Brent numbers increasing again.

A fresh SSW wind all day. Very low cloud in the morning with some light showers. The rain becoming heavy and persistent by the afternoon.

South Shore mid morning

Lapwing 232 on mud out from the saltmarsh 

Common Snipe 5 seen in the sea grass patches just out from the saltmarsh, there were almost certainly many more, but they are difficult to spot and I didn't want to disturb the Lapwing by getting too close. These images were taken on Tuesday when I managed to locate 18. Not great shots but do show where to look, even so, you have to believe they are there before you can spot them (a bit like Fairies! MD).

Just 1 Common Snipe visible here

There are 3 Common Snipe visible in this clump

They remind me of Pheasants, their camouflage is so good that if, in the correct terrain, they remain motionless you invariably wouldn't see them. But long before you get close to them, they take flight. In contrast, Jack Snipe totally trust their camouflage and you almost need to tread on them before they take flight.

Shelduck 78 on mud out from foreshore 

Wigeon 201 - today the tide was ebbing and they flew from Red Nab to the channel along No.2 outflow. It was raining at this point, so again a clip from Tuesday. On this clip, the tide was rising and they were trudging their way towards Red Nab. These are only some of Tuesday's Wigeon.

Rock Pipit 3 (1 on Red Nab plus 2 together on sea wall)

No sign of any Shag in the harbour 

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick look on the way home:

No sign of the Pochard today, which is a shame, I was hoping it would hang around till Saturday! Perhaps it will return.

Mute Swan the 2 new adults were still on the main pond, separate from but not bothered by the 6 cygnets. 2 adult plus 3 cygnets on the "no swimming" pond.

Mallard 4 on main pond

Gadwall 39 (24 on main pond)

Wigeon 2 (pair)

Tufted Duck 4 male

Teal 2 (pair)

Shoveler 1 mature male

Coot 1

Moorhen 8

North shore

Brent Geese 

Report from Pete Crooks:

34 Pale-bellied Brent Geese (including the two regular Canadian colour-ringed birds) and 

2 Dark-bellied Brent Geese close to the promenade off Whinnysty Lane at 3.00 pm.

I had a look from the promenade a little later, even so it was almost dark with the heavy rain. Unfortunately just as I arrived a particularly boisterous dog managed to flush everything, from both sides of the play area, resulting in a flock of 45 Brent geese. Most were Pale-bellied, it was not possible to pick out any dark-bellied as they flew further out, with their backs towards me. Brent numbers here tend to peak on the neap tides, we are moving back towards spring tides now. Anyway, it should  be better viewing weather tomorrow afternoon. (MD)

Dark-bellied Brents - first of winter

A fresh SW wind, rain in the morning eased before lunch, then mainly dry.

Harbour waterfall

Just a quick check from Fishers side 10:10.

Rock Pipit 1

Shag 1 juvenile - this isn't my picture, it's another of Craig's great shots from yesterday. As ever with these high resolution images, please open to see the detail.

Juvenile Shag

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just another quick check

Two new adult Mute swans were on the main pond, the six cygnets were not happy and were trying to drive them off. This adult looks like it has already received a peck on its neck.

The original 2 adult and the other three cygnets were on the "no swimming" pond 

Another cosmopolitan list of wildfowl on the two ponds:

Moorhen 8

Coot 1

Gadwall 41 (20 on main pond)

Wigeon 2 

Tufted Duck 5 male (2 on main pond)

Mallard 10 (main pond)

Teal 4 (2 on main pond)

Shoveler 3 (female plus 2 male, 1 not yet in breeding plumage)

Pochard 1 male

This clip is not very clear, it was still raining. It starts with the Pochard, then the female and mature male Shoveler, then pans across to the other male Shoveler, via the Wigeon pair.

North shore 

Brent Geese:

A walk out to the skear started at Four Lane Ends at 12:40 (MD). A scan from the promenade couldn't locate any Brent geese. When I got to the bottom of the steps, I scanned again, nothing. Then 30 Pale-bellied Brent landed right next to me, no more than 10m away. They came in from the north, I don't know if they had just arrived from the west side of the bay or returning from the skear after being spooked. Either way, when they moved off a bit I backed away and left them to it.

