A dry mainly sunny day with a gusty west wind.
Heysham skear - low water 09:30 (Malcolm)
Little Egret 6
Eider 9
Great Crested Grebe 1 juvenile
These are some of the Eider and ending on the juvenile Great Crested Grebe.
 |
| Juvenile Great Crested grebe |
Herring Gull 120
Lesser Black-Backed gull - none seen
Black-Headed gull 20
Oystercatcher 500
Curlew 40
Redshank 30
 |
| Summer plumaged Redshank |
Turnstone 35
 |
| Summer plumaged Turnstone |
 |
| Turnstone moulting to winter plumage |
Ringed Plover 11
 |
| Ringed Plover |
Dunlin 1
 |
| Dunlin moulting from summer plumage |
South shore
I checked Red Nab then a walk along the sea wall towards high water ((Malcolm)
Approaching Red Nab it was clear that there were loads of gulls feeding on the outflows.
Mediterranean gull 23 resting on Red Nab - 2 juvenile, 1 x 2nd calendar year and the rest adult or 3rd calendar year. There were three white ringed birds amongst them, but all seen previously this year.
 |
| Mediterranean gulls |
Kittiwake 1 juvenile feeding on No.1 outflow
 |
| Juvenile Kittiwake |
The Nature Park was sheltered from the wind and the insects were taking advantage of the warm conditions. I bumped into Kevin by the Buddleia and over a five minute chat we saw ten species of butterfly and three species of dragonfly:
Red Admiral 2
Peacock 1
Comma 1
Large White 3
Brimstone 3 (all female)
Meadow Brown 2
Gatekeeper several
Small Skipper 3
Common Blue 2
Speckled Wood 2
 |
| Red Admiral and a Brimstone |
 |
| Meadow Brown |
 |
| Comma and a Brimstone |
Common Darter just 1 near the Buddleia but several around the Nature Park
Brown Hawker 1 by the Buddleia plus another
Hawker sp, zipping around. Likely a Southern Hawker as its head and thorax were predominantly green.
What sounded like a young raptor was whining in the trees between the Nature Park and Ocean Edge, after a while an adult Sparrowhawk flew to the trees and the whining stopped.
