Midwinter Day

 Light SE breeze, mainly overcast, but still reasonably clear.

So, we've reached the winter solstice, tonight is the longest night of the year. Tomorrow, the days slowly start to get a little longer.

I only had chance for one quick walk this morning, plus a stop off at Middleton Nature Reserve (MD).

Mute 2 adult 9 cygnets 

Moorhen 7

Coot 1

Mallard 7

Gadwall 36

Wigeon 1 male,1 couldn't find the female

Tufted duck 3 male

Teal 4 (2 pair)

One of the two pairs of Teal with a male Gadwall in foreground 

This is a nice clip of the male Wigeon plus a male Teal preening. The increasing clamour in the background is the Mallard becoming restless then taking flight. Nothing spooked any of the other ducks, so it must just have been time to move on.

Red Nab and saltmarsh area

Pale-bellied Brent goose 18 on Red Nab

Wigeon c100

Shelduck c40

Rock Pipit 3 (one on Red Nab plus two on the western end of Red Nab/sea wall)

Great Black-Backed gull, we have now had an update on the green ringed juvenile first seen 9/12/21 (thanks Colin). It was ringed as a nestling at South Walney on 06-Jul-2021.

Pete has received news of a female Common Scoter seen in the harbour on 13th December 

Just out of the recording area:

Mediterranean gull 1 adult - 14:45. again resting on the 2nd lamppost north of the traffic lights junction between Oxcliffe Road and Heysham Road. It's the lamppost on the east side of Heysham Road.

Colour returns to the world......shame the birds were black and white!

Initially calm, still quite cool, but no mist today, later a very light NE breeze. Overcast but it remained largely dry.

At least Pete and Jean could conduct their WeBS today - of interest:

Guillemot 1 inshore by the Sunny Slopes groyne.

Mediterranean gull 1 adult on the lamppost near the traffic lights junction of Oxcliffe Rd. This was a regular roost last year, but mainly around high water.

Wigeon 190 on Red Nab

Jean took this shot of the Cormorants feeding by the wooden jetty, this is the same "view" as the shot I posted yesterday!

Cormorants feeding by the wooden jetty

I only had time for one walk this morning (MD)

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just the two main ponds checked.

Main pond:

Mute Swan 2 adult 9 cygnets 

Mallard 8

Moorhen 4

No swimming pond:

Gadwall 34

Wigeon 2 (pair) in association with the Gadwall

Tufted duck 2 male

Coot 1

Moorhen 4

South shore

Rock Pipit 3 one on Red Nab plus two squabbling near the waterfall 

Shelduck 80

Pink-Footed goose 93 - I was just thinking how quiet it sounded today without the constant honking of the last two days, when these flew over towards the Lune estuary. But they were the only ones this morning.

Pale-bellied Brent 26 on Red Nab - this flock of 7 arrived at 10:10, very early for birds coming from the north side, but perfectly timed to arrive just as the water reached the gut weed covered rocks. I suspect they came directly from the west side.

A further flock of 19 arrived at 10:30, these definitely came from the north side, probably from the children's play area.

Some of the 19 Brent flying along the sea wall towards Red Nab

This clip was later in the tide, it shows how close cropped the Wigeon keep the gut weed on the rocks, but there are pockets of longer weed as the last Brent on this clip shows. 

Great Black-Backed gull 4. The green ringed juvenile was present again, this time in the company of 3 adult. 

It's not possible to make out from this shot, but this is the same green ringed juvenile
first seen 9/12/21. Ringing details still awaited, but it is part of the NW gull project

Brents take advantage of the mist

Calm, cold an misty, all day. The mist was actually worse than yesterday for most of the day.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

This was actually the opposite to yesterday, it wasn't possible to see much of the main pond, but more of the "no swimming" pond was visible, just.

Mute Swan 2 adult 9 cygnets on main pond, rest of stuff from "no swimming" pond.

Gadwall 29

Tufted duck 3 male

Mallard 1 male

Coot 1

Three male Tufted Duck on the very edge of visibility 

South Shore

Rock Pipit 4 ( one on Red Nab, two together of sea wall and one near the waterfall)

The Red Nab Rock Pipit, standing guard after chasing off the two Pipits on the wall.

