A dry sunny day. A very light SE breeze freshened slightly as it moved to the north.
Heysham Nature Reserve (Janet)
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| Blue Tit, its ring characters clear to see (unfortunately not enough of them) |
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| Jay |
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| Female Bullfinch |
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| One of several Chiffchaff |
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| Buck and doe Roe deer |
Middleton Nature reserve
Just a passing check of the "no swimming" pond. No sign of any Goosander today. Three Chiffchaff and two Cetti's warbler singing (Cettis from SE and NE corners of the pond)
Heysham skear - low water 11:50
It was a lovely walk in the sun compared to yesterday's rain (Malcolm).
Little Egret 10 - there are seven feeding in this pool with a female/1st winter Red-breasted Merganser.
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| 1 and 4 Pale-bellied Brent geese either side of conger rock |
Eider 105
Red-breasted Merganser 5. This pair decided that it was time to leave, or rather, the female decided that it was time to leave and the male followed.
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| Female and male Red-breasted Merganser |
This female/1st winter was close inshore.
Knot c2000 initially, but this Peregrine did several sorties and cleared them off the skear. They had gone by the time of this clip, the Peregrine was just checking. Not a great clip of the Peregrine, but it does demonstrate the unusual lighting conditions this lunchtime.
Bar-Tailed godwit 36 - this clip ends with them flying over conger rock
Oystercatcher 750
Curlew 25
Redshank 120
Turnstone 80
South shore
I walked out to the waterline 2 hours before high water (Malcolm). But these neap tides don't rise very high and I was at the waterline before the waders. But it wasn't long before they arrived. These are the godwits and just some of the Knot arriving.
Bar-Tailed Godwit 250Knot 2,500
Dunlin 200
I checked the Knot for rings and only found three. One was probably the same bird as yesterday with an obscured code on an orange flag. This one has a pale green flag also obscured! But possibly only on one side, unfortunately it was only walking in one direction away from the rising tide.
A bit frustrating, but I did manage to read the third bird.
Shelduck 1
Wheatear 5 on the saltmarsh
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| Three Wheatears |
And where was the Willow warbler? In my garden just after lunch (Malcolm).
Unusually, feeding on the ground on my immaculately manicured lawn!
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| First Willow Warbler of the year |
Just out of the recording area - horse paddock behind Middleton Parish Hall
Glossy Ibis seen in the morning, not checked later
