Osprey.....not missed today!

A light, but increasing SW wind Sunshine all day after the early mist cleared.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

First a ringing report from John for yesterday:

Nets set at Middleton yesterday morning. Bright conditions and slow start, only five birds in first two hours. Then a movement of birds through, helped to increase this to a total of twenty, which comprised:

Blackcap 4

Chiffchaff 6

Robin 3

Great Tit 2

Blue Tit 2

Willow Warbler 1

Lesser Whitethroat 1

Wren 1

South shore (MD)

A late morning check on the rising tide

Mediterranean gull 9 at least - the gulls on Red Nab were all sat down, many with their heads tucked in, so difficult to check. 6 adult, 2 second calendar year and 1 first calendar year. A first calendar year at the end of No.1 outflow may have been the same bird.

Shelduck 26 flew off to the west, presumably they had been on the shore as they started off low.

Osprey 1 - it had caught what looks to be a decent sized Grey Mullet. When first seen it was out from No.1 outflow and gripping the fish towards its tail.

Osprey with a blue ring on its right leg

It clearly wasn't satisfied with its grip, it spent over a minute circling out at sea till it was gripping it towards the front. This clip it the last 30 seconds of this process.

Fish gripped to its satisfaction it was ready to run the gauntlet of the inshore gulls

It managed to get through the gulls and headed east.

Falcon sp probably Peregrine 1 came in off high from the west and continued SE

Swallow 2 south

Ringed Plover 13 plus a single Dunlin near Red Nab - these are a few of them.

Just out of the recording area (actually quite a way out of the recording area, but still of interest) Pilling.

Little Tern 2 - ref Pete

Black Darter and Pinks start to return

 The east wind switched to NW late morning, but remained light. Dry with long sunny periods.

Heysham skear - low water 08:30 (MD)

Eider 23 - 10, 12 & 1 all female/immature 

Great Crested Grebe 13

Red-breasted Merganser 3 female/immature in one feeding group.

Little Egret 19 

These spring tides come in very quickly, these are some of the birds trying to feed while being displaced. Note the young Little Egret with quite yellow legs, towards the end of the clip.

Grey Heron 1

Pink-Footed goose 3 low to the east.

First Pink-Footed geese returning

There wasn't a great number of waders, no doubt more were on the outer skear

Oystercatcher c200

Curlew c150

Redshank c120

Turnstone c80

Knot 1

Harbour mouth early evening, Craig Bell 

Pink-Footed goose 4

Whimbrel 2

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet had a look in the morning

Cetti's Warbler 1 singing between the main and "no swimming" ponds

Black Darter 1 male on the flat area to the west of Tim Butler pond (the first record within the recording area this year)

Male Black Darter

I had a walk around just after lunch (MD)

Brown Hawker 2

Migrant Hawker 10 - just 1 female

Common Darter 10+ - these are two ovipositoring in the "no swimming" pond (my camera seems to be making up its own sound effects now!)

There wasn't a lot of butterflies, in order of abundance:

Speckled Wood several

Meadow Brown 4

Small White 4

Red Admiral 2

Brimstone 2

Large White 1

Mute Sawn 2 adult 8 Cygnets 

Mallard 4

Tufted Duck the odd looking female is still on main pond

Coot 8

There are still no wildfowl on the "no swimming" pond

Swallow - continuous high number feeding and moving through. 30 minimum 

Grey Heron 1 - it catches a small fish here

Long Tailed Tits at least 15 in one feeding flock, plus 1 Chiffchaff with them.

Sparrowhawk 1

The late summer rain has swollen the Hawthorn berrries. There were already high numbers but now they are large too. I suppose this will be the case in most of the rest of the country too.

Heavily laden Hawthorn bush

I thought this female/immature Blackbird had already started eating them, but it was actually eating Blackthorn fruit (sloes).

Quite often, sloes are the only berries/fruit to remain late into winter. I think the larger ones are just too large for even the largest thrushes to swallow.

