Eleven ringed Knot read!

The wind shifted back to SW and strengthened significantly. Some very heavy showers, some of hail.

Kittiwake 1 adult offshore

Mediterranean gull - 2 adult followed the ferry into the harbour. Later 1 was on No.2 outflow, but only for the duration of a particularly heavy squall.

Med seeing out a squall on the outflow

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Gadwall 32

Mallard 2

Shoveller 1

Little Grebe 2

Richard Du Feu and Howard Stockdale managed to read 11 ringed Knot roosting in the heliport area.

Howard managed top quality images of 10 of them. The selection below shows the various ringing schemes, plus some preliminary history from Richard. Many thanks to Howard for these images:

N3GYNN - this bird is also fitted with a transmitter 

KX - last seen on the Wash in August.

CHL - Ringed 18/10/2020 at Terrington St Clement, 

SR19202 as a moulting adult.

Unfortunately the image resolution of the blog isn't sufficient to do these images justice. You really should "open" them to see the superb details.

Another quiet day

The wind was back to SE more due south later. Mainly overcast and showers, but occasional sun.

Only my stuff so far (MD)

South shore

Wigeon c100

Linnet 24

Common Snipe 13

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Gadwall 9

Teal 3

Little grebe 2

Shoveller 1 male

This male Shoveller is either coming out of eclipse very quickly,
 or it's a different bird.

By popular demand (actually 3 polite requests)

Here are the directions to locate the Heysham Labyrinth:

The labyrinth is a maze like engraving on the Heysham Head sandstone. It's about the same size as a dinner plate. It's almost identical in size and style to one in Tintagel Cornwall, which is either Bronze or Iron age. For more information check on line.

It's on a horizontal ledge in the middle of Heysham Head cliffs. This picture shows the general location.

This is relatively easy access and is not cut off by tides.

Note the rock fall to the right of the arrow.

This is the area looking in the direction of the arrow

Note the distinctive graffiti on the cliff wall

This is looking down onto the ledge. The "T" at the bottom of the picture is easily found (it's the start of TDRI). But at about 8 o' clock inside the yellow circle there is a more difficult TH or TM. This cuts into the labyrinth. The yellow circle actually describes what's left of the labyrinth.

Impossible to see anything from this angle.

Janet checked it out today and in a period of brief sunshine, and a low angle took this, really very good, shot

In the absence of a low sun, try a low angle shot taken with a flash.

Speculation about this engraving ranges from bronze age to 20th century. In my opinion, the amount of deterioration over the last 25 years,  I can't believe it to be more than a few hundred years old. But I have been known to be wrong. Either way, it is part of Heysham's heritage that won't  be around for ever.

A bit more variety

Winds still largely SW. Plenty of sunny spells but also some heavy showers

South shore

Wigeon c170

Mallard 2

Common Snipe 6

Jack Snipe 4

Linnet 25

Rock Pipit 2 - This shot of a Rock Pipit shows how "real" colours can be affected by strong sunlight.

The sun is directly behind and is shining through the left leg, making it look orange. The right leg is largely in the shade and the true colour.

Dunnock rarely get a mention, but this is a nice shot in full sun.

Even such an apparently "plain" bird can be confusing in different lighting conditions. I have confused them with all sorts over the years! (MD)

Kittiwake 2 adult offshore, presumably followed the StenaLine in

Howard managed to read some Knot rings in the heliport area - details awaited

Middleton Nature Reserve- mid morning

Gadwall 8

Little grebe 2

Miserable as it is, as the days shorten, one plus is that the increasing sparse foliage does allow a better view of small stuff flitting through the trees.

A mixed tit feeding flock went through as well as the tits there were:

Blackcap 1 male

Chiffchaff 1

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 arrived and left with the flock, not sure if it was actually in association or just coincidence.

I quite like these, slightly unusual shots - both these, plus several others were ringed.

Blue Tit

Long Tailed Tit

Kevin took this shot to highlight the size and shape difference between a Herring gull and a Great Black-Backed gull.

They remind me of a couple of bouncers outside a dodgy club!

An everyday story of ordinary stuff.....

The wind was back in the prevailing SW. mainly dry, but the showers were heavy.

