Autumn passage underway

Almost no wind early on then a light NW(ish) breeze freshened slightly during the day. Sunny all day.

South Shore

Pete had a morning check from Ocean Edge

Yellow Wagtail 1 in-off then south (only record so far this year, no records last year)

Greenshank 1 nosy juvenile just below the foreshore 

Meadow Pipits 5 also in-off then south

I walked out to have a look at the waders along the waterline on the rising tide. (Malcolm).

The waders were all on a mud spit at the very edge of the recording area. I was expecting the waders on the spit to move closer when moved on by the tide, but the spit is longer and higher than recent years and it wasn't even covered at high water. By that time the feeding area closer in was already covered. The waders returned to the spit twice after being flushed by Peregrines.

Some of the waders flushed by Peregrines

A sample of waders on the mud spit

Minimum numbers

Knot 1,000

Grey Plover 450

Bar-Tailed Godwit 40

Dunlin 50

Closer in

Ringed Plover 8

Mediterranean gulls 3 adult

Linnet c60 on the saltmarsh as I walked out, but on return it was strangely silent.

Any large number of small birds, invariably attracts small bird eaters!
Sparrowhawk 

Little Egret 8 on the saltmarsh 

Adult Little Egret with black legs and yellow feet.
Juvenile Little Egret with completely yellow legs 

Meadow Pipit on foreshore 

One of three Rock Pipits along the foreshore 

Heysham Nature Reserve (Janet)

Female Common Darter

Peacock

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report by John

A ringing session this morning caught the first Grey Wagtails of the year, with hopefully many more to follow. The total catch was only eighteen birds, but all new ones. They comprised of;

Grey Wagtail    x4 

Chiffchaff          x6

Blackcap           x2

Reed Warbler    x2

Reed Bunting    x1

Great Tit           x1

Chaffinch          x1

Wren                 x1

These shots from Janet

Lesser Whitethroat 

Common Darters

Male Black-Tailed Skimmer

Male Emperor

Brimstone 

I checked out the main ponds (Malcolm).

An increase in wildfowl

Mute pair plus a cygnet on main pond another adult on the "no swimming" pond.

Mute Swan on the "no swimming" pond

Coot 13 including 2 small young

Moorhen 3

Little grebe just 1 summer plumage adult seen.

Mallard 24 mainly female/immature

Gadwall 6 - 3 male, 1 female and 2 female/immature

The males were scuffling over the female.

Teal 2 female/immature

Teal (left), two Mallard and an immature Coot

Cetti's Warbler 1 burst of song

Chiffchaff 2 calling

Swallow 2

One of Janet's shots from yesterday 

Other butterflies

Large White 1

Meadow Brown 1

Speckled Wood 2

Other dragonflies

Migrant Hawker 2

Brown Hawker 2 

Male Brown Hawker

Broad-bodied Chaser........

.........didn't quite make it today
but this male, dead on the surface can't have been there long.

Linnet numbers growing quickly

Mainly dry and sunny with just the odd light shower. A light SW wind

South shore (Malcolm)

A check on the beach this morning, then an evening stroll along the sea wall.

Linnet 60+ feeding amongst the flotsam on the saltmarsh 

21 Linnet in this shot

Lapwing 2 on saltmarsh 

Little Egret 9 between saltmarsh and No.2 outfall 

Having a scratch

With a Curlew

With Redshank

Whimbrel 2 seen in the morning and 1 heard in the evening 

Whimbrel 

Mediterranean gulls 13 minimum - 5 adult and 3 1st calendar year on Red Nab this morning. 10 adults and 1 1st calendar year on the beach by the wooden jetty this evening.

Three Meds, including the regular green ringed German bird (ANLT)
Their behaviour is different on these low neap tides, on spring tides the experienced
birds fiercely defend their own patch of sandmason worms, the same patch each day.
On neap tides they only seem to catch the worms in shallow water, then just rest
peacefully together.

