Black Redstart

WSW wind. Mainly overcast with a few showers, and glimpses of sunshine.

Black Redstart 1 female/immature on power station fence by (first) dog leg down the single track road to gate 38 (ref Craig Bell) - As this track is along the Power Station boundary, you may attract the attention of the  Power Station Police here. They will just need reassurance of your reason for being there, but best if you have some form of identification, and pictures inside the power station boundary are not allowed. (MD)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 36 seen from Knowlys Road (ref Mark Breaks) - later at 14:30 at least 31 landed on Red Nab

Shag 1 juvenile in the harbour, at least in the afternoon 

Heysham skear - low water 10:40

Eider c120

Great Crested grebe 2

Little Egret 3

Waders:

Oystercatcher c2,000

Knot c250

Dunlin c50

Redshank c100

Turnstone c20

Curlew c20

Some of the Knot and Dunlin having a brief rest at slack water.
Even the "sleeping" ones always have one eye on you.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just the 5 minute check in passing

Mute, Coot and Moorhen unchanged.

Mallard 10

Gadwall 41 (2 on main pond)

Shoveler 2 (pair)

Wigeon 2 (pair) - this clip is as much for the audio as the video. After a while, the drake Wigeon whistles for his mate (she was on the other side of the pond and continued to totally ignore him). But at least it persuaded the drake Shoveler that he wasn't a threat.

Teal 11 - these are some of them dropping in

Tufted 3 male - the Coot has now decided that it is more expedient to hang around with the diving ducks (they reminded me of three Nuns and a Vicar.........perhaps I should get out more! (MD)). At least they didn't pinch its meal.

Just out of area:

Black Redstart 1 female/immature again near the blue house along Sandylands. 

There has been some, very understandable, concern raised by the residents of the houses where this bird visits their gardens. Cameras and optics looking into private property is only acceptable with the owner's permission. Please respect the privacy of the residents.

Unseasonal Seal

West wind. Rain all morning reducing to sunshine and showers by the afternoon.

South shore mid afternoon 

Sea wall and harbour - Kevin

Pale-bellied Brent goose 24 (at least) on Red Nab

Wigeon c150

Shag 1 juvenile patrolling above the waterfall, which was covered by the tide.

Juvenile Shag above the harbour waterfall 

Ringed Plover 1 on Red Nab, along with the Oystercatchers

Greenfinch 3 on Red Nab

Grey Seal 1 - Grey seals are around all year, but are not common here in the winter months. This one looks to be a female.

Grey Seal - males have pale markings on a dark background, females
have dark marking on a paler background. This appears to be the latter,
but you might need to open the image to see markings clearly.

Saltmarsh area (MD)

Rock Pipit 4 - 2 feeding amongst the flotsam in the NE corner

Reed Bunting 4

Song Thrush 1

Common Snipe 2

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Little change except:

Gadwall increase to 41

Shoveler 2 (pair)

Just out of the recording area:

Black Redstart 1 female/ immature - these are Nick Godden's comments from LDBWS website today: 

Not a surprise at all to find the black redstart still in the same area of Sandylands near the blue house about 11.05 this morning. Mostly using the gardens today. Don’t be put off by “no sign today” messages! It’s elusive and can easily go out of sight in the gardens or rocks but will surely remain all winter unless we get a spell of hard weather.

Also rock pipit again in the same area

No surprises today

Another cold wind, today from SW. A mixture of sunny spells and showers, some of hail.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Only real change from yesterday was that there was no sign of the Shovelers today, plus I forgot to include Tufted yesterday.

Mute, Coot and Moorhen unchanged

Mallard 14

Wigeon 2

Gadwall 39

Tufted Duck 4 male

Heliport wall

Black-tailed Godwit 1. Plus the roosting Oystercatcher and a few Knot, quite early on the rising tide - Ref Tim Woodward.

South shore early afternoon (MD and TW)

Shag 1 juvenile by the waterfall - 1 also seen here in the morning from Fishers side

Wigeon c120

Pale-bellied Brent goose 34 on Red Nab, including the Canadian ringed birds - they are all on this clip, shortly before the tide moved them on from Red Nab.