Just my stuff so far, possibly more to come (MD)

No sign of the Brent today, checked at either side of high water and low water.

Red Nab area - high water

Rock Pipit 2

Knot c500

Redshank c120

Some of the Redshank

Plenty of Wigeon, but scattered around

Children's play area out from Knowlys Rd - both sides of high water.

Dunlin 10

Turnstone c20

Ringed Plover 40+

There are 29 Ringed Plover on this frame

Black-headed gull

This bird was ringed near Hamburg 22/03/13. It has over wintered at Heysham for the last two years, unfortunately there have been no sightings elsewhere.

Heysham Skeer - low water

Knot c1500

Occasionally spooked by a Peregrine falcon 

Great Crested Grebe 3

Eider 3

Things don't get much more "ordinary" than this - it is the gut weed in the corner of the skeer, that the Canadian ringed Brent were feeding on yesterday

It's lusher than what's on offer by the end of the winter, 

but it hardly looks worth crossing the bay for,

 let alone the North Atlantic!

Brent are back

Mainly overcast with light showers. The wind was more to the south and much colder.

South shore - mid morning 

Rock Pipits 2

Ringed Plover 2

Shelduck c50

Wigeon 206 (sat on the beach and in shallow channels as the tide ebbed, made for easy counting)

Some of the Wigeon resting on beach.

Report from Dan:

Heysham Head

Goldcrest 1

Song Thrush 1

Smithy Wood / Smithy Scrub

Goldcrest 5

Blackcap 1 (male, ringed)

Heysham NR

Goldcrest 4

Chiffchaff 1

Moneyclose Lane / Dog Track

Blackcap 1 (male, ringed)

Goldcrest 8

Bullfinch 8

One of the Bullfinch

Ocean Edge

Linnet 17

Heysham skeer - low water 14:30

Pale-bellied Brent goose - 5 in the SE corner of the skeer. The children's play area, out from Knowlys road, might be worth checking at high water in the morning.

Two of these are ringed. The one second from the left is a returning bird VDRB, ringed as an adult on Axel Heiberg island, Canada 2/08/14. This is its third successive winter visit to Heysham. The bird 2nd from the right also has Red, Blue rings and is definitely "V". This is almost certainly the long term companion of VDRB, unfortunately it never left the water. Hopefully there will be more opportunities to confirm.

In the previous two winters they were accompanied by 2 and 4 juveniles respectively. All the birds looked to be adult today, but perhaps I was too far away for plumage details.

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Great Crested grebe 1

Eider 3

Nothing "new" to report

The light winds still largely from the east and south. Mainly overcast with light showers

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing from Alan

Nets set from 07.00 to 10.30 but just three birds caught - a Blackbird, Robin and retrap Cetti's Warbler! (One sining later on)

One of the drawbacks when using mist nets is that wandering round the rest of the reserve is not possible so it's hard to know what was around elsewhere.  Only a handful of blackbirds and thrushes were seen.

The usual large flocks of Pink footed Geese flew north to their feeding areas.

Gadwall 4

Shoveller 1

Little Grebe 2

Low water channels

Red-breasted Merganser 5

Great Crested grebe 1

Little Egret 3

Pink-Footed goose 20 north 12:45. c50 south 17:00.

Old, really old, news (MD):

After my recent post regarding the lost medieval trees on the skeer, John Dent reminded me of the other lost trees on the foreshore. These emerge then erode from the rocks below Heysham Head.

I took this shot in October 2018. 

The piece is about 0.5m long, but the previous year it was at least 1m and 20 years ago it was still in the strata and at least 1.5m long.

It's not strictly a fossil, but the external mould, of what I have always thought of as a "Tree Fern", but John has been advised that it is a lepidodendron which is related to  club mosses. I have looked this up and it definitely fits the bill. I knew the rocks were Carboniferous, but this species narrows the date range to 300 to 350 million years ago.

I love standing on this strata, each layer is the mud surface exactly as it was 300 million years ago, in exactly the same location. But not a muddy beach then, presumably a lake bottom. And, same location is only relative, tectonic movement means that we would have been on a completely different part of the globe.

