Gannets showing today, early on

A light SE wind for most of the day switched to NW by evening. Some sunny spells.

Pete and Jean managed another early visit. Report from Pete:

Sea heysham 0635-0755: 

Common Scoter 79

Red throated diver 6

Gannet 2

Whooper swan flock 10

Canada goose 1 (!)

Sandwich Tern 2

Razorbill/Guillemot 1

Common Gull 232 out

All outbound except Gannets and Whoopers

Harbour Porpoise 2-3. 

 

Three willow warbler and two Chiffchaff ringed in short session Heysham NR

South Shore (MD)

I had a walk along the foreshore and sea wall a little later

Meadow Pipit 1 grounded

Linnet 6 on foreshore plus two pairs between the lighthouse and waterfall. This female seen with nesting material, this is the opposite end of the brambles to the other pair's nest site, which are nesting in the same bramble bush as last year.

Rock Pipit 4 - 2 near the lighthouse and 2 near the waterfall. This is one of the lighthouse birds just above the nest hole.

Shag - the 3rd calendar year bird had just returned to the wooden jetty and was having a good preen before settling down.

3rd calendar year Shag

This young Great Black-Backed Gull pinched a young Herring Gull's dinner!

Zoomed in still from the above clip

Redshank 48

Turnstone 14

Heysham Head (MD)

I had a very pleasant stroll around in the evening sunshine. The tide was almost high, but there was no sign of the Shag feeding. The trouble with evening feeding opportunities is that they depend on how much has been eaten during the day.

Great Crested Grebe 2

Linnet 8 at least

Rock Pipit 2 displaying males, but only the middle section checked.

Harbour Porpoise 2 - an adult, presumably female, with a youngster. It must be one of last year's young. You can see the smaller porpoise breaching a couple of times early in this clip.

Better by the sea

Overnight rain but just light showers during the day. A strong west wind.

Seawatch report from Pete:

Sea Heysham a belated 0715-0845  

Manx Shearwater 1 

Arctic Skua 2 - 1 dark morph in Cumbria 0730, plus another nice close Lancs dark morph 0818

Red throated diver 6 (3 of these together on sea)

Common scoter 9

Kittiwake 24 (plus now four 2cy on pipe in harbour)

Razorbill/Guillemot 2

All outbound on dropping tide bar flock of 18 Kittiwake.  Gannet would usually be expected as bread and butter on this sort of seawatch but zero.  May have exited the bay earlier.  

Also 3cy Shag heading for its fishing grounds off Heysham head

I had a walk along the south sea wall (MD), but the tide was out and it was 09:00 before I reached the lighthouse and the sea beyond. Unfortunately there was nothing moving within my range. 

This is of interest though. This young Herring gull has the remains of a Whelk egg cluster. This is the beach near the wooden jetty where the Mediterranean Gulls like to feed on the Sand Mason worms in the summer months. The mud here has been deep and soft in recent years, resulting in only limited feeding by the Mediterranean Gulls. But today, somewhat surprisingly considering how much dredging there has been recently, the mud looked firm and the worm tubes were clearly visible above it. If it remains like this, it should be better for the Meds this year, fingers crossed!

You can see the tops of the Sand Mason worms tubes poking above the mud.
It doesn't take much for silt to return, but I haven't seen it like this for over 2 years

Nature Park

It was nice to get out of the wind, there were 2 Chiffchaff and a Willow Warbler singing, plus a couple of competing male Chaffinch, the wind only allows you to hear the one singing in this clip.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a quick check on my way home.

Mute Swan unchanged

Mallard 5 male

Coot 5

Moorhen 3

Little Grebe 1 trilling

The hirundines were also glad to get out of the wind, there were 6 Swallow and a House Martin feeding on the west side of the sheltered "no swimming" pond. This clip starts with the House Martin. (The bird flying across after the Chiffchaff starts singing for the second time is a Heron).

Not great shots, but I have little else today

Swallows

House Martin - first record this year

Willow Warbler 2

Chiffchaff 4

Cetti's Warbler 4 (one either side of the "no swimming" pond plus one each central and western marsh.

Barely buoyant buoy!

Very strong SW wind last night eased before midnight. By daylight it had and moved to the south then SE, before easing further in the afternoon and shifting to NW. showers on and off all day.

South shore (MD)

I checked twice, once in the morning to see if any waifs or strays had been blown in and again at high water in the afternoon, neither were particularly productive (as you may have guessed by today's title).

Wheatear 1 on foreshore both visits

Linnet 9 on foreshore plus 2 near lighthouse in the morning, an additional 5 near waterfall in the afternoon.

Rock Pipit 5 at least - 2 by waterfall and 3 near lighthouse in the morning. 1 on Red Nab in the afternoon.

Common Gull 75, mainly 2nd calendar year, most on seaward end of No.1 outflow in the morning, just a few remained at high water.

