East to NE lightish winds. Steady rain till early afternoon then fortunately clearing up and becoming sunny in time for the many Jubilee events this afternoon and evening.
Just my stuff so far (MD)
I made the mistake of trying the south shore after the rain had stopped. But, of course, all the dog walkers and all the holiday makers had the same idea. I just checked the foreshore, the only thing of note was a Common Whitethroat taking food to the nest near the slipway.
Middleton Nature Reserve
Fortunately, this was virtually visitor free.
Mute Swan 2 adult plus 8 cygnets on main pond
Moorhen 3
Coot 5 adult feeding 3 young - the young are larger now.
Mallard 6 male and a female with a single small chick on the main pond
Little grebe 4 adult, but I only saw one chick. In this clip the adult catches a small fish, but makes sure it is stunned before trusting the chick with it. You can see the bubbles the feeding adult is making.
There weren't many warblers singing and the ones that were, somewhat subdued. The following heard in order of abundance:
Willow Warbler
Chiffchaff
Blackcap
Common Whitethroat 2
Lesser Whitethroat 1
Sedge Warbler 1
This Common Whitethroat was also taking food to the nest
Buzzard 2 hanging on the east wind like Kestrels over the eastern open field.
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| Common Buzzard |
Kestrel 1 male, also hanging on the east wind like a Kestrel. The two smudges in the background are the Buzzards.
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| Male Kestrel |
Insects, not a lot around despite it being quite warm in the sun.
The only butterfly seen was a very faded Green-veined White male.
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| Common Cardinal beetle |
There were plenty of damselflies around, but the only dragonfly seen was this immature Four-spotted Chaser
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| First record of a Four-spotted Chaser this year |
