Mmm........somewhat better!

Calm first thing with light SW breeze developing later. Overcast all day but it remained dry after some early morning drizzle.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from John

Not quite the weather I anticipated this morning.

Heavy drizzle when I left home, and still light drizzle for a period, at Middleton before two nets were set.

Disappointing catch with only ten birds caught, but did include two new Cettis Warblers. 

Other birds comprised:

Redwing x 4

Goldcrest x2

Blackbird x 1 retrap

Blue Tit x 1

I just did a quick check of the main ponds late morning (MD)

Still 30 Gadwall, but now joined by a male Tufted.

Male Tufted with Gadwall

Heysham skear - low water 09:30

Pale-bellied Brent Goose 12 - the only other low tide this winter where Brent have been seen in the skear SE corner was 1st November. Then low water was 2.4m, today it was 2.3m. These 10 were in the corner where the sparse sea lettuce is growing, at 10:00.

Shaun was also checking from the shore, he managed an additional 2 feeding separately. Later (10:47) as the tide covered the sea lettuce all twelve flew together, to the west of the skear and landed on the water. 

Tomorrow's tide is 2.8m at 10:30 low water. Similar weather conditions so is worth a look.

A small dark duck drifted in with the tide, till it reached the skear, then it started diving.

The small duck on the left with Eider and a Cormorant for size comparison 

This is it drifting in 

And this is it diving, sorry about the occasional loss of focus.

Pete managed to identify it with stills from these clips as a juvenile Common Scoter.

Great Crested Grebe 15

Eider 75 (this is Shaun's figure, I managed 67, which is pretty close for me, it shows the advantage of counting on flat seas)

Little Egret 7

Oystercatcher c750

Ringed Plover 45 on inner skear

No Knot

Not many Curlew, Turnstone and Redshank.

Shag 1 juvenile spotted by Shaun trying to oust the cormorants from conger rock.

Red Nab and saltmarsh area 

Just a quick check towards high water

Wigeon 135 on Red Nab

Shelduck 97 out from saltmarsh - these are just some of the Shelduck 

Greenfinch at least 17 around the saltmarsh edges

Great White Egret 1 high to NW 14:30

Finally, this shot is from this morning's walk on the skear. It was an interesting walk in terms of birds seen, but I would have enjoyed it anyway. I like it on the skear in all conditions, but flat calm and overcast produces a unique beauty (MD).

The view north from the skear this morning.

Nothing, well almost nothing........and wet!

SE breeze in the morning accompanied with penetrating drizzle!

Most of the regular recorders were busy today, and I only had time for a quick check of the south shore first thing. Shame no one had time to check Middleton, Pete advised that there could be a major Blackbird fall today.

South shore (MD)

The good news is that both outflows had plenty of gulls and they were finding food. Unfortunately, today there were only Black-Headed Gulls with a few Herring and Lesser Black-Backed.

The only grounded bird seen was a Song Thrush, being heckled by a Robin near the Harbour waterfall.

Wigeon flock of 24 flying south

Greenfinch 4 on Red Nab

No Rock Pipit seen or heard!

Redshank 47

Lapwing 101

Both the above on mud out from saltmarsh 

Common Snipe 7 

Possibly more to come, but I'm not optimistic.

A good all round day topped with a Snow Bunting!

SE breeze, very low cloud early on with some drizzle. A few light showers during the day.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Report from Alan:

It seemed like an Autumn Thrush type of morning with almost calm but damp air when I arrived at Middleton in the dark - it turned out that it was when John and I set nets. The breeze got up from the south later with fine drizzle for 30 minutes or so from 09.00. A total of 42 birds captured, of which 19 were Redwings.

Wren 1 + 3 retraps

Blackbird 2

Song Thrush 1

Redwing 19

Cetti's Warbler 3 retraps (one of these was first ringed here 22/10/2018)

Chiffchaff 1

Goldcrest 5 + 1 retrap

Long-tailed Tit 1 retrap

Great Tit 2

Chaffinch 1

Lesser Redpoll 1

Bullfinch 1

Pink Footed Geese - large numbers moving NE to feeding areas early on

Fieldfare - at least 30 in one flock flying eastwards.

Redwing - at least 244 moving west to east during the first part of the morning then twos and threes around the reserve feeding on Hawthorn berries (which are abundant here this season).

