Redeyed Damsels arrive.......at last!

 The early morning east breeze died to nothing before switching to a light NW breeze. Wall to wall sunshine saw temperatures raise to 29.8°C by late afternoon 

Middleton Nature Reserve - main pond

Pete checked first this morning:

Small red-eyed damselfly at least two scoped in the middle defending bits of emergent vegetation from common blue. This is the first record for the recording area. Eventually saw at least 5 but likely more nearer the margins

Lesser emperor chased off by two male Emperor. 

Just one worn male Red-veined darter and an ovipositing female to begin with then a pair in tandem

I checked early afternoon (Malcolm)

There were at least six male Small Red-eyed Damselflies close to the edges on what little floating vegetation there is on this pond (the record highlighted in bold red to signify that these are new to the area, but they weren't unexpected. Pete has been monitoring their sightings as they edged closer and closer to us at sites to our south. They will likely soon be relatively commonplace here).

male Small Red-eyed Damselfly 

male Common Blue Damselfly 

Lesser Emperor 1 male flew right past me as soon as I arrived. Too close and quick to get a shot.

Emperor 3 males and a female 

Brown Hawker 1 male and 1 female

Female Brown Hawker

Black-Tailed Skimmer 5 males

Common Darter 1

Swift 2

Swallow 1 

House Martin 1

Reed warbler 1

Cetti's warbler 2

Blackcap 1

Stock Dove two flew south

Little Grebe in the middle of the pond, the damselfly on the right is a 
Small Red-eye

I had a quick look on the "no swimming'" pond, there is a much larger area
of the floating vegetation the redeyes like....

....but I only saw one. To be fair I only checked a small area of the pond, and
my original plan to check the other ponds too was postponed for another day.
It was just too hot!

Janet managed a quick, but successful check of the main pond this evening.

Female Redeyes had joined the males and at least two pairs were ovipositoring.

Where there is no surface weed, a feather is something to reflect on

 male Black-Tailed Skimmer

South shore - Malcolm

A walk along the sea wall 10:30 - 12:00

The early east breeze had already stopped and a light west breeze was developing. There were still a few butterflies drifting in as I walked out

Small White 2

Red Admiral 2

Painted Lady 1

The Painted Lady stopped for a top up on this clump of Sea Mayweed

A lot of the earlier arrivals has stayed to feed in the scrub and brambles between the lighthouse and waterfall.

Meadow Brown 6 (possibly residents)

Small Tortoiseshell 4

Small White 9

Painted Lady 1

Red Admiral 1

Willow Warbler trying to cool down amongst the brambles

The Herring gull adults were trying to get the juveniles on the harbour platform to test their wings

Cormorants panting on the wooden jetty. A white butterfly is coming in
to the right of the right hand side Cormorant 

This ferry is leaving port, just as the tide is about to expose the feeding beach
by the wooden jetty. This shot demonstrates the two main reasons why this beach
is ideal for Sandmason worms. First it is clearly protected from damaging waves
on three sides. But a rock bar between the end of the outfall and the end of the jetty
also provides some protection on the fourth side. The other reason is the gentle wash
that both departing and arriving ships create over the beach, providing the worms
with a regular supply of nutrients. An early arrival Mediterranean gull is arrowed

This is the arrowed Mediterranean gull. This clip demonstrates the wash provided up the beach by the leaving ferry.

Only four Meds turned up today

And there were no gulls on either of the outfalls

They were all away anting. This was one of three Mediterranean gulls anting
with Black-Headed gulls over my house at 14:00

East breezes forecast for the next few days, we could get more interesting insects arriving!