A light SE wind. Dry but overcast all day. The low clouds were very bobbly, they are called mammatus clouds (MD).
 |
| These bobbly cloud formations are called mammatus clouds |
Pale-bellied Brent goose 49 – 46 (25 adults, 21 1st winters) off the children’s play area at 9.15 am. - ref Pete Crooks
These shots from Janet.
 |
| This shot shows the proximity to Heysham village |
They had been feeding in various groups but all flew to the south side together and landed on Red Nab. Andrew Cornall saw an additional 3 come in to Red Nab from further south.
South shore (MD)
Brent geese as above
Pink-Footed goose 1034 in 6 skeins heading south, all within a 20 minute spell just before noon. This is one of the smaller, but closer skeins.
Wigeon 397 - I don't think there were actually any more than of late, they are just so much easier to count earlier in the tide while they are waiting to get to Red Nab.
Shag 2 on wooden jetty
Rock Pipit 5 - one at Red Nab, two along the sea wall and these two near the waterfall. This clip is a compilation of three clips but they did occur in this order and very little time between them. It begins with one bird dropping down the wall, with a leaf in its bill. Then the other bird is trying to extract a snail from its shell (possibly a periwinkle), when it succeeds (last clip) it also drops down the wall with the food. If this was later in the year I would say the second bird was a male taking food for the female on the nest. Perhaps it is just part of the courting process, to demonstrate that "he" is a good provider.
Linnet 2 between the lighthouse and waterfall where at least one pair bred last yearOnly the regular wildfowl on Middleton Nature Reserve, no sign of yesterday's Goosander
Just out of the recording area, both the Glossy Ibis and the Green Sandpiper were showing well in and around the horse paddock behind Middleton Parish Hall. One of the observers was Andrew Cornall who said that the Ibis appeared to have three loose feathers today.
