Heavy showers till late morning then mainly dry with some sunny spells by evening. A light south wind.
South shore (Malcolm)
A mid morning walk didn't look promising, the sea wall was closed for maintenance and it was raining hard. Still it didn't turn out too bad as I walked along the shore to check the outflows.
Rock Pipit 1 on foreshore
Whimbrel 2
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| Whimbrel and a Curlew out from the foreshore |
Knot 50 including several red birds south along shipping lane
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| Juvenile Cormorants with Black-Headed gulls |
Little Gull 1 adult feeding on No.2 outflow
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| Little and Black-Headed gulls |
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| I normally stand on the sea wall and look down on the gulls. Today this young Herring gull stood on the sea wall and looked down on me. |
Mediterranean gull - just one adult (the regular green ringed German bird) turned up to feed on the beach by the wooden jetty. The beach is barely exposed on these low neap tides and the sandmason worms not so easy to catch. Plus I left early as I was distracted by..........
Osprey 2 adults. They came together from the north, but after a cursory look at the fishing area between the outflows one continued south. The other rested on the post at the end of No.2 outflow till the tide had ebbed further then caught a Bass before also heading south.
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| The gulls were aware of its presence, but basically just kept out of its way It has a blue ring on its right leg |
It soon caught a decent sized Bass when it did start fishing. I think it must have initially grabbed the Bass near its tail and the force of the Bass swimming off pulled the Osprey completely under the water for a few seconds (Bass are a very powerful fish and the Osprey would not have any control of it, holding from behind). This sequence of shots show the Osprey disappearing.
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| Just the tips of its primaries showing here, the next frame it was gone completely |
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| When it reemerged it was clear that it had been grappling with the Bass underwater, It had adjusted its grip, there is no way it could have originally grabbed it below its head like this. |
After a bit more juggling to get a better grip, it flew off south. Now its talons were fully occupied, the gulls suddenly became much braver!
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| This juvenile Peregrine Falcon kept spooking the gulls on the beach. |
Shaun had a walk along the sea wall when it was reopened this evening.
19:30-20:15.
Little Gull adult feeding on Outfall 2 then to over to number 1.
Med Gull 21 - 4 1cy on Outfall 1 and 7 on Red Nab, with 9 adults.
A group of c300 small gulls roosting off Ocean Edge not checked.
Kittiwake 1cy on Outfall 2.
Shag 2 juvs roosting on Wooden Pier with 122 Cormorants.
Pete saw 16 1cy Meds this afternoon, so minimum Med number 25
