Wednesday 10 March 2010

Underguesstimates

Heysham Obs
Nothing worse for challenging the human eye than a huge rather distant flock of Knot (or Starlings) being Peregrinated.  Your counts have about as much credibility as a calculator in george osborne's office.  Therefore a flying swirling estimate of 10,000 Knot turned into a careful spread out along the tideline '100 block' count of 15,700, plus the fact that 3,800 of the "flying Knot" were Dunlin!

Ocean Edge foreshore
Knot - 15,700
Dunlin - 3,800
Black-tailed Godwit - 12
Black-headed Gull - 6+5 'purposefully' north

near Middleton ex-ICI
Stonechat - pair near the tanks on the west side of the new access road

North harbour wall
Red-throated Diver - 5
Twite - 46
Linnet - one
Purple Sandpiper - one on the wooden jetty at lunchtime

Mammals
A milestone was reached with the first dead Grey Squirrel ever to be found (as far as I can remember) on Moneyclose Lane - they are quite scarce around here other than during autumnal dispersal

Elsewhere
Great Grey Shrike seen at Dalton Crag in the 'usual area' this morning.  Great White Egret still Leighton Moss