Red To Green.

I managed another of my random visits to Heysham Harbour yesterday, I wanted an hour to look over Red Nab before the tide reached it's 9.50m at 1.00pm.

It was a little tense when I arrived at around 11.00am to find a couple of kids walking out in the direction of Red Nab and heading straight towards c.250 gulls. I got myself set up at a good vantage point opposite the birds about fifty of which had already done a bunk having been spooked by the kids. But luck went my way when the kids did a u-turn and headed back from whence they came to leave me to do the business.  

Spot The Med. Pete Woodruff.

In the hour I gave to looking through the birds I found 11 Mediterranean Gull, broken down to 5 x adults, 3 x 2cy, and 3 X 3cy birds. By 12.00pm the tide had pushed almost everything off Red Nab. Walking back to the motor I heard 2 Blackcap and saw a Whitethroat.

The Conder Pool Common Terns. 

Adult With Young Common Terns. Pete Woodruff.

An excellent sight at Conder Green was initially seeing one Common Tern young on Conder Pool, but within the next few minutes two more had arrived out of the nest box and on to the scene with an adult watching everything else that moved. I called back an hour later on my way home, to find two of the young swimming and the other one looking interested....Brilliant stuff.

The Common Terns at Conder Green arrived late in the season last year. I first saw the birds on Conder Pool 14 July, my first sighting of two young was 26 August, and I was able to record a fledged bird 1 September. My last sighting of these birds was on the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock on 12 September.

This year they have produced an extra young, and are way ahead of last years very late breeding season.

Also of note on Conder Pool, a drake Teal was another returning bird, with the drake Wigeon seen, a Greenshank, 5 Common Sandpiper, and a Little Egret. Another pair of Oystercatcher have two very young chicks in the west corner of the pool. On a wander round, a Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat, 2 Reed Bunting, a Meadow Pipit obviously feeding young somewhere, and the House Martins are visiting two nest at the Cafe d' Lune.  

The Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock was uninspiring but I saw Thursdays Greenshank again, and just 3 Little Egret. 

Thanks to Peter Guy for the brilliant Black Guillemot header.