A decent variety

Light east wind, mainly overcast but a few sunny spells.

Just my stuff so far (MD)

Heysham skear - low water 11:00 

Pale-bellied Brent goose - at least 25 amongst the rocks out from the children's play area - only checked at distance looking back from the skear.

Shag 1 flew from south side to the north west of the skear and began fishing with the Cormorants 

Red-breasted Merganser 4 (2 pair)

Great Crested Grebe 4 individuals

Eider c130

Teal 1 female - I could see a small duck off the west end of the skear, always promising! Fortunately, it waited till I could get close enough to identify it, before it flew off north. Unfortunately, it was the "least exciting" of the small duck options that I had considered. Still, nice to see out here. At the end of this clip I zoom out to allow size comparison with a couple of male Eider.

Waders:

Oystercatcher c2000

Bar-Tailed Godwit 3 briefly on water line to south of skear

Curlew c50

Knot c200

Redshank c200

Turnstone c30

Dunlin c30

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just the usual 5 minute check - hoping for a Pochard before the year ends, not today!

Mute, Coot and Moorhen unchanged

Gadwall 41 (24 on main pond still)

Wigeon 2 (pair)

Mallard 11

Tufted Duck 3 male

Shoveler 1 male

Teal 2 (pair)

A nice size comparison shot: Wigeon, Coot and Shoveler 

South Shore "late" afternoon on rising tide

Pale-bellied Brent goose 33 - 15:05. They flew from the north side right over my head, then on to Red Nab

You can see from the above clip that I was stood by the lighthouse. This next clip was shot from the same spot, but looking towards the waterfall.

Shag 1 juvenile feeding alongside 3 Cormorants at the waterfall. This clip starts with the Shag underwater, watch for it surfacing on the right hand side near the harbour wall. It has a reasonable sized fish, but wastes no time in swallowing it today. The Cormorants would have tried to pinch it, if it had faffed around as much as the bird I filmed on 16th December. 

Easy pickings, I suspect it will be back for more.

So, not a bad viewing spot at the lighthouse. I only stayed here for 5 minutes today.

Wigeon c100 arriving at Red Nab as I walked out, there seemed more on my return.

Shelduck c20

Kingfisher 1 - it was fishing today and caught one as I walked back

Peregrine Falcon 1 cruising around

Rock Pipit 2 along sea wall

Just out of recording area, information from Pete:

Mediterranean gull 1 adult on lamppost just north of Oxcliffe Rd traffic light junction mid afternoon 

Black Redstart still near blue building mid morning

Still some of the "good stuff" left over

SE to ESE light wind, overcast with some light showers.

Pete and Jean managed a morning visit and located four key species (including the Black Redstart and Mediterranean gull, just out of the area - see bottom of post).

Pale-Bellied Brent goose 25, including the Canadian ringed birds, near the children's play area.

Shag 1 feeding near the green marker post

A quick look on the skear - low water 10:00 (MD)

Eider 100+

Great Crested grebe 4

Red-breasted Merganser 7 - including this distant group of 5, with the 2 males beginning to display (not a great clip, but I have little else different today).

An even quicker look at Middleton Nature Reserve 

Pretty much the same as yesterday, except no Shoveler 

Mute, Coot and Moorhen unchanged

Mallard 13

Gadwall 39 (26 still on main pond)

Tufted Duck 2 male

Wigeon 2 (pair)

Teal 4 (2 pair)

A dusk check of Red Nab

The tide was almost at high water, but at 8.1m it only reaches the outer rocks.

Pale-bellied Brent 25, clearly the birds from the play area this morning, as these also included the Canadian ringed birds. They don't always fly from the north side on this height tide, but they seem to have located a relatively rich vein of gut weed on the SW corner of Red Nab.

Shelduck 58 

Wigeon c80

Kingfisher 1 resting on rock beside the freshwater stream. Not close enough to be fishing though.

Greenfinch 36 - a strangely silent flock flying around, presumably preparing to roost (MD)

Just out of the recording area:

Mediterranean gull 1 adult on lamppost just north of Oxcliffe Rd traffic light junction with Heysham Rd.

Black Redstart 1 female/immature seen by several observers both on the promenade rocks and private gardens by the blue building near Stanley Rd.

Andrew McCafferty has posted a nice shot of it on the Lancaster and District Bird Watching Society blog. This link will take you there if you want a look.

https://lancasterbirdwatching.org.uk/forums/topic/morecambe-black-redstart/

The sounds of Christmas present

A very cold and quite fresh east wind. Sunny spells and showers in the morning mainly dry after lunch.

