Saturday 30 July 2016

The only way is Essex

It ended up a half-decent seawatch this morning despite the bright sunlight. Velvet Scoter, Little Tern, Arctic Skua and plenty of Manx Shearwater. Full results here.

After the seawatch I headed south to Greatham Creek where Brian S's directions lead me straight to my first Essex Skipper. There were at least 5 skippers and all of them Essex. Some large, nasty, biting flies made photography difficult.

Essex Skipper

I called in at Saltholme, where a female Garganey brought her 7 duckling out of the reeds. Also here were 2 Greenshank and 5 Black-tailed Godwit. A distant Buzzard had a mid-air grapple with a Marsh Harrier.

Garganey
Little Egret


Lambton Pond on the way home had 3 Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpiper and 14 Black-tailed Godwit.

A call in at Shibdon had a Black-tailed Godwit and a Little Egret.

3 comments:

  1. Didn't Foss have Essex Skipper at Whitburn last year, Rob? Are they not there this year. I remember looking, but can't remember whether I actually saw any or not?
    Graham G

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not sure, but seem to be spreading north pretty quickly, so a good chance. I was surprised how easy they were to id.

      Delete
  2. Didn't Foss have Essex Skipper at Whitburn last year, Rob? Are they not there this year. I remember looking, but can't remember whether I actually saw any or not?
    Graham G

    ReplyDelete