After a deathly quiet week on the blog, a close, humid afternoon down at Haskayne Cutting was appropriately soporific today, with the rank vegetation bursting with Meadowsweet, Knapweeds, Thistles and Spearworts that drew in an army of bees and hoverflies, albeit fewer butterflies.
Personally I blame the urge for an afternoon snooze on the Yellowhammers – is there a drowsier song on the mosses these days?
Time was it would have been the purring of Turtle Doves on a warm afternoon that’d get your head nodding, but that seems a long, long time ago now (the Breeding Bird Survey revealed a 91% drop in the population this week – which is just as depressing as some idiot dentist shooting lions).
Plenty of young birds in the scrub today, from Whitethroats to Common Buzzard, and good numbers of hirundines zooming over the crops out on Plex with indecent haste for such a sleepy afternoon.
The Corn Buntings seemed to lack the energy to put much effort into singing, but six males at least were still holding territory.
Marshside 01/08/15
1 x Snipe
1 x Ringed Plover
1 x Oystercatcher
4 x Ruff
1 x Dunlin
50+ x Black Tailed Godwit
1 x Common Sandpiper
3 x Avocet
4 x Curlew
2 x Pink Footed Goose
Mostly House Martin’s but smaller numbers of Swift and Swallow through the day.
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Martin Mere 02/08/15
1 x Cuckoo
1 x Wheatear
1 x Common Sandpiper
1 x Snipe
21 x Ruff
7 x Little Ringed Plover
4 x Avocet
1 x Marsh Harrier
1 x Kestrel
2 x Buzzard
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Dark phase Arctic Skua south past Ainsdale and harrying terns…could be worth a seawatch after all…
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Seawatch at Formby Point with His Tropship, 1230-1500. Though not spectacular, at least decent continuous movement almost all southward; many other terns too far out for specific ID
Common Scoter 350+
Manx Shearwater 1
Gannet 140
Great Crested Grebe 4
Whimbrel 8
Arctic Skua 1 dp adult south
Sandwich Tern 115, very few juvs
Common Tern 135, c. 20% juvs
Arctic Tern 7 ads, 1 juv
Little Tern 3
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