North side Barwit numbers increasing

A light, mainly north to NW wind. High cloud with plenty of sunny spells.

South shore - high water 09:50 (MD)

A check from Red Nab to saltmarsh just before high water

Red Nab was almost covered but there were still c100 Wigeon milling around. Most ended up heading towards Potts Corner.

Kingfisher 1 - once again, it flew out of the freshwater culvert and rested on the pond nearest to the wall. These tides will be refilling this pond with seawater and fish.

Nothing along the foreshore but the saltmarsh was busy with passerines again.

Linnet c25

Greenfinch 28 

Greenfinch 

Chaffinch at least one with the Greenfinch 

Reed Bunting 2 at least

Rock Pipit 3

Common Snipe 28

Some of the Common Snipe flushed by the tide from the saltmarsh 

Jack Snipe 1 - the tide wasn't high enough to completely cover the saltmarsh so this was a bonus.

Heysham skear low water 16:40 (MD)

Low water was too late to check but the tide was already quite a way out in the late afternoon (late afternoon! 14:30 - 15:30)

Shag 1 x 2nd calendar year resting on Conger rock 

Shag - its unique profile is recognisable at long range

Eider 12

Great Crested Grebe 3

Red-breasted Merganser 10 - there are five males following this female (Great Crested Grebe in the background)

Little Egret 3

Knot c250

Dunlin just 2

Bar-Tailed Godwit at least 57 - there were a few individuals along the tideline plus this group in the skear corner.

I can't recall seeing this many on the north shore before. I managed to skirt around them without disturbing them. When I looked back a little later they had moved to the tideline halfway between the skear and the green marker post. When I was leaving there was still a small group in the corner plus a few smaller groups along the tideline. Then this flock arrived, not much to see but the light is interesting.

You need to feed quickly when the opportunity arrives, particularly during these short days!

A cold and freshening east wind. Overcast all day with showers increasing in the afternoon 

Heysham Head (Steve Brown)

An hour after high tide this morning, it was cold, dark, windy and wet! 

There was a decent sized mixed flock of Knot, Redshank, Turnstone, Oystercatchers resting on the rocks, also 10 Curlew and a solitary Ringed Plover! 

Ringed Plover

Pete checked the noon ferry in:

Kittiwake 1 adult behind ferry

Shag 1 juvenile in the harbour

Heysham skear - low water 16:00 (MD)

It was still cold, darker and wetter!

Eider 3 female together

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Great Crested Grebe 2

No Knot seen today but there were c100 Dunlin feeding along the tideline. I couldn't see what they were feeding on, but presumably tiny crustaceans.

They were very flighty 

Bar-Tailed Godwit 7 were also feeding along the draining channels, but were soon spooked by the flighty Dunlin.

These Black-Headed plus a Herring gull with Redshank are almost certainly catching small shrimps. There are a couple of Dunlin on the fringe too, and I like the Oystercatcher sleeping through the clamour.

Not much variety today!

A light westish wind, with sunshine in the morning, but heavy showers in the afternoon

South shore

Just a quick morning check from saltmarsh to Red Nab, found the "cupboard" pretty much bare! (MD)

No passerines on/around saltmarsh, one day I'll see what purges them.

Greenfinch 3 and Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab

No Shelduck but c150 Wigeon on Red Nab.

North Shore

Steve Brown checked Heysham Head whilst on dog walking duties and didn't fare much better, but at least he managed a couple of nice shots.

c25 Redshank, and 5 curlew on the shore,  1 Rock pipit, 2 Goldfinch and 5 Linnet over

Red-breasted Merganser 1 male

Male Red-breasted Merganser

Pete manage to find an immature Shag feeding near the skear

I checked the skear (MD)

Great Crested Grebe 3

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Eider 4 all individuals - 2 male + 2 female. This male was watching the world go by, and saw just about as much as I did!

Apart from the Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank and Turnstone there were:

Knot c250

Dunlin 5

Bar-Tailed Godwit 12

A decent variety

Very light SSE breeze.sunshine pretty much all day 

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Jean had

Water Rail 1

Woodcock 1

Brambling 1 over

Heysham Head

Red-Throated diver 1 on dropping tide (Pete)

South Shore

I just checked saltmarsh to Red Nab (MD)

Linnet 40

Greenfinch 3

Goldfinch 5

Reed Bunting 4

Rock Pipit 2

All the above on or around the saltmarsh 

Shelduck 140 out from foreshore 

Wigeon 185 on beach between Red Nab and No.2 outflow till flushed by a dog

Kingfisher 1 flew out from the freshwater culvert on Red Nab

Nature Park

Chiffchaff 1 calling 

Bullfinch 2 calling

Kevin Eaves checked along the sea wall

Grey Plover 1 briefly near wooden jetty

Red Admiral 1

Small Tortoiseshell 1

Steve Brown provided this detailed report and some very nice shots:

I had a decent walk today, starting from Heysham NR along the dog path to The caravan pk to the Saltmarsh back to Red Nab and back along the dog path 11:30 -1530

Dog paths:
Bullfinch 2, Greenfinch 3, Goldfinch 20+, Chiffchaff 1, Jay 1, Goldcrest 2 , Redwing 2, Sparrowhawk, Long-tailed Tit 5, Coal tit 2, Raven, numerous other woodland birds including Robin, Blackbirds, Dunock, Blue tit, Great tit, Magpies, Carrion Crow.

