Knot not so accessible today

A largely sunny dry day. A light SE wind

Near Naze

Malcolm 09:45

There were 1000 Knot on the rocks, but only three flagged birds could be seen. At least 1000 more were flying around.

Shag 2 juveniles were fishing. This is one of them searching under the wrack covered rocks. I presumed looking for Common Blennies

My presumption was correct. It caught one

Juvenile Shag and a Common Blenny 

Howard checked a little later. One Shag was still around 

.....but not for long

By this time all the Knot were in the air

Just a few of the c3000 Knot, they then flew off to the north

They settled on the groyne at Sunnyslopes with Redshank.
Unfortunately beyond flag spotting range

Male Red-breasted Merganser out from the groyne 

South shore - Janet

Wigeon on the saltmarsh 

Curlew on the saltmarsh 

It did some shouting as it flew off...

Red Nab at high water

Turnstones

Goldfinch 

Moorhen flying back to the Nature Park pond

Imperial Rd - Malcolm

Two Stonechats. This female was seen first, I knew immediately that it was the one regularly seen with the male

Female Stonechat 

Sure enough, she was soon joined by the male

Water Rail 1 calling

Kestrel 2

Heysham skear - Malcolm 14:00 15:30

I went down very early in the ebbing tide, partly hoping, in vein, that the Knot would still be on the groyne, but mainly as the light wasn't going to last long.

The Knot were feeding and a few flags were seen, then it felt like someone had turned the lights out and it wasn't possible to read any more flags.

Eider 6

Little Egret 4 - they were fishing at the pool edges as the water quickly drained from them. Somewhat surprisingly they were out performed by this Herring gull.

The gull has a Whitebait in its bill and a second is dropping back into 
the water. It didn't escape!

Shag at least 2 juveniles 

Cormorant and Shag

Pink-Footed goose 183 SE in two skeins this is the largest

Pink-Footed geese silhouetted against the setting sun

You can't really make anything out of the birds, but I find this clip quite therapeutic 

Pale-bellied Brent goose 4 flew north

Brent geese - Quite a day for goose silhouettes 

Quite a lot going on, but no wind blown stuff seen.

Mainly dry and sunny with just a few light showers. A fresh SW wind eased during the day.

Red Nab to Outfalls (Malcolm) 08:30

A walk along the sea wall to check the outfalls but there was nothing different on them.

Pale-Bellied Brent goose 53 arrived at Red Nab in two waves 28 and 25

Wigeon 180

Shelduck 3

North shore (Malcolm)

Heliport around 10:45 high water

Knot c2,000 several flags seen

A few Knot still with hints of summer plumage. The ones on top of the Heliport
wall were spooked each time a wagon passed.

Redshank and Curlew 

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs.......

Half Moon Bay 13:00

Many of the Knot were now on the shore 

As were several Lapwings

The Brent geese were also here and still in two groups.

Still 25 in this close group. This clip then pans over the Knot.

But there at least 40 in this group to the north 

So, at least 65 Pale-bellied Brent geese around today.

Shag 1 flew south

Heysham Skear 14:00 - 15:30

Eider 4

Red-breasted Merganser pair

Red-breasted Merganser 

More Curlew than recently, at least 30

A similar number of Knot to those on the Heliport arrived to feed, but most of the flagged birds seen were different to those seen earlier. Although in both areas many birds remained out of sight.

Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

I checked twice.

10:00

Stonechat 1 female type. I wasn't convinced that it was the female regularly seen with the male. This one looked darker.

But, just possibly it had had a bath as it was sprucing itself up, providing nice views of its white wing patches.

When I returned at 13:30 the regular female was feeding with the male.

She does look a different bird to this morning's

Water Rail 2

Common Snipe 1

Kestrel 1

A quick morning circuit

The opposite to yesterday, the rain held off till lunchtime, then never really stopped. Even in the morning it was overcast and gloomy. A SE wind.

Just my stuff so far Malcolm

Red Nab 08:30 - it was barely light!

