Beast 2 - Day 1.... it was really quite pleasant

Today's title refers to the cold spell, that we are just starting, being heralded as "the beast from the east 2". The first beast in 2018 really was savage, the current cold spell is not forecast to be as bad, but the most sever we've had since then. 

A ground frost overnight froze the surface water but only the margins on the ponds. The ENE wind was still very cold, but suitably wrapped against the wind, it felt quite pleasant in the occasional sunshine (although I wouldn't want to spend the night out in it!). Just a few light snow flurries so far.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

I managed a full circuit today (MD)

Mute 2 adult 2+1 juvenile 

Coot 6

Moorhen 8

Gadwall 25 (21 on Tim Butler pond)

Mallard 5

Teal 9 

Two of the Teal coming in to land on the fence pond

Little grebe 2 - both birds together again. One is still trilling, I was hoping to catch it on this clip, but it, stubbornly, remained silent.

Although it was a pleasant morning for a walk, it clearly wasn't springlike, apart from the Little grebe there were no birds singing today.

The other day I commented on how the tree buds were swelling, this female Bullfinch had also noticed.

There are routinely 6 Bullfinch in this area between the golf course and Tradebe. If they all feed at this rate, it must make quite an impact on the trees.

I thought that this was encouraging. United Utilities have done a lot of civil engineering on the southern boundary of the reserve. It is now complete and the area is now being landscaped.

They have already planted some trees/shrubs, but also sprayed some sort of fibre over the banking.

This is a close up of the fibre, presumably it has little nutrient value, but it will add structure
to the soil and stabilise the banking. Clearly they are not just paying lip service to the operation.
This is one of the positive signs of our times,
40 years ago you would have been lucky if the whole area wasn't concreted over!

A quick scan of the skeer at low water couldn't locate any Brent geese

Goldeneye 1 male

The Norwegian yellow flagged juvenile Oystercatcher was back on the football pitch next to the cricket ground today

There had been around 12 regularly feeding here till the ground froze in early January. An adult plus 2 juvenile have returned, just in time for it to freeze again. They obviously like it here, and this adult shows why.

Please let me know of any future sightings of the flagged bird, particularly if seen away from this area

The cold starts to bite

It never actually got below freezing last night and today's temperature hovered around 2C. But it felt much colder in the cold NE wind. Overcast all day with some light snow flurries.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

A few observers took their exercise here today, shame there wasn't more to see:

Mallard 5

Gadwall 2

Shoveler 2 (pair)

Tufted 1 (male)

Little Grebe 2

Coot 4

Moorhen 4

Water Rail 1 calling from Tim Butler area

Grey Heron 1

Janet managed to squeeze all the "no swimming" pond ducks onto this frame.

Although you'll have to open the image to be able to make them out.
Also, looks like one of the Little Grebe in the margin, left of centre

Janet also took this shot.

Many visitors leave food out for the wildlife, 
I say wildlife as it isn't just the birds that feed on it, rodents also take advantage.
Although this Robin looks to have had more than its fair share!

Heysham skeer/low water channels 

Great Crested Grebe 9

Red-breasted Merganser 9

Eider c50 close in

This is Conger rock, it is by far the largest rock on the skeer (I always think of it as the Elvis Presley of rocks - no one ever calls it Conger Rock.... it's just known as Conger). Anyway, on these neap tides it's not fully exposed, allowing the eider to prise off some of the lower mussels.

Pale-bellied Brent 16 - there were 14 feeding in the middle of the inner skeer, including a group of 6 led by the red/blue ringed Canadian birds. I checked this area earlier in the week, there are only meagre patches of short weed.

This is the group of six. They were finding food, but there can't be much left here.
You can see from this image, there is very little greenery.

The additional two birds were late arrivals, from the direction of Barrow. These opted to feed on the southern edge of the skeer, exactly where two were feeding yesterday. There are a few isolated areas of weed here. It would seem that the remaining pockets of weed around the skeer require the more experienced birds to exploit. (MD).

Shag the best of a reasonable bunch

East to NE winds continue, still reasonably mild, rain showers on and off all day.

Pete managed a couple of checks of the sea whilst in the area.

Knowlys Rd:

Mediterranean gull - 1 adult with gull gathering top of horse paddock before flying towards Heysham road.

Pale-bellied Brent 12 by the skeer

North Harbour wall:

Shag 1 juvenile on far side of the first channel

My exercise walk was also on the north shore around the skeer towards low water (MD). Earlier than Pete.

There were only 7 + 2 Pale-bellied Brent by 12:15. These are the 7.

I also took this video, it shows the wealth of bird life here. Neither the Knot or Oystercatcher flying by were spooked, it's just natural movement to new feeding ground as it becomes exposed by the ebbing tide. Initially there were just 5 Brent here, but then two more flew in, you can see them splitting into two groups again as they swim.

