Oh dear.....not a GWE after all!

Generally a south fresh wind, a bit of SSE in the morning then SW after lunch. Overcast all day and it always looked like it was going to pour down, but we got away with light showers.

Heysham skear - low water 11:00 (MD)

It didn't feel promising and didn't surprise!

Great Crested Grebe 3

Apart from the grebes the only other diving bird on the sea were the Cormorants, but there were more than normal, at least 25.

Little Egret 5

Waders: Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone plus one each

Ringed Plover

Knot  - no sign of any summer plumage 

South shore rising tide early afternoon (MD)

Mediterranean gulls - at least 6 adult with the gull roost on Red Nab, almost certainly more

Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab

The tide was starting to fill the channel along No.2 outflow. Three Cormorants were fishing in the shallow margins of the channel. They were after the small Grey Mullet that come in early to feed on the algae that forms on the mud on warm days. There were lots of Mullet, but didn't see the cormorants catch any, they are probably too nimble in such shallow water.

This is what the Mullet are after, even on a relatively cool and sunless day, there was a substantial coating of algae along the channel edge below the sea wall.

Algae along the channel edge below the sea wall

I decided to time the rest of my walk so that the Mullet would be arriving here on my return. I was planning to take a clip of them feeding. When I got back (2.5 hours before high water) the channels were just filling and the Mullet had started feeding here. The cormorants had gone, probably gave up, but two Egrets were feeding. 

One Little Egret plus what this post (or rather me, Malcolm) originally identified as a Great White Egret, but study of later images has confirmed that it is actually just a very large Little Egret - apologies for any confusion.

This shot does show how much larger it appears to be

Little and large Little Egrets

The Mullet were difficult to see, as the incoming water was clouded and the surface rippled by the wind. This is the same area as the photograph above, you will have to take my word that they are Grey Mullet, but there is no doubt the shallow channel is full of them.