Pale-bellied Brent heading towards Posts at 13:20

Lapwing 71 out from the saltmarsh 

Common Snipe 1

Rock Pipit 7 - I said no surprises today but 5 together on the saltmarsh was unusual, possibly attracted by the same pile of flotsam that attracted the Turnstone and Sanderling yesterday. Although they weren't feeding there when seen. Also 1 on Red Nab and 1 near the waterfall.

Reed Bunting 2 with the saltmarsh Rock Pipits

Nice Sanderling surprise

 A bitterly cold south wind early on with high cloud. Rain/sleet started about 10:15, after that there were some heavy rain showers and the wind shifted to SSW.

Heysham skear - low water 08:20 (MD)

Eider c60

Great Crested Grebe 6

Red-breasted Merganser 4

Shag 1 (at least) fishing to NW of skear

The only time the sun shone today was just after sunrise for a few minutes. It was such a difference to the gloom both before and after, that I feel obliged to use one of the clips I took in the low morning light.

This is a nice mature male Eider waddling through the old Honeycomb worm mounds. At this time of year, the winter storms strip much of the mussels from the skear. This normally leaves the bare skear bottom, but this year what remains are the old honeycomb worm beds that last year's mussels formed over. But it begs the question as to what will happen this year.

Just out of recording area:

Mediterranean gull 1 adult resting on the telegraph pole just north of its usual lamppost at Oxcliffe Rd traffic lights.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Mute 6 adult 9 juvenile 

Coot 1

Moorhen 8

Gadwall 41

Wigeon 2 (returning pair)

Shoveler 3 pair plus immature male

South shore mid-late afternoon 

As I set off, the heaviest shower of the day started. When I reached the saltmarsh, it was still largely covered, although the tide was ebbing quickly. There was something foraging in the flotsam in the NE corner of the marsh. I would have guessed Starlings, but there was something white with them. As I moved towards the corner it became obvious, even through the rain, that they were c12 Turnstone with a......

Sanderling - this first clip was from as close as I dare go without disturbing them.

But the tide was ebbing quickly and allowed me to get onto the marsh and look back at them. A Turnstone quite unceremoniously pushes the Sanderling away towards the end of this clip.

I left them to it, but as I walked away the rain stopped, so I popped back for a clearer shot.

Sanderling with Turnstone - Sanderling are a rare winter visitor here

I left them for a second time, and they were still foraging as I left the saltmarsh.

Rock Pipit 6 (2+1 on saltmarsh, 1 on Red Nab plus 2 on sea wall)

Reed Bunting 2 on saltmarsh 

Wigeon c100

Pale-bellied Brent goose 10+ - there were none on Red Nab as I walked out, but it was just becoming exposed. On the return at 16:20 there was a feeding group in the middle, but very difficult to see in the gloom but at least 10.

Shag 2 juvenile on waterfall - this clip from lighthouse shows both Shag, plus a Cormorant 

This one shows one performing their distinctive dive

Finally, a sign of the times. It was quite dark as I returned to my car, but this Kestrel near the small anemometer was still hunting. No need to waste energy hovering, or go to roost in the dark. This high luminosity lamp was illuminating the bare ground below and the Kestrel was just waiting for supper to scurry past. I wonder how late it can do this for? (MD)

Ringed Necked Parakeet

A cold WNW wind, but sunshine all day again (having said that, the sun set at 16:05!)

Ring Necked Parakeet east over shops by Knowlys road yesterday per Dominic Green 

South Shore 

Wigeon 150+

Shelduck 6

Shelduck 

Rock Pipit 5 - 1 on saltmarsh, 1 on Red Nab, 2 on the sea wall and 1 near the waterfall. These are the two along the sea wall. They have been feeding together like this since the lighthouse nesting pair fledged one young last year. I have always thought of them as the female and young from that nest. But that is speculation based only on apparent continuity of behaviour, there is no way of knowing. (MD)

This next clip is actually from yesterday. It is the Red Nab bird, it had just had a bath and was rearranging its feathers, providing a nice view of its plumage.

The Polish ringed Black-Headed gull now in its sixth calendar year.
It has been recorded at Heysham in winter in all of those six years.