I just did a quick check of  the main ponds mid morning:

Mute unchanged 

Moorhen 7

Mallard 8

Gadwall 30

Little grebe 2 (one each pond)

Even with the "no swimming" pond water level being back to normal, the Gadwall can only just reach the weed they feed on. No wonder they moved elsewhere when the water was deeper. All the birds were upending to feed today.

Heysham skear mid morning (MD)

A check 1.5 hours after low water meant that the tide was rushing in and many waders already moved on. But some of the diving birds come in closer.

Eider only 38 seen but they were in the far channel and many could have been out of sight.

Red-breasted Merganser 2 (pair)

Great Crested Grebe 12

Little Egret 19

Oystercatcher c200

Turnstone c30

Redshank c30

Curlew 10

Knot - none on the skear but c40 over from north to south.

Ringed Plover 17 

Heliport area

Report from Pete:

Snow Bunting 1 male - seen by Jean on the sparse vegetation  at the top of heliport seawall but lost it when it flew seemingly out to sea

Rock Pipit 3

Greenfinch 65

Red Nab and saltmarsh (MD)

Just a brief check at high water

Chiffchaff 1 near nature park pond

Wigeon 56 out from saltmarsh 

Rock Pipit 3

Reed Bunting 1

Song Thrush 2 on saltmarsh 

Jack Snipe 2 - flushed by dog walking along saltmarsh water's edge. Both birds landed back on other sections of saltmarsh, providing the typical selection of blurry pictures!

We saw-sea birds.

Strong WNW wind largely overcast, but a few sunny spells and the odd light shower.

Heliport area,

No Knot early on, but a flock arrived late in the tide allowing Howard to read three more ringed birds.

I say we saw sea birds. It was Howard who saw one. A partially summer plumaged,  adult Red-Throated Diver, feeding in Half Moon Bay towards high water.

Adult Red-Throated Diver

A check along Half Moon Bay and Heysham Head shore, to see if it was still around failed, but did locate:

Rock Pipit 3 - 1 Half Moon Bay plus 2 around the Head.

South shore late morning (MD)

Wigeon 99 arrived at Red Nab as the tide reached it. Later 59 out from the saltmarsh 

Rock Pipit 2 - 1 each saltmarsh and Red Nab

Greenfinch 44 - 11 Red Nab + 33 saltmarsh 

Reed Bunting 4 on saltmarsh - first records here this winter

Common Snipe 5

Jack Snipe 1

Kestrel 1

These Redshank were "playing" chicken with the waves along the sea wall - there was ever only going to be one winner!

The other sea bird was, as predicted, a single adult Kittiwake out. Seen by Pete whilst checking the outflows.

Tough ducks!

 Very strong SW winds all day. Largely dry till late morning then heavy showers.

First the old Heliport. The Knot numbers have increased on this set of spring tides (2,000 yesterday). And Howard is checking them for ringed and flagged birds. Two pictures below one from yesterday and the lower one from today. Remarkable shots, particularly today's in very difficult conditions.

Colour ringed Knot on the old Heliport wall.
Both these images should be opened to really appreciate the detail.

The only other stuff I have so far are from my two walks along the south sea wall (MD).

Late morning:

Wigeon 103, most taking shelter in the saltmarsh area. But this lone bird choosing to tough it out on the open sea.

Greenfinch 12 Red Nab

Rock Pipit 5 (1 on foreshore, 2 Red Nab, 2 between lighthouse and harbour waterfall). This is one of the harbour birds, it had just been "squaring off" with another bird half way between the lighthouse and the waterfall. This is the boundary between two territories, and where Jean caught and ringed a male this spring. It seems to be finding plenty to eat, can't think what, and eventually revealed its ringed right leg.

Jack Snipe 1 - the tide had already covered the saltmarsh on my return. This bird lifted from the water's edge as I walked past.

Mid afternoon - got a soaking on the way out, but at least when it wasn't actually chuckling it down, it was a good drying wind!

Chiffchaff calling from path just behind Red Nab

Pintail 8 to SE at 14:45 - I always think of Pintail as "the masochistic ducks". I only ever see them when they have a strong wind to fly against! Not a great record shot, but it was hard won, so I'm going to use it. They were beating their wings furiously, which can be seen on this shot.

Pintail flying SE across a very strong SW wind

The only other bird of note was this adult Mediterranean gull on the mud, trying to keep its feathers in order, and its feet on the ground.

