The wind freshened throughout the day mainly from the west. Plenty of sunshine, but hazy at times.
Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)
I had a walk around lunchtime. Eight warbler species were soon located: Cetti's Warbler (5 including one singing from the bushes of in the NW corner of main pond, possibly a new territory if it remains), Sedge, Reed, Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff.
Mute pair plus 9 cygnets
Mallard 4 males 2 females both with 8 quite mature chicks (both on main pond, Tim Butler pond not checked).
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| Both Mallard families. These are the largest chicks and will be the first seen this year. She had nine originally, last year all nine were quickly taken by predators (a Great Black-Backed gull took the blame, probably deservedly) |
Coot 3 adult no chicks seen
Moorhen 2 adult
Grey Heron 1
Pheasant 2 males calling
Butterflies (not so many today):
Common Blue,
Speckled Wood
Green-veined White
Orange Tip
Small Heath
Lots of Damselflies, including several pairs ovipositoring.
Dragonflies:
Broad-bodied Chasers 10+ this one looks like it has just emerged, a female I think (MD), you can see her abdomen contracting, they do this initially to pump liquid to spread their wings. That process has obviously been completed, so not really sure whats going on. I've left the annoying camera sound on as there is a Lesser Whitethroat singing in the background.
Four-spotted Chaser 8+
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| Four-spotted Chaser |
Black-Tailed Skimmer 1 female at least
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| Female Black-Tailed Skimmer |
Roe Deer 1 male
Heysham skear - low water 21:00 (MD)
The west wind was quite fresh by this time. I went down a couple of hours before low water, before the outer skear was exposed. Unfortunately, a wind surfer was also heading to the skear corner and he managed to stir everything up, still it was a good walk.
Shelduck 2
No Eider or Grebes seen
Red-breasted Merganser 6 - this clip gives a good impression of this evening's conditions.
Oystercatcher c500 (easier to estimate when they are all flying)
Curlew 2Turnstone 8
Bar-Tailed Godwit 10 - they were on the waterline exactly where the windsurfer was heading. A wave of gulls in front of him
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| Bar-Tailed Godwit |
Sanderling 3 - keep an eye on the bird that starts on the right as it catches a small shrimp.
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| Sanderling |
Unfortunately, another close pass of the windsurfer lifted everything. This clip is them flying off, it is really just to show how tiny they are compared to the Oystercatcher they end up settling in front of.
They quickly returned to the skear to continue feeding. I left them to it.
Janet took this clip of what looks to be a pair of bees mating. I'm not good on bees, but think these are Carder bees. I thought bees only mated in autumn when the fertile males emerge to mate with the new queens.
Both bees flew off after the "encounter". (if anyone knows more please advise, my e-mail is on the sidebar, thanks Malcolm)
