Evening Sanderlings

 Light wind SSW in morning SSE by evening, plenty of sunshine but cooler than yesterday.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a short circuit mid morning

Mute Swan 2 adult plus 9 cygnet 

Coot 4 adult

Moorhen 4 adult

Mallard 5 male 1 female

Little grebe 3 minimum - 2 feeding on main pond, plus one reeling from "no swimming" pond.

Singing warblers:

Cetti's warbler 1 on central marsh

Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Sedge (several of each)

Lesser Whitethroat 1

This Sedge warbler on the main pond reeds was in full voice

Despite the sunshine it was only 15C. Still, warm enough for Dragonflies but none found. There were plenty of Damselflies though. The Large Red looking more impressive now they are mature.

Male Large Red Damselfly

Butterflies, in order of abundance:

Small Heath several

Small White - several small white butterflies, the only one seen closely was a Small White, I think they all were.

Orange Tip 4 male

Speckled Wood 3

Peacock 1

Plus day flying moths:

Common wave 2 

Burnet Companion 3

Burnet companion 

Heysham skear (MD)

I watched the tide cover the skear this morning.

Eider 39

Little Egret 7

Great Crested Grebe 5

Red-breasted Merganser 2 female type

Continued high numbers of Gulls and Oystercatchers. The only other waders were:

Dunlin flock of 7

Curlew flock of 5

Whimbrel 1

I went down early evening to watch the inner skear becoming exposed, nothing other than Oystercatcher and gulls at first, then the Sanderlings started to show up, 17 in total (4, 11 and 2). I couldn't stay long though, perhaps others followed.

These are 3 of the first 4, I could almost sense their disappointment! This time last year these little pools on the ebbing tide were full of shrimps - none today.

The flock of 11 tried a few different areas, including the mud beach, before settling on the waterline, probably their best bet for small invertebrates.