Tuesday 24 March 2020

Not quite straw clutching....yet


Obviously the current restrictions have an impact on obervation opportunities. Not a hardship compared to the real problems many face. Still, every effort will be made to continue this blog albeit at a much reduced level.

Ocean Edge foreshore early morning (actual caravan site avoided)
Wheatear 3
Meadow Pipit 14 north

Heysham Skeer late afternoon 
No sign of Shag this evening, presumably already eaten.
Eider 123 recognisable blobs counted, many more distant specks almost certainly mainly Eider too.
Great-Crested Grebe 5
Red-Breasted Merganser 3

This is something that I (MD) have never seen before. A Common Whelk had somehow got its scale plate (operculum) stuck between some old mussel shells and couldn't retract to safety as the tide ebbed.
Lucky for the Whelk it was me, not one of the many gulls that found it first. I released it.

This shot shows the operculum on the foot.

When I placesd it the right way up, it "scurried" off.

Three species of Butterfly seen today, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and this female Brimstone.

Not too bad "in flight" pictures