Several shades of grey

The wind remains light and mainly from the north. A light overnight frost - my weather alert warns of an "unseasonably cold spell". I know the climate is changing but I still thought winter was the season to expect cold spells!

Report from Pete:

Hard work checking dropping tide channels off Heysham - just 

Red-Throated Diver 2 and flock of 5 Common Scoter in Kent channel area. 

Mediterranean gull 1 adult  Red nab 

plus two darvic ringed Shelduck - quite a few of these around.

Chiffchaff (collybita) ringed HNR - caught in feeder net, probably wintering around pond above office

South shore - high water 10:00 (MD)

I went on the shore out from the saltmarsh as the tide was covering it. Originally filled with waders, but the inevitable  Peregrine attacks quickly flushed most.

Shelduck 200+ these are some of them moving in with the tide. Unfortunately all either distant or in the water, so no chance of seeing any darvic ringed birds.

It was hard keeping track of the waders as they were constantly on the move, the larger ones not always returning. These are minimum numbers.

Lapwing 180 

Lapwing looking splendid in the sunshine

Common Snipe 6 (on saltmarsh)

Curlew 15

Ringed Plover 3

Dunlin 350

Knot 500

Grey Plover 16

Bar-Tailed Godwit 50

Redshank 120

This is what today's title refers to. When I check the waders here as they return from breeding they are a striking mixture of summer, winter and juvenile colours. Today they were all, just shades of grey!

These are Grey Plovers with some Bar-Tailed Godwit in the background 

These are Knot and Dunlin with a few more Grey Plover

Grey Plover showing its characteristic dark underwing patch

Also:

Rock Pipit 3 together 

Reed Bunting 4

Song Thrush 1

Greenfinch 2

All above on saltmarsh 

On Red Nab

Kingfisher 1

Wigeon c80

There was some more colour today, but I'm saving pictures for tomorrow's post, as I may not get a chance for a walk tomorrow.

Godwitless

A slightly fresher northeast breeze. Some occasional sunshine.

South shore - high water 09:20 (MD)

Just a quick check from Red Nab to saltmarsh 

Shag 1 - looked to be a juvenile, sharing a rock with a cormorant on Red Nab.

Immature Shag on Red Nab, they are not often seen here.
Pete says that the recent storms may have blown more than one juvenile into the area.

I like this clip, the Shag shows the Cormorant how to shake any water off really quickly!

Wigeon c150

Shelduck 125

Around saltmarsh:

Song Thrush 1

Reed Bunting 2

Reed Bunting 

Heysham skear - low water 16:00 (MD)

I managed an hour's walk just before it became dark. No sign of any Godwit or Brent geese today.

Great Crested Grebe 3

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Eider 6

Shag - at least two immature. I saw one feeding and two were resting on reefs, possibly one was the earlier feeding bird. I took this one to be a juvenile, as much by its lack of finesse as anything else (not that Shag are renown for their elegance at the best of times). This clip shows it taking off, just, and a short flight to where it began feeding.

Waders pretty much as yesterday apart from the Godwit. A Peregrine was trying its best to reduce the Knot count. It flew low across the skear to spook them all, then gained height before dropping on them. In this clip it manages to separate an individual bird, but it didn't quite catch it.

Godwits again

Just enough breeze to ruffle the sea again, mainly from NE. Plenty of sunshine in the morning.

Pale-bellied Brent geese - a quick check on both the north and south side feeding areas at high water (08:30) found none. The afternoon check of Heysham skear located 4 feeding quite a way up the beach from the SE skear corner. Another single bird on the water further out probably a different bird.

Pale-bellied Brent goose on western edge of skear, 
a bit unusual just seeing a lone bird.

South shore just after high water (MD)

Linnet 3 on saltmarsh 

Greenfinch 2 on Red Nab

Rock Pipit 1 along the sea wall and 1 between waterfall and lighthouse.

Shelduck c60 - this one appears to be drinking sea water, and indeed is drinking water from the sea, but this is just out from the foreshore and a surface water drain isn't far away. Even so the water will still be brackish.

Grey Plover 1 at the Red Nab end of the foreshore. They are not often seen here. It seems to find something to eat easily enough.

Peregrine Falcon 1. It came from over the Power Station and dived down to Red Nab, not a stoop but still very quick. It managed to grab a bird, but it managed to break free.

Peregrine with would be breakfast 

This is it just afterwards. It was soaring to gain height, the next attack would be faster, but the birds had already flown. I didn't see it attack again.

Kittiwake 2 - an adult plus a 2nd calendar year, feeding around the dredger that was operating in the outflows water intake area.

