Belated Caspian gull!

A dry day with sunny spells. A light west wind

This gull seen on Heysham skear on 17 May 2025 is a 1st summer Caspian Gull with a Dutch ring seen previously at Redcar tarn x 2, Dewsbury and Sheffield.  Second record for the Lancaster and District area following one which just crept in occasionally at Fluke Hall a couple of years or so ago.  

The scheme manager advised that over 80% of the chicks identified as Caspian have Caspian gulls for both parents.

Dutch ringed first summer Caspian Gull

I photographed it on the skear in May (Malcolm). Unfortunately Pete had no internet access at that time, I identified it as a Herring Gull and somehow managed to find a UK scheme that matched the ring configuration. It was only when they never responded and I saw the Dutch scheme did the option for it being a Caspian Gull manifest itself. Fortunately I still had the above shots for Pete to check and confirm the identity......all's well that ends well!

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 09:15 - 10:45

There were c300 gulls on the skear but spread far and wide. We are on spring tides now and there is an awful lot of skear exposed.

Great Crested Grebe 3 (1 + 2)

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Little Egret 7

Two Little Egret, but this shot is really to show the archipelago of Honeycomb 
Worm reefs that currently flank the northern side of the skear.

The waders are likely to be woefully underestimated as they to were spread thinly.

Oystercatcher 600

Curlew 70

Redshank 95

Turnstone - none seen out on the skear but 33 closer to shore

Ringed Plover 3 flew east from the outer skear, probably a different 3 close inshore 

Dunlin 1

Osprey 1 feeding, or at least looking for an opportunity to feed in the channel to the north of the skear. By this time the tide had been coming in for an hour and was rushing through the channel, not ideal for spotting fish.

Osprey

It was scanning the water from a considerable height, they must have superb vision! This clip shows just how high it was, but still clearly scanning the water for an opportunity.

South shore (Malcolm) 11:00 - 12:00

I went to check the gulls on Red Nab on the rising tide.

Mediterranean gulls 9 - 8 adults and a juvenile. Very flighty though, flushed by something unseen once and they relocated just below the sea wall. I was just about to go to the wall to check them, when a dog flushed them again. I gave up, mainly as I was ready for lunch and my rumbling tummy would surely have spooked them again!

Still I managed to read two ringed adults, a white one that has been previously seen and a returning yellow ringed German bird.

Ringed as a chick at Leipzig Germany in 2019.
It was first seen at Heysham the same year, and most years since 

Wheatear on the foreshore 

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Southern Hawker

Black-Tailed Skimmer

A very mobile red darter looked to be a Red-Veined Darter. But not certain.

Small Skipper and a "weevil"

Comments from Alison - It's one of the Seed weevils. 
Based on the fact  it's on clover and that the legs look to be a different colour
than the body. It's probably a Clover Seed Weevil - Protapion apricans.  
But I can't be 100% sure. 

Common Blue

Gatekeeper

Surprisingly, only two Copper-Tipped Longhorn moths could be found

Shaded Broad-Bar

Cormorant 

Swallow taking a dip

An increase in Juvenile Meds

Another dry and mainly overcast day with a west breeze

South shore

Ian Walker did a thorough check of the Mediterranean gulls 23 minimum, including 12 juveniles and  2 x 2nd calendar year. Likely an additional 2 birds on Red Nab, but they could have flown from the feeding area so not included in the count.

Two of the adults were colour ringed, one white and one yellow, unfortunately feeding at the seaward end of the beach by the old wooden jetty.

Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab

I walked from the saltmarsh then along the sea wall 09:00 - 10:30 (Malcolm)

Wheatear 1 near the slipway 

Wheatear

Both the Wheatear and a Pied Wagtail were more interested in preening than me.

This adult Mediterranean gull tends to feed near the sea wall
near to the edge of No.1 outfall 

This is the white ringed bird, it had moved higher up the beach and
revealed itself to be the Dutch bird seen yesterday. Its only sighting 
since leaving last year was at Brockholes Nature Reserve 24/06/25
The yellow ringed bird had already moved on.

