A dry day with a bit of afternoon sunshine. A light north wind.
Heysham skear (Malcolm) 08:00 - 10:00
Pale-Bellied Brent goose feeding amongst the rocks out from the play area. Too distant for an accurate count.
Eider 44
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| Eider with Piel Castle in the background |
Red-breasted Merganser 3
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| Red-breasted Merganser |
Little Egret 3
I went down on the rising tide to check the Knot. Initially there was just one group of 500, joined by another group of 200 after a Peregrine attack. Later a further 600 arrived from the north. The light was bad and the terrain they were on was rough so seeing flagged birds wasn't easy, but I eventually managed two new birds.
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| Peregrine coming out of the gloom |
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| The attack was mercifully swift |
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| It hit the Knot it took hard enough to kill it instantly |
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| A quick kill also allows the survivors to immediately return to feeding, they know they are safe from that bird for a while. No other attacks were seen. |
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| An Icelandic ringed Oystercatcher was somewhat easier to spot than the flagged Knot |
Heliport (Howard)
There were c2500 on the outer wall on today's tide, they stayed on the shoreline rocks mid way from either end viewing points so no flags read, just the one in the air taken from the road.
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| Orange flagged Knot, upper right |
South shore
Pale-Bellied Brent geese 39 counted on Red Nab, others may have been out of sight - Kevin Eaves
I checked the shore south of the saltmarsh (Malcolm) not long after high water
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| A line of waders, most feeding in the newly exposed mud |
Bar-Tailed Godwit 17 just resting
Grey Plover 80
Knot 20
Dunlin 1,000
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| Bar-Tailed Godwit and Grey Plover foreground. Grey Plover and Dunlin mid ground |
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| Grey Plover and Dunlin |
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| Knot and Dunlin, one of the Knot had an orange flag, but it wasn't possible to read it |
Sanderling 4 flew from the direction of Potts Corner and headed towards Red Nab
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| Another Sanderling was resting with Dunlin and Grey Plover closer to Potts Corner, placing it just south of the recording area. |
