Still in the doldrums!

Almost no breeze, what little air movement there was came from the south. Another sunless day with low cloud.

Heysham skear - low water 10:45 (Malcolm)

Nothing different really

Pink-Footed goose 32 south

Eider 1

Red-breasted Merganser 5

Great Crested grebe 4

Little Egret 7

This one couldn't even be bothered to move out of my way - it was that sort of a day!

1600 Knot today, just one flagged bird seen and it has been seen here earlier in the week.

Dunlin 1 with the Knot

Other waders as recent.

This Great Black-backed gull has a flounder.

Even with its considerable gape, a fish this size would be too wide to swallow when it was fresh. But it will have been working on it for a couple of days at least now, first opening it up and removing the guts then pecking it to open its flesh. They then leave it in the sea for the crabs and shrimps to weaken it further, returning next tide to see it if they can manage to swallow it. Today was the day!

South shore (Malcolm)

It was nice having a walk along the sea wall, but again, nothing new to see.

Reed Bunting and a Wren were the only passerines seen around the saltmarsh and foreshore.

Shelduck 12

Wigeon 126 were waiting for the tide to reach Red Nab.

Wigeon coming in to land by No.2 outfall.....

.........then heading towards Red Nab

Grey Seal 1 between the outfalls

Melanism, leucism and November dragonflies.

The light SE breeze continues. Overcast with sea mist for much of the day. The sun tried to break through mid afternoon and briefly raised the temperature from 9°C to 10°C.

Heysham skear - low water 09:30 (Malcolm)

No Brent geese turned up to feed in the skear corner today, but 3 Wigeon did. I've never seen any feeding here before, but it is understandable, there is lots of suitable weed to feed on this year.

Eider 2 males

Red-breasted Merganser 1

Great Crested grebe 1

I went down to see if any of the Knot were colour coded. There were more around today, over 2,500. Only three flagged birds were seen and just two of them read. Both had been seen here earlier. 

The (or a) melanistic bird was with them today, it is very hard to spot when it is resting, it is just like a shadow.

Melanistic (dark) Knot resting on the skear

Other waders as of late.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Report by Alan:

Just two nets set this morning. There were a small number of single figure Redwing groups attracted but no Fieldfares.  A flock of 13 Woodpigeons flying purposefully southwards may have been migrants and a flock of c300 Pink footed Geese went south well to the East of the reserve.  There were fewer Blackbirds grounded also than of late.  However, 14 more Redwings were caught and ringed and another unringed Chiffchaff was also caught.

 

Redwing  14

Cetti's Warbler  2

Blackbird  2

Goldcrest  2

Chiffchaff  1

Reed Bunting  1

Bullfinch  2

Goldfinch  1

Wren  1

Blue Tit  1 + 1 retrap

Janet checked just after lunch.

A medium sized dragonfly was flying around the "no swimming" pond. Possibly a Migrant Hawker disturbed from wherever it was waiting for the sun to return.

Shoveler 2 a male and female type on the "no swimming" pond.

Shoveler 

I checked the two main ponds a little later (Malcolm). I couldn't relocate Janet's dragonfly but the Shovelers were still there. The female/immature kept her distance but the male was mobile allowing a nice close up,shot.

Male Shoveler

The Mute Swan pair and cygnet were on the "no swimming" pond again, with a solitary adult on the main pond.

Shoveler 2

Gadwall 21

Mallard 12

Tufted Duck 4

Teal 2

Coot 22

Moorhen 8

Little grebe 2 (one on each pond)

Boy's club - Gadwall, 2 Tufted and a Teal

South shore

Kevin set off at the only, brief, point in the day when the sun broke through, and spotted a medium to large dragonfly flying along the western edge of the saltmarsh. Unfortunately too distant for any detail, although no blue seen, and it quickly disappeared and couldn't be relocated.

A walk along the sea wall located.

Silver Y moth 3

I checked the foreshore and around the saltmarsh edges a little later.

Meadow Pipit 1 

Wasn't sure what it was at first sight as it had a broad white edge to its tail.....

......but it was just a leucistic tail feather

Wheatear 1 - another late bird.  

Not the one seen by Kevin a couple of days ago, which looked pale.

