It started, not too bad

Another overnight frost with a light dusting of snow. The sun came out in the morning, then a very heavy, but fortunately short snow storm at lunchtime. After that it threatened snow again a couple of times. So I chickened out and stayed at home in the afternoon (MD).

Heysham skeer 08:30 1 hour after low water.

Eider c 70 drifting past on the flood tide.

The mature male Eider are in full breeding plumage.

Great Crested grebe 2

Red-breasted Merganser 3

These two Merganser regularly search this pool in the middle of the skeer, and I suspect they are the same pair that feed in the pool at Red Nab. They will be after small crabs.

Note the Oystercatcher, bottom left, carrying a smallish mussel around, in case it can't find a larger one. They can't open the full sized mussels, there must be an optimal size to provide maximum return for a reasonable effort. The mussels don't actually require much "catching" but do anchor themselves quite effectively to the skeer and to other mussels, so do require some effort to prise free.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick check of the two main ponds. Both areas of open water are still being maintained, but no sign of either the Shoveler or Teal today. All the rest as Thursday.

Not too bad a start

Overnight frost again, but not quite so severe. Light northerly breezes with long periods of sunshine.

Pete and Jean had a quick look round:

Pale-bellied Brent goose 7 - in Heysham Village Bay

Oystercatcher - the Norwegian ringed bird still on the cricket field

Merlin 1 out from Ocean Edge foreshore 

Ringed Plover 25 chased off by the Merlin.

Also on the south shore:

Reed Bunting 2 on saltmarsh 

Common Snipe 5 flushed from the saltmarsh edge by the rising tide

Rock Pipit 4 - 1 on foreshore, 1 on rocky outcrop on east side of saltmarsh and these two feeding on the shoreline near the old Pontins.

They seemed to be finding plenty of small morsels to eat.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

All three small patches of open water, were still about the same size as yesterday, but the ice thickness was less today.

All wildfowl as yesterday, except today: 7 Teal and 2 water Rail.

This shot shows the significant size range between
a male Mallard and a female Teal.
A male Teal is on the left and a couple of male Gadwall on the water behind.

Cetti's warbler 1 - a sighting (glimpse) of one in the willow growing in the middle of the fence pond.

Wildfowl teamwork successful......so far.

A hard frost again last night and the morning started with freezing rain, leaving a covering of ice over everything. The sun broke through by the afternoon, but the air temperature never got any higher than 2C. By 15:00 a mist came in off the sea. Very light N - NE breezes.

Middleton Nature Reserve - in the early afternoon sun

Main Pond:

Mute swan - Just the 2 adult and 3+1 juvenile are keeping a small patch ice free. 2 Moorhen have stayed with them.

When times are hard, local disputes are forgotten and the estranged juvenile was allowed to help to keep the hole ice free. 

No Swimming pond:

Despite the continued overnight freezing, the area of free water had increased slightly, as had the number of wildfowl.

Gadwall 29

Shoveler 6 (2 female)

Mallard 6

Coot 6 (I think joined by the 2 main pond birds)

Moorhen 2

Little Grebe 2

There was lots of activity (apart from the sleeping Shoveler). I expect the food supply is becoming scarce. Fortunately the activity, including diving and regularly climbing out onto the ice, is what is allowing this area to be maintained ice free.

Most of the above are on this clip.

The warm sunshine tempted quite a few of the Gadwall and Mallard onto the ice.

I like the Mallard moonwalking

Apart from cold feet, one of these Coot appears to be getting a cold shoulder too!

Tim Butler pond:

Completely frozen, no wildfowl seen or heard, although the horse field to the east wasn't checked.

Fence Pond:

There is a patch of open water below the large willow in the NW corner.

Teal 5

The only other record was 1 Water Rail squealing from the western scrape.

Siskin 3 or 4 feeding in the trees along Moneyclose Lane near the tall anemometer. Ref Kevin.