Kittiwake 3 on outflows in morning, 1 on outflows plus 2 on harbour pipe in the afternoon. This is the afternoon bird on the outflow.

Redshank 60

A few of the Redshank

Turnstone 16

Redshank and Turnstone 

Shag 1 immature on the wooden jetty in the afternoon 

This Carrion Crow flew to the wooden jetty with nesting material, then disappeared in the tangle of planks in the first section 

Herring Gull heading towards the old Fishers building with nesting material 

This is what today's title refers to. After the last storms I prematurely announced one of the buoys out from the north wall "missing". In fact it was just underwater, something must have been caught on its anchoring chain. Today, I was initially confused, it was "almost missing".

This was what remained of the buoy 30 minutes before high water

I eventually realised that what was visible was just the tip of the buoy, again something must have been caught on the anchoring chain. Bizarrely, 10 minutes later, after I had been down to the waterfall and back, it had returned to normal. Presumably the extra force on the buoy from the rising tide, must have freed the chain.

Same shot 10 minutes later!

Another arrival of Great Crested Grebes

A fresh SW wind in the morning shifted to SE in the afternoon. A bright sunny start with the anticipated rain not starting till mid afternoon 

Heysham skear - low water 09:50 (MD)

Eider 29

Great Crested Grebe 2

Red-breasted Merganser 8 - there were only 2 for most of the walk, but they like the NE skear corner as the tide is making and others arrive (Jean checked later in the tide and again there were only 2). They don't seem to congregate here to feed, it seems more like a forum for squabbling! Although, to be fair, one did get surprised by a Great Crested Grebe surfacing. 

Little Egret 4

Waders only Oystercatcher, Redshank, Curlew 10, again no Turnstone on the skear, although there were three close to the sea wall.

I found this recently dead Greater Pipefish a week or so ago. Seeing the Seahorse on Attenborough's Wild Isles reminded me of it. As far as I know the nearest Seahorses to here are North Wales (think I might have heard of them in Liverpool docks) and over in the Isle of Man. But Pipefish are the same family and are basically a straightened Seahorse, and as Seahorses, it's the males that carry the young. 

Male Greater Pipefish - you can see his empty brooding pouch between my fingers
and running right down to his tail 

Pete and Jean checked a little later in the tide.

Shag 1 3cy feeding inshore

Great Crested Grebe 27 drifted into the bay over an hour. Plus the 2 already in.

Swallow 1 NW

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Report and pictures by Jeff Gorse:A few before the rain set in today, decent amounts of insect life besides chiffchaff and blackcap singing.

Chiffchaff 

 

Large queen wasp presumably looking for nest site.

Female tawny mining bee (seen not photographed) 

and these other solitary bees.

Hoverfly, which I think looks like a bumblebee mimic but it seems too
early in the year for them – will ask around!

Also a gorse shieldbug (not photographed) 

The wind not providing, yet

Generally a lightish SW wind, but there were heavy squalls in the morning with strong wind and heavy rain. The rain eased off by mis afternoon.

South shore 

I had a look in the morning hoping the squalls had grounded something (MD)

Little Egret 3

Kittiwake - just 1 2nd calendar year seen resting on their pipe in the harbour 

Linnet 12 on foreshore/Red Nab plus 3 near lighthouse 

Wheatear 2 - this one was grounded near the lighthouse after a particularly heavy squall. I got a bit excited for a minute as its face initially seemed very dark. But it was just wet and it did a fine job of displaying its tail marking while drying itself off.

Rock Pipit 3 - 1 near the lighthouse and these 2 near the waterfall 

This one was stood directly above the waterfall and was constantly peeping.

Pete had a look later in the morning, but there was nothing on the sea except for good numbers of Common Gulls still on the outflows.

I had another look along the wall in the afternoon, just after high water (MD). At least I got my coat dry!

Kittiwake 3 - 2 on the pipe and one patrolling the wall

Shag 1 immature on the wooden jetty

Ringed Plover 1 flew across the saltmarsh 

It was strange seeing no ducks or geese on Red Nab.

These are the breeding pair of Linnets near the lighthouse, I suspect the third bird is one of last year's young. In this clip, the male collects some food then gives it to the female.

This is the moment of transfer, it does look romantic!

The male's forehead is just starting to turn red

After identifying the Jay mimicking a Tawny Owl yesterday, Jean did some investigating and came up with this fascinating stuff:

I googled Eurasian Jay mimicry and found that they can mimic all sorts of birds of prey eg Buzzard, Sparrowhawk as well as Tawny Owl. One source said it was to deter Carrion Crows which certainly makes sense at Heysham NR. There are two active Jays, probably a pair, opposite the office at Heysham. I see them every time I’m ringing. If they’re nesting on the reserve they will need to deter the Carrion Crows which have set up territory in the vicinity of the pylon opposite the office. They launch their attacks on Ravens from there.  