Waders:

Oystercatcher - everywhere!

Knot c1,500

Redshank c100

Turnstone 20+

Dunlin 5

Goldeneye 1 male

Eider c60 close in - these quickly saw off an opportunistic young gull

They think it's spring, but they're wrong!

 Another mild night, the light easterlies continue. Periods of sunshine with the rain holding off till evening.

Low tide channel Stone Jetty to Heysham north wall (Viewing points - Stone Jetty, Knowlys Rd upper and lower, and North Harbour wall): 

Pale-bellied Brent 24 + group of 5 amongst rocks north of the children's play area.

Mediterranean gull 1 adult (probably the lamppost bird)

Goldeneye 1 male

Red-breasted Merganser 14 

Great Crested grebe 7

Eider 259

Wigeon 40

Yesterday Kevin commented on how nice it was to hear the resident birds singing along the dog walk. He took this nice shot of a Robin, which had been singing.

Note the buds are starting to swell

Today on a short visit to Middleton Nature Reserve there were, Song Thrush, Robin, Wren and Great Tits singing plus a Little grebe "trilling". It certainly felt like spring in the warm sunshine, but it won't last - cold weather returns tomorrow, and it will remain cold throughout next week. Still at least the days are getting longer.

Also on Middleton 

Mute swan 2 adult 3 juvenile 

Coot 6

Moorhen 6

Mallard 5

Gadwall 7

Shoveler 2 (male and female)

Tufted 1 male

Little grebe 2

Turf (actually weed) wars

Another mildish night, the wind still light and from the east, the rain managed to hold off for most of the day.

Heysham skeer - low water 10:15

Knot c2,000 - It was a tough day for the Knot, even before I left the promenade I could see flocks in tight balls obviously under attack. It lasted for 30 minutes. Closer to I saw three separate Peregrine attacks, at least two of which were unsuccessful. But eventually everything settled down, presumably minus at least one Knot.

Great Crested Grebe 5

Red-breasted Merganser 7

Goldeneye 1 male

Shelduck 2 - strangely uncommon on the north side of the harbour

Pale-bellied Brent goose 24 - at 09:00 there were just 5 feeding on the mud in the SE skeer corner. These included the two Red/Blue Canadian ringed birds.

At 09:05 another 19 came in from the north, these landed on the mud further inshore and included the/a white ringed bird (ringing details of this bird are still awaited). They immediately marched down to where the  5 were feeding and drove them off

Eventually, after a valiant stand, 6 birds were driven off. One must have changed allegiance, or perhaps, just annoyed the large aggressive bird.

Later, when I was walking off, all the birds were further up the beach, still in the same groups. Then something spooked the birds furthest inshore and they lifted the rest. They only flew as far as the water, but it gave me a chance to check the ground they were feeding on. The weed is much more patchy now and what remains is quite short - worth fighting for......

They've not been seen on the south shore yet this winter, I suspect it won't be long.

On the way home I just had a quick look at the waterlogged foreshore next to Red Nab. Quite a lot of birds were taking advantage including:

Oystercatcher 12 - I was hoping the missing yellow flagged Norwegian bird would be amongst them, but not.

Linnet 2 - not been common since the Merlin included this area in its range last autumn.

Pied Wagtail 13

A few of the Pied Wagtail 

Carrion Crow 3 - as ever the opportunists they were feeding on invertebrates forced to the surface by the high water table 

Not worms but they were catching and feeding on something. I looked where they were feeding, but couldn't see anything.

Ephemeral birds

Light east winds and very low cloud early on. It was a mute point if there was very fine rain or just droplets in the low cloud/mist. Later the clouds got higher and the rain heavier, and continued so for the rest of the day. 

Heysham skeer - low water 09:30

Yesterday's check was after low water when the tide was flooding. Today's check was on the ebb tide and produced a different set of sea birds.

Yesterday there were 7 Red-breasted Merganser and no Great Crested Grebe. Today there was just 1 Merganser and 5 GCG. Managed to get them all on this shot

Merganser in foreground, the GCG were just on the limit of visibility through the mist.
Others could have been further out. This picture is as much to convey the conditions as show the birds.

Eider c70 close in

Goldeneye 1, possibly 2 male

Pintail - a flock of 4 birds heading out were quickly lost in the rain and mist, but strongly suggested Pintail. On review of the scant images and the context of the sighting, Pete is satisfied that they were.

Pale-bellied Brent. At 09:00 there were 20 feeding on the mud quite a way from the shoreline in the skeer corner. They were feeding and seemed settled, but on my return at 10:00 they were gone.

