Still plenty of Meds

SSE breeze and sunny, pretty much all day.

Pete and Jean managed a check this morning. Report from Pete:

Mediterranean gull 19 - Red Nab or adjoining mudflats including a too distant to read white Darvic adult and one legged 2cy!

From Heysham Head

Great Crested grebe 16 (including groups of 7 and 5)

Red-breasted Merganser none seen (1 later as the tide was making)

Eider 62

I walked from the skear corner to the children's play area, to see what feeding opportunities there are for the Brent Geese this winter. The answer wasn't good (MD). There is virtually no weed around the skear and just a few small isolated patches along the rocks leading to the play area. At the play area itself there is no gut weed!

These are the, currently, barren rocks out from the children's play area.
This area is normally lush with gut weed at this time of year

I suspect the problem may be a result of the long dry spell we had in late summer. The gut weed seems to thrive in areas fed by the ground water seeping onto the shore. There is plenty of ground water reaching the shore now, but I suspect it may be too late for this winter. I'll keep an eye on things. Hopefully their other feeding locations have fared better.

Pink-Footed goose 28 and 45 low to north, presumably to feeding grounds.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

I had a very pleasant walk around, but the "best" record was from the bottom car park just as I arrived.

Mediterranean gull 1 adult, was flying high over the main pond with a couple of Black-Headed gulls. I think there was an odd flying ant about.

Mediterranean gull

After a while it came down to the main pond for a spruce up.

Mute Swan 2 adult, 9 cygnet 

Mallard 10

Gadwall 17

Moorhen 10

Little grebe 1

Water Rail 1 making contact calls at Tim Butler pond

Insects:

Migrant Hawker 1

Common Darter 7+

Speckled Wood 2

Trees:

This is a self (or more likely Jay) seeded Oak seedling, just about to lose its first leaves. There are no Oak trees on this side of the reserve. There are some small trees on the southern section of the reserve, but I had thought them too immature to produce acorns, obviously that is not the case.

First calendar year Oak tree, about to moult to winter plumage.

It's in an area not regularly trampled, although the Roe Deer do sometimes sleep nearby (you can see the flattened grass where they lay). So hopefully it will continue to prosper. For me, this was the best sighting of the walk (MD).

More Whoopers

South fresh breeze, overcast all day with some showers.

South shore 

Red Nab to Saltmarsh (MD)

Mediterranean gulls 5 on Red Nab (3 adult/3rd calendar year plus 2 x 2nd calendar year)

Brent Geese 8 - low flying flock heading towards Potts Corner only seen from behind, so not possible to tell if pale or dark bellied. The timing of birds was similar to when they have left the children's play area in previous years. Might be worth a look tomorrow.

Wigeon 9

Rock Pipit 4 arguing, but they seemed to be the resident birds (Robins returning to territory are redefining boundaries)

There was some movement though:

Pink-Footed goose 30 initially south then east.

Wheatear 4

Meadow Pipit 17, as yesterday some straight through SE others grounded.

Skylark 1 south

Linnet 17 on saltmarsh but another 4 looked like movement.

Kevin and Alison did a check of the sea wall mid afternoon 

Whooper Swan 4 low along the sea wall 14:45.

Alison took this shot of one of today's Wheatears 

Kevin Singleton checked the old heliport wall, unfortunately just after he got there, the heavens opened! Still, a nice shot of the roosting Turnstone and Redshank.

Turnstone and Redshank 

I've added a new link to the sidebar for North West England Gull Project. We have had one of this scheme's Herring Gull in the harbour 1/03/21.

I've also added the link below, it's worth a look.

https://www.nwgulls.org.uk/

More Pinkfoot movement and a tale of two Pipits

The sun shone! With a light west breeze. It was nice to see the world in colour again.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing and vis report from Jean:

Ringing

41 birds caught, 35 new birds and 6 retraps

Meadow Pipit 3

Pied Wagtail 6

Grey Wagtail 4

Goldcrest 2

Chiffchaff 5

Blackcap 1

Reed Bunting 5

Robin 2

Wren 2

Great Tit 1

Blue tit 3

Long-tailed Tit 3 retraps, the oldest one was first caught in March 2018

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1

Cetti's Warbler 1 new bird and 2 retraps (both young ones from this year)

Greenfinch 1 retrap, moulting its primaries, born in 2020.

