More Brent

Early morning rain, then a dry day till rain began again in the evening. A fresh and biting SE wind.

Heysham skear - low water 16:40 (Malcolm)

Low water is getting quite late now and the inner skear was just becoming exposed as I headed out at 14:00.

Pale-bellied Brent 28 - there were already 11 feeding above the waterline, then 17 more came in.

The new arrivals in the SE skear corner

No sign of the Common Scoters today

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Eider 13

Eider

Just a clip to show the frantic feeding activity as the receding tide exposes more of the skear.

I managed to read a few colour coded Knot from the 1,000 or so around, then a pair of Peregrines started attacking and they were relentless, most of the Knot moved on.

This is one of yesterday's Knot, we now have its history 
Ringed as an adult at Reykjafjördur NW Iceland 25/05/22

This is the scheme manager's summary:

Looking at the history of 06X it probably moults on the Sefton coast and moves to Morecambe Bay for the winter. One sighting suggests it might move back to the Sefton coast in spring before migrating north to Iceland.

Dunlin 17 in one flock plus several individuals with the Knot

Dunlin, Redshank and Oystercatchers

Other waders as recent

Oystercatcher with a partially leucitic head

Brent numbers steadily increasing

Overnight frost followed by a dry largely sunny day. Almost no air movement till after lunch then a very light SE breeze.

Heysham skear - low water 16:00 (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 25 

Brent geese flying low over the skear

Having a stretch

There is currently plenty of food to go round here, but they can't help arguing!

Eider 5

Common Scoter 5

Common Scoter with Eider behind

Great Crested grebe 8

Great Crested grebes

Knot 1,000+ included colour coded birds from UK, Holland and Iceland based schemes.

One of the Dutch scheme's Knot

A UK flagged Knot

Other waders as recent

Peregrine Falcon, just one visit, presumably successful as it then flew off to the north

Quite a bit of evening movement of Pink-Footed goose, at least 5 skeins between 17:00 and 17:15.

A bit of late movement

A very light, but bitingly cold NE breeze. Dry and mainly sunny.

Ocean Edge foreshore (Malcolm)

Just a short late morning walk along the foreshore 

Long-Tailed Tits -  a flock of 8 were on and around the small bit of scrub at the Red Nab end of the foreshore, after some hesitation, they flew off to SE.

Long-Tailed Tits leaving the foreshore to the SE

Watched on by three Greenfinch 

And the resident Wren

One of five Linnet by the saltmarsh 

And a solitary Song Thrush

Heysham skear - low water 15:30 (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 18 feeding in the skear corner. 

This is their preferred feeding method when the tide allows. In shallow 

water where they can harvest the sea lettuce and gutweed without 

any mud attached. Plus a nice view of the South Lakes!

Common Scoter just 5 female/immature today feeding near conger rock

Common Scoter

Note that when one surfaces, presumably having caught something and then quickly dives for more. The remaining three follow it from above then dive.

Eider 5

Great Crested Grebe 1

Fewer Knot today c700 with very few flagged individuals

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1

Bar-Tailed Godwit

Other waders as recent 

Ringed raptor - one to watch out for

A light west wind. A couple of early morning showers then mainly dry and often sunny.

Heysham skear - low water 14:40 (Malcolm)

Common Scoter 6 were feeding just south of the skear when I reached the waterline. Most of the time they were just swimming around, but when one dived, they all dived. I was going to take a video of them diving, but at that point the only shower of the afternoon began. Later when I was further out I took this clip, mainly to show the location, by this time they were out from Heysham Head and had stopped feeding.

Common Scoter out from Heysham Head

Pale-bellied Brent geese 18 at least. There were 14 feeding in the SE skear corner as I walked out plus another 4 on the north side. As I was leaving the 4 on the north side were still there and at least 14 on the south side.

No need for competition for food here, there is still plenty of sea lettuce and
gutweed. They were feeding in small separate groups, in this case two adults 
and a juvenile.

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Great Crested grebe 1

Little Egret 7

Waders as recent except there were c1,000 Knot today. 

The Knot were settled on the skear, but as soon as the rain stopped a Peregrine Falcon attacked them.

In this shot, you can just make out an orange ring on its left leg

This was in between attack one and two. The orange ring is clearer here,
but unfortunately still too distant to read it.

After the third, presumably successful, attack the Knot began settling again, although they remained flighty.

This one got away without being read, although I probably did read it 
later as I eventually managed to read several

The sun was setting quickly turning both the Knot and the skear red.

These are some of the Brent on the north side. Even at this distance you
can see that at least one is still feeding.

Pink-Footed geese 2 skeins south over my house (Malcolm). A largish skein at 17:50 and a smaller one at 18:00.

Scoters hang around

A fresh SW wind, sunny spells, there were showers around, but somehow we managed to stay dry.

South shore (Malcolm)

I just exercised my daughter's dog along the sea wall this morning, it's nice being able to go along the wall again..

Not a lot to see today though.

Oystercatchers and a couple of Black-Headed gulls tuned up as the beach
by the wooden jetty became exposed. The Sandmason worm tubes were 
showing and the birds were clearly expecting to catch some

Wigeon, Oystercatcher and a Cormorant between the outfalls

Very few gulls were feeding on the outfalls but it was approaching low water.

Peregrine Falcon 1 - it was hanging on the wind as it was lifted vertically by the foreshore rocks. I've seen them hunt like this here before when the wind is strong from the SW. they hang like a Kestrel looking for waders on the shore below. There were no waders today and it quickly moved on.

Peregrine hanging on the updraft (and Jasper)

One of several showers that passed close by today

One of at least five Harlequin Ladybirds on the fence by the 
entrance to Ocean Edge caravan park

Heysham skear - low water 13:45 (Malcolm)

Just a very quick check at low water, no Brent geese, Merganser or Eider seen.

Common Scoter 6 female/immature were out from the inner skear. The rougher sea made them even more difficult to spot.

Common Scoter

Although, amazingly, I managed a better clip of them today. This just happened to be the only time that I saw them for more than a couple of seconds.

There were a lot of waves breaking and the SW wind was blowing the 
spume ashore. Very little mud on the skear so the spume remains white.

The waders were pretty much as yesterday, but no Knot. This Turnstone is finding some remnants on a mussel shell. Probably the remains of an earlier Oystercatcher meal.

A bit better variety

A fresh south(ish) wind. Some rain early on then mainly dry with the sun threatening to break through on occasions.

Heysham skear - low water 12:30 (Malcolm)

At 3.5m the inner skear was barely exposed, still there was a bit going on.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 2 flew in from the east and began feeding in the SE skear corner.

Brent geese flying in, Heysham village in the background 

Eider 3

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Red-breasted Merganser

Common Scoter 6 female/immature

Common Scoter

Six was the most I counted at one time, and probably all there were, but it was difficult counting as for most of the time they were out of sight below the waves.

It would have been easier counting from the higher vantage point of Knowlys Rd

There seemed to be more waders around, but there almost certainly wasn't, it's just that they are more concentrated when only a small section of the skear is exposed.

Oystercatcher 2,500

Curlew 45

Redshank 120

Knot 300

Turnstone 80

Ringed Plover 10

Oystercatcher, Knot, Redshank and a Turnstone 

Turnstone

All 10 Ringed Plover in this shot, but you will have to open it 
to have a chance of seeing them

More Brent geese arrived after I left. 13 Brent geese in total, including at least 1 Dark-bellied Brent - David Kaye

.......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!