Pete advises that there is a possibility of sea birds tomorrow, e.g. Kittiwake 

Good coverage, plenty of birds, especially thrushes.

 Calm early on with whatever air movement there was from SE. Later a NW breeze picked up. Very low cloud/drizzle till 10:00 then some sunshine with the odd shower.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Jean did a quick, but productive check:

0915-0945

Blackbird 19 grounded

Redwing 40 grounded

Fieldfare 9 grounded

Song Thrush 7 grounded

Mistle Thrush 2 grounded

Skylark 2 east

Woodpigeon 6 north

Reed Bunting 1 present

Cetti’s Warbler 1 singing on the west and 1 on the east of the track

Water Rail 3 present

Goldcrest 2 present

Shaun did a thorough check later, although he describes it as a "trundle", obviously there will be some overlap with the above birds that were not moving through.

Had a trundle around (10:00-12:00).

Quite a few thrushes milling about/feeding - mostly on the western side of the reserve. 

Fieldfare c65 (including a group of c45 that dropped in at 11:15).

Redwing c130

Blackbird c75

Song Thrush c10.

Gadwall 29 on 'Non-Swimming Pool' plus a pair of Teal and 2 Little Grebes

Also, a pair of Gadwall on the 'Main Boating/Swan Lake' plus a Grey Heron

Water Rail 2 squealing in Central Marsh

Sparrowhawk fem/imm - quite active

Cetti's Warbler three singing

Blackcap male close to 'ringing area'

Brambling 2 heading southeast

Siskin 4 in trees near Yellow Gate/Golf Course then East

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Jean also managed a quick check here 09:50 - 10:10

Blackbird 18 feeding on berries

Carrion Crow flock of 26 present

Woodpigeon 18 south

Collared Dove 2 south

Chaffinch 2 south

Chiffchaff 1 by the fire pond

Goldcrest 1 

Brambling 1 in the trees near the boardwalk 

Heliport High water - ref Pete

Knot 2,000 

Greenfinch 40 feeding on recently cut seeds

Red Nab and saltmarsh area  09:00 - 11:00 (MD)

Wigeon 60+

Rock Pipit at least 5 - 1 each on: sea wall near No.2 outflow, Red Nab, foreshore, rocky outcrop and pebble beach SE of saltmarsh. On return 3 were battling on foreshore.

Greenfinch - it was strange seeing the mustard behind Red Nab deserted, there are still some seed pods on the plant, presumably not ripe enough yet. There was  flock of 27 along the foreshore and another, or possibly same flock of 31 feeding on brambles on east side of saltmarsh.

Song Thrush 2 on saltmarsh 

Whooper Swan 7 (4 adult + 3 juvenile) south  09:30. The low cloud meant that they were low and close to the coast, unfortunately by this time the breeze had freshened and you can't hear them calling.

The 10m high water covered the saltmarsh flushing:

Common Snipe 7

Jack Snipe 2

Jack Snipe - unmistakable profile,
 a rubbish picture, but better than I normally manage.

Heysham skear

Had a quick check 4 hours ebb. On these spring tides the water ebbs quickly. A lot of the birds, typically Knot and Curlew just wait till the tide exposes the area they want. Others take advantage of the quickly draining water to hunt for shrimps, small fish and the dwindling numbers of crab. This clip is just to give a flavour of the feeding activity as the water ebbs.

Eider 97

Great Crested Grebe 6

Red-breasted Merganser 6 (the family group in the above clip)

Little Egret 14

Oystercatcher c1,000

Turnstone c30

Redshank c50

Ringed Plover 18

Knot c2,200 one flock of 1,900 plus several small flocks

Curlew 160 were waiting on the beach as the tide ebbed, these are just a few of them

Some of the Curlew waiting for the tide to expose their favoured feeding area on skear.

Bearded Tits best of another good day

 Light NNW breeze, pretty much sunny all day.

Middleton Nature Reserve - morning 

Summary report from Pete:

0855-1045: decent autumn birding at last: eg: 

Bearded tit Male and female calling  in sky to north east but view obscured by bush then landed central marsh reeds noisily for c25 secs then towered up high to south  (To my knowledge this is the first record for the recording area, yesterday's Dusky warbler was only the second record (again, I think MD))

1220 Fieldfare nw, 

480 Redwing nw, 

c40 Blackbird on arrival, but quickly flushed inland.

