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 |
