Better variety today, plus an "Inland" Kittiwake

A day of two haves.....the strong overnight SW wind soon eased. Rain showers reduced in frequency and length as the morning wore on. The afternoon was sunny.

South shore mid morning (MD)

It was raining for much of the walk, but you could see the clear weather front approaching.

Clear weather approaching from the SW

Wigeon c200 Shelduck c50 on/around Red Nab

Reed Bunting 1 on saltmarsh 

Rock Pipit 3 - 1 each on foreshore, Red Nab and near lighthouse 

Knot c1,500 flew past the roundhead in two flocks

Shag 1 immature on wooden jetty

Kittiwake 9 - 2 first winter feeding on No.2 outflow. 2 adult and 7 first winter in the harbour, mainly on their pipe.

Adult Kittiwake with a white winged feral pigeon
- this bird can be frustrating when you only get a glimpse of it in flight

These Great Black-Backed gulls appear to be bonding, shame you can't hear them clearly with all the background noise.

Pete managed to read the Iceland ringed Oystercatcher on the Near Naze - White XE

Ringed as an adult male nesting 31/05/21 

Árn.,Selfoss,Svarfhólsvöllur (golf course), south ICELAND 63 94N 20 97W

Also seen breeding the following year in the same area 9/04/22 - 10/07/22

Now seen twice at the Heysham Near Naze 26/12/22 and 17/02/23

Also:

Mediterranean gull 1 adult in the harbour at lunchtime 

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

A very pleasant afternoon stroll in the sunshine! No Stonechat seen today.

The Pochard was back, plus 4 Gadwall, 2 Teal, 11 Mallard, 3 Coot and 4 Moorhen, plus the Mute Swan family.

Little Grebe 3 at least, including a trilling bird on the main and "no swimming" ponds. This bird was on the "no swimming" pond. It has caught what looks like an invertebrate. There were no gulls around today so it ate its meal where it surfaced.

Kittiwake 1 first winter bird resting on one of the shallow scrapes on the western marsh. This is about 1km inland from the harbour and at least 0.5km from the nearest reach of the highest tide.

I couldn't resit checking where I "released" the Smooth Newt yesterday. I decided there were two likely scenarios, one, she lay where I left her, having not made it. Or, two she wasn't there, meaning she had at least revived enough to move on. This is the stone where I left her.

When I got there, the stone was bare 😊

But, there was a third scenario. If you look closely at the top right hand corner of the stone, you can see a newt looking back at you. Not only had she revived but was now looking healthy and happy with her new environment.

This is just a detail from the above shot
I doubt she recognised me today.....I didn't have my mitts on

The Interlude

A light south wind, low cloud/fine rain all morning, but largely dry and overcast in the afternoon.

Just my stuff today (MD), and precious little of it. A morning check of saltmarsh to Red Nab

Rock Pipit 2 - 1 each on foreshore and Red Nab

Kingfisher 1 - it flew out from the culvert and was lost as it headed to the outer edge of Red Nab. I had thought that it had moved on as I haven't seen it for a few weeks.

Shelduck and Wigeon c50 each on Red Nab (the tide had already left the rocks).

Nature Park

Jay 1

Bullfinch 2

Greenfinch 6

Goldfinch 8

Chaffinch 2

The other day I was talking to a regular post reader about recognising bird songs and calls. I advised to start with the obvious ones and quoted the "wheeze" of a Greenfinch as a good example. Unfortunately I failed miserably to explain what it sounds like. So I took this clip today.

A quick check of Imperial Rd fared little better

Little Egret 4

Wood Pigeon 16 - perched in the same tree as yesterday's Buzzard

Middleton Nature Reserve 

A late afternoon check, it had been dry for some hours by this time.

No sign of any Stonechat today despite a thorough check.

No Pochard or Gadwall either - the rest of the wildfowl unchanged 

I was approaching the Tim Butler pond when I noticed this small female newt laying, apparently dead, on her back. The spots on her throat identifying her as a Smooth (Common) Newt.

Female Smooth Newt

But when I picked her up there were signs of life, and the warmth of my hand seemed to revive her a little.

Presumably she had come from hibernation this morning when the fine rain would have been ideal, but now she was obviously very dry, and you can tell by my mitts that is was still cold. So I took her to one of the permanent ponds and placed her on the water ..........Nothing! 

She didn't attempt to move. "Playing dead" is a typical amphibian ploy, but don't think she needed much acting. So I pushed her below the surface tension.

She settled by a rock and at least looked more normal now. There was no more I could do, so I wished her well and left.

