A dry and brighter day with a very light SE breeze.
Heysham Nature Reserve
Marsh tit caught again! That's the third time in four days on two different Nature Reserves. It was still calling in the tank farm mid morning.
Heysham Skear (Malcolm) 08:30 - 10:30
Pink-Footed goose 15 in one skein south
Wigeon 2 south
Eider 6
Red-Breasted Merganser 4
Great Crested Grebe 9
Grey Heron 3
Little Egret 12
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| Heron and Little Egret |
Shag just one juvenile seen
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| Juvenile Shag (left) and Cormorant |
Gulls c100 mainly Herring gulls
Oystercatcher 800+
Curlew 40
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| This Curlew was ringed at Llanrhystud near Aberystwyth, Wales 10/02/2016 Amazingly, this was its first sighting, after almost a decade! |
Redshank 140
Knot 280
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| Knot amongst the Honeycomb worm reefs. It was difficult to check for any colour coded birds, but there was one orange flagged, unfortunately I didn't manage to read it |
Turnstone 40
Ringed Plover 9
Common Snipe 1 flying around
South shore (Malcolm) 15:00 - 16:15
It was warm with an east breeze, albeit a gentle one. These are conditions that favour insect migration, normally better when the tide is out, which it wasn't. Today, unlike yesterday, the Nature Park was devoid of butterflies other than Speckled Wood.
There were a few butterflies coming in off the sea though.
Small White 16
Red Admiral 5
Small Tortoiseshell 1
Comma 1
The perimeter wall to the Power Stations get very warm in the sun and some stop for a rest
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| Red Admiral |
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| Small White |
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| Small Tortoiseshell |
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| Silver Y - spotted by Kevin |
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| Juvenile Great Black-Backed gull and juvenile Herring gull in the harbour |
Shag 4 juveniles - three were resting on the wooden jetty and this one between the wooden jetty and the roundhead.
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| Juvenile Shag |
It tried a bit of fishing
Then headed off to the north (the skear would be exposing about this time)
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| Two Cormorants in the harbour |
Rock Pipits 3
