It has been a while since I posted (again), in fact over four weeks, so apologies for that! By way of an update, the DNA analysis came back from Martin Collinson, and the Subalpine Warbler sp. that we ringed on 10th July 2025 was a Western Subalpine Warbler. We are pleased with the outcome, and not overly surprised, as that was what we suspected.
On 20th July, I had a reasonable sea-watch at Rossall Point. I had nearly full cloud cover, and the wind was a light south-easterly. The highlight of the morning were the Manx Shearwaters, and I had 151, mainly heading into the bay. Other highlights were two dark morph Arctic Skuas heading into the bay chasing Sandwich Terns, and a pod of at least six Bottle-nosed Dolphins, that were heading west out of the bay. The best of the rest were 31 Sandwich Terns, 199 Common Scoters, five Gannets, 11 Cormorants, seven Eiders, and an Atlantic Grey Seal.
Waders on the shore as the tide ran in included six Oystercatchers, four Dunlins, four Sanderlings, and 10 Black-tailed Godwits high south. There was a pair of Ringed Plovers, with a large chick, that were chasing off, or using their distraction display towards anything that they deemed was too close.
There was even a little visible migration, with seven Swallows, four Swifts, and two Yellow Wagtails heading west.
Since I last posted I have had my moth trap out in the garden 10 times, and during this time we have recorded a Agriphila straminella, 11 Agriphila geniculea, two Agriphila inquinatella, an Agriphila straminella, a Agriphila tristella, 12 Australian Orange-tips, four Beautiful Plumes, three Bright-line Brown-eyes, a Brimstone, a Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, eight Brown House Moths, four Cabbage Moths, a Canary-shouldered Thorn, a Clay, a Codling Moth, 12 Common Plumes, 14 Common Rustic agg., a Copper Underwing sp., four Dark Arches, two Diamond-back Moths, four Double-striped Pugs, a Epinotia immundana, 30 Flame Shoulders, four Garden Carpets, eight Garden Grass-veneers, a Garden Pebble, a Garden Rose Tortrix, a Gold Spot, a Heart and Dart, two Iron Prominents, 132 Large Yellow Underwings, 23 Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwings, a Lesser Swallow Prominent, 24 Lesser Yellow Underwings, 55 Light Brown Apple Moths, a Lychnis, a Lyonetia clerkella, four Marbled Beauty, a Miller, two Old Lady, a Pebble Prominent, a Poplar Hawkmoth, two Riband Waves, a Ruby Tiger, two Rush Veneers, two Rusty Dot Pearls, a Sallow Kitten, 10 Setaceous Hebrew Characters, nine Shuttle-shaped Darts, two Silver Ys, a Single-dotted Wave, a Small Dusty Wave, a Southern Wainscot, a Spectacle, 12 Square-spot Rustics, a Swallow Prominent, four Straw Dots, two Uncertain, five Vine's Rustics, a White-shouldered House Moth, nine Willow Beauty, a Yellow Shell, an Yponomeuta sp., and two Ypsolopha scabrella.
Gail spotted that it had joined the badges on my denim jacket!
On 24th July, we had a walk through the county wildlife site, Larkholme Grasslands, which is close to home, and we had a number of butterflies on the wing, including 102 Common Blues, 12 Large Whites, 36 Meadow Browns, a Gatekeeper, three Small Skippers, five Small Whites, and the day-flying moth, Silver Y.
The grassland is species rich, and just on the above walk, we had species like Bird's-foot Trefoil, Common Knapweed, Common Carrot, Tufted Vetch, Sea Campion, Lady's Bedstraw, Yarrow, Oxeye Daisy, Autumn Hawkbit, Lesser Trefoil, Hedge Bedstraw, Purple Loosestrife, Strawberry Clover, Field Scabious, Tall Melilot, and Chicory, to name but a few, all flowering.
We bumped in to a lovely guy called Andy, who records the invertebrates on site, and he was telling us that it is one of just a few sites in Lancashire where Lesser Marsh Grasshopper occurs. He told us the area to have a look, and we did manage to find and photograph one. So we were very pleased with that.
