A pair of winkle pickers and Ibis viewable from recording area.

A biting NW wind kept it cold, but dry all day.

South Shore (MD)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 31 on Rd Nab.

Wigeon 400+

Shelduck 45

Shag 1 immature on wooden jetty

One of four adult Common Gulls patrolling the sea wall

I have been noticing increasing numbers of empty Periwinkle shells on the sea wall at Red Nab. Today I spotted a pair of Carrion Crows picking the winkles from Red Nab and then dropping them on the wall to open. Most took just one or two drops to open them, this one held out a little longer. You can see the empty shells littering the wall.

At the saltmarsh 

Bar-Tailed Godwit 16 quickly being pushed off the last remaining finger of shore by the tide.

Reed Bunting 5

Rock Pipit 1

Blackbird 2

Song Thrush 1

The male Grey Seal was feeding again. It was in No.2 outflow very early. It must have swam up from the seaward end. Here he is swimming along the central divide, before being spooked by a Black-Headed Gull.

He, or another male caught a Bass. There isn't a lot to see in this clip, but it does show what to watch out for. Clouds of gulls and the occasional dark blob popping out of the water.

Imperial Rd (MD)

I went to check in the evening. There were several Curlew feeding in the field to the east, just before you reach the recycling centre gates. Slightly unusual as they do not regularly feed here. Then a little further behind them.......

Glossy Ibis 1 feeding at 16:00. But not for long, something spooked the Curlew and the Ibis flew west with them.

Sorry about the wobbly nature of this clip, but it was some distance away and I had nothing to steady myself against.

Originally I thought that two of the flying birds may have been Ibis, but checking my shots didn't reveal another. Even so, if the horse paddock bird at Middleton was still there, it would have been a different bird. I went to Middleton Parish Hall to check, but no sign of the Ibis there, and there were several additional ponies in the paddock. Clearly it had been a busy day and it obviously had looked for pastures new. Worth checking Imperial Rd again tomorrow, particularly if it isn't at the horse paddock.

Bath time

A light northish breeze. Some sunny spells and some very light showers.

South Shore (MD)

Pale-bellied Brent 30 arrived at Red Nab early in the tide and spent a while bathing and drinking in the freshwater run off.

Shelduck 30 - although there would have been many more on the shore near the saltmarsh 

Wigeon 491 - just timed it nicely for an easy count as they made their way towards Red Nab. It's no wonder the gutweed there is like a billiard table cloth. 

These are a few late comers flying in.

Eider 3 near the wooden jetty

Shag 2 at least - these two were together on the wooden jetty 

The Shag on the right is one of last year's youngsters, now a 2nd calendar year bird.
The Shag on the left is much darker so at least a 3rd calendar year bird.

There is very little white on the more mature birds chin, possibly it is a 4th calendar year

The 2nd calendar year bird is ringed. Looks like a yellow ring on the left leg
and a metal ring on the right. Another one to watch out for.

A little later, just after the ferry had arrived, this Shag was having a "bath" out from the Harbour mouth. I couldn't see the birds on the wooden jetty, but this one was too dark to be the 2nd calendar year bird, but it also seems to have more white on its throat than the older bird on the wooden jetty.

Bath is in inverted commas as it was really a thorough shake down, it was obviously in serious need of washing its feathers. It was like this for at least a couple of minutes.

Immature, likely 3rd calendar year Shag

On the saltmarsh 

Reed Bunting 4

Reed Bunting 

Song Thrush 1

Song Thrush 

Rock Pipit 3 seen in total, this is the saltmarsh bird

Rock Pipit resting on a Pelican garden ornament 

By this time the tide had almost covered the saltmarsh, still:

Common Snipe 3

Jack Snipe 1

Grey Seal 1 - it was the male's turn to be feeding close in today. Here he is in No.2 outflow.

Just out of the recording area - the Glossy Ibis was reported behind Middleton Parish Hall at least at lunchtime.

Sometimes you have to rely on the wildlife coming to you

Another dry but overcast day, the light wind freshened slightly as it moved tomSW.

I didn't have much time today (Malcolm). So first just a couple of shots of a visitor to my Heysham garden.

Immature Sparrowhawk

South shore (MD)

Just a very brief check of the shore out from the saltmarsh as the rising tide was covering it.

Pale-bellied Brent goose c25 seen distantly leaving Red Nab and flying SE.