Vis 0700-1200

These are minimum numbers as most of the time my head was down looking at the birds I was ringing.

Pink-footed Goose 786 in at least 11 flocks throughout the morning

Jay 7 (a flock of 6 plus one on its own)

Pied Wagtail 14 

Swallow 5

Linnet 5

Chaffinch 2

Grey Wagtail 2 heard in addition to those caught

Skylark 3

Meadow Pipit c40

Raven 2

Insect vis:

Red Admiral 1

Small White 1

Migrant Hawker 6

Common Darter 2

I had a pleasant walk around mid afternoon (MD)

Mute 2 adult 9 cygnets 

Gadwall 16

Mallard 3

Moorhen 11 (7 on "no swimming" pond)

Little grebe 1

Cetti's warbler 3 singing males - Tim Butler and "No Swimming" ponds, both known territories. The third a much softer song in the hawthorn line near the turning circle on the road to the trading estate. This sounded like the bird previously heard singing from the main pond car park.

Dragonflies:

Migrant Hawker 1

Common Darter 7+

Mature female Common Darter 

Butterflies:

Small Tortoiseshell 1

Comma 1

Comma

South shore - high water 12:00 (MD)

Mediterranean gull 3 adult/3rd calendar year birds on Red Nab

Wigeon 17

Ringed Plover 11

Dunlin 1

Wheatear 2

This male Wheatear is still looking quite smart for autumn.
Again, another large individual 

Rock Pipits 7 - including 3 together on the saltmarsh that looked to be off passage (not in an area normally visited by the resident birds).

Meadow Pipits 16, a number feeding before moving on. This one was feeding when it heard another pipit call, it answered and left to join the other bird.

Unfortunately, the pipit it joined was one of the foreshore Rock Pipits (left)

They swapped sides a couple of times (Rock Pipit now on right).
Before the Rock Pipit had enough and chased off the Meadow Pipit

Linnet 4

Common Snipe 1

Kestrel 1 hunting 

Skylark 4

Swallow 15 (5, 8 and 2) - the 8 appeared to be feeding around the end of the wooden jetty. This was initially puzzling, but I soon realised that the amount of guano produced by the cormorants alone must attract loads of insects to feed and breed.

The swallows are not visible at this magnification, but there are 60+ cormorants on view
You can imagine how much "insect attractant" they produce

Chiffchaff 1 near lighthouse (ref Kevin).

Pink Footed Goose c400 in small high skeins to the south between 09:30 to 10:30, after that just one skein of 14 seen - all of these birds will be additional to those seen from Middleton. So c1,200 south, seen over the area this morning, almost certainly many more missed.

Insects

Small Tortoiseshell 2 on saltmarsh 

Plump Wheatears and a Stonechat

Strong NW wind and only a few short gaps in the rain.

Red Nab to Saltmarsh towards high water.

Mediterranean Gulls only 2 adult picked out from the Black-Headed gulls on Red Nab, there were, almost certainly, more.

Wigeon 20+ on Red Nab

Rock Pipit 2

Swallow 2 flew low to the wast along the foreshore.

Wheatears 3

All three of today's Wheatear looked large..........

......and rufous, suggesting northern race

Stonechat 1 male by saltmarsh, unfortunately moved on before I could unpack my camera.

Linnet 15 on saltmarsh 

Lapwing c60

Little Egret 12

Very few birds on the mud out from the saltmarsh, they quickly learn that the tide will now flush them.

The waders were the typical residents for the saltmarsh area, mainly Redshank, Turnstone and a few Curlew. But also,

Grey Plover 2 on saltmarsh 

Ringed Plover c30 on Red Nab - these are some of the Ringed Plover and Turnstone.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick check on the way home

Mute unchanged 

Gadwall 8 on "no swimming" plus 2 on main pond

Teal 1

Mallard 1 male

Little grebe 1

Something spoked them from the far side, providing a reasonable view. No Teal on this clip though.

