Wednesday 7 September 2022

Overhead Osprey

 The SE breeze continues. Mainly overcast with some light showers during the day, some sunny periods around lunchtime. Once again, heavy thundery showers started by early evening

South Shore - high water 09:30
The plan was to watch this morning's tide bring the waders close inshore. That didn't work! (MD)
Kingfisher 1 feeding on the large pool in the centre of Red Nab. It caught three Common Gobies in quick succession, quite surprising really as this pool won't have been "restocked" since the last spring tides.
Kingfisher with quite a large goby

This clip, shows it swallowing one

Linnet 18 feeding on the mustard seed at Red Nab
Wheatear 6
Rock Pipit 2
Meadow Pipit 3
Whinchat 3 female/immature - one just east of Red Nab and two at saltmarsh 
Whinchat near Red Nab


One of two saltmarsh Whinchat
Swallow 5 south
Lapwing 28 on saltmarsh 
But something didn't feel "right" the tide was making up the beach, but it was deserted, not even an Oystercatcher! Never mind, I like walking on a deserted beach so I walked out, and soon discovered why the beach was deserted......
Osprey 1 - unringed adult. 08:45, I'm guessing it had been patrolling the area for a while, but it now decided to head north over Ocean Edge, the gulls weren't happy!
09:00 - by this time I was alone at the water's edge. The Osprey returned. In this clip the Osprey is flying over the beach and looking to the sea on the left of the clip. Possibly looking for any dead fish being washed ashore?

It wheeled round and did another circuit, but this time continued directly over my head and on towards the Lune estuary 
Osprey 

The Oystercatchers returned, bringing with them 3 Bar-Tailed Godwit and a few Curlew
A flock of c100 Dunlin and Ringed Plover came from the south and circled before landing on the beach
Dunlin and Ringed Plover

Normality was returning 

This last shot is the "dried out" pool on Red Nab near the sea wall. But it is no longer dried out, the recent heavy showers have restored it to a "freshwater" pool. Two reasons for the inverted commas.
1. Not "fresh" in the sense that you would want to drink it.
2. Not "fresh" in that it will still be slightly saline from salt left by seawater that evaporated rather than seeped away.
Still, an interesting environment, but it won't last long, Sunday's or Monday's spring tide will fill it with seawater again. Worth keeping an eye on though, different  environments can lead to different sightings (MD)
The now, only slightly brackish pool at Red Nab