An other worldly start, and a top (albeit tiny) moth

Heavy morning rain but dry by early afternoon. A fresh SE wind.

First an update from yesterday - 4 Lunar hornet moths at Middleton Nature Reserve all across the road from the car park - Linda.  Pheromone lure

Kevin Eaves had this tiny moth in his overnight trap.

Small Marbled moth

  It's a migrant, probably from Southern Europe. Amazing how such small
insects can travel great distances. 

South shore

I went along the sea wall 08:30 - 10:00 (Malcolm). It lashed it down all the time, and the SE wind was constantly wafting mists around, creating a surreal seascape.

These are the two adult Kittiwakes, much better shots to follow,
but these provide a sense of this morning's conditions 

I went down while the tide was out to see if the Mediterranean gulls were feeding on the beach between No.1 outfall and the wooden jetty. There were 12 - 14 but a long way out, plus difficult viewing through the mists and rain.

The Med on the right has a white ring, possibly the one seen
at Conder Green yesterday 

All the gulls flew off together, I assumed as the tide was now coming in. But perhaps not.....

......10 minutes later Osprey fishing, I thought it had just arrived, but more likely it had been fishing a while, out of sight from me, but not the gulls.

This is the point that it caught a Bass. It is only just visible despite 
being quite close to the waterline 

It flew off with its catch to the south

Osprey with a Bass

Janet managed a walk in between showers at lunchtime 

Curlew 

Cormorant 

One of two adult Kittiwakes 

Grey Seal near No.1 outfall

I had another (dry) look this evening (Malcolm)

Still at least one adult Kittiwake 

At least one newly fledged Rock Pipit has managed to survive the perilous, and regularly fatal, first flight from the lighthouse area nest hole. Positioned on the vertical wall with just sea below, they haven't even a chance to flex their wings, before their first attempted fight.

Newly fledged Rock Pipit 

Two Peregrine Falcons above the Power Stations

Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

Just a quick look on my way home

Stonechat 1 male and at least 1 juvenile

The male was display flying as I arrived

Then he settled over his usual bramble bush

One juvenile looking more confident now

Likely a different juvenile, but I didn't see two at the same time, there were
at least three when the male was first feeding them away from the nest.

A day of two halves

Some heavy showers in the morning, the fresh SW wind becoming very strong through the worst squalls. It shifted more to NW and became lighter by this afternoon, with some long sunny periods.

South shore

I had a walk along the sea wall 09:15 - 10:30 (Malcolm). It was fine as I got out of my car, and fine again as I got back. Everything in between varied from light to very heavy rain!

Gannet 1 adult - there was a particularly heavy squall as I reached No.1 outfall. I saw the Gannet fly to the rocks behind the outfall for shelter.

When the rain eased, it returned to the water and shook itself down.
It was still there when I left, but this was the only sighting of it today.
Kevin and Janet checked during the afternoon and I had another look
this evening

Kittiwake 1 adult on No.1 (this afternoon there were two)

Lots of gulls feeding on No.2 outfall. There is an adult Mediterranean gull in this clip, but it is easily missed.

If you missed the Med, it shows lower left 19 seconds into the clip

Curlew 91 south in small to medium sized flocks.

Rock Pipit 2 - one on Red Nab and one with food near the lighthouse 

Pete scanned from Ocean Edge towards lunchtime.

Three Manx Shearwater together out between showers - then nothing other than the Kittiwake when it cleared and wind went NW.  

Some shots from Janet's afternoon walk.

Lesser Black-Backed gull

Black-Headed gull

Kittiwake 

You can see a small fish in its mouth in this shot

Time for a rest

Lighthouse area Rock Pipit

Cinnabar moth caterpillar

Other insects in the Nature Park

Small White

Large Skipper 

Ringlet

Red Admiral

A couple of shots from this evening (Malcolm)

This Lesser Black-Backed gull has a crab

Adult Mediterranean gull

Mediterranean gull 3 - was all that I could account for today, an adult plus 2nd and 3rd calendar year birds

Just out of the recording area Conder Green 29 Med Gulls Including White Darvic 3792  this morning.

Well......perhaps it is something that you can see every day!

A dry, but mainly overcast day. A SW breeze

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Red-Veined Darter 2 males where the Swans rest on the west side of the main pond, until this one chased the other off.

Male Red-Veined Darter. The pale lump is degraded swan poop

Swallow

Coot and three very young chicks

Ringlets

Green-Veined White

Large Skipper

Meadow Brown

Silver Y

Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet

Six-spot Burnet

Sun Flies

Great Crested Newts under a fallen panel near the water pumping station.
The panel was then carefully replaced where it lay before.

Imperial Rd (Malcolm) 11:00

Buzzard 1 soaring 

Sedge Warblers singing

Redd Bunting 2

Reed Bunting 

Stonechat 1 male plus at least 1 juvenile.

Juvenile with the male Stonechat. What looked to be another juvenile 
had just flown off.

The male was constantly calling

He seems to be getting a response.

North shore (David Kaye)

Avocets 3 flew south across the skear

South shore (Malcolm) 14:15 - 15:30

I timed the walk to be the same stage of the tide as yesterday, to see if the Gannet had returned. It was clearly finding plenty to fish for yesterday. And sure enough......

Gannet 1 adult

It was resting on the sea between No.1 outfall and the wooden jetty

Only 50m out from the sea wall

Presumably it had already eaten its fill as it just drifted out with the ebbing tide. Then it decided to have a fly around the area, clearly it was in good health.

It then flew back between the outfalls and had one unsuccessful dive before I left.

Same time tomorrow?

Kittiwake at least 1 adult 

Kittiwake 

Mediterranean gull at least 12 resting on the mud between the outfalls, no gulls went to the beach next to the wooden jetty

Rock Pipit 4 at least. One on Red Nab. The behaviour of the lighthouse birds had changed. The male has returned to displaying and feeding himself. There were two other adults, one, presumably Mum wasn't happy about me being there, and gave me a good chirping at! Hopefully protecting at least one young somewhere close by.

Later I saw her fly over to the wooden jetty.

Clouded Yellow 1 female. It was along the edge of the track between Red Nab and Ocean Edge

Not great inflight shots, but good enough to confirm as a female.
Pete advises that sightings nationally are very low this year