Sandwich tern on no. 9 buoy

Once again a dull drizzly day at Pennington flash produced the goods with the discovery of an adult Sandwich tern on no.9 buoy just off the sailing club. It was found at 7.25am and was still on the buoy when I left at 8.30, but apparently was gone by 9.00am. Also this morning a curlew flew over calling, 10 common terns and quite a few hirundines, mainly sand martins, plus about 100 swifts.

Spanish avocet at Martin Mere

This avocet is the male of the last remaining pair at Martin Mere this year, and has two chicks almost full grown. 

It has a black darvic ring, RR9 and was ringed at Laguna de los Tollos near Cadiz, Spain on 24/06/2014. It was subsequently seen at Cota Donana (east) near Saville in 2017.

Also today, at least 13 cattle egret which included three juveniles, fledged this year from a local site.

More Keeled skimmers at Bickershaw

Amazingly another four keeled skimmers at Bickershaw Country Park today, with a male and female in the reedbed on Nevisons and two more males and possibly a female on the stream between New Water & Nevisons. 

The keeled skimmers from two weeks ago were only the 2nd record ever from Greater Manchester and only the 2nd ever in either Lancashire or Greater Manchester away from the uplands! No idea what's going on, but that's at least six individuals on site, even assuming that the two on Nevisons today are the same as those that were there two weeks ago!

Say "cheese"......

"Cheeeeese"!

In this photo it looks as though the dragonflies eyes have moved apart to reveal more of it's face but in actual fact it can't do that. In reality it's eyes have swiveled and it's looking directly up and not at me.

Juvenile Mandarins at Newton Lake

A couple of juvenile mandarins were at Newton Lake this morning. I don't think they breed at this site and I'm not sure where the closest breeding is these days, but they have bred in St Helens in the past at Eccleston Mere in 2014 (opens in a new window).

Small red-eyed damselflies Pennington Flash

In 2016 I recorded the first red-eyed damselflies at the flash on the Leeds / Liverpool canal either side of the footbridge. Today I found literally hundreds of them in the same location and better still, in amongst them a few small red-eyed damselflies.   

Not easy to pick out without a decent view, but basically small red-eyed has more blue on the abdomen, specifically segments 2, 3 & 8. They're also a bit smaller, though I found that red-eyed varied a lot in size so size alone is not a perfect feature.

I counted around eight small red-eyed with an estimated 200 of their larger cousins.

Small red-eyed damselfly male. Notice the complete antehumeral stripes, compared to the very short stripes of red-eyed.

Small red-eyed has spread dramatically in recent years after first being recorded in the UK as recently as 1999 and I saw my first just a few weeks ago. It's now  spread well north of Pennington Flash, at least as far as Preston on the west coast.

Male and female small red-eyed damselflies in tandem.

More from Barrow Lane

An adult Mediterranean gull was a nice find today at Barrow Lane, with a small flock of lesser black backs, herring gulls, black-headed gulls and two 1st summer common gulls.

Perhaps best of all though, a flock of 20+ tree sparrows which is the largest flock I've seen in St Helens for a few years.

Several Roesel's bush crickets calling again but this was the only one we managed to see.

Juvenile black-necked grebe, Pennington Flash

It's the time of year for juvenile black-necked grebes to turn up at Pennington Flash so this bird off the spit today was right on schedule. Presumably bred locally at Woolston, though there are other smaller colonies closer to the flash.

 

Black darter and other dragonflies Bickershaw

A black darter at Bickershaw wasn't completely unexpected since they used to occur on Bold Moss in St Helens and that is (was) a very similar place. Never-the-less as far as I know this is the first black darter recorded on the site. It's also the sixteenth species of odonata that I have recorded on the site since the middle of June!

Hobby hunting swifts at Barrow Lane

During an early morning stroll today along Barrow Lane near Winwick (but actually in St Helens, Merseyside), I saw the impressive sight of around 150 swifts feeding quite low down over the fields to the north of the lane. Suddenly they all rose high into the sky and I wondered if there was a hobby about but I couldn't see it. Then a couple of minutes later I saw what looked like a hobby distantly to the north over Highfield Moss. 

It rose high and then closed it's wings and plummeted down at terrifying speed as it began hunting and any doubt in my mind vanished, this was definitely a hobby! It was still distant but heading my way so I watched and waited. Most of the swifts appeared to be in the field close to me so I was hopeful that it would launch another attack nearby.

In seconds it was overhead and attacked again, this time successfully and I actually saw it pick a swift out of the sky and carry it away. For a moment it continued towards me and allowed me to fire off a few photos, before turning and flying away south east with its prey. A breathtaking moment!

This is the same photo as the one at the top of the post minus the brightening and sharpening.

Broad-leaved helleborine, Pennington Flash

Broad-leaved helleborine is a pretty common orchid of local woodlands. I've seen it at the flash previously but usually at the western end. Today I found this dainty specimen growing near Horrock's hide. This was only about 10cm tall but in the right conditions they can grow to a height of 80cm.

Green sandpiper, Pennington Flash

A green sandpiper was in Ramsdales this morning, also today a single common sandpiper, at least five common terns, two Egyptian geese and 350+ sand martins, but the lesser scaup has now moved to Audenshaw.