.......and the cupboard was bare (luckily something nice in the larder)

A very strong SE wind eased during the day. Heavy rain all day.

South shore (Malcolm)

I had a wind assisted walk out along the sea wall then battled my way back this morning.

Linnet 15 on saltmarsh 

Rock Pipit 1 on foreshore rocks

Skylark 1 flew low along the line of the foreshore towards the saltmarsh 

Grey Heron 1 on Red Nab

Wigeon, just 3 around, 1 resting in a pool on Red Nab and 2 by No.1 outfall.

Windswept Wigeon

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1 alone on the beach near the wooden jetty.

Bar-Tailed Godwit braced against the wind

There were just a few Black-Headed gulls feeding on the wall side of the outfalls. A few more Black-Headed with larger gulls on the seaward side of No.1 outfall but nothing different with them.

The maintenance work on the sea wall seems to be complete, so there should be access at all times again now.

Pink-Footed goose - 1 small skein south 16:50

And that was it! Fortunately I was saving something for a rainy day.

"Just" out of the recording area. A bit further out than normally reported here, but it's too nice a shot not to share!

Howard Stockdale took this excellent shot of a Barred Warbler at the Conder Pool earlier this week.

Barred Warbler

Some recovery news

After a largely sunny morning, rain showers began at lunchtime. A variable light west(ish) wind.

This is the colour coded Oystercatcher seen on Red Nab 16/11/24
It was ringed as a breeding adult in Iceland in 2023 and has previously 
not been seen outside Iceland 

All sightings 

These are the scheme manager's comments:

First sighting of this bird outside Iceland. There were high hatching success of oiks at the golf course in Selfoss but almost no fledging success. This bird had two chicks but very likely both were lost.

We have received some of the histories of the Knot seen on the south shore
on Wednesday. This one was ringed as at least a 2cy bird 8/05/24 at Ainsdale
Beach, Merseyside on 21/08/24 it was sighted at Friesland in the Netherlands.

Heysham skear - low water 10:00 (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 15 in the SE skear corner.

Looking back towards Knowlys Rd, the brent along the waterline 

Eider 4

Creat Crested grebe just 1 seen

Little Egret 4

I'd gone out to see if the Knot were feeding there again, about 1,000 were. I managed to read three new flagged birds.

One of very few nice clear views of a flagged Knot

Dunlin 20+ mingling with the Knot

Oystercatcher 1,500

Curlew 15

Turnstone 50

Redshank 40

Ringed Plover 4

Beautiful view 1 of many!

17:00 a large sounding skein of Pink Footed geese south over my house (Malcolm)

Storm Bert arrives tomorrow, unfortunately he looks to be blowing in the wrong direction!

Hail stopped play!

Freezing overnight. A light cold east wind till lunchtime then it freshened from the NW, bringing with it heavy hail and sleet showers.

South shore (Malcolm)

I went out to check the waders on the waterline again, there were c1,500 Knot as I was walking out, but a Peregrine lifted all the small waders and most resettled south of the recording area.

Bar-Tailed Godwit 158 also left quite early in the rising tide.

Dunlin 60

About 500 Knot hung around a while, but they were very nervous and flighty.

Heavy hail shower heading my way! Time to head back.

Jack Snipe 1 lifted from the relatively new section of saltmarsh as the tide reached it, and flew to the ribbon of marsh grass that now extends all the way to Potts Corner.

The finger of water on the left is the creek that once defined the southern edge
of the saltmarsh. There were just a few ephemeral clumps of marsh grass beyond
it. But since they laid a new water pipe a few years ago the mud sunk roughly 
along its line leaving the water filled dip in the middle of this shot. Somehow,
this has protected the marsh grass and samphire between it and the creek and it
is now well established. This is where the Jack Snipe lifted from

What mechanism has resulted in this ribbon of marsh grass spreading
towards Potts Corner I don't know. But this is where the Jack Snipe
landed,  the tide wouldn't reach this far today

Also on the saltmarsh 

Linnet 27

Song Thrush 1

Rock Pipit 1

On/around Red Nab

Shelduck 42

Wigeon 120+

Pale-bellied Brent goose 10

All ten Brent in this shot with Shelduck and Wigeon

Heron on Red Nab

Kingfisher 1 flew from Red Nab towards Heysham Nature Reserve 

The hail arrived, and it didn't really stop again.

Barn Owl encore

Another freezing night followed by a cold but sunny day. A light NE breeze.

South shore

Janet had a walk along the sea wall, and is now recovered enough from her injury to use her larger lens.

This Black-Headed gull seems to have found a razor clam. There is no way
it could have caught it. The clam must have washed in dead.

It was clearly pleased with its find

Wigeon heading towards Red Nab as the tide rose

Redshank

Black-Headed gulls and a Redshank on No.2 outfall

Little Egret fishing 

In the Nature Park

Long-Tailed Tit

Goldfinch 

I had walked out to the waterline and was walking in with the tide (Malcolm)

Bar-Tailed Godwit 180

Grey Plover 1

Knot 2,000+

Dunlin 60

Solitary Grey Plover

Knot and Dunlin in tight formation

More Knot were arriving all the time.

