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.
