Black Darter and Pinks start to return

 The east wind switched to NW late morning, but remained light. Dry with long sunny periods.

Heysham skear - low water 08:30 (MD)

Eider 23 - 10, 12 & 1 all female/immature 

Great Crested Grebe 13

Red-breasted Merganser 3 female/immature in one feeding group.

Little Egret 19 

These spring tides come in very quickly, these are some of the birds trying to feed while being displaced. Note the young Little Egret with quite yellow legs, towards the end of the clip.

Grey Heron 1

Pink-Footed goose 3 low to the east.

First Pink-Footed geese returning

There wasn't a great number of waders, no doubt more were on the outer skear

Oystercatcher c200

Curlew c150

Redshank c120

Turnstone c80

Knot 1

Harbour mouth early evening, Craig Bell 

Pink-Footed goose 4

Whimbrel 2

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet had a look in the morning

Cetti's Warbler 1 singing between the main and "no swimming" ponds

Black Darter 1 male on the flat area to the west of Tim Butler pond (the first record within the recording area this year)

Male Black Darter

I had a walk around just after lunch (MD)

Brown Hawker 2

Migrant Hawker 10 - just 1 female

Common Darter 10+ - these are two ovipositoring in the "no swimming" pond (my camera seems to be making up its own sound effects now!)

There wasn't a lot of butterflies, in order of abundance:

Speckled Wood several

Meadow Brown 4

Small White 4

Red Admiral 2

Brimstone 2

Large White 1

Mute Sawn 2 adult 8 Cygnets 

Mallard 4

Tufted Duck the odd looking female is still on main pond

Coot 8

There are still no wildfowl on the "no swimming" pond

Swallow - continuous high number feeding and moving through. 30 minimum 

Grey Heron 1 - it catches a small fish here

Long Tailed Tits at least 15 in one feeding flock, plus 1 Chiffchaff with them.

Sparrowhawk 1

The late summer rain has swollen the Hawthorn berrries. There were already high numbers but now they are large too. I suppose this will be the case in most of the rest of the country too.

Heavily laden Hawthorn bush

I thought this female/immature Blackbird had already started eating them, but it was actually eating Blackthorn fruit (sloes).

Quite often, sloes are the only berries/fruit to remain late into winter. I think the larger ones are just too large for even the largest thrushes to swallow.