Birds under foot........well........almost

NNW to W winds. Mainly overcast with some showers.

Report from Pete:

Seacheck heysham north wall 1005-1105: 

2cy Shag (later on Wooden Jetty)

5 Sandwich Tern (including two late unexpected bloggers on the yellow buoys)

2 Guillemot

1 very distant Gannet

Heysham Head (MD)

I just went down to check how the rock Pipits are doing. Only one pair found, below the high cliffs. I say found, but if you go down there the male finds you and gives you a good peeping at (I'm assuming male based on the behaviour seen by the lighthouse pair (MD)). He came within 3 metres of me and didn't stop calling till I moved away, although he didn't seem overly stressed, plenty of time for the odd scratch. He was so close that I had to zoom out to get him in frame.

Meanwhile the (assumed) female was waiting with a bill full of food. But she wouldn't fly to the young while I was watching. You can hear the male still peeping at me in this clip.

I looked away and then back, but she was gone, fortunately I saw her fly back down from the cliff tops. So either the young are still in the nest or perched atop the cliffs. I didn't want to disturb them any longer so left, the male ignored me as soon I started walking away.

I'll check out the Half Moon Bay and Near Naze birds tomorrow.

Heysham skear - low water 18:50 (MD)

Eider 6

Great Crested Grebe 5

Little Egret 3

Dunlin 4

Sanderling 34 - small groups 1 - 7 birds were making their way along the northern edge, they must have been working their way along the southern edge too as a large feeding group was forming on the western edge (as far as they could go). I paddled out beyond the western edge and watched as the feeding group grew and came closer to me. Initially it was raining, but fortunately it stopped and the sun came out briefly.

This in flight shot was before the sun came out.

Sanderling, there was quite a range of plumages, this was one of the less rufous ones

As the feeding group, now 32, passed me they came within 4m, the sun came out, allowing some better shots than I normally manage.

Quite rufous Sanderling 

Less rufous Sanderling 

Sanderling and Dunlin feeding

They were managing to catch shrimps, but perhaps some a little too large for them. This bird has a lively shrimp, but it appears to be pinched by the second bird, which also seems to let it go.

This clip shows where they were on the skear

As the tided ebbed further they started moving further west, these are some passing me. 

I didn't try to follow them but walked back along the south side, two more single birds past me heading west. I was really disappointed that you can't hear them calling in any of the clips. Their calls were very clear in real time and the breeze was behind me, I was sure my camera would pick them up. Still, a very nice experience.

Fledgling Rock Pipit

The wind pretty much covered all compass points today, but mainly east in the morning and west after lunch. High cloud with plenty of sunshine. Just the odd light shower.

Only my stuff so far (MD)

South shore late morning

Very little really, but good news with the Rock Pipits

There was a newly fledged bird above the nest hole in the harbour wall near the lighthouse. Both adults were calling, presumably to draw others out of the nest hole. Fortunately at this time the wind was from the north, which would help them in their first perilous flight to get over the top of the wall. Unfortunately it was suddenly very busy with a family party walking past. I hadn't realised that they had three dogs till this one nearly scared the young bird off. The female moves to the wooden structure still calling. 

Newly fledged Rock Pipit still with down on the left side

Both adult were calling from above the nest hole, this is the female.

I left them to it, but should have stayed closer, as the family returned, doing nothing wrong, just oblivious to what was happening. Unfortunately the dogs got too close this time and the fledgling flew out over the harbour, I was afraid it was going to end up in the sea, but the favourable wind helped it back and it ended up in the Power Station grounds. The adults returned to calling for the others to join them - Good luck!

No Rock Pipits seen on the foreshore or Red Nab, perhaps they too were at their nest sites. I'll see how Heysham Head birds are doing tomorrow.

Heysham skear - low water 18:20

I went down two hours before low water, just to check the NE corner for Sanderlings, success:

Sanderling 9 together - some now in quite advanced summer plumage.

A quick scan of other birds located:

Eider 10

Great Crested Grebe 3

Little Egret 3

Curlew 2

Plus the numerous Gulls and Oystercatcher 

Seed mussels beefing up

Light winds NNW initially moving to WNW by lunchtime. Sunshine pretty much all day.

