A bit less of interest, but at least the mutes are back up to strength

A lightish SSE wind with steady rain till late morning, it remained overcast with a few more light showers.

South Shore (MD)

I checked the saltmarsh starting at the stage of the rising tide when I left it yesterday. It poured down the whole time!

Greenfinch 2 along the foreshore were the only finches

Song Thrush 1 grounded near slipway 

Wigeon 146 feeding over the flooding saltmarsh, but most headed towards Potts Corner as the tide covered the vegetation 

Common Snipe 3

Jack Snipe 2 - one or two may have left earlier, but I suspect 2 - 3 is the total current population on saltmarsh.

A check along the wall in the afternoon was at least dry, unfortunately of birds too. The only thing of note were

Shelduck 27 having a drink in the pool created by the freshwater run off from Red Nab.

Shelduck out from Red Nab on the ebbing tide

Carrion Crow flying along the sea wall

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

The good news is that the Mute family was back to the two adult and six large cygnets. Also their behaviour has changed, two of the cygnets had taken to just hanging around the seat at the feeding station, presumably these included the one that died. But today all were in the middle of the main pond eating weed

Mallard 9

Gadwall 13 (just 5 females)

I was watching their eye rolling behaviour. It seemed that the established pairs didn't bother. But the unattached birds were regularly signaling to each other this way.

This Moorhen seems supercharged as it zooms past what I took to be the already paired three females - not an eye roll in sight!

The other two females were in the middle of the pond, surrounded by eye rollers

Coot 1

Little grebe 1