Aukfest and impressive Sanderling numbers

A dry day with patchy sunshine. A sea mist rolled in with the tide and the light east breeze.

Seawatch report Pete 0515-0645.  Busy!  

Aukfests are not a regular feature away from the open coast

Razorbill/Guillemot - min of 390 out, all distant with other gangs even further away prob these
Guillemot - 40 in close, 8 out
Razorbill - 2 out
Gannet - 13 in
Kittiwake - 22,1,1 in
Sandwich Tern - 8 out
Common Scoter - min of 120 out, 8 in mostly early on 
Sanderling - 63 out

Heysham skear - Malcolm 09:45 -11:15

Pete timed his early morning seawatch well, by 08:30 the mist had rolled in. By the time I went out is was quite thick.

What little of Heysham Head showing, with no sign of the harbour and
Power Stations behind

Eider 5

Gulls c200

Oystercatcher 1500

Knot 8

Sanderling at least 500

This is the largest of three groups, plus many others feeding in small groups

Wherever you looked near the water's edge there were Sanderling, and the longer you looked, the more arrived. You can just make out their soft calls in this clip.

Different stages of moult to breeding plumage

This one only has one leg, but was still finding plenty to eat.

We are moving back to neap tides but it still drains quite quickly at this stage of the tide. This Whitebait left it too late and is trying to find the best spot to hide and wait out the tide. It is c5cm long and too big for the Sanderlings, but would make a welcome change to seed mussels for one of the gulls. It is in the middle of the frame at the start of the clip, but not obvious until it moves.

It made a good choice, that's the deepest area of the pool and should remain deep enough to cover it. Whether it will remain undetected for four hours will now determine its fate.

Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

Common Whitethroat 

Long-Tailed Tit

Pheasant

Small Heath

Common Blue