Sunshine all day but cool early on in the light NE wind
South shore (Malcolm) 08:30 - 11:30
A very pleasant walk out on the shore to the south of the saltmarsh, then along the foreshore to the, then almost covered, Red Nab.
Pink-Footed goose c120 - two skeins south some distance out another of 57 south over my head.
Canada goose 4 with the 57 Pinkfoot.
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| Canada geese |
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| Canada geese with Pink-Footed geese |
Little Egret 6
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| At first glance, this Little Egret looked interesting in the low strong light. |
Mediterranean gull just 1 first calendar year flew south
Swallow 1
The only other movement seen were 11 passerines very high to the south. Too high to hear any calls and only spotted high above a gull I was checking with my binoculars. Very likely many more passed over unnoticed.
Waders
Oystercatcher 2,000 along the waterline plus many more on Red Nab.
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| Oystercatchers along the waterline with a nice view of the South Lakes in the background. Also a good view of some of the locations regularly mentioned in this blog. To the far right is the lighthouse, below it the sloping sea wall. Running out from the sea wall is what's left of the old wooden jetty. The two outfalls are between the waterline and the wooden jetty. There is a map at the foot of the posts. |
Curlew 130
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| Curlew |
The only other waders along the waterline were:
Bar-Tailed Godwit 4
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| Bar-Tailed Godwit |
This wader on the water with nothing to help gauge size was not immediately obvious.
Dunlin
A flock of 12 Knot were displaced by the tide to the south.
A group of 25 Ringed Plover and 15 Dunlin were feeding further up the shore.
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Dunlin |
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| Grey Plovers, note all the Lugworm casts here. |
Further south, out from the faux castle a small group of waders were resting
Grey Plover 63 (69 total for the day)
Knot 6 (18 total for the day)
Dunlin 8 (24 total for the day)
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| Grey Plover and Knot |
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| Grey Plover and Dunlin. No Lugworm casts here, this section of shore is awash with all the freshwater that has run off the land, it drains from here to eventually form the creek that runs through the saltmarsh |
Redshank 18 around the saltmarsh
Lapwing 7 on the saltmarsh
Linnet 40 feeding on Samphire seeds on the east side of the saltmarsh.
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| Linnet |
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| This Kestrel was resting on the west side of the saltmarsh. The Magpies weren't happy! |
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| The Kestrel left when it was ready, but the Magpies pretended that they had chased it off |
Wheatear 11 - 2 on the saltmarsh plus 9 along the foreshore
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| In contrast to the very pale bird on Friday, this Wheatear has a rich shade of rufous |
White Wagtail 1
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| White Wagtail on the shingles between the foreshore and Red Nab |
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| This Carrion Crow on the saltmarsh has gone for the vegetarian option. It didn't find the apple there, it flew to the middle of the saltmarsh carrying it. |
By the time I reached the Nature Park the day had warmed up, there was a bit of insect activity.
Migrant Hawker 1
Red Admiral 3
Small White 2
Speckled Wood 2
