A hot sunny day, a light east wind occasionally varying to NW.
South shore - insects
I walked along the sea wall 09:00 - 10:30 Malcolm
The breeze had a touch of west in it as I walked out, but still there were Small Whites coming in. 17 in total, another 18 around the scrub and strip to the waterfall. By this time the breeze was back to the east and another 24 on the way back. So 59 in 90 minutes.
Later Pete scanned along the length of the wall and saw 17 in/off in a minute.
Jean saw 40 whites in 20 minutes come in/off past her 11:50 - 12:10 (2 per minute in one location, that's a lot of butterflies along the length of the wall)
I checked again 15:15 - 16:15 (Malcolm), once again the wind teased by being slightly in the west as I walked out, still 10 Small White came in/off, it was firmly in the east again by the time I reached the roundhead, there were 50+ Small Whites in the scrub and strip to waterfall and another 28 on the walk back.
In summary, Small Whites were coming in/off all day at between 1 and 2 per minute along the full length of the sea wall. Many hundreds, if not thousands must have passed through in the course of the day.
Small Whites were by far the most numerous, but other butterflies seen along the sea wall were:
Small Tortoiseshell 3
Red Admiral 3
Peacock 1
Large White 5
There were 50+ Common Blue and 7 Meadow Brown around the scrub and the strip to the waterfall.
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| One of the Large Whites near the waterfall |
In the Nature Park
Ringlet 2
Comma 2
Large White 5
Small White 6
Meadow Brown 5
Gatekeeper 2
Common Blue 20+
Red Admiral 3
Speckled Wood 3
Brimstone 1 female
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| Female Brimstone |
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| Common Darter A Hawker sp also glimpsed |
Other stuff
Pete scanned from Ocean Edge on the rising tide
2cy little gull
ad sandwich tern
c25 Mediterranean Gull (1250 bhg to go through!)
On my morning walk (Malcolm)
Osprey 1 rested on the post at the seaward end of No.2 outfall for the duration of the walk.
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| Osprey with a blue ring, but it was too hot to be wearing wellies so I couldn't walk out to check the code |
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| Not a shot that you can take very often - 2 Small Whites coming in/off (top left) while the Osprey perches on the post at the end of No.2 outfall |
Wheatear 1 juvenile along the foreshore
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| Juvenile Wheatear in a different area today |
In the afternoon.
The cormorants clearly have different feeding strategies, most here target largish Bass which can take some swallowing, but this one regularly feeds close to the sea wall after smaller prey.
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| This looks like a Rockling. It caught two as I was walking past. |
Fiddly to eat, but not difficult to swallow
Male red veined darter over water as viewed from car park at main pond
