Things just ticking over

A light, mainly NW wind. Dry with plenty of sunny spells.

Heysham skear - low water 10:15 (MD)

Great Crested Grebe 9

Eider 5

Little Egret 14

Grey Heron 1

All the waders can be postscript "at least"

Oystercatcher 100

Curlew 150

Whimbrel 1

Redshank 80

Turnstone 40

Knot 3

Dunlin 1

Ringed Plover 12

Middleton Nature Reserve (JP)

A morning walk

Common Whitethroat 

Male Common Darter

One Ringlet Butterfly seen, they are much scarcer now after such high numbers early in the summer.

Common Field Grasshopper 

Cinnabar moth caterpillar 

Harvestman - looking much more at home here than in my garage.
It has lost two legs, the legs easily detach as a defence mechanism when under attack.

Red Nab to saltmarsh towards high water (MD)

Mediterranean gulls 8 including 3 juvenile on Red Nab

Sandwich Tern 1 at least blogging out from Red Nab

Distant Sandwich Tern and a Black-Headed gull

Dunlin 19 on Red Nab

Dunlin

Whimbrel 1 

Linnet 6

Wheatear 1

Starling 100+ 

The above all on saltmarsh 

I took this clip yesterday and forgot to post it. The Redshank has managed to extract a good sized lugworm, the mud must have been soft, they normally just manage a piece of tail. It would have been better off with a piece of, easily swallowed, tail. As it couldn't eat the lugworm quickly enough and had to drop it to end the pursuit of a Black-Headed gull. In the end it is another Black-Headed gull who wins the prize - watch in slow motion.