Osprey day

A light east wind. A sunny start and warm, but the clouds were building and they broke just after lunch in a thunderstorm, several other showers throughout the afternoon and evening.

South Shore - high water 09:10. (MD)

I checked the shore out from the saltmarsh, it may have been high water, but the main waterline was still over half a mile out. The tide height was only 7m and the shore is pretty flat here.

Most of the waders were to the south of the recording area, but still:

Curlew 150

Oystercatcher 70

Bar-Tailed Godwit 4

Grey Plover 2

Ringed Plover 29

Dunlin 4

The Ringed Plover were just resting on the dry mud

A solitary Grey Plover patrolling the waterline

At first glance this wader with a pale belly looked interesting, but it turned out to be just a Dunlin moving to winter plumage.

Osprey 2 sightings, likely to be two individuals as Pete advises that Ospreys were everywhere on lune east area this am!

The first sighting heading south was unusual in the respect that although it flew over a gull roost then along the waterline it wasn't mobbed and it didn't lift a single wader! In contrast the second sighting heading north lifted all the gulls, including a yellow ringed Mediterranean gull that I was trying to read, despite the Osprey being well inland. Thinking about it now, it could have been something closer that lifted the shore gulls and the inland bird just coincidental.

10:15 Osprey came high from the north over Ocean Edge Caravan park before dropping lower continuing south along the waterline. Fortunately this flight path took it directly over my head, albeit still quite high.

Osprey. Blue ring with white characters on the right leg

10:50 Osprey being mobbed by gulls as it flew north, but it was well inland over Middleton Nature Reserve which has its own contingent of gulls.

Mediterranean Gull 14 adults with the Black-Headed gulls on the shore. I didn't manage to read the yellow ringed bird and it wasn't with the group that resettled after whatever flushed them had gone. There was a new white ringed bird though.

Mediterranean gull with white darvic ring - details awaited

It's three days now since this area of the shore was covered by the tide. This gull pellet has remained undisturbed and the few light sowers removed the binding matrix.

Mainly fish bones with a couple of large crab claws. Every scrap of flesh has been digested 
Note the holes in the mud where the sea snails have buried down. Quite deeply now I expect.

Red Admirals 16  - they were constantly flying over the mud to the SE.