After John reminded me, I went to have another look at the "fossil", but couldn't find it.  John managed to relocate it and took this shot.

It is even smaller and more eroded now. Because it is lighter it is more susceptible to storm damage, and I doubt it will last many more years. Of course others may emerge in time, but they're not in a rush!

John highlighted the current location on this picture.
These are the cliffs just south of Heysham Head

If you decide to take a look, there are two things you must consider.

1. The tide can cut you off here - make sure you know that the tide is going out.
2. This is a dynamic environment and rocks do fall down - don't go down after heavy rain or after  a recent storm.

Perhaps, on another quiet day, I'll show you how to find the "Heysham Labyrinth" (google it). You'll be totally underwhelmed if you actually see it!

Vagrant Emperor!

The light east winds continue, mainly overcast, with a few showers and a few short periods of sunshine.

Vagrant Emperor 1 female (MD) - Last year we had two putative sightings, today Kevin Eaves nailed this one.

13:35 It was resting on the Power Station perimeter wall just before No.2 outflow.

These excellent pictures from Kevin.

Fortunately I was already planning on walking down the wall, and was just setting off when Kevin put the news out. It was still there when I arrived, but the sun had come out and it was getting warmer. This picture shows the location.

It is always worth checking along this wall for insects. I always do, but would undoubtedly have missed this one, as I would have been focused on the outflow birds.

I took over vigil from Kevin. Walkers along the wall were very obliging and maintained a good distance,  but it was obvious that the Emperor was getting restless. After returning from a check further up the wall it was gone (14:50). Unfortunately, just five minutes before the next hopeful observer turned up! 

Other stuff - not much

Heysham skeer - low water 11:40

This Shoveller was in the south corner of the skeer

The video I posted the other day seemed to work on some devices every time, but not always on every device. What I like about a video is that you get the background soundtrack, but in future, I'll post a still as well - here we go.

This Little Egret has just caught a small whitbait.
It all looks serene.

This is the next fish it caught, not so serene! Hope you can see the video.

A dull day

Still gentle easterlies, low cloud all day, often accompanied by light rain, meant that it never really seemed to get light.

Just my stuff so far, hopefully more to come (MD)

Middleton Nature Reserve - mid morning

Mute 2+1+1 adult 3+1 juvenile 

Coot 6

Moorhen 9

Gadwall 12

Shoveller 1 male

Little Grebe 2

Water Rail 3

Cetti's warbler 2 singing

Chiffchaff 1 calling

Still plenty of Blackbirds feeding but only 3 Redwing seen.

At 10:45 three swan flew low and straight, from the north over the west side of the reserve, to the south. I was expecting them to be Whooper, but they turned out to be 1 adult plus 2 juvenile Mute swans, definitely not any of the resident birds.

Then, just two minutes later 4 more swans followed exactly the same line and height, but this time they were Whooper swans.

It was just after the tide had turned, possibly a factor or just coincidence.

Whooper swans

Heysham Nature Reserve - mid afternoon 

Eventually located a mixed tit feeding flock, with at least one warbler in tow - probably a Chiffchaff.

"Goldcrest" heard a couple of times/locations. I say Goldcrest, but didn't manage to see any to confirm species.

Where did all the ducks go?

An early morning light ground frost was followed by a largely sunny day. Gentle easterlies continued.

Report from Jean:

There was a Red-throated Diver in the channel off Heysham Head floating in on the incoming tide. This species has been conspicuous by its absence of late despite lots of channel checking.

Middleton NR 

Vis 0800-1100  

Weather: Clear, sunny, NE F2

Pink-footed Goose - 158 in three flocks (40+58 N, 60 S)

Snipe - 6 E

Jackdaw - 60 S (largest flock 19)

Woodpigeon - 2 E

Chaffinch - 9 E

Siskin - 1+ E

Lesser Redpoll - 1 SE

Song Thrush - 1 NE

Meadow Pipit - 1 E

Skylark - 4 SW

Goldfinch - 2 E

Starling - 4 E

Reed Bunting - 1 grounded

Ringing 

Not much caught after a clear, moonlit night, just a few migrants and some old friends:

