Goose fest!

Another sunny day, it started off quite calm with just a gentle norh breeze, but the breeze strengthened and shifted more to east throughout the day.
Mediterranean Gull - one 2cy on mudflats in front of rising tide, out from Ocean Edge foreshore 08:30
Wheatear - at least 2 mature males between saltmarsh and Red Nab

Skylark - 1 flushed by someone walking on saltmarsh. It flew high before floating down to the foreshore, singing all the way. A song that used to be a summer feature of this area (sorely missed).
Rock Pipits 2
Meadow pipits - numbers flying north incresed to c60/hour by 09:00. At least 50 were in the field west of the road to the recycling centre.
Redwing - one middleton Nr
Buzzard 2 again circling the highest trees between the recycling centre road and Middleton Nature Reserve

Common gull - Lunchtime. c30 of all age groups feeding on seaward side of No1 outflow and some on mud both sides of the outflow (ref and picture KE)

Geese:
Greylag goose 2, unusually on the main pond at Middleton Nature Reserve (first of year), accompanied by
Canada goose 3
Pale-bellied Brent
Shaun reported 29 out from the children's play area on the flooding tide
By 10:00 on the ebbing tide the water was shallow enough for them to take advantage of the gut weed which is still plentiful between the closest inshore rocks.

These are some of them, unfortunately the preferred feeding technique, and the close proximity to passing dog walkers, kept them mainly in the water, so it was not possible to check for rings.

This is the gut weed they are feeding on. It is called gut weed bcause it consists of hollow tubes(guts), which allow it to float in water, making it look quite appetising! (MD)

A quick check from Knowsley Rd at 12:40 showed there to be at least 20 remaining, near the skeer corner. Unfortunately, there is little to eat there now and they seemed to be resting.

Also on Middleton Nature Reserve 

Gadwall 6

Tufted 2

Little grebe 3

Stock Dove 1

Chiffchaff 1 singing

A nice, and productive day

It felt like spring today, a balmy 9 degrees, calm and the warmth of the sun very pleasant. Three species of warbler heard and good signs of passage.

Sea watching records (PM)
Brent geese
09:00 - 9 Pale-bellied out from childrens play area
10:00 - 18-19 across the bay to join the above
11:00 - 6 across the bay heading for the above feeding area

Red-Throated Diver - flock of 6, quite high
Common Scoter - flock of c20 floating out
Eider a total of c400 but some very distant
Stonechat - 1 female along north harbour wall

Middleton Nature Reserve mid afternoon (MD&JR)
Chiffchaff - There were two singing either side of the lower carpark. A short walk around less than half of the reserve revealed at least 5 singing plus 1 seen only
Cetti's warbler 2 - The "no swimming" pond male was singing both times the pond was checked. The central marsh bird was singing earlier.
Goldcrest 2
Buzzard 2 blogging to east and again settling in the high trees just east of reserve
Merlin - 1 male flew one low and fast half circuit of the main pond before disappearing to north
Small Tortoiseshell 2
Weasel 1

The third warbler is a bit of a cheat, not a new arrival, but the garden Blackcap had hung on for another day and was again singing this morning.

South shore 08:45-10:00 (MD)
Wheatear 1 (probable 2cy male) at 08:50. It quickly moved on suggesting there could have been more earlier.

Not much of a picture, but it is the first of spring and nice to see.

Rock Pipit at least two between the saltmarsh and lighthouse.

This one in hot pursuit of of an unidentified invertebrate (it got it!)

Another bird also managed to capture breakfast

But wasn't for sharing

General update

Possibly more later (MD).

First the logistics.
Unfortunately, but totally understandably, access to Heysham Nature Reserve office is now restricted to key personnel for vital duties only. There will be no coordinated birding activity for the foreseeable future. This means no ringing or visible migration sessions. The only records will be casual observations, so please report any sightings.

Recent records:
Rock pipits - two together below high cliffs at Heysham Head - two regularly seen at, or between, Red Nab and Ocean Edge saltmarsh, two, possibly the same two regularly near south wall lighthouse.
Meadow pipits - a gentle trickle north some mornings (eg 10 per hour yesterday)
Wheatear - none seen or reported yet, but probably missed.
Brent geese - no reports since Thursday.
Stonechat (today) - a male and female feeding together on Heysham Head. Another male on Middleton Nature Reserve. Strangely, no records recently from the road to the recycling centre.
Blackcap - the male that over wintered in my garden has been feeding frantically on fat balls for the past two days. This morning it was singing, very nice to hear. Previous (or same) over wintering males have provided a bout of song just before leaving (so long, and thanks for all the fat). No sign of the bird this afternoon.
Grey Wagtail - three on Middleton Nature Reserve today, including two feeding together.

The lower bird is one of the colour ringed scheme (see right), details submitted.

Change in weather

Calm and sunny for much of today, resulted in a bit of local blogging (MD).. Hopefully more later.

Little gull 1 1st Winter on No.2 outflow (ref KE)
Rock pipit 1 being territorial below Heysham Head high cliffs
Kott c3,000 on heliport wall, but static in the calm conditions plus our main ring readers not available today.

Raven 1 circling Middleton Nature reserve, and unusually, not being hounded by the local Carrion crows.

Buzzard 2 again, unusually, not significantly mobbed by resident birds circling the east side of Middleton Nature Reserve "mewing" all the time. They eventually landed in the highest trees between the reserve and the recycling centre.

Pinkfoot 74 + 2 west 16:10.

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.