This is just a location shot. The Brent are the line of birds strung out mid ground.
This is the same feeding ground they favour when the tide doesn't go out as far on the neap tides.
Heysham Head showing through the mist behind

Mediterranean gull - 1 adult again on lamppost on Heysham road, between Whinnysty Lane and Royds Avenue. The optimum time to see it there seems to be around high water.

More ringing news

Heysham narrowly avoided the snow, but overnight rain continued for much of the morning, driven by a quite fresh east wind.

Grey Wagtail colour ringed sighting

Grey Wagtail
ALL7507/LMGY	1st W	16/09/2020	Middleton NR
	Photo	01/02/2021	Gravel Lane, Banks,  Southport, N Merseyside	41km SSW

Thanks to Wes Davies for the picture 

One of the more interesting recent Knot histories below, but we haven't got details yet for the completely new ones in the 20-odd read in the last three days. 

CU	Ringed	Mårnes, Porsanger, NORWAY 70 24N 25 32E	21/05/2019
7503799	Seen	De Richel, NETHERLANDS 53 17N 5 08E	03/09/2019
	Seen	Heysham old Heliport	11/01/2020
	Photo	Heysham old Heliport	01/02/2021

The following pictures are some of Howard's, as ever, with high resolution images, best opened to view the detail. These show examples of the types of ringing formats used.

Oystercatcher
FH24731/S85	Pull 1/2	12/06/2012	Old Machar Academy, Aberdeen
	Seen	March 2017	Aberdeen area
	Photo	30/01/2021	Heysham old Heliport	349km SSW

Heysham skeer - low water 08:50 (MD)

It was a wet walk out to the first channel, fortunately the wind to my back, for little reward.

Knot c500 - more probably beyond the first channel on the outer skeer.

Eider c50, but again probably more in the, out of sight from here, Kent channel

Red-breasted Merganser 7 - 6 feeding on the south side of first channel

Fortunately the rain eased slightly on the way back, but the going was difficult with the honeycomb worm colonies. These are getting quite high and awkward to traverse, particularly on the north side, which is the side I prefer to walk back along to check the "lake" to the north of the skeer.

The north edge of the skeer has larger colonies, because it is the south side that takes the brunt of the SW storms.

I know I have shown similar images to these in the past, but it gives a flavour of how fauna dominance of the skeer waxes and wanes, it will be interesting to see what happens this spring/summer.

This is a shot of the north side of the middle skeer. Normally, or perhaps previously, at this time of year this area would have been scoured clean of any remaining mussels by the winter storms, exposing the stone skeer bottom.

This one is about a metre high, but they have sustained storm damage and some are breaking up, that's one of the reasons that they are difficult to traverse. If you look closely, there are two or three pockets that are protecting mature mussels. When the seed mussels start forming in late spring the smaller pockets will also be ideal for them, unfortunately a honeycomb worm colony is a dynamic structure and could easily engulf them before they really get started, but I don't know.

This is a detail of a section that has broken away, it must have happened in the last tide, otherwise the delicate tracery of the thinner tubes would have been eroded. You can see the tubes of various thicknesses, but of equal length, they all need to open on the edge or top of the colony (the out of focus spots are just rain drops). Note the Auger Shell bottom left, not a common shell on the shoreline here.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick check of the "no swimming" pond on my way home

Gadwall 10

Shoveler 2

Tufted 1 male

Didn't see the Little grebe today.

Wandering geese

Overnight frost, very light east breeze plus some sunshine made it feel much warmer during the day.

Saltmarsh 

Watched until completely covered by the incoming tide - report from David T - thanks

Common Snipe c50

Jack Snipe - 8 confirmed and seen flying off, another 7 probable of which 4 could have been the birds flushed from the banking while leaving. The consensus was definitely double figures.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

A full circuit of the ponds

There were 100+ gulls stood on the main pond ice,
mainly Black-Headed gulls, unfortunately none ringed.

Mute 2 adult 4 juvenile

Coot 6

Moorhen 10

Mallard 8

Gadwall 7

Shoveler 2

Little Grebe 2

Both Little grebes, top left, with 2 Shoveler, 3 Gadwall and a Coot.

I mentioned yesterday that I haven't been recording the regular Pinkfoot movements between the Fylde Roost and feeding areas. Today they were far from regular. High skeins were seen heading north, south, and east, mid morning. The overnight frost wasn't severe enough to freeze the ground solid, at least locally, so not sure why (MD).

A flock of 20 Greylag Geese flew quite low to the east

Some of the 20 Greylag, I think this is the most I've seen together in the recording area

Detail of a few of the Greylag

Plenty of individual/pairs Blue, Great and Long-Tailed tits, but no sight or sound of any Goldcrest or warblers.