Ocean Edge, Salt Marsh and Red Nab
Rock Pipit 2, Snipe 7, Curlew 9, Shellduck 120+, Redshank c20, Black-headed gulls 12, Little Egret 3

Male Bullfinch 

Jay

Coal Tit

Heysham skear - low water 14:15 (MD)

Red-breasted Merganser 5

Great Crested Grebe 3

Eider 1

Little Egret 11

Pale-bellied Brent goose 4 - these behaved like visiting birds have in previous years. They were in the SE corner of the skear picking up the odd bits of sea lettuce around. Sometimes feeding while on the water, but when they emerged to feed it was clear that none were ringed. 

You can see a few patches of sea lettuce on the mud

There is a lot more gut weed closer to shore, including in the middle distance rocks out from the children's play area. Hopefully we will see them there soon, when high water occurs later in the day.

Shag 1 - the 2nd calendar year bird was resting on conger rock before starting to fish as the tide turned.

As well as the Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank and Turnstone there were

Knot c200 just resting not feeding

Dunlin 5

Bar-Tailed Godwit 16 - this one catches a small worm or, more likely, the tail tip from a large worm (they easily detach to stop the worm being dragged out by its tail). It then nicely displays its bared tail.

Finally, Kevin Eaves took this clip along the south wall. Like all predator prey sagas, the predators are reliant on the prey, the more prey available the more predators can survive. We have recently established that the in the right conditions the sea wall is the focus of a significant insect flight path. The spiders have known this for some while, and there are a lot of them!

"A mini safari played out on the sea wall this morning. The stalking and pouncing of this Zebra spider, was big cat like, but I didn't get my phone out in time to catch the action". (Not one for arachnophobes!)

Torrential drizzle! But it may have helped, at least on the north side.

A gusty NW wind, it remained dry till lunchtime, then some heavy showers in the afternoon.

South shore

I just checked saltmarsh to Red Nab late morning (MD)

Linnet 70 on saltmarsh 

Shelduck 210 out from foreshore 

Rock Pipit 1 on foreshore rocks

Nature Park

Chiffchaff 1 calling

Goldcrest 1

Mark Jones had a walk along the wall at the same time, and took these nice shots.

Curlew 

Little Egret 

One of two Peregrine 

Pete checked the noon ferry:

Surprisingly nothing of note behind the ferry

Shag 1 immature, likely the juvenile, seen flying across the harbour mouth

Heysham skear - low water 13:00 (MD)

There had been a light shower over lunch and my weather app had forecast "drizzle". So I set off in the sunshine in just my showerproof gear - mistake! I had reached the tideline just beyond the inner skear, and had only seen

Knot c250

Red-Breasted Merganser 2

The skies were black to the west and when the rain started it was a downpour. I stashed my gear and sat the shower out on a rock. When the driving rain had eased and I could again look out to sea, there were:

Common Scoter 3 female/immature 

Common Scoter

Two of them showed their pale bellies, identifying them as immature 

I saw all three diving, but two were diving much more frequently than the third.

After a few minutes reprieve, the heavens opened again, so I did my gnome impression on a different rock. As it was easing I decided it was time to head for home, then I spotted a couple of geese flying in.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 2 - this is them coming in

Pale-bellied Brent geese

Both the Brent and the Scoters were still on the water as I left, but I'd had enough fun for one day. My showerproof coat had held out but it was sodden and heavy. Still, I suspect I would have seen a lot less without the heavy showers.

Two Kingfishers

A lightish north wind with rain all day, often very heavy!

South shore (MD)

I just managed a walk along the wall this afternoon, full waterproofs and optics stashed.

Ringed Plover 17 were resting on Ocean Edge grass before moving on to the mud in front of foreshore 

Some of the Ringed Plover

Shelduck also 17 out from the foreshore 

Kingfisher 2 on Red Nab. One was on a rock in the large central pool, then flew off towards the pools near the SW corner, a second bird flew from where it was heading and continued towards No.2 outflow, it returned later. Unfortunately, I only got a decent look at the first bird.

Rock Pipit 4+ one on Red Nab, two together along sea wall and at least one single bird along the sea wall.

