Seawatch report from Pete:
A load of medium/low cloud, as opposed to the ideal sharp showers mixed with clear spells probably put the lid on seabirds. It seems like what there was piled into the bay on the very early stages of the incoming tide and, for eg, all but three Raz/Guille off Heysham 0635-0845 were outbound - quite astonishing given the wind direction and speed were favourable:
23 Gannet
1 Sanderling
5 Razorbill
1 Guillemot
1 Great crested grebe
15 Dunlin and the three Raz/Guille
2cy Shag roosting wooden jetty high tide.
Off the Stone Jetty
flocks of 30 plus 40 Kittiwake
Red-Throated Diver early on.
South shore mid morning (MD)
Curlew flock of 12 flew from saltmarsh towards Potts corner.
Wheatear 5 - the 3 seen close by were large birds
Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab, later along sea wall.
Linnet 18 feeding on Ocean Edge grass/foreshore plus 6 between lighthouse and waterfall - Some of the Ocean Edge Linnet feeding on dandelion seeds.
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| Male Pied Wagtail about to take a bill full of insects into the Power Station grounds. |
This young Wood Pigeon was getting pecking lessons on Ocean Edge grass, sorry about the misty effect, I had salt from sea spray on my camera lens!
Heysham skear - low water 17:00 (MD)
Great Crested Grebe 1
Eider 61
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| There are some Eider in this shot, but the reason I am posting it is to show just how clear and blue the sea still is after two days of strong SW winds which typically stir up the sediment |
Little Egret 4 - not actually on the skear, but fishing/shrimping along the shoreline where the water was suitably coloured (shrimps need coloured water before coming close inshore, both for cover and the detritus they eat).
Large Gulls, mainly Herring c700 - more spread out now.
Waders:
Oystercatcher c1000
Whimbrel 1
Curlew 1
Turnstone 1
Dunlin 1
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| Dunlin - this shot just to show how effective their camouflage is in this terrain |
Sanderling 4 - two pairs of birds.
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| Sanderling in partial summer plumage - these were just resting |
This pair were actively feeding, they are close to the shoreline so possibly finding shrimp there. I hope so, as it was the large numbers of shrimps here last year that the high numbers of Sanderling were feeding on (MD).
