Something for everyone

The heavy showers from yesterday evening continued till 07:00. After that it remained dry, overcast in the morning then largely sunny. A light SW breeze.

South shore (MD)

I checked again on the rising tide, but today there were no gulls on the beach next to the wooden jetty.

Mediterranean Gull 6 - 3 adult including the metal ringed bird. 3 first summer. Initially there was one adult on the seaward end of No.1 outflow. Later 2 adult and a first summer on the beach between the outflows then all six on Red Nab.

Adult Mediterranean gull feeding on the seaward end of No.1 outflow

The metal ringed adult and a first summer Med arriving at Red Nab

There are three adults and two first summer Meds in this shot. Unfortunately,
the first summer on the left is hiding its head and partly obscuring the adult behind it

This is the third first summer Mediterranean gull

This is where the Red Nab gulls were resting, this shot from Ocean Edge foreshore 

Curlew 18

Whimbrel 1 

Curlew and a latish Whimbrel (right), just poking its head above the rocks

The Rock Pipits are taking larger portions of food to the lighthouse area nest. Not sure what these morsels are, it reminds me of a Puffin with a bill full of sandeels! The clip pans out to show the vertical wall that the young have to surmount on their first flight........there is no second chance. 

Rock Pipit feeding a growing second brood after the first failed to fledge.
Good luck this time!

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

I did two short visits, one late morning, it was still overcast and the only dragonflies showing were Black-Tailed Skimmers and Common Darters. However there was plenty going on:

Cetti's Warbler 2 singing

Chiffchaff 3

Reed Warbler 1

Reed Bunting 2 lurking in the willow scrub near the water's edge.

Reed Bunting 

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 

Common Buzzard 1 south

Little Grebe 1 trilling

Mallard 2 male 2 female with 8 and 6 large young. Bizarrely the male Mute Swan now happily tolerates them. 

One of the Mallard families resting next to the Mute Swan family

Gadwall female with 5 growing chicks on "no swimming" pond.

My second check was 15:45 in the hot afternoon sun.

Red-veined Darter 1 male

This first shot is a location shot. On the west side bank, it's taken from almost the same place as the mallard and swan shot above, but looking north not south. You can see it resting on the patch of sedges just before the large reed bed starts.

It was resting here, then flying out over the water surface, but kept returning to this corner.

Red-veined Darter

Heysham Nature Reserve 

These shots from Janet:

Ringlet one of many - currently the most common butterfly in the recording area.

Very worn Common Blue

Gatekeeper 

Small Skipper - first record this year

Red Admiral 

Six-spot Burnet

Azure Damselfly

Pellucid hoverfly 

I had a quick look late afternoon (MD). Neither myself or Janet saw the fritillary. But while we are on hoverflies, I learnt something from Jean's report from the Wildlife Trust outing (see post 10/06/23). The Bumblebee Hoverfly looks like a white-tailed bumblebee, but bees never settle on a grass stem. So when this one did just that, I knew exactly what it was!

Bumblebee Hoverfly

These Rudd were swimming near the surface of the dipping pond. Rudd will routinely take food from the surface of the water, but nothing found during this clip. The red fins are perfectly normal, unlike those hybridised with goldfish in the dog walk pond.

Just out of the recording area - ref Dan Haywood  

Red-veined Darter1 male West Shore near Sambo’s Grave

Clouded Yellow 1 NW (this, almost certainly would have crossed into the recording area)

Red-Veined Darter still the star of the show

The light east wind continues. Some early morning showers then the day became increasingly heavy till the rain resumed at 19:00 and was still falling at the time of posting, marking the end of the prolonged arid spell.

South shore (MD)

I walked down the wall early in the rising tide to check what gulls, if any, were after the sandmason worms on the beach between the wooden jetty and No.1 outflow. There were quite a few, but only....

1 Mediterranean Gull - the metal ringed adult. The mud is still thick here, but that isn't a handicap for the worms who just build their tubes higher.

Mediterranean gull, surrounded by the tips of Sandmason worm tubes.

In fact, the thicker mud seem to favour the worms as the gulls find it more difficult to catch them. I suspect that the softer mud allows the worms to sense the gulls presence earlier. This is an even bigger problem for this Med, as it has a walking difficulty, which leaves it far from stealthy!

There were 21 other gulls, 19 Black-Headed and 2 first summer Common gulls. The Black Headed gulls weren't after the Sandmason worms though, they were paddling in the muddy pools and picking off the small invertebrates that they disturbed.

