Overcast, but the rain held off till early evening (we have evenings again!). A freshening south to SW wind.
Middleton Nature Reserve
Kevin Eaves - many of the Tufted ducks have moved on. The 15 or so still remaining, split between the main and "no swimming" ponds, and were mainly males.
Male Goosander still showing nicely on the "no swimming" pond.
 |
| Goosander |
Janet advises that the Mute Swan pair on the main pond are beginning to build a nest platform
 |
| The frog tadpole embryos in the pond on the southern section are already quite well developed |
Heysham skear - Malcolm 09:30 - 12:00
Checked on the incoming tide
Pale-bellied Brent goose 26
 |
| Brent geese finding plenty of pockets of gutweed here |
Eider 12
Red-breasted Merganser 2
Shag 1 adult
 |
| It was the king or queen of conger rock for a while |
 |
| But later dethroned by a Cormorant |
I was out longer than my normal walk here today, mainly as there were 3000+ Knot, but they were very flighty and choosing to feed in the more difficult areas to check them for flags. These are some of them resettling after lifting in a false alarm. You can see how rough the terrain is where they land.
I eventually managed to read some flags, including two new ones for this winter
