Little gulls back

Thursday provisional, hopefully more later.

Little gull 1 1st Winter plus the adult with damaged primaries on No.2 outflow late morning.

Brent geese - there were none out from the children's play area on rising tide. 2 flew from Red Nab towards Pott's Corner as tide flushed them (looking into sun so not possible to confirm if pale or dark bellied) a little later a loose flock of  c40 "geese" flew west from direction of Pott's, very distant but could have been Brent (MD).

Rock pipit one seen on the saltmarsh and Red Nab.

Middleton Nature Reserve
Mute 4 adult plus 5 juvenile
Coot 1
Moorhen c7
Mallard 2
Gadwall 2
Tufted 3
Little grebe 1

Vis
Pink-footed Geese - flocks of 110, 180, 19 and 15 heading north.

Webs and dogs

Like many coastal sites next to suburbia,  Heysham is a dog exercising fest with a natural wide-open space covering most of Heysham Barrows and a designated more linear open space running south from Heysham Nature Reserve.  To the north of Heysham Head, the prom, inshore foreshore and some nearby fields/grassy slopes are used.  The significant number of registered companies and unmarked vans heaving with dogs add to the mix.

It needs ONE dog to shift a roost of several thousand Knot.  This used to happen on the old Heliport seawall roost.   When it ceased to become an official heliport, deregulation allowed all and sundry to climb over gates, slide through broken fences etc and it became yet another dog exercising area.  Notices to keep out were ignored by the relatively small minority who insisted on their right to use this area.

Fortunately after several years of negotiation, we were able to establish that it was the seawall itself which was the important roost, not Peel Port's land on the old Heliport which was simply 'spreading room' when wave action led to reduced space on the seawall.   Therefore, in conjunction with the hopefully permanent walker-unfriendly beach below the seawall, secure fencing backed up by notices  has completely excluded dog-walkers

So lets look at today's WeBs between Ocean Edge and Morecambe Battery

1) West End groyne and Battery groyne - perfect conditions for wind and kite surfing - this is the designated area for them - no birds
2) Sunny slopes groyne - a 'pers comm' that dogs had been running about on the newly-created sandy shore on the northern lee side of this groyne right up to when it was covered.   When I arrived, there were just 70 Oystercatchers with no sign of the large Redshank roost with the reason explained by a local
3) Horse paddocks - secure from dog access - 80 Oystercatcher
4)  Heysham old heliport seawall.  Despite wave-action reducing the roosting area:  Knot 8300, Oystercatcher 1900 (lower than midwinter - birds returning to breeding grounds now), Turnstone 125, Redshank 120, Ringed Plover 7, Lapwing 4 and Dunlin 110 
5) Red Nab - nothing - very little roosting area but disturbed by dogs

Even in the 'open house' days on the heliport, the vast majority of dog walkers were great and avoided the area at high tide to let the birds roost in peace.  This attitude has latterly been helped by the Natural Ambassadors team from Morecambe Bay Partnership.   However, it only needs ONE dog to displace e.g. a huge Knot roost - in the case of the heliport way to the south at Middleton saltmarsh 

This is why, backed up by plenty of evidence, including 'official surveys' of dog-walker behaviour, language such as "keep it under close control within sight of you" (e.g. the xxxxx National Coastal Footpath) is seen by a significant chunk of dog walkers as simply "it can be let off the lead".   Anyone accessing "discussions" on eg Brexit on Social Media  (or e.g. been involved in teaching) know that there is a proportion of society who 'wont be told what to do' despite clear, polite and patient reasoning.   It is from among this demographic of our society that the unfortunately inevitable flushing of roosting waders happens on a virtually daily basis at any site without secure barriers to access.  This can be a fence where any gates are locked palisade or a groyne made of large juxtaposed rocks or deep water with a soft bottom but anything less than that will not work.

Other sightings
Kittiwake - distant flock of c35 swirled round and seemed to land on the sea or flew very low
Guillemot - one in wp or 2cy flew in
Pale-bellied Brent Goose - 16 were at Middleton saltmarsh at High tide with obvious implications re-earlier location(s)

       

More ringed Knot

Thanks to Howard for this southport- rInged Knot - one of six read today.

Other sightings today included two northbound Skylark, two migrant song Thrush together and the wintering Chiffchaff still by Heysham NR office (no news on yesterday’s singing bird)

Chiffchaff singing

It was nice to hear a Chiffchaff singing near Heysham Nature Reserve marsh this lunchtime,  but other than that, sightings were a bit patchy.