It was supposed to be WeBS (Wetland Bird Survey) day today, Pete and Jean normally cover Heysham, but it was impossible today. I'd, naively, hoped to help a bit by getting a shot of the Cormorants on the wooden jetty, but when I reached the roundhead, I could barely see the land side of the jetty!

You can just make out the start of the wooden jetty from the edge of the
roundhead - not much help for the WeBS!

This first calendar year cormorant was perched near the waterfall. The Rock Pipit calls a few times on this shot, but not easy to hear with the Power Station noise behind.

Sorry, I've just listened to this from the post, and can't hear the Pipit at all, it must lose some sound quality when posted.

Wigeon c80 on Red Nab, probably more out of sight.

Pink-Footed goose - again, several skeins flying around low in all directions. At 10:30 I could hear one such skein seeming to be travelling east over the sea out from the sea wall, then there were other goose calls with them, Brent. I don't know if it was coincidence or if the Pinkfoot were following the Brent. I imagine it would be easier for the Brent to locate their shoreline feeding grounds than the Pinkfoot to find their inland fields. Either way the Brent found Red Nad.

Brent geese - all that were seen were Pale-bellied, and they probably all were. It wasn't possible to get an accurate count, but when I got back to Red Nab there were 14 feeding very close in, just below the wall. Peering into the mist it was obvious that there were many more further out, so over 20 birds. The Brent don't normally feed this close to the wall, but the gut weed is lusher here, possibly their experiences near the Play area is emboldening them, but the wall was quiet today and the mist making it seem more so. Even just below the wall, they weren't easy to see, this clip is just a few of them feeding with the Wigeon.

After lunch on the ebbing tide I had a look at Half Moon Bay. It was very busy (noisy!) with families out for a walk, many with dogs, but the mist was keeping most close to the sea wall. The gut weed here, as per the play area, flourishes best near the ground water drains close inshore. The main area being just out from the boat statue. The Brent normally move on when this area is no longer covered in water, but today, at least 11 were feeding long after, shielded from sight by the mist, but not shielded from the noise! If I had wings, I would have gladly flown away! But, then again, I'd already had my lunch. 

I left them to it. Not having wings, I walked along the waterline to the Children's Play area, there were just 8 Brent on "view" here, so possibly the 11 were still defying the walkers on Half Moon Bay. Although there were many rocks that remained out of sight out from the Play area.

A similar day forecast tomorrow, but a bit warmer. I hope the mist has gone! (MD)

Mist out!.......all day!

Calm and cool, it was a mute point if we had, mist, fog or very low cloud, the upshot was visibility down to 20m over water all day.

I made an effort in the morning, but the mist was worse than it appeared from home (MD)

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick check of the two main ponds - yep, they were still there!

A lot of, mainly Black-Headed, gulls on the main pond with the Mute Swans and 6 Mallard.

But the "no swimming" pond was almost hopeless. I could hear Gadwall but could only make out the occasional white speculum drifting through the mist.

The male Tufted duck and the Coot were occasionally just visible.

Pink-Footed goose - their overhead calling was a constant background noise, they were moving in all directions trying to locate their feeding areas.

This clip gives a sense of what it was like, I was trying to make out the other pale duck in the background, but decided it was probably, just a male Mallard.

Red Nab an hour before high water

No Brent geese. I would have been surprised if they had ventured across the bay today.

Shelduck c20

Wigeon 2

Rock Pipit 1

Heron 1

Little Egret 2

One benefit of the mist is that it works both ways. This Little Egret was oblivious to me, as it fed just within visible range, in the large pool in the middle of Red Nab. It's catching quite large shrimps, you can see it disturbing them from the pool bottom with its feet. 

This next clip is shorter but a bit better view of the prey. You can see the shrimp wriggling in the Egret's bill. It's that "wriggling" that gives it away as a shrimp. A shrimp can't wriggle in the proper sense as its segmented body only allows it movement along one axis, much like your fingers and exactly like this catch.

Did you hear the Rock Pipit at the start of this clip?

Let's hope the mist clears for tomorrow, but I'm not optimistic!

Shag and Brent behaving as expected.......well, almost!

