Monday 5 December 2022

Godwitless

A slightly fresher northeast breeze. Some occasional sunshine.

South shore - high water 09:20 (MD)
Just a quick check from Red Nab to saltmarsh 
Shag 1 - looked to be a juvenile, sharing a rock with a cormorant on Red Nab.
Immature Shag on Red Nab, they are not often seen here.
Pete says that the recent storms may have blown more than one juvenile into the area.

I like this clip, the Shag shows the Cormorant how to shake any water off really quickly!
Wigeon c150
Shelduck 125

Around saltmarsh:
Song Thrush 1
Reed Bunting 2
Reed Bunting 


Heysham skear - low water 16:00 (MD)
I managed an hour's walk just before it became dark. No sign of any Godwit or Brent geese today.
Great Crested Grebe 3
Red-breasted Merganser 3
Eider 6
Shag - at least two immature. I saw one feeding and two were resting on reefs, possibly one was the earlier feeding bird. I took this one to be a juvenile, as much by its lack of finesse as anything else (not that Shag are renown for their elegance at the best of times). This clip shows it taking off, just, and a short flight to where it began feeding.

Waders pretty much as yesterday apart from the Godwit. A Peregrine was trying its best to reduce the Knot count. It flew low across the skear to spook them all, then gained height before dropping on them. In this clip it manages to separate an individual bird, but it didn't quite catch it.