Birding behind windscreen wipers!

The strong south wind switched to the west at lunchtime and increased in strength all afternoon. Plenty of heavy showers.

Imperial Rd (MD)

It was raining lightly as I turned off the bypass and parked in the entrance to the wooden gate just south of the roundabout. But as I got there the heavens opened.

Buzzard 1 - it has been in the loose scrub below this fence, but when the rain began it hopped onto the fence post, presumably to be able to shed any water more easily. There is little to see in this short clip, other than the location and the fact that there are birds of interest to be seen without leaving your car. Sorry about the windscreen wipers!

Mistle Thrush 3 grounded by the heavy shower. This clip shows how heavy.

Mistle Thrush

As the rain eased they began feeding, the resident Blackbird was far from impressed!

They were quickly finding worms quite easily, another consequence of the heavy rain.

Even so, as soon at the rain stopped they flew off to the south.

South Shore (MD)

Just a quick check of Red Nab not long after morning high water

Pale-bellied Brent Geese 9 - a slightly strange record this. Once again it was raining heavily and they were not on the Red Nab rocks but a small outcrop to the east. There is a large freshwater runoff here, particularly after heavy overnight rain.

It was still raining, but not quite so hard when they flew off to the west, long before they normally leave Red Nab.

There was no sign of them from Knowlys Rd a little later. I wondered if they were a group with a different agenda, that was just temporarily grounded at Red Nab by the heavy downpour.

In the afternoon the west wind was getting quite strong, unfortunately the tide was out and would remain so till after dark. Still I had a walk along the wall and managed to walk out without any rain!

Just a few Black Headed gulls feeding on No.2 outflow.

Wigeon <50

Bar-Tailed Godwit 2

Rock Pipit 1 near lighthouse.

Peregrine Falcon 1 - I managed some better shots than I normally do as it hung on the wind briefly.

Peregrine Falcon 

This Herring Gull is breaking open a mussel in the inner harbour. Note it drops it from a little higher each time till it breaks.

This Carrion Crow caught my eye as its back appeared silver, but it was just an effect of the wind and the light. It is removing the last morsels from a wader carcass (looks to be a Redshank). Almost certainly the remains of a Peregrine kill. 

I managed to get back to the wooden jetty before the rain started again, fortunately the wind was to my back on the return leg. 

The west wind became even stronger after dark and the rain continuous. But the wind is forecast to quickly ease overnight.