A nice day to watch the gulls

Heavy rain showers till late morning, then a nice sunny spell till mid afternoon. The already lightish south wind eased further around lunchtime.

First a few shots from Mark as he and Jayne enjoyed a walk along the sea wall yesterday.

Wigeon feeding on Red Nab

The Wigeon heading off as the ferry was heading in

Immature Shag in the harbour 

South shore today (MD)

I still haven't fully gotten over my "man flu", and I wasn't filled with enthusiasm! It had been dark and raining all morning, I donned two coats (warm and waterproof) and set off, thinking that if it was too miserable I would turn round and come back. But as soon as I reached the saltmarsh about 30 minutes before high water, the clouds parted, the wind dropped and the sun came out. And it stayed like that for the duration of my walk!

Saltmarsh:

Common Snipe 3 (most would have already left)

Jack Snipe 1

Reed Bunting 5-6

Rock Pipit 2

Wigeon 80+ still out from the saltmarsh 

By now it was high water, Red Nab was already covered and there was nothing on the outflows.

Just two more Rock Pipits, on Red Nab and Sea wall

Red-breasted Merganser 1 female

Shag 1 roosting on the wooden jetty in the area favoured by the 3rd calendar year 

The sea was calm, the skies blue and the sun bright, I wasn't expecting there to be much behind the ferry, but there was, at least 17 Kittiwake including 2 x 2nd calendar year 

The cloud of gulls behind the ferry

I was conscious that yesterday I had focused on the 2nd calendar year birds, probably because they are easier to spot in the gloom. So today I was determined to get some clips/shots of the adults.

This one has picked something up, but whatever it was it dropped it again.

This one provides a tour of the harbour 

Adult Kittiwake 

This one appeared to be an adult, but its still dark bill showing it to be immature 
3rd Calendar year Kittiwake 

By now the tide was ebbing quickly. The cormorants were feeding above the wooden jetty foundation rocks, and they were catching plenty. There are two fish caught in this clip, they look like, and probably were, Pouting.

The gulls were lined up, watching from the edge of the wooden jetty, they swooped
down when a Cormorant caught a fish, but they would have been lucky to get anything 

Something or someone must have spooked the Oystercatcher roost on the heliport wall, many of them settled on the newly emerging Red Nab rocks.