The resident Wren was in the scrub near the lighthouse. I didn't try to get a picture today, but I took this clip a couple of days ago in the bright sunshine (seems like a long time ago now!).

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick check on the way home. The only change was there are now three male Tufted

I got home at 3:45, already getting dark(er). The rain finally decided to stop. Even so there was no evening clamour of returning Pinkfoot. Weather not looking great for tomorrow either, but hopefully not as much rain.

Two Shags on show again

A light SE wind. Dry all day with plenty of sunny spells.

Heysham skear - low water 10:10 (MD)

Little Egret 11 - Kevin Singleton took these shots out from Whinnysty Lane

Red-breasred Merganser 5

Eider 1 male

No Great Crested Grebe seen

Whooper Swans 7 - distant and high heading south.

Dunlin 35

Knot c400 - two flocks c150 each plus several small groups (presumably the same birds seen leaving later by Pete)

Jackdaw 2 flying around noisily. There are always Carrion Crows here (4 today), but Jackdaws are a bit unusual.

Pete checked from the Shore:

Shag 1 x 2cy feeding out from Heysham Head 

Knot 450 then headed south

All the seaduck etc further up inc 5 Juv common scoter, well out of our area on north side of the Stone Jetty

Pink-Footed Goose - Janet took this shot of some of the late morning movement north over Middleton.

Once again there were many hundreds returning south just before 17:00

South shore mid afternoon (MD)

Shelduck 144

Wigeon 160

Rock Pipit 4

Meadow Pipit 1

Kingfisher 1 

The tide was rising and there was quite a bit of activity between the two outflows 

Eider 2 feeding

Great Crested Grebe 1 - not often seen here. It was feeding and preening. This clip is just a post feeding preen.

Shag 1 juvenile - it was feeding just out from the wall and was keeping pace with me as I walked along. It almost felt like taking a pet for a walk (swim).

1st calendar year Shag 

It kept diving, but I didn't see it catch anything. There are fish here, but this is not an area that any previous Shag has routinely fed, so presumably it isn't normally ideal for them, and probably wasn't today.

It's mainly about the Kingfisher today

Heavy rain started before daylight and continued till lunchtime. A fresh SE wind to begin with eased and shifted west after lunch.

South Shore (MD)

A early walk in waterproofs just from saltmarsh to Red Nab didn't find much.

Wigeon c150 flying around Red Nab

Rock Pipit 1

Meadow Pipit 2

Greenfinch 7 at Red Nab

Kingfisher 1 feeding in the large pool in the middle of Red Nab. It was still pouring down, fortunately the fresh SE wind was driving the rain on my back, so I managed to shield my camera to take this short clip.

Kevin Eaves checked after lunch and reported the Kingfisher near the freshwater culvert. I wasn't far behind him, but the culvert was bare. The heavy morning rain had washed silt through. The water may have been fresh, but it wasn't clear.

The groundwater run off through Red Nab culvert with
a lot of silt in suspension, not ideal for fishing.

It was trying its luck in the small pool near the wall, but this will not have been covered by the sea for a week and will be only slightly saline now. This clip is a bit shaky, but it is only to show where to look, although you need to look from some distance when it is this close to the wall.

Lapwing 258 resting out from the saltmarsh as the tide approached.

Some of the Lapwing out from the saltmarsh 

The sun came out briefly! I took this clip of one the four Linnet around the saltmarsh.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

I just checked the main ponds this morning.

Mute, Moorhen unchanged 

Mallard 0

Gadwall 17

Tufted 2 male

Little grebe 1

Tufted Ducks (drakes) - no problem looking into the sun today!

Black Redstarts

Very light and variable breeze till mid morning, then it increased slightly and remained a southerly for the rest of the day. Very low cloud till late morning when the sun broke through for a while. Dry.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Report from Alan:

It was ideal weather this morning but only two nets set to sample what might be about. Twenty one birds caught eventually including five Chiffchaffs and another unringed Cetti's Warbler.

Meadow Pipit 1

Wren 1 retrap

Redwing 2

Cetti's Warbler 1 + 2 retraps

Chiffchaff 5

Goldcrest 3 + 3 retraps

Great Tit 1

Reed Bunting 2

At about 07.30 the Pink-footed Geese put on a noisy and spectacular show with a few thousand filling the sky above the reserve and over as far as the shore, flying low northwards to their feeding grounds. (Just before 17:00 they made the return trip flying low, first over Janet's house then over mine (MD))

I was also entertained by a Stoat towards the end of concrete road which darted about bothering a pair of Pied Wagtails that had landed there - they did not seem sufficiently alarmed to fly away until the confrontation had carried on for at least ten minutes. 

A number of Meadow Pipits that responded to my mp3 player (7-10) could have been late migrants but might also have been local birds.