Pale-bellied Brent Geese 31 - there were none on Red Nab when I passed before the tide reached it, although there was, slightly unusually, a flock of 7 heading west at 10:30. Later Tim Woodward saw 31 as late as 15:30, when, as yesterday, the tide would have left the rocks.

Kingfisher 1 - one of its favoured fishing spots is on the edge of the groundwater culvert opening on the sloping wall on Red Nab. I managed to get quite close without it seeing me, and it revealed itself to have a reddening base to its lower mandible. So, it's an it no longer, she's a she!

Kingfisher - the red on the base of its lower bill showing her to be a female

Wildlife on the doorstep......well, kerbside.

Overnight rain turned to clear skies and sub zero temperatures by dawn. A cold NNW wind with sunshine pretty much all day.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

My car was covered in a sheet of ice, I thought the ponds would be iced over too, but the rain must have continued long enough and the ponds were completely ice free (MD).

Just the two main ponds checked:

Mute Swan 5 adult 9 juvenile 

Moorhen 7

Coot 1 - I like this clip, the Coot seems so pleased with its chunk of weed. It evades one group of Gadwall, just to have most of its meal pinched by another. An occupational hazard I suppose if you share a pond with 42 dabbling ducks.

Little grebe 1

Gadwall 40 ( all on the "no swimming" pond)

Tufted Duck 4 males

Shoveler 2 (pair) - I don't know if these are the same male and female that were present last week, but today's birds were definitely together.

Heliport wader roost

Howard managed to read more colour coded Knot rings at high water including this bird - you will need to open the images to see the ring detail.

You can see how the lower outside edge of the orange flag is being worn away by
the rough terrain it often walks through - I have the same problem with my wellies!

This is one of Howard's pictures of the same bird, but taken two years ago.
You can see that the wear had started but not as pronounced as today's shot.

It's nice to see that the Norwegian ringed Oystercatcher is still with us.
It will be a third calendar year (3CY) bird now.

South shore

I was intrigued by Shaun's report yesterday of the Potts corner Brent stopping to feed between the cafe and Ocean Edge saltmarsh, so I timed my walk to coincide with any repeat performance (MD).

Pale-bellied Brent goose 31 - I walked along the shore towards Potts from the saltmarsh on the ebbing tide. No sign of any Brent until I was close enough to see the cafe. The tide was quite a way out by that time, but the Brent were feeding close in on gut weed covered rocks. Unfortunately, it couldn't last for long, as this section of beach gets quite busy as it becomes exposed, as this clip will demonstrate. These birds are well south of the recording area, but soon all 31 will be well within it.

They brazened out the car passing twice, but by 13:45 something else spooked them and they set off north. They shaped to land after about 300m, where there are more gut weed covered stones, but they must have been later in the tide than yesterday, and when they realised that the Red Nab rocks were exposed they continued on and landed there instead. It seemed strange sitting on a rock outside the recording area, watching birds fly into it! It took them almost two minutes to reach Red Nab, this is just the first 500m

They were still feeding on Red Nab when I got back at 14:45 (I'm a bit slower than the Brent!). The tide had already left the rocks then, but there is much less disturbance here than out from the children's play area. But the gut weed is generally cropped much shorter by the Wigeon.

The following records are all on, around or just out from the saltmarsh.

Wigeon 150+ (Out from saltmarsh when tide was still quite high)

Common Snipe 3 (returning to saltmarsh after tide had left it)

Rock Pipit 3

Reed Bunting 5 - this is the first occasion this winter when I have seen more than one here.

Reed Bunting 

Waders just out from the saltmarsh, these high spring tides leave this flat area of mud very quickly, leaving invertebrates stranded, the waders feed quickly - these are Knot and a few Dunlin, not much to see apart from the feeding pattern.

Knot 35

Dunlin 20

Ringed Plover 14

Turnstone 2

Redshank 30+

Finally, this is what today's title refers to. The following clip was looking west from Imperial Rd (the road leading to the "Waste Technology Park" just off Heysham bypass (the 50mph section)). It represents the eastern boundary of the recording area. These two Roe deer were no more than 50m from the bypass, you can hear the traffic.