Prof Google also revealed that Jays  can mimic cats and even human voices!! The other morning I heard what I thought was a phone trilling and that turned out to be a (perhaps the same) Jay. 

Little gull........for a little while

A much cooler and fresher SE wind. The forecast sun only lasted till just after lunch, then overcast.

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Some interesting observations from Jean.

I was convinced there was a Tawny Owl calling at Heysham NR this morning but it was mid morning which was strange, and then the culprit appeared - a Jay. They can  make the most peculiar noises and they seem to be good mimics.

A Kestrel was hunting over the reserve and the displaying Sparrowhawk appeared again. The Ravens came over to annoy the Carrion Crows again - maybe the Ravens just like being chased?

Other than that there was a Willow Warbler singing by the top pond.

Report from Pete:

Adult Little Gull flew up boat channel then briefly feeding seaward end Heysham two before heading into bay

132 Common and 67 Black-Headed gulls outfalls and area - influx 

Reduced numbers of birds off Heysham Head in low tide channels, only 3 Great Crested grebe and 6 Red-breasted Merganser seen 

Heysham skear low water 08:35 (MD)

Eider c75

Great Crested Grebes as Pete, but as the tide started flooding more Red-breasted Mergansers arrived, ending up with 11.

This clip gives a sense of the activity when the tide is coming in. It contains, Red-breasted Merganser (1 preening, 2 feeding), Cormorant (2 resting 1 feeding) and 7 Eider.

Little Egret 6

I like this shot, you can see the shadow of its head and bill on its wing

Waders: Oystercatcher c2000, Redshank c150, Turnstone c50, Curlew 10, Knot 9

Redshank 

A large Bass had washed up on the shore, too big for the birds to break through into the gut cavity. It didn't stop them trying mind. The Great Black-Backed Gulls will attempt to relocate the carcass on each low tide, eventually it will be decayed and be nibbled enough for the guts and soft tissues to become available.

The scavengers line up!
3 Great Black-Backed gulls and 2 Carrion Crows

One of the Great Black-Backed Gulls was a 3rd calendar year 

On the way out there was a small group of large gulls congregating where I photographed the seed mussels emerging on Friday.

Herring gulls checking out the emerging seed mussels

I don't think the mussels are big enough yet to provide a worthwhile meal, but it looks ominous for them. The good news is that there were several other areas with tiny seed mussels starting to show today.

This Peregrine Falcon caught something close to the shore. I didn't see the capture, just it flying off. It is a sizeable prey (you can see it juggle it for a better grip). So possibly one of the Pigeons that regularly come to the inner skear to collect grit.

A zoomed in still from the above clip.

Swallow 1 north

Meadow Pipit 6 north 2 east

Lesser Redpoll (probably this species, I'm not great at bird calls MD) 3 east

More Swallows in the sunshine

A much warmer day, peaking at 16C. Very light winds initially NE and ending NW.

Report from Pete:

3Cy Shag feeding in low tide channel off Heysham north wall, near Naze end

17 Red-breasted Merganser

5 Great Crested Grebe

c150 Eider

2 Sandwich Tern. 

Migration: 

12 Lesser Redpoll north, 

13 Swallow, 

1 Sand Martin 

 c5 willow warbler Heysham Nature Reserve first thing  but no other evidence of migration with the cloud edge just too far to west. 

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Jean:

I was ringing at Heysham NR from 7am to 11am. Willow Warblers were singing loudly on arrival and seemed to be moving through as it went very quiet at 9am, however I didn't manage to catch any until one appeared in the net at 1015. 16 birds caught in total.

New birds:

Lesser Redpoll 2

Blackcap 1

Chiffchaff 2

Willow Warbler 1

Chaffinch 1

Goldfinch 2

Blue Tit 1

Retraps were recent birds coming to the feeders again:

Goldfinch 2

Dunnock 2

Wren 1

Reed Bunting 1

The Carrion Crows and Ravens were slugging it out again. Surprisingly the Crows managed to chase off the larger Ravens.

A Sparrowhawk was calling and displaying over the reserve.

A Pied Wagtail flew over (the only "vis"!)

South shore mid morning (MD)

Swallow 1 over as I got out of the car 09:15 then no others!

Wheatear 1 on foreshore 

Linnet 11 foreshore/Red Nab plus 3 near the lighthouse 

Kittiwake 2 x 2nd calendar feeding on the outflows, but they were back on their pipe when I reached the harbour.

2nd calendar year Kittiwake

Shag 1 immature on the wooden jetty, probably the same as the one seen feeding earlier by Pete.

