, there have been more than normal washed up dead this year (four, I often don't see any and rarely more than one)

Cormorant 26 on the wooden jetty

Cormorants on the wooden jetty as the Gannet flies over

Mediterranean gull 25 minimum. In the morning there was just one adult on Red Nab and one juvenile on No.1 outflow. But in the afternoon there were 24 adult/3rd calendar year on the beach near the wooden jetty. They were all catching Sandmason worms, even those in the middle of the beach, although some had already stopped eating and were just resting.

Adult Mediterranean gull surrounded by the tops of the tubes of Sandmason  worms.

Butterflies in the Nature Park included:

Red Admiral 

Large White

Comma

Gatekeeper 

Small White

Speckled Wood 

Common Blue

The early bird..........catches the cold!

A fresh and gusty SW wind. Overnight rain but only a few lightish showers during the day.

Just my stuff so far (MD) and not much of it. I woke early this morning feeing rough, I thought an early morning walk might freshen me up......it didn't. I came home full of a cold.

Just a short check from Red Nab to saltmarsh a couple of hours before high water.

Mediterranean gull 1 - just the metal ringed adult. This bird was the first to arrive this year.

Rock Pipit 3 - 1 on Red Nab and 2 along foreshore 

Goldfinch 2 - Red Nab

Linnet 10 - on saltmarsh 

Wheatear 3 - 2 juvenile and a female.

One of the juvenile Wheatears

It was feeding along the tideline at the saltmarsh with a group of Linnet, when I spooked them the Linnet did as they always do, rest on the top of the surrounding vegetation until I pass by. The Wheatear joined them.

This is the other juvenile, you can see it has a hint of rufous on its breast. It clearly isn't happy to see the adult join it.

Little Egret 17 - 2 on Red nab 15 on and around the saltmarsh 

Little Egret

Curlew c300 (250 on shore + 50 on Red Nab

Whimbrel 2 at least

Oystercatcher c150 (50 on shore + 100 on Red Nab)

Redshank 20

There were no small waders on the shore, but a flock of 5 Dunlin flew south.

Hopefully, the continuing wind will have blown something different in by the morning

One Knot........does not a summer end.

A light, mainly SW wind. Plenty of sunshine.

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Ringing and vis report from Jean:

Fewer birds caught today at Heysham NR, just 11 in 3 hours, but 2 of them were Willow Warblers, also 

1 Dunnock, 

2 Goldfinch, 

5 Greenfinch 

1 retrapped Blue Tit from Monday. 

One of the Goldfinches and one of the Greenfinches were starting to moult their flight feathers. 

Overhead on their way back to Africa were 40 Swifts, 15 Swallows and 6 House Martins.

South Shore (MD)

Just a very brief check if the foreshore mid morning.

Wheatear 1

Linnet 2 

Goldfinch 2

Swallow 2 individuals south

Nature Park (KE)

Brown Hawker ovipositing in the nature park pond this afternoon. 

Also seen:

Gatekeeper

Common Blue

Small Tortoiseshell

Comma

Peacock

Brimstone

Common Darter 

Male Common Darter

Heysham skear. Low water 14:30 (MD)

Red-breasted Merganser 2 female type

Great Crested Grebe 1

Little Egret 6

I didn't cross the innermost skear where again many waders were feeding. The numbers recorded here are the number seen near the skear edge plus those flying to the innermost skear and any birds visible there from the waterline, so almost certainly under recorded.

Oystercatcher 150

Curlew 100 

Redshank 88

Turnstone 69

Turnstone 

Dunlin 1 

Knot 1 still, largely, in summer plumage.

Knot and Oystercatcher 

This Large Yellow Underwing moth was in my greenhouse 

No need to ask how it got its name

Snipe 7 in one flock flew SW over my garden at 19:00.