Swifts moving though and waders returning

A warm sunny day with a west breeze.

South shore 

Both myself (Malcolm) and Janet had a walk along the sea wall, but both were a little early on the ebbing tide. The only bird of note was a 2nd calendar year Mediterranean gull feeding on the seaward side of No1 outflow, then it or another resting between the outflows.

Plenty of insects in the Nature Park though.

Large White 4

Small White 3

Red Admiral 1

Comma 1

2 of 7 Gatekeeper 

Ringlet 8

Four-Spotted Chaser 1

North shore (Malcolm)

Swift at least 11 feeding between Half Moon Bay and Knowsly Rd, presumably moving through.

Heysham skear - low water 15:30

Little Egret 2

Eider 3

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Herring gull 350

Oystercatcher c500

Curlew c60

Redshank 68

Some of the Redshank 

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1 in summer plumage

Male Bar-Tailed Godwit

Dunlin 1 in summer plumage

Dunlin with Knot and Oystercatchers

Knot 103 including 3 in summer plumage

This small group was joined by the Dunlin as the tide moves them on.

Knot

First juvenile Med arrives

Mainly overcast till late afternoon sunny spells. A freshening west wind.

First some nice shots from Middleton Nature Reserve yesterday, by Janet.

Young Coots

Six-Spot Burnet

Common Darter

South shore 

Shaun checked first 

Common Scoter 8 out towards Fleetwood (unusual, even more so as a flock of 5 were also seen on this date last year)

Mediterranean gull 16 - 11 adult, 3 x 2nd summer, 1 x 1st summer and 1 juvenile (also coincides with the arrival of the first juvenile to arrive here last year) - later Janet located a returning regular visitor - white ringed LCG - update awaited 

Juvenile Med centre with an adult on either side

Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab

Peregrine Falcon 1

Grey Seal 2

Grey Seal

Janet checked later in the morning.

Cormorants arguing over ownership of perching rights.

Curlew treading lightly 

In the Nature Park 

Ringlet

Gatekeeper

Silver Y

Common Darter

I had a quick look towards high water in the evening (Malcolm). But these tides are very low and only four Mediterranean gulls were seen. 3 adult and a second summer.

Adult left and second summer Med right. But the Meds are moulting out of summer
plumage now, probably time to start calling the second summer a third calendar year. 

A bit of summer sun, but not for long

A bright sunny start with a very light north wind. It started clouding over mid afternoon and the rain began at teatime.

South shore (Malcolm)

Osprey 1 arrived at 10:15. It did a bit of halfhearted fishing then settled on the post at the end of No.2 outflow to wait for the tide to ebb further. It was still resting on the post when I left the wall at 11:00.

Looks to be the same bird as recent visits, with blue ring on right leg

This is what "halfhearted" fishing looks like.

Eider 3 female type north

Eider

Mediterranean gulls 15 minimum. There was a first summer in the harbour, 2 adults flew into the inner harbour out of sight. 2 adult turned up to see if there were any sandmason worms on the beach near the wooden jetty, there weren't. 12 adult (possibly some were second summer) and a first summer were resting on the beach between the outflows, but possibly including the harbour birds, if they had moved.

This is the first summer Med in the harbour, with a juvenile Black-Headed gull behind.

This is one of the adult Meds looking for sandmason worms in the shallows.

Some of the Meds resting between the outflows

Grey Seal 2 at least. It wasn't immediately obvious that they were around, but this clip of fish scattering, some quite large, and gulls scavenging was a sure sign of a seal feeding below.

The seals are not so easy to see when they are actively feeding, they are under the surface for most of the time, although they do surface to eat what they catch. This is a compilation of the few glimpses I did manage.

Linnet 7 between the lighthouse and waterfall. 

Male Linnet

In the Nature Park:

Ringlet 1

Meadow Brown 3

Small White 1

Large White 2

Small Skipper 1

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet checked in the morning

Swallow

Black-Tailed Skimmer

Red Soldier Beetles

I checked in the afternoon (Malcolm). By that time it was very warm (21°C).

