Friday 10 September 2021

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