Saturday 5 November 2022

Nothing dropped by!

A fresh south wind all day. The early morning rain stopped for a few hours before resuming at lunchtime. No sunshine today.

Just my stuff so far, and really just an account of the regular birds to be seen at the moment (MD)
South shore - a check from saltmarsh to Red Nab mid morning.
Lapwing 52
Shelduck 3
Wigeon 61 - most on Red Nab
Mainly male Wigeon landing at Red Nab
Little Egret 3
There were no feeding finches on/around saltmarsh and no Rock Pipits seen.
Oystercatcher and Curlew foraging in front of foreshore 
These Turnstone were also foraging in front of the foreshore.

Heysham skear - a short check in the afternoon rain
Red-breasted Merganser 6
Great Crested Grebe 3
Eider 2 
Little Egret 8
The only waders were: Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank and Turnstone 
I took this shot of a barrel jellyfish earlier in the week (saving it for a rainy day!). It shows its eight short tentacles more clearly than previous shots, I've always thought of them as the snakes on Medusa's head. This one is about the size of a football.
Barrel Jellyfish 
On the way back I checked the rocks in front of the children's play area to see if there is much gut weed available. It's a bit patchy but there are some areas along the middle distance rocks where it is quite lush.
Pockets of gutweed out from the children's play area.
Should be enough to hold any Brent that venture over from the east side of the bay.

Middleton Nature Reserve 
Just a quick check of the two main ponds.
Mute 2 adult, but I could only locate 5 cygnets 
Mallard 3
Gadwall 19
Moorhen 4
Coot 1