Well, the Siskins made it in as the last record for 2020. A year that most, if not all of us, will be glad to see the back of! 

2021 is going to start even tougher, but at least we can now see some light of what seemed to be an endless tunnel. So stay safe and lets hope we have a 

Happy New Year

Malcolm

Finally, an end of the year puzzle, and one that I don't yet know the answer to.

This is the superstructure above No.2 outflow. I have never seen it used by any sea bird, and I have checked at all times of the tide, all weather conditions and at all times of year, for over 20 years. Waders, gulls, terns and cormorant routinely rest on the rails along the outflow, which seems to rule out any theory relating to them not liking any odour from the outflow. But not once have I seen any sea bird on any part of the superstructure, other than the odd wader on the very lowest cross struts. I've absolutely no idea why. It must be something fundamental that I don't understand. I can't even recall, seeing  a feral pigeon here.

If anyone, has any thoughts on this, or records contrary to mine, I would be very interested. My contact details are on the side bar. Hopefully by new years eve 2021, I will post, at least a possible, explanation. 

Lots of Pinks

Heavy overnight frost left the ponds frozen other than small pockets kept open by the wildfowl. What little breeze there was came from the north. Mainly sunny, particularly in the afternoon.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

The small patch of open water on the main pond contained:

2 adult and 3 juvenile mute, the additional juvenile was sat on the ice (this bird is fledged and could fly off if it wanted to).

2 Mallard and 4 Moorhen

The free patch on the "no swimming" pond held:

28 Gadwall

5 Shoveler (2 female)

1 Mallard

3 Teal

2 Little Grebe 

2 Coot and 2 Moorhen 

Most of the above are in this shot of the free water on the "no swimming" pond. I doubt there will be much if any free water remaining by the morning.

Also:

2 Mallard plus 1 adult Mute flying around before moving on (the Tim Butler pond was completely frozen, but evidence that a mute had been trying to keep a patch open).

Water Rail 2 squealing plus one flushed.

Common Snipe 1

Green Woodpecker 1

Grey Wagtail 1

Goldcrest at least 1

Pink-Footed goose - there were 1,100 flying towards the NE between 09:00 - 10:00. Comprising 14 skeins.

Everyone living under the flight lines will be very familiar with the morning and evening, plus some nocturnal calling. 

This is a short clip of a typical skein heading from the Fylde roost to inland feeding areas.

Later there were 57 and 120 heading south at 10:30 and 13:40.

No sign of any Brent geese in quick check of the skeer corner, just before dusk.

The cold snap starts to bite

Overnight frost left the ponds largely ice covered. Light northerly breeze and plenty of sunshine.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Pete managed to read a white Darvic ringed Black-headed gull roosting on the main pond ice. It's worth checking this pond, which has a good history of hosting roosting ringed birds when ice covered.

Wildfowl pretty much as yesterday, but more concentrated in the ice free areas of the "no swimming" pond.

This is a nice clip of a female Gadwall dabbling and a female Shoveler "shovelling". Showing the different depths these species feed here.

Red Nab/saltmarsh approaching high water

Common Snipe 12 flushed when the tide reached  the small sea grass islands just south of the saltmarsh 

Reed Bunting 2

Rock Pipit 1

The one legged Redshank is still around and seems to be doing well

It tends to feed in different areas to the other Redshank, presumably because it's feeding options are restricted. Today, it seems to have come across the apparently ubiquitous small shrimps.

Heysham Skeer 

Pale-bellied Brent goose 13 I wasn't really expecting any today as it was very late in the day before the weed bed in the skeer corner was exposed. Sure enough as I walked out about 14:15 there were none. But looking back at 14:50 there were 13. But they soon took flight and, surprisingly, flew low to the north, last seen passing the Stone Jetty. Perhaps the large numbers over the last few days have stripped the easy pickings. I'll have a look, when I can get there when nothing is feeding.

