Sea Heysham (SPC, PJM, JR):
Gannet 40
Kittiwake 6
Sandwich Tern 175 in, 160 out
Arctic skua Dark morph
Common Scoter 17
Guillemot 221 in - the number of guillemot on the sea is unprecedented - at least 150 on a loose gang
Red throated diver 3 in 4 out,
Great Northern (or White Billed) Diver non breeding plumage out
Razorbill 5 in
Razorbill/guillemot c50 in
Arctic Tern 30 in
Fulmar 2 in ?same 2 out
Manx Shearwater 32 in 8 out
Whimbrel 1
Little Tern 1
Swallow 18 plus.
South shore
I checked from 08:30 -10:15 (Malcolm)
Pale-bellied Brent goose 2 on Red Nab
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| Pale-bellied Brent goose |
Shelduck 2
Linnet 8 around Ocean Edge 2 near the lighthouse
Wheatear 3 along foreshore
White Wagtail 15 - 12 on Ocean Edge grass/foreshore 2 on Red Nab and 1 along sea wall
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| White Wagtail |
Meadow Pipit 4 grounded
Rock Pipit 4 - 1 on Red Nab plus 3 chasing each other between No.1 outfall and the waterfall.
Swallow 4 north
Sandwich Terns still around some fishing some resting
Guillemot 7 - 4 on the sea near the north wall buoys, 3 out
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| Sandwich Terns on the buoy, 2 Guillemot on the sea |
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| A lone Ringed Plover on the saltmarsh |
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| Look at the lovely pattern on the sea between the outfalls. It isn't just a nice pattern, it tells you something. The tide is flowing past the submerged outfalls and creates a vortex (as the outfalls are discharging at different rates at the moment), in this case it isn't long lasting as it only happens at a certain depth of water. But the same thing happens between the different width channels on the north side. But this time the vortex are larger and can last many hours. The vortex concentrates any nutrients, which in turn attracts the small fish, and small fish attract the diving birds, which is almost certainly what we saw yesterday (Malcolm) |
Still plenty of White Wagtails on Ocean Edge grass and foreshore.
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| One of this afternoon's White wagtails |
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| This shot of a Pied Wagtail is from yesterday. No Pied wagtails seen today |
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| Wheatear |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| All four Rock Pipits were as this morning. These are the three bickering ones around the end of the sea wall |
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| This young Cormorant has a green ring. Beyond Janet's range today. It is quite a distinctive bird, one to look out for |
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| Lesser Black-Backed gulls........playing piggyback |
Heysham skear 13:30 -14:30 (Malcolm)
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| Red-breasted Merganser pair |
Oystercatcher 1,500
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| Bar-Tailed Godwits |
Curlew just 1
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| Curlew |
Whimbrel 6
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| Whimbrel |
They seemed to be easily finding plenty to eat.
Redshank just 5
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| The Turnstone are well on the way to summer plumage |
Gulls, mainly Herring, 250
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| The seed mussels are just beginning to develop, still tiny, that's a £1 coin. By the next set of spring tides they should blanket much of the skear and the gulls will begin feeding on them in earnest |
