Report from Jean:
Did a seawatch from Heysham Head graveyard from 0840 - 1040
I was hoping to see some Gannets but none appeared. The visibility wasn't great, very hazy in the distance but there wasn't much movement in any case. All I saw were:
Red-throated Diver - 1 flying out of the Bay at 0945hrs
Kittiwake - 2 flying into the Bay at 0955hrs
Great Crested Grebe - 1 out
Common Gull - 13 heading into the Bay mainly in twos over the course of the 2 hours
Shelduck - 2 out
Meadow Pipit - just 2 north
Then the usual inshore Herring Gulls and a handful of Lesser Black-backed Gulls. 90 Turnstone flew past heading towards the heliport, as did several hundred Oystercatchers.
Pete checked from further south:
Bit too clear for seabirds at Heysham this am: flock 20 kittiwake
Pete and Jean also checked the Heliport roost. They managed to read three colour ringed Knot from the 650 birds, despite fox trouble again.
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| "Cute" Fox (not Pete's (or the wader's) description!) |
South Shore (MD)
A morning full circuit with just a check of saltmarsh to Red Nab in the afternoon
Stonechat 3 - 1 male and 2 female. I was surprised to see these in the NE corner of the saltmarsh this morning, as there had been no recent showers to ground anything. I couldn't relocate them on the return trip, but 3 again in the afternoon, and they looked to be the same birds.
Wheatear 8 - there was just 1 near the slipway in the morning, but my visit in the afternoon coincided with what proved to be the only shower of the day and 7 were on the new layer of flotsam on the saltmarsh. Another 1 on Red Nab.
Rock Pipit - 9. 2 saltmarsh, 2 foreshore, 3 Red Nab, 2 near lighthouse
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| Rock Pipit and male Wheatear |
Shelduck 2
Wigeon 65
Shag 1 immature, at least, on the wooden jetty (a second candidate kept its head down)
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| Shag, on left, with Cormorants |
Kittiwake 2 x 2nd calendar year, one on No.2 outflow plus one on their pipe in the harbour. This is the outflow bird.
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| It managed to find something to eat |
This is a 2nd calendar year Common Gull on No.1 outflow
