Kingfisher bonus

A dry but cooler day. A stiff SW wind developing in the afternoon 

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Report by Alan

It was quite chilly and very damp but calm before dawn.  Three Roe Deer were panicking on the road in front of the car as I approached the UU entrance in the dark.  One flock of about 60 Pink-footed Geese flew southwards over the power stations soon after I arrived.  A Jack Snipe was disturbed out of the western reedbed fringe soon after eleven o'clock.

The weather synopsis was far from ideal for ringing at Middleton this morning but I set a couple of nets anyway.  The catch was predictably low but did include an unexpected Kingfisher.

There were a few grounded Blackbirds. About a dozen Redwings were feeding in Hawthorn bushes on the reserve but they were mostly too busy to be attracted by my Mp3 player.

Ringed were:

Redwing   2

Lesser Redpoll  2 

Singles of  Kingfisher, Goldcrest, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Blackbird & Chiffchaff (retrap).

photo by John Mason
Hopefully we will be able to see if this is the one that frequents Red Nab, Although
Alan advises that spotting its ring may be difficult as they have such short legs.

A few more shots from the main pond yesterday - Janet

Coot

Mallard

Little Grebe

Heysham skear - low water 14:45 (Malcolm)

There weren't so many gulls feeding today (see yesterday's post). Just one group and much more mobile. Whatever they were feeding on, it must be small Whitebait, was clearly not as static as yesterday. The sea was much choppier today which would have made spotting the fish more difficult for the gulls.

Again mainly Black-Headed gulls

Little Egret 5

Little Egret

Red-breasted Merganser 2 

No Eider or Great Crested grebes seen

Oystercatcher 2,000

Curlew 30

Curlew and Oystercatcher with Knot

Knot 1,000 + they were feeding today which at least gives you a chance of checking more legs for rings. Even so, most of the legs are out of sight for most of the time.

Yesterday's orange flagged bird was still around. It is a non-breeding 2nd calendar year bird ringed in Bangor, Wales in March this year, and has been seen in several Merseyside venues over the summer.

Two more flagged birds were seen today.

One of the new flagged Knot - details awaited

One of these Knot still has a hint of summer plumage 

Redshank 40

Turnstone 50

Ringed Plover 25

Ringed Plover