Frozen Beach

Even though it was fit for ringing this morning in terms of wind strength, it most certainly wasn't fir in terms of temperature, and to have a ringing session at the feeding station would cause too much disturbance to the birds and prevent them from feeding when they need to be feeding all day. It's a pity those tw*ts with the guns wouldn't show some constraint, as they were popping away all morning yesterday inland and out on the marshes. Imbeciles!

I headed up to Rossall Point this morning to have a look at the sea on the incoming tide. The first thing that struck me was the snow covered beach! I don't know why it surprised me but it did. On the snowy tide line a few waders fed including 146 Oystercatchers, 66 Sanderlings, Dunlin, 25 Turnstones, 7 Ringed Plovers and 4 Redshanks.

 Rossall Point in the snow

Snow on the beach

Oycs in the snow

There was some hard weather movement this morning but in what seemed to me to be in odd directions. A number of Pink-footed Geese, well 312 to be precise, headed northwest across Morecambe Bay and 75 flew east across the bay! Later in the morning I had 24 come in off the sea and head south, which is what I might have expected.

There were a few Skylarks moving out at sea as well and I had 24 head east. Again, I would have expected them to have been heading west. The wind direction was northeasterly and it might have simply been that the birds were heading into wind.

There were a few bits and pieces on or over the sea and first up were 9 Tufted Duck that motored east. There was also 60 Eiders, 7 Red-breasted Mergansers, 4 Red-throated Divers and 14 Common Scoters.

Surprisingly the Cormorants provided the greatest spectacle with there ever continuous movement north and then east into the bay. In the 2 hours that I was at the Point I had an incredible 569 go past!

Three Song Thrushes were feeding in the bramble patch behind the dunes and also as I headed back to the car park three Redwings dropped into the privet bush, stayed a short while and then headed off towards the cemetery.

It's going to stay cold all week so it will be interesting to see if we get any further weather displaced birds.