Kinda quiet on the dunes and beach at present (don't worry I haven't skedaddled to the east coast - yet), although Duncan Rothwell had this fantastically delicate mummified dragonfly corpse to show me yesterday - don't often see dead 'uns in such good condition, and while most of the colour has disappeared, the "Lucozade wings" suggest Brown Hawker, unless anyone knows different.
The adult Med Gull was on Formby Beach again today - presumably the same bird as has been present for the last month or so - but now going into moult, and hirundines were passing through intermittently in small flocks, with two or three Wheatears about and a Little Egret in the channels north of Freshfield.
Three Common Buzzards in the air over Ainsdale this morning, and several Greenshanks calling overhead during the last few days.
PS, Don't worry about the blog heading, it's a long story...
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...
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Your dragonfly is indeed a Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis); fairly common locally, though recent unsettled weather has resulted in most dragonfly species being thin on the ground.
To continue the Hobby saga, while counting 169 Marsh Gentians with friends at Highfield Moss, Golborne, on Monday I was entertained by two of these charismatic falcons.
In recent years, the UKâÂÂs estuaries and other wetlands have seen several notable changes in the birds using them. Little egrets and avocets are now present in higher numbers than ever before, but familiar species such as ringed plovers and dunlins are at all-time lows, and other coastal waders such as redshanks, curlews and bar-tailed godwits have also experienced recent declines.
The latest WeBS report, covering the winter of 2008/09, documents the expansion of four native waterbird populations in the UK, with pink-footed geese, Svalbard barnacle geese, little egret and avocets all noted at record levels. Avocets for example have increased by over 1000% in the last twenty years.
In contrast, populations of six species reached an all-time low point; mallards, pochards, goldeneyes, red-breasted mergansers, ringed plovers and dunlins â all of which have declined by at least 20% in the last twenty years.
The report also reveals the continuing importance of the estuaries in North West England. The Ribble, Dee and Solway estuaries, together with Morecambe Bay all feature in the list of top ten UK sites for waterbirds, while the Mersey is in the top 20. Collectively, these sites form a vital wetlands network for wintering and migrating birds.
In winter, the north west estuaries host internationally important populations of many species of waterbird. The Ribble Estuary is the most important UK site for dunlins, wigeons and sanderlings; Morecambe Bay is the number one for curlews and oystercatchers, and the Dee comes top for pintails. Despite the national decline in ringed plovers, the Ribble and Solway Estuaries remain key wintering grounds for these species.