Today's title will mean little to most of you, but when I was young there were regularly gaps between the television programs (my granddaughter insists that I must be the last person on earth to still call it a television!). The gaps were euphemistically called "interludes" and filled with stock footage. I remember a windmill and a potters wheel. Today felt like a gap between sightings, I couldn't find a potters wheel, but this wind turbine, turning through the low cloud was close enough to a windmill. If you put it on a loop and watch for about 5 minutes you'll get a sense of what a television interlude was like. Although, to be fair, they were generally better than the programs!

Hopefully, normal service will resume tomorrow

Another? Stonechat

A light southish wind. Overcast till lunchtime then some light showers.

South shore (MD)

I really just went down in the morning to see if any Stonechat had turned up at the saltmarsh and foreshore, but then couldn't resist a walk along the sea wall (feeling a bit brighter today!).

No passerines around the saltmarsh except a Rock Pipit, two more seen on Red Nab and Lighthouse area.

Shelduck c50

Wigeon c150, but well spread as the tide was out

Shag 1 immature in the harbour again.

The mature Cormorants now in breeding plumage

Kittiwake 9 including 2 adult. One in the harbour mouth the others resting on the pipe near the waterfall.

First winter Kittiwake in the Harbour mouth

This was slightly unusual, I noticed something moving in a crevice in the roundhead wall. Turned out it was a Starling, it was still there 15 minutes later.

Imperial road - mid afternoon (MD)

Again, primarily a quick check for any Stonechat, and again, none seen.

Grey Heron 1

Teal 13

Some of the Teal

Common Buzzard 1

Common Buzzard - a nice view of the upper tail

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

The original mute pair have reclaimed the "no swimming" pond, the 5 immatures remain on the main pond.

Pochard male 1

Little Grebe now trilling on three ponds: main, no swimming and Tim Butler.

Other wildfowl as yesterday

Common Snipe 2

Stonechat 1 male. Only distant glimpses on the western marsh.

Male Stonechat about 250m from yesterday's birds, but this one "felt" like a different
bird, not least as it was alone and seemed to be moving north through the marsh

Gordon Taylor sent us a nice clip of one of the colour ringed Grey Wagtails overwintering in his Bootle garden (first seen 29/01/23). But, frustratingly, I can't persuade it to load on the post, so will have to, settle for this still from the clip.

Colour ringed Rey Wagtail ringed here last autumn - see scheme details on the sidebar 

Stonechat movement begining

Very light variable breeze. Mainly overcast although the sun did make a few valiant efforts to break through in the morning.

First, Alison Hayward sent this nice shot of an immature Shag in the Harbour on Saturday (11/02)

Immature Shag

Today

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Jean

I put a net up at the feeders again and soon caught 28 birds (17 new and 11 retraps) (Paul, John and Alan got roped in as well!)

New birds:

A nice surprise today was a Siskin - an adult male. 

The most  numerous species was Goldfinch with 8 caught 

Another surprise was catching no less than 5 Bullfinches (4 new and 1 retrap)

Other new birds were a Dunnock, 2 Blue tits and a Greenfinch

Retraps:

Blue Tits were the most numerous (5) but one was notable for its age: It was first ringed as a juvenile in September 2015, making it the grand old age of 7yrs and 5mths. The oldest captured Blue Tit in the UK was a bird in 1984 that was 9yrs 8mths 16dys, so the Heysham bird only has a couple of years to go to beat that record. The average age of a Blue Tit is 3yrs.

Two Long-tailed Tits were retrapped, one from this winter but the other was ringed on 15 March last year.

Other retraps were fairly recently ringed birds - a Great Tit, a Goldfinch, a Greenfinch, the Bullfinch mentioned above, a Robin, and a Dunnock

Two flocks of Pink-footed Geese flew over Heysham NR mid afternoon - one flock of 200 S and another unseen flock in the same direction. 

  

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

I was as breathless as the weather (man flu again!), and might not have bothered at all today, but I was committed to taking my daughter's dog out. We had a trundle around the reserve and I did feel a bit better for getting out. 

Still 2 additional adult Mute Swans on the "no swimming" pond.

Moorhen 6 

Coot 6 - the additional birds were not exactly welcomed!

Mallard 17 - 13 on the main pond plus 2 each "no swimming" pond and western scrape

Some of the main pond Mallard

Gadwall 12

Teal 8

Pochard 1 male

Grey Heron - the "resident" bird was present, but not where it normally rests,

Can't say I've seen the Heron on the pylon before

Redwing c15 milling around the eastern side.