Thanks to Alan Larsen for some of thrush passage

2 Sparrowhawk high S, 

6 Brambling, 

3 Whooper, 

high flock 70 Woodpigeon, 

Green Woodpecker 1

No warbler spp other than 3 Cettis despite two LTT flocks (8 plus 11 unringed) through. 

c20 Chaffinch, 

40 finch spp, 

flock 30 jackdaw south, 

1 skylark, 

1 Reed bunting south.

Red Nab to Saltmarsh (MD)

Greenfinch c50 feeding on mustard seeds at Red Nab plus 35 doing the same on the saltmarsh 

Knot - flock c500 flying around Red Nab before feeding on mud out from saltmarsh 

Wigeon only 40 had gathered on Red Nab, but early in rising tide.

Rock Pipit 3 (2 on Red Nab plus one near rocky outcrop east of saltmarsh)

Song Thrush 2 on saltmarsh 

Redshank 50+

Lapwing 62

Grey Plover 3

One of the Grey Plover, just out from the saltmarsh 

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Just a quick circuit on my way home

No warblers seen or heard.

Redwing 40+ feeding and milling around

Fieldfare 3-6 feeding

Sparrowhawk 1

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1

Roe deer 1

Red Admiral 1

Pete also managed a couple of checks of the sea:

Great White Egret “following” IOM ferry into bay then continuing north up centre of bay

Mediterranean gull 2-3 adult following ferry.

earlier 12 plus 8 Whooper swan SW

Red Admiral 1 in off Ocean Edge 

Middleton Nature Reserve - afternoon 

I just checked the east side (MD)

Mute unchanged 

No Coot seen

Moorhen 9

Mallard 1

The water level on the "no swimming" pond has returned to its normal level, it seems to need 1m increase in height to trigger the control pump, anyway the Gadwall were back.

Gadwall 12

Little grebe 2 - 1 each on "no swimming" and main pond. This is the main pond bird, it has just caught something, and washes it down with a drink.

This is the Little grebe with its catch.
Its movements suggest small fish, rather than invertebrate

Grey Heron 1

Water Rail 1

Cetti's warbler 1 - central marsh male singing

Redwing were pretty much feeding everywhere, but the main concentrations were in the NW corner near Tradebe and around Tim Butler pond. Hard to judge accurate numbers but at least 50

Blackbird there were at least 10 new birds feeding on hawthorn near Tradebe

One of the feeding Redwing

This Rook and a Jackdaw were heading west

Finally, this is the Grey Heron, it has just caught something, but unlike the Little Grebe, it didn't go down well. It didn't go down at all! Whatever it was it obviously tasted awful, and I've seen Heron eat some awful looking stuff with glee. All I can think of is a Great Crested Newt, their skin can release poison, which for its own protection must taste nasty. I didn't think Great Crested Newts would still be in the water at this time of year, but I've looked it up and apparently, some adult remain in the water all through the year.

This is the point, just before the Heron realises that it's nasty!
It is the right shape for a large newt.

Dusky Warbler!

Light NE breeze, mainly sunny in the morning, but largely overcast all afternoon.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Report from Alan:

I set nets in the only two accessible rides from 06.30 this morning - the water levels are very high currently. It was chilly with a very heavy dew at first making the guy cords, poles and nets tricky to handle. The sky cleared around 09.00 and a light NE breeze got up.

A modest catch of 20 birds consisted of :

Redwing - 8 (my main target species)

Dusky Warbler 1. (This took some time to confirm, sorry it was missed from original post (MD))

Wren - 4

Robin, Goldcrest, Blue Tit, Tree Sparrow, Lesser Redpoll - 1 of each

Long-tailed Tit, Cetti's Warbler - 1 retrap of each

2 groups of 6 further Redwing appeared from the south and dropped into the northern part of the reserve.

6 Jackdaws south

Little else noted.

Red Nab to saltmarsh area - high water 09:30 (MD)

There were at least 60 birds feeding on the mustard seeds this morning, mainly Greenfinch, but at least 3 House Sparrow and 5 Goldfinch. The Goldfinch must have just been drawn in by the feeding frenzy, I doubt the large seeds would suit them, but they were eating the buds off the adjacent willow, as were some of the Greenfinch and Sparrows.

These are the buds they were eating,
one gone but one remaining - I bet it's gone now.