Black Tern and some interesting recovery news.

A light east wind, dry with sunny spells.

South Shore

Report from Pete:

Mediterranean gull. 35 on Red Nab including one adult with green ring on right leg

Black Tern 1 juvenile seaward end hey 2 then in shipping channel behind sea truck

loads of gulls outfalls 

We have received the history of the young Mediterranean gull seen yesterday.

The bird comes from a small colony in inland Germany - Löbnitz Gravel Pit, Colony, Leipzig, Sachsen 51° 34' 49'' N 012° 28' 22'' E

Ringed as a nestling 18/06/22 it has already been seen in three different locations, including Dawlish Warren Nature Reserve Devon.

While we are on rings. A scan of the winter roosting Oystercatcher reveals a significant number with metal rings. Many of these will be from the ringing programs conducted on the Heliport earlier this century. Oystercatcher can live a long time.  Jean was contacted by Catherine Ramsay who found the ring of a recently dead bird on 09/07/23 on the Island of Mousa, Shetland. The BTO had confirmed that the bird was an Oystercatcher ringed at Heysham 12/12/08.

Found 5322 days after ringing as an adult, 671kn north of Heysham - many thanks Catherine

I only had chance for a very quick check of the south side mid afternoon, not a time of the tide I would choose (MD). 

Wheatear 2

Rock Pipit 3

Eider 1 female drifting out with the tide.

There were a number of Turnstone feeding along the sea wall. A duller bird amongst them looked promising, but it turned out to be a juvenile Knot.

Turnstone and Knot

A pair of yellow ringed Meds

A dry day with plenty of sunshine. The wind shifted to SE.

South Shore

Janet had an early walk along the sea wall.

Water vapour was still rising from the seaward end of No.1 outflow
No wind at this time

Looks like this young Black-Headed gull wanted to play "sticks"
But the others weren't interested today

I walked down a little later to watch the tide cover the beach next to the jetty (MD)

Mediterranean gulls 13 at least. There were 8 adult, 1 second calendar year and 2 first calendar year on the beach. Plus at least 2 additional second calendar year on Red Nab later.

The pickings are still easy here and the gulls were mainly resting and flew off as the tide reached them. One of the adults had a yellow darvic ring, but remained just beyond reading range.

Fortunately, I relocated it later on Red Nab, it is one of the German scheme adults read earlier this month. There was also a yellow ringed immature Med on Red Nab which is also part of a German scheme. This is a new bird for Heysham.

German ringed Mediterranean gull - details awaited 

Rock Pipit 1 on foreshore 

Swallow 2 south

Heliport 

Howard had a quick look

Nothing exciting on the heliport today other than 3 visits from a male Sparrowhawk, think it got a Turnstone on it's last attack.

Wheatear 1 juvenile 

Rock Pipit 2 on Near Naze

Rock Pipit

Feeding time.......

A heavy downpour at 07:00 after that dry and largely sunny. A fresh NW to NNW wind.

South Shore (MD)

I couldn't get down till 09:30, probably missed most of anything that had been grounded by the rain. Still, along the foreshore:

Robin 2

Robins rarely make the picture gallery 

Goldfinch 2

Linnet 4

Pied Wagtail 1

Rock Pipit 2 plus 1 on Red Nab

Wheatear 4

Wheatear 

Mediterranean gulls 6 - 4 adult on Red Nab in the morning plus, later in the afternoon, 2 x 1st calendar year on the end of No.1 outflow. This is one of the Meds at the end of No.1 outflow, a Grey Seal reveals itself at the end of the clip.

1st calendar year Mediterranean gull and a Grey Seal

I walked along the wall in the afternoon to check the beach next to the wooden jetty, only 2 adult Meds turned up. The new ferry obviously has a greater displacement and more power than the old one, and has a proportionally larger wake. This is the wake running up the beach next to the wooden jetty.

