Brent complete full circuit today

There was no odour of diesel at all today and still not any obvious sign of any damage. Hopefully we got away with it. We'll see.

Pale-bellied Brent goose - (MD). All the birsds seen today were pale- bellied. A full circuit of all the main feeding areas within the recording area were visited by the Brent, and there is nothing to suggest they won't follow a similar pattern tomorrow.
10:05: 55 flew in from the north past the wooden jettey towards Red Nab. Presumably they had been feeding out from children's play area till displaced by tide.
All 55 fed on Red Nab

Including the two Canadian ringed birds

10:45: They were displaced by the tide and all 55 flew to the partially covered salt marsh

They were still feeding there when I left at 11:15

14:00: Out from children's play area. The birds were waiting on the water for the outer rocks to become exposed. Two counts by different birders of 58 and 60
14:15: They moved in to feed amongst the rocks
14:40: By now the skeer was becoming exposed and all the birds flew there to continue feeding.

Middleton Nature Reserve - late afternoon
Barn owl - 15:15 one flew over the main pond bottom carpark towards the gun club.
Gadwall 37
Coot 2
Little grebe 1

Record Brent numbers - but erratic!

The smell on the shore today from the remnants of the diesel spill was much fainter. It reminded me of entering an engineering workshop, at first you can smell the lubricants but after a few minutes you don't notice it.

Brent Geese - (MD). There were none on Red Nab as the tide covered it. I wasn't expecting any. But I was expecting a repeat of yesterday's showing in front of the children's play area on ebbing tide. I checked at 13:30 and again 14:30. Nothing!

15:00 : They were all on the skeer.
Walking out I found 39 in this pool right in the middle of the skeer.

These are only a few of the 39 Brent on this central pool.

There were another 11 on the water near conger rock on south side. These were still visible when I reached the north side and found another 13 on the water. As I walked back the birds on the middle pool had split onto two pools one had 30 the other 14, so they had either been joined by 5 more birds, or I under counted on the way out.
So a total of 68 Brent geese. There could have been more as I was restricted as to where I walked so as not to disturb the ones I saw. At least 65 Pale-bellied, but these 3 on the left looked to be 2 adult and a juvenile Dark-bellied.

Couldn't locate Shag

Rock Pipit 1 on Ocean Edge salt marsh

Hopefully more later

Invasion - one day after D-Day!

D-Day stands for Diesel disaster day.
Yesterday, a major spillage of diesel covered the sea out from the north wall and Half Moon Bay. The beaches were (and still are) closed, but the stench of diesel was enough to keep the public at bay. Diesel has a very low viscosity which means it quickly spreads out over a very large area, which is a bad thing. Fortunately, this allows it to evaporate quickly, which is not such a bad thing.
Today the stench was reduced to an unpleasant smell, and there was no obvious visible signs of the diesel itself or any obvious damage. That said, it will be a relief when the Shag is sighted again (MD).

The "Invasion" refers to an influx of Pale-bellied Brent goose -
12:20 - 46 landed in front of the children's play area just as the ebbing tide was at the rock edges. They then quickly moved into the margins and started feeding. 46 is certainly the highest count this winter, if not ever here.

All 46 are on this picture, taken from 4 Lane Ends, but you'll have to "open in a new tab" the image if you want to try and find them all.

Later there were at least 28 feeding in the SE corner of skeer. There could easily have been more as they can be difficult to spot when feeding amongst the rocks.

Rock Pipits 2 enduring the fumes at Half Moon Bay

Hopefully more later

Brent pattern continues

Heysham skeer SE corner
Pale- bellied Brent - 34 feeding at low water

Great White Egret - one flew north along west side of road to the re-cycling centre 12:50. Just within recording area

Hopefully more later

Brent update

Pale-bellied Brent goose - there were 34 feeding in Heysham skeer SE corner at low water up till dusk. These are 32 of them, they move on to water when the Knot get spooked. The other 2 seem less concerned.

This is what they are feeding on.

At low water they have to come on to the skeer to feed, but as the water rises they can feed above it on the water.

The two Canadian ringed birds were there, as was a third ringed bird, whose details could not quite be made out today.

Redwing 26 on south side of MIddleton Nature Reserve access road

Nice day - Birds ok too!

Light overnight freezing leaving open water partly ice covered, then a largely sunny day.

I knew it was going to be a good day when I shared my breakfast with my first garden Blackcap this winter (MD)

Pale-bellied Brent goose - Pete Crooks recorded 32 flying in to Heysham village bay. These are some of them in the skeer corner. Photograhed from sea wall by Kevin Eaves.

Mediterranean gull - adult near children's play area (also PC)
Eider 45 in low tide channel, but unfortunately the Shag didn't make an appearance today.

Middleton Nature Reserve mid morning.
Mute 7 adult + 5 juv
Coot 2 together
Moorhen 15
Gadwall 27
Wigeon 1
Mallard 7
Teal 16
Tufted 2 male
Little grebe 2 together
Water Rail 2

Great White Egret - two sightings, both flying east 10:50 and 11:00, almost certainly two different birds

Grey Wagtail - record just received of sighting from Yeovil (see scheme detailed to right). This is the second most distant record

Nice day - shame about the birds

Pale- bellied Brent goose - 2 were in corner of Heyshem skeer by 11:15 as tide was still ebbing they hung around feeding in the margins and eventually made their way towards the play ares at 14:30.

Other stuff around the skeer
Great-Crested Grebe 6+
Red-breasted Merganser 3
Eider 8+

Incoming IOM ferry
No Kittiwakes or Mediterranean gulls but,
Common Gulls 29

Another guest appearance

Goosander - Not as interesting as yesterday's grebe, but a redhead on water to north of Heysham skeer at low water - this species is barely annual here.

Shag 1 adult resting briefly near conger rock on skeer, before a short feeding session then disappearing

Also around skeer
Great-Crested grebe 6
Red-Breasted merganser 3
Yesterday's grebe had not turned up by 12:30.

Hopefully more later

Black necked Grebe

This really is the winter of the unreliable and elusive at Heysham, probably due to complex circuits including extensive private or difficult to access terrain.  Notably ‘the’ Black Redstart.  Early winter, a Black necked Grebe was staled out on the Lune Estuary, then a gap before a single date multiple observation a bit further down the coast.  This morning in the incoming tide a reliable and experienced  observer was watching as  it or another flew into the slacker and shallow inshore water off Heysham Head, being dwarfed by nearby RBMs and GCGs.  It then fed intensively until lost from sight after 30 mins of spending the majority of time under water.

Worth checking equivalent stage of tide tomorrow?

Eider - 12
Single figures of RBM and GCG

Med gull - ad by play area

Salt marsh
Jack snipe 1
Common snipe 12
Rock pipit 1

Jack Snipe surprise

Scoped from Knowleys Rd by Pete Woodruff
Mediterranean gull - 1 initially on shore then settled on horse field inshore of play area.
Pale-bellied Brent goose - 6 out from the children's play area on flooding tide.

Ocean Edge salt marsh 30 minutes before high water
There were no snipe at all at this time of the tide yesterday. Today:
Common snipe 8
Jack snipe 3 - think this is highest count this winter
Reed Bunting 5
Rock pipit 1
Ringed Plover 17

Middleton Natyre Reserve late afternoon
Mute 5 adult 3 juvenile
Coot 1
Moorhen 12
Gadwall 32
Tufted 1 male
Teal 4
Mallard 4
Little grebe - 2 feeding together on the "no swimming" pond. First record of more than one bird this winter.