Redwing

Song Thrush 3 - 1 singing

Blackbird 8

Jay 2

Jay

Great Spotted Woodpecker - drumming

Stonechat 2 - 1 female and a male. They were both close together, but the female quite elusive 

Meanwhile the male was much more prominent. Here he has a leather jacket (Crane Fly larvae). He flies with it to where the female was skulking (Bullfinch calling in the background)

The female was out of sight, but I assume he handed the grub to her as he quickly returned, empty billed.

Male Stonechat 

This is the male Bullfinch that was calling the in the above clip

On the way home I drove along Imperial Road, it can be good for Stonechat movement here, but none seen today.

Feeding time

A very light SE wind, a hazy morning, the sun not breaking through till mid afternoon.

North Shore low water 10:10 (MD)

No sign of any Brent in the play area rocks (also none on Red Nab at high water)

Pink-Footed goose 92 SE.

Eider 35. The tide didn't go out very far, so the feeding Eider were quite distant. This clip shows them surrounded by gulls waiting to pinch any catch.

Great Crested grebe 2

Red-breasted Merganser 2 - it wasn't just the Eider having to avoid the gulls. The male merganser on the left surfaces with a small fish, but quickly dives again to avoid its catch being pinched.

There weren't many waders either:

Oystercatcher c300

Curlew 15

Bar-Tailed Godwit 2

Knot 50 

Dunlin 2

Turnstone 4

No Redshank seen

South shore

Janet had a walk along the sea wall

c150 wigeon in the channel next to No.2 outflow 

Curlew

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

The 2 adult and 5 immature mute were all on the main pond, another 2 adults were on the "no swimming" pond.

Coot 3

Moorhen 6

Mallard 13

Gadwall 4

Teal 4

Pochard 1 male

Little Grebe 3 including two trilling. There were two feeding on the main pond.

Little Grebe already largely in summer plumage 

Not sure what it has caught, possibly a small fish but equally possibly a dragonfly nymph. Again it dives before the gulls pinch its prize. It will have surfaced again in the margins where there is more cover.

Woodcock 1 

Reed Bunting 1

Cetti's Warbler 1 singing in the central marsh

There were lots of tits around again, but no large feeding flocks seen. The Great Tits in particular are appearing territorial. This Long-Tailed Tit was feeding on the tiny seeds of the reed mace (a Great Tit being annoyed at me in the background).

Sparrowhawk 1 and Kestrel 1 male both hunting. This is the Kestrel.

No surprises today

A dry overcast day with a light south wind.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a brief check of the two main ponds

Mute, Coot, Moorhen and Mallard unchanged. The immature mute are moulting, there are feathers everywhere.

Gadwall 6

Teal 6 - this male Teal reminds me of a pull along wooden duck my daughter had when she was little.

Pochard 1 male

Male Pochard and male Mallard

No Little Grebes seen or heard today.

Saltmarsh to Red Nab (MD)

I went onto the shore out from the saltmarsh. These neap tides do not cover the mud and visitors to Potts Corner were taking advantage by riding motorbikes and later a car on the mud. Not close enough to disturb birds in the recording area (although the noise pollution was an irritant!). But it did send lots of waders into the recording area. This is just a flavour, these are mainly Knot, with some Grey Plover.

I didn't try and count the Knot, but there were also at least:

Curlew 40

Bar-Tailed Godwit 150

Oystercatcher 100

Grey Plover 30

Dunlin 200

These neap tides do not rise very quickly, but it is so flat here the tide still covers the mud quickly. These are a few of the Knot and Oystercatcher keeping ahead of the rising tide with Bar-Tailed Godwit feeding behind.

Reed Bunting 3 on saltmarsh 

Rock Pipits 4 - 2 together on saltmarsh, plus 1 each foreshore and Red Nab

Two Rock Pipits amongst the saltmarsh flotsam 

Shelduck 60+

Wigeon 200+

Pale-bellied Brent goose 17 - including a white ringed bird, almost read today, but after this clip they moved behind the outer rocks, obscuring their legs (they look alert as a couple with their dog were getting close, but they turned back).

Angela checked the Nature Park

Great-Spotted Woodpecker 1 seen and it sounded like two different birds drumming

Mixed Tit flock lead by Long-Tailed Tits - still no Coal Tits

Bullfinch pair

Chaffinch 2

Goldfinch 6

Song Thrush 2

Blackbird 4

A nice piece of serendipity

A dry day with light SW wind.

I didn't have much time today and I set off late morning, with the intention of just checking the main ponds at Middleton, but decided to check Imperial Road first (MD)

Imperial Rd

There was a lot going on here, nothing unusual, but interesting.

