Friday 19 November 2021

Plenty of berries to go round

A fresh west wind, dry all day with plenty of sunshine 

Half Moon Bay to Heysham Head - high water 11:00
Howard managed to read two ringed Knot from the Heliport wall, unfortunately two others has damaged/dirty flags and couldn't be read. 

I particularly like this dynamic shot, by Howard.
You'll need to open the image to appreciate the detail (MD)
A walk along the shore line located three Rock Pipit. 

Middleton Nature Reserve 
Brimstone butterfly 1, seen by Janet in the morning. Quite a distant shot, but fortunately of a very distinctive species.
Late Brimstone butterfly 

I had a good walk around in the afternoon, but failed to see any butterflies or dragonflies (MD)
Mute 2 adult 9 cygnet 
Moorhen 4
Mallard 12
Gadwall 32
Tufted duck 1 male
Teal 2 (on Tim Butler pond)
Little grebe 2 (one on both main ponds)
Water Rail 1 calling from Tim Butler pond

Green Woodpecker 1 - unfortunately flew into the low sun and I lost it
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 female

There were surprisingly few winter thrushes around considering the amount of Hawthorn berries still available. The following are my best estimates in excess of resident birds:
Blackbird 15
Song Thrush 4
Redwing 13
All were gorging on Hawthorn berries:
Blackbird 

Redwing 

Also Chaffinch, although I wasn't clear exactly what they were eating. This still from the clip below, suggests they were eating partially withered Hawthorn berries.
Male Chaffinch with what looks like a withered Hawthorn berry


Even a Long Tailed Tit was having a go, obviously not feeding on the berries, but seeming to be finding plenty to eat amongst them.

Wood Pigeon 20 north plus 7 west at 14:30 - presumably local movement 
Roe Deer 1 female