I was talking to Howard the other day, and he commented that last week when he was watching from shore out from the saltmarsh, the waders were eating gut weed. This is not something that I have ever seen (MD). But, as Howard pointed out, the minerals in seaweed are an essential part of the diet for many human cultures around the world and it makes sense that it is a natural part of a seabird's diet. He has seen this on many other occasions, and was kind enough to share this clip of last week's Dunlin, Knot and

Turnstone, all eating broken filaments of gut weed

Howard was also checking from Potts Corner yesterday as the heavens opened. Technically south of the recording area but he had watched the waders make their way up the beach from the saltmarsh. Made of sterner stuff than I, he managed this shot of a Dunlin in the peak of downpour.

First Whooper and more Brents

The wind started SSE before moving to SSW during a severe downpour 11:00. Sunny spells with heavy showers for the rest of the day.

Red Nab to shore south of saltmarsh - high water 10:45 (MD)

Whooper Swan 1. Flew directly over me east over the saltmarsh. It has a yellow ring with three characters. I think I can read the first character but not the remaining two. I have not pre sized this shot, so if you want to try reading the ring, you can open the image.

Whooper Swan with yellow ring

Mediterranean gull at least 13. There were 3 adult/3cy and 2 1st winter on Red Nab at the start of my walk, the 3 adult still there on my return. In addition 6 adult/3cy plus 2 x 2nd winter on mud out from the saltmarsh.

When the sun shone this morning, it made for good light for photographing Meds against the dark backdrops provided by the increasingly black skies.

First a couple of flight shots of adult/3rd calendar year birds, the first one has an unusually dark bill.

Adult or 3rd calendar year Mediterranean gull with unusually dark bill

Adult or 3rd calendar year Mediterranean gull with a typical bill

From bottom to top: Common gull, two Black-Headed gulls, Grey Plover,
Redshank and the dark billed Mediterranean gull

Two adult or 3rd calendar year Mediterranean gulls

Wigeon 23 

Little Egret 12

Lapwing 66

Grey Plover 34

Knot 27

Wheatear minimum 3 probably 5-6.

Linnet 9

Rock Pipit 6

Meadow Pipit 39 - they started moving through just before high water, but very low, 31 in 10 minutes, before the heavens opened. 8 later seen grounded.

This is a unusual clip, it shows two Meadow Pipits moving south low over the shore. The quality of the clip isn't sufficient to identify the Meadow Pipits, but it give a good sense of the conditions and the other birds on the shore.

This is another slightly unusual clip, there were twelve Carrion Crow and three Little Egret competing to see who was the most raucous (the egrets were winning, hands down!). Strangely they fell silent as I took this clip. Still, interesting behaviour.

You can see in the above clip how the east in the wind was whipping up the incoming waves. What happened next was a downpour of biblical proportions, including heavy hail. It probably lasted only 10 minutes, but when it finished the wind had shifted to SSW. It had just stopped when I reached the foreshore, when this Angle Shades moth appeared to fly in off the sea!

Angle Shades moth, pristine after a storm 

I can't imagine how this largish moth could have flown through the preceding storm, but I did see it fly in over the rocks, the only alternative is that was sheltering in the rocks and flew from there. But why fly from shelter to wet grass? The tide was already ebbing so not flushed by the tide. 

Heysham Head

Jean managed a check this afternoon.

Brent geese - flock of 18 flew south toward the harbour area, one was confirmed as a Pale Bellied Brent.

Heysham skear

Just a quick check found that the storms have stripped most of what little gut weed and sea lettuce there was. I'm not optimistic about Brents feeding here this winter (MD).

Pink-Footed Goose 24 south plus a flock of c50 landed on the mud near Stone Jetty, just ahead of another incoming squall

At least there were some gaps in the rain today!

The wind back in the SW and quite fresh. Heavy showers became less frequent during the day.

So far, only my stuff and I didn't have much time today, so only managed two very short walks and a quick look at Middleton (MD).

Red Nab to saltmarsh - high water 10:00

The tide was already high when I got to Red Nab, but still:

Mediterranean gull - 2 adult/3cy (including the green ringed German adult). 2 x 2nd winter, 1 x 1st winter 

Not a great shot of one of the 2nd winter Mediterranean gull,
but does show the dark markings on the primaries 

Wigeon 26 some on Red Nab but most out from saltmarsh 

Little Egret 13 

Rock Pipit 5

Wheatear at least 3. 3 on foreshore might have included 1 seen on Red Nab earlier.