Heysham Nature reserve (MD)

Just a stroll around with family groups as part of  "Family Day". Nothing unusual but quite a lot to see and hear.

Little Egret 1

Moorhen 2

Willow Warbler 

Chiffchaff 

Blackcap 

Reed Warbler 

Common Whitethroat 

No dragonflies but lots of Damselflies including:

Large Red

Common blue tail

Azure Blue

Butterflies 

Brimstone 1 male

Peacock 1

Common Blue several 

Small Heath several

Burnet Companion moth several

Heysham skear -low water 17:50 (MD)

Eider just 10

Great Crested Grebe 3 - sorry about the jerky nature of this clip, I was stood on shifting sands, but I like it as it shows the grebe raising its "great crest"

Little Egret 6

Curlew 2

Ringed Plover 6 (one flock)

Three of the Ringed Plover, trusting their camouflage 

Herring Gull 1,000+ this clip shows some of one of the two main groups, they are just moving to the emerging outer skear.

They are still feeding on the seed mussels, but life isn't quite as easy as it was. This is how the seed mussels were when the gulls started feeding on them. This shot is the 13th May (note my hand still in winter plumage).

Note how all the seed mussels are similar sized and small

This is how they look today, surprisingly this is the first day out here this year that I haven't felt the need for my mitts. 

They are now variable in size, the larger ones to the right of my finger are the remaining earlier seed
mussels the smaller ones are newer seed mussels that have filled the gaps over the intervening weeks

This has two effects for the Herring Gulls, first the larger seed mussels are now too robust to be crushed open in their gizzard. Meanwhile the stronger threads the larger mussels use to anchor their position, also help to anchor the smaller mussels making it more difficult to detach them. On the plus side for the gulls, even the smaller mussels are larger than the earlier seed mussels and will contain a lot more protein.

These were today's gulls teasing out their meals.

Quality sea birds

WNW fresh wind. Fine all day with sunny spells.

Seawatch report from Pete:

0935-1035: 

Summer plumage Black Guillemot flying out fairly close in c0936

Light morph adult or subadult Pomarine Skua wheeled in then climbed and headed NE just south of stone jetty c1026

27 Gannet

8 Manx Shearwater

1 Fulmar

1 Kittiwake  

Black Guillemot probably got off sea (or possibly in wave trough) - shades of semi resident bird a few years ago - so may still be in area south of harbour

South shore evening rising tide (MD)

I couldn't resist a stroll in the evening sun and always a chance of the Black Guillemot.

Nothing of note seen on the sea, but the Rock Pipits were active.

Both adult on Red Nab and Lighthouse taking food to the nest sites (Red Nab bird's nest within the Power Station grounds). Plus singles on Saltmarsh, sea wall between the outflows and  the waterfall.

This moth from Kevin's overnight trap.

A lovely Alder Kitten. It has spectacular antennae!

Murky morning hinders seawatch

Mainly WSW wind shifting to due west by evening. Quite a fresh wind early on accompanied with low cloud and steady rain.

Pete's "seawatch" was hampered by not being able to see much of the sea through the murk, but still managed:

Gannet 8

Manx Shearwater 1

Unfortunately, time was restricted as it was clearing slightly as he was leaving.

Kevin Singleton was pleasantly surprised by two Fulmer heading out at 11:15  - seen from Whinnysty Lane

South Shore around high tide 09:20 (MD)

Wheatear 2 along Ocean Edge Foreshore 

Linnet 3 saltmarsh/foreshore plus 2 near lighthouse 

Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab and female feeding lighthouse young in nest

I tried my hand at seawatching, but neither my optics or patience are really up to it. Not too bad sheltering in the lee of the lighthouse, but little moving within my range. 10:00 - 10:30

Manx Shearwater 3 

Gannet 2 out. 1 adult and this immature bird - sorry about poor definition but it was raining quite hard at this point.

On my way back down the sea wall I spotted a Guillemot being pushed towards Red Nab rocks by the waves. I managed to get my camera out just in time to see the last wave push it onto Red Nab.

Fortunately it was stronger than it looked and fought its way back through the waves and headed clear of the rocks.

Its wings seemed fine, but obviously not keen to use them to fly, presumably already exhausted.