Eider 76

Great Crested Grebe 2

Knot c1000

Brent continue to increase

Light NE breeze eased to almost nothing during the day. Light overnight frost left thin ice on the shallow pools and puddles, but the ponds remained ice free. Sun for most of the day.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Full circuit.

Mute 3 adult 3+1 juvenile 

Coot 6

Moorhen 13

Gadwall 26

Mallard 4

Teal 4

Shoveler 5

Tufted 1

Little Grebe 2

Water Rail 3 squealing 

This is a nice comparison shot of a mature male Shoveler in full breeding plumage.
Plus another male at an intermediate stage.

Pink-Footed goose 15 + 53 north 08:40. 58 south 10:10

Grey Heron 1

Little Egret 1

Cormorant 4 (this is the most at any one time, they feed on the main and "no swimming" ponds and there is a constant turn over)

Raven 1

Stock Dove 1

Goldcrest 1

Heysham Skeer mid afternoon (4hr ebb)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 34 - 1 could see there were quite a few in the skeer corner from Knowlys Rd, when I set off 13:30. At 13:45 a flock of 5 flew in low from the south. 13:50 4 more came in high from the east, presumably cut overland from somewhere on the river. By 14:00 there were 34 birds feeding, but they were early, and presumably hungry, so they took to up ending to reach the still quite deep weed.

When I was leaving the skeer, they were feeding in the same location, but now on the mud. There were still at least 34.

Eider, much easier to count today on the calm sea - 107 

Great Crested Grebe 4

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Knot c2000

When I got on the skeer, the water hadn't uncovered the Knot's favoured feeding area, so they were milling around. When they are relaxed, they can ignore you. Twice during this clip, I was completely surrounded by them. This is what it's like inside a Knot flock.

And these were relaxed birds, the tempo is greatly increased whenever the flock is spooked.

Storm Bella, barely provides

The strong overnight SW winds quickly eased and moved around to west. Very heavy showers, most with hail.

Pete managed to check the incoming lunchtime ferry. Unfortunately in the middle of a squall, so some birds my have been missed.

Mediterranean gull 1 adult

Kittiwake 3 adult plus 1 juvenile

Otherwise along the wall, there was nothing other than the regular birds mid morning, with just Black-Headed gulls on the outflows.

Great Black-Backed gull, in first winter plumage, in the harbour 

One thing about walking along the sea wall when there are heavy showers, you can always see them coming.

You don't need to be a metrologist to recognise this as a rain,
 or in this case hail, cloud!

Heysham skeer 

Pale-bellied Brent goose. 24 seen on the way out, on return there were 29. I didn't think the extra 5 had just come in, just overlooked first time as they were away from the others. These also included two red and blue ringed birds, almost certainly the regular Canadian birds.

Knot only about 250

Eider there were 12 close in but a distant flock were hard to estimate due to the choppy sea, but at least another 50.

These 6 were close in, and still not easy to count!

As ever, gulls are never far from them, hoping to pinch any crabs that they may surface with when feeding.

This, futile attempt was actually from Friday, when the sea was a bit calmer

Shrimps still providing a bounty

The strong SW wind strengthened throughout the day and during the evening. Hopefully there will be something blown in tomorrow. Some lightish showers in the morning, but longer and heavier by the afternoon.

There are a lot of birds taking advantage of what appears to be larger than usual volumes of small shrimps. I (MD) think the shrimp are most likely to be at the first adult stage, probably just over 1cm, not including the antenna. Before that the larvae form part of the zooplankton and by the next adult stages I wouldn't expect them to be in such shallow water. All the instances below were recorded on the ebbing tide.

On the 11th and 12th December I showed the Black-Headed gulls and Oystercatcher taking advantage of them. This clip of Redshanks feasting is from earlier this week.

This is just beyond the outlet of a natural drain, the shrimps leaving the drain will be attracted to the shallow edge here. This is because the small breaking waves disturb the sediment, providing both food and cover, although the value of the "cover" in this instance is outweighed by the ease of accessibility!

