Mainly insects today

The wind shifted to the south. Some overnight rain and the odd shower during the day, but some sunny spells.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just my stroll this afternoon so far (MD)

Mute Swan

I was a bit worried when I arrived, there were two Cygnet and an adult on the peninsula of the main pond. I thought the female from Tim Butler had brought her young over.

But later, the adult revealed itself to be the aggressive male from the "no swimming" pond. The female was still there with the other seven cygnets. A check of Tim Butler located the female with her two cygnets, although I didn't see the male. 

Mallard the female with her 10, now full sized young are still around.

Gadwall 1 female with 3 chicks

Female Gadwall with chicks

Little grebe just one adult seen today.

There weren't many warblers singing, but I eventually managed seven species. As a marked change from recents visits, one of the previous most regularly heard species, Common Whitethroat, was today the last species and only one heard.

Cetti's warbler 1 on central marsh

Sedge warbler 1

Reed warbler 1

Blackcap 2

Chiffchaff and Willow warbler 3 or 4 each

Common Whitethroat 1

Dragonflies:

Not many, only Emperors were active all around the reserve.

Black-Tailed Skimmer 3 male on main pond

Broad-Bodied Chaser 1 male on main pond

Brown Hawker at least 2

Butterflies:

Gatekeeper - this is the first I've seen or heard of this year, but suddenly they were everywhere 20+

Male Gatekeeper 

Meadow Brown c10

A female Meadow Brown can look similar to a Gatekeeper,
but the eyes always gives it away.

Ringlet at least 4 in 3 locations

Large Skipper 2

Small Skipper 5+

Red Admiral 1

Comma 1

Speckled Wood 4

Small White 4+

Finally, these Hoverfly were mating. It's not often you get a clear view of a stationary hoverfly (perhaps stationary is a bit harsh, but certainly not vigorous!).  These were handsomely marked, but I had to look them up. I believe them to be Helophilus pendulus. One of their common names is Footballer - not the only ones I be watching today!

Hoverflies

Heysham makes excellent contribution to National Moth Day

The light breeze started SE, but quickly switched to west again. Mainly overcast but some sunny spells.

South shore 

Only my records from here so far today, I checked as the tide was covering the beach near the wooden jetty in the morning and again as it became exposed in the afternoon (MD)

Mediterranean gulls 9 - 8 adult plus 1 2nd calendar year.

The Meds are now managing to catch a few sand mason worms, but at the moment the high density of worms doesn't begin until 60m from the wall, so the birds are leaving the area when the tide covers that section. There was a white darvic ringed adult this morning, almost read it, but not quite positive. 

I'm sure the worms will quickly become more accessible, when they do, each bird defends its own patch to feed on, but today they were just strolling around. There are six adult on this clip, the top centre bird manages to catch a sand mason worm.

No Meds showed in the afternoon till the water was c50m from the wall, already beyond my ring reading range. There were three adult when I left.

Rock Pipits 3 - in the morning, the ringed male was feeding on the sloping wall near No.1 outflow. In the afternoon two were feeding, then resting on the scrub near the lighthouse, looked to be an adult (female) plus a juvenile.

Whimbrel 3 south together in the afternoon.

Grey Seal 1 female trying to relax in the morning. She is surrounded by surface feeding fish, almost certainly Grey Mullet.

National Moth Day is a bit of a misnomer, it is actually a three night day event culminating today.

New moth for Lancashire in Heysham office trap yesterday - Sharp-angled Carpet 

Sharp-angled Carpet

Kevin did his bit too:

Clouded Brindle
a new record for the Heysham area.

Lunar Hornet moth attracted to garden with a pheromone lure. It arrived at the lure almost immediately, suggesting that it had been nearby.

This is a nice shot of it resting on foliage 

This shot on graph paper nicely shows the area of coloured scales on the wing,
which isn't usually obvious. All the 'clearwings'  have patches of scales on their wings
 .. a reminder that they are moths.

Walking on water!

Very light west breezes. Mainly overcast but warm with some sunny spells.

Red Nab and saltmarsh 

Mediterranean gull at least 6 - 5 adult and a 2nd calendar year on Red Nab with the Black-Headed gulls. Only checked from distance with binoculars, there could, and probably were more.

There were similar numbers of Black-Headed gulls roosting out from the saltmarsh as there was yesterday (300+) but much more spread out and no Meds seen with them.