Shelduck 60

These Shelduck are filtering invertebrates from the soft mud. Note their bill action.

Their bill feeding action leaves unmistakable patterns in the soft mud.

Two examples of the patterns left in the mud by feeding Shelduck

Wigeon 200+ 

The waders don't hang around for long, these spring tides cover the mud very quickly here.

Curlew 50

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1

Oystercatcher 200

Grey Plover 15

Redshank 25

Dunlin 100

Ringed Plover 4

The above on the mud

Lapwing 12

Common Snipe 3 

On the saltmarsh 

These are Grey Plover just before the tide moves them on. You can see how quickly it rises over the relatively flat shore here. A Knot pops in at the end to provide a nice size comparison.

Imperial Rd (MD)

This was my only other outing today and was just a brief check in passing.

Water Rail 1 squealing from the pond near the recycling centre

Teal 5 lifted from the same pond

Stock Dove 2

Roe Deer 1 female

Just out of the recording area - Middleton Parish Hall.

The Glossy Ibis in the horse paddock behind the hall was seen by several observers. Including Angela Gillon. When Angela checked there were also:

Redwing 10

Green Sandpiper 1

All the regulars still present (although one less Bass)

Mild, dry and overcast, the NE breeze switched to NW at lunchtime.

South shore - hight water 11:15 (MD)

Pale-bellied Brent geese 17 - flew to Red Nab, but today had been on the north shore first. Flew towards Potts Corner towards high water.

Shelduck 100

Wigeon 200

Eider 1 - it has a crab here.

Rock Pipit 1 along the sea wall

Grey Seal 2

This male has just caught a Bass. 

But they are messy eaters and it soon attracted the gulls

When the Cormorants started turning up too the seal disappeared with its catch
Seals can swim for several minutes underwater and it clearly headed off somewhere more secluded 

Meanwhile a female was by No.2 outflows - females have a pale skin with dark blotches, while males have a dark skin with pale blotches , sometimes when the blotches are particularly dense it is not always possible to tell if it is the skin or the blotch that is dark. But no ambiguity with this female.

Female Grey Seal

On the saltmarsh:

Common Snipe 33

Jack Snipe 1

Reed Bunting 3

Greenfinch 10

Linnet 35

Jef Gorse visited the area this morning

Very impressive wall full of oystercatcher, 
and spot the curlew, on the heliport sea wall.

Kestrel hunting over Heysham Head clifftops.

Treecreeper (not common here) in the grounds of St Peter’s Church where a sparrowhawk also whizzed through at the feeding stations in the garden. Snowdrops emerging into flower in the churchyard too.

Curlew in the fields behind Knowlys Road.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

An evening check from the hill on the southern section 

Jackdaw 200+ but more dispersed today. Three medium sized flocks on the reserve plus still some nearer the village.

Stock Dove 15 seen going in to roost, but most were quite early and I could have missed some.

Glossy Ibis 1 seen lifting from its feeding ground at 16:30, then seemed to land again straight away. I waited a while longer but no more sign of it.

Just out of the recording area:

Ibis still going strong in the horse paddocks behind Middleton Parish Hall
Jeff Gorse

Outmanoeuvred by the Ibis.........again!

Overcast and reasonably mild. A light NE breeze.

South shore - high water 11:00 (MD)

Pale Bellied Brent geese 17 - these flew to Red Nab in a line directly from Walney, not from the north shore.

Pale-bellied Brent geese dropping down on to Red Nab having flown from the west side of the bay

Today's high water was 9.2m. This would normally flush the Brent from Red Nab, but the flat sea and very high atmospheric pressure meant that it didn't reach as high as it would do normally. The gutweed is now very short and there was no one around (I don't count), so the Brent took advantage to feed closer inshore at high water. This clip shows the ideal feeding conditions for them, the gutweed is short but floats when covered in water, making for easier grazing.

This clip shows just how short the gutweed is, and how close the Brent were to the sea wall.

Shelduck 60

Wigeon 200

The tide only just reached the saltmarsh edge.

Common Snipe 28 and 21 of those were flushed from the marsh grass that now runs more or less as far as Potts Corner.

Reed Bunting 1

Linnet 1 

Rock Pipit 1

Grey seal at least 1. One was seen some distance out, highlighted by a group of gulls waiting for it to surface. Then later, it or another (looks like a male) was feeding in No.1 outflow.

