More wind. 732 Cormorant headed out fishing plus another 371 coming in from the north is the first four figure total for a while. Southbound 17 Common Scoter, 11 Red-throated Diver, 3 Goosander, Brent & Shag with northbound 10 Red-throats. Only a dozen Kitts behind shipping plus a single Gannet. A walk around the reserve barely necessitated taking one's hands out of one's pockets to look at anything.
Late news for Tuesday - presumably same Badger seen last autumn was noted in the evening.
403 Cormorant headed out fishing joined by another 455 coming in from the north. Southbound 9 Red-throated Diver, 7 Brent, 4 Shelduck, 3 Common Scoter, 3 Guillemot & a Great Northern Diver that pitched in at the river mouth with northbound 4 Common Scoter & 2 Red-throats. Less gulls following shipping included at least 27 Kitts. 2 Ringed Plover on the beach at high tide in the afternoon.
Bit same old same old. 342 Cormorant headed out fishing. Usual seagulls following shipping with the bright sunshine throughout the morning deterring any prolonged sea watching. Plenty of maintenance tasks done in the pleasant conditions.
We do get some half decent sunrises but within the hour it became wet & windy. Southbound 43 Wigeon, 18 Brent, Red-breasted Merganser & Red-throated Diver with northbound 2 Red-throated Diver plus 2 Common Scoter sat on the sea. At least 78 Common Gull, 11 Kitts & a Gannet following shipping. Time to abandon ship.
325 Cormorant went out fishing joined by another 266 coming in from the north. Southbound 45 Shelduck, 5 Pintail & 2 Oyk with northbound 30 Common Scoter, 20 Red-throated Diver & 5 Brent. The highlights (if one could call them that) from around the site were 2 Goldfinch, 2 Linnet & a Chaffinch although one of the local Peregrines put in a brief appearance for the first time this year.
342 Cormorant headed out to the fishing grounds. Southbound 56 Red-throated Diver, 11 Brent, 9 Teal, 6 Shelduck, 4 Guillemot, 2 Wigeon, Common Scoter & Pintail with northbound 145 Red-throats, 8 Brent, 7 Common Scoter & 3 Guillemot plus at least 123 Kitts offshore (and in the harbour) plus 2 more Guillemot offshore. Good to get a couple of hundred Red-throats plus a day total of 9 Guillemot.
Red-throat numbers have been poor this winter with the number of Guillemot seen last year in the whole of 2022 only equalling a grand total of nine !