Another dry day with a sunny morning, more cloud cover in the afternoon. A light east breeze.
Heysham skear (Malcolm) 08:45 - 10:30
Pink-Footed goose 40 - well, probably 40. 2 skeins south an hour apart both had exactly 20 geese each.
 |
| Pink-Footed geese |
Red-Breasted Merganser 9
Great Crested Grebe 9
Grey Heron 3
Little Egret 10
Shag at least one juvenile
Gulls 120
Swallow 1 south
It was hard estimating the wader numbers as an immature Peregrine Falcon was harassing everything.
 |
| Immature Peregrine Falcon |
It even had a go at the Carrion Crows
 |
| It finally caught something and landed on the mud to the north of the skear. That's a Red Admiral coming in off the sea above the Peregrine. |
Oystercatcher 600
Curlew 30
Redshank 120
Knot 45 in small scattered groups
Turnstone 40
Ringed Plover 6
 |
| Knot and a Redshank |
Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet (still with only one functional arm)
Plenty of Common Darter and a Migrant Hawker
South shore (Malcolm) 12:15 - 14:00
A check of the shore out from the saltmarsh saw only one small feeding group of waders.
Ringed Plover 20
Dunlin 6
There were quite a lot of waders along the waterline.
Curlew 100, plus others flying south
Oystercatcher 150
Bar-Tailed Godwit 88
Grey Plover 7
Knot 300
Dunlin 250
 |
| Knot and Dunlin |
 |
| Bar-Tailed Godwit |
 |
| Bar-Tailed Godwit |
 |
| All the waders except the Oystercatchers quickly left to the soutth. The Godwits were the last to leave, a Knot with them here |
 |
| Not all the waders were feeding, these resting Dunlin were half way up the shore |
Shelduck 15
 |
| Shelduck |
Lapwing 4 at the saltmarsh
Linnet 100+
Wheatear 1
Wigeon 2 resting birds drifted in with the tide, presumably the same 2 were feeding at Red Nab later.
 |
| Wigeon |
Mediterranean gull 5 on Red Nab, despite it being almost covered by the time I got there. 4 adults and a 2nd calendar year
 |
| Adult Mediterranean gull (top right) |
 |
| 2cy Mediterranean gull (left) |
 |
| Adult Mediterranean gulls |