Off duty Osprey

Overcast and dry after early morning showers. A light variable breeze.

South Shore

I walked along the sea wall mid morning on the ebbing tide (Malcolm)

Osprey 1 - it was on the post at the end of No.2 outflow eating a decent sized Bass, and it must have been there a good while already, as there were no gulls bothering it. They usually hound them for the duration of their stay, but not seen one stay for over 30 minutes before. Also a good proportion of the bass had already been eaten.

You can see it firmly gripping the bass with its left foot. There was a blue ring on the right leg

It remained on the post for 45 minutes while I walked out and back along the wall. It wasn't bothered by the gulls once. At first it was eating the bass, but after a while its feeding became less regular. This, somewhat wobbly, clip shows it eating, but only after making a little more room.

Eventually, it just let what was left of the bass drop into the sea. There was plenty left over, so clearly the Osprey didn't have any partner or young relying on it for food. This is at least the fourth occasion this year that an Osprey has been seen on this post. This clip shows the location.

The now fishless Osprey. A few minutes later it flew off, heading north.

To be fair there weren't a lot of gulls around, eventually I located 

Mediterranean gull 12 - 10 adult 2 second summer. One adult had a white darvic ring, details awaited.

Adult Mediterranean gull with just a metal ring

Adult Med

Second summer Med

Adult Med (top) and adult Black-Headed gull

Kittiwake 1 - the long staying first summer bird flew from the wooden jetty towards the outflows.

Janet had another look at her Peregrine shots from yesterday to try and see what it is on its leg. It still isn't easy (you'll have to open the shots to see anything) but you can make out a claw at the end of it, so it must be either a broken or malformed talon.

Mystery solved - thanks Janet

Kevin spotted this Large Horse Fly resting on the sea wall.
As he says, it is well named.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Coot 

Common Whitethroat 

Ringlet

Meadow Brown