Pete had an early morning seawatch:
Adult Shag flew into harbour to waterfall area;
Osprey very distant inbound/attempting to fish in Kent channel,
Kittiwake c50 - a tightly packed flock of 35 on low tide channel plus c15 floating in and then flying out - Kent channel range
Sandwich Tern 2 out
Willow warbler 3 along the track to the back of the harbour
South shore (MD, JP)
Brent geese 7 flew to the Lune estuary quite early in the tide. Presumed to be the group of 7 pale-bellied from yesterday.
Eider 10 - 4 + 6 out
Wheatear 8 - some feeding on the saltmarsh but others feeding on Ocean Edge grass, where they seemed to be easily finding grubs (look like Crane fly larvae (leather jackets)). Janet managed some nice shots of them feeding.
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| Feeding Wheatears |
Rock Pipit 3 - 2 above the nest site near the lighthouse, 1 on Red Nab
Linnet 5 - 4 on the saltmarsh plus a male singing above the nest area near the lighthouse used for the last two years.
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| Linnet |
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| Chiffchaff in the Nature Park |
North shore (TW)
Pale-bellied Brent goose 11 - close to the seawall from Knowlys Rd at 12:00. (Tim Woodward)
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| Pale-bellied Brent geese, almost certainly including the group of 7 seen this morning |
Middleton Nature Reserve
Just a stroll around the two main ponds and a look at the central marsh, proved quite productive (Malcolm).
First some bad news, the water level on the "no swimming" pond has risen half a metre and has swamped the Mute Swan's nest. The adults were back on the main pond and had cleared it of all but one of the immature birds.
Better news is the arrival of our first Mallard Ducklings. Chiffchaff and Cetti's warbler singing on this clip.
Mallard 6 (excluding chicks) - 1 femaleGadwall 4 - 1 female
Stock Dove 1
Warblers:
Chiffchaff and Willow warblers several each
Cetti's Warbler 5 - western marsh 1, central marsh 2, SE and NE corners of "no swimming" pond.
Blackcap 4 at least but silent. 1 female and at least 3 males.
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| Female Blackcap |
The white fluffy thing towards the end of this clip is a reedmace seed head.
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| Male Blackcap |
Reed Warbler 1 - it was so bursting with song that I originally mistook it for a Sedge Warbler (Malcolm). Unfortunately it was singing from the middle of a stand of reeds and never showed itself. This clip of a male Blackcap has the Reed Warbler singing in the background.
Just out of the recording area - horse paddock behind Middleton Parish Hall
Glossy Ibis still present