It clearly reached further up the beach than the Oystercatchers were expecting. I am confident that this additional replenishment of nutrients up the beach can only benefit the Sandmason worm colony. We'll see.

This Redshank found a crab in the wash. It was just about small enough to pass its gape, when all its limbs were removed. Even so it made short work of it.

In contrast this young Black-Headed Gull didn't seem to know what to do with this small fish. What's it been eating up to now? Perhaps it was already full. It took it almost two minutes to eat this Whitebait, it spent most of that time washing it.

I mentioned yesterday about honing survival skills, hopefully it will soon learn that it will seldom be allowed to play with its food for so long. It probably only got away with it today as there was plenty of food to go round. In this clip it finally managed to eat the fish, meanwhile an Oystercatcher casually catches a Sandmason worm.

The Starling numbers in the harbour continue to grow. There are 500+ now, these are some of them on one of the platforms, I'm pretty sure they are not feeding here, just breaking off pieces of barnacle shell for grit.

Juvenile Turnstone 

Some nice shots from Janet:

Redshank and Oystercatcher on the Heliport wall
plus the Manxman turning into the harbour

The top of the heliport wall looking out into the bay

Female Migrant Hawker on Middleton Nature Reserve 

It's caught a Crane Fly

Mobile Purple Sandpiper

A freshish west wind. An early shower then dry with sunny spells till more rain in the evening.

South Shore on rising tide (MD)

The waders weren't flushed today, but were already feeding towards the edge of the recording area when I started, and they continued moving south as the tide rose.

Numbers similar to yesterday for Grey Plover, Bar-Tailed Godwit and Dunlin. But fewer Knot, c250.

More Ringed Plover 25

Curlew only 50

Oystercatcher also only c50

As I was scanning the skies yesterday for a "large raptor", that I'd assumed had spooked the birds, watchers (on full zoom) from Cockersands saw an Osprey resting on one of the posts in the sea out from Ocean Edge! I'll remember to check the posts as well as the skies next time.

Redshank c150 most on Red Nab

Turnstone 11 Red Nab

Lapwing 4 saltmarsh 

This Lapwing is after Harbour Ragworm, it catches one at the very beginning of this clip. Watch also the Wood Pigeon, it is drinking the fresh groundwater as it seeps up through the mud.

This is a detail from the above clip, you can see the worm being pulled from its hole.
Harbour Ragworm are named after their preferred terrain, not the deep harbours we think of today,
but traditional ancient landing areas, which were often just creeks into a marsh where a boat could be 
grounded at high water to be unloaded/loaded before floating off on the next tide. An area like our saltmarsh.

There were lots of gull today. Mainly Black-Headed with several Common. Also

Mediterranean Gulls 5 adult

Sandwich Tern 11 resting on the mud and occasionally flying around 

Sandwich Tern, left. Mediterranean gull lower right, with a Common gull just behind it and two above.

This clip is when the tide was pushing the gulls up the shore. There are at least one Mediterranean gull and four Sandwich Tern, but not easy to spot. Watch in slow motion. Note also the young Black-Headed gull with a piece of weed. More on this next.

The young Black-Headed gulls were, what can only be described as, "playing". One would pick up a piece of weed or a stick and others followed and picked it up again when it was dropped. Like all play, you have to hope it is fun, but it definitely hones the skills the birds will require to survive.

Swallow 4 south 

Pied/White Wagtail 10 in one flock east

Rock Pipit 4

Wheatear 1

Heliport (PM)

Redshank 720

Turnstone 225

Knot 7 juvenile 

Lapwing 24

Dunlin 1

Common Sandpiper 1

Purple Sandpiper 1 adult in summer plumage heliport seawall 

then the flock flushed probably by ground predator and 1/3 of the Redshank and Turnstone with the Purple Sandpiper flew towards Heysham Head.

5 Curlew, 

5500 Oystercatcher,

A bit frustrating

A fresh NW wind. Dry with the odd sunny spell.

