Robin Day, and Mergansers return

Light SSW breeze freshened during the day and moved to SW. Overcast all day with light showers, very misty early on.

Heysham skear - low water 09:00

Great Crested Grebe 11

Red Breasted Merganser 7 (5 + 2 all female/immature) - first record this autumn 

Eider 28

Teal 2 - flew in from the east and appeared to land on the skear, but not relocated,

Little Egret 13

Grey Heron 2

The middle skear was pretty much deserted, Turnstone being the most abundant wader. There were Oystercatcher on the mud, and presumably on the outer skear. 

Knot c25 - a small flock with Curlew and an even smaller flock alone.

Small flock of Knot and Curlew, with a misty Heysham Head behind

Mediterranean gull 1 adult on the mud beyond the north edge of skear

A quick check of the heliport wall at high water found that it too was bereft of Knot.
It's mainly Redshank with a few Turnstone in foreground, Oystercatcher beyond

Red Nab and Ocean Edge towards high water

Mediterranean gulls 4 adult + 4 1st calendar year. The four youngsters stayed around Red Nab at high water, making for easy viewing. This one takes something from the water surface, probably a whelk egg cluster. 

Wheatear 11

Rock Pipit 5 on Red Nab

One of five Rock Pipits on Red Nab at high water

Common Snipe 2 on saltmarsh 

Linnet 15 on saltmarsh 

Lapwing 12

Ringed Plover c40

Dunlin 2

Robin 2 on Red Nab plus another on Near Naze (not sure if this qualifies as "Robin Day", but it sounds good, and will get a few disappointed Google hits (MD))

Red Nab Robin

Raven 4 together, but not in close formation north over the saltmarsh 13:00

One of four Raven heading north

There were several butterflies in the nature park behind Red Nab. These are nice comparison shots of a Red Admiral and a Painted Lady.

Painted Lady

Red Admiral