Heavy showers overnight and during the day. Much warmer (12C first thing). The fresh wind eventually shifting from SE to SW.
I managed two walks today, one in the morning and another this afternoon. Both coinciding with a period of heavy showers:
South shore
The only two birds on the saltmarsh were a Redshank and a Carrion Crow. I didn't even see/hear the resident Robins, Wrens and Dunnocks.
Rock Pipit 2 (foreshore and lighthouse)
Shelduck 60
Wigeon 114
Middleton Nature Reserve
Just a quick look on the way home
Tufted Duck 1 male had joined the Mute, Mallard and Moorhen on the, still frozen, main pond.
The ice is melting though, and exposing something for the Moorhen to eat. The "cracking" sounds in the background are the mute walking from the feeding area to the open pool.
The "no swimming" pond is now 50cm higher than normal. The original ice surface has now floated to the top again and is effectively a pond sized iceberg!
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| The "no swimming" pond is again covered in ice except for open water around the edges. |
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| The ice edge here is c10cm high, I think the whole ice raft must be tilting upwards |
Shame, there was a flock of 14 Gadwall flying around, but nowhere to land. You can't see much in this clip, but I have precious little else today!
Heysham skear- low water 14:10
The best I can say about this walk was that it was a good test for my new waterproof coat!
Waders: Oystercatcher, Turnstone and a single Knot!
Pale-bellied Brent goose 3 - circled around the skear before heading south, but I couldn't see if they went past Heysham Head
And that's it! Hopefully more around tomorrow.