My first thought was that it was a Roebuck following a doe, but checking the video I realised that they were both bucks.

This is the first one, you can see its proto-antlers forming.

Roebuck with its velvet covered antlers just beginning to form

The antler development of the above buck is typical for so early in the year. The buck behind it, in contrast, has remarkably well developed antlers for so early. They are shed every year of course, but presumably the second buck is more mature and its antlers destined to be impressive. Only four prongs so far, but surely going to be a six pointer.

Roebuck with very developed antlers for so early in the year.
They will continue to grow until the velvet sheds late March to April

So, it would seem that the second male wasn't so much following as "seeing off"!

A bit of wind blown stuff

The strong overnight winds were already easing by 04:00. Although they did continue to be quite strong from the SW. Mainly fine with a few sunny spells but an occasional light shower.

South Shore

Report from Shaun:

Almost all the birds were heading out between 08:30 and 09:15:

Red-throated Diver 2 out

Common Scoter female out

Greylag Goose 10 out

Kittiwake 3 adults + 24 Common Gulls out 

Grey Plover c18 out

Shag juv harbour waterfall early on

Cormorant 64 roosting on wooden pier

Wigeon 172 between the two outfalls

Kingfisher on Red Nab

Rock Pipit 1 harbour wall plus a pair on Red Nab

Just out of the recording area:

25 PB Brent's (including cr pair) Middleton Sands at midday (high tide). 

Then flew and landed on mudflats to feed c300m north from car park/cafe at 13:30 - (At that point they were probably just within the southern limit of the recording area. (MD)

Also on south shore (MD)

Rock Pipits at least 3 in addition to Shaun's 3 including 2 together on saltmarsh.

Jack Snipe 2 flushed from western edge of saltmarsh towards high water. The south and eastern edges not checked.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 4. On Red Nab at 09:20, then this clip of them with the Wigeon over the covered saltmarsh at 10:20. They almost certainly will be some of the 25 described by Shaun above.

Pete and Jean checked the incoming lunchtime ferry:

Kittiwake 4 adult

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just the two main ponds checked:

Mute Swan, the additional aggressive adult must have move on, peace and tranquillity reigned!

Adult 3 x 2. Juvenile 2 + 7

Moorhen 5

Coot 1

Mallard 11 on main pond

Gadwall 39

Tufted Duck 4 male

No sign of Shoveler, Pochard, Wigeon or Teal

Water Rail 1 - unusually seen but not heard - just a glimpse in margin of "no swimming" pond.

Little grebe 1 - this is the first record since the ponds briefly froze over in late November.

No reports received, so far, from the north shore

Barnacle Goose, plus.........a bit of a boys club!

 Fresh SSW wind. Overnight rain stopped early on with just one heavy shower after lunch, otherwise high cloud with some sunshine.

Red Nab - saltmarsh area - high water 10:30

Pale Bellied Brent Geese 9 feeding on the Red Nab gut weed till displaced by the rising tide, then flew towards the Lune estuary.

Wigeon 160 out from the saltmarsh 

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

The tide had already covered the marsh so most of the Common Snipe were already long gone but:

Common Snipe 2

Jack Snipe 2 - both the Jack Snipe provided good views, but very difficult to photograph in flight, particularly against the light. Fortunately they have a unique profile. These are my best efforts (MD).

Jack Snipe silhouetted

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just the passing five minute check 

Mute Swan - I thought the aggressive male had returned to the main pond to usurp the four new adult, as there were five adult plus seven cygnets on the main pond, and one adult was chasing adult and juvenile alike. But on checking the "no swimming " pond the original two adult were still there with the other two cygnet.

Mallard 18 on the main pond

The remainder of today's "ducks" were all on the "no swimming" pond. This is where today's "boys club" comment comes from, with the exception of the Gadwall, all today's ducks were actually drakes!