Heysham skear 

Just a 15 minute check two hours before low water.

The birds were very mobile and noisy, the increasing height tides are now uncovering shore that has not been exposed for a number of days, providing new feeding opportunities. The waders and gulls were vying for positions. This is just a general clip to try and convey the furore. The Little Egret's legs barely look strong enough against the wind.

Waders: Oystercatcher, Curlew, Turnstone, Ringed Plover and Redshank. Not many Knot around today, just a few individual birds, 

Little Egret 14

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Not a lot. The mute are still on main pond with 1 male and 3 female Mallard.

7 Gadwall plus 1 male Mallard on "no swimming" pond.

Little Grebe 1

Little grebe in winter plumage plus male Gadwall

Thundering in the 'ears

A very heavy early morning thunderstorm. Rain pretty much all day alternating between heavy and quite heavy! The wind had shifted to SSE.

First, Howard had a look on the skear at low water yesterday afternoon and took these crisp shots (only really crisp when opened)

Bar-Tailed Godwit

Some of the Knot feeding in small flocks

The only stuff I have from today are my morning checks (MD).

South shore at high water this morning 09:00

Mediterranean gull - at least 6 adult/3rd calendar year plus 2 2nd calendar year. One benefit of an easterly wind is that the gulls on Red Nab face you, making identification a bit easier.

These are the two 2cy Meds. One on the left is clear to see, the second not
so obvious on this shot, it's second from the right behind the adult Med

Wigeon 39, numbers growing quickly 

White Wagtail 1 male near the lighthouse (during a particularly heavy squall)

Rock Pipit 4 on Red Nab

Wheatear 6 on Red Nab and foreshore, this is a high number for this time of year, presumably grounded by the thunderstorm.

One of today's Wheatear sheltering from the wind and rain behind 
the rubble on the foreshore 

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a five minute check on the way home.

The Mute family are back on the main pond

Gadwall 18

Mallard 2 male, seemed to have attached themselves to a female Gadwall each.

Leach's Storm-Petrel tops a decent wind blown bunch

Strong overnight southwesterlies continued into the morning and only eased slightly during the day. Very heavy showers all day, but particularly early on. Some sunny spells.

Pete and Jean managed a morning seawatch - report from Pete:

Seawatch totals 0750-1000 Heysham: 

Arctic tern 1 adult + 1 juvenile 

Leach's Petrel - at least one early on - seen twice between squalls from Knowlys - second time further into bay and further inshore (then zilch visibility to follow up)

Gannet 1 adult + 1 juvenile 

Pintail 28 out in 5 flocks plus single.

Brent geese (prob PBB) on the sea then lost in squall, 

Common Scoter 1 drake

Guillemot 1

(one ‘probable’ Kittiwake miles out!)

Nothing on the outflows as they are not currently fully operational 

South shore (MD)

Mid Morning check.

Rock Pipit 3

Wheatear 2

Stonechat 1 female by the saltmarsh, but very flighty.

Originally it was spooked by the resident Kestrel and I thought it had moved on as I couldn't relocate, but I did get another glimpse in the evening.

By continuity of activity I have assumed the now resident Kestrel to be the emancipated bird photographed 13th September. If that is the case, it is looking much healthier now.

Kestrel - now hunts along foreshore and over the saltmarsh 

Lapwing 59

Little Egret 11

I couldn't see anything on the sea, but this clip of the pilot boat, gives a good indication of this morning's conditions.

I fared a little better on my evening check

Guillemot 1 driven towards the sea wall near No.2 outflow. Hopefully it will be ok after a rest.

Mediterranean gull, at least 1 adult resting on the Mud with Black-Headed Gulls in the lea of No.2 outflow.

Gulls sheltering from the wind

The following were seen from the lighthouse area

Kittiwake 1 adult

Manx Shearwater 1 

Gannet 1 x 1st or 2nd winter

Young Gannet (MD)

This clip is a bit bumpy, but shows the flight line, it starts near the buoys out from the north wall, and ends as it passes beyond the wooden jetty.