Heysham skear - low water 16:25 (MD)

By this time the wind had eased and there were sunny spells 

Eider 36

Great Crested Grebe 1

Apart from the Oystercatchers there were only two other waders, fortunately both provided good views.

Dunlin in summer plumage. (I'll leave determining the subspecies to the more experienced (MD))

Summer plumage Dunlin

Sanderling 

Summer plumage Sanderling 

The Sanderling managed to catch a shrimp, (the strong SW winds over the last couple of days have coloured the water sufficiently for more shrimps to venture close inshore). It seems to be as large a snack as it can manage, but manage it did.

Good morning's seawatch

Fresher and more southerly westerlies and showers this morning. Moving to WSW later with sunny periods.

First another interesting sighting of one of our colour ringed ringed Grey Wagtails (see scheme details on the sidebar)

Record and picture by Keith Grafton - thanks

Grey Wagtail - ringed at Middleton NR on 16/09/2021. Seen as a breeding male on the river Duddon right by Duddon Bridge on 21/05/2022

Seawatch report by Pete:

This am seawatching: 

63 Gannet out

60 Manx Shearwater in

8 plus 9 Guillemot out

1 Arctic Tern out

1 Bonxie (Great Skua) out

1 Fulmar out

8 Common Scoter out

5 Sanderling out

14 Dunlin out.  

Outbound gannet and Manxies on the dropping tide were quite close inshore

The Gannet and Manx counts minimum figures assuming 32 Gannet in and 17 Manx out are some of the same birds as seen going the other way   

Heysham skear - low water 15:30 (MD)

I just managed a very brief check 2 hours before low water

Eider 31

Curlew 4

Sanderling 16 at least, including 8 seen flying in off the sea (groups of 8, 10, 12 and 4 seen feeding but there was some mixing going on, 16 was the most visible at any given time). Unfortunately, when the tide is still ebbing quickly all the birds are eager to get to the next piece of exposed shore first, so constantly and quickly mobile. It's better at slack water or on the incoming tide. This group of 8 was typical 

These flew past and landed further along the skear - all today's birds were seen along the northern side of the skear.

Sanderling 

Good Shearwater and Sanderling numbers

The fresher WNW wind dropped down to west by lunchtime. High clouds with sunshine and showers.

Seawatch report from Pete:

Sample sea passage in wind too NW off Heysham harbour 0645-0745

22 Manx Shearwater flying out (nothing else)

Rock Pipit feeding young in harbour wall nest 

2cy Shag on wooden jetty

Heysham skear - low water 14:20 (MD)

The current neap tides do not expose the outer skear so all feeding waders are restricted to inner and middle skear.

Shag 1 resting on a sand bar (presumably the same 2nd calendar year bird seen by Pete earlier)

Eider 41

Ringed Plover 3 on inner skear

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1 - this is a neat trick! It has caught a reasonable sized shrimp, I don't know if it was struggling to eat it, or deliberately "processing" it. If you watch closely you can see the shrimp start at the tip of its bill then raise to the base of the bill (I assume being moved by its tongue) before descending back down the bill to the tip. (It's only a short clip, if required, there is a slow motion replay option, click on the gear icon before selecting play)

Sanderling 34 minimum - I counted 34 feeding and I had already seen a flock of 13 fly west, but they may have doubled back. They seemed to be finding plenty to eat, but not Shrimps. They were scurrying around the mud like mice. They were all close to the waterline on the NE corner of the skear. In this clip, I pan out to show the location.

They should all be in this clip, but they can be difficult to spot and easily hidden behind, even small, obstacles. I can count 32, but that was checking frame by frame.

Sanderling coming in to feed

A bit better variety

Light winds mainly from WSW to W, but a brief shift to NW after lunch before returning to west. High cloud with plenty of sunshine, but not especially warm.

Seawatch report from Pete

Bits on the sea off Heysham in unpromising clear conditions on dropping tide 0645-0745

Gannet 10

Razorbill /Guillemot  5

Kittiwake 5

Red Throated Diver 1

Common Scoter 1

also flock 5 Greylag geese north

we are approaching the time when Canada geese move through on their moult migration flights

Heysham skear (MD)

I went down early on the ebb tide, at the same point where I left it last night, but again no waders other than Oystercatcher.

