Friday 13 September 2024

Sittin' on the dock of the bay, watching........

It was breathless till mid morning then a light west breeze. A cold start and it was never overly warm despite the, more or less, constant sunshine.

Middleton Nature Reserve 
Ringing and vis report by Alan:

John and I set nets this morning - my first very cold clear morning of the season. Predictably there were few grounded migrants after the clear conditions overnight.  Seven more Grey Wagtails were colour ringed and a flock of 13 Long-tailed Tits was a treat (!) on the first net round.

 

Meadow Pipit, Wren, Reed Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Great Tit   -  singles of each species

Grey Wagtail   7

Robin  2

Cetti's Warbler  1 + 1 retrap

Chiffchaff   6

Long-tailed Tit  14

 

Pink footed Geese continued to move southwards in smaller numbers than the last day or so  -  c 610 in seven flocks.  (775 total for the day)

Ten Meadow Pipits and a single Swallow were the only other overhead movements noted.


Janet took this shot of the shore out from Knowlys Rd.
One good thing about neap tides is that the shorebirds are never far from the sea wall.

South shore (Malcolm)

A couple of walks along the sea wall, mainly as it was such a pleasant day for walking, there was little to see!

Pink-Footed geese 4 skeins, number included in daily total above.

Shelduck 50 - 43 on the shore plus 7 south


These are some of them filtering the small molluscs from the mud.


Little Egret 6
Grey Heron 1

A couple of antisocial Redshank on No.1 outfall

Only 11 Cormorants on the wooden jetty

This immature Cormorant was on one of the harbour platforms 

Pied Wagtail 17 on Ocean Edge grass 

Linnet 2 on Ocean Edge grass
Robin 3 between lighthouse and the waterfall 

Wheatear 1 on Red Nab.

Wheatear

Peregrine Falcon 1 in Power Station grounds
Sparrowhawk 1 in Nature Park


Also in Nature Park:

Migrant Hawker 2

Common Darter 4

Red Admiral 4

Peacock 1

Speckled Wood 3

Common Blue 1 (first for a while)

Quite a worn female Common Blue

When I reached the end of the harbour this afternoon, a flock of Pinkfoot were heading my way, so I sat on one of the, very convenient, sea defences and just watched them fly past.