Chaffinch - 2 new, 1 retrapped from August

Robin - 1 new and promptly chased off by the resident Robin when released

Blue Tit - 1 new, 1 retrap from September

Goldcrest - 1 retrap

Wren - 1 not caught since 2018

Other stuff:

Middleton Nature Reserve 

After all the ducks on the "no swimming" pond over the last couple weeks, a quick check this morning found the only occupants of the pond to be:

Mute Swan 1 adult

Gadwall 2

Coot 4

Moorhen 4

Little Grebe 2 - by way of experiment I'm adding a short video. I've no idea if the link will work or what the resulting quality will be, but if it's any good, it is something I may do again (I've had a look at the published post now, I would recommend viewing on "full screen")

South Shore

Neither the Shag or Sandwich Tern was seen/reported.

This cormorant seemed to be enjoying the pleasant conditions and had several "washes"

It was a good drying day!

The east breeze and warm sun resulted in a lot of small insects being attracted to the sea wall, this in turn attracted:

Rock Pipits 3

Pied Wagtail 8

Grey Wagtail 1

Meanwhile, this Turnstone satisfied itself with tiny molluscs

This Black-headed Gull is a Polish ringed bird, that has spent the last three winters with us. This is the first record this winter.

Ringed as nestling 13/06/17 Stawy, Kiszkowo, Wielkopolskie, Poland

15/09/17 - 23/02/18 Heysham Harbour

03/10/18 - 31/01/19 Heysham Harbour

16/10/19 - 04/01/20 Heysham Harbour

As well as flies along the sea wall, three moths were seen. All could have been Silver Y. This one definitely was.

Well camouflaged, it took Kevin's keen eye to spot it

Siberian Chiffchaff

It was almost breathless early on with very low cloud cover. Later the east breeze cleared the cloud and the sun shone for most of the afternoon.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing captures included

Siberian Chiffchaff 1 - All the features were correct including particularly black legs.

It's not easy holding a bird in one hand and camera in the other!

Chiffchaff (Collybita) - A bit pale and washed out but bare parts not particularly dark and normal calls given after release

Collybita Chiffchaff 

Cetti's Warbler - I new bird ringed - they are still moving about (2 singing in the afternoon)

Redpoll 1

There were 4 Tufted duck on the "no swimming" pond

The female with the white around bill and roundish head,
is either at the extreme range for a Tufted or is a hybrid.

It was a day for birds at the extreme of their range. These pictures of a small Dunlin with a short bill below the heliport wall. Taken by Pete.

It is unusual for what appears to be a schinzii to be still 

around early winter unless it is a very small nominate alpina

The mud actually makes the bill look longer
and thicker than it actually was.

Also from the Heliport, Jean managed to read this orange flagged Knot.

SR77065	1E		Ringed	22/09/2017	2017	6	6						Altcar
SR77065	1E		Sighted	22/09/2017	2017		6	16/04/2018	2018	4	16		Southport
SR77065	1E		Sighted	22/09/2017	2017		6	22/09/2018	2018	9	22		Formby
SR77065	1E		Sighted	22/09/2017	2017		6	20/03/2019	2019	3	20		Southport
SR77065	1E		Sighted	22/09/2017	2017		6	29/11/2019	2019	11	29		Southport
SR77065	1E		Sighted	22/09/2017	2017		6	27/01/2020	2020	1	27		Southport
SR77065	1E		Sighted	22/09/2017	2017		6	24/07/2020	2020	7	24		Ainsdale Beach

Other records from Jean:

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Tree Sparrow 5 in bushes then headed ENE, in a line towards the new feeder.

Skylark 1 east

Heysham Nature Reserve

Woodcock - one below the non-existent obs tower.

Goldcrest 1 

Plus geese included in report below

There were several reports of Pink-Footed goose movement:

47 north

332 north between 09:00 - 09:05

110 south between 11:15 - 12:10

128 south between 12:20 - 13:30

Some of the Pinkfoot from Janet 

No reports yet from anyone checking the Sandwich Tern or Shag status. Hopefully the weekend will provide sightings of both.

Insects:

Migrant Hawker 1 near dog walk pond - ref Janet

Common Darter 1 Middleton Nature Reserve 

male Common Darter