Very light winds today mainly from NW. The sun was shining for most of the day, making it feel quite warm, though in reality it barely reached 10C.
Upcoming weather opportunities (from Pete) - Should get a Black Redstart and/or Firecrest off the weather Friday to Monday. Not bad forecast for a decent late autumn bird like Dusky Warbler (previous record was 4/11)
Also from Pete:
Sandwich Tern - 1 juvenile visited outfalls briefly late am - suspected sitting on channel marker buoy rest of time?
Whooper swan 6 south
Merlin 1 female around the Heliport area
Shag 1 juvenile roosting on the outer section of the wooden jetty.
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| Not easy to spot, it's one of the two in the gap between rails |
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| Pictures by Jean. |
Rock Pipit 2 around Red Nab
Middleton Nature Reserve(MD)
A quick check of the "no swimming" pond, just after sunrise.
Wildfowl as yesterday, but with the low sun behind me, it allowed some better plumage shots.
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| Shoveller: Male in partial eclipse, female, male in eclipse/1st winter |
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| Female and male Gadwall |
I have heard Gadwall referred to as "the dull ducks".
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| But, when the male displays his full colours, he really is quite splendid. |
A walk around the reserve in the pleasant afternoon sun also located:
Cetti's warblers 2 - both "no swimming" pond and central marsh males singing.
Water Rail at least 2 calling. They invariably react to a Cetti's burst of song.
Comma 1 - very active, no doubt trying to find something to feed on.
Corvids - 14:15. a flock of 48 mainly Jackdaw were flying north then turned and flew off to the east. There was at least one Rook with them. Rooks are vary scarce here. As far as I know this is the first record this year.
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| Some of the corvids - the central bird is a Rook. |
