A very heavy downpour about 11:00 last night, almost certainly followed by more showers, but it was fine by the morning. It was overcast and dry till lunch then another heavy shower. Sunshine in the afternoon led to thunder showers by evening. East to ESE light wind all day.
42 birds of 11 species caught today between 07:30 - 10:45 at Middleton NR:
Grey Wagtail 4 were colour ringed
Chiffchaff 11
Willow Warbler 2
Sedge Warbler 2
Reed Warbler 1
Blackcap 4
Lesser Whitethroat 2
Meadow Pipit 1
Blue Tit 9
Great Tit 1
Long-tailed Tit 5 (2 were retraps)
Vis included:
11 Grey Wagtail (4 caught and ringed)
37 Swalliws
1 Snipe dropped in
5 Meadow Pipits
62 Goldfinch headed SW in 3 groups (30, 25, 7)
4 Gadwall flew in
Some interesting recent ringing recoveries:
I had a walk around in the hot afternoon sun (MD)
6 Gadwall and 1 Shoveler on "no swimming" pond
Water Rail at least 3 squealing, including 1 somewhere on the industrial site side
Common Sandpiper 2 seen both on main pond and the "no swimming" pond, but think they were the same mobile birds
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| Common Sandpiper - another slightly uncommon underwing view |
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| Two Common Sandpiper |
House Martin 5 together south
Despite it being hot, the rain must have dampened the insects down as there were not many
Dragonflies:
Emperor several
Common Darter 3
Butterflies:
Red Admiral 6
Speckled Wood 6
Small White 3
Meadow Brown 1
This Speckled Wood was displaying to a potential mate, but I suspect the potential mate's mating days are over......
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| Silver Y moth |
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| Achaius oratorius - wasp |
South shore
I checked this morning (MD)
Meadow Pipit 9 grounded plus 3 over to south
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| Meadow Pipit |
Rock Pipit 2
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| Rock Pipit |
Robin 5 grounded
Wheatear 5 - Janet also saw one below the Barrows on the north side. This is one of Janet's pictures of a typically sleek Wheatear
I've posted Janet's picture here as a comparison to a, definitely not sleek, Wheatear on the foreshore. The larger birds are normally associated with birds that breed in the far north, as far as Greenland. But this might just be a big bird.
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| It obviously has its feathers fluffed out............ |
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| ....but whichever way you look at it, this is a big Wheatear |
Linnet 6
No sign of the Kingfisher on Red Nab today, but the neap tides were not often visited last winter (the freshwater stream only has fish in it when the saltwater fills it, allowing the sea fishes to move along it). Mark Jones reports that there was one on the dipping pond on Heysham Nature Reserve, a week ago.
Shag 1 resting on wooden Jetty
Sandwich Tern 2 adult flying towards the Lune estuary - this is one of them, the other not far behind.
This next clip is of a Chiffchaff in the Nature Park catching a fly, it happens too quickly to see in real time, indeed too quickly for my camera to catch, but this shot is a blurry still from the end of the clip, showing the end of the fly!
Finally, this clip is from Middleton Nature Reserve this afternoon. It shows Black ants "farming" aphids. This is a great example of a symbiotic relationship, the ants protect the aphids from predators and the aphids provide the ants honeydew (the aphid's waste). Don't suppose the bramble is impressed though.