Little Egret 6 on the east side of the road, making these "seen from" the recording area. But at least it shows there are still plenty in the area.

Song Thrush 2 singing, one with a Buzzard's call as part of its repertoire 

Blackbirds 6+

Bullfinch pair at least

Greenfinch 6+

Goldfinch 4

Chaffinch 4

At least 6 each Blue and Great Tits. No Long-Tailed and Coal Tits seem completely absent from the area at the moment.

This clip is a Blue Tit, it's the only Tit I haven't shown a clip of recently. Every UK reader will instantly recognise it, as it one of our commonest birds, found in almost every back garden. But its fine lines and colours are generally overlooked and probably more appreciated by American birders (and we do seem to be getting increasing numbers of American post readers)

Kestrel 1

Middleton Nature Reserve 

I was only going to see if the Pochard was still there, it was. And see if I could locate any Siskin, I couldn't. I was only here 10 minutes and if I hadn't have called in at Imperial way I would have left 30 minutes earlier. I was back at the bottom car park by the main pond and was just about to leave, when I heard a Little Grebe trilling out of sight behind the bushes. So I got my camera ready and made my way to the water's edge.......then, all the gulls suddenly lifted, screaming, I looked up and a raptor was flying across the far side of the pond low towards the west. My camera was ready, so it was a case of shoot first and ask questions later! Turned out it was a

Hen Harrier 1 female/immature 

I was quite pleased with my final pictures at least they confirm the species. But the above shots are zoomed in stills from the clip I took, it was only in my line of sight for a few seconds. This is the clip.

Normally, I would have pursued it to see if it had landed, but I was already late for lunch, so I thanked my luck and headed for home.

Pete and Jean managed a check around high water

Pale-bellied Brent goose 17 flew south past the Near Naze and were relocated on Red Nab.

Shag 1 immature on wooden jetty

Kittiwake 9 still on the pipe in the SW corner of the harbour

Jean managed the first ringing session of the year:

 27 birds caught today at Heysham, 15 new and 12 retraps:

Greenfinch 2 new, 2 retraps including one from 2018

Chaffinch 1 new

Goldfinch 3 new, 2 retraps including one from 2019

Bullfinch 1 retrap from 2019

Great Tit 2 recent retraps

Blue Tit 2 new and 1 retrap from 2020

Long-tailed Tit 3 new, 1 retrap

Blackbird 1 new (female)

Robin 2 new

Dunnock 1 retrap from 2017

Surprise bird - Woodpigeon. 

Plenty of snipe, but for the wrong reason!

A fresh SW wind, rain all morning but a largely dry but overcast afternoon.

I don't know what happened yesterday with the video links. When I initially published the post the blog wouldn't allow me to open any of the clips. When I tried later it seemed to be resolved, presumably a bug in the system somewhere. I hope it is working correctly for everyone now.

I didn't get out till almost high water in the afternoon (MD), so missed any Brent that may have been on Red Nab. Still 200+ Wigeon around and a few Shelduck.

Saltmarsh:

Reed Bunting 5

Reed Bunting - this is actually one of yesterday's shots when the sun shone!

Rock Pipit 1

Common Snipe 60 - 15 were lifted by the tide, which is all I would expect with this height tide which just covers the outer fringes of the marsh. Then two flocks flew over from the north c15 and c30 circled and left towards Middleton Nature Reserve. Unusual, but later Howard explained that a couple of guys practicing casting at the Near Naze had lifted everything, including the snipe. 

Some of the Snipe passing over the saltmarsh 

Middleton Nature Reserve 

I had a good walk around, with the intention of locating any winter thrushes (MD). The only thrushes seen were 4 Blackbirds!

Mute, Coot, Moorhen and Mallard as yesterday.

Gadwall 8

Teal 4

Pochard 1 male

I went all arty!

Little Grebe 2 trilling - heard only - one on both the main ponds

Water Rail 1 squealing

Woodcock probably 3 - definitely 2 which I accidentally flushed. A third bird was flushed by a dog some distance away and almost certainly a different bird.

Great Spotter Woodpecker 1 male 

Also heard drumming

There were two mixed tit flocks moving around one with 20+ Long-Tailed, 6 Great and 6 Blue Tits. The other with c16 Long-Tailed, 2 Great and 4 Blue Tits. In the next two clips I am in the middle of the larger flock. Wildlife, generally tends to tolerate my presence, and the Long-Tailed and Blue Tits did, and went about their business of feeding. But these Great Tits told me in no uncertain terms that they wished me to move on

I duly obliged and left them to it

Goldcrest 2 - one with the larger tit flock

Later Mark Jones had a short, but productive walk:

Just managed to get out to Middleton NR for the last hour today there was a cormorant fishing when I arrived but it quickly left, the swans were split between the 2 lodges (main and "no swimming" ponds).

