Friday 16 July 2021

Bit of a mixed bag

The west breeze and sunshine continues 

Heysham skear - low water 11:00
Just a quick check.
Great Crested Grebe 1
Little Egret 8
Grey Heron 1
Redshank 3
Turnstone 2
Curlew c80

Middleton Nature Reserve 
Janet took these Common Darter shots in the morning

Common Darter

I had a quick check of the three main ponds in the evening 
The Mute pair on Tim Butler pond only had one cygnet with them today. The rest of the wildfowl was as yesterday.
Not a lot of dragonflies.
Emperor 6
Black-Tailed Skimmer 3
Brown Hawker 1
Common Darter 1

Still a good variety of butterflies around, but no Ringlet seen today.

It tends to be noisy around the main pond, mainly as there is usually someone feeding the swans and ducks. The gulls call in anticipation and during feeding sessions. This Grey Heron was chilling out, resting on the sloping east bank. Interestingly, it reacted to the gulls falling "silent". Incidentally, this is the same heron that was seen swimming a couple of weeks ago. It seems to have its own ideas as to how a heron should behave.

Probably the best record of the day was on my Beech hedge as I was getting in my car this evening (MD). 

Magpie moth