Pale-Bellied Brent goose 38 seen, there could easily have been others

Pale-bellied Brent geese

Shelduck 2

Wigeon 180 minimum

Little Egret 1

Grey Heron 1

Rock Pipit 1

Imperial Rd

No sign of the Stonechats 

Water Rail at least 2 squealing

Common Snipe 1

Kestrel 1

Middleton Nature Reserve main pond

Mute, Mallards, Coot and Moorhen as recent. No sign of Little Grebes

Tufted Duck 18

Gadwall 10

Near Naze and Heliport 

I called in on my way home 09:50

There were c1,600 Knot circling and shaping to land on the Near Naze rocks. Then the almost inevitable Peregrine arrived. The Peregrine goes through this flock near the top from left to right early in this clip. Presumably a successful attack, but the flock still left to the south.

Redshank and Oystercatcher on the heliport wall

Shag 2 juveniles, both arrived from the north

This was the first to arrive, it flew past the Naze and landed on the sea to the south.

By this time it was 10:00 and the Power Station was conducting its weekly test of the alarms. You might want to turn the volume down!

The second one arrived a couple of minutes later and landed directly on the rocks.

At least 4 foxes caught by my head torch near the Moss this evening - Janet

A bonus break in the rain

It rained all morning but was reduced to light showers for a while after lunch. A fresh SE wind.

Near Naze (Malcolm) 10:15

A juvenile Shag was fishing around the Near Naze rocks. Unfortunately, it had finished feeding, or trying to feed, by the time I got my camera ready.

It then flew off towards Heysham Head

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 12:45 - 14:00

I wasn't expecting to get out here today. There were a couple of showers before the more persistent rain returned. The light was poor and the wind buffeting, but it was still good to get out!

Pale Bellied Brent goose 29 flew north

Brent geese heading north

No Eider, Mergansers or grebes.

Shag 1 juvenile, possibly the same as this morning's bird.

Juvenile Shag

There were 1500 Knot, but for the most part hunkered down in terrain I think of as "boulder fields", only small stones in reality, but enough to obscure most legs.

Almost impossible seeing any flagged birds when they rest here

Fortunately some did venture out to feed and I managed to read a few flags, 
but all seen here previously this winter. This is a Norwegian flagged bird.

An oasis of nice weather in an otherwise wet week.

A dry and sunny day with virtually no wind........it won't last!

Imperial Rd (Malcolm) 09:30

Water Rail at least three calling.

Teal 1

Little Egret 1

Little Egret

Long-Tailed Tit 14 at least passed through

Long-Tailed Tit

Stonechat 2 - the female was busy feeding, but the male seemed to be enjoying soaking up the morning sun.

Male Stonechat. The drops of water are from the morning mist condensing.
 My glasses were almost constantly steamed up!

Kestrel 1

Kestrel

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 11:45 - 14:00

Pale-bellied Brent goose at least 26. Small groups (3 - 7) were flying in both directions.

Pale-bellied Brent geese

Eider 26

A line of Eider on a mirror sea

Great Crested Grebe 6

Little Egret 4

Oystercatcher 1,500

Curlew 20

Redshank 80

Grey Plover 1

Knot 2,000

Turnstone 40

Grey Plover, Knot and Oystercatcher 

I was joined today by Isla Botting who is one of the team that flags Knot in the Wadden Sea, Netherlands. There were c1,300 Knot resting while the feeding areas on the skear became exposed. We positioned ourselves on the southern edge of the skear, hoping the Knot would feed on the relatively level areas there. But they moved to the north side and were joined by another 700 arriving from the south. 

We did see several flagged birds from three schemes, including one from the Wadden Sea.

This shot by Isla is one of the Wadden Sea Knot. 

This shot, also by Isla includes a knot still in semi summer plumage

Knot landing along the Northern edge of the skear

The reason why they chose the north side today, is that at this time of year huge quantities of tiny shrimps can be in the shallows. 

These Knot are after tiny shrimps

But for the moment they are out of luck! There will be some shrimps around, but the drain that normally passes along the north side has been diverted by the last storm. I had my small net with me today, and when these Knot moved on I tried in vain to catch a shrimp here.

A line of shrimping Black-Headed gulls 200m north of the skear showed
where the drain now empties into the sea.

I walked over to the drain and did a 5 second trawl with my small net

Brown Shrimps, still only tiny but a huge total weight of potential protein.

It had been a lovely afternoon, and up till this point no disturbance by Peregrines. But one arrived and all the Knot headed south. Interestingly, the Peregrine didn't follow them, instead it stayed and tried to catch one of the shrimping Redshank. Possibly they turned to Redshank in the Knot's recent absence. Or probably more likely, the Peregrines are aware that it is harder for the Redshank to quickly take flight when they are up to their bellies in water.