An adult with two juvenile Mediterranean gulls,
plus a juvenile Black-Headed gull stretching its wings

These are resting Black-Headed gulls in the middle of the feeding beach
 by the wooden jetty. The reason most of the Meds were at the seaward end is
that there are no Sandmason worms tubes exposed closer in at the moment

In the Nature Park

Gatekeeper 3

Meadow Brown 4

Large White 3

Small White 3

Red Admiral 6

Speckled Wood 3

Common Blue 5

Not bad considering that the sun was behind the clouds

Meadow Brown

Large White and a Red Admiral 

Common Blue

Another Med returns

Warm and dry, despite being predominantly overcast. A light west wind after a calm start.

South shore (Malcolm) 09:00 - 10:30

No Wheatear seen this morning, perhaps it has finally moved on.

Rock Pipit 2 - one on Red Nab and one on the wooden jetty

Shelduck 1 - first seen for a while, but the numbers of small snails on the surface of the mud are increasing rapidly 

Shelduck

Little Egret 4

Grey Heron 1

Mediterranean gull 8 - 6 adults, a 2nd calendar year and a juvenile, all on the beach between the wooden jetty and No.1 outfall.  One of the adults had a white ring.

This is the white ringed adult, it has just caught a Sandmason worm.
Ringed in the Netherlands as a chick in 2019, it was first seen at Heysham 
in 2020 and has returned every year since. Hopefully it has been seen 
elsewhere since it left last year. It normally is, but not outside of the UK 
apart from 2021, when it was seen in Belgium 

A Curlew and several Redshank were also after the Sandmason worms. The Curlew gets one at the end of this clip.

Grey Seal 1 feeding at the seaward end of No.1 outfall

Janet took this shot of a small Dunlin flock as she walked the promenade 
past the play area off Knowleys Rd

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 16:30 - 18:00

Great Crested Grebe 1

Great Crested Grebe

No Eider or Mergansers seen

Oystercatcher 150, but more were arriving all the time.

Curlew 90+

Redshank 110

Turnstone 45

Dunlin 2

Ringed Plover 3

Two of the Ringed Plovers

Gulls 200 large gulls, predominantly Herring, two with rings, but both seen previously.

Herring and a Lesser Black-Backed gull
The central bird is ringed

Black-Headed gulls 45 shrimping in the drainage channels

Lesser Black-Backed juvenile closer to the promenade 

Hummingbird Hawkmoth. Another? Or lingering?

A dry but mainly overcast day. A west wind.

South shore (Malcolm)

Just two quick checks, saltmarsh to Red Nab on the rising tided this morning, then along the sea wall this evening.

Wheatear 1 immature near the slipway

Almost all trace of juvenile plumage now gone

Rock Pipit 3 on Red Nab

Mediterranean gulls 9 - just one adult and a juvenile on Red Nab this morning. 6 adults on the beach by the wooden jetty this evening. Plus 3 juvenile alternating between resting and feeding on the outfalls.

Adult Mediterranean gull

Juvenile Mediterranean gull

A very young juvenile Black-Headed gull (left)
The older Black-Headed gull on the right is moving to first winter plumage 

Grey Seal 1 feeding at the seaward end of No.1 outfall

Grey seal bottom left

In the Nature park this evening 

Hummingbird Hawkmoth 1 on the Buddleia between the white barrier and the small anemometer. Unfortunately, it headed towards the small anemometer before I could get a shot, and I couldn't relocate. There are a lot of Buddleia bushes around!

This is the bush that it was on. The same bush where Alison and Kevin 
saw one on 13th July. The small anemometer in the background 

Butterflies 

Red Admiral 5

Painted Lady 1

Meadow Brown 2

Gatekeeper 3

Large White 2

Green-Veined White 1 (not often seen here)

Common Blue several

Speckled Wood 4

Painted Lady

Green-Veined White

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Common Whitethroat 

Red Admiral enjoying Blackberry juice 

the lane behind Bell Aire Park (Alison)

I'm still seeing lots of 7-spot Ladybirds but today also 14-spot. Also a large number of Figwort weevils and their rather slug like larvae

14-spot Ladybird 

Figwort weevil

Figwort weevil Larvae