Calm to very light NE breeze. Sunshine for most of the day

First of all, a day in the life of a Brent. These tides are much better for them, and I didn't see them spooked once by dog walkers, when they were near the children's play area. I know some regular post readers have passed on the message to their friends, thank you for that.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 35

Red Nab - today's high water at 8.6m is ideal for them here. The water is high enough to float the gut weed, but doesn't get high enough to flush them off (tomorrow's tide at 8.8 is similar, although might eventually force them off). At 09:50 there were 27 feeding including the Canadian ringed birds, they are at the end of this clip.

Half Moon Bay - 11:50 Janet saw these 27 fly in from the south, presumably when they left Red Nab.

Brent coming in to Half Moon Bay rocks

They headed for the rocks with gut weed

Children's Play area north of Knowlys Road. There was a 20+ group feeding just out from the play area when I went out on the skear at 14:00.There were two in the skear corner for a while, but on my return they had gone. I didn't see any instances of the birds being flushed from the play area. When I was walking back (15:30) they were closer to the wall than I have ever seen them. Even so they held their ground on three occasions when I saw dog walkers passing by between them and the wall, with their pets to heel. When I got closer, I managed to count 35, this clip shows just how close to the promenade they were. The blue/red ringed birds are at the beginning of this clip, and you can see how, in certain lights, the white lettering on the blue ring makes it appear to be a white ring.

There is no reason not to expect a similar pattern tomorrow, although they will do very well not to be flushed from around the play area on a dry mild Saturday. But if they do, they won't go far.

Second - part of the day in the life of a......

Shag 1 juvenile, probably 2

This report from Tim Woodward:

I spent just over an hour either side of high tide at Throbshaw this morning. The Shag arrived and hung around for a little more than 5 minutes close in front of the rocks (I saw 3 dives), then flew off towards Sunny Slopes. The phone photo is timed at 10.23. Sorry it’s so poor, but the others are no better. A pair of merganser drifted past and into the Bay at around 9.30. Otherwise very quiet 

Although Tim's shot does not show the Shag very clearly,
it does provide a clear view of the location, this is the very
northern tip of Throbshaw Point

I had a walk past just after Tim's sighting and located (another?) Shag much further south near the rocks on the north side of Half Moon Bay at 09:45, again it didn't stay long, but I missed which way it flew off. It may have been the same bird, having returned from Sunny Slopes. Anyway, there is another opportunity around tomorrow's high water (10:45), but you may need to be patient, but also keep an eye on the whole stretch from Half Moon Bay to Throbshaw Point, not easy with just one pair of eyes. Any records tomorrow will be interesting, even if you check and see nothing (MD)

14:26. 1 was resting on Conger Rock with a Cormorant, the Shag is always the lower bird.

14:30. 1 fishing west of the skear, conger rock now deserted.

Other stuff from the skear 

Great Crested Grebe 6 - these are four of them, although two quickly disappear 

Red-breasted Merganser 2 (pair)

Eider c150
Little Egret 5
Oystercatcher 2,000+

Knot c500

Redshank c130

Curlew c30

Turnstone c40

Dunlin 35+ there was this small group of 35 plus several individuals. One of the two birds at the end of this clip has a metal ring.

Is, or are, the Shag becoming predictable?

Very light SW to WSW wind, low cloud all day but it remained fine.

Heysham Head - high water 09:30 (MD)

Rock Pipit 2 - 1 Half Moon Bay 1 below the high cliffs 

Red-breasted Merganser 2 (pair)

Shag 1 juvenile feeding just out from the rocks.

This is it diving:

It managed to catch a Common Blenny. It didn't seem overly proficient at handling it, but eventually managed to swallow it. This clip starts almost a minute after it first surfaced with the Blenny.

This is just a zoomed in still from the above clip

In this clip it has moved out a little further, so gives an opportunity to show the location a bit better.

These rocks are part of a group called Throbshaw Point. If you are not familiar with their location a Google search will pinpoint it. The answer to the question in the title is, yes it it is predictable, as I am about to make a prediction. The real question should be, how accurate will the prediction be?