North shore

Alan Physick checked the north sea wall

Rock,Pipit 1

Grey Wagtail 1

Peregrine Falcon 1

Howard did well and managed to read 11 colour ringed Knot. These are examples from three different schemes

Glossy Ibis - initially feeding just outside the recording area around the horse paddock behind Middleton Parish Hall. Shaun watched it till it flew off (also 13 Redwing feeding in the field). It was later tonight, almost 16:30 and quite dark. It took a line that would have taken it right over my (MD) head if I had been on the hill on Middleton Nature Reserve, and towards the harbour if it continued. But myself and Alan Physick were stationed in the Business Park on the other side of the road. If it doubled back at all it didn't get that far. Possibly it chooses different roosts in different weather conditions, it was definitely much milder this evening. The game is still afoot!

Jackdaws, Jack Snipe and Ibis

Again, very cold but not freezing overnight. A dry cloudy day and slightly warmer. A light north breeze.

Howard took this lovely shot of a Lapwing on the Near Naze, earlier in the week.

South Shore - high water 10:10 (MD)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 10 on Red Nab

Shelduck and Wigeon similar to yesterday.

No sign of the yellow ringed Cormorant on the wooden jetty, but this immature Shag was showing well on the first section of the Jetty.

A Grey Heron was also on the jetty.

Rock Pipit 2 (sea wall and lighthouse)

Imperial Rd (MD)

I went in the field to the west to see if I could locate the Ibis roost from the high ground next to the recycling centre this evening.

Jackdaws were constantly passing overhead to join the roost near Middleton Village (more on these later). No Stock Doves passed over so wherever the roosting birds are arriving from it isn't this direction.

Buzzard 1

Meadow Pipit 1

Jack Snipe 1 - flushed from the low lying waterlogged field.

Glossy Ibis 1 - 16:18 it had left the feeding area near the horse paddock and started off west, it did cross into the southern section of Middleton Nature Reserve before doubling back and flying into the Business Park. Unfortunately I could only glimpse it skimming over the trees, so couldn't see where it ended up (reinforcements tomorrow so we may do better)

Interestingly, it lifted all the Jackdaws from their roost. A Heron had flown a similar path a few minutes earlier without bothering the Jackdaws. 

There were over 300 Jackdaw, I took this clip by just roughly pointing the camera at them while I scanned the horizon to see if the Ibis would reemerge.

Roe Deer 2 female, the smaller one probably immature.

Just out of the recording area - Middleton Parish Hall (MD)

The Glossy Ibis was feeding in the field next to the horse paddock behind the hall this evening. The standing water is still frozen, but there is enough thawed around the edges for the Ibis to wash its worms. It was having no difficulty in catching them, it caught 4 in just over a minute. I've had to condense the first clip slightly to make the file small enough to upload. You can hear the Jackdaw roost already gathering.

How many does it eat in a day!

Plenty of interest today

Another cold, but not freezing night (1.8°C) followed by a dry and often sunny day, but the temperature remained cold (5.1°C peak mid afternoon).

South shore

I checked from Red Nab to the shore out from the saltmarsh at high water and early in the ebb (MD)

Pale-bellied Brent Geese 8 on Red Nab

Shelduck 120 out from Red Nab and the saltmarsh 

Wigeon 150 around Red Nab

This is a nice panoramic clip of Red Nab, it begins with some of the Shelduck and ends on some of the Brent

Although it hasn't dropped below freezing for the last two days it hasn't been warm enough to thaw what was frozen earlier in the week. This includes the mud out from the saltmarsh. Today's high water did thaw where it reached and the waders were taking advantage of the invertebrates that again became accessible as the tide ebbed.

This is the view looking out from the foreshore. The shiny mud at the water's edge is where today's tide
reached, the darker mud beyond is still frozen. You can see the waders feeding in the ribbon of thawed mud.

I was particularly careful today about not getting too close and spoking the waders. They had been through a cold night, but now there was some warmth in the sun and the tide had freed up breakfast. These are the same waders in the above shot, but this clip is from the east of them with the sun behind me.

StenaLine heading out

Totals of the waders I could see easily:

Curlew 60

Oystercatcher 25

Bar-Tailed Godwit 180

Lapwing 63 (also feeding on the ribbon of thawed mud)

Knot 1,000

Redshank 30

Turnstone 10

Dunlin 200

Ringed Plover 14

These are some of the Ringed Plover with Dunlin in the channel just beyond the saltmarsh 

This is looking back from the saltmarsh as I was leaving. All the waders were still feeding,
and the area of newly thawed mud much larger.

