Tuesday 23 February 2010

South harbour wind chill

Heysham Obs
A 'power' walk along the south harbour wall (pre-weight-watchers-weigh-in day strategy) to the wooden jetty without a coat or gloves produced absolutely nothing, although there is some really good Snow Bunting habitat bulldozed next to the big wheel. Watching the same area from a heated car on the north wall was much more productive!

North harbour wall on dropping neap tide am
Purple Sandpiper - short-stay targeters are having problems with these this year and the best bet is to wait until the flat skeer just below the red lighthouse on the south harbour wall is uncovered. This happened at c1115hrs today and the two appeared 'from nowhere' with 31 Turnstone
Twite - c38, including an Askam-in-Furness ringed bird (yellow over split dark blue/white)
Med Gull - 2 adults
Red-throated Diver - one distant bird offshore
Redshank - one using the fish skips!
Eider - 35+

Ocean Edge late pm
Black-tailed Godwit - 18 by Red Nab, 2 in the saltmarsh creek
Med Gull - ad on mudflats
Wigeon - c96

Middleton IE
Mute Swan - 5, Coot - 7, Goldeneye - 2, Redshank - 2 on spit on model boat pond (odd?), Water Rail running across road between central & western marsh!

Elsewhere
New species for the year was Egyptian Goose along Jeremy Lane a.m. Significant numbers of Bewick's Swan in north Fylde/LDBWS overlap - see FBC site