Thursday 19 December 2013

Wild and woolly continuum

Heysham Obs
The trouble with this wild weather is that the wind direction is not staying consistently westerly and there are too many breaks to get a decent collection of waifs in the harbour and around the outfalls.  Some seawatching early on showed some promise and there may be long enough spells of a westerly element to produce some stuff in the next few days. 

Coastal sites 0845-0945, including 30 minutes seawatch from Red Nab area
Med Gull - 3 ads harbour & one later in afternoon on Heysham 2
Little Gull - 1CY battling against the wind about 500m out and getting nowhere!
Kittiwake - 1CY with Black-headed Gulls on water off outfalls, adult behind ferry
Guillemot - at least 10, possibly 15
Red-throated Diver - one 'out'
Goldfinch/Twite/Linnet - 49 around seed area - at least 7 Twite and at least 23 Goldfinch
Song Thrush - masochistic wintering bird still in sandworks on north wall
Meadow Pipit - one Red Nab area