A week later, I had a walk between the sea wall and the golf course at Rossall, and paid more attention to the plants flowering along the embankment below the sea wall. Like Larkholme Grasslands, it is species rich, and some of the flowering plants that I encountered included Yarrow, Ribwort Plantain, Common Carrot, Spear Thistle, Bird's-foot Trefoil, Wild Radish, Common Knapweed, Lady's Bedstraw, Field Scabious, Hedge Bedstraw, Common Restharrow, Sea Holly, Strawberry Clover, Smooth Hawk's-beard, Ribbed Melilot, Lesser Trefoil, Hare's-foot Clover, Thrift, Sea Campion, Sea Beet, Scentless Mayweed, Sea Sandwort, Buck's-horn Plantain, Perennial Sow Thistle, Common Burdock, Amphibious Bistort, Great Willowherb, and Smooth Sow-thistle. There were lots of bare areas as well, that looked great for solitary bees and wasps.
At the beginning of the month, we had a walk through the dunes at Rossall Point, again looking at plants and insects. We were there mid-morning, and it was warm where it was sheltered from the cool north-westerlies, and it was here that we had 22 Gatekeepers, seven Common Blue butterflies, four Small Whites, two Large Whites, and 16 Meadow Browns. All very enjoyable.
I was back at the Point on 5th August to attempt a sea-watch, and I should have known better. The wind was a force 8 - 9 west-north-westerly, and that little bit of northerly in the westerly, is never good where Liverpool and Morecambe Bay meet, which is at Rossall. I was sand blasted walking to my watch-point, sand blasted whilst I was there, and sand blasted walking back to the car. I toughed it out for about an hour and a half, switching positions at least half a dozen times, and finally gave up when the sand was getting everywhere.
Of interest, I had one dark morph Arctic Skua east, plus 20 Sandwich Terns, four Gannets, four Manx Shearwaters, and 10 Kittiwakes, all blown in the same direction!
The following day, we had a walk through the dunes again, and thankfully the wind had dropped, but it was still WNW. On our return leg, we walked along the seaward edge of the dunes, and we came across a lovely, long stretch of Sea Rocket, all flowering, and covered in hoverflies, and Buff-tailed and Red-tailed Bumblebees. Even though it was blustery, they were making the most of the bountiful supply of pollen and nectar provided by these lovely flowers.
We then noticed lots of Large White butterfly caterpillars, and found areas where they had completely stripped the leaves. Nothing out of the ordinary, but lovely to observe.
On 8th August we had a walk along the Wyre estuary from the Quay, and we had our first Greenshank of the autumn. It was a juvenile, that for some reason, some of the 54 Redshanks took offense to, and chased it across to the other side of the river.
A few Clouded Yellow butterflies have been seen of late in the Fylde, and it looks like we are experiencing a Clouded Yellow autumn. How many, and for what duration, is hard to tell as yet. Rather than visiting the site, that everyone was visiting, we thought it would be more useful to look for others closer to home, and if more people did that, we would have a better idea of the scale of the irruption in terms of numbers and distribution.
Gail and I thought that Larkholme Grasslands would be a good bet. There's lots of flowering plants for them to nectar on, and Butterfly Conservation tells us that the caterpillar food plants are a range of leguminous plants..., including wild and cultivated clovers..., and less frequently Bird's-foot Trefoil. So, Larkholme Grasslands fitted the bill.
We had a look late morning on the 12th August, and within a minute of setting off from the car, we had our first one. In total we had four individuals, there might have been more, but that was a minimum, and they were very flighty. We could get good views following them with our 'bins', but they were virtually impossible to get close to. I managed to get a photograph, which you can see below, although it's a bit distant. I had a further two on the 14th, one at the Point the same day, and one there on the 15th.
In addition to the Clouded Yellows, we had seven Small Whites, 36 Common Blues, 17 Meadow Browns, two Small Coppers, and a Painted Lady. A Sparrowhawk 'in-off' the sea, that then drifted east, was noteworthy from a migration perspective.
The following day we had a ringing session at the Nature Park. It was calm, with clear skies, and it had a 'clear-out' feel to it. Once again, we have had three of our guy ropes stolen, that we leave on site to speed the process of putting the nets up. Whether it's kids, quite possibly, or other persons unknown, who knows. The only thing I do know, is that they obviously cannot read, as there are official county council signs, with maps, that clearly state where access is allowed, and where isn't. Where we ring, there is no public access because of the high conservation value of the area. The mind boggles!