One of the Black-Headed Gulls was colour ringed - details awaited

The Mediterranean gull eventually got fed up of trying to catch Sandmason worms and moved over to the rocks next to the outflow, where there are always small invertebrates to be found, particularly in the absence of the Turnstone and Redshank that normally feed here.

There were lots more gulls feeding on the outflow, but only Black-Headed, Herring, Lesser Black-backed and Common (feeding at the seaward end).

Rock,Pipits 3. 1 near the waterfall and 2 near the nest site.

One standing guard

The other delivering food to the nestlings

Linnet 26 -  8 near the lighthouse and 18 on the saltmarsh, including several juvenile.

Juvenile Linnet

They are feeding on the seeds of this plant. I think it is Sea Arrowgrass.
But please correct me if you know otherwise (MD)

Unfortunately the vegetation is quite dense and you can only really tell how many are feeding when they take flight. Only three visible here, but ten took flight when one did, the Wood Pigeon are also tucking in.

Goldfinch 7 feeding together in the scrub next to Red Nab.

 

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet checked the main pond area late morning:

Male Red-Veined Darter

Female Common Darter

Ringlet

Six-spot Burnet

Common Bluetail Damselflies 

One of several toadlets

Gatekeeper joins Ringlets

A warm overcast day with light showers. Light breeze mainly from SE.

First this nice shot from Peter and Rosemary Silvester, of a Four-spotted Chaser on Heysham Nature Reserve yesterday. 

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Alan

Just two nets set at Middleton this morning after a rather long break. Little evidence of juvenile birds around (except for a group of Blue Tits). Perhaps most have left the very dry habitat already to find more food-rich areas.

24 birds captured comprised:

Willow Warbler 1 adult

Blackbird 1 ad

Common Whitethroat 1 ad + 1 juvenile

Reed Warbler 3 retraps + 1 ad

Lesser Whitethroat 1 retrap + 2 ads

Dunnock 3 juvs

Blue Tit 6 juvs + 2 ads

Cetti's Warbler 1 ad

Blackcap 1 retrap

South shore (MD)

Basically just an early stroll along the sea wall so the sea breeze would cool me down a bit. I even managed a sprinkling of rain in a light shower! But, predictably, there was little to see.

Curlew 67 in several groups heading from the north side to Red Nab

Linnet 4 near the lighthouse 

Rock Pipit 3 - 2 near the lighthouse and one above the waterfall.

Great Black-Backed with Herring Gulls in the harbour 

Small Tortoiseshell 1 in off the sea

Later Kevin Eaves took this shot of a Gatekeeper in the Nature Park.

Female Gatekeeper - first record this year

Canada Goose 12 . 14:30 low to the south seen by both Janet as they passed over Heysham Nature Reserve and by Kevin as they went over Red Nab.

Janet located a group of at least 5 Ringlet in a small area of Middleton Nature Reserve, as ever they were very active, but she eventually managed some nice shots.

Ringlet - this one has already lost a number of scales from its wings.

A Coal Tit has resumed visiting my garden feeder (MD). This is the first one I've seen or had reported in the recording area since the cold spell in December. They are frustrating feeders, they constantly take seeds and nuts from the feeders during autumn and stash them for "later". Then as soon as it get cold they disappear! Still, nice to have then back.

Ringlets emerging in numbers

A light SE breeze till lunchtime then it switched to WNW. Sunshine all day again.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet checked early on. Good for no disturbance but a bit early for some insects.

Male Broad-bodied Chaser

This looks to be a Common Bluetail,
don't know why it has some colour in its wings (MD)

This Narrow-bordered five-spot Burnet hasn't got going yet!

Saltmarsh to Red Nab (MD)

Once again I watched the tide cover the shore out from the saltmarsh, gull numbers similar to yesterday, including:

Mediterranean gull 3 - the metal ringed adult and what looked to be the same two first summer birds as yesterday 

First summer Med centre, adult Med bottom left

They become more flighty when they "know" the tide will cover the beach

Curlew 70, most flying south. This group fly over some of the resting gulls including the adult Med, but there is no chance of spotting it at full speed.

This is a freeze frame from the above clip, fortunately Meds are very distinctive 

Only one of the Black-Headed gulls was a juvenile (top centre)

Lapwing 3

Goldfinch 2 adults feeding on the saltmarsh margins. 

Ringlet butterfly 5 in the Nature Park, but very flighty.

Heysham Nature Reserve 

At different times, Kevin Eaves, Janet and myself (MD), had a look, there were no sightings of the Dark Green Fritillary  The central meadow is very dry and there is very little of the usually lush clover etc.

Four-spotted Chaser by Kevin

Janet got this shot of Common Blue mating

Just one Ringlet here, but at least it was obliging