Wednesday 13 July 2016

New moth and the low tide med gathering kickstarts

Heysham Obs
Not a lot on a dropping tide check of outfalls but a later check of the wooden jetty area and Heysham one outfall by Phil saw a gathering of Med Gulls in the usual place between Heysham one and the wooden jetty and also a return of the two Little Gulls ...but no terns and the 2CY Kittiwake may have succumbed after yesterdays health check.  Later on there were 15 x adult, 6 x 3CY and one x 2CY meds! The toilet moth trap was surprisingly good, including the inexplicably scarce Elephant Hawk-moth!

Outfalls/Red Nab early on
Med Gull - unringed Ad

Outfalls low tide check by Phil Simpson
Med Gull - 8 adults (6 between wooden jetty and heysham one, 2 between outfalls) early afternoon then by late afternoon a minimum of 15 x ad, 6 x 3CY and 1 x 2CY - these were definitely not present yesterday!
Little Gull - adult and 2CY
Kittiwake - adult

Moth trap
Aethes rubigana new for the site and Elephant Hawk-moth, True Lover's Knot, Herald, Anania coronata of note