Sunday, August 26, 2007




Above - Although they look similar, the flowers above are two different species. Top - Yellow Chamomile and Bottom, Corn Marigold. These were growing in the field margins at Boulmer today. The leaf shapes are totally different. In the top photo the fine feathery leaves can be seen and in the bottom a more conventional oval type leaf is visible.


Today was warn and fair with some cloud and a light NW changing SSE breeze.

A walk around Longhoughton towards the quarry this afternoon we had 2 Buzzards, 2 Kestrels and a Merlin hunting the swallows. This is the first returning bird of the autumn here, there are usually a bit earlier than this? I wonder if there are a lack of young birds due to the wet breeding season in the hills?

I did a couple of hours around Boulmer this afternoon. The seawatch spot was too crowded, being full of picnic-ers with tents and windbreaks etc. Roll on September!

After being harassed off here I checked the hedges just behind the dunes for migrants with some limited success - 1 Merlin, possibly the same bird as earlier, 4 Stonechat, 1 Whinchat, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Willow Warblers, 23 Tree Sparrows and a Willow Tit. On the beach were 84 Dunlin, 75 Ringed Plover, 4 Sanderling and a Whimbrel flew south.

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