Brent in a familiar feeding routine

The rain held off till after lunch. Some sunny spells in the morning. A light SE breeze.

Heysham Skear (Malcolm 09:45 - 11:00)

Shag 2 juveniles 

Juvenile Shag

Two Shag

Cormorant 

No Eider or Mergansers seen.

Little Egret 3

Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank and Turnstone unchanged 

Common Snipe 1 east

Dunlin 10

Knot at least 4,500

Things were pretty crowded, seeing any flagged birds was not easy

This is a typical sighting.

But occasionally one obliges. This one ringed at Dyfi estuary in Wales 2024

Unfortunately, they just began feeding in a more open area when a Peregrine Falcon attack chased all the Knot south.

The, or a, Peregrine returned a little later with empty talons

Pale-bellied Brent geese 11 were feeding on sea lettuce on the shore above the SE skear corner.

There is some gutweed growing on the rocks here, but the sea lettuce
is broken and deposited on the mud by the retreating tide

Later they were joined by another 3 as David Kaye saw 14.

Later still 11 were feeding on Red Nab - Kevin Eaves

This is the feeding routine often used by the Brent Geese, feeding on the north side till the tide covers the available weed, then fly to Red Nab on the south side.

Kevin also saw a Grey Seal in the harbour entrance.