Great Northern diver tops another good sea watch

The winds continue from WSW not quite as strong as yesterday, but enough to drive plenty of seabirds into the bay. Heavy, but isolated showers, with some periods of bright sunshine.

Sea watch report by Jean.

Today's seawatch 0850-1050 produced:

Kittiwake 219 

Gannet 38 (all adults like yesterday)

Great Northern Diver -1 out

Red-throated Diver - 3 out

Razorbill/Guillemot - 1 out

Guillemot - 1

Pale-bellied Brent Goose - 15 flew towards Red Nab at 0900hrs

The Brent did arrive at Red Nab, but didn't stay long

They headed off south just after this at 09:30. This clip shows just how well developed the sea was. Even in this weather, they find time to bicker. 

This clip is just a few of the Kittiwakes heading out. Not very clear, but provides a sense of today's movement.

Mediterranean gull at least one 2nd calendar year bird patrolling the south sea wall

There is no doubt that at least one of the birds swirling around was a Med, but the lack
of a face mask on this bird, could mean that it is one of the many Common gull around.
It was frustratingly difficult following birds in the wind. The jury is out. (MD).

Rock Pipits 5 (1 saltmarsh, 2 Red Nab, 1 lighthouse and 1 waterfall)

Oh dear, it looks like I'm (MD) slipping into ships and boats mode again, sorry......

...but I do like this shot. This young Herring gull looks to have a whelk egg cluster.
They don't normally bother with these, but the other two wanted a share.
(I really wasn't just photographing the ship)

This is the Pilot boat it's still in the harbour here, but it's rough.

It was going out, presumably to rendezvous with an incoming vessel. To minimise the storms impact it followed directly behind the StenaLine going out. But even in its wake it was still a rough ride.

It was still right behind the StenaLine at least three miles out and still no sign of another vessel. I wouldn't want to be the Pilot climbing from the Pilot boat onto an incoming ship in any weather. But today......

Bonxie best of a decent wind blown bunch

The west wind was really strong all night, accompanied by very heavy and prolonged rain. The winds eased slightly and were WSW by the morning. Fortunately the rain held off for most of the day, with periods of sunshine.

Pete and Jean needed to be in the area today so managed a sea watch in the morning:

Kittiwake 316 (in 8 or 9 flocks) into Bay

Gannet 50 in and then out

Common Scoter 12 (10 +2)

Great Skua (Bonxie) 1

Fulmar 1

Great Crested Grebe 1 out

I was fortunate enough to see some of the Gannet on my walk along the south wall, although all my sightings were from the lighthouse area (MD).

There was some weak sunshine, and fortunately adult Gannet are large and mainly white making them relatively easy to spot in the sun, plus their distinctive markings, make them easy to recognise. Even so, they are normally a long way out, and this is a typical view.

You will have to open this images to see
two Gannet, plus another, less distinctive, species.

But luckily a few of the Gannet went out of the bay closer in, and I managed a few more detailed shots:

These were just inshore of the buoys out from the north wall

These were even closer in

I always feel that pictures, even ones showing a rough sea, give the impression of tranquility. It wasn't so, it was impossible to stand still. I've added this short clip of the above two birds, not for aesthetic reasons, but to convey the sense of what it was like. The blue post in this clip is the light post in front of the lighthouse.

Rock Pipits 4 - one each, foreshore, Red Nab, lighthouse and waterfall 

Janet also checked out the north side later in the day and took these pictures:

This Turnstone has just found an invertebrate 

This Lesser Blacked-Backed gull has a metal ring

Jay in trees near the end of the dog walk path

As Janet said, Dunnock are often overlooked,
but have attractive plumage when seen in detail 

There is always something to see.

Singing in the rain

The south wind started brisk and steadily freshened all day, by evening it was drifting round to the west and quite strong. It is set to continue getting much stronger and to continue into the weekend. Steady rain in the morning also increased during the day.

Not a day for a casual stroll, the only stuff so far is from my early excursion (MD)

Rock Pipit 2 feeding together on Half Moon bay beach plus 2 on Red Nab, 1 chasing the other off.

Wigeon still plenty (c70) on Red Nab, but significantly reduced from recent counts

Male Greenfinch singing (wheezing) near pond behind Red Nab

Jack Snipe 1 - accidentally flushed from the perimeter of the saltmarsh. They are normally only found in the margins when moved out by a spring tide, or when the body of the saltmarsh is frozen. Neither of those today.

So, possibly a new arrival, or just possibly they actually prefer the terrain of the margins, but are normally dissuaded by the caravan park residents regularly walking by.

Reed Bunting on the saltmarsh 
This picture actually from yesterday, but what looked to be the same bird present today.