Anyway, we ringed 17 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Cetti's Warbler - 1
Blue Tit - 1
Great Tit - 1 (1)
Blackcap - 4
Reed Warbler - 1
Whitethroat - 3
Robin - 2
Sedge Warbler - 1
Wren - 2
Although we record everything that we see and hear, from a birding perspective it is probably just worth mentioning the ever present Raven, and a Yellow Wagtail over south. We also had a Whitethroat carrying food into a nest in some Bramble. We always have a look on the pools after we have packed up, and there were three Tufted Ducks, two Mute Swans, 74 Mallards, 33 Coots, and four Little Grebes. And an Emperor Dragonfly.
On the second day of our Clouded Yellow sightings at Larkholme Grasslands, I also had two Hummingbird Hawkmoths. The first was belting along the landward, sheltered side of the sea wall, heading south, and the second was 'perched' on the ground behind the sea wall at a different location.
Lepidoptera support acts included six Large Whites, a Red Admiral, 42 Common Blues, four Silver Ys, five Small Whites, seven Meadow Browns, and a Gatekeeper.
The following day when I had our eighth Clouded Yellow of the past few days, I also had a female/immature Wheatear, and far out on the shore (low tide), 200 Sandwich Terns were roosting.
I haven't had any Swifts for a while, and my last was over Poulton-Le-Fylde on 16th August, which might end up being my last for the year. It 'feels' like they have been even thinner on the ground this year than normal! I hope not.
The following morning I was at Larkholme, with clear skies and a light south-easterly wind. It was chilly when I got out of the car, and a woolly hat and coat were required. There was quite a dew, and with clear conditions, a heat haze on the sea.
I was hoping for a bit of movement at sea, and also some visible migration, but it was quiet on both fronts. As the tide ran in, Turnstones roosted on the rock groynes, and I had 133 in total. In terms of passage at sea, all I had were five Sandwich Terns, eight Shelducks, 13 Cormorants, and a Gannet. The only vis, was 26 Swallows south and a couple of Alba Wags.
I had a walk of the farm fields afterwards to see if there were any grounded migrants, and I had a male Wheatear, a Lesser Whitethroat, a juvenile Blackcap, and three juv Whitethroats.
Two days ago, I was at Rossall Point under full cloud cover, with a 15 mph east-northeasterly wind, and once again there was a heat haze. As the tide ran in, it pushed waders up the beach to roost, and I had 40 Oystercatchers, 101 Ringed Plovers, 60 Sanderlings, three Dunlins, and four Turnstones.
The waders receive a great deal of disturbance from dog walkers here, with people continually flushing them as they attempt to roost. However, I witnessed some unusual, but refreshing, behaviour from one dog walker. A group of Ringed Plovers and Sanderlings were on the shore, and this lady was walking her Labrador along the beach towards the birds, and I was waiting for the inevitable flush. But, full credit to her, because as she got closer, she spotted them, and turned back!
The passage at sea was mainly in an easterly direction into the bay, and the vis was heading east as well. The usual direction of passage here in autumn is westerly (out of the bay), and in spring, easterly. As is often the case, migrants will fly in to the wind, and this was what was happening this morning with the north-easterly wind.
I recorded three Curlews, 56 Sandwich Terns, a Bonxie, 27 Gannets, 29 Cormorants, a Red-throated Diver, a Golden Plover, three Common Scoters, and a Redshank. Again the vis was thin on the ground, with just 12 Swallows east.
Two Wheatears made their way east along the beach, and the only other grounded migrant was a Willow Warbler in the Elder next to the tower.
This morning (21st) Gail and I had ringing session at the Nature Park, and conditions were good, with 5 oktas cloud cover, and a light north-easterly breeze. At first we thought it was going to be very quiet because after two rounds we had only ringed four birds, however the third round would change all that.
We ringed 37 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):
Blackcap - 5
Robin - 1
Reed warbler - 4
Tree Pipit - 3
Blue Tit - 1
Whitethroat - 2 (1)
Great Tit - 7
Blackbird - 1
Chiffchaff - 4
Willow Warbler - 3
Long-tailed Tit - 5
Wren - 1
We were pleased with the Tree Pipits, and these were only the 2nd - 4th ringing records for the site. There was certainly a few Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers around, and the ever present Cetti's Warblers were calling from the reedbed/scrub. A Raven, Kestrel, Song Thrush, and a territorial dispute between two male Whitethroats is worth mentioning.
I'll try not to leave it as long next time.
