It was hat and gloves weather again!

Significantly cooler today, not helped by a fresh SW wind. It warmed up in the evening as the sun finally broke through.

About 45 Canada geese in total grounded by yesterdays thunder c0730  
Out from Sandylands promenade - Graham Wheeler 

Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

House Martin

Swallow

Male Pheasant

First Large Skipper this year

Bee Orchid

On a visit this evening, there was a Koi Carp swimming near the spit on the main pond.

Quite a large Koi Carp

Heysham Skear - Malcolm 13:30 - 15:30

It was surprisingly cool on the skear, I ended up with my wooly hat and gloves on!

Eider 1 female

Female Eider

Red -breasted Merganser 1

Great Crested Grebe 1

Shag 1 2nd calendar year

It had been swimming around

But then climbed onto a rock to freshen up.

Little Egret 2

I was there quite early in the ebbing tide so I could see where the waders were arriving from.

Oystercatcher were arriving all the time, almost all from the south.

Curlew 1 arrived from the east

Knot 1 just appeared 

Knot

Sanderling 22 in two flocks 4 and 18 came from the north, shaped to land but didn't and continued south.

Sanderling 

Ringed Plover 2 arrived from the north and settled high up the skear

Ringed Plover

Gulls c450. Three new green ringed birds for this year were read.

This one ringed as a Herring gull at Bowland in 2022, is now showing the
characteristics of it being a hybrid with a Lesser Black-backed gull

Bell Aire Park - Alison Hayward

A nice pair of fruit flies - Chaetostomella cylindrica, a  tephritid fruit fly

More RVD

 A very heavy thundery shower around 07:00. Kevin Eaves' weather station recorded 88 lightning strikes within a 20km radius! After that a sunny morning with increasing cloud cover again in the afternoon. A SE wind.

Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

A visitor with binoculars saw at least one male Red-Veined Darter flying over the main pond.

There seems to be plenty of food for the growing Coot chicks

Painted Lady

Common Blue

Silver-ground Carpet (phone shot, this evening)

This Roe Deer was at exactly the same spot on the south side as yesterday 

South Shore - Malcolm 12:45 - 14:45

I started at the saltmarsh and immediately a female Darter flew past me. She didn't land but I managed some in flight shots. None of the shots were great, but they all showed the diagnostic blue of the lower eye of a Red-Veined Darter

Female Red-Veined Darter

I thought I was going to see lots of dragonflies after this good start, but a glimpse of something small and dark past the Roundhead was the only other sighting. It was likely to have been a damselfly or possibly a demoiselle 

Meadow Pipit also on the saltmarsh (possibly breeding?)

Meadow Pipit

It was eying the myriad of flies around.

Rock Pipit 5 - 1 on Red Nab and at least 4 in the harbour 

Rock Pipit between the lighthouse and waterfall 

Rock Pipit on the light to the right of the lighthouse 

Linnet 4 between the lighthouse and waterfall 

Still at least 2 chicks in the Carrion Crow nest under one of the
 harbour platforms. Still no visits by adults seen

This green ringed Herring gull was on top of a platform.
Almost certainly one ringed at the Power Station last year. Details awaited 

This green ringed Herring gull was on No.2 outfall.
It was definitely ringed as a chick on the Power Station 24th June last year.
It was at Southport Marine Lake as early as the 8th August last year,
then at Seaforth docks from February to April this year

There were plenty of Butterflies coming in/off again, but the fresh wind blowing up the sloping wall lifted many over the perimeter fence, rather than them flying along the sea wall, so the count wasn't as high as it could have been. These are the totals from the same walk as the last two days.

Painted Lady 32 (including a surge of 10 in quick succession at 13:45

Red Admiral 2

Common Blue 3

Small White 4

Large White 1

Silver Y 1

Burnet Companion 1

Cinnabar 1

Light Brown Apple Moth 1

These striking crane flies are Nephrotoma sp (likely submaculosa)

There were two spikes of Bee Orchid near the gate behind Red Nab

The double flower spike is circled, the single flower just to the left

Kevin Eaves spotted these beetles along the sea wall

Harpalus affinis

Poecilus versicolor

Cardinal

Cinnamon Bug

Bell Aire Park - Alison Hayward

It was nice to see large numbers of Figwort Weevils (Cionus scrophulariae) on a small patch of Figwort plants in the lane near Bell Aire Park.  Interesting that a significant number flew in during the few minutes I was watching joining the 10s already there.  

Figwort Weevil

Canada day

Just a bit cooler today, particularly in the morning. A light SE wind 

It was obviously a good day for Canada geese to be heading north:

82 Canada Geese in three flocks all following the exactly same flight line over Eardley Road. Another 2 came in off the Sea - David Kaye

Canada Geese flying north

Janet saw 2 on the main pond at Middleton Nature Reserve plus at least 24 in one flock over to the north.

Canada geese

So 110 seen over the recording area, more or possibly some of the same ones were seen to our south heading this way. This from Adam at Preesall:

Had 120 Canadas plus load of greylags north over the Preesall  garden this morning. 80 odd of them landed mile or so out on the sea presumably you got these birds.

Also from Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

Coot chick beginning to lose its downy plumage 

This Common Whitethroat took a caterpillar into a bush
and returned with a fecal sac

Roe Deer on the southern section 

Heysham Nature Reserve - Reuben 

Clouded Yellow - on the plateau grassland

South shore - Malcolm 12:45 - 14:15

I did exactly the same walk as yesterday, but I was expecting more insects in the SE wind. There were more, but nothing outstanding 

Foreshore

Painted Lady 2

Large White 2

Common Blue 4

Red Admiral 1

Seawall (first number out and the second back)

Painted Lady 9, 5

Red Admiral 5, 3

Small White 4, 0

Cinnabar 0, 1 

Lighthouse to waterfall

Painted Lady 5 (total 21)

Red Admiral 3 (total 12)

Small White 1 (total 5)

Silver Y 1 (total 1 clearly yesterday's 18 were recent arrivals not residents)

The only dragonfly seen was a Four-spotted Chaser between the lighthouse and the waterfall 

Four-spotted Chaser resting on the brambles along the Power Station perimeter 

Linnet 3 on Ocean Edge grass and 4 between the lighthouse and waterfall 

Linnet feeding amongst the Sea Stork's-bill at Ocean Edge

Rock Pipit at least 2 between the lighthouse and waterfall