Immature Shag with a couple of Cormorant 

Rock Pipit 3 - Red Nab, Sea wall and Lighthouse 

Nature Park

Mistle Thrush 2 (first records here this spring)

Mistle Thrush

It was nest building time for the residents 

Carrion Crow with Reed Mace 

Greenfinch with more modest nesting material

Small Tortoiseshell 1

Brimstone 1 male

Angela was pleased to see this Swallow resting outside her house this morning.

She saw 2 more Swallows come in off at Ocean Edge this evening,  a Wheatear and the Linnet were still there too.

First Swallows zip through

A overnight air frost followed by sunshine all day with a very light and variable wind in the morning. A slightly fresher west wind after lunch.

Heysham skear - low water 07:30 

Jean and Pete did an accurate count of the birds on the sea:

Eider 154

Great Crested Grebe 3

Red-breasted Mergansers 20

I had a walk out onto the skear (MD)

The unattached male Mergansers were trying to attract already paired females.

Little Egret 7

Grey Heron 1

Carrion Crow 19

Waders:

Oystercatcher c3,000 were very flighty early on. Redshank c150, Turnstone c70, Curlew 8, no Knot, Dunlin 3

Dunlin

Towards the western extent of the middle skear, the seed mussels are just beginning to form. They are less than 2mm across at the moment, but they grow quickly. I expect the gulls to start taking an interest by the next set of spring tides in a fortnight.

Tiny seed mussels

Swallow 2 north

One Swallow........not much of a shot,
but it made my summer! (MD)

Meadow Pipit 6 - none while I was out on the shore, but 3, 2, and 1 quickly past as I approached the sea wall on the way back.

Heysham Nature Reserve (Janet)

Chiffchaff 

Small Tortoiseshell 
There was also a small white butterfly, but too quick to confirm species.

First Razorbill of the year and a Gannet

Overnight rain stopped before dawn. A fresh west wind with just a touch of north in it by the afternoon.

Pete and Jean checked the sea, report from Pete:

Heysham sea 1000-1100: 

Razorbill 2 (first records for 2023)

Guillemot 1 

plus 1 Razorbill/Guillemot 

Gannet 1

Common Scoter 5

Kittiwake 17 - 2 plus 13 and 2 x  2cy Kittiwake still on pipe in harbour.  

3 Meadow Pipit 

Sand Martin 1 north over sea through scope.  

Spike of Turnstone 275 and Redshank 750 heliport until everything flushed by unknown presumed mammalian predator - mustilid?

South Shore (MD)

A very quick check of the foreshore early morning located just:

Wheatear 4

Linnet 9

I walked my daughter's dog along the sea wall just after high water in the afternoon 

Dunlin 75 on Red Nab

A few of the Dunlin

Kittiwake 1 adult on No.2 outflow plus the 2 x 2nd calendar year in the harbour. This is the adult feeding near the sea wall.

Common Gull 3 x 2nd calendar year 

Common gull and Kittiwake 

Herring gull (left) and Common gull

Shag 1 immature on wooden jetty - first record for a while

Rock Pipit 2 - 1 along sea wall plus 1 above nest site near lighthouse 

Heysham Nature Reserve 

A friend of Janet's has leant her a camera, so Janet went to the reserve to get used to it.

Male Greenfinch

Male Blackcap 

It was good to see a nice splash of colour

Bluebell

Snakes Head Fritillary, including the alba variant 

White (alba) Fritillary

Hoverfly (Drone-Fly?) on gorse

Also on gorse, a Seven-spot Ladybird, and just to its right
a small (unidentified) spider. You may need to open the shot to see it.

It drizzled it down! But still stuff to smile about.

Drizzly showers early on gave way to constant drizzle. Light south wind.

Fortunately Shaun managed an early morning walk:

Middleton NR 06:45-08:15 

Teal male on Main pond + a pair of Little Grebe's and 2 Grey Heron's. 

pair of Little Grebe's on No Swimming Pond 

Group of 5 Gadwall circling the reserve (4m 1f)

Chiffchaff 10 

Willow Warblers 2

Cetti's Warblers 6 singing (the one at previous Point B wasn't - ref post 1/04/23)

I had a quick look later on (MD), nothing Shaun didn't report, but thought this was worthy of note. Pretty sure this is the same male Teal as yesterday, but no strong light today and his green face markings, were.......green

My only other outing today was a morning check from the saltmarsh to Red Nab (MD).

Wheatear 3

Linnet 9

This made me smile, there were several Wood Pigeon around. This one had more than feeding on its mind. Its "mate" looked at it as if it was peculiar. Definitely not impressed!

This also made me smile, but for a different reason. This Weasel appeared to be digging a nest hole, presumably a female as males take no part in rearing the young. She knew I was there, but decided that I wasn't a threat (I like it when wildlife ignores me!) even though she was constantly checking for danger from other directions.

Weasel

I left her to it and when I walked back she was still around but the hole was now large enough to disappear down.

Not so much a burrow, more an access hole to the underside of the rubble
I'll keep an eye on it (MD)