Thursday at Blashford Lakes is volunteer day and we spent the morning clearing nettles along the path edges and around the Woodland hide. As we worked at the Woodland hide we had fly over views of a hobby, but in general nettle pulling is not that compatible with seeing wildlife.
We got away without getting wet in the morning but the afternoon turned out to be one of steady rain, although we avoided the heavy thunder storms that rolled around us.
At each end of the day there were several Mediterranean gull outside the Tern hide, in the morning 3 adults and one first summer and in the afternoon 2 adults. There was also a single second summer yellow-legged gull.
My only picture today is of a scarce coastal grass and one of rather few that I can identify as it grew at Farlington Marshes where I worked for years. It is annual beard grass and is actually common in some areas at Blashford, where it probably arrived on the wheels of a gravel truck. It is very distinctive with large fluffy flower heads and in this shot they are covered in rain drops.
annual beard grass (Polypogon monspeliensis)
I also rather like the Latin name.
Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve 