A dry and largely sunny day with a freshening SE breeze.
Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)
Unfortunately the treatment on the injured Swan's wing didn't fix it. He is not deemed fit to defend himself in the wild, so no release after all (see yesterday's post).
 |
| Nine Tufted Duck on the main pond |
 |
| Female Common Darter |
 |
| Male Common Blue |
 |
| Rush Veneer moth (it is in this shot!) |
South shore (Malcolm)
Three visits today. The first 08:40-09:30, from saltmarsh to wooden jetty at low water.
Mute Swan 1 originally out from the saltmarsh, later just past Red Nab
 |
| Mute Swan |
Shelduck 56 filtering the tiny snails from the mud, then flying over to the freshwater runoffs for a drink.
 |
| Shelduck having a drink |
Wheatear 3 on the foreshore
 |
| Wheatear |
 |
| This Meadow Pipit stopped off on the foreshore briefly |
Rock Pipits 5 feeding on the sea wall, not so much bickering today
 |
| Rock pipits on the sloping wall at Red Nab, unfortunately the strong light behind them |
 |
| Plenty of gulls on No.1 outfall, but all Black-Headed |
 |
| I walked out here at this time to check the feeding beach at low water. This should have been an ideal tide for the Mediterranean gulls to feast on Sandmason worms. But the whole beach has been smothered in fresh mud, and there wasn't a single Sandmason worm tube to be seen. No Mediterranean gulls were seen today |
A second check out from the saltmarsh 11:00-12:30
Swallow 9 south in ones and twos.
Linnet 30+ on the the saltmarsh
Wheatear 1
 |
| This Wheatear wasn't easy to see amongst the pebbles |
Little Egret 2
 |
| Little Egret and Redshank waiting for the incoming tide in the saltmarsh creek |
Shelduck now 75
There were no waders along the waterline and just 3 Ringed Plover closer in. There were waders further to the south beyond the recording area. I could see them from the recording area, but not well enough to identify all of them, so I walked further. A couple of shots at the end of the post.
A third check along the seawall 15:45-16:45. By this time it was warm, a fresh SE breeze and the tide was ebbing. Often this means insects coming in off the sea, but there wasn't any at all along the seawall.
Shag 3 juveniles on the wooden jetty
This Redshank was taking a particularly vigorous bath!
 |
| Redshank |
 |
| Two Linnet and a young Pied Wagtail on the sea wall |
There were quite a lot of insects in the Nature Park
Common Darter 6
Migrant Hawker 3
 |
| Migrant Hawker |
Red Admiral 2
Painted Lady 1
Small Tortoiseshell 1
Large White 8
Green-Veined White 1
Speckled Wood 5
Common Blue 2
 |
| Painted Lady |
Heliport wall (Malcolm) - just a quick look on my way home towards high water at lunchtime
 |
| 24 Lapwings, 1 Redshank, 1 Turnstone and a "lot" of Oystercatchers! |
Just out of the recording area - these are some of the waders just south of the faux castle which marks the southern limit of the recording area.
 |
| Grey Plover, Knot and Dunlin |
 |
| Four Sanderling |