North shore

Just a quick check of the children's play area to the waterline and back.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 15 close in just north of the play area. I took this clip hoping to catch the sounds of Christmas from here, St Peter's church bells were ringing and a background of dogs out with their new squeaky toys - I seem to recall Christmas mornings were always busy with children with their new toys, still it was a cold wind! Unfortunately the cold wind also proved a noisy one. You may just be able to hear the bells tolling during part of this clip, but you'll have to imagine the squeaky toys. Still, the Geese weren't disturbed. (MD)

Mediterranean gull 1 adult, also near the play area

Mediterranean gull foreground with Black-Headed gull

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Great Crested Grebe 1

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just the two main ponds checked, but it was quite interesting, not so much for the bird content, but the distribution. It at least answered one question from earlier in the winter.

When I arrived there was no one there, and no wet tracks out of the car park, so there had been either no or very little earlier disturbance. Most of the Gadwall were happily feeding on the main pond. This is obviously their pond of choice, and explains why it was this pond where they maintained a pocket in the ice when the ponds froze last month. But Gadwall (and Teal) are more flighty than the other duck visitors, and the main pond is normally quite busy.

Main Pond

Mute Swan 6 cygnets

Moorhen 3

Mallard 12

Gadwall 37

Tufted duck 1 

These are some of the feeding Gadwall, they appear to be reaching the weed more easily here than on the "no swimming" pond.

No swimming pond

Mute Swan 2 adult 3 cygnets 

Coot 1

Moorhen 4

Gadwall 4 (so 41 total again)

Wigeon 2 (pair)

Tufted Duck 3 males, later joined by the bird from the main pond.

Shoveler 2. We now also have a female, but I would hesitate to call them a pair yet. This is the female, with a couple of Gadwall and a Tufted.

The male wasn't too far away, there can't be many ponds around here where you can capture four duck species on one frame.

All males! Shoveler, Wigeon, Tufted and Gadwall 

Out of the recording area: information via Pete:

Black Redstart 1 female/immature. Showing on at least two occasions on the rocks opposite the blue house (by Stanley Rd).

Festive felicitations

An east wind all day, mainly rain in the morning but largely dry in the afternoon with occasional weak sunshine.

First this greeting from Howard:

A sentiment shared by everyone in the Observatory team

Jean also sent me this amusing greeting, perhaps not as professional as Howard's but it does have a charm all of its own.

We know that many families are facing another difficult Christmas, hopefully the above will make you smile, as it made me smile (MD)

South shore - high water 14:10

Wigeon 100+

Shelduck only 8 seen

Pale-bellied Brent Goose 24 - these pictures from Kevin

The advantage of feeding on the gut weed in water is that it is easier to crop
as it floats, and by floating the remaining longer strands reveal themselves 

Pale-bellied Brent geese with a male Wigeon

Rock Pipit 2 (one Red Nab and one on saltmarsh)

Reed Bunting 1 on saltmarsh 

Kingfisher 1 on Red Nab, along the freshwater stream from the culvert. I managed some similar shots to yesterday, but opted to post this more enigmatic silhouetted clip (MD)

The Polish ringed Black-Headed gull is still around the harbour 

This is a bit of a puzzle. There were two Pied Wagtail feeding along the harbour wall. They were both constantly picking up something tiny to eat. I can't think what, in summer I would be thinking ants, but not this time of year. I've watched this clip frame by frame and can barely make out a dark "spot" in some of the picks. So no idea what they were finding, but there was lots of it!

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a check of the two main ponds

Mute Swan still split between the two ponds

Moorhen 6

Coot 1

Shoveler 1 male - back in time for Christmas! This time on the main pond.

Mallard 14

Gadwall 41 (7 on main pond 34 on "no swimming" pond)

Wigeon 2 (pair)

Teal 1 male

Tufted Duck 4 male on "no swimming" pond

The Tufty club - you'll need to be of a certain age for that phrase to resonate!

I think this clip captures all the ducks on the "no swimming" pond, except the Teal

Just out of the recording area:

Black Redstart 1 female/immature - again located by Nick Godden along the same rocks near Grovenor Rd, see post 12/12/21 for more details. Nick's comments today - Still present in the same area 13:45, moving between the rocks and adjacent gardens

As promised......something different

Light SE wind, quite a lot, and quite heavy rain in the morning, but mainly fine in the afternoon.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a brief check of the two main ponds (MD)

Mute 2 adult plus 9 cygnet, again split into 6 cygnet on the main pond with the 2 adult and 3 cygnet on the no swimming pond. The mute normally either try to chase you off or come begging to be fed, but these blithely ignored me and were just chuntering to each other. I do like it when wildlife, or in this case semi wildlife, ignores me. I didn't even warrant a second look!

