Andrew McCafferty and Clay Garland were at Heysham this morning. Report by Clay.
South sea wall, 9:30-11:
Large flock of Knot (1000+?) roosting on the sand quite far out beyond Outflow 2. They lifted up at around 11 but I didn't see why, and they settled back down soon after.
24 Cormorant mostly on the sand beyond Outflow 1
c100 scattered Oystercatcher feeding around the sand either side of the outflows
About 20 Redshank and 10 Curlew among them
115 Wigeon mostly roosting on the rocks
Pair Red-breasted Merganser flew North
1 Little Egret at the base of Outflow 2
Heysham Head, looking out over the skear, 11:30-12:30:
81 Brent Goose - didn't notice any dark bellies among them
4 or 6 Red-breasted Merganser
1 or 2 Great Crested Grebe
Heysham skear - low water 11:40 (Malcolm)
Andrew and Clay did a better job than me at counting the Brent. I only managed 77, but you do get a good overview from Heysham Head. No dark-bellied seen today
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| 66 Brent in flight in this shot. They were feeding all over and along both edges of the skear |
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| Male Red-Breasted Merganser |
I only saw the single merganser, but saw at least 11 Great Crested grebe.
Wigeon 4
Eider 3
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| Distant Great Crested grebe and Eider. Plus even more distant Piel Castle |
There were about 1,000 knot in several small groups. But they merged briefly during two Peregrine Falcon attacks
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| Peregrine Falcon top centre, about to dive through the Knot Flock |
There were a few colour coded Knot around, from UK and Dutch schemes.
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| One of the Dutch scheme Knot - details awaited |