Pale- bellied Brent goose. Just the group of 6 birds seen by PW late morning, but these flew off further north. None around at low water.
Eider 77

Small Tortoiseshell on dog walk path

Rock Pipit 2 on Red Nab

Hopefully more later

Signs of movement

Thursday provisional, hopefully more later.

Brent geese - there were at least 26 feeding in the corner of Heysham skeer at 13:00. Only checked from sea wall, but all appeared to be Pale-bellied

Middleton Nature Reserve
Little grebe now 3, one on main pond and two on "no swimming" pond
Redwing 6 feeding then flew off north - not regularly seen in spring passage.
Swan sp 3 honking birds very distant heading north, probably Whooper (MD)
Sparrowhawk 1 high north
Pinkfoot 7 NW
Cetti's warbler 1 singing from central marsh
Raven 1 in tree
Goldcrest at least 4

Stonechat 1 male along the road to the recycling centre (euphemistically signposted "Waste Technology Park" from the bypass). This is the eastern boundary of the recording area and proved to be a regular stop over for passing spring Stonechat last year.

Brent numbers increaing again

Once again the very low neap tides are restricting the feeding areas available to the Brent geese. This, combined with the easing winds, is likely to be the reason more are being tempted from the west side of the Bay. (MD)
Pale-bellied Brent goose
13:20. These 20 were waiting just west of, what little of the skeer that was exposed.

13:25. There was another group of 6 a little further north. This group of two adults with four juveniles is the same ratio as the regular Canadian ringed "family". But, there will be other family groups this size.

13:30. All 26 moved towards the SE corner of skeer, but there was no weed available so they fed off broken weed along the tide line.

13:55. The geese left the tide line and headed for the rocks, where there is some remaining gut weed. At this point they were joined by a further 11 flying in from the NW. So total then 37,

This picture is taken from the sea wall and shows the "stampede" from tide line to the inshore rocks.

16:45. A quick check out from children's play area found that the 11 must have moved on again, as only 26 were feeding. At this stage of the tide, in this location, they are finding plenty of gut weed. The tide heights start to rise again tomorrow.

One of the Knot out from the children's play area is one of the Dutch ringing scheme. Details awaited.

Tuesday

Pale-Bellied Brent goose - 10:30. there were 6 feeding in the SE corner of Heysham skeer. Conditions made it impossible to check if they were the Canadian ringed group.

Eider 47. Most for a while.

Hopefully more later

Cetti's sings

 Monday provisional, hopefully more later.

Middleton Nature Reserve - mid morning
Cetti's warbler 1. Fence pond male provideded the first burst of song reported so far this year.
No sign of any Gadwall or Teal. The only ducks were 4 Mallard.
Little grebe 2
Coot 3
Buzzard 1
Common snipe 9
Grey wagtail 1
Reed bunting 1 male singing quietly
Goldcrest at least 1 plus another seen later near boundary with Ocean Edge.

There were no Little gulls on outflows at lunchtime, but the two Bar-Tailed Godwit were feeding in the same area as yesterday. Kevin managed some sharper images.

Little gull - by high water there was one 1st winter, plus the adult with the damaged primaries on No.2 outflow.
Kittiwake 1 adult was also on outflow

Chiffchaff shows itself

A probable Chiffchaff was heard giving single calls on two occasions last week (per JR) and this morning saw it giving a series of calls and showing itself by Heysham NR office

Little Gull - ad with damaged wing on outfalls this am (MD) and a 1st W was heading south along the tideline off Knowlys Road late am (PC). By high water both of yesterday's adult and a 1st W were on No.2 outflow (MD)

The midday IOM ferry managed to miss the north roundhead as it struggled round the corner and behind it were a welcome adult Med Gull and eight adult Kittiwake, five of which continued into the Bay

A Great Skua flew into the Bay as seen from Morecambe Stone Jetty at 0805 (Juvenile Pomarine Skua off Ocean Edge on 23/2)

Stonechat 1 on Ocean Edge saltmarsh

These two Bar-Tailed Godwit had been feeding in the soft mud between the wooden jetty and No.1 outflow, till overtaken by the tide. Probably not visible on the blog resolution, but if you open this image in "a new tab". You'll see the bird on the left appearing to fire a water jet from its bill. Having a mouth wash, or just having "fun" - it certainly looks fun! (MD)

Little gulls in a sorry state

Little gull - There were three feeding on No.2 outflow at high water.
A first winter waife

This adult with damaged primaries

And this adult with some form of growth on right wing

All this watched by a grey seal

Which in turn was being followed by the large gulls

Still no sign of the Brent geese on north or south side.