I am confident that it will return to this general area sometime around high water tomorrow, but exactly when and for how long I couldn't say. The clips above were approximately 45 minutes after high water, but I don't know when it arrived, or if it left just after. In theory it could be feeding at any point 2 hours each side of high water. Common Blenny are a resident fish, in that they seldom move more than 10m from their home. When the tide goes out they stay in rock pools, so they will be available as soon as the tide reaches the rocks. I'll probably have a look at some point, but if you go and see one, or possibly more than one, then please let me or Pete know.

Red Nab to saltmarsh mid morning (MD)

Just a quick check of the foreshore really. Not much around except plenty of Wigeon and Shelduck around Red Nab, but a high count of:

Lapwing 220 - there were about 100 resting on the mud out from the saltmarsh then another flock came in from the NE, I thought they were going to join those on the mud, but instead the resting birds joined the new birds. After flying around a while they eventually settled again but much further out. This is the arrival of the second flock.

Common Snipe - slightly unusually, Janet flushed one from grass at the junction of Meldon Road and Kingsway.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick look at the two main ponds in the afternoon 

Mute, Coot and Moorhen unchanged 

Gadwall 36

Mallard 5

Tufted 1 male

Shoveler 1 male

Heysham skear - low water 16:20

The light was already fading as I walked out, still it was nice to see a bit more of the skear exposed. The clamour was even more pronounced than yesterday, at times almost deafening. This clip shows the Eider joining in, as new beds become exposed. This year, the mussels eventually won out over the honeycomb worms, on the west side of the middle skear where this clip was taken.

Eider c170

Great Crested Grebe 4

Red-Breasted Merganser 2 (pair, probably the same two out from the Head earlier)

Pale-belied Brent goose 37 at least. As I was walking out I saw a flock of c30 fly from the rocks out from the village to closer to the play area. At 16:00 a flock of 3 flew off west. As I was coming off the skear, now quite dark, I could see a number in the skear corner, although there is very little for the Brent to feed on there at the moment. This clip gives an idea of how dark it was getting, I was impressed at how light my camera made it look.

I could see there were more Brent further up the shore, but couldn't make out how many. I was just wondering how to get past them without spooking them, when they all took flight. Nothing spooked them, it was just "time".

There are 34 in this flock (don't they sound nice). I assumed that they were heading back to the west side of the bay to roost, but instead they circled round and landed on the water on the north side of the skear. I'm not aware of any weed in that area, available for them on this height tide, but, much as it pains me to admit it, they know the area much better than I do! (MD)

Brent appear to be getting desperate!

Light SW wind largely overcast but with a few sunny spells

First of all, a somber note. I do try to keep this post as light as possible, but the shortening days are causing a significant conflict between feeding/resting birds and people exercising their dogs. One key area is the old Heliport. This area is private property and anyone walking on there is trespassing and could be prosecuted. But more importantly this is a high water roost for thousands of waders. They don't want to roost in daylight during these short days, they need to feed, but feeding opportunities on the upcoming spring tides are very limited for them. The last thing they need when they are trying to conserve energy is to be flushed from their roost, sometimes repeatedly. I know none of the regular post readers would go onto the Heliport, but if anyone knows someone or sees someone that does please pass on this concern. We are not just talking about the health and survival of the birds, there is also a potential health risk for the dogs. As Pete points out, so far this year, there have been c4,000 Barnacle Geese known to have died of the highly transmissible Avian Flu on the not too distant Solway. And we already have more than enough transmissible viruses around!

The second area is the current feeding area for the Brent Geese around the rocks near the children's play area. This area is open for people to exercise their dogs, and dogs do need to be exercised. But the geese again today were regularly scattered, but they kept returning, closer and closer to the wall. This goes against all the instincts of a wild goose, particularly ones that spend their summers in the wilderness of the Canadian Arctic! To venture so close to the sea wall, and brazen out walkers passing so close by, indicates just how scarce their food is this year, and they need all the time they can get to eat it during these short days. If you exercise your dog(s) around this area, or know someone who does, please suggest that in the vicinity of these rocks could they walk their pets on a lead. I have regularly seen walkers with dogs to heel pass within 10m of the Brent without them taking flight. And don't forget the concern about the Avian Flu!

The third area is the other main wader roost on the Sunny Slopes groyne, this was again flushed of all birds today. It's only the occasional frantic dog, so again, keeping your dog to heel in this area is all that is required, there is plenty of beach to go round. Thank you (MD)

Middleton Nature Reserve 

I managed a decent circuit today, but saw little more than I do during my regular 5 minute checks! (MD).

