Gull numbers increasing rapidly

Very heavy, although mercifully short, showers all day. Some sunshine in between. A strong west(ish) wind.

Pete managed a 30 minute seawatch from the back of the harbour just after low water.

Gannet 3

Manx Shearwater 2

Guillemot 4

Heysham skear - Malcolm 10:30 12:00

It was raining when I set off, and a heavy shower that had to be waited out, other than that it was mainly sunny.

Ducks sp 5 out just as the early rain was easing. Too distant to make out detail, but not Eider.

No Eider seen

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Great Crested grebe 1

Little Egret 4

Oystercatcher only c500 seen but probably many more as they were well scattered 

Curlew 1

Gulls at least 800, most of them Herring gulls. There are less than half of them in this clip.

The seed mussels are growing quickly and are now at a better size for the gulls.

This Herring gull is just about to swallow a seed mussel

Some of the gulls are adult birds, presumably either breeding close by or not breeding. One of the ringed birds seen was ringed at the Ribble Estuary in 2019.

This is the ringed adult, centre frame. I had seen glimpses of its ring
but it insisted on standing in the water

I eventually got it mid stride.

Only three ringed birds were seen, there were probably more.

This was the only new bird for this summer. Ringed in Bowland as a chick
in 2024. It's only other sighting was at Sarah’s Beck outfall, Lancashire im
May last year. 

A Cormorant caught a medium sized Bass and a few gulls flew out to it. But unlike seals, Cormorants are not messy eaters, it all goes down in one. Although in this case it took some swallowing.

A Great Black-backed gull standing next to a Cormorant, showing just how
large a gull they are