I found a tiny bit of shelter from torrential rain first thing, from the raised beach huts. Hundreds of Gannets moved south along with a fair few Kittiwakes and several flocks of auks. Not a lot else recorded but 1 Arctic Skua, 1 skua sp, 1 Pomarine Skua, 2 Red-throated Divers, 2 Great Northern Divers and 5 Common Scoter made it into the notebook. Passage dried up quickly after the horizon cleared. Round the corner, in Sandy Bay - still 9 Common Scoter and the Eider. A quick, soggy walk around the top fields produced 1 Black Redstart, 2 Rock Pipits, 5 Stonechats and a handful of Meadow Pipits.
The male Black Redstart was in the Shelly Beach area, along with a Red-breasted Merganser, and off Mudbank - 3 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, 1 Red-breasted Merganser, 14 Great Crested Grebes, 44 Redshank and 27 Common Gulls were the only things counted.
Family parties of Brent Geese were feeding in the 'Gut' this afternoon.
DB Brent geese - 50% Juveniles in your photo Matt looks like they've had a good breeding season...
ReplyDeleteHi Derek - haven't done any proper counts but I doubt this photo is representative of the whole wintering flock. Having said that, it would be great if it was! I've noticed that the family parties, with juvs, quite like the edges of the estuary, with the Gut and the Duckpond often holding a higher percentage of juveniles. Next time I get the chance I'll try and do a proper count. Hope you and the family are all well. Hopefully see you soon. Matt.
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