A dry overcast morning, two afternoon showers then the sun came out early evening. A SE wind.
Heysham skear (Malcolm)
I checked this morning on the ebb tide 09:30 - 11:30. Then a quick look on the flood in the evening sunshine.
Eider 15
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| Eider (and a Redshank) |
No Merganser, Grebes, Little Egret or Shag seen.
Oystercatcher 400
Curlew 25
Black-Tailed Godwit 6 south at 09:30
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| Black-Tailed Godwit |
Redshank 120
Turnstone 45
Knot 2000+
They were feeding on the bare skear bottom, that was stripped clean of mussels by storm Amy. There now seems to be plenty of small mussels here. I don't know if they are new seed mussels that have taken advantage of the vacated space, or they were small enough to be protected by the rocks and not washed away in the first place. Either way the Knot were making short work of them.
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| One of a UK scheme flagged Knot swallowing a small mussel |
Unfortunately, after eating a few the Knot just rest in large groups while their meal is processed (their gizzards crush the mussel shells to allow digestion). This makes it very difficult to see if any are flagged.
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| A blanket of resting/digesting Knot |
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| Some new flagged birds were seen. This is a UK scheme, that currently uses three characters. Presumably this two character bird was an early one. Details awaited |
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| It was very pleasant this evening - Knot landing as the incoming tide moves them on |
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| But still very difficult to read any flagged birds. One here is flagged but they were facing the fresh wind which blows the blade of the flag behind the Knot. Still, it's nice to see so many feeding again |
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| Oystercatcher, Curlew and Knot |