Mallard 2 female type flew NW out into the bay

Rock Pipit 2 together on Red Nab

Rock Pipit

This swarm of Starlings descended on the sea wall this evening.

In the Nature Park

Brown Hawker 1

Common Dater 3

Female Common Darter

Red Admiral 1

Peacock 2

Small White 2

Speckled Wood 3

Meadow Brown 1

Male Meadow Brown (faded to light brown)

Peacock

A pair of Osprey

Heavy showers till late morning then mainly dry with some sunny spells by evening. A light south wind.

South shore (Malcolm)

A mid morning walk didn't look promising, the sea wall was closed for maintenance and it was raining hard. Still it didn't turn out too bad as I walked along the shore to check the outflows.

Rock Pipit 1 on foreshore 

Whimbrel 2

Whimbrel and a Curlew out from the foreshore 

Knot 50 including several red birds south along shipping lane

Juvenile Cormorants with Black-Headed gulls

Little Gull 1 adult feeding on No.2 outflow

Little and Black-Headed gulls

I normally stand on the sea wall and look down on the gulls.
Today this young Herring gull stood on the sea wall and looked down on me.

Mediterranean gull - just one adult (the regular green ringed German bird) turned up to feed on the beach by the wooden jetty. The beach is barely exposed on these low neap tides and the sandmason worms not so easy to catch. Plus I left early as I was distracted by..........

Osprey 2 adults. They came together from the north, but after a cursory look at the fishing area between the outflows one continued south. The other rested on the post at the end of No.2 outflow till the tide had ebbed further then caught a Bass before also heading south.

The gulls were aware of its presence, but basically just kept out of its way
It has a blue ring on its right leg

It soon caught a decent sized Bass when it did start fishing. I think it must have initially grabbed the Bass near its tail and the force of the Bass swimming off pulled the Osprey completely under the water for a few seconds (Bass are a very powerful fish and the Osprey would not have any control of it, holding from behind). This sequence of shots show the Osprey disappearing.

Just the tips of its primaries showing here, the next frame it was gone completely 

When it reemerged it was clear that it had been grappling with the Bass
underwater,  It had adjusted its grip, there is no way it could have originally
grabbed it below its head like this.

After a bit more juggling to get a better grip, it flew off south. Now its talons were fully occupied, the gulls suddenly became much braver!

This juvenile Peregrine Falcon kept spooking the gulls on the beach.

Shaun had a walk along the sea wall when it was reopened this evening.

19:30-20:15. 

Little Gull adult feeding on Outfall 2 then to over to number 1. 

Med Gull 21 - 4 1cy on Outfall 1 and 7 on Red Nab, with 9 adults. 

A group of c300 small gulls roosting off Ocean Edge not checked.

Kittiwake 1cy on Outfall 2.

Shag 2 juvs roosting on Wooden Pier with 122 Cormorants.

Pete saw 16 1cy Meds this afternoon, so minimum Med number 25

Little Gull the pick of the day

After a bit of early morning sunshine it was overcast with several heavy showers. A south wind.

Heysham skear - low water 12:20 (Malcolm)

Back to neap tides now so low water barely exposed the inner skear, perhaps just as well, as not so far to walk, and it rained all the time!

Eider 2

Wigeon 5 flew south 2 males and 3 female type 

First returning Wigeon

Great Crested Grebe 2

Little Egret 7

Herring gull 70

Just a shot of the skear, with Little Egret, Herring Gulls, Oystercatcher, Curlew,
Redshank (two barely visible) and a Cormorant 

Cormorants resting on conger rock, with the Manxman approaching 
through the gloom 

Oystercatcher 300

Curlew 25

Redshank 20

Turnstone 40

Ringed Plover 4

Ringed Plover

South shore (Malcolm)

Just a walk along the sea wall late afternoon on the rising tide. It only rained for half the time.

