Heysham Bird Observatory: Plenty of Knot about, but seeing flagged ones not easy today.

A dry day with a bit of afternoon sunshine. A light north wind.

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 08:00 - 10:00

Pale-Bellied Brent goose feeding amongst the rocks out from the play area. Too distant for an accurate count.

Eider 44

Eider with Piel Castle in the background

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Red-breasted Merganser

Little Egret 3

I went down on the rising tide to check the Knot. Initially there was just one group of 500, joined by another group of 200 after a Peregrine attack. Later a further 600 arrived from the north. The light was bad and the terrain they were on was rough so seeing flagged birds wasn't easy, but I eventually managed two new birds.

Peregrine coming out of the gloom

The attack was mercifully swift

It hit the Knot it took hard enough to kill it instantly

A quick kill also allows the survivors to immediately return to feeding, they
know they are safe from that bird for a while. No other attacks were seen.

An Icelandic ringed Oystercatcher was somewhat easier to spot than the flagged Knot

Heliport (Howard)

There were c2500 on the outer wall on today's tide, they stayed on the shoreline rocks mid way from either end viewing points so no flags read, just the one in the air taken from the road.