A warm, but mainly overcast day. A freshening east wind.
First, these are Janet's shots of the adult with juvenile Rock Pipits from Heysham Head yesterday.
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| Rock Pipits |
Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)
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| Mullien caterpillars on a Mullien plant on the scrubland to the left of the security hut on Middleton. |
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| Mullien plant on the banking to the west of Tim Butler pond |
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| Also hosting Mullien caterpillars |
Imperial Rd
Mark Jones checked first
I stood where the wooden gate was and immediately saw a male stonechat (to my left) on a post with food, it went into brambles.
What a great little spot it is, a buzzard soon appeared and flew in to harass the crows and unsettle everything else.
I checked later (Malcolm). Unlike Mark I failed to see a Stonechat, but clearly he still has something around to feed.
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| Buzzard hovering in the east wind |
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| Male Chaffinch |
A Chaffinch calling was one of the first (of few) calls that I learned to recognise as a child. It reminded me of someone pushing a wheelbarrow with a squeaky wheel. A sound more common then than now....
Other finches: Goldfinch with 3 newly fledged, Linnet male, Greenfinch several. |
| Common Whitethroat |
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| Sedge Warbler |
Other warblers: Cetti's 2 singing, Chiffchaff 2 singing
Reed Bunting 3
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| Roe Deer |
South shore (Malcolm)
Warm weather and an east wind is normally good for insects migrating in off the sea. It tends to be better when the tide is out, but a thunderstorm was threatening, so I went early 13:45 - 15:15.
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| Canada geese to SE |
Red Admirals were coming in off the sea at a rate of one a minute. Most were passing down the north side, still in total I saw 28.
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| Most continued straight through, but some stopped for a rest on the wall |
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| This was the only one that settled with its wings open, it was sheltered from the wind near the waterfall |
Painted Lady 4
Small White 1
Darter sp seen coming in off but too distant to be able to identify.
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| Cinnabar moth caterpillar near the lighthouse scrub |
Six-Spot Burnet 50+ in and around the scrub near the lighthouse
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| Six-spot Burnet ensuring the next generation |
There were literally thousands of small orange flies. They were all along the sea wall and covering the scrub near the lighthouse.
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| Turned out to be Turnip Sawflies |
The insect eating birds were making the most of things
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| Not sure what this Rock Pipit has, possibly a Dragonfly? |
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| A barely fledged Pied Wagtail enjoying its early days. Although it doesn't look very happy! |
This Pied Wagtail was on Red Nab
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| This Hawk moth was resting on the floor of the sea wall. I was afraid that an approaching party with dogs may accidentally trample it. So I reached to move it to the top of the wall, as I did....... |
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| ........it showed itself to be an Eyed Hawk moth. I placed it safely on top of the wall. |
As it turned out the threatened thunderstorm didn't materialise. I wonder how I would have fared if I had gone out later in the tide? Not to worry, it was a very pleasant walk.
