We are back to spring tides now, although this set isn't particularly high. A reasonable sized flock of Knot roosted on the Near Naze rocks, and between Richard Du Feu and Howard Stockdale 16 colour coded birds from three schemes were read.
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| As typical, most of the legs are hidden for most of the time |
South shore (Malcolm)
Just a short walk from the saltmarsh to Red Nab towards high water this morning.
No Linnet seen on or around the saltmarsh
Skylark 1 flew from Ocean Edge grass to the saltmarsh
Pale-bellied Brent goose 13 (there were 19 in the SE skear corner this evening)
Shelduck 9
Wigeon 200+
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| Wigeon |
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| Chaffinch and Goldfinch collecting grit from the Nature Park track |
Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)
Just a quick check of the two main ponds. The "no swimming" pond is a metre above its normal level, and the only wildfowl seen/heard were a couple of Moorhens.
Main pond
Mute Swan pair plus immature
Coot only 3 seen
Moorhen 3
Mallard 13
Gadwall 15
Tufted Duck 2
Teal 3
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| Teal |
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| Tufted Duck |
Cetti's warbler 1 calling
Imperial Rd (Malcolm)
Just a quick stop off on my way home
Buzzard 1 - preening in its "favourite" tree.
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| This one was either asleep or feeling unwell, it didn't move at all while I was there |
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| This one was hunting, but looks terribly thin |
Redwing 1
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| Redwing |
Heysham skear (Malcolm)
I wasn't going to go down as the tide was late and the light was already fading, but I couldn't resist a quick look.
Peregrine Falcon at least 1 attacking the Knot
I managed to read a couple of flagged Knot (just), and read a ringed Oystercatcher, details awaited.
