My first trip to the coast was yesterday, 2nd January and it looks like I've already started with the excuses. I went down to South Shields and had a look around the Pier and Littlehaven area. It rained really heavily and I got a right good soaking. Due to other commitments, I had to leave after lunch which wasn't a bad thing due to the rain.
I did see a few birds just offshore and within my 100m target even if they were on the sea, such as Eider, Common Scoter and Red-throated Diver. Better still were the couple of good ones that flew over, namely an adult Mediterrean and a large first-winter Glaucous Gull but the rain really did hamper my progress.
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| Male Common Eider - 1 of a pair just off shore |
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| Female Common Scoter,this one was very close inshore, two others were further out |
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| Red-throated Diver. Like the Scoters one was within limit but others were further out. |
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| Purple Sandpiper - 1 of a group of 10 |
I was at the seaside of course so managed a few seaweeds
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| Oarweed and Serrated Wrack seaweeds |
though mostly the species I saw were plants, including Red Valerian and Tall Melilot both still in flower.
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| Tall Melilot |
In the end I saw 19 species of bird, 1 mollusc, 3 seaweeds, 30 plants and 2 mosses giving a total of 55 species.
I suppose in theory if I check once a week throughout the year and see about 40 new species each time I'll do it but I know it's certainly not going to be that easy.
The species I saw at South Shields (all within 100m of the HWM remember) were -
| Anthus petrosus petrosus | Rock Pipit | ||
| Arenaria interpres | Ruddy Turnstone | ||
| Calidris alba | Sanderling | ||
| Calidris alpina | Dunlin | ||
| Calidris maritima | Purple Sandpiper | ||
| Chroicocephalus ridibundus | Black-headed Gull | ||
| Corvus corone | Carrion Crow | ||
| Erithacus rubecula | European Robin | ||
| Gavia stellata | Red-throated Loon | ||
| Haematopus ostralegus | Eurasian Oystercatcher | ||
| Larus argentatus argenteus | Western Herring Gull | ||
| Larus canus | Common Gull | ||
| Larus hyperboreus | Glaucous Gull | ||
| Larus marinus | Great Black-backed Gull | ||
| Larus melanocephalus | Mediterranean Gull | ||
| Melanitta nigra | Black Scoter | ||
| Phalacrocorax aristotelis | European Shag | ||
| Phalacrocorax carbo carbo | Great Cormorant | ||
| Somateria mollissima | Common Eider | ||
| Patella vulgata | Common Limpet | ||
| Fucus vesiculosus | Bladder wrack | ||
| Fucus serratus | Serrated wrack | ||
| Laminaria digitata | Oarweed | ||
| Achillea millefolium | Yarrow | ||
| Armeria maritima | Thrift | ||
| Artemisia vulgaris | Mugwort | ||
| Bellis perennis | Daisy | ||
| Blackstonia perfoliata | Yellow-wort | ||
| Buddleja davidii | Butterfly-bush | ||
| Capsella bursa-pastoris | Shepherd's-purse | ||
| Centranthus ruber | Red Valerian | ||
| Cirsium arvense | Creeping Thistle | ||
| Cochlearia officinalis | Common Scurvy-grass | ||
| Cytisus scoparius | Broom | ||
| Galium aparine | Cleavers | ||
| Hedera helix | Common Ivy | ||
| Hippophae rhamnoides | Sea-buckthorn | ||
| Hypochaeris radicata | Cat's-ear | ||
| Lathyrus latifolius | Broad-leaved Everlasting-Pea | ||
| Leymus arenarius | Lyme-grass | ||
| Linaria purpurea | Purple Toadflax | ||
| Melilotus altissimus | Tall Melilot | ||
| Plantago coronopus | Buck's-horn Plantain | ||
| Plantago lanceolata | Ribwort Plantain | ||
| Poa annua | Annual Meadow-grass | ||
| Rosa rugosa | Japanese Rose | ||
| Rubus fruticosus agg. | Bramble | ||
| Senecio squalidus | Oxford Ragwort | ||
| Senecio vulgaris | Groundsel | ||
| Stellaria media | Common Chickweed | ||
| Taraxacum agg. | Dandelion | ||
| Trifolium pratense | Red Clover | ||
| Ulex europaeus | Gorse | ||
| Brachythecium albicans | Whitish Feather-moss | ||
| Syntrichia ruralis var. ruraliformis | Sand-hill Screw-moss |
Total to date - 55 species- only 1,945 to go
Great stuff, jamming into that Glauc was a nice touch! I still think 2K is a massive target, but if anybody can... after all, you do have prior form for this sorta thing, I guess.
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