Gadwall 36 (roughly half female and half male)

Tufted Duck 6 male

Shoveler 1 male

Pochard 1 male

Teal 1 male

Coot 1 

Moorhen 5

Shoveler, Tufted and resting Pochard - all males

This clip includes all six Tufted

North shore

Just a quick look from Knowlys Road 

Pale-bellied Brent Geese 19 out from the children's play area mid afternoon. The early afternoon downpour would have done them a favour by deterring walkers. It was still quite quiet when I checked (compared to yesterday). 

Also, seen by Shaun:

Mediterranean gull 1 adult near play area

Barnacle goose 1 with a small flock of Pink-Footed geese over Heysham Village bay

Harbour waterfall 

Another quick check from Fishers side

Shag 1 juvenile 

I've been thinking about what I said the other day about the waterfall being more suitable for the diving birds when the tide is above its outlet. The logic of that is because the gulls can't reach any fish, there are more for the diving birds. But when I watched today with the water level significantly below the outlet, it occurred to me that any fish dropping that height will likely be stunned, so easier to catch, for both the gulls and the diving birds. Either way, I've seen Shag feeding here in both scenarios, although, not when the tide is significantly higher than the outlet (MD)

I took the clip below to demonstrate the process, more than capture the detail of the Shag. It is only poor quality anyway, as the low late afternoon sun was shining from behind. The still below is from the clip and shows the location of the juvenile Shag as it makes a brief appearance towards the end of the clip.

Juvenile Shag feeding below the waterfall 

Just a word of caution about checking from this side. The waterfall is visible, but only in you stand close to the edge of the harbour wall. Recommend only if you are sure of foot, and a good swimmer!

Finally - just in - Kevin Singleton managed a quick visit to the area today and provided these nice high resolution images:

Oystercatcher taking advantage of the pools left by the overnight rain

Pale-bellied Brent geese landing near the children's play area

Pale-bellied Brent - looks like tempers were getting frayed 

Pochard kicks off the 2022 list!

SSW wind overcast in the morning but unseasonably warm and sunny in the afternoon.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick check......with fingers crossed.....it worked!

The water level on the "no swimming" pond was almost back to normal. It is controlled by a pump, but the activation signal doesn't trip till the water level is quite high. Fortunately, when it does activate it continues till the water level has returned to normal. 

Mute Swan 2 lots of 2 adult on the main pond plus 6 cygnet. The original 2 adult plus 3 cygnet (now 2nd calendar year). On "no swimming" pond.

Moorhen 8

Coot 1 back on "no swimming" pond

Mallard 4 on Main pond

Gadwall 38 all on "no swimming"

Tufted Duck 3 male

Teal 2 

Shoveler 1 mature male

Pochard 1 male - we had to wait to the very end of 2021 for the first record last year. Even so, it's not about listing for listings sake, it's about accurately monitoring the progress of a declining species in the area.

Top to bottom - male Pochard, female Teal and female Gadwall

In this clip the Pochard is diving, but it also shows how the weed is even more accessible to the dabbling ducks now, than before the water level rose, presumably its additional buoyancy in the deeper water stretched the weed.

Saltmarsh area - high water 09:40

I arrived too late for the bulk of the common snipe being flushed by the tide, but just at the right stage to check for Jack Snipe. Todays tide at 9.1m and pushed in by the south wind was perfect as it just covered all of the marsh. 

Common Snipe 6

Jack Snipe 1

I am confident that there weren't many if any more Jack Snipe, at least this one did settle again further around the marsh edge. Presumably the very wet weather recently has provided many other feeding areas (MD)

Wigeon 140

Rock Pipit 1

Shag 1 juvenile at the harbour waterfall late afternoon (seen by Pete and Jean).

North Shore

It was a very pleasant afternoon on a weekend bank holiday, everyone and their dogs were out enjoying the weather. Meanwhile the Brent were out, trying to survive, and they did an admirable job weaving amongst the walkers out from the children's play area. Although not so many today and numbers varied, the experienced Canadian pair lead the way and the others follow.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 18 is the highest count that I am aware of so far.

Five Pale-bellied Brent coming in to feed with a group already feeding out
 from Four Lane Ends steps. Their pale bellies very distinctive at this angle.

No Dark-bellied birds seen or reported so far today.

A respectable end to the year.

 Very heavy overnight rain stopped quite early. SW wind with occasional sunny spells.