Linnet 8 around saltmarsh 

Lapwing 3

This was the last of the current neap tides, the mud out from the saltmarsh will be covered by the rising tides for the next week.

This was unusual Little Egret behaviour, and the subject of today's title. I reported around this time last year that fingerling Bass were feeding in the creek through the saltmarsh, I am sure that is what the Little Egret was chasing. Small Bass here is a new thing, so it's not surprising that the Egret has developed new tactics. There is shallow water either side of where the Egret is, I suspect the successful capture involves the Bass either beaching itself or floundering in the shallows.

In this still, I have circled the bass jumping out of the water.
You can see this in the clips below.

The Egret gives up the chase when the Bass reaches deeper water

It didn't manage to catch a Bass this time, but I'm sure it must have done so previously, possibly why I haven't seen the large shoals that I saw last year (not all eaten, but wary). 

Today it was the Goldfinches turn for a bath in the newt pond. The heavy carpet of floating weed on this pond makes it always worth a look. 

This morning there were 7 Ringlet between this pond and Red Nab

Heysham skear

Great Crested Grebe 5 - I must have missed some the other day after all. There are 2 pairs and a single bird. Still in summer plumage but no longer displaying. I like this clip, it reminded me of someone waving to greet an old friend - perhaps it was 

I waved back - just in case....(MD)

Curlew c60

This is a Black-Headed gull pellet, you seldom find them as intact as this.

This is why. I placed it in water and the matrix immediately disintegrated 
revealing mainly crab and shrimp remains.

Well spread Meds

The west wind continues, a sunny start with a mainly cloudy afternoon.

South shore 

High water 11:15

Ringlet butterfly 5 along the path between the newt pond and Red Nab, by far the most common butterfly here at the moment.

Red Nab

Mediterranean gull 5 adult plus 1 x 2nd calendar year

Saltmarsh area

There were three roosting groups of gulls, mainly Black-Headed gulls. 50 on the marsh itself plus 40 and 230 on the mud out from the saltmarsh. The two smaller groups seemed to only BHG, but the large group included:

Mediterranean gull 4 adult plus 1 2nd calendar year.

c4 hours after high water

Rock Pipit  3 together on Red Nab, 1 near the lighthouse 

Mediterranean gulls - there is almost certainly some overlap with this morning's birds, but it does allow viewing options at different times in the tide.

Three and a half hours after high water the beach next to the wooden jetty starts to become exposed. There were no Meds there today at this time. But there were two adult plus a 2nd calendar year and a 3rd calendar year floating just out from the Harbour entrance. They were picking at something that at least appeared to be edible floating past them.

This is one of the adults plus the 3rd calendar year 

This is the 2nd calendar year bird

By this time the beach next to the wooden jetty was well exposed and there were 5 additional Mediterranean gulls along the water's edge when I left so at least 9 Meds on view.

It was nice to see, and hear, the Redshank are back. At least 8 near the wooden jetty.

Grey Seal 1

This is the newt pond near Red Nab. It was bath day for the Long-Tailed Tit family. I say bath, probably nearer a shower for this youngster.

Then a good drying.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Pete managed to attract this Lunar Hornet moth with a pheromone lure.

Lunar Hornet moth

And then there was one

Winds still from the west. A cloudy start but the sun soon broke through and it remained mainly sunny all day.

Red Nab and Ocean Edge - high water 10:30

Mediterranean gulls 9

5 adult, 1 x 3rd calendar year and 1 x 2nd calendar year on Red Nab

2 adult, including the German green ringed ANLT, on mud out from the saltmarsh 

Mediterranean gulls - 3 adult on this frame
Two directly below the one in flight.

2nd calendar year Mediterranean gull - mid frame

The 2cy Med decided it was time to move off, it flew towards Ocean Edge, but I didn't relocate it in the Black-Headed gull roost later.

Eider 1 female

This is the Eider drifting past the 3cy Mediterranean gull 

Whimbrel 1

This is the Whimbrel to the right of the adult Med
Two Curlew to the left

This is part of the gull roost out from the saltmarsh, it can be awkward viewing in the morning as the light is behind them, but better views from the other side of the marsh.

This is the green ringed German Mediterranean gull 

Heysham skear - low water 17:15

Great Crested Grebe 1 - this is what today's title refers to, viewing conditions were better this afternoon so I am confident that there were no more. The others must have finally moved on (MD)

Eider 1 female, possibly the one that visits the south side at high water

Curlew 150+ a lot more today than of late

Turnstone none seen today

Little Egret 3 none suggesting being ringed.

