Heysham skear - low water 09:25 (Malcolm)
It was misty and raining, it didn't look promising and it lived up to its lack of promise!
No sign of any Brent geese, but we are moving back to neap tides now and low water didn't go out far enough to expose what little weed there still is in the SE skear corner.
Eider 15
Wigeon 4
Red-breasted Merganser 9
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| Female and male Red-breasted Merganser |
When the sea is flat calm like this, you can follow the whereabouts of the mergansers when they are underwater. Quite a long clip this, but for most of the time there is little to see except for the telltale surface disturbance where the mergansers are foraging.
Great Crested Grebe 3
Oystercatcher 1,500
Curlew 25
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| Curlew and Oystercatcher |
Redshank 80
Knot just one small flock of 22
Turnstone 25
Dunlin 5 with the Knot plus 2 more higher up the shore with
Ringed Plover 8
South shore (Malcolm)
Just a walk from Red Nab then half way along the sea wall towards high water.
Pale-bellied Brent goose 23 flew to Red Nab from the west, possibly from the north shore, or possibly directly from the west side of the Bay.
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| Brent geese flying over the wooden jetty |
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| Some of the Wigeon flying in |
Interestingly, both the Brent and the Wigeon immediately began feeding on the very short cropped gutweed in the middle of Red Nab. They normally work their way in from the periphery as the tide rises. The only difference today was the rain, the wetting of the weed with freshwater must make it either more appetizing or perhaps just easier to crop.
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| Cormorant near the sea wall. |
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| Grey Seal |