Wigeon 135

Rock Pipit 2 on Red Nab

Song Thrush 1

Common Snipe 3

Both the above on the saltmarsh, as was the regular Kestrel, today it had caught a small rodent.

Kestrel with small rodent 

Redshank 50+

Some of the Redshank resting on the high rocks on the east side of saltmarsh 

There were a number of walkers just south of here, so the shore/grounded birds that I'd hoped to see were long gone. But a dark distant blob on the sea was intriguing. As it drifted closer I decided it could only be debris or a seal, but closer still revealed a profile, if it was a seal, not a grey one, but perhaps a Common.

By now the tide had turned and the blob drifted back out again, never once changing its profile. But I wasn't happy, it was floating too light in the water for a seal. I then remembered an early clip I'd taken, when it appeared to move. When I zoomed in to that clip it was clearly a bird, that had only so briefly revealed itself. It must have been in my view for over 10 minutes, but apart from these few seconds kept its head tightly tucked in.

 

This is just an enlarged image from the above clip.
Female or immature Common Scoter

Heysham Nature Reserve 

I was thinking of checking Middleton this afternoon, but Pete advised that there were a lot of Siberian Chiffchaff being seen around the country and that Heysham would provide a better chance. It's a shorter walk and my legs were already feeling their age, so Heysham it was. And a very pleasant walk it proved to be.

Chiffchaff 2 - one by itself in the NE corner plus at least one with mobile mixed tit flock near the dipping pond.

Blackcap 1 male - also with the mixed tit flock

Male Blackcap

Jay 1

Thrushes sp 20+ - a flock passed west overhead, unfortunately I was below trees and only managed glimpses between the branches.

Fungi

I was going to start this section by declaring that I am no expert on fungi (MD). Then realised that would have been a woeful exaggeration, I know almost nothing about fungi, other than there were plenty of quite distinctive ones around today. I was going to try and identify them, but thought anyone who might be interested would either know better than me anyway or might want to go and try and identify them for themselves.

There is help, there are several notices around the reserve. This is one of them:

These first four shots were just in the short grass above the office.

All the above were reasonably small fungi, but these in the Alder copse were large.

Kingfisher adds a splash of colour

Calm early on before a west breeze developed. Overcast with a few sunny spells and the odd light shower in the morning. The afternoon was mainly sunny.

South shore - high water 09:00 

I had a morning walk (MD)

Wigeon 102

Rock Pipit 2 on Red Nab

Greenfinch 40+ Yesterday, there were 9 searching for fallen wild mustard seeds in the very strong wind. Today there were over 40, some removing the seeds from the seed pods on the plants others foraging for fallen seeds.

These are the seed pods, it is one of the wild mustards, possibly Black
If you know please let me know (MD)

Kingfisher 1 - it was flying around Red Nab and resting on rocks when I started at high water.

Kingfisher flying around Red Nab at high water

Presumably displaced from its territory by the swollen waters, and so also presumably hungry, I expected it to hang around. There are fish to be found in Red Nab's stream and rock pools, and so it proved to be. On my return, it was fishing in the freshwater stream from the culvert below the sea wall. I only watched it for a few minutes, but it caught one small fish in that time, looked like a Common Goby. Small as its catch was, it was coveted by a Black-Headed gull, which tried to pinch it.

As I was leaving it was back on the same rock, but the tide was leaving Red Nab now and this stream will soon be too fresh for sea fish. It will have to turn its attention to the rock pools, or wait till the tide returns.

Great Crested Grebe 1 flew north

Cormorant - these were fishing in the gap between the wooden jetty and sea wall, just after the tide had turned.

Kevin had his walk at lunchtime, by that time there were only 20 Greenfinch feeding. I suppose there are only so many peppercorns a Greenfinch can eat!

But the Kingfisher was still around and still favouring the same rock by the freshwater stream.

Kingfisher waiting for the tide, and the fish, to come back.

Grey Wagtail 2 along the sea wall.

Heysham skear - low water16:00

No sign of the Brent geese this visit

Great Crested Grebe 7

Red-breasted Merganser none seen, but they tend to favour feeding on the flood tide.

Eider c60

Little Egret 14

Knot 800+

Some of the Knot with Heysham Head in the background 

Oystercatcher, Curlew, Turnstone and Ringed Plover were all, similar to yesterday, but there were hardly any Redshank. The freshwater was still running over the shore, but not a single bird feeding there (see yesterday's post for comparison). I suppose when the freshwater has flushed whatever it was flushing yesterday, it takes a while for things to return.

