Just my stuff so far (MD)
Wheatear 2 along Ocean Edge foreshore plus 1 on saltmarsh
Heysham skear - ebbing tide this evening
Eider 46
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| Female and male Eider |
Great Crested Grebe 6 (3x2)
Red-breasted Merganser 3 - this clip shows the merganser flying off, but also an indication of the wealth of birdlife on the skear.
Curlew 8
Turnstone 4
Dunlin 4
Sanderling 12 (2x2 + 8) very flighty this evening and the 8 flew off west.
This Herring gull has a Pipefish, probably a Greater Pipefish.
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| Herring gull with Pipefish |
Pipefish are effectively a straight seahorse, both are very closely related. Like a Seahorse, it is the Pipefish male that carries the eggs and young. This is either a female or a male with an empty pouch. Quite a large specimen, I expect it has died and washed ashore, rather than the Herring gull catching it, although, they are not uncommon in the bay. Anyway it wasn't prepared to share it.
