Heavy overnight rain then a dry day with sunshine in the morning. Rain returned by evening. A light SW wind switched to NE this afternoon.
Heysham skear Malcolm 08:30 - 10:30
I went out just as the tide was exposing the inner skear, but there were already thousands of Knot waiting for the feeding areas to become exposed. It is hard estimating numbers when they are spread out over a large area, and today there were no Peregrine attacks, while I was there, so the only flying birds seen were partial movement to feeding areas. There was certainly more than 5,000, and judging by the number of flagged birds seen, many more than that.
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| Knot covering the beginning of the inner skear |
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| Just a fraction of the total number of Knot |
I ended up reading 30 flagged birds from three different schemes covering England, Scotland, Wales, Holland and Iceland. 17 new birds for this autumn!
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| This one from a Wadden Sea scheme, Holland, is about to be obscured by a flurry of birds landing |
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| There must have been many flags that I didn't see, particularly when they were resting. This UK scheme bird, ringed in Scotland, eventually showed enough of its flag to read it |
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| They were easier to see when they were feeding. This is an Icelandic ringed bird |
Eider 8
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| Some of the Eider bobbing in the waves |
Red-breasted Merganser 3
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| Mergansers drifting past some resting Knot |
Little Egret 3
No Shags seen today.
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| Cormorants |
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| Herring Gull, I haven't seen a ringed one for ages. There are still lots of small mussels that they had been feeding on, the Knot are feeding on them now |
A Swift sp was seen over Pilling Lane Ends this morning and looked to be heading towards Heysham. There is a chance of Pallid Swifts at this time of year. If you see a swift please try and take a photograph, as a picture is essential for positive identification. The head and throat regions are particularly important.