Saltmarsh area - high water 08:50

Rock Pipit 2

Lapwing 80

Wigeon 180 along saltmarsh 

This clip shows two things, first the activity on the saltmarsh edge, but also how much of the saltmarsh remains exposed on these 8.6m tides.

Even so, these early spring tides do tend to flush more snipe than you would expect:

Common Snipe 39

Jack Snipe 1 - this was actually flushed by me as I walked around the outer saltmarsh edge. It landed again almost immediately in the middle of the saltmarsh.

Peregrine Falcon 1 (almost inevitable with the predictable snipe movement)

Middleton Nature Reserve 

The overnight rain has raised the "no swimming" pond water level by 30cm! Even so the Gadwall seemed to be still reaching some weed, but they had deserted the main pond:

Mute 2 x 2 adult 3 + 6 cygnets 

Moorhen 8

Coot 1 moved to main pond.

Mallard 5 on main pond

Gadwall 35 all on "no swimming" pond.

Tufted Duck 5 male

Shoveler 1 mature male

No sign of Teal, Wigeon or Pochard.

A distinct lack of female Tufted so far this winter!

The diving ducks of course can still reach their food, the Gadwall appeared to be feeding around where the Tufted were diving. Presumably the Tufted were breaking some clumps of weed free to float to the surface (MD).

Pete and Jean managed to check some vantage points but the mid distance haze ruled out any distant searches.

Mediterranean gull 1 adult behind the dredger

Shag one feeding near the green marker post.

North shore

Brent geese

So far no reports from other observers. The following are just my observations (MD). There could have been more as the area was very busy and the birds were in at least two groups.

A walk out to the skear from Four Lane Ends at 13:35 saw only 2 Pale-bellied Brent fly in to the children's play area.

On returning at 15:00 there was a group of 13 on the outer rocks north of the play area, these included 2 Dark-bellied Brent. There was another group of 22 Pale-bellied Brent, including the Canadian ringed birds much closer to the play area. So at least:

Pale-bellied Brent 33

Dark-bellied Brent 2

Very similar to Pete C observation at the same time yesterday.

Heysham skear 

Great Crested Grebe 2

Eider c100

Shelduck 4 out

Knot c150

Redshank c200 (Redshank numbers here always increase when we move to spring tides and more shore is exposed each tide)

Shag 1 juvenile feeding in shallow water. When feeding like this both Shag and Cormorant often snorkel to see what's around, before diving. This one does a bit of snorkelling early in this clip - note how its profile changes after wetting its head.

Well, here we are again....another year over.......another year older! This time last year, I said "at least we can now see some light at the end of what has seemed an endless tunnel" - I must have been using some remarkable optics! Although to be fair we did move into a brighter area for a while, so much so that I had resumed other activities and had planned to use this post to say that my ability to cover as much as I have been doing will inevitably reduce in 2022. But, for now I'm back to being, a self imposed, recluse! So, walking the area will remain my main activity for some while yet. Thanks for all the contributions that have helped me to compile the daily posts. The Observatory team of course, but several post readers have also sent me records and pictures. These are always welcome, and not necessarily of rare sightings, this post is partly about showing what can easily be seen in the Heysham area. So all information is of value, either via any member of the team or directly to me, my email address is on the side bar - Thanks. Malcolm.

Also last year I posed the question as to why the sea birds do not rest on the superstructure of No.2 outflow, and promised, some sort of answer by this year. We have all been watching more intently this year. There were two periods of extended calm weather when a few gulls rested on the upper rails, but not for long. The general consensus is that the outlet water surging around the hollow vertical supports causes vibrations that resonate around the structure, which must somehow be unpleasant to rest on. I am happy that is certainly part of it, but doesn't really explain why in two periods of calm weather the resonance was at least tolerable. 

Black Headed gulls resting on the railings of No.2 outflow, where you would expect them to rest
constantly. This was during the second calm period this year in mid December, when it was also foggy!
I did notice that even when the gulls rested here this year, "resting" wasn't the correct term. They were restless! (MD)

So all that remains is to wish everyone a 

Happy New Year 2022!