South shore towards high water 09:40 (MD)

There were lots of waders on the waterline as I was walking out on the shore:

Bar-Tailed Godwit 10

Grey Plover 240+

Knot 500+

Dunlin 650+

Unfortunately before I could get close enough for a good look something lifted all the waders and gulls. Whatever it was I couldn't see it! Everything landed again, quite quickly. Most of the waders further south towards Potts. 

A few remained in the recording area. These are Grey Plover, Knot and Dunlin retreating from the rising tide. The brown blobs are just natural spume, formed when the waves break (the white of "white horses"), as they are blown over the mud, they pick up particles and become mud coloured.

Other waders:

Curlew c150

Oystercatcher c200

Redshank c130 most on Red Nab

Turnstone 4 Red Nab

Ringed plover 16 between waterline and saltmarsh 

The Ringed Plovers didn't move when everything else was flushed

Sandwich Tern 3 at least. 2 were seen on the shore and later 3 came in to rest on Red Nab

Wheatear 1 on foreshore 

Rock Pipit 4 - 2 on foreshore and 2 on Red Nab

Grey Wagtail 1 on Red Nab

Middleton Nature Reserve (JP)

Janet gave the Pheasants their daily exercise.

Heysham Skear - low water 16:40 (MD)

Eider 2 female/immature 

Little Egret 5

Oystercatcher c300

Curlew c100

Redshank c120

Turnstone c30

Knot c100

Ringed Plover 2

Once again, everything, including the gulls was lifted, and once again I failed to locate the culprit (hence the frustration).

Oystercatcher and Knot spooked by something 

This clip shows some of the feeding activity on the rising tide. Most of these are after shrimps. Little Egret, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Knot and a Black-Headed gull.

I like this clip of Knot. Mainly as it begins with one pushing an Oystercatcher out of the way. The Knot that was behind the Oystercatcher finds an invertebrate to eat.

Redshank and Knot

Juvenile Knot

Sand Martin 2 flying into the wind to the NW

Postscript from Pete

Osprey hanging about south of Ocean Edge sat on post - visible on full zoom from Cockersands 

More Sandwiches

It just about remained dry after an early shower. A freshening NW wind.

South Shore (MD)

Just one check today, on the shore out from the foreshore just after morning high water.

Red Nab not checked.

Wheatear 5 along foreshore 

Rock Pipit 1 on foreshore 

There were lots of waders along the waterline:

Curlew c150

Oystercatcher c100

Bar-Tailed Godwit 24

Grey Plover 197

Knot 391

Dunlin 685

Turnstone 2

Redshank c100 close to saltmarsh 

Ringed Plover 15 close to saltmarsh 

Grey Plover, Knot and Dunlin

These are some of the Grey Plover, Knot, Bar-Tailed Godwit and Dunlin

Male Bar-Tailed Godwit, still largely in summer plumage, with Dunlin

Sandwich Tern 48 at least - there was one main resting group, but birds were leaving and arriving all the time. The highest count was 45 resting plus at least 3 blogging.

Common Tern 1 resting with the Sandwich Terns.

This is the resting group including the Common Tern

This clip shows the Common Tern more clearly and the location of the resting group.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a brief check of the two main ponds in passing.

Mute Swan 2 adult 8 cygnets 

Coot 9 all on main pond and still squabbling!

Moorhen 1 - the only bird on the "no swimming" pond

Mallard 4

Tufted Duck 1 female

Mallard and female Tufted duck - just traces of a tuft now.

Yesterday, Janet accidentally flushed a female Pheasant with a recently fledged brood.

These Kestrel shots from Janet are from the Barrows today.

Kestrel

Janet also had a raptor visit her garden this evening 

Sparrowhawk 

Meds dissapear

Very light and variable breeze. Some sunshine and a couple of light showers.

South Shore (MD)

Two checks again one in the morning on the ebbing tide and an evening check towards high water.

