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Just as yesterday's count from North Cotes to Tetney, dunlin were in short supply with only 4 seen, but an improvement on 1 there. The problem is lack of wet conditions prior to the next spring tides, which again meant a lot trekking up the creaks to find 55 redshanks and a greenshank in the sector. There were also 8 little egrets as well.
The only damp area away from the marsh held 146 Oystercatchers and what is becoming an ever increasing 'water bird', the carrion crow. There were 54 crows, here, but 64 across the beach in total. The problem is that with so many crows, ringed plovers have little chance of breeding success.
Total waders, most of which were at the low tide edge, were:
Oystercatcher 426
Curlew 110
Whimbrel 1
Knot 12
Grey Plover 2
Golden Plover 2
Bar-tailed godwit
Turnstone 1 +12>S
Over the sea in a 30 minute watch there were:
Gannets 36+ feeding and resting on the sea
Sandwhich tern 21
Black tern juv 1>S
Fulmar 1>S
Teal 14
Common scoter 12
Cormorant 6
From only around 40 each of herring gulls and common gulls, 700+ black-headed gulls arrived from high up, swirling down and settling for an hour before leaving again.
1 marsh harrier, 2 kestrels and 2 yellow wags across the marsh and 80+ swallows settled on the higher sands catching insects.
Thanks for adding count comments since these help to improve details for my submissions.
regards
Cliff
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