Dunlin, Knot and a Bar-Tailed Godwit

Common and Black-Headed gulls, Knot and Dunlin.
And out at focus at the back, Bar-Tailed Godwit and an Oystercatcher 

The tide was pushing them up the shore quickly, in order of leg length. Dunlin first, Knot then Bar-Tailed Godwit. The brown foam is perfectly natural spume. Just the bubbles produced by protein molecules as the waves break. They begin as pure white, but become brown as they pass over the mud.

For most of the time, most of the Knot were in the water, but the tide was coming in very quickly now and causing them to rush along the mud.

It was all a bit frantic, but I did manage to read at least six colour coded Knot.

This Knot is part of a Dutch based ringing scheme - details awaited 

Eventually some of the Godwit and Knot ended up just out from the saltmarsh 

Shelduck 45

Pale-bellied Brent goose 6 on Red Nab

Brent geese and Wigeon.
You can see the pure white bubbles (spume) being created in the background 

On saltmarsh 

Lapwing 7

Reed Bunting 3

Linnet 15

Rock Pipit 1 plus 1 on Red Nab

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

I went to the hill on the southern section just after the sunset to see if the Barn Owl returned. It arrived at 15:58 a few minutes earlier than yesterday and slightly lighter. Unfortunately still light enough for people to be exercising their dogs and two were, so the owl didn't stay to hunt just here, although I'm sure it would have done later.

Barn Owl

Barn Owl bonus

A light, but very cold NE breeze. Cloudy for most of the day, but it remained dry and the sun came out late afternoon.

Heysham skear - low water 07:40(Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 2 in SE skear corner.

Pale-bellied Brent geese - later, likely the same, two were on Red Nab

Eider 3

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Great Crested grebe 6

Little Egret 4

Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank and Turnstone in similar numbers to recent.

Knot just 25 on the skear, but a large flock c1,500 was seen to the south, they appeared to be heading for the skear, but disappeared, probably headed back to the south side.

Dunlin 3 - 1 with the Knot the other 2 close inshore 

Dunlin - looking like I felt!

Ringed Plover 6 close inshore 

Ringed Plover

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

I went to the south side this "evening" (15:30!) to see what was was coming in to roost. It turned out to be quite productive.

Carrion Crow 6

Jackdaw 120+

Wood Pigeon 6

Stock Dove 19 minimum, likely 24 - only three had arrived until the last rays of the sun was turning everything red, then several groups arrived in quick succession.

Stock Doves right and Jackdaws

Stock Doves turned red by the setting sun.

It all seemed to have stopped when the sun set, but I couldn't be sure there wasn't more to arrive. I was watching from the hill on the west side of the southern section, It was too cold to stand around any longer so I walked south along the crest of the hill and then back again. Nothing else had come in to roost, but when I returned to where I was watching from, a Barn Owl was hunting!

It wasn't easy getting a decent shot as it was quite dark by this time, and it was moving quite quickly. But amazingly, I did manage a half decent clip (It was darker than this clip makes it look)

Didn't catch anything that time, but this is ideal hunting terrain and worth checking again on another dry evening.

Five Jacks

Below 0°C overnight leaving extensive morning frost. Some sunny spells during the day but the temperature never exceeded 3°C (midnight was the "warmest" part of the day at 3.2°C). Very light east breeze, totally calm at times.

Heysham skear - low water 07:00 (Malcolm)

I walked out 90 minutes after low water and the tide was already making quickly.

Pale-bellied goose 3 feeding in the SE corner.

Pale-bellied Brent geese

No dark-bellied seen today

Eider 12

Red-breasted Merganser 7

A precession of Mergansers and Eider being swept in along the main tidal run

The mergansers stayed to feed 

Great Crested grebe 9 feeding individuals 

Little Egret 11

Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank and Turnstone as recent. Just a small flock c30 Knot

The Turnstone trust their excellent camouflage in this terrain, you almost 
have to stand on them before they move. These were only 3m away, even
so totally invisible from above

A dusting of snow on some of the South Lakes' peaks

South shore - high water 12:30 (Malcolm)

This is this morning's moon. Moving away from full to a waning gibbous.
This means we have past the peak of spring tide heights. The sea birds know
this too, some possibly by the moon phases, or just by noting that today's high
tide is lower than yesterday's.

Jack Snipe 5 individuals flushed from the edge of the saltmarsh as I walked around it. The last time I saw Jack snipe flushed from the marsh the tides were getting higher, and both birds flew directly towards Middleton Nature Reserve. Today all five landed back on the marsh edges, fortunately where I had already passed, so no risk of duplication. They "knew" the tide wasn't going to flush them again for some while.

Common Snipe 23, these did fly towards Middleton Nature Reserve 

Linnet 15

Reed Bunting 6 at least

Reed Buntings

Rock Pipit 3 - 2 along foreshore and 1 on Red Nab

Rock Pipit in darker winter plumage

In the Nature Park

Chiffchaff 1 calling

Still several Blackbirds 

Song Thrush 1

Song Thrush

Kevin had a walk along the sea wall, and despite the low temperatures there was a resting Silver Y

Silver Y