By 12:50 I was approaching the waterline when 3 Dark-bellied Brent flew in from the west side. They were obviously Dark-bellied in flight, this clip shows them circling back and landing on the inner skear just out from Sunny Slopes groyne.

At 13:00 they must have noticed the Pale-bellied birds near the play area and flew over to join them. But it wasn't really the play area today, the gut weed there must be becoming depleted, as I was walking back, they were directly in front of the steps to Four Lane Ends where they landed beside me earlier. Someone was walking down the steps with a dog, so I took this clip to show just how confiding they are here, as long as walkers and their dogs keep to themselves. Most of the geese just continued feeding.

It took me a while to walk towards the play area, then back along the sandy strip that the dog walkers tend to use. In that time four lots of dog walkers passed the geese without spooking them, including a group of three walkers with four dogs. When I got back to the bottom of the steps, I took this clip. It includes the dark-bellied birds and ends with the Canadian ringed pair.

Three Dark-bellied Brent geese with a Pale-bellied bird on the right

Other than the Brents there wasn't a lot going on.

Eider 4

Great Crested Grebe 2

Pete and Jean were also checking from Knowlys Rd. and got the same Brent count as me (always reassuring) but in addition managed:

Mediterranean gull 1 adult near play area.

Plus checking south side

Kittiwake 1 adult briefly at the end of No.1 outflow

No sign of the Black Redstart just out of area

Pochard joins the year list, with just four days to go!

Light WNW wind, the morning rain stopped earlier than expected and the sun came out for a while.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

I didn't have time for a walk this morning, but was planning on my daily quick check of the two main ponds as I was passing. The rain stopped and the sun came out just as I arrived at 10:20 (MD).

Mute, Coot and Moorhen unchanged.

Mallard 12 (all on the main pond)

Gadwall 39 (30 on main pond)

Wigeon 2 

Tufted Duck 3 male

Teal 4 (2 pair)

Shoveler 1 male

The above were on the "no swimming" pond as was:

Pochard 1 male - Pochard have not traditionally merited a bold highlight, but this species has become increasing rare in the area. This is the first observatory record since 27/11/19, 2020 was the first blank year. With a bit of luck, today's bird will hang around to be included in 2022 list.

Drake Pochard

There were no Mallard on the "no swimming" pond, even so an impressive tally of 6 duck species - Pochard, Gadwall, Wigeon, Tufted, Shoveler and Teal. There are five of them on this clip, although the female Teal towards the end is barely discernible 

Children's Play area

Just a quick lunchtime check in passing from Knowlys Rd

Pale-bellied Brent geese 14 (at least)

South shore - late afternoon on rising tide

Common Snipe 18 amongst the patches of sea grass just out from the saltmarsh 

Wigeon 207 were making their way on the rising tide to Red Nab

Not enough water before dark for either the Brents or Kingfisher 

Rock Pipit 3 (Red Nab, sea wall and lighthouse)

Shag 1 juvenile again near the waterfall. 

The waterfall is a return for fish etc from the Power Station cooling water inlet. As such most fish will be alive, albeit disoriented, when they fall down the waterfall. The gulls really need the waterfall outlet to be above the water line, so that they can catch the fish as they hit the water. It is therefore better for the diving birds when the outlet is below the waterline as this prevents the gulls from catching the fish, leaving more for them to catch. The outlet is covered by the tide about 3 hours after low water, this works for all height tides.

I arrived at the harbour 15:20, low water was 12:15, just over 3 hours. The waterfall outlet was covered, gulls were still feeding there, they can still catch stunned fish. The Shag looked like it had already fed as it was just cruising around the upstands, not diving. This clip ends by zooming out, you can see the two upstands and the waterfall is out of sight to the right.

Eventually, it returned for another helping:

I was quite pleased with my shots today (MD), and still am, but these pictures from Craig Bell, are in a different league. These are high resolution images and must be opened to really enjoy the detail.

Juvenile Shag by Craig Bell

Little Egret

Thanks Craig.

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.