A showery day with sunny spells. A west wind.
South shore - Malcolm 09:00 - 11:00
I set off in sunshine without my leggings. Mistake. Heavy rain began as I reached the saltmarsh and continued till I got to Red Nab.
Linnet 60+ on saltmarsh
Wheatear at least 3 at saltmarsh and foreshore
Meadow Pipit 2 along the foreshore
Rock Pipit 1 on foreshore, 1 on Red Nab and 1 along the sea wall
Shelduck 20 out from Red Nab
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| Shelduck |
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| On the walk out there were lots of Black-Headed gulls on No.2 outfall and more were arriving all the time. Clearly plenty of food was coming through |
Strangely there were no gulls feeding on No.1 outfall
Mediterranean gull 2 adults, 1 on Red Nab and 1 on the beach by the wooden jetty.
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| A solitary Mediterranean gull surrounded by Sandmason worm tubes |
Between the lighthouse and waterfall there were:
Linnet at least 3
Robin 1
Blackbird 1 male
House Sparrow 1 (not common on this side of the harbour)
Plus lots of feeding Starlings
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| Starling and House Sparrow |
On the walk back the Black-Headed gulls were now also feeding on No.1 outfall and there were still lots on No.2 outfall. But now they had been joined by an adult with a juvenile Common Tern.
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| The juvenile calling to be fed..... |
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| ......and the adult obliging. This looks to be a Sandeel, a shoal must have moved too close to the water intakes |
It gets fed twice in this clip. You can just about make out its cries over the noise of the wind and c100 Black-Headed gulls in this clip. In real time its calls were very distinct.
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| Juvenile Common Tern |
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| Adult Common Tern |
The adult didn't always find fish so quickly. It is searching here without any luck. You can see the juvenile waiting on the rail.
I returned towards high water, the adult and juvenile Common Terns had been joined by two more adults. At least the juvenile was flying and looking for food itself now, but you could still hear its calls over everything else, presumably when the, or perhaps any, adult had a fish.
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| Juvenile Common Tern |
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| Two adult Common Terns plus the juvenile is sat on the water in this shot |
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| One of the new adults was quite worn |
Wheatear 5
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| Wheatear on the foreshore |
In the Nature Park
Common Whitethroat 1 looked to be a juvenile
Speckled Wood 2
Painted Lady 1
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| Painted Lady |
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| Curlew - Flying off from the shore below Knowleys road this afternoon - Janet |
Yesterday Alison managed to count 27 Small Copper on Heysham Head, that's probably more than are normally reported in a year for the whole recording area!
