North Shore (Malcolm)
I went out to watch the inner skear being covered by the tide, then ended up following the Knot to the beach out from the play area.
Pink-Footed goose 25 east
Pale-bellied Brent goose 23 - they had been feeding amongst the outer rocks beyond the play area, but there is precious little gutweed for them there. This is some of them heading for the sea.
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| Pale-bellied Brent goose |
Knot 800 were moved on from the skear by the incoming tide. 100 flew north and 700 began feeding on the shore out from the play area. The tide was covering the shore quickly now and the Knot and Oystercatchers were constantly on the move.
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| Eventually they were running out of shore and called it a day. |
If you open the above shot and look closely, you can see that there is only one orange/green coded bird. Nevertheless, I did locate others and three new records for this winter were found.
Golden Plover 2 - I cannot recall seeing one on the north side of the harbour before.
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| Golden Plover, with Knot |
Grey Plover 1 flew north from the skear
Dunlin 30
Redshank 40
Oystercatcher 900
South shore
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| Alan Physick took this location shot of a Grey Seal near No.2 outfall with his mobile, it is exactly where it was feeding on Tuesday |
Pale-bellied Brent geese 16 feeding on Red Nab (almost certainly some of this mornings birds) - Kevin
Alan, Kevin and myself (Malcolm) checked the firs near the white barrier where the Firecrest was reported yesterday. There was a lot going on with two visits of mixed tit flocks (mainly Long-Tailed). And at least two Goldcrest, but no Firecrest seen today.
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| Goldcrest |
An "evening" check from the south side to watch any birds coming in to roost.
Jackdaw 120+
Wood Pigeon 12
Stock Dove a significant reduction to just 10
No sign of the Barn Owl(s) this evening
Before checking the south side I had a quick look at the main pond
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| A young Roebuck on the north bank |
Little Grebe 1 also returned
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| And we end today, as we did yesterday, with a grebe on red water |
