Ready for a change in the weather!

Overcast for much of the morning, but the sun broke through this afternoon. A light variable breeze.

Heysham skear (Malcolm). 10:30 - 12:00

Eider 6 including a pair with 3 chicks.

Eider with chicks, once again swimming in against the ebbing tide.
There is no way of knowing if this is the remains of the family seen
on Monday, or a different family.

Red-breasted Merganser pair

Little Egret 1

Great White Egret 3 heading high to the north.

Great White Egret

Swallow 1 in/off

Oystercatcher 300 and Turnstone 5 were the only waders.

The five Turnstone were together, but you can only see two here

Gulls c600 mainly Herring. No ringed birds seen. This seemed strange, a young Herring gull has a mussel that is too large to swallow whole and a bit small to easily break by dropping. Turns out that there were seed mussels attached to it. The clip pans out to show just a fraction of today's feeding gulls.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet checked this morning 

The main pond Mallard has managed to keep hold of her two remaining 
chicks. They are growing quickly.

Great Tit

Blue Tit, both on the bottom car park feeder

Burnet Companion 

Marsh Orchid sp

I checked this evening (Malcolm)

Mute Swan pair plus 8 cygnet 

Shelduck 1 over to the west

Mallard 9 on the main pond, the female with the 2 chicks not seen. 3 on the fence pond one with eight chicks (more on this later)

Gadwall 1 female dabbling on the fence pond.

Coot 5

Moorhen 2

Little Grebe 2 feeding together on the main pond.

Grey heron 1 

Pheasant 1 calling

The only warblers singing were

Cetti's warbler 4

Chiffchaff 2

Reed warbler 1 (albeit half hearted)

This clip of a Kestrel hovering has a Reed warbler chugging away in the background.

Insects

Four-spotted Chaser several 

Black-Tailed Skimmer 1 female and 3 males

Female Black-Tailed Skimmer

Male Black-Tailed Skimmer 

The only butterflies seen were a Red Admiral and a Small Tortoiseshell 

These are the three Mallard on the fence pond. You may choose not to watch this clip. The politest description would be "tough love". The male involved is not even the female's partner, he is the one quacking pathetically in protest. Or perhaps he is just a hopeful (not just hopeless!) partner 

Another dry day forecast for tomorrow then well needed rain and strong south westerlies forecast for a while.