I had a quick look round after lunch (MD)

Mute, Mallard and Moorhen unchanged 

Gadwall 26

Tufted Duck 2 males

Shoveler 1 female

Cetti's warbler singing from central marsh

Chiffchaff 2 heard calling 

Meadow Pipits 4 (3+1) drifting through to south

Pete and Jean did the Webs count today.

These highlights from Pete:

Black Redstart 1 Female/imm near naze area at south end Heysham heliport. It was catching insects along with c5 pied and one Grey Wagtail plus one Rock Pipit and Meadow Pipit - a lot of chasing and spooking each other. 

It was mobile and elusive and may have gone along seawall towards harbour mouth.

At 15:00 Jean counted 22 Pied Wagtail feeding.

I checked a little later (MD). Couldn't find the Black Redstart, but there were probably more Pied Wagtail, plus 3 Meadow and 1 Rock Pipit.

Not a great shot, but a good comparison of Meadow Pipit (above) and Rock Pipit
On Heliport wall

A second Black Redstart was very mobile between the slipway and Red Nab on Ocean Edge foreshore, located by Alan Physick. 

This full report from Jean:

This is what was on the heliport seawall and grass at high tide (WeBS count):

Oystercatcher 4400

Redshank 71

Turnstone 69

Lapwing 10

Snipe 20

Curlew 6

Pied Wagtail 5

Grey Wagtail 1

Rock Pipit 1

Meadow Pipit 1

BLACK REDSTART 1

Herring Gull 3

Black-headed Gull 3

Wooden Jetty

Cormorant 74

Shag 1

Herring Gull 10

Ocean Edge saltmarsh

Redshank 14

Oystercatcher 6

Black-headed Gull 44

Lesser Black-back 3

Great Black-back 1

Ocean Edge grass

Oystercatcher 3

Pied Wagtail 22

BLACK REDSTART 1 (this was seen on the rocks below the grass by Alan Physick)

Red Nab

Wigeon 169

Oystercatcher 1810

Curlew 14

Redshank 40

Bar-tailed Godwit 1

Little Egret 1

Grey Heron 1

Great Crested Grebe 1

Cormorant 2

Herring Gull 18

Black-headed Gull 16

Great Black-backed Gull 1

Lesser Black-back 1

South shore (MD)

I checked in the morning, no sign of the Black Redstart then

Lapwing 90 out from saltmarsh 

Shelduck 58 most in the freshwater pool out from Red Nab

Wigeon 165 in channel along No.2 outflow

Greenfinch 7 at Red Nab

Rock Pipit 1 Red Nab

Meadow Pipit 3 landed briefly near the lighthouse before heading off to the north side (possibly the ones seen feeding later)

Meadow Pipit silhouetted on the sea wall

Just as I got back to Red Nab, the sun finally broke through the low clouds. As I reached the gate to track to the Nature Park a "dragonfly" was flying north over the copse just behind Red Nab. Too distant to make out any colours, but its size and shape would normally be enough to identify it as a Migrant Hawker, but I couldn't be certain.

Goldcrest 1 near small anemometer 

Goldfinch 70+ in one flock milling around over the non operational land just north of the Nature Park.

Goldfinch flock - if you open this shot you can identify most of the birds.

Late Darter in the sunshine

It was another lovely day. Almost no air movement early on, then a light breeze from all points of the compass till mid morning when it settled to SE. Sunshine all day.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD/AW)

Alan Wilson took this picture of Common Darter sunning itself on the path near the gate on the south side of the reserve.

Male Common Darter

Mute 2 adult with 6 mature cygnets 

Moorhen 4

Mallard 10

Gadwall 22

Tufted duck 2 male on the "no swimming" pond

Tufted Duck with some of the Gadwall - picture by Alan

Cetti's warbler - 1 singing from central marsh

Heysham Skear - low water 08:00 (MD)

Great Crested Grebe 3

Red-breasted Merganser 4

Eider 4

Shag 1 - probably the 2nd calendar year but too distant to rule out juvenile 

Little Egret 6

The waders were more interesting today, apart from the Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank and Turnstone there were:

Knot, two medium sized flocks and several smaller ones. I've not had time to count them, but estimated at least 1,500. This is one of the two medium sized flocks. Their murmurations looking particularly splendid in the red light of sunrise.

The low red tinged light also gave the waders a warm colour on the ground - these are Knot

One of 23 Dunlin

Bar-Tailed Godwit

Common Snipe 4 flushed from inner skear

Skylark 7 south (2 over skear plus 2, 3 over Middleton and Imperial Rd respectively)

Pink- Footed goose seen from various locations:

104 north 07:45

17 east 08:10

42 SE 13:50

C60 south 17:00

Other insects:

Small Tortoiseshell 2 Janet saw one fly in at helipad plus one through my garden.

Dragonfly sp - Janet just glimpsed one passing the children's play area below Knowlys Rd.