Heysham skear - low water 07:00 (Malcolm)
I walked out 90 minutes after low water and the tide was already making quickly.
Pale-bellied goose 3 feeding in the SE corner.
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| Pale-bellied Brent geese |
No dark-bellied seen today
Eider 12
Red-breasted Merganser 7
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| A precession of Mergansers and Eider being swept in along the main tidal run |
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| The mergansers stayed to feed |
Great Crested grebe 9 feeding individuals
South shore - high water 12:30 (Malcolm)
Little Egret 11
Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank and Turnstone as recent. Just a small flock c30 Knot
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| The Turnstone trust their excellent camouflage in this terrain, you almost have to stand on them before they move. These were only 3m away, even so totally invisible from above |
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| A dusting of snow on some of the South Lakes' peaks |
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| This is this morning's moon. Moving away from full to a waning gibbous. This means we have past the peak of spring tide heights. The sea birds know this too, some possibly by the moon phases, or just by noting that today's high tide is lower than yesterday's. |
Jack Snipe 5 individuals flushed from the edge of the saltmarsh as I walked around it. The last time I saw Jack snipe flushed from the marsh the tides were getting higher, and both birds flew directly towards Middleton Nature Reserve. Today all five landed back on the marsh edges, fortunately where I had already passed, so no risk of duplication. They "knew" the tide wasn't going to flush them again for some while.
Common Snipe 23, these did fly towards Middleton Nature Reserve
Linnet 15
Reed Bunting 6 at least
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| Reed Buntings |
Rock Pipit 3 - 2 along foreshore and 1 on Red Nab
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| Rock Pipit in darker winter plumage |
In the Nature Park
Chiffchaff 1 calling
Still several Blackbirds
Song Thrush 1
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| Song Thrush |
Kevin had a walk along the sea wall, and despite the low temperatures there was a resting Silver Y
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| Silver Y |
