After Iron Man

I wasn't expecting much this morning with the annual Iron Man competition being on, meaning that all of the roads around the flash were closed 6am-10am and there was much noise and a large number of people. The announcer over the tannoy woke me up at 6am and I imagined that most birds would be gone by the time that I got there at 10:30am. 

I was pleasantly surprised therefore to find that it was actually most of the people that had gone and even better there were four common scoter in the middle of the flash. On the spit there were six common sandpipers and four common terns, and just off the car park a family party of 6 Egyptian geese, an adult and five juveniles.

Bempton Cliffs

Lots of seabird chicks clinging precariously to the cliffs at Bempton today. I love these young kittiwakes.

Ospreys, Foulshaw Moss

We called in at Foulshaw Moss on our way home from Hodbarrow today. At first the views of the ospreys were fairly typical, miles away through the telescope with a heat haze to contend with. Apart from the fact that I could occasionally see a movement it was difficult to be sure that the ospreys were even there. Eventually though one flew from the nest towards us and suddenly there was a call overhead as a third adult flew right over our viewing area. Obviously the adult on the nest had seen it before us and headed over to drive the intruder away. 

Meanwhile a live osprey cam on a wardens phone revealed that there were two chicks in the nest.

Hodbarrow RSPB

Hodbarrow RSPB is at Millom in the South Lakes and is the home to a tern colony which comprises around 400 Sandwich terns plus common and little tern.

The tern colony with Black Combe behind.

Black Combe and a weekend in South Lakes

At 600m Black Combe is the most south westerly hill in the Lake District. It's a nice walk with some great views over the LakeDistrict, the Duddon estuary and to the west the Isle of Man.  Best birds I saw was a family party of whinchats, but there were also a few nice dragonflies, most notably golden-ringed dragonfly and beautiful demoiselle.

Hepatic Cuckoo and a little tern

This morning a little tern flew straight through at the Flash, heading west, two Mediterranean gulls flew in calling and landed on the spit and a rufous (hepatic) female cuckoo flew low over the spit. Other birds included two little egrets and three common terns.

Lesser scaup, Ringley Fold waste water treatment works

It's been a good year for lesser scaup and this was my fourth so far. Ringley Fold WWTW is near Clifton in Greater Manchester and the bird was briefly on Elton Reservoir last week.

Movement at the Flash

A common sandpiper was at the boat club this morning following two on the spit last Sunday. Are these late spring migrants or early autumn migrants? Also this week, two drake common scoter yesterday.

Marsh harrier, Dairy Farm Road

I had a great walk along Dairy Farm Road at Rainford this afternoon, with at least three yellow wagtails carrying food back to their nests and a male marsh harrier flew over and headed north. At least eight brown hares in the fields and three oystercatchers.

Autumn migration is now underway!

Autumn return migration began at the Flash on Sunday with the arrival of a juvenile ringed plover. This must be a British bred bird because tundra ringed plovers are barely on their breeding grounds yet. Unlike their northern cousins, British ringed plovers moult quite quickly into 1st winter plumage, but this bird still has the pale edges to the scapulars which indicate that it is still in juvenile plumage, so potentially this may be a local breeder. Interestingly on the day that this bird arrived, a friend had another two juveniles on the outfall at Carr Mill Dam, St Helens. I hope that you enjoyed your summer everybody. Winter draws on!

1st sum arctic tern, Pennington Flash

A first summer arctic tern was at Pennington Flash this morning, with four common terns. This is a plumage which I rarely see since juvenile arctic terns usually head south to the southern hemisphere for their first winter and don't return until they are adults. At one time it was considered so unusual that they were thought to be a separate species and were given the scientific name Sterna portlandica but in reality they're not really that uncommon. The photo above is of a 1st summer arctic tern which I saw at the arctic tern colony at Long Nanny last week.

Also at the flash today a juvenile ringed plover on the spit and 1100+ swifts.