The rain started early morning and just varied in intensity during the day, but mainly heavy! A light NE breeze in the morning switched to SE by late morning. It freshened and ended up from NW
North wall (MD) 08:30
The sea was flat calm in the gentle NE early breeze. I had expected to see the Sandwich Terns feeding in numbers in the improved conditions but there were just 5 blogging.
South Shore (MD) 09:00 -11:00
Sandwich Tern - there was just a handful out over the sea, I wasn't expecting to see many resting on the shore, but I was wrong! But for whatever reason they were not in large groups today, but scattered all over the shore. The most I counted at one time was, a still impressive, 162.
This is a typical loose group, together with Dunlin, Oystercatcher and Black-Headed gulls.
Plenty of waders today:
Curlew c150
Bar-Tailed Godwit 34
Oystercatcher 200
Grey Plover 16
Redshank 82
Knot 41
Dunlin c600
Lapwing 4 on saltmarsh
Common Sandpiper 1 on saltmarsh
These are some of the Grey Plover, Knot, Dunlin, Oystercatcher and Rain!
The rain had eased a bit for this clip, which also includes Bar-Tailed Godwit
Bar-Tailed Godwit |
Wheatear 5 on Red Nab
Rock Pipit 3 on Red Nab
Chiffchaff 1 on foreshore after a particularly heavy downpour, it dried itself as best it could before it flew off to the north.
Chiffchaff |
Linnet 1 feeding a juvenile by the saltmarsh. Sorry about the shaky nature of this clip (I was trying to maintain balance on loose rocks) but it is worth persevering with. The female is feeding the young with, what I can only describe as a gloop of partially digested seeds.
This is what a "gloop of seeds" looks like |
Janet checked Red Nab just after lunch. It was still raining, and the quality of Janet's shots shows it so much more clearly. Worth opening to see the details.
Four of the Wheatear were still around |
Wet look Rock Pipit |