Plenty going on

A dry day, sunny spells till mid afternoon then overcast. A light west to SW breeze.

Shaun Coyle made an early start:

Heysham area 06:30-09:45.

Canada Goose 3 into the bay.

Little Egret 4 Red Nab. 

Eider 7 off the outfalls.

Sparrowhawk 2 over Ocean Edge heading inland.

Peregrine annoying the gulls at Red Nab.

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1.

Wheatear male Red Nab.

Cetti's Warbler singing HNR marsh and just 2 MNR.

Chiffchaff 11 in total (including Dog Walk Track). Plus 2 MNR.

Single Rock Pipit seawall. 

Later when Janet checked Red Nab, there were two male Wheatears, probably both additional to Shaun's.

Song Thrush, still feeding young in the Nature Park

Janet also checked Middleton Nature Reserve 

I left some sunflower seeds in a feeder at MNR the other day, today there were Male and female Bullfinches on it and Goldfinches 

The female was more wary of going to the feeder

Still Shoveler on the main pond

Heysham skear - Malcolm 08:45 - 10:15 and 13:00 - 14:15

Pale-bellied Brent goose 30 seen this morning 54 this afternoon. They were feeding all around both sides of the skear

Eider 25 this morning, not as many in the afternoon 

Red-breasted Merganser, just this male seen

He was doing a spot of snorkelling, no luck this time

Common Scoter a female drifted in on the tide this afternoon 

She has damaged or malformed feathers on her left wing

The right wing seems fine

Operational, but not practical for flying! Hopefully ok for diving 

This clip shows just how close to the shore she was

Little Egret 3

Bar-Tailed Godwit, several groups this morning, the largest 32, at least 65 in total. This afternoon a flock of 96 flew south

Bar-Tailed Godwit 

Knot c2200 this morning. There was a resting group of 1200, that were joined by a flock of c1000 that came from very high in the NW. the arriving birds were strung out in a long line, these are some of them coming in.

There were still c1500 around this afternoon, but they quickly moved to the south. Just a few previously seen flagged birds were located 

This is 14:00. You can clearly see the weather front moving in

Imperial Rd - Malcolm

I just called in to see how the nest in the copse was doing. 

It was no larger than it was a week ago.....

.......but it was occupied. Sorry about the shaky clip but this is full zoom. It isn't possible to be sure of the bird in the nest, but it is clearly quite large.

I moved to get a closer look, but as I did, three Buzzards appeared overhead.

Eventually one of the Buzzards was "seen off" and just two remained in the air. I looked to check the nest again, but it looked empty. I don't think it was a coincidence.

One to keep an eye on. It is easily visible from the road, at least until 
the foliage develops 

Teal 2