A NE wind in the morning moved more east and freshened in the afternoon. Sunshine for much of the day.
Seawatch report from Pete:
This am: sea c0810-0955:
Gannet 3
Little gull 2 ad and probably another distantly,
Arctic tern c30 - They ‘caught up’ the two little gull and all of them swirled up high into the air splitting into two groups - not sure where they ended up.
4 Common scoter
33 linnet
2 white wagtail
2 pipit spp
22 Swallow.
16 northbound migrating bar tailed godwit 1,2,13 - quite a movement nationally today
2 whimbrel north
1 adult kittiwake
No Sandwich tern seen!
I had a walk along the south wall mid morning (MD)
Wheatear 5
Linnet 7
Whimbrel 1
Kittiwake 2 x 2nd calendar year feeding on No.2 outflow
Shag 1 immature on wooden jetty
Rock Pipit 2 - 1 on the sea wall, 1 above lighthouse nesting hole. This clip is actually from yesterday, but the same feeding behaviour was observed today.
Grey Seal 1
Heysham skear - low water 18:40 (MD)
A pleasant evening walk, but the east wind was quite fresh by this time. Despite the sunshine I was glad I was wearing two pullovers!
Eider 20
Red-breasted Merganser 6
Great Crested Grebe 4 - these are two of them with a couple of Eider. The clip begins with one waving a leg.
Little Egret 3Swallow 3
Not many waders again, Oystercatcher c200, Redshank 30, Curlew 2, Whimbrel 8
The seed mussels are becoming more widespread and growing.
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| Seed mussels are beginning to carpet many areas |
Two weeks ago I suggested that "in a fortnight the gulls will be taking an interest in the seed mussels". Well, here they are.
The gull numbers will quickly increase as the mussels continue to grow
There are plenty of Orange Tips around at the moment. I took these shots yesterday in the Nature Park
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| Male Orange Tips are nice and bright when their wings are open...... |
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| ......but well camouflaged when their wings are closed |
