Quite an interesting day

A warm largely sunny day. Calm early on then a SW breeze

South shore (Malcolm) 08:00 - 10:00

Osprey 1 initially resting on the post at the seaward end of No.2 outfall

You can just make out the Osprey on top of the post. The gulls normally rest
in a tight group close to No.2 outfall. The Osprey had clearly scattered them.

Fortunately, I had my wellies on today, so I walked out to be close enough to check the Osprey for rings.

It was ringed. Seen at Leighton Moss in 2023. A full history awaited.

It then began fishing.

It caught a Bass after only a few minutes then flew off with it northwards.

Mediterranean gulls 11. 8 adult, 2 2nd calendar year, 1 3rd calendar year 

The bird on the right is a 2nd calendar year, with a particularly well
developed hood. We saw the adult on the left here last year, it is the
one with the lower half of its right leg missing. It "stands" on the
stump and its left knee.

This 3rd calendar year Med is feeding amongst the sandmason worm tubes, although it wasn't feeding on the worms this time.

No sign of any Kittiwakes today.

Common Tern 1 feeding on No.1 outfall

Common Tern

Rock Pipits 3 - one on Red Nab plus an adult feeding a juvenile near the lighthouse 

Despite the early hour there were already a few butterflies 

Small White 6 seen coming in off

Common Blue 2 near the lighthouse 

Common Blue

Quite a collection of insects here. From the top, clockwise:
Six-spot Burnet, Beetle sp, Cinnabar moth caterpillar and "a bee".
(The beetle is one of the soft winged flower beetles (Melyridae). It could
be one of two species but is far more likely likely to be the Common
 Malachite Beetle - Malachius bipustulatus - Alison)

This yacht was fortunate that it was calm at high water last night. It clearly had
broken free from its moorings somewhere, possibly during the last storm. It has
probably been adrift for days and gently came to rest on the rocks by No.2 outfall.
No obvious damage. I contacted the coastguard and three were just arriving to
secure the vessel as I was leaving. Hopefully it safely re floated at high water today.

Plenty of butterflies in the Nature Park.

Ringlet 13

Meadow Brown 2

Red Admiral 1

Large White 5

Small White 2

Large Skipper 1

Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

Stonechat 1 male and at least 1 juvenile 

Male (left) and juvenile Stonechat 

The juvenile is more recognisably a Stonechat now

Sedge warblers 2 singing

Reed Bunting 2

Buzzard at least 2 calling

Sparrowhawk 1 over

Green-Veined White 8

Green-Veined White

Meadow Brown 2

Meadow Brown

Middleton Nature Reserve

Pete scanned from the main pond lower car park

At least one male red veined darter over riffled water. Took a bit of time for it to appear - landed below gun club I think, then it or another very briefly which could have been red common 

Janet checked the west bank and located, what was probably a different male.

male red veined darter

Other shots from Janet:

Brown Hawker

Male Emperor over the "no swimming" pond

Male Emperor at the main pond

Female Emperor ovipositoring

Black-Tailed Skimmers

Common Darter

 

Female Mallard with her almost full grown young. Keeping out of
the male Mute Swan's way on the "no swimming" pond

Silver Y

Small Skipper

Green-Veined White

Large White

Not really a lot going on, but at least it was dry!

A fresh SW Wind. Mainly overcast, but it managed to remain dry till late evening.

South shore (Malcolm)

Two walks along the sea wall today. 07:30 - 08:30 and 17:00 - 18:00. All records from this morning unless  stated.

Common Tern 1 on No.1 outfall

Common Tern, it didn't stay for long and headed off SE towards the Lune estuary 

Mediterranean gull 3 - there were no gulls at all on the feeding beach between the wooden jetty and No.1 outfall (I wondered if the Osprey had been fishing earlier). There was just one adult Med resting with Black-Headed gulls by No.2 outfall.

Mediterranean gull resting by No.2 outfall

Then a Peregrine Falcon buzzed them

And all the small gulls left the area, led by the Med

This evening there were 3 adults resting on the rocks by No.2 outfall

Fortunately, one briefly revealed itself to be the white ringed bird seen at
Coder Green recently. Ringed in Portugal in 2020, it visited Heysham in 
2023 and 2024. It is a well recorded gull, also seen in Spain, France and
the Netherlands 

A juvenile Rock Pipit was waiting to be fed

An adult arrived with a bill full of food.....

.......but still managed to give me a good chirping at

Janet checked the Nature Park

Immature Moorhen on the dog walk path

Large White

Six-spot Burnet

Large Skipper

Comma

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Coot with chicks

Common Bluetail

Hoverfly sp

Common Toad

Heysham Nature Reserve - Kingfisher - Note in post box relating to one seen on dipping pond - recorder name not given.

An other worldly start, and a top (albeit tiny) moth

Heavy morning rain but dry by early afternoon. A fresh SE wind.

First an update from yesterday - 4 Lunar hornet moths at Middleton Nature Reserve all across the road from the car park - Linda.  Pheromone lure

Kevin Eaves had this tiny moth in his overnight trap.

Small Marbled moth

  It's a migrant, probably from Southern Europe. Amazing how such small
insects can travel great distances. 

South shore

I went along the sea wall 08:30 - 10:00 (Malcolm). It lashed it down all the time, and the SE wind was constantly wafting mists around, creating a surreal seascape.

These are the two adult Kittiwakes, much better shots to follow,
but these provide a sense of this morning's conditions 

I went down while the tide was out to see if the Mediterranean gulls were feeding on the beach between No.1 outfall and the wooden jetty. There were 12 - 14 but a long way out, plus difficult viewing through the mists and rain.

The Med on the right has a white ring, possibly the one seen
at Conder Green yesterday 

All the gulls flew off together, I assumed as the tide was now coming in. But perhaps not.....

......10 minutes later Osprey fishing, I thought it had just arrived, but more likely it had been fishing a while, out of sight from me, but not the gulls.

This is the point that it caught a Bass. It is only just visible despite 
being quite close to the waterline 

It flew off with its catch to the south

Osprey with a Bass

Janet managed a walk in between showers at lunchtime 

Curlew 

Cormorant 

One of two adult Kittiwakes 

Grey Seal near No.1 outfall

I had another (dry) look this evening (Malcolm)

Still at least one adult Kittiwake 

At least one newly fledged Rock Pipit has managed to survive the perilous, and regularly fatal, first flight from the lighthouse area nest hole. Positioned on the vertical wall with just sea below, they haven't even a chance to flex their wings, before their first attempted fight.

Newly fledged Rock Pipit 

Two Peregrine Falcons above the Power Stations

Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

Just a quick look on my way home

Stonechat 1 male and at least 1 juvenile

The male was display flying as I arrived

Then he settled over his usual bramble bush

One juvenile looking more confident now

Likely a different juvenile, but I didn't see two at the same time, there were
at least three when the male was first feeding them away from the nest.