This Herring gull has just caught a crab. It is joined by a Lesser Black-Backed gull (both birds look pale in the bright light). This is not a opportunist, these two are regularly in association here, possibly the same two that were regularly together on the south side last year. Even so, the Herring gull wasn't for sharing.

But the Herring gull only eats half the crab, then nudges it over to the Lesser Black-Backed to finish off.

Manxies moving

An overcast start with a few light showers, but mainly sunny by mid afternoon. Winds still from the west.

Pete and Jean managed a morning visit - records from Pete:

Manx Shearwater 2 offshore (this isn't even the tip of the iceberg, there were 1,000 seen from Walney between 07:00 - 09:00)

Red Nab

Sandwich Tern 1 adult 

Mediterranean gulls 7. They were quite mobile. Initially just three 2nd calendar year birds seen, then joined by a 3rd calendar year- this one had a white darvic. The 3cy bird quickly disappeared, but three adult then appeared.

There were large numbers of large gulls feeding over the sea beyond the wooden jetty. Jean spotted small (c20cm) fish jumping out of the water. (It sounds like something was attacking a shoal of small Grey Mullet - Cormorant, Grey Seal, Harbour Porpoise or large Bass, probably a combination of some or all of these (MD))

By the time I got close enough to check the gulls on Red Nab, the ringed 3CY could not be located. The only ring I saw was an adult Med with a metal ring on the right leg. We had one like this last year.

Adult Mediterranean gull with metal only ring

This is the Sandwich Tern resting with Black-Headed gulls

Heysham skear - low water 16:30

Great Crested grebe 5 at least, it was quite choppy and some could have been missed.

Curlew c50

Turnstone c20

Little Egret 4

I thought this Little Egret had a white right leg ring and possibly a metal ring on the left. Unfortunately, it was unusually flighty, and flew off into the sun from here.

I had managed a couple of earlier shots, also up to its ankles in water. But on this shot it just looks like a pale section of leg above the ankle.

The "bottom line" is that I just don't know! But I will be looking out for it again (MD)

Green Woodpecker wanders in.

West fresh breeze. Overcast in the morning but increasing sunshine during the afternoon and evening.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Mute 2 pair plus 2 and 9 cygnets

Coot 6 adult 2 immature 

Moorhen 6 adult plus 2 and 3 chicks

Gadwall 1 female plus 4 chicks

Mallard 6 

Little grebe 3 adult 2 immature 

Warblers singing:

Lesser Whitethroat 1

Common Whitethroat 3

Blackcap 3

Chiffchaff 4

Willow Warbler 4

Reed Warbler 1

Dragonflies:

Emperor 5 male 2 female

Brown Hawker 1

Black-Tailed Skimmer 5 male 2 female

Broad-bodied Chaser 1 male

Butterflies:

Still not great numbers of butterflies but a reasonable variety 

Small and Large Skipper - several each

Small Tortoiseshell 2

Speckled Wood 1

Small Heath 2

Red Admiral 1 - think this is the first record since the, presumably overwintering, early one seen by Janet 31/03/21.

Quite a worn Red Admiral, presumably has travelled some distance 

Ringlet 1 - this species never seems to settle and I rarely get a shot of one, I haven't got Janet's patience, but today this one obliged.

Ringlet

South shore

Small gull roost too far out for me to check (MD)

Rock pipits 4

The ringed male was feeding on the roundhead sloping wall. Another adult, with two immature birds were feeding together on sloping wall and rocks near No.1 outflow. It isn't possible to tell if these are the birds from the lighthouse nest. The young birds are at least trying to feed themselves.

Green Woodpecker 1. There was only one brief sighting last year, and this is the first so far this year. Not seen but a burst of unmistakable "yaffling" from the copse behind Red Nab at 18:30. A wandering post breeding season bird, hopefully it will hang around.

Early morning Meds

Overcast all day with some very heavy showers. Light wind from SW.

