First Arctic Terns plus Little gulls and more pass through

Still quite fresh ENE wind, high cloud with plenty of sunshine.

Seawatch report from Pete:

A few bits on the sea off Heysham on dropping tide including:

4 Arctic tern 

2 adult Little Gull

1 Fulmar

1 Kittiwake

2 Gannet

17 Common Scoter

3 Sandwich Tern

3 Razorbill 

1 Guillemot 

2 Razorbill/Guillemot 

82 Bar-Tailed godwit in 7 flocks

Also 

2cy Shag on wooden jetty early on

northbound Little Egret ploughing across the bay

3 White Wagtail low across the sea to the north 

No grounded landbirds

Whimbrel near outflows by Kevin

Heysham skear - low water 13:05 (MD)

Eider c80 close in, similar numbers further out

Red-breasted Merganser 5

Little Egret 3

Not huge numbers of waders, but an interesting selection.

Oystercatcher c2,000

No Knot or Curlew

Whimbrel 4

Redshank 6

Turnstone c100

Dunlin c80 including a tight flock of 40

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1

Both the Dunlin and Turnstone are moulting to summer plumage 

This Bar-Tailed Godwit was catching shrimps. This picture is a still from the clip below. You can just make out it tossing the shrimp up its bill. 

Bar-Tailed Godwit eating a shrimp

The above still is from very early in this clip. The long bill is ideal for probing deep in the mud for worms, but not the best for handling shrimps, it appears to drop this one, but quickly retrieves it.

There are always shrimps around the skear in varying size and quantity dependant on time of year and the conditions. But there does not seem to be the large quantities of small shrimps that all the waders were feeding on this time last year. Unless we get a sudden emergence, I am not optimistic of a repeat of last year's high numbers of Sanderlings feeding here next month. I sincerely hope that I'm wrong! (MD)

Just out of the recording area - Heysham Moss Nature Reserve

Grasshopper Warbler reeling - today heard by Janet.

This reserve was later a scene of a fire that required 3 Fire Brigade units to bring under control. Even small fires quickly spread in the current strong winds. Hope the result was not too much death and destruction.