First Wheatear of autumn

Some overnight rain, then a dry and sunny day. A west breeze.

South shore - Malcolm 12:00 13:30

Wheatear 1 on the foreshore 

Wheatear

Rock Pipit 3 on Red Nab, this one feeding amongst the rocks

Linnet 3 on Red Nab 

Linnet

Little Egret 3

Little Egret 

There were quite a few large gulls resting towards the end of No.2 outfall
They all lifted twice as I walked along the sea wall. Both times I managed
to locate an Osprey heading south. Probably the same bird.

Osprey

Mediterranean gulls 13 gathered on the feeding beach by the wooden jetty shortly after it became exposed by the ebbing tide. There had only been 2 before the mud was exposed.

Plenty of Sandmason worm tubes showing

There were 12 Mediterranean gulls at this point

This latecomer started by patrolling the outfall, which is uncommon at the best of times, but there were no other gulls feeding on the outfall, so there was unlikely to be much food available. Turned out that this was the Mediterranean gull that chooses to feed close to the outfall, high up the shore.

This juvenile Herring gull in the harbour has found the wing of another juvenile 

It wasn't clear if it was trying to eat it or coax it back to life

Whimbrel 2

This Whimbrel has a less obvious pale crown stripe than typical 

Curlew

Redshank 11

Turnstone 5

Dunlin 8

Ringed Plover 2

There were a few butterflies between the lighthouse and waterfall,
Small White 7, Meadow Brown 3 and this Painted Lady 

Middleton Nature Reserve - Malcolm 16:00 16:45

It looks like it's going to be a hot sunny week, so I checked the main and "no swimming" ponds to set the benchmark for dragonflies. It was surprisingly low!

Just two dragonflies seen, a female Brown Hawker on the "no swimming" pond and a male Black-Tailed Skimmer on the main pond.

No Emperors seen and no Small Red-eyed Damselflies 

There were a few Common Blue and Bluetail Damselflies, but not many.

Common Blue Damselfly 

Common Bluetail Damselfly 

Not really a lot of butterflies either

Small White 3

Gatekeeper 2

Common Blue 1

Small White

Gatekeeper 

Female Common Blue

3 Mute Swans on the main pond plus 2 on the "no swimming" pond

c30 Mallard total both ponds

6 Gadwall "no swimming" pond.

15 Coot and 4 Moorhen total both ponds

Common Snipe flushed from main pond

Male Mallard moulting into breeding plumage 

Gadwall - there are feathers everywhere!

Time and tide......

Mainly overcast with an odd light shower. A light west breeze

Just my stuff so far (Malcolm), and I only had time for one short outing 

South shore - 10:45 - 11:45

Linnet 7 at the saltmarsh and 4 on Red Nab

Rock Pipit 2 along the foreshore and at least 2 more on Red Nab

One of the foreshore Rock Pipits

This one on Red Nab had just had a bath

Little Egret 6  - 2 on Red Nab the others along the sea wall

Little Egret catching a Common Goby

Curlew 40+  - most in small flocks heading north, but a few on the shore

Whimbrel at least 2

Whimbrel 

Oystercatcher c200 heading north in several flocks

Redshank 21

Turnstone 5

Redshank and Turnstone 

Mediterranean gulls 6 - I'd left my walk as late as I could and there were already six Mediterranean gulls on the sea above the feeding beach by the wooden jetty. But I didn't have time to wait and see if more arrived when the mud was exposed.

Mediterranean gull arriving at the feeding beach, before it was exposed

Two Mediterranean gulls waiting for the mud to be exposed and feeding commence

Nothing much in the Nature Park. 

One each Painted Lady and Red Admiral.

Small White 3

Speckled Wood 2

Meadow Brown 5

Common Darter 1

Red Admiral 

Dunnock

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.