Pete Crooks did a thorough check of Red Nab on the early morning high water:

14 Mediterranean Gull – 10 adults (including green darvic ANLT), 2 x 3rd CY and 2 x 2nd CY)

(ANLT has been an annual visitor since 2017 - originally ringed in Germany as a nestling 16/06/2012)

1 Black-tailed Godwit

1 Common Sandpiper

1 female Eider

Also:

Heysham Nature Park – 4 Ringlet butterfly 

Kevin checked the beach near the wooded jetty towards low water. There were only 4 Mediterranean gulls there. They were not feeding, but just waiting near the water line. Still he managed a nice shot.

Adult Mediterranean gull in summer plumage

The sand mason worms cannot be available just yet.

This is the full history of the Belgium Mediterranean gull seen yesterday:

White ring 3VEP. Metal ring number 36890

Ringed as pullus 09/06/2016 marais d'Harchies; Bernissart; Hainaut; Wallonia; BELGIUM

I went down, between showers, to check Red Nab at high water 20:30. There were 150 Black-headed gulls on Red Nab, but I couldn't find a Mediterranean gull. There were a further 125 BHG out from the saltmarsh, but quite a long way out and I couldn't see any Meds amongst them either, but there could easily have been some. Either way, it looks like morning tides are favourite for the time being. (MD)

Rock Pipit 1 male displaying on Red Nab

Grey Seal 2 out from Red Nab

Med numbers increasing

Steady rain for most of the morning, dry spells in the afternoon, but heavy showers. Wind from south.

Heysham Skear - low water 13:45

Great Crested Grebe 8

Little Egret 4

Curlew c30

Turnstone 33

Dunlin 1 

Nice to se the Dunlin back

Red Nab high water 17:25

Mediterranean gull 4. Three adult, including this Belgium ringed bird.

Ringed as a pullus 09/06/2016
At marais d'Harchies; Bernissart; Hainaut; Wallonia; BELGIUM 

This clip shows all three adults. It starts with one partially behind a rock, one preening in the middle and ends on a resting bird.

There was also a second calendar year bird

2cy Med top centre

Gull roosts swelling, including Meds.

Light wind from west, mainly overcast.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

We had a full ringing crew operating this morning. Report from Alan:

The conditions were ideal for ringing this morning and nets were set on both the West and East sides of the road. 50 birds were caught which was a respectable total although given the conditions it might well have been more. Surprisingly, Wrens topped the totals with six caught separately at different times.

Wren	6
Robin	4
Song Thrush	1
Cetti's Warbler	2
Sedge Warbler	3 +2 retraps
Reed Warbler	1 +1 retrap
Lesser Whitethroat	3 +1 retrap
Whitethroat	4
Blackcap	3 +1 retrap
Chiffchaff	1 +1 retrap
Willow Warbler	3 +2 retraps
Long-tailed Tit	3 +1 retrap
Blue Tit	4 +2 retraps
Bullfinch

A short stroll around heard 9 warbler species, only a Grasshopper missing preventing a 10 out of 10 (MD)

Cetti's, Garden, Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat, Blackcap, Sedge, Reed, Willow and Chiffchaff.

First generation Comma butterflies are emerging 

This striking butterfly is named after the diminutive white "comma" mark on the underwing

Other butterflies included Ringlet, Speckled Wood, Small Tortoiseshell and Meadow Brown.

There were three Little Grebe showing well on the main pond. One immature plus two adult, these are additional to the pair on Tim Butler pond.

The immature bird wasn't welcome and was chased off:

In contrast, the two adults were very friendly, or at least one was hoping to be.

South shore - high water 18:20

As mentioned yesterday, these neap tides do not cover the mud out from the saltmarsh. An hour before high water there were 52 Black-headed Gulls out from the saltmarsh plus 326 on Red Nab, just after high water, disturbance on Red Nab had flushed most of the gulls on to the mud, some out from saltmarsh others out from the foreshore.

Mediterranean gull - there were at least two adults with the 326 BHG on Red Nab, both on this clip, but one not really identifiable and the other just a glimpse. That said, sharper eyes than mine could easily spot more. (MD)

This shot is a still from the above clip, it is from the last few seconds. The Med near the bottom only reveals its red beak for a fraction of a second. The other Med is the black head on the left hand edge.

They are both more obvious on this clip, although I have to be honest and say that I hadn't noticed the bird in the bottom right corner, and was just lucky to get it in frame too, albeit only just. The other Med is centre stage.

I didn't attempt to count the Curlew, but there were lots.

Rock Pipits. 4 - Two feeding together on the sloping sea wall, the lighthouse male still displaying. One juvenile bird on the scrub near the lighthouse.