Gadwall 37 a new high count for this year, I think

Mallard 13

Tufted duck 4 males (3 on "no swimming" plus 1 on main pond)

Wigeon 2

Moorhen 6

Coot 1

Brief as my visit was, I still managed a soaking, so I just did a quick check of the Brent near the play area before heading home.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 21 close in by the children's play area, including the Canadian ringed pair.

Red Nab and saltmarsh - high water 13:30

Wigeon 150+

Shelduck c30

Pale-bellied Brent goose 24 - almost certainly including the 21 from this morning.

Common Snipe 26 flushed from saltmarsh - this was a bit unusual as the water only just reached it, but one lot of 5 and another flock of 21 took flight, although the latter returned to the same area they originally lifted from.

Rock Pipit 1

Kingfisher 1

Kingfisher on a favourite fishing rock, note the guano behind it. I'll show the location later.

This is a nice height (8.7m) to watch the birds on Red Nab at high water, although just a bit high as most of the birds moved on before high water, tomorrow's tide at 8.5m should be better. These are just a couple of clips to show the activity not far out from the sea wall.

This first one is just a few of the Wigeon

This clip shows some of the Brent feeding with the Wigeon. It shows just how small a goose the Brent are compared to the Wigeon, which are only a middling sized duck.

Back to the Kingfisher. This is its favourite fishing spot, just at the entrance to the freshwater culvert. The droppings behind it are its, I could show you a clip of it contributing, but I thought you would prefer to take my word for it. Unfortunately, I didn't see it catch any fish today.

It is clearly very familiar with the feeding opportunities on Red Nab. As soon as the tide reached the large western rocks, it moved over to fish from the largest one.

Finally, I promised something different. This is new for me, and I suspect for many of you too, although it may be a common sight where Kingfishers are regular, I don't know, but it's definitely different for here. Like most predatory birds, Kingfishers get rid of their indigestible waste by producing pellets. This clip shows it expelling one, quite some distance (MD).

So it's clearly feeding well, a rock covered in guano and a waste pellet!

Mainly web footed news today

Contrary to the weather charts that I saw today, the light breeze started from NW then round to NE by early afternoon. After that it drifted more to the predicted ESE. Mainly overcast with a few light showers.

Just a bit of my stuff again so far (MD)

North shore:

I thought I'd have a look at the mid point between low and high water, mainly to see what was on the water at that time (nothing!). But it proved impractical, as there was nowhere to walk without disturbing either the Brent or the waders, so just a walk to waterline and back from Four Lane Ends.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 16 - a group of 12 was making its way along the shore to the outer rocks from the play area. Another 4 flew directly in and landed on the middle rocks. These are the 12, led by the two Canadian ringed birds.

Oystercatcher 1,000+

Knot 150

Dunlin 30

Turnstone 15

Middleton Nature Reserve 

A short shore walk meant I had time to Check the Tim Butler pond as well as the two main pond. Didn't gain much just 5 Mallard and a couple of Moorhen on Tim Butler.

A bit of excitement though, I thought the Mute Swan status had changed, there were only 6 cygnets on the main pond, but the 2 adult and the remaining 3 cygnets were on the "no swimming" pond.

Moorhen 9

Coot 1

Mallard 20

Gadwall 36 ( including 8 on main pond)

Teal 2 (pair) probably more hidden from view

Tufted duck 3 males

Wigeon 2 (male and female). At first they were at opposite ends of the "no swimming" pond, but they made their way towards each other, both with the same romantic "runny nose" look!

First the female

Now the male

They eventually met in the middle. It seems strange to be so interested in these two when there are over a hundred on Red Nab. But a female Wigeon was with the Gadwall over the 2019/20 winter period, perhaps the same female as now. If so, she obviously has some affinity with the Gadwall, but has still managed to attract a male Wigeon, which also now seems to be part of one of the groups of Gadwall.

The Wigeon "pair"

The Tufted had been feeding, but I just managed to catch the last dive.

Lapwing 250 heading SE towards the estuary, at a time when the tide would have reached the saltmarsh 

Sparrowhawk 1

I'll try and find something different to report tomorrow!

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!