Bullfinch - there are always plenty around the reserve, but there seems more than most years at the moment. At least 8 birds seen/heard today

A bit of Knot News

Slight overnight frost. The NE wind was not as strong as yesterday but felt even colder.

This Knot was read today so has been a midwinter move from the Sefton coast

281

SR77181

9H

P

Ringed

22/09/2017

2017

4u

4u

Altcar

281

SR77181

9H

P

Sighted

22/09/2017

2017

4u

29/10/2017

2017

10

29

Crosby

281

SR77181

9H

P

Sighted

22/09/2017

2017

4u

19/11/2017

2017

11

19

Formby

281

SR77181

9H

P

Sighted

22/09/2017

2017

4u

03/08/2018

2018

8

3

Seaforth

281

SR77181

9H

P

Sighted

22/09/2017

2017

4u

11/08/2018

2018

8

11

Seaforth

281

SR77181

9H

P

Sighted

22/09/2017

2017

4u

24/04/2019

2019

4

24

Southport

281

SR77181

9H

P

Sighted

22/09/2017

2017

4u

13/08/2019

2019

8

13

Formby

281

SR77181

9H

P

Sighted

22/09/2017

2017

4u

14/10/2019

2019

10

14

Southport

281

SR77181

9H

P

Sighted

22/09/2017

2017

4u

29/11/2019

2019

11

29

Southport

281

SR77181

9H

P

Sighted

22/09/2017

2017

4u

15/01/2020

2020

1

15

Southport

281

SR77181

9H

P

Sighted

22/09/2017

2017

4u

23/07/2020

2020

7

23

Ainsdale Beach

281

SR77181

9H

P

Sighted

22/09/2017

2017

4u

01/12/2020

2020

12

1

Ainsdale Beach

Mediterranean gull - 1 adult on lamppost near Oxcliffe Rd lights

Red-breasted Merganser 3 around Red Nab

Two of the Merganser - picture by Kevin

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick check of the "no swimming" pond on the way past.

Gadwall 1 male (unusual)

Shoveler 2 (male and female)

Teal 6 (3 of each)

Coot 4

Heysham skeer - low water 07:30

The tide was already making fast when I got there at 08:15

Eider c60 drifting north

Red-breasted Merganser 3

No sign of any Brent, but they weren't expected.

This is a nice shot of a skein of Pink-Footed geese heading east across the bay

A few Eider bottom right plus Oystercatchers flying by

I've not been recording Pinkfoot morning and evening movements to and from the feeding grounds, but they are still frequent and numerous. I'm not sure if these, apparently coming from the west side, originally started from the Fylde roost or not (MD)

This is the shell of a Razor Shell, I think it is Ensis siliqua, but possibly E. ensis. If anyone knows for sure, please advise. They are not rare, but I only know of a couple of areas this side of the bay where they are common. I'll not say where, as the same soft mud that makes it suitable for them can make it dangerous for walking (plus they are very easy to entice out of the mud, with the correct equipment, which could have a significant effect on these long lived molluscs - I'm not suggesting that any of you would remove them, but they are taken, both for food and fishing bait).

This one is about 16cm long, E. Siliqua can grow to 20cm
Their name reflects their similarity to the old "cut throat" razors

Like all molluscs, they have growth rings, but I don't know enough to separate 
annual from seasonal, but they typically live for 20 years
and do not reach maturity until at least 4 years

This is looking top to bottom, obviously empty now. 
The foot extends out of the bottom of the shell while the siphon at the top filters food.
Sometimes as you walk along the low water tide line, you can see them protruding out of the mud.
But as they sense you approaching they disappear like a periscope going down,
often accompanied by a jet of water ejected from the siphon, impressively high,
well over a metre, not to be confused with the small squirts sometimes produced by cockles.

It's getting cold again

A very cold NE wind with no sunshine made it feel colder than it was today.

First of all, I missed some of Janet's Cormorant pictures yesterday. I particularly like this one, so decided to post it today

Cormorant with a bass on the south sea wall.
Bass are really a warm water species, and only stay here over winter in the vicinity of the Power Station cooling waters. Even so they get sluggish if they move too far from the warmer water.

The only other stuff I have so far is my check of the saltmarsh in the morning (MD)

I was too early to watch the snipe being flushed by the rising tide, but there were:

Common Snipe 11

Lapwing 190

Ringed Plover 23

Grey Plover 2

Knot 3 (1+2 - this does seem to be the area for loners - I should know!)

Dunlin 36

Redshank 15

This Herring gull was paddling for earthworms on the caravan park grass. Quite a common feeding method, but you don't often get to see it at eye level.

The Norwegian ringed Oystercatcher has not been seen/reported since the ground froze on the Cricket field a week or so ago. Still no sign today