The summer migrants appear to be leaving earlier than usual

Heysham Obs
Arrival for the Middleton and Heysham CES's was greeted by 'hooet' calls from Willow warblers on the move, rather like a calm morning in early August, not mid-July.  Unfortunately the north-north-easterly then freshened (very mixed bag of forecasts as to how strong it was going to be this far north and west) and combined with the unrelenting sun to impair both ringing sessions

Middleton & Heysham CES
The most notable features at Middleton, apart from the Willow Warblers tricking through, was an obvious exodus of Common Whitethroat where the only one caught was a surprise - ringed as an adult on 4th September 2007 - and a marked reduction in the number of Sedge and Reed Warblers.  Indeed, the latter species does not appear to have done well, despite a record number of singing males, with not a single juvenile to date.  In contrast, Grasshopper Warblers are having a perhaps surprisingly good year, giving the hammering from the weather their nest sites must have had.  Four more were caught this morning and last year's record ringing total almost reached (24 ringed so far & one returning male from last year).  The Heysham NR CES also revealed a small passage of Willow Warbler

Red Nab high tide
Oystercatcher 557, Redshank a surprising 128, Curlew down to 31, Black-headed Gull 240 and Med Gull 2 adults

Heysham Link Road
Barn Owl - 1 seen  05.00 to east of road approx opposite radio mast.

Moths
White Satin the best of a small catch.  First Udea lutealis of the year seen in the field and a hairy caterpillar agg. which, so far, is not proving easy to identify.  Thanks for todays and yesterdays pics Janet:

Where did the LRPs nest?!

Heysham Obs
A family party of four LRPS appeared on the model boat pond in the late afternoon - there is plenty of grotty industrial wasteland in the area, especially noting records earlier in the spring of at least a male visiting the model boat pond

Red Nab
Med Gull - 2 x adult and 1 x 3CY

Insects
Some decent numbers of butterflies including:

More Meds and moths

Heysham Obs
Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Curlew - 117
Whimbrel - 1
Med Gull - 2 x ad, 1 x juv

Moths
A slightly disappointing catch highlighted by Meal Moth with Dingy Footman and White Satin the best of the rest.................unless an obscure minute thing is new to science!

The Blackneck invasion continues apace

Heysham Obs
Middleton NR
A one-ringer effort at Middleton today with two nets on both sides of the road included the following new birds:  Sedge Warbler (10), Reed Warbler (1), Willow Warbler (6), Grasshopper Warbler (3), Whitethroat (3)

Moth trap
3 Blackneck this morning and a good variety of species without any major highlights 

Saturday 9th July

Heysham Obs
Sorry for the late posting

At least one Med Gull, a juvenile, still off Red Nab in very poor light conditions

The moth trap held Dingy Footman, Straw Underwing which were new for the year, also White Satin, Blackneck, and the plume S. zophodactyla

More autumnal firsts

Heysham Obs
Ocean Edge/Red Nab/outfalls
Med Gull - First 2 juveniles of the autumn (both unringed on at least 3/4 of the legs!), adult and 3CY
Whimbrel- one

Moths
A poor catch saw Dotted Clay and second brood Early Thorn open their accounts

There have been a few migrant moths in the last few days, mainly Silver Y, but also including a Small Mottled Willow (the dreaded 'Beet Army Worm') in my home trap at High Tatham.  Also an influx of Red Admiral butterflies and one or two Painted Lady and Humming-bird Hawk Moth, including one on the NE periphery of the Obs recording area in a garden adjoining Heysham Moss.  Thanks for the pic Janet

'Back of a lorry' or a great leap westwards?

Heysham Obs
The colonisation of north Lancashire by Ringlet has been accompanied by all sorts of 'intrigue', notably the source of the Gaitbarrows individuals.  Conversely, there have definitely been 'proper ones' marching along the Aire/Wenning gap to places like Thrushgill for the last five years or so

So where does yesterdays sighting of Ringlet by the Middleton model boat pond fit into this?  In this respect, Small Skipper was originally seen next to the Heysham lorry park way (80's/early 90's?? - data not to hand) before any 'corridors' linking the record to other spreading populations.   Hopefully there will be others..............

Ocean Edge/outfalls/Red Nab
Med Gull - 2 adults, one 2CY and the 3CY which appears to have about 5 old black-tipped primaries left to moult
Whimbrel - one

Brian Carlyle

Received the sad news today that Brian died last Saturday.  Brian has helped on several occasions on the reserve, notably conservation work and butterfly transects along the landscape strip.  He also acted as the lichen recorder for North Lancs Naturalists and he will be greatly missed

From rarity to routine in twelve months

Heysham Obs
The moth trap was pretty busy with a further TWO Blackneck the highlight.  Others included Small Dusty Wave, Small Clouded Brindle and perhaps the first time that Spectacle and Dark Spectacle have occurred here on the same night.  Antler and Rustic opened their account.  Migrants comprised two Silver Y and a Diamond-back Moth

Birds will be posted tomorrow (quick check of the outfalls before heading south)

Autumnal sandwiches

Heysham Obs
High tide check Ocean Edge/Red Nab
Sandwich tern - two roosting on OE saltmarsh
Med Gull - ad roosting OE saltmarsh
Whimbrel - one Red Nab
Common Sandpiper - one Red Nab
Sand Martin - one south

HN Reserve power walk
Reed Warbler - singing male by pagoda
Silver Y - one

Are you sure its only the 4th July..........

Heysham Obs
A perusal of the weather coming up, work committments and not the least being in an 'early rise' sleep pattern led to another session at Middleton NR this morning.  I was hoping for a few new birds amongst retraps from the previous two days.  The result was almost unbelievable for this early in the 'autumn' with the singing male Grasshopper Warbler nearest to the CES nets being the only capture which had also been caught/ringed during the previous two days

The statistics revealed that 52 new birds were ringed and other captures comprised the above retrap Grasshopper Warbler, a juvenile Blue Tit ringed in mid-June and a moulting adult Willow Warbler ringed last year.  The other feature was that, despite the ringing base being between the two sets of nets, only three same-day retraps were found.  Therefore birds were on the move, with Whitethroat being the most notable.  Therefore any ringer who is worried about 'overworking' a site because it is too early for major passage had perhaps better read this!

Species composition (retraps in brackets):  Linnet 1, Goldfinch 1, Swallow 1, Great Tit 1, Blue Tit 3 (1), Grasshopper Warbler 5 (1), Reed Warbler 1, Sedge Warbler 8, Dunnock 1, Lesser Whitethroat 2, Willow Warbler 10 (1), Wren 1, Common Whitethroat 13, Chiffchaff 4, Blackcap 1, Reed Bunting 2

Moths
Another White Satin and 4 Double Dart the best of the moth trap catch which unfortunately couldn't be checked early on, & some escaped in the sunny weather