Merganser numbers rising

A milder night than of late, with some light showers first thing and more during the day, with some sunny periods. Wind light and from the north at first, it freshened slightly and drifted to NE.

Only stuff from the north shore so far, checked from Knowlys Rd, North harbour wall and my stroll on the skeer. There is no overlap in the numbers, only the single highest count is used.

Red-breasted Merganser 17 - numbers do increase in spring, but this is the highest count for a few years.

Great Crested grebe 13

Eider at least 147

Pale-bellied Brent 7. These were drifting along the south side of the skeer, showing no sign of feeding. 

Some, but by no means all, of the pools formed amongst honeycomb worm beds still contain decent amounts of sea lettuce.

I suspect that earlier in the winter most of these pools would have held weed.
The ones that still do are probably located at a point not naturally found by the Brent

This small flock of Knot were the only ones on the skeer

This Great Black-Backed gull has a fish (can't decide if it's a Plaice or Flounder). It knows it's too big to swallow, it has already tried, but as soon as it picks it up by the head, its instincts kick in and it can't help but to try again.

It will eat the guts and keep working on the body. I've seen them "work" a fish over a few days until eventually, what's left can be swallowed. This clip was actually one day last week, I'd forgotten about it.

I often mention the first channel when I talk about the skeer. This is it.

This is looking south towards the Power Stations. This is about a mile from the promenade.

This is looking north towards the South Lakes. Note the honeycomb worm beds!
I regards the first channel as the western boundary to the middle skeer,
the shore to the left is the beginning of the outer skeer.
This is not a gully cutting through various sediments, but a proper channel,
the rock skeer bottom here is a metre lower than that on each side of the channel.
 I could cross it at this height, but would have needed my chest waders.
I wouldn't recommend anyone crossing it, even when the tide is further out,
unless you know exactly what you are doing.

Beautiful Jack Snipe photographs

 Light overnight frost. The morning heavy mist thinned slowly during the day, but the sun didn't quite manage to break through. Again almost breathless, very light variable breezes.

First, these wonderful images of two of the Jack Snipe seen and photographed by Graham Hulme on Monday, on the saltmarsh. You really have to open these images to see the fantastic detail.

Even with this level of detail and vivid colours, at first glance this bird is not obvious.
It shows how well this camouflage works in this terrain, and how the birds trust its effectiveness 

Thanks for Graham for allowing the use of these pictures and to David Talbot who forwarded them together with this summary of how Graham took them:

They remained on the marsh right up to high tide (9.7m) but here’s the thing, he was able to walk right up to them floating on the flotsam in the corner. He got as close as 1 metre and even said he felt he could have picked them up! He got the attached photos from point blank range and he said it was clear the birds were watching him.

Today - not a lot so far

South shore

Rock Pipits 3 (1 each, foreshore, Red Nab and lighthouse)

This is the foreshore bird - looking a bit tatty

Janet took this shot of the Black-Headed gulls roosting in the harbour (nothing on the outflow structure again, despite no wind).

It shows the various stages of head moult

When it's calm like it has been this week, there are only a few shallow waves and the normally characteristic ripples in the mud are not formed. Instead each tide leaves a thin deposit of fine silt on the surface. Leaving it both smooth and slippy!

These "ripples" have not been formed by the tide, but by Shelduck feeding after the tide has left the mud. There must have been invertebrates in the thin top layer, almost certainly small shrimps. This is the same area of beach where the gulls were paddling for shrimps (see post 15/02/21)

You can see the radial motion as the Shelduck swung its head left and right to filter the mud.
The smooth patches are what the rest of the beach looks like.

This area must have been particularly productive.
You can tell it's been a quiet day when a patch of mud tops the bill (pun intended)

This shot of some of the Wood pigeon in the field next to Imperial Way
pretty much sums up how the day felt.

Spring tides reveal the honeycomb worm beds

Another overnight frost, but again feeling warm during the day with the heightening sun and a light east breeze.

A quick update from yesterday:

Jack Snipe 7 seen as the tide covered the saltmarsh ref G Hulme. 

Heysham Skeer - low water 07:50

Low water on spring tides always occurs early mornings and evenings, so it is not possible to check them during the short days of winter. Today was the first chance to see the full extent of the middle skeer since October last year. It didn't exactly cheer me up! (MD)

On the north side there is a Honeycomb worm bed roughly 0.5km square. These are four shots from the middle, it's pretty much honeycomb as far as the eye can see

East

South

West

North

The above pictures were taken from on top of a mound, to show the extent of the beds. This one I stood at the skeer bed level and shows the height of the mounds.

This one is almost 2m

Apart from the impact on the ecology of the skeer (good or bad depending on what you are and what you need), it also makes walking treacherous. Not only is it difficult to walk over, it also can obscure water channels filling behind you. Not an area for the inexperienced.

No Knot again today, Pete advises that they all appear to be feeding on the south side.