Just out of the recording area - the Horse Paddock behind Middleton Parish Hall

The Green Sandpiper was showing nicely

Brent geese begin feeding in the area

The low cloud, no sun and slight SE breeze continues.

Heysham skear - low water 08:45 (Malcolm)

I went out to see if the Brent were feeding in the SE corner of the skear, they were.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 8 

Pale-bellied Brent geese

Although feeding in the same location they were clearly two groups of four. This clip shows the ease at which they were lifting gutweed and sea lettuce from the shallow water. You can also see the weed on the exposed mud and stones.

There is plenty of suitable weed just here, and it tracks up the freshwater runoff for quite a distance up the skear. But there is very little on the rocks out from the children's play area and the rocks that join to them from the skear. It will be interesting to see how that affects their behaviour as they are moved on from the skear corner by the rising tide. Yesterday at least they left early, long before the tide had reached Red Nab.

Little Egret 6

Great Crested grebe 2

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Waders as recent, including at least 600 Knot

Redwing 1 - flew low SE across the skear towards Heysham Head.

Solitary Redwing on its way to Heysham Head

Heysham Head (Malcolm)

I checked out the cliffs to see if I could locate the Black Redstart, but if it was around it kept out of sight.

I took this shot from the skear this morning. The arrow points to the 
location of the labyrinth, where the Black Redstart was seen yesterday 

Redshank, Knot, Turnstone and an almost obscured Curlew

Eider 1 female type drifted in with the rising tide then back out again as it turned, never once lifting its head.

Grey Seal 1 fishing some distance out.

Grey Seal with a flatfish

Black Redstart lingers

Another day of low cloud and a light SE breeze.

The female type Black Redstart was relocated on the tip of Heysham Head near the Labyrinth - David Kaye 

If you don't know where the where the Labyrinth is, it explained in the post 14/11/20

 https://heyshamobservatory.blogspot.com/search?q=Labyrinth+ 

I had a walk along the shoreline from Half Moon Bay to Heysham Head (Malcolm).

I didn't see the Redstart, but they can be very elusive.

Lapwing 13 along rocks at Half Moon Bay

There were no snipe flushed by the rising tide out from the Heliport wall. Perhaps last night's firework party cleared them for a while.

Rock Pipits 5 at least. 2 on Half Moon Bay beach and a minimum of 3 below Heysham Head cliffs.

Meadow Pipit 1 below the cliffs

Goldfinch 15 in one flock came from the north and settled on Heysham Head

Blackbird 3 south

Pale-bellied Brent goose 4 flew south past the head. They came low from the direction of the skear corner. They may have been feeding there.

Not a great shot of the Brent, but you can see the skear behind.

Brent geese passing Heysham Head before disappearing into the mist

One of two Little Egret

On the way back I checked Red Nab to see if the Brent were feeding there. They weren't.

Wigeon 100+

Shelduck 53

The sun was supposed to make a guest appearance today, but it never happened. The "light" makes visibility restricted, but also makes for some interesting effects. These two were resting on the foreshore.

Curlew

Turnstone 

Wheatear 1 late bird was on the foreshore when Kevin Eaves checked later in the afternoon 

The closure of the sea wall for maintenance during the day is now scheduled to be completed by 24th November.

A nice view of the Nature Park, no Chiffchaff seen or heard today.
But there were ten feeding Blackbirds.......

.......and a Song Thrush

 

Siberian Chiffchaff and BRS top an interesting day

Another dryish day that never really got light. A very light SE breeze

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Report by John:

Nets set again this morning in not ideal conditions. Quite still, but light drizzle for much of the period. Numbers of Redwings seen was low, so catching ten of them was a good result. Few other birds around. There was an influx of some Blackbirds mid-morning, although none were caught. The catch comprised:

Redwing 10

Blue Tit 3

Redpoll 2  and singles of Chiffchaff, Robin and Dunnock

Heysham skear - low water 07:30 (Malcolm)

It was barely light as I was walking out, it was eerily quiet. Then about 07:30, when possibly it was slightly lighter, something triggered the waders to say that it was dawn, and the normal clamour began. There was a fine drizzle all the while I was out.

