An overnight frost. A freshish south wind, overcast all day with some light showers.
Report from Pete:
Everything below is either within or seen from the recording area.
Shag 3cy off Heysham Head
Pale-bellied Brent goose 42 - 7 off Battery car park by the disused sewage outfall, 35 off play area
Eider 102
Great Crested Grebe 6
Red-breasted Merganser 9
4 Meadow pipit from north end of stone jetty in 10 mins.
Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)
Mute, Moorhen and Coot unchanged
Greylag goose 2 - they have looked like they might fancy nesting here for the last few springs. Hopefully this year they might, if not disturbed.
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| Greylag Goose - the other just out of shot |
Mallard 5 (4 male)
Gadwall 2 pair
Teal 2 pair
Little Grebe 2 pairs at least
Common Snipe 3
Water Rail 1 calling from the western marsh
Pheasant 1 male calling (I can't bring myself to call it singing!)
Cetti's warbler, contact calls and a burst of song from the "no swimming" pond
Great Spotted Woodpecker - this female flew from the direction of the large anemometer and rested in this tree a while (I've had to remove the sound, my camera was making it sound like it was drumming!)
It then flew back in the same direction - earlier this male was near the small anemometer in the Nature Park. To us, two different areas, but the two sightings would only be 400m apart.
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| Male Great Spotted Woodpecker |
Kestrel 2 - presumably a pair. This female was half perching, half hovering in this tree.
She flew off, but as I walked on a better viewing line revealed a male perched below where she had been.
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| Male Kestrel |
Just out of the recording area - Heysham Moss Nature Reserve (MD)
This was mid afternoon and it had been drizzling and it continued to throughout my walk. So I wasn't expecting to see the Barn Owl, but was thinking perhaps a Stonechat, and fortunately I did see a male. I say fortunately, as it seemed to be moving through quickly. It rested on this Willow briefly and made no attempt to feed before moving on northwards. I was using one of my old cameras, so the image not so crisp, but at least the background noise is fine!
Grey Heron 3
Mallard 2
Hopefully more species will be moving through soon!