Eider - too spread out for an accurate count, but at least 50

I had to get reasonably close to this constantly preening immature male, to be certain of its identity 

At least the Honeycomb worm beds make a good preening platform

Great Crested grebe 3

Red-breasted Merganser 9 (8 males)

The Mergansers were strung out all along this channel,
these are three of the males with a couple of Eider

South Shore - high water 13:20

Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab

Wigeon 180 drifted past the foreshore as Red Nab was covered

Mediterranean gull 1 adult flew in with 3 Black-headed gulls.

Common Snipe 6

Jack Snipe 2

The snipe were watched by Jean and Alan as they were pushed towards the saltmarsh edges by the tide

Stop press - just received some great Jack Snipe pictures from Graham Hulme, will post tomorrow. Don't miss them!

Finally, I've decided that I must be a closet ship anorak.

It may not be the "Fighting Temeraire"
but it does have its own charm (definitely an anorak!)

Meteorological spring

Well, the first of March, the first day of the meteorological spring. In my youth, I always marvelled at how accurate the old adage was: March, comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. The start of March always felt that we were still in the depths of winter, but by the end of March it felt like it was spring. Mmmmm, things are different now!
There was another overnight frost, then warm in the east breeze and sunshine. I took my stroll in a sleeveless jacket today (MD).

South shore
Saltmarsh
Reed Bunting 1

Reed Bunting - by Kevin

Rock Pipit 2 - near the east side rocky outcrop
Jack Snipe 1 - the tide was still miles from the marsh, this bird was accidentally flushed from the high tide line were it must have stayed from last night's tide.
Ringed Plover 3
Weasel 1

Red Nab
Rock Pipit 1

The incoming tide is corralling these Oystercatchers

Until they fly off to their high water roost

Wigeon making their way to feed on the Red Nab weed
Meanwhile the Redshank feed in the shallows

A slight east breeze and nothing was roosting on No.2 structure!
No seal today either

Lighthouse area

Rock Pipits 2 - these pictures are of the same "agitated" bird

Heysham Head

Report and pictures from John Dent:

I have been watching the rock pipits at Heysham Head for a week or so now. Each time there has been a pair around last years nest site below the cliff. They are usually feeding amongst the seaweed as the tide recedes (as per picture below).

Today is the first day I have seen one standing on prominent rocks whilst the other is feeding.

Both Rock Pipits are in this shot

This is a nice shot of a 2nd calendar year Black-Headed gull
flying around the Head on Friday 

Middleton Nature Reserve
There are still an additional 9 adult Mute on the main pond, with the 3 juvenile. The 2 breeding adults are alone on the "no swimming" pond.
Gadwall 3 (Tim Butler pond)
Mallard 5
Coot 8
Moorhen 7
Water Rail 2

There has been hardly any air movement over the previous two days. Today's breeze was slightly fresher and from the east. It created this "snow storm" from the ripe Reedmace seed heads. Just west of Imperial Way.

Not the sort of "snow" a young Malcolm would have expected on March 1st!

Whoopers on the move

Another overnight frost, but it quickly warmed in the sun. Almost breathless again, what little breeze there was came from the NW.

South shore

Whooper swan c33 - at 10:30 a flock of 27 came in from the south. There is no wind noise on this clip, if you turn the volume up you can hear them calling.

They landed on the sea out from Red Nab, they didn't call as they were landing

They were a long way out...

So not much detail visible 

Stephen Dunstan also picked them up from Cockersands and tracked them after they landed. They drifted out towards the middle of the bay, by the time they took flight again they must have picked up another small group as there was now c33. They headed NW and disappeared from view between Barrow and Ulverston.

Whoopers were not the only swans on the move,
these three Mute were heading north

Grey seal 1 out from the outflows

But too far out for Janet to check its markings

No reports yet of any land bird movement 

North shore on the ebbing tide

Red Throated Diver one in distant channel as viewed from the north wall. It flew in then landed before drifting out.

Black Headed Gull - German ringed A690 near children's play area (not 690 count as per original post)

Eider c100

Red-breasted Merganser 6

No Knot on the skeer, perhaps they were waiting for the outer skeer to become exposed.

Little Egret 4

This one was fishing and eventually managed to catch something small, probably a goby.

There were 5 Black-headed gulls on No.2 structure today. Wind, or the absence of it, is clearly a key factor. On new year's eve I set the challenge to resolve this, erstwhile, conundrum by the end of the year, two months in and headway is being made, but some of the magic of the mystery has gone!

Still the Stonechats come

Very light breezes starting SW ending WNW, often breathless in between. Overcast for most of the day but the sun came out at 15:30 and made it a very nice evening.

South shore

Wigeon 232 floating around Red Nab towards high water, before starting to fly off towards the estuary.

Rock Pipit 6

Stonechat at least 4. A male on the saltmarsh, another male on Red Nab, seen by several observers at different times and could easily have been more than one bird. Male and female together near the pond just north of Red Nab.

Male on the gorse behind Red Nab beach - by Kevin

The female and male near the pond - by Janet

Janet has been doing some good work with the regular "seal", she was confident that her last two sightings were of different seals. Walney Nature Reserve have confirmed that her images do indeed represent two individuals. Today's seal is different again. So three individuals in three sightings - Janet is on the case now, watch this space!

