Heysham skear - low water 10:30 (Malcolm)
Pale-bellied Brent goose 31 at least, including 15 that flew to the north.
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| Some of the Brent geese heading north |
Eider 65
Red-Breasted Merganser 4
Pintail 3 - they came from the north, then west along the northern edge of the skear,
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| Female Pintail with two males in tow |
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| Then settled in the channel to the NW of the skear |
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| Great Crested Grebe |
Knot 1,400 including two new flagged birds.
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| This one ringed at Skogarnes, SW Iceland on 17 May 2023 This is the only sighting since then. |
Redshank 200
Curlew 35
Turnstone 23
Dunlin 8
Ringed Plover 16
South shore (Malcolm)
It was such a pleasant afternoon I couldn't resist checking the waterline on the incoming tide, although my legs are complaining at the moment!
The only waders feeding along the waterline were
Oystercatcher 100
Knot 500 in four flocks flew south.
Curlew 126 in small groups flew south.
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| Curlew |
Pale-bellied Brent 37 - likely including this morning's birds. Unusually, they arrived very early in the tide and settled on the sea.
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| Brent geese arriving and then settling on the sea |
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| When the tide was high enough, they made their way along the channel next to No.2 outflow, then below the sea wall to Red Nab |
There were 100 Black-Headed gulls feeding high up the shore. By this time it was quite warm, I couldn't decide what they were finding to eat, possibly flies had been emerging along the strandline and landing on the mud. I checked, but I couldn't see anything.
Just out of the recording area, Janet located one on the Stonechats along Sandylands again. Today's bird looked paler than the one she saw yesterday. It would be nice to get a shot of them together.
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| Stonechat |
