π΄σ §σ ’σ ³σ £σ ΄σ Ώ Wednesday 11th January 2023 ☀️ 6C ~ Wind SW @ 7MPH ~ My first visit of the year to Girdleness today and I arrived mid-morning just as the wind had abated and in beautiful sunshine.
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| This Bottlenose Dolphin was feeding along the harbour inlet |
I parked at the allotments and walked the shoreline below as far as the lighthouse. A few Eiders to start within the harbour mouth, plus a Bottlenose Dolphin was busy feeding, one of many seen offshore today and I was fascinated as it swam first one way and then the other, occasionally surfacing.
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| Red-throated Divers within the harbour mouth. |
There were also at least four Red-throated Divers within the harbour walls too, a couple coming reasonably close to the shoreline, I recorded eleven during my visit. On the rocks below a few Rock Pipits and Oystercatchers and also seen along the bank (2) Song Thrush, Wren and Meadow Pipit
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| Purple Sandpiper |
With the tide just ebbing there were only a few waders on the breakwaters with (11) Dunlin, (7) Purple Sandpipers and (8) Ringed Plover. Turnstone, Redshank and Curlew were also noted, plus a flyby Great Northern Diver heading south. Out to sea, a steady build-up of Auks with Razorbill and Guillemot both noted, along with usual Gulls, Cormorants and Shags.