This is today's Grey seal, it has just caught a bass, unfortunately quite a long way out. The sea is getting warmer and the bass are not as dependent on the outflows as they were.

It doesn't take long for the gulls to turn up!

I like this shot of a Cormorant just starting to dive

The Priorslee, Telford (Shropshire) wintering male Grey Wagtail  starting to sing and presumably getting ready to move north (see post entry 20/12/20 for details).

Thanks to Edwin Wilson for the information and picture 

Juvenile Buzzard on lamppost west of Imperial way
This is the same lamppost that Pete photographed one on 15/09/20

Heysham skeer late afternoon (MD)

It was absolutely beautiful out on the skeer this evening. I left my coat and pullover near conger and completed my walk in a T shirt! (Although by the time I got back to my coat at 17:00 it was getting cooler quickly).

Nothing unusual about:

Eider c150

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Great Crested grebe 2

The sea was like a mirror, if the Goldeneye had been feeding I would have seen it.

Here's another unusual angle shot.

Cormorant just taking flight

When I said the sea was like a mirror......

....I meant, it was literally like a mirror!

We've had some great images recently, thanks to all contributors (and please, if you are in the area, any records and photographs are always welcome). But this is my favourite so far this year!

Kevin managed this shot of a Black-headed gull on the "forbidden rails" 
on the structure over No.2 outflow. Originally there had been two, but one chickened out!

The above relates to the observation that we never see sea birds rest on this structure (see post 31/12/20). Obviously one factor must be the wind, it was almost breathless today, but I've seen it deserted on many a previous wind free day. And gulls regularly use the rails on the wooden jetty in quite fresh winds. We'll see if this is a one off or if this bird is going to break the mould.

Dark-bellied Brent and fed up Stonechat

All of today's images, except mine (MD) are high resolution and should be opened to see the superb detail.

First a report and pictures by Howard from yesterday:

Here are a few images from my visit to the Heliport and the Lighthouse.

The heliport was very quite with no Knot present maybe due to the Peregrine patrolling the area.

A female Stonechat was seen on the Helipad but to far off camera to snap.

I had a visit to Red Nab and the Lighthouse snapped the Turnstone on one of the outflows.

The Rock Pipit at the Lighthouse area, I watched it for a good hour 

and enjoyed listening to its Pavarotti impersonation.

It dug this grub out from under the rope before beating it to death, 

took all of 3-4 minutes to finally despatch it.

(Looks like a leather jacket - crane fly larvae MD)

-

Today - A overnight ground frost and clear and sunny for most of the day. Pleasant in the light SSW wind.

An interesting day with several birds seeming to ignore observers, allowing some nice close ups. Not so the Stonechats, which often do provide decent close viewing opportunities, but not today (that's not why they were "fed up", more on that later).

Pale-bellied Brent goose - 22 out by the children's play area 09:00. But none moved on to Red Nab. On Wednesday the group of 7 moved to Red Nab, but didn't return. Yesterday the group of 15 tried it out, it obviously didn't impress them either. Perhaps the warmer weather will allow the gut weed to grow, faster than it's currently being cropped by the Wigeon.

Dark-bellied Brent goose - 2. In the SE skeer corner at 15:30. 

They were the only Brent geese around the skeer

There is absolutely no weed remaining here, and they quickly moved on

All the way back to the west side of the bay, I think. I tracked them west until they were out of sight.

Heysham Nature Reserve 

This reserve is woefully under recorded since Covid restrictions and new volunteer guidelines have prevented ringing and routine visible migration checks. Shame, it is a good reserve and does produce some excellent records.

Reuben has the first recording area butterfly record this year - Small Tortoiseshell 1

Janet took these shots:

Mallard pair - looking serene 

Male Bullfinch - easily visible at the moment, before the leaves burst out.

South shore

The Wigeon are feeding nearer the sea wall, partly because of lower than usual human activity, but mainly because that's where the gut weed is slightly longer.

Allowing Kevin the opportunity for this "portrait"

This Polish ringed Black-headed gull is a regular in the harbour,
but this is is the first record for 2021

Rock pipits 7. This is one of the two lighthouse birds. It totally ignored me. At one point in this clip it was less than 2m away. I had to zoom out to keep it in frame, you can hear the click of the motor, the pipit also heard it, looked at me, carried on, then came even closer!

Similarly, this juvenile Cormorant was resting on the sea wall and refused to take any notice of me. I don't think there was anything wrong with it, when I looked back later, it had taken to the water and was swimming away.

Stonechat 2 - a male and a female were on/around the saltmarsh. Basically, the female was on the saltmarsh 

This was the best shot I managed of the female

The male was catching food and taking it to her.

This looks like a grub. It took her two of these.

It then caught and took two worms

I couldn't see if she ate any of these, but either way after this the feeding stopped, presumably both fully "fed up", and they rested together on the saltmarsh perimeter.

Finally, it was a bit hazy this afternoon, the low dew point and the low light made the water vapour in the StenaLine's exhaust make it look like an old steam ship.

I certainly wouldn't want a return to steam power, but it makes for a nice picture.
Well, at least I think so.