Finally, it was the first of October today. 13C with a cool wind, but the sun was warm when it shone and not everything had given up summer. These Common Darters were ovipositoring in the pond behind Red Nab this morning. A short clip as another shower just started.

When is a tide, not a tide.........

The early wind was quite strong and from SSW, by the afternoon it had eased a bit and moved more to SW. No sun today, but plenty of showers to dodge.

Heysham "skear"

The answer to today's title is .......when it's a neap

Not what you would call a joke, but I always feel that these very low neap tides, just don't seem to make an effort! (MD).

Today and tomorrow's tides are the lowest neap tides of the year, and pretty much as low as they get. Low water barely exposed the inner skeer. It's very hard to portray with images just what little movement there is on these tides, so I'm going to resort to mathematics! But first this shot is low water today. I am stood in the sea looking back at the shore.

So, this is low water today 3.44 metres. High water was 6.61 metres. So the height difference between low and high water is 2.17 metres (7 foot 1 inch, if you are still pre 1971!). In other words, if I stood here on a decent sized tin bucket, my nose would still be above the water at high water (Please don't try it).

Little Egret 8

Waders, mainly very concentrated Oystercatcher at least 2,000. Also Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone, Ringed Plover and Knot.

There were two smallish flocks of Knot c100 in total. This group are mainly resting, but there is obviously plenty of food available. You can see one of these eating three small molluscs, probably young periwinkles, without needing to move.

No ringed birds seen today, but just this one flock checked in detail, and most of their legs were hidden.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a brief check of the two main ponds on my way home:

The only wildfowl on the main pond were two adult Moorhen. Everything else on the "no swimming" pond.

Mute Swan 2 adult plus 9 cygnets. I took a shot as it could be the last family group shot.

Mute Swan, last shot for the family album?

Coot 1. First one seen for a couple of weeks.

Moorhen 2 adult 5 immature (plus 2 on main pond)

Gadwall 18

Mallard 1 male, not the white bird.

This clip shows the Coot, an immature Moorhen and a female Gadwall feeding.

South shore early evening 

Red Nab

Rock Pipit 3 

Little Egret 6

Wigeon 2

Wigeon coming in to land 

Chiffchaff 2 in the Elder bush on the south inner harbour wall. This is the largest shrub along the harbour wall and regularly attracts off passage birds. This isn't a great clip, but it shows which bush to check out. Both Chiffchaff are visible briefly at the start of the clip. At the end of the clip one is being chased off by a Robin.

Pete and Jean also managed a check a bit later, and did a much better job of Red Nab than me.

Mediterranean gulls 12 including 2 x 1st winter

Eider 87 past Stone Jetty from Heysham direction 

Dodging the showers!

Much cooler today. A fresh west wind and the day a mixture of sunny spells and very heavy showers, some starting as hail.

Heysham skear - low water 11:45

GreatCrested grebe - just one winter plumage bird seen

Red-breasted Merganser 6 female/immature in one group

Eider 2 male

Little Egret 14

Waders included: Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone, Ringed Plover (30), Dunlin (2) and Knot (100+).

This was the first time this autumn that a flock of Knot was seen feeding on the skear. One of them was orange flagged, but this clip shows how difficult it is on the skear to see rings. Most of the Knots' legs are hidden from view. Check the Oystercatcher at the end of this clip. 1. It extracts a mussel from a shell wedged in a crevice. 2. Sadly, it's right foot and leg appear gangrenous.

I eventually managed to get a clear look at the flagged bird, only to find that the flag was damaged, making it impossible to read, at least with my optics.

Knot with orange flag, remained unread 

The Cormorants were heading back to their wooden jetty roost, before this
storm arrived. I followed suit and headed for home, narrowly avoiding a drenching!

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a very brief check of the two main ponds

Mute Swan the pair plus 9 cygnets were all on the "no swimming" pond

Moorhen 6

Mallard 3 male, including yesterday's white bird

Gadwall 12

Little grebe 1

Kevin had some nice bright moths in his overnight trap. Adds a bit of colour to an otherwise largely grey day,

Pink-barred Sallow.

Merveille du Jour