Snatch and grab Med

 A warm sunny day with a light variable breeze.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report by Alan:

Three nets set this morning from 06.00.  It was very quiet for the first hour or so.  There had been a heavy dew and the birds don't seem to start moving about until the vegetation begins to dry off.

Just 21 birds caught, the majority of which were juveniles.  No more caught after 10.00.

Chiffchaff  1

Common Whitethroat  1

Lesser Whitethroat  1

Cetti's Warbler  1

Sedge Warbler  2

Reed Warbler  6

Blackcap  3

Bullfinch  1

Robin  2

Wren  1

Long-tailed Tit  2

Janet is currently restricted to short outings and just a mobile phone camera. Still she manages some nice shots.

Painted Lady in my garden

Small Heath - Middleton Nature Reserve 

South shore Malcolm 10:30 - 11:30

Linnet 2 on saltmarsh plus 2 along the sea wall

Rock Pipit 3 (1 + 2) on Red Nab

Little Egret 6 - 3 flew east the others along the wall

Osprey at least 1 - as I was walking out a couple walking back said that they had seen one fishing, before being chased off by gulls. I didn't see one walking out but one headed south as I was walking back.

Just record shots, it was quite distant 

I had timed my walk to check the feeding beach by the wooden jetty as it was exposed by the ebbing tide. Somewhat surprisingly, there was only one Mediterranean gull there. Possibly linked to the earlier Osprey activity. There were quite a few Oystercatchers and they were catching the Sandmason worms. I never understood why more waders don't take advantage of this feeding opportunity. Perhaps today's activities may be part of the reason.

The Mediterranean gull had decided not to bother trying to catch the Sandmason worms, but instead watch the Oystercatchers and try and pinch their worms. In this instance it wasn't fast enough and the Oystercatcher ended up with the worm.

In this sequence you can see that the worms are long, which means it takes time to completely extract them from the mud and then swallow it. So there is plenty of time and plenty of worm for the gull to grab at. 

The worm isn't completely out of the mud at this point.

This time the Med gets the Lion's share of the worm.
Not so bad for the Oystercatcher when there is only one feeding Med,
but sometimes there are more than 30 here

Redshank 14 scattered around 

Whimbrel 1 flew between the outfalls calling

In the Nature Park

Just a few butterflies including:

Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Common Blue, Specked Wood, Small White and Meadow Brown

Common Darter 1

Common Darter

Southern Hawker 1

Southern Hawker

Heysham skear - Malcolm 15:15 - 16:30

Little Egret 4

Mediterranean gull 1 flew south over the skear

Mediterranean gull heading south

c400 Large gulls, mainly Herring gulls. Three ringed birds were seen. Two are regulars but one not seen since 2nd June

N:05S ringed at Bowland in 2023

Oystercatcher c1500

Curlew c50

Redshank c60

Turnstone 28

Ruddy Darters now at HNR

A dry sunny day with a light west wind.

Heysham Nature Reserve - Kevin 

Clouded Yellow 1 on the plateau 

Ruddy Darter 1 male on the boardwalk 

Male Ruddy Darter - on the boardwalk that stretches out over the watercourse 
and reeds, which is nice easy access 

Heysham skear - Malcolm 10:00 - 11:30

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Red-breasted Merganser 

Little Egret 4

Gulls mainly Herring gulls c350 (just one previously seen ringed bird seen)

Common Tern 1 - it was alternating between fishing and resting, until a Juvenile Peregrine arrived and scattered everything.

It had a red ring

There was no chance of reading its ring in flight. I had to get close
while it was resting 

I managed just before the Peregrine arrived. It is one ringed as a chick at the
Conder Pool in 2024. It has been seen there several times this summer

Oystercatcher c1500 (I would have estimated less before the Peregrine concentrated them)

Curlew c50

Redshank 150+

Turnstone c60

It was nice seeing small waders scurrying around the skear again.

A nice shot of Heysham Head and a flock of Redshank

Even this close up, you can lose Turnstones against the background 

Middleton Nature Reserve - main pond - Malcolm

A afternoon check of the insects 

A Lesser Emperor was glimpsed as it was chased across the pond by an Emperor

Emperor 3 male 1 female

Brown Hawker 1 male

Black-Tailed Skimmer 1 male

Common Darter several males and at least 2 females

Black-Tailed Skimmer

This pair of Common Darters are ovipositing 

Common Darters

Small Red-eyed Damselfly at least 4. The water level is up slightly and there isn't as much surface weed.

