A fresh SSE to SW wind. Some heavy showers, particularly in the morning. A couple of sunny spells in the afternoon.
Red Nab to saltmarsh shore (PM, MD)
Sandwich Tern 125 at least - initially there were 80+ on Red Nab but they quickly moved, with the gulls, to the beach out from the saltmarsh. When Pete arrived a little later their numbers had grown to 125. It wasn't possible to complete a thorough check though, as by this time the SSE wind was driving the rain directly into Pete's scope.
I'd walked out to the edge of the recording area to allow me to walk back with my back to the wind and rain to check the waders. When I returned to the saltmarsh the gull and tern roost was gone, but 66 of the Sandwich Tern flew back in two groups complete with.....
Common Tern 2
Presumably these 66 were from the birds counted by Pete, there were also small groups of Sandwich Terns all along the water line. Not sure what they were doing, but they seemed to be looking for easy snacks.
This is the first group of the 66 terns coming in to land on the beach
When the rain stopped, they flew closer to the waterline and all had a good preen. Both Common Tern are in this clip.
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| Common Tern with Sandwich Terns |
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| Juvenile Sandwich Tern |
Mediterranean gulls 8 - 7 on Red Nab and only 1 seen on the beach
Curlew 150
Oystercatcher c200
Bar-Tailed Godwit 5
Dunlin c500
Redshank 20 (saltmarsh)
Lapwing 4 (saltmarsh)
Turnstone 14 (Red Nab)