Similarly with the freshwater coming out of the surface water drain. It obviously wasn't as forceful as yesterday, but there would still have been big volumes going into the sea, but no gulls today, just a couple of feeding Great Crested grebe (not counted in the 7 above). I went for a closer look, not only was there no activity, it looks like there is no hinged end cap either. The shot below is when the tide would have been a similar height to yesterday's clip, although today the tide was still ebbing. There is a grill over the end of the pipe, possibly a cap behind as well, it's hard to imagine yesterday's spashback was just the waves reacting with the emerging fresh. I'll have a proper look at low water on a spring tide, but that will have to wait till next summer now, all the spring tide low waters will be in the dark over winter.

The end of the surface water drain at the same height in the tide as yesterday's turmoil 

Perhaps no "stars" today, but at least some celebrities!

The strong overnight westerlies eased slightly by morning but continued to be strong all day. Heavy overnight rain continued till lunchtime. Only showers in the afternoon with sunny periods.

South Shore

I donned waterproofs for a walk along the wall just after high water (MD)

No Mediterranean gulls seen

Wigeon c90

Lapwing 6

Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab

Thrush sp 2 over Power Station then south

Greenfinch 9 between Red Nab and foreshore. Fortunately the rain had stopped momentarily and I managed this clip of them feeding. They are finding large seeds, probably mustard, trapped in the crevices of the rough concrete.

Pete checked the lunchtime ferry coming in. He didn't find the "star" he was aiming for, but not bad.

Shag 1 1st calendar year flushed out of the harbour by the dredger.

Kittiwake 1 adult plus 1 juvenile out

Guillemot 1

Heysham skear low water 15:00 (MD)

As I was walking out, I noticed that a few pockets of sea lettuce had grown in the past month. I decided that there was enough to retain any visiting Brent, but probably not enough to entice them back. The picture below is just about as "lush" as it gets, nothing compared to last autumn's crop.

New growth sea lettuce 

14:15. I'd just reached the westernmost exposed section of the skear when 8 Pale Bellied Brent geese arrived from the west.

Pale-bellied Brent geese coming in to land by the skear

They flew directly to the area where the sea lettuce was most abundant last year, they found some there, but soon realised that there was more further up the beach, and they moved to the area in the SE corner of the skear that I had photographed earlier.

They fed here for almost an hour before flying to the NE corner just after high water. There is little natural weed there on this height tide, but today's conditions would have accumulated a lot of broken weed there. This is just a location shot of the NE skear corner, you can see the end of the Stone Jetty behind, but it is much further away than it looks.

Pale-bellied Brent Geese on the water in the NE corner of skear.

All the Brent looked adult and none were ringed. The question is will they return tomorrow? Possibly, the weather is more favourable, but the tide a little higher, I for one will be having a look.

Oystercatcher c750

Curlew 35+

Turnstone 20+

Ringed Plover 14

Knot 130

Redshank 250+ There was an obvious increase in numbers, initially on the receding water line, but flock after flock flew past me to feed further inshore. This is some of them feeding in what is basically just fresh surface water running down to the sea. They are obviously finding lots to eat, I can only think that the fresh water is driving saline dependent invertebrates out from the mud.

I like this next clip, probably because it's something I haven't seen before. The green tower between the skear and the Stone Jetty marks the end of a large surface water drain. There must be a hinged end cap to allow water out, but preventing surges from the sea passing up the pipe. The volume of fresh water coming out today was obviously under great pressure, but the tide must have been crashing waves against the end cap causing the fresh to come out in bursts. In a few minutes it was all over, as the incoming tide will have become higher than the end cap, so no more crashing waves. I was going to inspect this today, but it is a lot further away than it looks and even further to avoid disturbing the Brent. I'll have a look tomorrow, there won't  be the same back pressure effect as today as the wind will be lighter. But there will still be plenty of fresh coming through, and that is why the gulls were there, it must be providing some sort of feeding opportunity, perhaps something interesting will also be taking advantage.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

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

Main pond:

Mute 2 adult plus 9 cygnet 

Coot 1

Moorhen 4

Mallard 1 

No Swimming pond - this is now 50cm above it's normal height (regulated by pumps to draw off excess water - presumably activated by a very basic level sensor).

Gadwall 1 male

Moorhen 2

Little grebe 2