Wheatear 17 in the morning moving through very quickly. 6 on Red Nab in the evening almost certainly additional.

Five of the morning Wheatears stopped off on the wooden jetty briefly 
These are three on top of the wooden jetty lighthouse. 

Rock Pipit 3 along foreshore 

Linnet 4 on foreshore 

Goldfinch a flock of 24 were feeding at the bottom of the foreshore rocks

Peregrine Falcon 1

There were no small gulls on Red Nab and no gulls at all were feeding on either outflow. Only a single Black-Headed gull turned up to feed on the beach next to the Jetty. No Mediterranean gulls seen in the morning.

There were plenty of gulls in the evening c350 Black-Headed, mainly on the shore. 

Mediterranean gull 3 adult on Red Nab

I walked out onto the shore to check the waders on the waterline.

Curlew c250

Oystercatcher c300

Bar-Tailed Godwit 8

Knot 43

Grey Plover 32

Dunlin c150

A slightly different view of the tower at the seaward end of No.2 outflow 
with the South Lakes hills in the background 

Sandwich Tern 14 resting on shore and occasionally blogging. This youngster was after being fed, but the adult wasn't impressed!

One of the adults had a yellow darvic ring, unfortunately just beyond reading range.

Sandwich Terns

Easy pickings and another Osprey

Sunshine with heavy showers, particularly in the morning. A west wind.

South Shore (MD)

I walked along the foreshore and sea wall in the morning.

Wheatear 2

A particularly rufous 1st winter Wheatear

Rock Pipit 2 - foreshore and Red Nab

Linnet 5 - foreshore 3 lighthouse 2

The forecast was for light rain showers. I suppose by volume of water over the day the rain was "light". I'd set off in bright sunshine and waterproof leggings were a last minute decision. A good one! I could see the rain approaching while I was on the foreshore. Foreboding weather conditions rarely look so when photographed, but this is a reasonable representation.

I was walking towards the weather, and the weather was heading towards me.....
.....we met half way along the wall. There is no definition of "light" that would describe the subsequent rain!

Fortunately it was easing as I reached the end of the wall. The beach by the jetty was just becoming exposed by the tide. Only 6 Mediterranean gulls turned up, along with Black-Headed Gulls, Little Egret, Curlew and Redshank. All were catching Sandmason worms, although I didn't actually see the Egret catch any.  This compilation shows the differing techniques, I did feel that the Curlew was "cheating" a little.

Robin 1 grounded by lighthouse

I returned early evening towards high water

Mediterranean gulls 15 adult on Red Nab including one white ringed bird.

Curlew c300 on the south shore

Whimbrel 1 flew from Red Nab

Oystercatcher c500

Redshank 120 on Red Nab

Turnstone 4 on Red Nab

Knot 20 on tideline 

Dunlin 60 on tideline

Lapwing 4 on saltmarsh 

Sanderling 1 feeding amongst the Oystercatcher on the tideline, but only briefly 

Sandwich Tern 1 resting with c200 Black-Headed Gulls just south of the saltmarsh 

Sandwich Tern

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

I called in on my way home mid morning, the heavy shower had eased a while earlier, but the rain had only just stopped and the clouds were clearing.

Osprey 1 - it flew north over the main pond and was obviously checking for any fish. But the gulls were agitated and it continued north

Osprey, checking out the main pond

Main Pond

Tufted duck 1 (the odd) female

Coot 8 only 2 obviously immature 

Only 1 Moorhen on "no swimming" pond.

By this time the sun was out and the insects were just beginning to move

Common Darter 1 male

Common Blue Damselfly 1 male

Common Blue Damselfly

Common Emerald Damselfly 

Common Emerald Damselfly

Pete Crooks had a stroll around the village in the afternoon.

2 Greenshank flew south over Heysham Village (first of the autumn - they are not common here)

1 Sparrowhawk and 1 Small Copper at St Peters Church

1 Painted Lady on the footpath between Knowleys Road and Heysham Village Bay.