East to SE light wind all day. Overcast with showers.
Just my stuff up to now (MD)
South Shore - ebbing tide mid morning
It rained for most of this walk, making visibility poor and use of optics awkward
Mediterranean gulls just 7 adults seen
Whimbrel 1 - originally I wasn't certain about this bird. Fortunately it flew towards me and landed just below the sea wall, allowing a closer inspection.
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| Whimbrel - still soft focus through the rain |
Common Sandpiper 1 next to No.1 outflow feeding with Redshank
Rock Pipit 4
Grey Seal 1 near seaward end of No.1 outflow
Heysham skear - low water 14:45
On these neap tides only the inner skear is exposed. It only rained for half of this walk!
Little Egret 5
Red-Breasted Merganser 2
Great Crested Grebe 5 (2 + 3 singles)
Eider 3 females with at least 23 young - at slack water they were "dabbling", not sure if they were after the gut weed here or invertebrates amongst it.
Later, when the water was deeper, they were diving.
Redshank 11
Dunlin 1 (summer plumage)
Turnstone 4 (fading summer plumage)
So with the Oystercatcher and Curlew plus this morning's Common Sandpiper and Whimbrel, a total of seven wader species today.
This clip shows some of the Turnstone, but it's not about them. There was a Black-Headed gull with a longer than average bill feeding here last year. Presumably, this is either the same bird or a close relation, but it puts its long bill to good use, it catches three shrimp in this clip.
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