This Dunnock by the saltmarsh, seemed full of the joys of spring, but I suspect it will be last time for a few days!

Finally, I managed to totally misinterpret yesterday's picture of the tracks in the puddle. I looked again this morning, no sign of the tracks, I wasn't expecting any. But when I examined the white marking paint it was sound. The bottom of the puddle was light brown as yesterday, but underneath the thin scrim of mud there is bright white limestone dust from limestone gravel recently laid close by.

So the bird prints were caused by the birds feet removing the thin mud covering, revealing the limestone dust below. How this happens so cleanly I can't explain, but I am back to a large bird walking very precisely, one foot in front of the other, still a pheasant most likely.

This is the detail from yesterday's picture.
I should have worked out the correct answer by looking at the brown film over the white dashes!
Still, it is a bit bizarre.

Acrobatic rodents and mysterious tracks

The south wind freshened, but the rain was generally light in the morning and had dried up by the afternoon.

South shore 

A couple of nice pictures and comments from Kevin

This male Rock Pipit was singing and doing its display flight. 

Nice to see, and an interesting comparison with the Meadow Pipit.

This Great Black-backed Gull was unusually obliging and was 

sitting on the harbour wall above the Rock Pipit's nesting site, 

near the lighthouse. I hope it doesn't make a habit of it.

Middleton Nature Reserve (JP)

The two Canada geese were back again, and appeared to be in
dispute with one of the resident Coot

Until one of the juvenile Mute acted as arbitrator 

Not the only residents with territorial disputes,
these Mallard were at it too

This feeder, left, has been spotted by a Brown rat

How many generations feeding like this, before a prehensile 
tail begins to evolve?

North shore - low water 15:20

Rock Pipits 1 on Half Moon Bay beach plus 2 below Heysham Head

Wigeon - just distant heads bobbing up and down, but there were lots of them - minimum 50

Great Crested grebe - again hard to count in the choppy sea, but at least 5 close in

Pale-bellied Brent goose 6 - ref Tom Wilmer 

This is the area on Moneyclose Lane just before the caravan park. It regularly floods here and has obviously degraded the material forming the white markings. If you look at the bottom right white dash you can see a boot footprint. A large bird has similarly left its tracks along the middle.

At first I was stumped as to what could have walked so precisely, one foot in front of the other, to leave such tracks. Then I realised, only one foot (right?) had stood on the white, therefore leaving just half of its tracks. Looks like a pheasant. I don't know if the nature of the pigment (I know it includes tiny glass beads) only allows it to be seen in water, but there are no tracks before or beyond this pool. (MD)

First Sand Martins and Chiffchaff

The WSW wind was quite fresh. Rain alternating between moderate and light until it finally cleared by mid afternoon 

Sand Martin 2 (first of the year)  - these were actually from yesterday seen flying north over the sea.

South shore

Rock Pipit 5 (1 on foreshore, 1 Red Nab, 1 lighthouse and 2 near the waterfall)

No Wheatear seen, but one reported from Fleetwood, so shouldn't be long.....

Wigeon - these were particularly active this morning, several groups flying around and lots frantically feeding on, the now billiard table quality, gut weed on Red Nab. 

They normally stop feeding here when the tide leaves Red Nab, but not today. I suspect they are "fuelling up" (MD).

It also seemed frantic in the area between Red Nab and the Dog walk path, lots of small birds flitting around, nothing unusual, just unusually "busy". Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Great, Blue, Coal and Long-Tailed tits. Also:

Chiffchaff 1 (first of the year) - quickly and quietly making its way through north.

This Coal Tit was searching these, long dead, Buddleia flowers.

Middleton Nature Reserve (JP)

Someone is leaving a suet mixture at points around the main pond. It is certainly attracting the birds:

Great Tit, Long-Tailed Tits and a Robin.
Of these, only the Robin is not ringed.

One of the several Moorhen
As with most, apparently plain, birds, they are quite handsome when seen in detail.

Some ringing recovery news:

Lesser Redpoll male

Ringed - Middleton Nature Reserve. 6/11/20

Recaptured by ringers -  Great Warford (RS), Cheshire, UK 28/02/21. 114 days. 90km SSE

North shore

Pale-bellied Brent 6 - they were feeding on the water's edge in the SE corner of the skeer. There is no weed remaining here, they must have been eating the broken weed concentrated in the corner by the tide and the WSW wind. I wonder if they would eat any green jelly blobs washed ashore? A group of 6 makes me suspect the red/blue ringed Canadian bird's group, but I couldn't see any rings today, although it was murky. This clip shows four of them feeding:

The background noise is mainly the rain!

More duck movement

Very light west wind in the morning, increased slightly in the afternoon. Mainly overcast, but occasional sunny spells.