On my way up the path I saw a flock of goldfinch feeding in the alder but heard a siskin the light was bad but I just managed to get a record shot.

Siskin (top) and Goldfinch - Siskin are now quite an uncommon sight feeding in the recording area.

Siskin

Finally, this last record is some way out of the recording area, but definitely visible from it. Picture and report from Kevin Eaves.

This is a photo of the comet that has featured in the news recently. It's on its way out to the deep Solar System, and has passed its closest point to earth. I managed to capture this image with a Unistellar telescope from my Heysham home. The comet last visited the inner Solar System around 50,000 years ago, and its close encounter with the Sun and other celestial bodies may have altered its orbit so that it could never come this way again.

Definitely worth opening this picture to enjoy the detail

A bit of variety

A sunny day with a fresh west wind.

I don't know why the blog has started putting a "robot" check for videos. I cant manage to watch any (maybe I am a robot!) so don't know how you'll manage. Hopefully its just a bug that will be sorted out (Malcolm)

Heysham skear low water 07:45 (MD)

A very pleasant walk, but very little on the sea.

Eider c30

Red-breasted Merganser 1 female

A collection of Cormorants, Eider and Oystercatcher resting on a sand bar

Still no Little Egrets 

Knot c500 on the skear another 1,500 heading south 

Oystercatcher c2,000

Dunlin c25

Dunlin with an impressive bill

Curlew c15

Curlew (with an even more impressive bill) resting on a honeycomb worm reef

Turnstone 100+

Turnstone 

Pale-bellied Brent goose 8-9 - 5 flew in from the west then headed north, but could have doubled back. 4 were in the skear corner later on. 8 were feeding out from the play area as I returned.

This is one of the skear corner birds, followed by a group of Knot that had been having a wash and a drink in the groundwater runoff.

Barrel Jellyfish are still being stranded, although this one was more bean can sized.

The early morning moon was impressive - a waning gibbous 

Pete managed to read two ringed Knot from only 220 on the Near Naze. This one has quite an interesting history.

Also from Pete:

Shag 1 on the wooden Jetty

Kittiwake 2 first winter on No.2 outflow.

Janet went through her pictures from yesterday and managed to find this one where I can identify the food item.

First winter Kittiwake with a Common Goby

10 Pale-bellied Brent, just before leaving Red Nab

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Mute Swan 2 adult plus 5 immature 

Coot 3

Moorhen 4

Mallard 11

Gadwall 11

Teal 1 on the "no swimming" pond, but others heard on the Tim Butler pond

Little Grebe 3 at least including two trilling. This one was swimming across the main pond while a second bird was trilling, unfortunately you can't hear it in the clip.

There was another one trilling on the "no swimming" pond. A flock of at least 16 Long-Tailed Tits were passing by. This isn't a great clip of one, but you can hear that I am surrounded by them, and at the very end of the clip you can just hear the Little Grebe trilling.

Jackdaw 39 heading south. They seemed to be moving with some intent.

Redwing c20 flew in a loose gathering north from the gun club area.

Mistle Thrush 2 feeding in the horse paddock to the east of Tim Butler pond.

Just after this clip they were spooked by a Sparrowhawk and flew south.

A day in pictures

The light southerly breeze continues, accompanied with sunshine today.

All today's photographs are high resolution, there is little narrative so best just open the pictures and scroll through them.

First, I knew I didn't have much time today so I saved these two pictures from Howard yesterday.

Near Naze Rock Pipit

Knot and Oystercatcher on "high alert" as yesterday's Sparrowhawk was still around

I only had time for a quick walk on the south side today (MD). Fortunately as I reached Red Nab, Janet was just returning, so I didn't go any further. Janet took these lovely shots, all of birds currently easily visible during a stroll along the sea wall.

Some of the 250+ Wigeon 

First winter Kittiwake feeding on the outflows. Not sure what
it has  here, can't even be certain that it is a fish.

First winter Kittiwakes preening on their pipe near the harbour waterfall 

First winter Kittiwake feeding over the harbour waterfall 

Young Herring Gull

Some of the many thousand Oystercatcher 

Pale-bellied Brent goose just 6 seen on Red Nab

Grey seal 1 was eating a fish with a cloud of gulls above. Unfortunately, it was underwater for most of the time. Little to see here, other than the clue to check for gulls behaving like this, if you want to spot a feeding seal.