Some decent stuff through the rain!

It rained pretty much all day except for a short break mid morning. The wind started SW then shifted to south.

First some shots by Janet from yesterday, when the light was a bit brighter.

I was on Half moon bay beach just at the right time to capture these all flying over to the helipad roost.

Knot

Oystercatcher 

Curlew

Redshank 

Many rested on the shore, till the tide moved them onto the Helipad wall.

This morning's report from Shaun:

Heysham Outfalls 07:15 - 08:45: 

Little Gull adult on no 1 and 1cy on no 2

Mediterranean Gulls - Just 3 adult

Common Tern adult and 2  juvs on no 2 

Sandwich Tern also no 2

Heysham Head 09:15: 

Common Scoters 2 juv

17 Eider

Great Crested Grebe 7 

Red-breasted Merganser 1

Bar-tailed Godwit 6 on beach. 

I walked out to the skear at low water 10:20 (MD) - just in time for the rain to start again!

Didn't see the scoters but Eider and Great Crested Grebe were as Shaun. By this time there were 5 Red-breasted Merganser feeding together.

Black Tern 1 juvenile flew south along the far channel.

Little Egret 8

Guillemot 1 - it had allowed itself to become stranded on the shore. This clip pans out to reveal Heysham Head.....and the rain on my lens!

I had walked out from the children's play area as I wanted to see how much weed is around for the Brent Geese this winter. There isn't a lot!

This is the runoff that drains into the SE skear corner. There are a few patches
of sea lettuce for the early arrivals, but it won't last long!

The lushest area is the furthest out rocks to the north of the play area.
But even here the gutweed is quite short

There was no weed on the rocks out from the play area, until just below
the sea wall and even there is was nothing like what it has been in previous years

Looks like it could be a hard winter for the Brents, as presumably whatever has caused the weed to be sparse here will also affect other feeding areas. Although there is plenty of gutweed on Red Nab.

I checked the outflows again in the afternoon (MD) - still raining. It was strange, there were hardly any gulls feeding on them, which suggests that not much food was coming through. Even so there were six terns feeding. This is the full inventory, all on No.2 outflow, nothing on No.1.

Black-Headed Gulls 6

Little Gull 1 first calendar year

Sandwich Tern 1

Common Tern 5 - 4 first calendar year and a second calendar year 

This is the Little Gull

First calendar year (1cy) Little gull

This 1cy Common Tern catches a fish early in the clip (watch in slow motion). 

Clearly there is food to be had here today, I don't know why more gulls weren't feeding. This short clip is the 1cy Little gull, 2 x 1cy Common Tern and the Sandwich Tern. Not a Black-Headed gull in sight.

I flushed a small brown raptor from the scrub near the waterfall, only seen briefly from behind , but looked to be a Merlin

Wheatear 1

Rock Pipit 2