Plenty of jets! and Stonechat breeding confirmed.

A bright start, but prolonged heavy rain from late morning to mid afternoon. A lighter west wind eased to almost nothing by this evening.

Heysham skear (Malcolm)

I went down as the tide was covering the skear this morning.

Eider 4

Red-breasted Merganser 1 male

Red-breasted Merganser

Little Egret 3

Swallow 1 in/off

The only waders were 1200 Oystercatcher that left the skear, plus a few hundred more that flew over from further north.

Gulls c600 mainly Herring Gulls

Gulls lined up along the waterline, some were heading off all the time

Then a precession of fighter jets began passing over. At least seven passes,
but possibly not seven different planes if they were flying a large fast circle.

Needless to say, they hastened the gulls departure 

Some shots from Janet as she exercised a dog this morning 

One of two Pheasants on Middleton Nature Reserve 

Moorhen with chicks on the dog walk path pond

Marsh Orchid on Middleton Nature Reserve 

Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

A 30 minutes spell after lunch, mercifully the rain stopped after 10 minutes.

Song Thrush 3 singing

Song Thrush, singing in the rain

Mistle Thrush 1 feeding

Blackbird several

Stock Dove 1 south

Wood Pigeon several

Swallow at least 3 feeding

Grey Heron 1

Grey Heron left as the rain was easing and headed SE

Little Egret 2 over to NW

As soon as the rain stopped a Blue Tit and a Reed Bunting began stripping the Reedmace seed heads. Not for nest material and they weren't after the tiny seeds as they were quite aggressive. Presumably some invertebrates shelter within when it rains, and it had rained hard.

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting with a metal ring

Blue Tit

Cetti's warbler 1 singing, this was from a new location on the west side of the marshes. So at least three territories here

Sedge warbler and Chiffchaffs singing

Common Whitethroat and a Lesser Whitethroat seen.

It was 15 minutes after the rain ended before I located a Stonechat, but when it showed it was again near where the wooden gate used to be. I managed these shots showing it holding a small grub then flying off with it. This confirms that they are feeding young.

Male Stonechat flying off with a small grub