The last few days of 'Summer'.

10 Oct 2015

20th to 30th SEPTEMBER

A series of red sunsets over the next few days heralded sunny conditions.

20th September

Started off dull and wet but sunshine broke through in the afternoon.

Walked to Saltmarsh Pool at 2.30pm. In the region of 150 Wigeon had gathered. On a further trip down to the hide, Corvids had happily descended on the freshly cut wetlands.

LOGBOOK SIGHTINGS.

Ian - Marsh Harrier, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Tree Sparrow, Wheatear, Black Darter, Red Admirals.

Saltmarsh Pool.

Corvids on cut wetlaands.

21st September.

Had rained overnight but by mid morning, although there was a fresh WSW breeze, a warm day commenced.

As it was a low water series (High tide of 7.7 m at 5.51pm) good expanses of mudflats were exposed for most of the day.

At 1.30pm, Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Oystercatcher and Dunlin could be seen busily feeding out there.

A visit to the hide saw a Little Grebe diving and bobbing up in the pool in front. The Corvids were still gleaning what they could from the cut wetlands. Black Darters and Red Admirals were still plentiful along the track where an Ink Cap toadstool had just emerged. The hedgerows gleamed in the sunshine with seasonal berries.

Duck on the mudflats.

Little Grebe appeared for a few minutes.

Shaggy Ink Cap along the track.

Herald of a good day tomorrow.

22nd September.

A beautiful still sunny day - good for butterflies: a multitude of Red Admiral were flying. A couple of Speckled Wood were nectaring on flowers round the hamlet and by evening, dozens of Silver Y moths had descended on Monarda and Petunia flowers.

Speckled Wood Butterfly on Apple Mint.

Silver Y Moth on Monarda - taken early evening with flash.

A further red sunset.

23rd September.

Today was the Autumn Equinox where the day is as long as the night.

It had drizzled all morning and some of the afternoon. A cold NW wind had set up. Coincidently, at 1.30pm John spotted about 30 Pinkfeet flying along the marsh in a westerly direction, having come from the NE. First we had seen this Autumn - presumably the northerly winds were giving the Autumn Goose migration a kick-start.

At 3pm a Little Egret was seen near the Viaduct.

Kingfisher seen not a stone's throw away from Campfield taken by John Howard.

24th September.

Cloudy with some sunshine. A cold strong NW wind was blowing, raising white horses out on the estuary.

Shelduck and Mallard are starting to gather on the mudflats. A Little Egret flew west over the saltmarsh at low tide (3.15 pm).

LOGBOOK SIGHTINGS.

400 Pinkfeet south over the farm.

Shelduck, Mallard and Black-headed Gulls on mudflats.

A perky Robin had been belting out its winter song.

Great Tit.

This Dunnock seems to have lost its tail. It was still spritely enough though.

25th September.

Rained overnight but fine by 10 am. High water of 8.3m was at 10.27am.

45 Shelduck were out on the wet mud as the tide fell back. John spotted a Ruddy Shelduck amongst them. It was probably a hybrid as it had pink legs and a dark head.

Ruddy Shelduck (hybrid) with other Shelduck at Scargavel Point.

Ruddy Shelduck (hybrid) with pink legs and dark head.

Coming back from a trip to Wigton, we stopped on the estuary side of the road near the Anthorn masts. About 200 mixed ducks were on a sandbar in the river there: about 50 Mallards with Wigeon and Teal. A Goosander in eclipse wandered by.

Mallard on sandbar near Anthorn Masts.

Mallard and Teal at Anthorn.

Goosander, male in eclipse.

Nearing Cardurnock, a flock of Lapwings were having a fine time between the recently cut rows of silage.

As we passed the Saltmarsh Pool on Campfield Marsh at about 4pm there were good numbers of duck ( Wigeon, Mallard and Teal) and Lapwing sheltering there. Also spotted a Little Grebe amongst them.

Saltmarsh Pool.

Yet another visitation to the hamlet today from the Grey Squirrel.

26th September.

High water of 9m at 11.20am.

There was plenty of activity on the saltmarsh and estuary, with this being a fairly high tide. The RSPB West Coast Group were having one of their outings today, also, so the layby at Maryland was pretty full for this event.

Parties of waders started moving westerly along the saltmarsh, well before high tide, as they began to get flooded off their high tide roosts further upstream.

The high tide flooded well onto the saltmarsh and there were good sightings all along the front of the marsh of small parties of waders and duck. As it fell back, lines of waders, duck and gulls followed it out onto the mudflats.

Also, shortly after high tide a group of about 150 Pinkfeet landed beyond the boundary fence on a sandbar. They were later seen going east along the estuary. At 1.20pm further small flocks were seen flying in a SE direction.

As we left the layby a Kestrel came hurtling by, being chased by a couple of Crows.

On the mudflats off Scargavel Point, 77 Shelduck and 1 Ruddy Shelduck were feeding.

LOGBOOK SIGHTINGS.

Norman - Great Spotted Woodpecker, 7 Snipe, Buzzard, Tree Sparrow, Ruddy Shelduck and 28 Snipe.

Gull and Oystercatcher high tide roost on saltmarsh near Biglands.

Shelduck coming in at high tide.

Pinkfeet flying in onto a sandbar with lines of Oystercatchers, other waders, ducks and gulls in the foreground - seen from the RSPB layby at Maryland as the tide falls back.