Light westerlies and hot sunshine continues, although there were some clouds around today.
South shore mid morning
Rock Pipits 2 on Red Nab
Mediterranean gulls 5 adult plus 1 x 3rd calendar year, on the beach next to the wooden jetty, the tubes of the sand mason worms are becoming more prominent, hopefully the worms will become accessible to the gulls soon. In this distant clip there is an adult and the 3cy Med, plus a juvenile Black-Headed gull. None of the gulls were finding worms, but the Oystercatchers were catching them by digging down. You can see the end of the sand mason worm tubes protruding out of the mud.
There is a significant crèche of young Herring and Lesser Black-Backed gulls developing on the beach just north of Red Nab. There were 14 this morning.
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| Part of the crèche of large gulls just north of Red Nab |
There were not just young gulls on the beach this morning. This Oystercatcher puzzled me with it having so much white on its throat and neck, until Jean showed me that this is typical juvenile plumage. You learn something new, most days. (MD)
Heysham skear - low water 13:00
No Great Crested grebe seen
Little Egret 6
Curlew c80
Redshank 6
Dunlin 14 - one flock south
Turnstone 52 - one flock of 35 plus 17 scattered around the inner skear.
Knot 1. There was one with the Turnstone flock.
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| Knot resting with Turnstone flock |
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| They were temporarily spooked by a passing helicopter allowing in flight views. Revealing that it was still in partial summer plumage. |
