Brent numbers continue to grow.......

The sun broke through after a misty start. It remained dry till evening, then the rain started.

North shore from Knowlys Rd - mid morning (Pete)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 32 

South shore

Janet had a walk along the sea wall, by that time, at least some of the Brent had moved to Red Nab.

Brent geese and Oystercatcher on Red Nab

Wigeon landing 

The Egret has landed

Curlew

Turnstone, waiting for some stones to turn

Cormorant 

I tried a different tactic today (Malcolm). I went out onto the shore from south of the recording area. One of the reasons was to see if there were any Sanderling about. I didn't see any. There were about 3,000 waders, mainly Knot and Dunlin with 200+ Bar-Tailed Godwit. As the tide rose they split, the Godwit, with c1,000 knot and 100 Dunlin flew north into the recording area. Whether my walking in that direction influenced them, I don't know, some days they do, some days they don't.

Some of the Bar-Tailed Godwit and Knot

The Bar-Tailed Godwit in the centre still has a hint of rufous.

The tide was coming in quickly, pushing them up the shore.

The sharp eyed amongst you may have caught a glimpse of a yellow flag in the midst of the crowd (just for a fraction of a second, 10 seconds into the clip). I only saw two colour coded birds today, fortunately I did manage to read this yellow one.

The tide was coming in so quickly now that they didn't have time to 
feed so they headed off to roost further south

It was a lovely day.....

An overnight frost, then a dry day with sunny spells. A very light east(ish) breeze.

North shore - out from Knowlys Rd (Janet)

13 Pale-bellied Brent geese leaving for the south side.
Later 27 flew from Red Nab towards Potts Corner

Female Red Breasted Merganser

Curlew

South shore (Malcolm)

I did exactly the same walk as yesterday at exactly the same stage of the tide. The weather was ideal for viewing, but little turned up to be viewed!

Not quite a sunrise, just the low sun shining below a blanket of low clouds.

Where there were thousands of waders yesterday there was just a handful today.

One Bar-Tailed Godwit

A Knot and an Oystercatcher 

60 Oystercatcher were the only "plentiful" wader feeding here 

There were thousands of waders just south of the recording area, mainly Knot and Dunlin, no Sanderling visible. 

Bar-Tailed Godwit 220 ended up just about on the limit of the recording area.

There was a steady passage of waders flying through the recording area to join the birds further south.

Curlew 14 in ones and two

Grey Plover 13 in small groups

A nice mixed flock, 2 Knot, 2 Dunlin, 4 Grey Plover and a Bar-Tailed Godwit

Back at the saltmarsh 

Redshank 58

Lapwing 36

Lapwing

Common Snipe 10

Song Thrush 1

Reed Bunting 5

Song Thrush and Reed Bunting 

Reed Bunting

Pink-Footed goose 12 south 

Pale-bellied Brent goose 27 flew to Potts Corner

Shelduck 24

Wigeon 200+

A better effort

Mainly overcast with some light and one heavy shower. A north(ish) wind.

South shore

I did the walk I had hoped to do yesterday (Malcolm). I walked the tide in, on the shore out from Ocean Edge. Yesterday very heavy rain stopped me going, out. Today it waited till I was as far out as I could get, then the heavens opened! Still there was more of interest than it originally looked like there was going to be.

Walking out there was nothing except the occasional call of a Curlew,
and an oncoming shower

Waders began arriving 

Knot, Dunlin and Grey Plover (middle)
While most of the waders are busily scurrying around after food,
Grey Plovers always seem laid back.

Knot, Dunlin, Bar-Tailed Godwit and a Grey Plover.

In the foreground, Bar-Tailed Godwit, Grey Plover and Oystercatcher 

Curlew 6

Bar-Tailed Godwit 130

Oystercatcher 30

Grey Plover 6

Knot 1200

Turnstone 1 (flew past)

Dunlin 300

Sanderling 2, possibly 3

Dunlin, 2 Sanderling and a Grey Plover (actually moving!)

Then something spooked all the waders along the waterline, this group headed
further to the south.
Dunlin, Sanderling (middle) and the unmistakable underwing pattern of a Grey Plover

Then the heavy rain arrived! Fortunately it didn't last long, both me and the remaining waders waited it out.

Knot and Bar-Tailed Godwit 

Then something spooked them all again and the small waders moved south

The Godwit moved closer to the sea wall. This is 10:00, but dark
enough for lights in the Power Station to show

The rain had moved on but it was black to the south and quite dark
to the north. The sun was trying to break through in the middle, making 
for some interesting shading

By the time I was almost back to the saltmarsh the sun was shining (briefly). A single Sanderling was feeding with a few Dunlin and 3 Grey Plover. This clip shows the location.

Grey Plover and a Sanderling 

Redshank 23 near the saltmarsh 

Jack Snipe 1 accidentally flushed from the ribbon of marsh grass that extends from the saltmarsh 

Common Snipe 37 flushed from the saltmarsh by the rising tide 

Common Snipe

Some of the Snipe heading towards Middleton Nature Reserve 

Reed Bunting 4 on the saltmarsh 

Rock Pipit 1 on the foreshore 

Pale-Bellied Bent goose 27 - 23 and 4 flew from Red Nab towards Potts Corner.

Pale-bellied Brent geese

Pink-Footed goose 47 flew SE, a solitary bird, just after the rain, north.

Wigeon 180

Janet had a walk along the sea wall:

Curlew (and Blackpool Tower)

Oystercatcher heading off, Wigeon coming in

Wigeon heading off

In the Nature Park:

Great Tit

Blue Tit in the newt pond

Grey Squirrel 

It's all about timing......and today's was dreadful!

Very heavy morning rain, then mainly overcast with the odd shower. A light south(ish) wind.

The general rule with Knot is that most of their legs are hidden for most of the time. The exception to this rule is when they are coming towards you to land. Howard took this shot at the Near Naze yesterday to get an idea of how many marked birds there were. He has circled the five that had flags, the others do not.

Five marked Knot in a group this size is a good number, but
still only about 1% of them

This is one of yesterday's flagged Knot on the skear. Even when you get a
clear view, there is no guarantee of reading it, this one has its leg tucked in.
If you open it you can just make out a white V at the end of the flag.
This is one of a trial of 100 white coded birds. The trial was discontinued as
they often proved difficult to read. This one remained unread.

South shore today (Malcolm)

A combination of heavy rain and other commitments meant that I had very little time today. Just a short walk from Red Nab to the saltmarsh, and I couldn't have timed it any worse!

Red Nab was already covered when I got there, just a few Oystercatchers,
Curlew and wigeon remained

When I arrived at the saltmarsh it was already half covered, most of the Common Snipe would already have been flushed, but I had to leave before the tide was high enough to flush any Jack Snipe.

Common Snipe 10

Wigeon 180

Reed Bunting 4

No Linnet again

Male Wigeon amongst the saltmarsh 

And that was it for the day!

Just out of the recording area:

Janet reported a large flock (hundreds) of Pink-Footed geese landing in the field by Oxcliffe Rd. When I passed later that field was empty, but a large skein c250 came high from the north and dropped onto one of the fields to the north of the bypass (bay gateway)