Wednesday 2 November 2022

Another probable Pallid

A cold south wind early on freshened during the day to be very strong by mid afternoon. The rain largely held off till after lunch, then pretty steady till evening.

Swift (sp). Seen by John Gregory it had been over the horse paddocks at Knowlys Rd at lunchtime, last seen heading east. Some good views suggested a Pallid Swift, but no pictures so, unfortunately, it has to remain just a probable.

South shore (MD)
I checked from saltmarsh to Red Nab mid morning, it felt like visiting the Mary Celeste! Only the Shelduck (100+) were around. There were no passerines of any description, don't know if the cold wind or a raptor had purged them.
Red Nab was deserted except for a single Little Egret.
Three Common Snipe baulked the trend flying onto the saltmarsh.
Fortunately a couple of Grey Wagtails were a nice diversion.
Feeding below the small anemometer in the Nature Park. One was part of the Observatory colour ringing scheme (see side bar for scheme details). Ringed 6/09/21 at Middleton Nature Reserve.
Colour ringed Grey Wagtail 
It looks like a male. This clip shows it catching a rat-tailed maggot. You can actually see what's going on better, if you watch the reflection.


This is his travelling companion 

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)
Just a quick check to see how the Mute were faring. They were fine, but the cygnets were spilt into two groups 4 with the 2 adult on the "no swimming" pond, 2 hanging around the feeding station on the main pond.
No Mallard seen
Gadwall 18 on "no swimming" pond
Shoveler 2 on "no swimming" pond
Male Shoveler now out of eclipse 

Female Shoveler 

He didn't seem overly keen on company and legged it when she got "too" close.

Little Grebe - just 1 seen