Two Kittiwake above the dredger

Their technique was to wait on the wall till they spotted a tit bit.

Heysham skear - low water 15:20 (MD)

Even less visible on the sea today

Great Crested Grebe 1

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Eider 3

Brent goose - see above

Shag 1 - an immature bird had been resting on a honeycomb worm reef, it must have already fed as it flew back towards the wooden jetty.

Immature Shag

Waders: Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone plus

Dunlin a few flying around

Knot c400

Bar-Tailed Godwit 110 at least (I managed a high count of 130, but couldn't be certain they were all Godwit). There were three flocks flying around. These are some of them, with some quite distinctive landmarks in the background.

Some of them landed just north of the green marker post, but they didn't stay long.

Just out of the recording area - Angela reported large numbers of Pink-Footed geese feeding in the fields adjacent to Oxcliffe Rd.

Good Godwit day

A NE breeze at least moved the wind turbines and ruffled the sea. Plenty of sunshine, particularly in the afternoon.

Heysham skear - low water 14:20 (MD)

Not so much seen on the sea today

Great Crested Grebe 5

Red-Breasted Merganser 2

Eider 4

Pale-bellied Brent goose 4 feeding in SE skear corner

Shag 2 immature. It was the juvenile's turn to rest on conger rock today. It then dropped into the sea below, as it became shallow, and began snorkelling again. Meanwhile the 2nd calendar year bird was waiting on a reef on the north side till the tide stopped ebbing.

Little Egret 5

Waders: Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone plus

Knot c500

Dunlin - just a few singles flying around

Ringed Plover 8

Ringed Plover with three Turnstone 

Bar-Tailed Godwit a flock of 80 flew south. Unfortunately I didn't spot them till they were already flying into the sun, so didn't see where they came from or where they went.

Some of the Godwit with a likely Knot

Black-Tailed Godwit 1 followed them a few minutes later, at least I saw this earlier and suspect it had been feeding on the north side.

Black-Tailed Godwit

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick check on the way home found the wildfowl pretty much unchanged, except no sign of the Wigeon.

Jackdaw 46 (37 + 9). It was only 15:00 but this seemed to be the beginning of a pre roost gathering.

Stuck in the doldrums......day 5......running short of supplies...

The calm weather continues, very low cloud in the morning resulting in mist, cleared by the afternoon. What slight air movement there was came from the east.

Heysham skear - low water 13:10 (MD)

Red-breasted Merganser 6

Great Crested Grebe 8

Eider 10

Male Eider on a becalmed sea

Little Egret 8

Shag - the 2nd calendar year bird was resting on conger rock on the ebbing tide before leaving to feed. It returned to the rock 10 minutes later, presumably well fed.

2cy Shag (left) sharing conger rock with two cormorants. One taking a plunge.

Pale-bellied Brent geese 9 - two were on the north side and seven landed on the sea at the south side before swimming to the SE corner to feed.

Pale-bellied Brent on their way to the skear corner

South shore

Mark Jones had a walk along the sea wall and took these shots:

Little Egret on Red Nab

Kingfisher on Red Nab

2cy Kittiwake below the harbour waterfall 

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Little change other that a pair of Wigeon has joined the Gadwall on the "no swimming" pond. This is the third consecutive winter that first, just a female, then a pair of Wigeon have been in association with the Gadwall here.

Still becalmed

Another almost breathless day with just a slight east breeze. The clouds were quite low again.

Heysham skear - low water 12:00

I checked at low water (MD), although the tide doesn't go out so far on these neap tides.

Great Crested Grebe 9

Red-breasted Merganser 4

Eider 7

Shag 1 immature on Conger Rock on the ebbing tide.

Little Egret 6

Knot c150

Dunlin 20

Common Snipe 3

There was a small duck, tantalisingly distant. I couldn't make out any features but suspected it may be a Teal. I waited till the tide started coming in hoping it would bring it closer. It did drift in, but further out. Fortunately my shots were just good enough to confirm a female Teal, when viewed on large screen and zoomed in. Not much to see on this clip, but if you've ever wondered about the size comparison of a Great Crested Grebe and a Teal (and who hasn't!) here you are.

A little later when Pete checked:

Pale-bellied Brent 2 flew in from the south

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a brief check of the two main ponds.

Tufted duck now back to 3 males plus a female

Gadwall 24, but predominantly male. Finding a mate is becoming more intense, the time for eye rolling is over (see posts 6th and 7th November), it's  now time for action! 