Common Blue and Small Red-Eyed Damselflies 

Butterflies 

Red Admiral 1

Painted Lady 4

Several white, both Small White and Green-veined White

Meadow Brown several 

Common Blue 2

Speckled Wood several along the track around the pond

This Koi Carp c35cm long emerged from the margins and ploughed through the subsurface weed.

Ringed Plovers return

Showers in the morning but fine with sunny spells in the afternoon. A light NW wind.

Heysham skear - Malcolm 13:00 - 14:00

Eider 1 

Little Egret 4

Two Little Egrets and well scattered gulls

Gulls, mainly Herring gulls c200

Oystercatcher c1000

Curlew c50 many were feeding in the pools.

Redshank 50+ in several small groups

Turnstone 10

Turnstone 

Dunlin 2 in summer plumage

Ringed Plover 7 (2 and 5)

Ringed Plover

Red Nab - Malcolm 14:30 - 15:00

Mediterranean gulls 17 including 1 juvenile 

Juvenile Mediterranean gull surrounded by Black-Headed gulls

Four Mediterranean gulls and a Black-Headed gull (left)

The green ringed German Mediterranean gull was amongst them.
We have now received its history, unfortunately it hasn't been seen again, since
leaving us last September. It is now 5164 days since it was ringed as a chick.

In the Nature Park

Painted Lady 1

Red Admiral 2

Large White 1

Small White 5

Meadow Brown 5

Speckled Wood 2

Common Darter 1

Common Darter

Insects grounded

Very strong SW to W winds all day, accompanied with heavy, but short showers.

South shore - Malcolm 13:45 - 14:30

A "bracing" walk along the sea wall on the rising tide saw very little.

Little Egret 4 on Red Nab

Little Egrets

Just one Rock Pipit seen on Red Nab

Plenty of gulls on the outfalls, but nothing different 

Curlew 150+ south in many small groups

Curlew

Cormorant and Oystercatcher following the trough of a wave

The Nature Park was largely protected from the wind. But even so the few butterflies around were either very low or resting on the ground.

Meadow Brown 2

Painted Lady 2

Gatekeeper 1

Speckled Wood 2 

Small White 1

Small White

Painted Lady

Gatekeeper 

Meadow Brown

Speckled Wood

Middleton Nature Reserve - Malcolm

The sun came out briefly as I was passing so I just did a check of the main pond from the car park. No sign of any Dragonflies on the wing.

Mute Swan with a Moorhen, gulls and plenty of feathers

Juvenile Mallard with a particularly well defined supercilium

Lesser Emperor showing well, but very mobile

Showers, short, but heavy. Still warm despite only occasional sunshine. Light variable breezes.

South shore 

Pete checked from Ocean Edge

Hummingbird Hawk-moth on lavender at Ocean Edge entrance 

Mediterranean gull 12 on Red Nab

Shag on wooden jetty

Middleton Nature Reserve - Malcolm 15:15 - 16:30

Main Pond

Mute Swan 3

Mallard 2 well grown broods with Mum

Common Snipe 1

Swallow 3

Emperor at least 5 males and a female

Lesser Emperor 1 male

Brown Hawker 1 female

Common Darter 4 males and a female

The Lesser Emperor was patrolling the pond and being chased by the Blue Emperors whenever it encroached into their territories. I saw it several times, but on each occasion it just seemed to appear out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly!

Lesser Emperor. The last sighting here was on 10th July so this
is likely a new arrival 

Common Darter

Small Red-eyed Damselfly just one pair in tandem seen. 

Although the female wasn't really seen as she was below the water surface.

Common Blue Damselfly 

"No swimming" pond

Mute Swan 1

Gadwall 4

Mallard 8

Coot 8

Moorhen 2

There were more Small Red-eyed Damselflies on this pond 10+

Small Red-eyed Damselflies 

Emperor 3 males

Brown Hawker 1 male

Pond in the southern section of the reserve 

Ruddy Darter at least 2 males, no females seen

Ruddy Darter

Common Darter 1 male and 1 female

Migrant Hawker 1 male

Sparrowhawk soaring to the east

Long-Tailed Tits feeding party of at least 8 including juveniles 

Juvenile Long-Tailed Tits

Butterflies seen during the visit

Brimstone 1

Painted Lady 1

Red Admiral 3

Peacock 1

Gatekeeper 1

Meadow Brown lots

Green-Veined White 4

Speckled wood 4