Reed Bunting 

Janet checked from Red Nab then along the sea wall.

Turnstone 

Little Egret having a bad hair day

Male Wigeon

Cormorant on the wooden jetty with a yellow ring.
Pete advises that it is a Sinensis or hybrid.
Unfortunately only 2 of the 3 characters showing - one to watch out for!

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

I went down this evening to watch the birds heading to roost from the top of the hill on the southern section of the reserve.

Wood Pigeon 20+ came in to roost, most quite early on. They were preferring the conifers.

Six Wood Pigeon in the late afternoon sun

Stock Dove 23 at least. Some larger groups this evening , including one of five and one of ten.

10 Stock Doves plus Starlings

Jackdaw 280+ - there was a small roost of 32 on the reserve, but the large one was just to the east, at least 250 in this clip.

Glossy Ibis 1 - I had checked the horse paddock at Middleton before positioning myself on the hill. There was no sign of it then, but it must have been feeding somewhere close by, as its flight line was as previous. It was heading low along the line of Middleton Rd then turned and headed east, in a line that would take it to the Business Park to the east of the reserve.

Just out of the recording area. No Ibis seen in the horse paddock behind Middleton Parish Hall, but this Grey Wagtail was finding plenty to eat.

Consistently cold!

Surprisingly not freezing overnight, but it was cold. Temperature dropped to 1.8°C overnight and "peaked" at 4.1°C at lunchtime. Mainly overcast with a bitterly cold NE - E strong breeze.

South shore (JP)

Some shots by Janet from yesterday 

Little Egret

Some of the Redshank feeding on the receding tide

Cormorants leaving the wooden jetty roost for their feeding grounds

Lots of stuff other than the tits are attracted to the feeding area near the white barrier in the Nature Park.

Robin

Dunnock 

Chaffinch

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker 

Grey Squirrel 

Heysham skear - low water 15:25 (MD)

Brent Geese 16 at least - viewed distantly as they fed amongst the rocks out from the play area. Yesterday Pete Woodruff saw 45 in the same area. But both views too distant to be certain that they were all pale-bellied.

Eider c30

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Little Egret 1

The tides are starting to go out further now and areas not exposed for several days become frantic feeding grounds for the waders. These are typical, Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank and Knot. Watch out for the Curlew with a crab.

Oystercatcher, Knot, Dunlin and Turnstone

Oystercatcher 1,000

Curlew 100

Knot 1,000

Redshank 80

Turnstone 60

Dunlin 4

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

I went in the evening to watch the Stock Doves come in to roost.

These are the trees/scrub where they have chosen to roost.
Just north of the Reedmace covered pond in the southern section of the reserve

Stock Dove 16 minimum, probably 19 (19 seen landing, but 3 possibly already counted). No large flock today 3 was the largest single group.

Although I was much closer today (there is a nice seat to rest on by the pond), I was below the birds and the diminishing light was behind them, making for difficult photography.

Stock Dove

Wood Pigeon 6 also came in to roost in the same trees

Jackdaw 80+ milling around to the east of the reserve 

Jay 1

Just out of the recording area - Middleton Parish Hall

Glossy Ibis 1 has been seen both yesterday and today, despite the standing water in the field beside the horse paddock being frozen.

I couldn't find it this evening (MD). Perhaps it had already left for its roost or was just out of sight somewhere, I didn't linger.

Nice day, but uneventful

A heavy overnight frost, areas of shaded ground remained frozen all day. Sunny for most of the day with a very light NE breeze.

Middleton Nature Reserve (JP)

Some shots from Janet from yesterday.

The Coot have been battling all (last) year

One of two Roe Deer 

South shore (MD)

It was a lovely morning for a walk, unfortunately very little to be seen along the sea wall.

Shelduck 77

Some of the Shelduck

Wigeon 300+

Eider 2 beyond the outflows

And that was about it!

Lesser Black-Baked gull posing nicely 

It wasn't practical to check for the Ibis roost this evening, perhaps tomorrow 

North shore 

Howard took this clip earlier in the week. It demonstrates how the Knot are easily disturbed on the Heliport wall. In this instance by a couple of Carrion Crows. Also flushed by the disturbance was a Jack Snipe, you can just see it zipping past the second crow.