Mediterranean gulls 15 at least - 3 adults 5 1st calendar year feeding on the outflows. 3 1st calendar year and 4 adults on Red Nab (probably more, but most of the gulls were hunkered down and facing away).

First calendar year Mediterranean gull with a first calendar year
Black-Headed gull above

Adult Mediterranean gull

Kittiwake 1 first calendar year feeding on outflows

Little Gull 1 adult feeding on No.1 outflow.

Adult Little Gull

Migrant Hawker, catching the early morning sun at Janet's house
First record this year

More Meds, plus a gander into the future

Mainly overcast, but dry, with a decreasing SW wind.

South shore

Report by Shaun:

Heysham Outfalls. 06:30 - 10:00:

Med Gulls  64 - Adults/3cy 38, two 2cy and a minimum of 24 1cy.

Kittiwake two 1cy.

Osprey fishing from 06:30-06:40.

Little Egret 7 Ocean Edge. 

Wheatear at Lighthouse.

I checked the shore out from the saltmarsh on the rising tide this afternoon (Malcolm). 

On the saltmarsh - feeding on and around the flotsam left by the recent high spring tides .

Linnet 32

Pied Wagtail 24 

Reed Bunting 1 female type

Wheatear 1

A particularly rufous female/1st winter Wheatear

Six Linnet in this shot

All scattered by a female/immature Kestrel passing over

Whimbrel 2

Whimbrel

Redshank 18

Little Egret 3

On the shore

The Manxman is back in service 

Curlew 130

Oystercatcher 30 were the only waders (indeed the only birds) along the waterline. And nothing other than Oystercatcher and Curlew could be seen further south beyond the recording area.

It felt like these Lesser Black-Backed gulls were laughing at me!

Swallow 5 feeding low over the saltmarsh fringes and over the mud.

Swallow feeding low above the mud

These Herring and Lesser Black-Backed gulls looked to be trying to invent rugby! A ball made from Whelk egg cases and a Carrion Crow making a fine referee.

These pictures by Janet 

The sole remaining cygnet on Middleton Nature Reserve is looking well

Silver Y in Janet's garden

More than "just" out of the recording area, but nevertheless very interesting. 

Pale-bellied Brent goose four (2 adult plus 2 youngsters) are already back at Roosecote just over the bay. Something to watch out for.

A decent tally

A fresh SW wind with heavy showers

South Shore

Shaun Coyle and Pete Crooks did the early shift. Report by Shaun:

Heysham Outfalls. 06:00 - 10:00.

Sanderling 5 on the beach next to Outfall 2.

Med Gulls 55 - Adults/3cy 28, single 2cy and a minimum of 26 1cy. Darvics : White left, White right, Green right, Metal right. 

Kittiwake 2 1cy on Outfall 1, and 2 adults heading out.

Osprey fishing (successfully) from 07:30-07:40.

I headed out as Pete and Shaun were leaving.

Many of the 1st calendar year Mediterranean gulls were feeding on the seaward end of No.1 outflow. Slightly easier to see them with a dredger behind.

Shag 1st calendar year flew low past the lighthouse, possibly heading for the wooden jetty.

First calendar year Shag

I had another quick look this afternoon (Malcolm), by this time the SW wind was strong. Two juvenile Shags were in the harbour mouth. Possibly including this morning's bird.

They ended up inside the harbour, hopefully they will hang around

There must be at least 5 juvenile Shag in the recording area, as David Kaye also saw 3 off Heysham Head.

Cormorant, just out from the harbour mouth

The 1st calendar year Kittiwake appeared to be enjoying hanging on the wind as it lifted up the sloping sea  wall.

Wheatear 1 female type on Ocean Edge foreshore.

Rock Pipit 5 (1, 3, 1) on Red Nab

One of the solitary Rock Pipits

When I got back to my car this morning, an old lady was waiting for me 

Old Lady moth, teased till it flew to safety