An early shower then dry till evening showers began. A SE wind.
North side - Pete
Heliport:
One wheatear
6 meadow pipit in off
From Knowlys Rd:
c12 great crested grebe on sea north of Heysham head and about 6 red-breasted mergansers but all quite distant.
No shag seen but no biggish rocks exposed (c0730)
South shore
07:30 - 11:00 - Jean with a LDBWS group
Dog-walk track: 6 Chiffchaff, 2 Goldcrest, Kingfisher at the pond and 6 Moorhen there (2ad, 4 juvs).
Ocean Edge: 1 Wheatear
Red Nab: 1 Little Egret
Outfalls: 8 Mediterranean Gulls between wooden jetty and H1 outfall(5ad, one with white ring), 3 x1CY.
Guillemot 1 on sea off H1. Grey Seal near H1.
Harbour: 7 Linnet, Grey Wagtail, Rock Pipit
Vis: Pink-footed Geese flocks of 8 and 39 south, Meadow Pipit 7, Grey wagtail 1, Swallow
09:30 - 10:45 (Malcolm)
I started at the saltmarsh before the LDBWS group checked there.
Linnet 70+ - c35 on the saltmarsh and c40 flushed from the flotsam, left by the recent spring tides at Red Nab, by a dog
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| A few Linnet remained on the flotsam..... |
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| .......as did Rock Pipit |
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| ....... and Meadow Pipit |
Wheatear 5 along foreshore and Red Nab
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| Wheatear |
Meadow Pipit 3 grounded and group of 4 south
Rock Pipit 8 - 1 on Ocean Edge grass (slightly unusual), 2 on the flotsam at Red Nab. Plus 5 on the sloping wall by the lighthouse, this is after the LDBWS group had left and only saw 1. At least 3 of them came in from the north side.
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| Rock pipit on Ocean Edge grass |
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| Linnet on Ocean Edge grass |
Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)
I keep popping here at the moment as Janet is out of action for the foreseeable future (arm strapped up after remedial surgery).
More Tufted Duck today 31 - 19 on the main pond plus 12 on the "no swimming"
Gadwall 6
Other wildfowl as recent
Swallow 3
House Martin 2
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| Tufted Duck drake |
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| Gadwall |
For the second day running a bird flew directly towards me, I'm starting to get a complex! These Tufted were on the "no swimming" pond. I couldn't adjust the focus quickly enough to keep up with it!
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 female
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
It was feeding on dead branches, presumably Ash, as there is a lot of ash dieback affected trees here. You can see the wood chips fly.
I've not reported anything from here in ages. Not for lack of observations, I stop by regularly, but for the lack of anything to report! I checked again today and apart from a couple of swallows, saw nothing. No sign of any Buzzards for weeks.