Today it was much wilder, but a similar scenario played out. 

This is the drain from Red Nab as it flows along the edge of No.2 outflow. The gulls here normally line up along the beach facing the sea, picking up any tit bits left by the tide.

Today they were in the shallow water, shrimping.

Even some of the Wigeon appeared to get in on the act.

Also on south wall:

Wigeon c180

Redshank c150

Rock Pipit 3

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Gadwall 25

Shoveller 4

Little Grebe 1

No ice today and yesterday's additional Mute and Mallard had returned to whence they came.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 22/23 in the SE corner of Heysham skeer at 15:00

Christmas Day goose

It was freezing again last night resulting in the ponds being 75% ice covered. Lightish wind during the day but starting to freshen from the west by evening, and set to continue increasing overnight.

Just time for a quick stroll around the skeer with a check of Middleton on the way home.

Heysham skeer low water 14:45

Pale-bellied Brent goose - at first I thought there were just 25 in the corner of the skeer. These comprised a group of 5 with the Canadian ringed birds, plus another group of 20 initially on the water, but later came ashore to feed. But still separate from the other 5.

These are the 25 birds, showing the location looking from the skeer

As I was walking off the skeer, all 25 were still there, then I inadvertently spooked another 6 that were on one of the inshore pools. Fortunately, they quickly joined the others and continued feeding.

So the new high for this winter has almost doubled from yesterday's 16 to 31.

Not sure about tomorrow, the tide height is good, but they are not as keen to come over in rough weather. 

Eider c80

Red-breasted Merganser 4

Great Crested Grebe 2

Little Egret 4

Yesterday I mentioned a clip of an Oystercatcher opening a mussel. They normally fly away to open them, I always assumed it was a messy job and they risked being robbed. But, this bird decided to open a small mussel were it was found. It seemed remarkably easy and only produced a small morsel. 

Presumably larger mussels require more effort, but provide more reward.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Mute 2+1 adult and 3+1 juvenile on and around the main pond

Gadwall 24

Teal 3

Tufted 4

Mallard 6

c30 Black Headed gulls were resting on the main pond ice. No rings

7 of the BHG, there looks a lot more when every bird looks like two!

The Star(s) of Bethlehem

A cold north west wind, a ground frost overnight leaving the shallow pools and puddles with a thin covering of ice. The sun shone for most of the day, so very nice if you wrapped up.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 16.

Howard checked the skeer corner early in the ebbing tide (09:00). There were already 16 birds waiting for the weed beds to become available. The two Canadian ringed birds were with them. These three pictures from Howard - Thanks.

Note the Oystercatcher with a mussel on this picture,
the next quiet day (tomorrow?) I'll show you one opening a mussel.

I went down at low water (13:50), all 16 were still there.

Eider c60

The South Lake hills were snow covered, so I took a seasonal shot.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Gadwall 17

Mallard 2

Shoveller 4 (1 female)

Teal 2

Little Grebe 2

Woodcock 1

In hindsight, I should have taken a shot of a Robin.
But I like this shot of a male Bullfinch, so it will have to do.

Today's title refers to the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. They were closest on Tuesday, but today was the first clear evening. This alignment only occurs every 400 years (last one 1623), there would have been one around the birth of Christ, leading some scholars to speculate that this could have been the "Star of Bethlehem". I remain skeptical, the ancients may not have had optics or knew what planets actually were, but they knew every point of light in the night sky and the movement of the "wanderers" across them.

Even so it's worth a look.

This one is looking over the trees before Red Nab - the trees are just visible (trust me)

This is the "detail" - you can just make out Saturn's rings (the right hand blob).

They are visible, low in the SW as soon as it is dark enough after sunset, these were 17:00. But a bit further apart every day

Well, Christmas Eve! I would like to be able to wish you all a "merry" Christmas, but I'm afraid that merriment is not really practical this year. But it will be a happy Christmas for everyone, if we get through safely. So:

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Malcolm