The wind started from the south before moving to west by the afternoon. The morning rain eased to showers in the afternoon, with the occasional sunny spell.
Heysham Nature Reserve
Just a quick circuit mid afternoon
Goldfinch c30
Bullfinch 4
Small mixed tit flock, mainly Long-tailed and Blue.
Chiffchaff 1 possibly 2 - not with the tits
Sparrowhawk 1
Moorhen 2
South shore
Shag 2 juvenile - Pete saw one in the harbour mouth at 14:20. I was heading down the wall next anyway, so kept an eye out for it - turns out that I didn't need to (MD)
15:30 One was stood on the harbour wall near the lighthouse, unfortunately chased off by a Herring Gull (this is its resting spot!) before I could get the Shag into proper focus. Still, too good not to share:
By the time I could see the water in the harbour mouth there were two together, unfortunately not feeding.
I thought they would roost close together, and they probably did end up together. The outer bird moved a little closer to the other bird. The outer bird is circled in yellow. The other is behind the group in the red circle, possibly the head poking out on the right.
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| Juvenile Shag roosting with the Cormorants at the end of the wooden jetty |
I scanned the other birds on the jetty, but my optics are not very powerful. Even so, there was at least one other possible Shag, so perhaps there are more than two in the harbour area.
Wigeon 11
Shelduck none seen again
Greenfinch 2 Red Nab
Rock Pipit 2 - one on foreshore plus this one on Red Nab. Following the current trend of feeding in the company of a different species, today a Turnstone. Watch the Turnstone's reactions. It doesn't react at all to the Rock Pipit itself, but does react when it mistakes the Rock Pipit's movements as alarm.
Kingfisher 0 - I checked both known feeding areas, Red Nab and Dog Walk pond, plus no sign on Heysham Nature Reserve.
