.......and then there were none!

A warm sunny day with a light variable breeze.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Report by Alan:

At last a windless morning allowed setting of mist nets at Middleton, after most of yesterday spent on ride maintenance.  There has been little opportunity over the last few weeks for ringing.

The majority of the catch were Reed Warblers, but no young trapped yet.

 

Reed Warbler 5 + 2 retraps

Chiffchaff  1 + 3 retaps

Singles of each of Robin, Song Thrush, Jay, Willow Warbler, Wren and Cetti's Warbler. 

A couple of shots by Janet from yesterday 

Lesser Whitethroat 

Drinker moth caterpillar 

Heysham Head

Janet confirmed Rock Pipits feeding young - pictures to follow when Janet's internet is restored

Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

Two checks again today, but no sign of any Stonechats. Hopefully it's just me being useless. Not that there aren't any predators around.......

This Buzzard is targeting small prey, it has a small rodent here

It took it to this small copse between the substation and the bypass

Then immediately returned to hunting 

Not sure what it has in these two shots, possibly a young Weasel.
But whatever, another small prey

Female Kestrel. She has a metal ring, not ringed in the recording area
as the only two Kestrels ringed here (1996 and 2015) were both males. 

Wood Pigeon several as always

Stock Dove 2 

Stock Doves

One of two recently fledged Carrion Crows

You can still see the remnant of its gape.

Song Thrush after slugs again

Swallows 6

Reed Buntings seen and heard

Common Whitethroat seen and heard

Cetti's warbler 2 singing

Chiffchaff 2 singing

Sedge warbler seen

Male Linnet

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 15:00 - 16:00

Eider 13

12 Eider in this group plus a solitary female

Red-Breasted Merganser 3 a male plus a pair. 

Great Crested Grebe 1

Little Egret 4

Oystercatcher 150

Curlew 4

Gulls - probably 500, but today's breeze was no good for shrimping, so most were just resting.....

........some on the the rocks

..........and many on the sea (the Eider are in this shot too)

I managed to read two ringed Herring gulls and, amazingly, neither seen
here before. Details awaited

A change in behaviour and new butterflies emerging

A sunny day with a fresh west wind.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Plenty of Swallows, House Martins and a Swift, feeding over the main pond

Swift

House Martin 

A particularly acrobatic Swallow

First Meadow Brown of the year

Burnet Companion 

Common Darter

Heysham Skear (Malcolm) 14:30 - 16:00

Eider 2

Female Eider

Male Eider

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Female and male Red-breasted Merganser

Great Crested grebe 1

Great Crested grebe

The only waders were 200 Oystercatchers

Gulls 600 mainly Herring, but a few Lesser Black-Backed. The west wind providing easy shrimping options.

Some of the gulls shrimping along the waterline.

I managed to see three ringed birds, but all seen previously here.

This one is the only one that you could call regular. It has been seen eight
times since first seen on the 7th May. Interestingly, while most of the other
gulls were shrimping it was still after the seed mussels.
Ringed 02/07/24 at Bowland

The trouble with shrimping birds is that you sometimes have to wait
for the right wave. Also ringed at Bowland 02/07/24. But only seen once before

Carrion crows don't always get a mention, but there are always some. Four today

Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

I checked twice today, morning and afternoon. The water table has risen considerably again, I don't know if that has any relevance, but the Stonechat behaviour has changed.

Stonechat 1 male. No longer near the road, but further west into the wetlands. I saw him carrying food a couple of times but there was no singing or calling today. The only place I saw him take food to was this bush.

I'm hoping that the female is on the nest in this bush

This is looking from the road, the bush above is circled

No sign of any youngsters on either visit, and I couldn't even spot the male this afternoon, although it isn't so easy looking into the afternoon light. I checked further to the south this morning hoping to locate at least one youngster. They surely can't be totally self sufficient yet. 

Buzzard one seen soaring and "hovering" on both visits. Today's west wind seemed ideal for hovering.

Kestrel 1 also hovering 

Grey Heron 1

Reed Bunting 1

Swallows and House Martins feeding

Warblers

Cetti's warbler seen carrying food and heard singing, probably not the same bird.

Chiffchaff 2 singing 

Sedge Warbler 1 seen

Common Whitethroat 1 seen (although not immediately recognised!)

One wet Whitethroat 

Greenfinch eyeing up this winter's food supply

Ringlet two together, or rather chasing each other around, this afternoon. First record this year.

Ringlet, a rarity here until recently, now common.
They will be showing everywhere soon.

20:50 a skein of geese sounding like Canada Geese flew over  Janet's house

Very little time and even less opportunity today

Light rain on and off all day today, with some heavier showers in the afternoon. A light SW wind.

I didn't have much time today and no other reports so far. So just my morning check of Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

Only one male Stonechat seen this morning, he was still flitting around with food, but the youngsters were not taking advantage of his offerings so regularly today. Presumably, they are at least partially fending for themselves, and perhaps getting a little choosy!

He couldn't seem to find any takers for this caterpillar 

He was flitting around with it for five minutes. I didn't see if he finally managed to offload it, ate it himself or discarded it.

There are at least three young, but they are doing really well at keeping out of sight. A great survival tactic, but how often do youngsters behave sensibly? I only managed a few very brief glimpses, hopefully that will change as they become more proficient flyers.

Grey Heron 1

Buzzard at least 1 calling from the copse

At one point there were 10 Swallows, 2 House Martins and a Swift feeding

And adult Blue tit followed by a line of youngsters flew by

Reed Bunting 2

Reed Bunting

Common Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler seen

Chiffchaff and Cetti's warbler singing

This Song Thrush has a slug......

.....but it needs some processing before feeding to its young.

It finds and "cleans" another slug before heading off to feed them to its, I am sure very grateful, young.

......and then there were two!

Heavy early morning showers, and some lighter ones in the afternoon. A light NW wind to begin with, but it drifted to SW by the afternoon.

Imperial Rd (Malcolm) 08:30 - 09:00

I went this morning to better understand exactly what is happening with the Stonechat family. But ended up being more confused than ever.

The male was still feeding at least three youngsters hidden in the bushes and undergrowth, but today he seemed to be advertising that he had food and waited till a youngster called out to be fed. He seemed to be everywhere!

Then, at one point at least, there were two adult male Stonechats! I only saw two at the same time once, I don't know if the second bird was just attracted by the sounds of feeding and moved on. Or helped with the feeding. Or if he has his own territory nearby. More investigation required!

Buzzard 1 at least. This one flew into the copse through a gauntlet of crows.

Buzzard

Kestrel 1

Shelduck 1 west

Canada geese 12 west

Canada geese

Grey Heron 1

Little Egret 1

Reed Bunting 1

Reed Bunting 

Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush both heard.

Greenfinch 6 including at least 4 juveniles 

Goldfinch several

Chaffinch 1 singing

Linnet 2

The only warblers seen or heard was a Chiffchaff and Sedge warbler.

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 14:30 - 15:30

A check before low water saw very little.

Gulls 400, an increase probably due to the SW wind providing better shrimping opportunities, although most were just resting when I checked. No ringed birds seen.

Little Egret 2

Nothing seen on the sea except gulls and a single cormorant.

Cormorant 

Oystercatcher 500 were the only waders.