Six species of duck seen:

Shelduck 4 initially on the sea then north.

Red-breasted Merganser 5 at least

Eider 3 at least

Common Scoter 1 female type

Common Scoter

Wigeon 4 on the sea

Shoveler 3 (1 male) on the sea.

Shoveler 

Great Crested grebe 3 at least

Grey Heron 1

Little Egret 4

Oystercatcher definitely more than recent c2,500

Curlew 40

Redshank 60

Knot 600 in several very mobile flocks

Janet checked from the promenade later in the tide, when it was slightly brighter.

Knot

Curlew

The Curlew headed to the south side.
Janet also reported a large flock of them landing in the field near Heysham Moss

South shore (Malcolm)

Just a short walk after lunch from the saltmarsh to Red Nab.

Shelduck 37

Wigeon 120

Then back through the Nature Park.

I spotted a greyish Chiffchaff in the bushes and trees near the circle of stones. I eventually managed some decent diagnostic shots confirming it to be a Siberian Chiffchaff 

Heysham Head (Dan Haywood)

overhead;

Chaffinch 18 NE
Woodpigeon 14 NE
Siskin 6 NE
Song Thrush 6 NE
Lesser Redpoll 5 NE
Brambling 5 NE
Meadow Pipit 1 W
Swallow 1 NE

selected; on deck

Blackbird 15
Goldcrest 3
Rock Pipit 3
Chiffchaff 1
Mistle Thrush 1 then NE

Redwing 1
Black Redstart 1 (fem-type, shore beneath the barrows)

Female type Black Redstart

Dan's full report, can be seen on the LDBWS webpage

https://lancasterbirdwatching.org.uk/forums/topic/morecambe-heysham-am/

A lot more thrushes

Another dry day, but little light and little breeze - what breeze there was came mainly from the east.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Report by Alan:

It was quite an exciting morning.  Nets were set in the dark and opened by 07.00 and groups Redwings appeared straight away, presumably having been grounded overnight.  As the morning progressed there were many hundreds of Fieldfares attracted to the Mp3 player.  However, only one was trapped and that escaped whilst I was still a way from the net.  Fieldfares are well known to avoid mist nets. Other flocks of Redwings and mixed redwing/Fieldfare appeared and moved on until about 09.30 after then only occasional smaller numbers were seen.  They seemed to be generally moving towards the East away from the reserve.  Seven Redpolls were trapped at dawn but only one more after that.  Approx 50 corvids flew east to the south of the United Utilities site at 08.30, these were most likely Jackdaws.  The trickle of Chiffchaffs continues with two unringed caught, also a single Blackcap.

Robin  2

Redwing  12

Chiffchaff  2 + 1 retrap

Goldcrest  2

Blue Tit  2

Lesser Redpoll  8

Singles of Wren, Blackbird, Song Thrush (0nly our 3rd this year), Blackcap, Reed Bunting.

One of the Redwing - picture by Jean

Jean also took this shot of Fieldfare passing over. Note the lack of formation........

........compared to the classic goose formation of Pinkfoot passing over 
a few days ago

Janet checked just after lunch

Fieldfare - still the odd one passing over

Cetti's warbler 1 singing

Common Snipe 1

Pheasant 1

I checked at twilight, although with today's dull conditions, there wasn't much change! I wanted to see if anything was roosting in the wooded area on the south side. In the second winter period earlier this year there were large Stock Dove and Jackdaw roosts. Today's effort was underwhelming!

Jackdaw 36

Wood Pigeon 2

Stock Dove 1

I'll check again in a week or so to see if there is any change.

Wildfowl pretty much as yesterday, but extra Gadwall (26 today). The lone adult Mute Swan is lone no more, it has been joined by another adult.

A Little grebe was showing today on the main pond.

Little grebe

Common Snipe 2 accidentally flushed

Jay 1

Fieldfare 2 

Meadow Pipit 1 over to west.

Chiffchaff 1 calling

South shore (Malcolm)

Just a short morning walk from Red Nab to the saltmarsh.

Wigeon 80+

Greylag goose 8

Greylag geese - just seconds after this shot they disappeared into the low cloud

Meadow Pipit 1 grounded on the foreshore 

Meadow Pipit