Another dry day with an east wind. Sunny spells.
Middleton Nature Reserve
First some shots taken by Peter and Rosemary Silvester over recent days.
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| Common Darters |
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| Migrant Hawkers |
Flock of 10 pheasant along ringing concrete road
Vis included 9 migrant song thrush around then inland , 5 grey wagtail, a southbound crow flock and pink feet.
Ringing included three chiffchaff, two blackcap and a goldcrest
Angela Gilon this afternoon
Kingfisher flew across the main pond
Tufted Duck 9
Cormorant 1
Male and female Chaffinch on the feeders
Heysham Skear - low water 08:50 (Malcolm)
Little Egret 16
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| Some of the Little Egret |
Great Crested grebe 1
Eider 2
Red-Breasted Merganser 13 in small groups (3, 5, 4, 1)
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| Red-breasted Merganser coming in to land |
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| There is Sea lettuce all over the skear at the moment. This is the favoured weed of the Brent Geese when they arrive. But presumably it is also plentiful on the other side of the Bay |
There were hardly any waders on the south side of the skear, just 2 Ringed Plover close in. These spring tides expose so much of the bay that many waders take advantage of feeding on areas less frequently exposed. There was a few more walking back along the northern edge. Although not really the edge, a large long honeycomb worm reef flanks the north side.
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| This is the reef that runs along the northern edge of the skear, it is over 2m above the water level here |
Oystercatcher 200
Curlew 23
Redshank 16
Turnstone 14
Knot 23 (including an orange flagged bird, unfortunately too distant to read)
South shore
There were quite a lot of Large Whites about, but little else when Kevin checked early afternoon.
By the time I (Malcolm) checked in the evening the only insects were a couple of Red Admirals in off.
Shelduck 48
Mediterranean Gull 1 adult flying behind the dredger in the harbour mouth.
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| The Med is just to the right of the bridge |
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| A fine looking first calendar year Herring Gull. One of many in the harbour |
Kingfisher at least 1. As I walked out one flew from the culvert on Red Nab. When I reached No.2 outfall one was fishing, but not in the outfall itself but the rock pools beside it.
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| Kingfisher perched above a rock pool, the low evening light playing with its iridescent plumage |
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| It soon caught a fish |
On the return leg, it had switched to the other side.
Kestrel 1 female/immature has taken to patrolling the Power Station grounds and perching near by watching for movement
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| Kestrel |
Rock Pipit 2 (1 each Red Nab and Lighthouse)
Pied Wagtail 37 most on Ocean Edge grass
