Early morning showers were over by 08:00, after that dry but mainly overcast. A light west wind.
Seawatch report - Pete
Sea Heysham 1010-1110: all heading out, perhaps entered bay during earlier murk:
1 light morph Arctic Skua
1 adult kittiwake
1 subadult Gannet
2 Manx Shearwater
3 Common Scoter
4 Razorbill/guillemot
flock of c35 Sanderling plus c20 Dunlin
South shore (Malcolm)
30 Knot out 10:00
Still lots of Lesser Black-backed, Herring, Common and Black-Headed gulls around the outflows, but fewer feeding today.
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| Gulls along No.2 outflow railing |
Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)
I just went to see if the Mute's nest was still above water. I had nothing to fear, despite the heavy rain the water level remained the same, presumably most of the rain soaked into the soil.
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| High, dry and virtually impregnable |
Gadwall 1
Mallard 6
Coot 2
Little grebe 1
Swallow 2
Reed Bunting 2
Singing warblers:
Cetti's warbler, Chiffchaff, Willow warbler, Common Whitethroat, Sedge warbler, Reed warbler.
There are two Reed warblers in this reed bed along the western bank of the main pond. Meanwhile, a Sedge warbler is singing from the scrub behind it and a Chiffchaff behind me.
This Goldfinch was having a nice duet with a Blackbird.
North shore (Malcolm)
The exposing rocks of the inner skear, were almost deserted when I arrived this evening, just 150 Oystercatcher and 4 Knot. Eventually Oystercatcher numbers reached 450, but 4 Knot was all there were.
This Knot was having a drink and a bath, the water here will be quite brackish with all the groundwater draining out.
Sanderling 2 - interestingly, as the Sanderling approached, the four Knot flew up and joined them. They circled a couple of times before landing to the south. For the only time today the sun had come out and made seeing awkward.
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| Sanderling (left and right), four Knot and Oystercatchers |
The Sanderling quickly moved on, but the Knot remained.
Little Egret 10
Eider 14
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| These Eider are not today's, but the pair that regularly feed out from the heliport at high water - taken by Kevin Singleton yesterday |
Red-breasted Merganser 3
Great Crested Grebe 1