Mute swan 2 adult 9 cygnet

Moorhen 6 (none in field to east of Tim Butler)

Coot 1

Mallard 11

Gadwall 29

Tufted duck 1 male

Shoveler 1 male

Sparrowhawk 1

Kestrel 1

Redwing 1 - I saw a Redwing and a Blackbird between my car and the main pond, so I started a tally sheet! Didn't see another Redwing and the few Blackbird were probably resident.

North shore 

Pete and Jean had a look, report from Pete:

Shag 1 juvenile, north side Heysham head close inshore 

Pale-bellied Brent goose Circa 40 off play area north of Heysham head including Canadian ringed pair and presumably the same intermittently recorded white ringed bird we haven’t been able to obtain a life history of

Later, I had a look on the skear and saw the groups of Brent flying out from then returning to the children's play area (MD). This first clip shows three things.

1. It starts with the white ringed bird

2. It shows the location, this is a third choice area along the groundwater run off, the slipway in the background is the one out from Rydal road.

3.it shows the point I made on Saturday about how, at range, the Brent can be confused with the Oystercatcher. This is particularly evident towards the end of the clip when the birds are more distant.

As I was leaving, I noticed a small group really close to the sloping wall between the children's play area and Heysham village. You can't really see much on this clip, other than how desperate the Brent must be!

N.B. You wouldn't be able to see any Brent here from Knowlys Road.

I like these tides, we are moving away from the neap tides, this means that each tide goes out a bit further than the last. Which in turn means that each tide exposes a bit of shore, that hasn't been exposed for a week or so. The waders and gulls clamour to be the first to exploit the new food sources. In this c5m band along the south side of the skear there was

Oystercatcher c2,000

Redshank c200

Turnstone c30

Curlew 15

Knot 10

Dunlin 5

The sun made a brief appearance, so I took this clip, not all the waders are represented, but there are Oystercatcher, Redshank, Turnstone and Curlew.

When the tide stopped ebbing, the clamouring ended.
They seemed to have found enough food for another day.
Left to right: Dunlin, Redshank and Knot

Eider 100+

Great Crested Grebe 2

Shag 2 juvenile, presumably one was the same bird seen feeding earlier off Heysham Head. This short clip shows one of the Shag diving, with an Eider diving behind it.

60 Ducks a-dabbling

The light wind started SE before swinging round to SW. A bright start but becoming overcast later in the morning, some sunny spells in the afternoon.

Red Nab and Saltmarsh 

Just a short check along the shoreline 

Greenfinch 4 on Red Nab

Shelduck 85 feeding on mud out from foreshore

Common Snipe 27 among the small tussocks of sea grass out from the saltmarsh 

Middleton Nature Reserve 

A look at the two main ponds saw a lot of new ducks in.

Mute Swam 2 adult, 9 cygnet

Moorhen 7

Coot 1 - first record since 1st November

Coot with male Gadwall

Mallard 26 on "no swimming" pond plus 3 on main pond

Gadwall 30

Shoveler 1 male

57 ducks on the "no swimming" pond! Although all dabbling ducks, most were either resting of adjusting their feathers. These are just some of them:

North shore 

Pale-Bellied Brent geese 15 at least - looking back from the skear there were at least 9 visible close in near  the children's play area. Later, they must have been spooked and moved away, there were at least 15 amongst the rocks high up the shore from the SE skear corner. Unfortunately an especially nuisance dog flushed them from here too, after clearing the skear.

Shag 1 was resting on Conger rock with 2 cormorants, before flying off to fish about an hour before low water.

Great Crested grebe 2

Eider 100+

Brent numbers increase with neap tide

Very light S to SW breeze, overcast al day with the occasional light shower.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just the briefest check of the two main ponds

Mute and Moorhen unchanged 

Mallard 2

Gadwall 24

Tufted duck 1 male

Shoveler 1 male

North shore

Pale-bellied Brent goose 39 - these 37 flew from the furthest rocks out from the children's play area to their preferred feeding spot close in to the north of the play area. There were another 2 in the skear corner that joined them later.