Wildfowl pretty much as of late, but no Gadwall or Tufted duck seen.

Immature, but independent, Little Grebe

I accidentally disturbed a female Pheasant with at least six, barely fledged, youngsters.

Two of the young Pheasants, they were doing a lot of flapping for little movement!

The only warblers heard singing were one each, Chiffchaff and Reed Warbler

Butterflies:

Large White 1

Meadow Brown 3

Gatekeeper 6

Ringlet 2

Moths:

Silver Y 1

Shaded Broad-bar 3

Dragonflies:

Emperor 4

Four -Spotted Chaser 2

Black-Tailed Skimmer 6

Common Darter 4

Brown Hawker 1

Pair of Common Darters

Female Brown Hawker ovipositoring 

Common Blue and Bluetailed Damselflies several

Just bits really

A very light north breeze, it managed to stay reasonably dry after an early shower, but remained overcast.

South shore (Malcolm)

Not a lot around this morning.

Mediterranean gull just 2 adult

The only Med on the beach by the jetty was the metal ringed bird

Eider  8 female type in one flock north.

Little Egret 2 on Red Nab

Grey Heron 1 on the wooden jetty

Cormorant 15 - some feeding, some on the wooden jetty.

Cormorant 

There have been no gulls or Cormorants feeding below the waterfalls for some time now, looks like this feeding area isn't providing anything to feed on, at least for the time being.

The waterfall in the harbour has not been attracting gulls etc, even when
there has been lots of food passing along the outflows.

This Herring gull was posing nicely on the outflow superstructure 

Grey Seal at least 3 probably 4

Grey Seal having a snooze

These two were between the outflows, where the Osprey was feeding yesterday.

On duty Osprey

Another overcast but just about dry day. A light wind from NE to NW.

South shore (Malcolm)

Osprey 1 was milling around some distance out from No.1 outflow at 09:30 this morning. Then it came in to rest on the same post, at the end of No.2 outflow, as yesterday.

No fish today, it was just waiting for the tide to ebb a little further. The gulls weren't so tolerant today.

At 09:50 it started fishing between the outflows. I filmed it dive four times without it catching anything, so I stopped filming and just watched. The very next dive it caught a Bass! So I've cheated a little bit and merged the last unsuccessful dive with the point when it does catch. A thing to bear in mind when watching this, is that Bass have long, strong and very sharp spines in their dorsal fin. The Osprey has to make sure that when it grabs one it misses this fin in the middle of the bass' back, possibly why some dives are aborted.

Unlike yesterday, after avoiding the gulls, the Osprey set off high and purposeful to the NW, where presumably young await.

The thought occurred, that if this is the same bird as yesterday, and it does appear to be, perhaps it had already taken one fish to its family then returned to catch another for itself to eat yesterday. It would explain why it just let what was still a sizeable fish drop into the sea. 

The blue ring on its right leg clearly visible, but illegible 

Although a sizeable fish, it is very thin for a Bass at this time of year.
By this time, the Osprey had pushed back the dorsal fin, flattening the spines.
It can now hold the bass safely in the middle of its back.

Mediterranean gull just 4 adults seen today.

This is yesterday's white ringed Med. Ringed as an adult 17/05/23
at Groningen Netherlands. It was in Germany by June then here in August
Since then it was seen in Dublin in March this year then later in March
Lagoon island, RSPB Hodbarrow, Millom, Cumbria.

Rock Pipit on Red Nab

Peregrine Falcon 2

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

A quick evening check of the two main pond, found the wildfowl unchanged other that the Tufted duck wasn't seen.

This is the female Gadwall with her two young having a dabble.

There were two lots of two Little Grebe chicks, and at least two adults bringing them food, despite the fact the chicks are capable of feeding themselves now. Whatever it was they were being given was tiny, perhaps it was just a lesson in alternative food items (Song Thrush and the other grebes in the background).