East to ENE winds all day, high cloud with plenty of sunshine
North shoreline low water 09:45 (MD)
No Terns seen this morning
Swallow 8 - all singles apart from 1 group of 3
Bumblebees at least 6 in off, but no other insects noticed.
There are always at leat 4 Eider around here, this male provided som nice in flight shots.
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| Drake Eider |
Middleton Nature Reserve
Janet, Tim and Kevin Singleton had a look at different times today, all reported plenty of butterflies, these are likely to be "home grown" and not related to the influx in today's title.
Cetti's Warbler 3
Several each: Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Blackcap
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| Male Blackcap |
Greylag Goose 2 - flew off towards Middleton while Janet was there but returned when Tim was watching.
Shelduck 2
Little grebe on main and "no swimming" ponds
Butterflies included:
Orange Tip
Speckled Wood
Brimstone
Holly Blue
Peacock
Small Tortoiseshell
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| Male Orange Tip - Janet |
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| Female Orange Tip - Kevin |
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| Female Speckled Wood - Kevin |
South wall - this is where the main insect invasion was apparent.
Report from Kevin Eaves
Swarms of insects on the south wall this afternoon. Mainly beetles of quite a few species.
The following pictures are just a few of the huge number and variety of beetles along the south wall today. I even managed to swallow one and get one inside my t-shirt! I've never seen anything quite like it. Alison identified those that she could. Like micro moths, some have to be dissected for a positive identification.
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| Scarlet Lily Beetle. |
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| One of the Cereal Leaf Beetles. |
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| Sitona lineatus (a type of weevil). |
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| Harpalus rufipes. |
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| Gastrophysa polygoni (probably). |
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| 11-spot Ladybird. |
Quite a haul!
North wall (MD)
Just a quick evening check
The large bumblebees were still coming in off - 3 seen
Swallow 2 singles
Whimbrel 1
Sandwich Tern 2 fishing - both can be seen diving on this clip
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| Sandwich Tern |
After a few such dives they both had clearly caught enough and landed on the mud to preen.