Female Gadwall surrounded by suitors, most unwelcome!

Other wildfowl remains unchanged. No warblers heard.

The mist clears

Almost breathless for much of the day, what little breeze there was came from the east. No sunshine, but at least the clouds were higher and visibility improved.

Heysham skear - low water 10:40 (MD)

Great Crested Grebe 8

Red-breasted Merganser 2 

Eider 28

Little Egret 8

Shag 2 - this immature (looks to be a juvenile) was feeding in the shallows. I aways describe this style of feeding as "snorkelling". Didn't see it catch anything 

Meanwhile this 2nd calendar year bird was resting and watching the Eider feeding 

Pale-bellied Brent goose 2 in the SE corner of the skear. This is the area favoured in previous years by visiting birds. There isn't a great deal of weed there this year, but plenty for two geese. Neither bird was ringed

Whooper Swan 2 flying low to the NW

Whooper Swans

You can just about hear then "whooping" towards the end of this clip.

Waders: Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone, Knot c500, Dunlin 25, Common Snipe 6.

This Great Black-Backed gull is pecking what it can from this Flounder. The Carrion Crows are making sure that nothing is wasted.

The rest of today's stuff from Steve Brown:

Ocean Edge

1 Rock pipit on shoreline, the 100+ Shellduck were still on the sands squabbling, 10 Linnets and 2 Dunock in the Saltmarsh, also , Curlew, Redshank,Little Egret. 

A lone Pink-Footed Goose flew over from the Sea towards Middleton.

Pink-Footed Goose

Nature park

was active with mixed flocks of Finches and Tits feeding, 20 + Goldfinch,4 Greenfinch, 2 Bullfinch, numerous Blue tit and Great tit, 2 Goldcrest, 2, Coal tit, 2 Dunock, Wren, Jay, 1 Redwing.

Foreshore out from horse paddocks 13:30

2 Pale-bellied Brent geese on the sea then flew towards the power station (almost certainly the same two as seen this morning)

Pale-bellied Brent Geese

1 male Red  breasted Merganser .

The shore was manic with feeding waders just ahead of the incoming tide. c100 Dunlin, Plus Knot, Turnstone, Redshank, Curlew and Oystercatchers.

Dunlin 

Some of the waders, mainly Dunlin and Redshank 

An interesting day's bird glimpsing.....(you couldn't describe it as watching)

Very light SE breeze. The extremely low cloud reached the ground leaving visibility between 100m to 200m.

Heysham skear - low water 09:30 (MD)

As I crossed the promenade to get to the beach I bumped into an old friend. He looked out into the greyness then back at me and burst out laughing......"you're not going birdwatching in this!". I laughed with him, it did seem ludicrous, but it proved enjoyable. It's a different world when you are inside a 100m radius visibility bubble. The sound is different too. It was a nice change. Of course not suitable for anyone unfamiliar with the shore and the tides.

Little Egret 6 - this one seemed disoriented 

Great Crested grebe 3 seen (just) on the sea

Red-breasted Merganser 1 flying around

Red-breasted Merganser 

Shag 1 x 2nd calendar year 

2nd calendar year Shag 

Waders: Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone plus

Snipe 1 

Dunlin 30

Knot c300

I reached the very western edge of the skear, there was something, two somethings, further out at the very edge of visibility. Turned out they were Pale-bellied Brent geese. Not feeding, there is no weed there, just resting. I eventually managed to get my camera to "focus" on them

As I approached the northeast corner, soft honking alerted me that there were more. I located them, 18, again not in an area rich in weed, although there was obviously some attached to the larger rocks, and disputes as to the ownership of these was the cause of the honking.

I wasn't expecting any Brent today. It's not the sort of weather to tempt the birds on the west side of the bay to fly over. But it was equally not the sort of weather for these to move on. The tide was coming in now and the combination of the tide and the trail of available weed would be likely to take them to the rocks beyond the children's play area, where there is plenty of sea lettuce and gut weed. So I returned 2.5 hours before high water. The tide was just 50m from the rocks and there were Brent geese on the water.

Pale-bellied Brent geese

Unfortunately, a lady was walking along the tideline and spooked them. What a shame, they were only a few minutes away from plentiful food. There were 10 of them, perhaps the large group split or possibly these were additional birds. This is them disappearing south into the mist.

South shore (MD)

There was no sign of the Brent 

Shelduck 100+

Wigeon c150

Kingfisher 1

Everything looked slightly different in today's "light"

Rock Pipit 1

Kittiwake 1 adult in the harbour 

Blackbird 2 male,  Song Thrush 3 grounded near the lighthouse 

Song Thrush 

Redwing 1 just before Ocean Edge entrance 

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick check saw Gadwall numbers increased to 28. Only the female Tufted Duck today

Best wishes to Janet, who is currently out of action with a broken ankle! Get well soon.

