Plenty of stuff around, but not much new

Mainly overcast with a couple of morning showers. Some sunny spells later.  A fresh NW wind

Heysham skear - Malcolm  09:15 - 10:30

Not much new today so I've included some terrain shots. A heavy shower was just ending as I was walking out.

The rain managed to hold off while I was out, but only just

Eider at least 21

Eider between Honeycomb worm reefs on the north side

Eider between a Mussel bank and a sandbar 

These are on the south side and I would call these large Honeycomb worm
beds rather than reefs. The south of the skear takes the brunt of the storms 
and reefs struggle to become fully established, but it does happen occasionally 

Great Crest Grebe 2

Little Egret 12

Little Egret. The stakes mid distance right are all that remain of the
old Battery skear fish traps

Grey Heron 1

Heron resting on the extensive Honeycomb worm beds in the SE corner,
perhaps these will become large enough to be called reefs this year.

Oystercatcher a lot more birds today probably 3500

The partially leucistic one was amongst them. These are on a sandbar
you can see the indents in the sand left by the recent shower 

Curlew 25

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1 juvenile - first one this autumn 

Juvenile Bar-Tailed Godwit 

Redshank just 25 and most of those were high up the shore

Turnstone 45

Turnstone, giving me a dirty look!

Two visits by a Peregrine might explain the low numbers of small waders

Middleton Nature Reserve - Rosemary and Peter Silvester

Insects seen at the Southern end were:

1 Ruddy Darter

Several Male Common Darters (no females)

2 Migrant Hawkers

1 Small Copper

3 Speckled Wood

2 Small White

2 Red Admiral

Ruddy Darter

Common Darter

Migrant Hawker

Common Blue Damselfly at the main pond

We didn't see any dragonflies when we were at the main pond but it was only a very brief visit today.

Southnshore - Malcolm 15:00 - 15:30.

I just did a circuit around Ocean Edge

Common Darter on the fence at the entrance to Ocean Edge
There are still lots of Harlequin Ladybirds here too

Linnet 10 flew out to the saltmarsh 

Wheatear 1 along the foreshore 

Rock Pipit 5 - 1 on the foreshore and at least 4 more on Red Nab

Pied Wagtail 1 on Ocean Edge grass

In the Nature Park 

Common Darter 4

Small White 1

Large White 1

Red Admiral 1

Speckled Wood 5

Small White

Large White

Male Speckled Wood

Female Speckled Wood

The female flew down to a lower leaf and the male joined her......
I made my excuses and left