Today was the lowest tide in the current neap tide phase. With so much less shore exposed on these tides, many of their other feeding options will not be available (MD).

Shag 1 juvenile - I could see it feeding near conger rock while I was still a long way from the water's edge. I just managed this short clip of their classic feeding dive.

By the time I'd reached the water's edge, it must have just caught and swallowed something, wish I'd checked earlier. It must have been a quite large fish, as it spent the next few minutes fidgeting around and looking a bit uncomfortable. When I looked back later there was no sign, so presumably it had flown back to the harbour area.

Great Crested grebe just 1 seen, but suspect there were more further out

Eider c150

That's about it really, a walk back along the shore side of the sea wall failed to locate yesterday's Black Redstart, perhaps it's moved into our area, I'll have a look tomorrow.

This is a Barrel Jellyfish, not unusual here, but quite late in the year for them.

Barrel Jellyfish......

When I have seen late ones before they have been quite large, they for less than a year in their adult form. But this one was quite small. I returned it to the water, but no obvious signs of life.

.........I think its jellyfishing days are done!

Duck diversity improving, but still no Pochard (plus BRS just OOA)

 Light wind from SSW, very low cloud and rain for most of the morning, brightened up in the after lunch.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a quick check of the two main ponds, hoping for an, increasingly scarce, Pochard. We've managed at least one annually until 2020, this would be the second blank year, unless we get a late arrival.

Getting closer today, two diving ducks (Tufted) appeared on the "no swimming" pond.

Mallard 3

Gadwall 6

Shoveler 1 male

Tufted duck 2 male

The Shoveler was trying to steal the show, again. The Tufted didn't seem impressed. Sorry about the soft focus but there was a lot of very fine rain.

Heysham Harbour 

From Kevin Eaves

The R-t Diver still in the harbour.
The dredger wasn't active so it was in the waterfalls area.

North shore

Pale-bellied Brent geese 16 - just north of the children's play area, no reports yet from any close observers, this count was looking back from the skear.

No Great Crested Grebe seen

Red-breasted Merganser 1

Eider 89 in one close inshore raft

No Knot, but small flock of 14 Dunlin, plus Oystercatcher, Redshank, Curlew and Turnstone 

Carrion Crow - there are always plenty on the skear, and they are largely indifferent to me (MD). But today particularly so, I was less than two metres from these two groups of two birds.

This first clip shows one bird select a suitable mussel then fly off to a rockier area to drop and open it. But this must be its feeding spot as when it flies off, its companion finds the remnants of its last meal and manages to find some morsels.

In contrast, these two were prising barnacles from a rock, don't know if they wanted the small amount of meat inside, or the shell for their crop, or both. You can see the rain dripping from their backs, it was that fine stuff that gets you wet! You can tell just how close I was, as you can hear the barnacles breaking off. I also like, that when it hears an alarm call, it looks to me for reassurance.

This is slightly unusual, and I don't really know why. It is the imprint left in the mud where a Thornback Ray has been resting, on the ebbing tide. I know it was the ebbing tide as fish always rest facing the water flow direction. I say unusual as Thornback are quite common here, but I think this is only the second time I have seen an imprint. Partly today, that will be because the waves were slight so not so likely to smooth the imprint out, but I also think that the ray must have left it late in the tide to leave its resting place, perhaps it was injured or unwell, or just lazy!

Clear and unmistakable imprint of a Thornback Ray left in the mud

Just out of the recording area:

Pink-Footed goose "thousands" feeding in fields between Oxcliffe Rd and Heysham Moss Nature Reserve.

Ref Dave Tregidgo

Black Redstart 1 female/immature on fishing platform at the end of Rydal Rd. - Pete let me know that one had been recorded there today, originally seen by Nick Godden, the sun had just come out so I went for a look (MD), and was later joined by Jonathan.

Unfortunately, by the time we had relocated it the sun had gone. I had already checked the area thoroughly, but no sign, then it suddenly turned up, so if you go for a look, hang around for a while.

Female/immature Black Redstart 

This clip isn't great, but shows the location, the railings at the end of the clip are at the very end of the Fishing Platform. Unfortunately two cyclists arrived just after this and flushed it to the south side, where we only managed a couple more glimpses in the quickly fading light.