Heysham skeer - low water 12:05

Eider c100

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Great Crested grebe 3

Wigeon - a flock of 6 landed briefly before continuing north. They are seldom seen on the north shore.

Goldeneye 2 (male and female feeding on the south side of skeer)

Goldeneye in front of Conger rock, Eider behind

This young gull fancied its chances

They were a lot further out than these clips suggest. The flat sea providing no perspective 

Pale-bellied Brent goose 2 feeding on the southern skeer edge. Two have fed here regularly. No reports yet of how many ended up out from the children's play area.

South shore

Wigeon 160

Rock Pipit 1 on the foreshore

Jackdaw 36 north over Heysham Village 14:00

There were a couple of green jelly blobs again today (see yesterday's post).

This one was still anchored to some seaweed,
it was the weed that has come detached

After learning a bit more about them yesterday, I wanted a closer inspection. This image shows that the jelly is actually clear, it's the tiny green eggs that give it its colour.

This image will be slightly sharper if you open it.
I returned it to a permanent rock pool and secured the weed with a stone.
The eggs should be fine barring heavy storms.

From Long-Tailed ducks to green jelly blobs - such is life!

This is the 5,000th post for this blog. Pete posted the first one 14/12/06, so not many days missed.

The light breeze had shifted to the SW by morning. Largely overcast but dry.

So far only records from the north shore

Pale-bellied Brent goose 38. There were three groups searching for the remaining pockets of sea lettuce on the skeer 31, 4 and 2 (37, later 38 were counted from Knowlys so presumably one missed on the skeer).

This is the largest group, but probably not all visible on this scan.

These are 2 of the group of 4 searching on the western edge. I've added this as it shows a number of birds feeding. As well as the Geese, there are Eider, Oystercatcher and Redshank.

Red-breasted Merganser 6

Great Crested grebe 14 two groups of 7 but a mile between them.

No sign of any Long-Tailed ducks today

No Knot feeding on the skeer again today

Perhaps this Peregrine is the reason why

Spring is the time of year when these mysterious blobs of green jelly occasionally wash ashore. 

The name for these blobs of green jelly is "Green jelly blobs" - I kid you not (MD)

I say "mysterious" as no one can decide what they are. I've always "known" them to be the egg sacs of green ragworm. This is pretty much what most experts think (but not all - if you're really bored Google "green jelly blobs on the beach"), but what I didn't know is that there is more than one species of green ragworm and they don't know which one creates these. I would have thought that they would all produce something similar (how many forms of green jelly blobs can there be?)

So to maintain the scientific integrity of this blog....
This Green Jelly Blob is likely to be the egg cocoon of a worm of the Polynoidae family.
The tendril hanging behind my fingers is what should have anchored it to a hold fast.
I returned it to the water, but don't hold out much hope for the eggs survival.

Long-Tailed Ducks

The very light N to NNE breezes continue, mainly overcast. Although overcast, the visibility was superb today.

Heysham skeer - low water 10:00 (MD)

Long-Tailed Duck 2 female/immature - yesterday, Pete managed a brief view of 2 - 3 small ducks feeding a long way out across the bay, they could have only have been this species. Later Foulney reported 3. So this morning I was looking out for them, and dropped lucky!

I was on the skeer and saw two small ducks flying around near the green marker post. Too distant to check details with my x10 binoculars so immediately used my camera set at x30 to video them. Just as well, they didn't come any closer.

I lost focus twice in the clip so split it into two sections

At the end of this second clip they were heading west, I lose focus here and cannot relocate them with my binoculars, presumably they continued west out into the bay. They were flying very quickly!

These are some stills, zoomed in from the videos.

Red-breasted Merganser 9

Great Crested grebe 8

Eider not counted, but looked similar to yesterday 

Pale-bellied Brent goose 12 - I was pleased with these, yesterday I posted a picture showing that some of the isolated pools amongst the honeycomb worm beds still held reasonable amounts of sea lettuce. 

Today all 12 were feeding in one of them

Middleton Nature Reserve (JP)

Lesser Redpoll - quite early movement 

Brown Rat - it's not just the birds that take advantage 
Of the seeds left by visitors

Two Canada geese on the main pond

Finally, Kevin took advantage of today's remarkable visibility to take these images from the lighthouse area on the south wall:

The visibility today was exceptional and, by tweaking the contrast, I was able to show the mountains of Snowdonia (the highest one being Carnedd Llewellyn, I think) quite clearly. 

You can even make out some detail on the left

Also some shots across the bay:

Scafell Pike (you can make out the submit cairn)

Piel Castle

BEA Systems building

the Hoad Monument near Ulverston

the shipyards in Barrow

All the above photographed with Kevin's small lens camera!

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.