Birds and Bee

Light wind, predominantly NE in morning then NW by afternoon. Sunshine all day.

Heysham skear - low water 06:00 (MD)

I watched the tide cover the skear.

Canada Geese 8 drifted in with tide 

Eider 1 female

Red-breasted Merganser pair

Great Crested Grebe pair plus 1. This is the single bird and the Eider. I have seen this foot waving behaviour before, presumably a form of signal. Not sure who it was intended for.

Oystercatcher c150

Curlew 7

Sanderling just a solitary bird.

Summer Plumage Sanderling

Heysham Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a quick check of the central meadow (SD46)

Common Blue Butterfly 7

Burnet Companion 5

Narrow-bordered Five Spot Burnet 1

Narrow-bordered Five Spot Burnet moth

South Shore (MD/KE)

Mediterranean gull 1 adult showed briefly on the beach between the wooden jetty and No.1 outflow. The mud here is still deeper than ideal for sandmason worm hunting 

Rock Pipit 2 between lighthouse and waterfall

Pictures by Kevin.

Mediterranean gull

Rock Pipit

This is where the Bee in today's title comes from, Janet spotted the first Bee Orchids showing on Middleton Nature Reserve.

Bee Orchids 

Me and Kevin also found some in the Nature Park

The arrow shows the location of the Nature Park orchids. These are the wooden posts set in the concrete section just past the newt pond. There are Bee Orchids behind the Birds-Foot Trefoil plus a few other spikes around.

Just out of the recording area - Heysham Moss Nature Reserve 

Janet had a look this morning.

Large Heath 2 - these are the flagship butterfly species for the reserve.

Large Heath

Large Skipper

Common Blue