It rained! All day!

Very heavy overnight rain continued throughout the day. A light NE wind.

South shore (MD)

A wet morning walk was all I had time for today.

Moorhen 1 - Moneyclose Lane was awash and one was swimming in one of the larger puddles

Pied Wagtail 34 - on the foreshore and Ocean Edge grass. There has been a small presence throughout the summer, but no more than 6 till this morning.

Rock Pipit 3 - two on Red Nab and one sheltering below No.2 outflow superstructure.

Redshank 30 - a feeding group of 23 on the beach near wooden Jetty the others scattered along the shore.

Whimbrel 1 - flew out from the foreshore 

Curlew 8 - along the shore, the bulk will have left to feed on the skear.

Oystercatcher c30

Mediterranean gull 2 adult/second summer on the seaward end of the beach next to the wooden jetty.

These Mediterranean gulls aren't today's birds, but from a couple of days ago.
Second summer at the back. The adult was ringed in Holland in 2019.
It has also been seen in Portugal, Spain and France 

I took this sequence the other day in the Nature Park, and was saving it for a rainy day. I didn't have to wait long! 

It always disappoints me that the splendid colour of male Brimstone butterflies in flight disappears when you photograph them after they have landed. This is because their underwings are a paler yellow than the upper wings and they alway close their wings when they land. You can see why in this clip, their wings mimic a leaf, quite green when the sun shines though them, pale yellow otherwise.

So I tried to get some in flight shots, with only partial success, still it's a bit of colour on a dull day!

Male Brimstone butterfly 

At 20:30 Kevin Eaves' weather station had recorded 60.2mm of rain since midnight, and it is still raining! The forecast is brighter for tomorrow though.