Early seasonal record

A very pleasant, albeit short day, a very light south breeze and sunshine for much of the day.

South Shore

A mid morning walk along the wall then to saltmarsh (MD)

Kittiwake 2 adult on No.1 outflow. I have posted some detailed plumage pictures over the last few days, so today I decided to show what you typically see. There is at least one Kittiwake on show during this clip, two for some of it. It is a difficult seeing angle so you may need to watch the clip in slow motion. If you can't spot them, I'll provide clues at the bottom of this post.

Wigeon 160

Shelduck 120 - there was considerable bickering amongst the Shelduck today. Quite noisy too. I took this clip partly to capture the noise, unfortunately it was largely drowned out as I was pointing into the wind.

At the saltmarsh there was a flock of 42 Linnet flitting around, but no Reed Buntings seen. The tide was out and they would have been feeding on the marsh. A quick look later at high water located 5 again.

Steve Brown also was checking at this time, and in addition saw

Kingfisher 1 flew along wall towards small pool then into nature park

Some of the saltmarsh Linnet

Nature park
Chiffchaff 1

Greenfinch 3

Jay 1

Bullfinch 1

Goldfinch c10

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just another 10 minute stop by, but again I managed to hear a Chiffchaff calling and a Cetti's warbler singing - this clip is of a female Teal that had just come in, the Cetti's provides a short burst at the start of the clip.

Mute, Mallard, Tufted and Moorhen unchanged 

Teal 4

Gadwall 23

Little grebe 1

This is what today's title refers to. I'm pretty sure that this is the earliest ever record of a Father Christmas peddling down the sea wall on a Penny Farthing!

It wasn't easy spotting the Kittiwake on the outflow. If you didn't find them, the clip starts with one just right of centre at the top of the frame. It zigs to the right then zags to the left before zigging right again and leaving bottom right.

The second bird enters the frame in roughly the same position a few seconds later, this flies pretty much down the centre of the outflow and leaves the frame bottom left at the very end of the clip.

It's best just to watch one bird at a time (MD)

Kits still hanging around

Another dry day with a light mainly south to SE wind.

Heysham skear - low water 07:50 (MD)

Red-breasted Merganser 1 female - no sign of any males

Great Crested Grebe 1

Eider 3

Little Egret 6

Knot c450 - one flock split as they passed me. Not a great shot, but it does give a sense of what it's like being in the middle of a Knot Flock (and this is only a small flock!)

Knot racing past

Dunlin 15

Common Snipe 9 flushed from inner skear

Plus: Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank and Turnstone 

Later Steve Brown was on Heysham Head, there was only one Great Created Grebe showing from there too. But he managed this nice shot of it.

Great Crested Grebe 

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a quick passing check of the two main ponds, but I managed to see/hear quite a lot in 10 minutes.

Mute pair plus 5 juvenile 

Mallard 6

Gadwall 14

Teal 5  - male and female on the "no swimming" pond plus three flying around

Tufted Duck 4 - 3 male and a female

The female was in association with the male who is not quite in full breeding plumage 
Both sporting diminutive tufts

All four Tufted with a Gadwall pair

Cormorant 1

Reed Bunting 1

Cetti's warbler 1 calling

Chiffchaff 1 calling 

A mixed Tit flock passed through including at least one Goldcrest 

South side

Pete checked the noon ferry in

Kittiwake one adult plus two 2nd calendar year, one of which just appeared behind the ferry and was probably already in the harbour. 

I checked the wall mid afternoon, just after high water (MD). One of Pete's 2cy Kittiwake was still in the middle of the harbour

2nd calendar year Kittiwake 

There were also three adult Kittiwake feeding on the outflows 

Adult Kittiwake 

Shag 1 at least - I couldn't be sure if the 2nd calendar year bird was in its favoured roost spot on the wooden jetty, the likely candidate refused to show its head. But this bird, possibly the juvenile was on the railings at the end of the wooden jetty. It should be worth checking out this roost spot again.

Other stuff:

Wigeon 100+ mainly out from saltmarsh 

Linnet 18 saltmarsh 

Reed Bunting 5 together on saltmarsh 

Rock Pipit 3

Turnstone - this was the only individual on the few remaining Red Nab rocks. It seems to have a weak foot, but it was still managing to turn some stones!