Belated minimal midsummer WeBs

Heysham Obs
Red Nab/Ocean Edge
Oystercatcher - 207
Shelduck - 2
Ringed Plover - male Ocean Edge beach - another risky nesting attempt nearby?
Scattering of large, but no small, gulls.

Heliport/harbour
Oystercatcher - 2!!!
Cormorant - 3
plus a scattering of mainly nesting large gulls

Moths
Another Shaded Pug but catch down due to NE winds

Green Woodpecker and Little Ringed Plover reappear

Heysham Obs
Most of the action was at Middleton IE with Ocean Edge gulls down to:
Black-headed Gull - 3
Common Gull - 5 x 2CY, 1 x 3CY

Middleton IE
CES ringing included one male Grasshopper Warbler (of at least four singing first thing), two lots of recently fledged Sedge Warbler, two new adult female Lesser Whitethroat, a female Swallow with a massive brood patch and what appears to be the sole remaining Lapwing chick

Other sightings included:
Green Woodpecker - recorded by Malcolm during the WeBS
Reed Warbler - at least 3 singing males
Little Ringed Plover - male, seemingly on its own just feeding on the edge of the model boat pond
Tufted Duck - now 5 on the model boat pond (4 males)
Coot - 7 chicks seen on the weBS
Mallard - 7 chicks seen on the WeBS
Little Grebe - recorded at three sites
On the downside, only one House Martin and one Swift were seen and no sign of any recently fledged Reed Bunting

Moths
Perhaps surprisingly, Small Clouded Brindle was the most numerous moth in an actinic catch at Middleton with Shaded Pug and Eudonia pallida also notable.  More Shaded Pugs in the Heysham NR hut trap.  The highlights from the hut trap were the first Shark for several years, along with the first Broad-barred White of the year

Another baby wader survives against the odds

Heysham Obs
No time to do the coastal stuff today

Middleton IE
Reed Warbler - 3 singing males, two western marsh, one central marsh
Lapwing - at least one young just about to fly by the model boat pond and the female seeming to be sitting on eggs again
Tufted Duck - pair doing nothing on model boat pond (nest failure by the local pair?)

Insects
Black-tailed Skimmer - one on model boat pond, but too windy for dragonflies
Shaded Pug - two in the Heysham trap - Heysham NR & Middleton IE the only regular Lancs sites

Baby bird time

Heysham Obs
Work and Frank Spencer-like ineptitude with computers where slotting maps and the like into text is concerned meant that the only way I was going to see a bird of interest was if it was brought into the office.  This is what happened at 1330hrs.  A dog walker appeared at the door with an 'injured bird'.  This transpired to be one of two Ringed Plover chicks which have led a charmed life on Half Moon Bay beach.  The dog had chased one and it crouched "injured" and was carefully picked up and brought to the office in a huge cardboard box!

I ringed it and carefully released it back on to the beach where it immediately established vocal communication with at least one parent

CES
The only things of note on the Heysham CES were two newly-fledged Lesser Whitethroat

Mammal
A Grey Squirrel was messing about under the dog-walker cars along the erserve entrance road

Thats more like it!

Heysham Obs
After yesterdays nadir, allowing Canada Goose to take pole position, a few more gulls this morning comprising:

Ocean edge foreshore/Red Nab at high tide
Med Gull - 2CY with blackish head on sand opposite the old Pontins site
Black-headed Gull - 13
Common Gull - 8
Oystercatcher - 207

Middleton I.E

Four-spot Chaser  13+  just one pond checked
Black-t Skimmer   1+ male on the Darter pool

Early Marsh Orchid  1 subsp. coccinea.I am not aware this has been recorded here before (TW).

Baseline birding

Heysham Obs
Always good to start off with zero or nearly zero at the beginning of an assumed build-up of post breeding season gulls - it gives a sense of coverage completeness.  Was half-expecting the first 'autumnal' Med at high tide this morning.  In the event, a scrutiny of Ocean Edge foreshore and Red Nab produced:

Canada Goose - 2
Black-headed Gull - 1
Common Gull - 2
Oystercatcher - 154
plus large gulls

Lesser Whitethroat singing at Ocean Edge entrance

Middleton for a change

Birds:
Grasshopper Warbler reeling away whilst I moth trapped late evening 8/6/10

Moths:
A good turn out in slightly windy conditions.

Silver Hook was a good find and miles away from its Silverdale / White Moss stronghold.

3 Shaded Pugs were the first Lancashire records away from HNR in years, albeit in the same tetrad.

3 Elephant Hawks and 2 Poplar Hawks around the light at the same time were a fine sight.

42 species in all.

Late news 4/6/10: Scrobipalpa acuminatella (gen det male) was new for Northern VC60, thanks to Steve Palmer for help with this one.

Moths Rule again...

Heysham

No reports as yet

Moths
This Silky Wainscot was trapped in the hut two nights ago - the third record for this site.  It's "silkiness", which is very obvious when viewing the actual moth is not apparent in this image.

Good news

North Harbour Wall to Half Moon Bay
The good news is that 2 of the 3 Ringed Plover chicks have survived and are now well grown with 2 males and a female looking out for them.
60-70 Oystercatcher still hanging around (mostly first summers).
7 Mute Swans flew in on an awayday to Heysham then flew off back to the north side of the Bay.
Whitethroat still singing near the Zoo cafe.

Not so much “news” as an observation:
The rain front mid evening brought an influx of swifts that joined those routinely feeding high above Heysham Head.
The insects and therefore the birds were much lower than normal. Over 50 counted above Half Moon Bay meadow at 7:00pm

Late news....

Moths again I'm afraid.

On May 26th a putative (but totally melanistic and therefore unidentifable) May Highflier was taken from the trap. Jizz not really sufficient for this species.

On dissection it turned out to be Lancashire's first Ruddy Highflier since 2004. The remains have now been confirmed by the Lancashire recorders. How many more get by?

Even later news:

Ruddy Highflier 30-5-10

A second individual was "Sampled" on May 30th (Just confirmed - Gen det male) and also proved to be Ruddy Highflier. Have we been missing something?