The expected rain held off till mid morning, but then continued till 15:30. After which it cleared for a pleasant evening. The wind was from SSE to begin with but ended up SW.
Just my stuff so far (Malcolm)
South shore
No sign of any Brent geese today, a passing check from Knowlys Rd couldn't see any out from the play area. None arrived at Red Nab later, although there was still time for them to turn up after I had left.
It was raining slightly as I walked out along the sea wall, not a problem with the wind at my back. But on the return leg it was lashing down and being driven into my face.
Wigeon 212 - most waiting to feed on Red Nab, but these were feeding on the slightly longer gutweed on the sloping wall, just beyond No.1 outflow.
And that was it really, no Shag seen again and not even any Rock Pipits seen today. A good soaking with little reward!
Middleton Nature Reserve
Fortunately the clouds cleared in the evening and I had a very pleasant walk around the reserve.
Wildfowl as yesterday other than the adult Swans were back on the "no swimming" pond. At least 5 additional Moorhen (12 in total). A Little Grebe on Tim Butler pond was probably additional to yesterday's 3 on the main pond. Although I only saw/heard 2 on the main pond today.
Common Snipe 1
Cetti's Warbler 2 singing - one from the reed bed in the SE corner of the main pond and one from the "no swimming" pond. The main pond bird actually did a short burst at the end of this clip of the Tufted duck, but the camera didn't really pick it up. You might just be able to make it out.
Buzzard 1 to the east, almost certainly one of the Imperial Rd birds
Jay 1
I went up the hill on the south side of the reserve hoping that the Glossy Ibis might fly towards the harbour to roost this evening. At 17:30 it began flying around and continued for about 3 minutes.
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| Glossy Ibis, clearly in moult. |
This clip is where I thought it was going to fly over me and head to the harbour, but it changed its mind and flew back to the village, even so it was over the reserve for a while.
It appears to land in the above clip, but if it did it was soon flying around again. It did several sorties like this, this was the last one. Unfortunately, I lost focus just before it disappeared, but it was definitely somewhere in Middleton village.
Jackdaw 49 roosting in the reserve plus at least as many further east. Interestingly they no longer react to the Ibis flying around.
Stock Dove 2
Several wagtails flew west mainly Pied but at least one Grey Wagtail.
