It didn't freeze overnight but the temperature didn't get above 3°C all day. Overcast (gloomy) all day, but it remained dry. A very light NE breeze began to freshen slightly by evening.
Heysham skear - Malcolm 10:00 - 11:30
The light offshore breeze didn't install confidence, and I wasn't surprised when there was little to see, and what there was, was mainly distant.
Eider 1 male
Red-breasted Merganser 5
Great Crested Grebe 6
Knot, just one feeding group of 200
Other waders similar to recent
There was a faintly unpleasant smell out on the skear. For some reason "burnt Christmas" came to mind. I couldn't place it at first, then I realised that the offshore breeze was wafting the scent of traffic and a thousand lunches being cooked, out over the skear. You don't really smell these things too much when ashore, but it wasn't the smells of the sea and shore that I am familiar (and happy) with out here.
South shore - Malcolm 13:00 - 13:45
I couldn't see any Brent geese on the north side earlier, so I went to watch Red Nab as the tide reached it.
Pale-Bellied Brent geese 35 - originally 23 arrived, then later at least 2 more smaller groups arrived. When they moved further south it was in flocks of 26 and 9.
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| The first wave of Brent geese arriving at Red Nab |
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| Brent Geese, Wigeon and Oystercatcher |
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| This is another batch of Brent arriving later |
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| Shelduck and Wigeon |
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| Wigeon eating the gutweed attached to the rocks. This is also what the Brent geese feed on here |
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| One of three Little Egret |
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| Cormorants, the one on the right still in juvenile plumage |
Wigeon 120
Kingfisher 1 flitting across the outer reaches of Red Nab
At the saltmarsh:
Rock Pipit 1
Reed Bunting 4
Linnet 17
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| Linnet |
