Still Goldcrests moving through and Brent numbers growing

It remained dry but mainly overcast till evening rain. A light south breeze.

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Report by Alan:

I set just a couple of nets early this morning at Heysham NR.  Expectations were not high at this date and especially after the continuous rain yesterday and during the night but surprisingly there were a few unringed 

goldcrests about. Total catch was:

Goldcrest 7  + 2 retraps

Blackbird  2

Chaffinch  1

Wren  1

Treecreeper  1 retrap

 

There were quite a few grounded Blackbirds around the reserve taking advantage of the Hawthorn fruit crop.

The post has been playing up again. If you play a clip that clearly isn't what it is supposed to be click refresh and it should correct it.

Heysham skear 

David Kaye

Pale-bellied Brent geese 23 at least

Shag on Conger Rock

Several Snipe off the play area

I checked  09:00 - 11:15 (Malcolm)

Pink-Footed goose 45 SE

Eider 2

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Red-breasted Merganser

Little Egret 4

Little Egret heading off as the tide came in

Skylark 1 east

I went to check the Knot, there were c4000 and for the most part just resting in large compact groups.

Not easy seeing any flagged birds when they rest like this

There were three Peregrine attacks plus a couple of false alarms that shuffled them up, and I did manage to read some new flagged birds. I took this clip of the two Eiders having a bath (it seems an odd thing to say of a bird that will be in the water all day) while I waited for the Knot to resettle after an attack. It gives a sense of the activity.

As they settle again you can see their legs, but it isn't long before they
are a consolidated block again

As the tide rose they moved onto the mud on the north side. I thought that I would have a better opportunity here. But they were just standing still and the mud was so soft their legs, with any flags, just sank below the surface.

The nearest I got was when this Black-Headed Gull took exception to
the overcrowding 

It scattered the Knot in front of it allowing their legs to be seen

But it was all over very quickly and the only flag seen was this yellow
flagged Icelandic bird. But it "disappeared" after this shot, unread!

The Black-Headed gull wasn't the only bird taking exception. This Carrion Crow was cawing at me for a good 10 minutes.

It can't have been so upset though as it also continued feeding. Fortunately the Knot take no notice of their cawing.

It wasn't just me the Crows had it in for. This one was harassing a Cormorant