Shag 1 feeding

Little Egret 3

Eider 30+

Great Crested grebe 4 (2+2)

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Mute Swan the remaining pair again on the main pond, but only 8 cygnets remain

Coot 3

Moorhen 4

Little grebe 1 feeding on main pond

Mallard 2 male on main pond and the female with chicks on Tim Butler pond - couldn't make out how may chicks as I didn't want to disturb them. But she seems to be doing ok with them.

Warblers - 9 species heard singing: Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Blackcap, plus

Grasshopper Warbler 1 reeling quietly from a bush near the southern entrance to the meadow between main and Tim Butler ponds

Cetti's Warbler - just the "no swimming" pond bird heard today.

Dragonflies 

Broad-bodied Chaser I saw 1 female and 4 male, plus Janet saw another 2 male on a different area.

The females are more difficult to locate as they tend to feed away from the 
ponds till they are ready to mate

Whereas the males tend to stay around the ponds waiting for the females to arrive.
This one and three others around the small ponds on the western edge of the west marsh 

Plenty of Damselflies including these two Large Red

Large Red Damselflies 

Butterflies were quite thin on the ground, just

Small Health 1

Peacock 1

Small White 2

Drinker Moth caterpillars are again plentiful, or more realistically appear plentiful, as they always seem to rest in the middle of pathways.

Two different Drinker caterpillars on two different paths

These are two of this morning's Great Crested Grebe doing a bit of displaying. I like the way they both just sink under the waves at the end of the clip.

Again the evening provides most interest

SSW wind. Overcast all day with several showers, fortunately the sun came out late evening.

Heysham skear 

Thought I would try a different tactic today. It told me something, but I have no idea what! (MD).

I went down 90 minutes after low water and watched the tide in as far as I left it yesterday evening, when the Sanderling were feeding. Today I didn't see a single small wader. Apart from Oystercatcher there were just 3 Curlew.

Great Crested Grebe 4

Eider 61 

Little Egret 3.

I watched this Little Egret for a few minutes and never saw it catch anything.

But there were things to catch, this other bird flew in to within a few metres of the above and immediately caught a Common Goby and a small flatfish (looks like a young Dover Sole - quite a distinctive elongated shape)

I returned on the ebbing tide 20:45. The sun was shining, but the wind was fresh and cold! We are moving to neap tides now which means they do not go out as quickly. I ended up leaving before the tide was out as far as I have been seeing small waders recently. Even so:

Sanderling 5 - this clip is quite distant but provides a short in flight view.

Knot 42 - this is them coming in, they landed just 10m from me. Note how the bird that ends up third from the left deliberately dips its belly into the water. Presumably cooling down, I wonder how far they have flown.

A few of them were quite red

They made little attempt to feed, they just wanted a rest. They were still where they landed when I left 15 minutes later.

This is the RNLI hovercraft this afternoon. It was interesting how the different birds reacted. The gulls, Oystercatchers and Grebes were largely indifferent. But all the Eider took flight and the Cormorant was undecided, but eventually took flight

Small waders, low numbers, but good fun!

Light west wind all day. Mainly overcast with light showers, but some sun in the evening.

Heysham skear (MD)

I did a full check at low water this morning.

Eider 58

Male Eider with a single female

Great Crested Grebe 4

Little Egret 3

There were no waders on the outer skears except Oystercatcher, but the inner skear was quite busy:

Curlew 7

Whimbrel 1

Ringed Plover 7 (4+3)

Ringed Plover

Turnstone 6

Turnstone in summer plumage 

Unfortunately no Sanderling seen this morning, so I had a look this evening. At 20:00 the skear just out from Sunnyslopes groyne was becoming exposed, and Sanderlings were around. I don't know if this is a time of day thing or time of the tide, but it might be worth checking out about 08:30 in the morning to establish.

Sanderling two groups of 4 and 5 plus several sightings of individual birds, which may have become detached from the larger groups. They were very mobile and very difficult to keep track of them, as they disappear behind the slightest rise. So at least 9, probably 11+. This was about the best clip I managed, one of these birds has well developed summer plumage.

Dunlin 5 - these flew in and landed only 4m from me. In contrast to the Sanderling they stood motionless and immediately disappeared into the background. These are two of them, obviously they have total confidence in their camouflage, and well founded too!

Two Dunlin