Shag surprise and the Stock Dove roost growing

A light, but freshening SE wind. Mainly overcast, but showers held off till after dark.

Two Grey Wagtails have been re-sighted recently, both on the same date and both in the same locations as their previous sightings.

15/12/2024 - Ian Hartley saw ALL6554 (M/L, B/V)  again at Glasson Basin where he first saw it on 21/10/2023 .  It was ringed 13/09/2022.

15/12/2024 - Steven Jones re-sighted ALL6067 (R/M, Y/L) at the South Wales sewage treatment site where he first saw it on 04/10/2024. It was ringed 06/09/2022.

See sidebar for scheme details.

Pete managed an hours seawatch this morning. The only bird of note was a distant Red-Throated Diver floating in with the tide.

Near Naze/Heliport (Howard)

Only 7 Knot roosting today.

Red-breasted Merganser 1 female feeding.

Shag 1 - first calendar year (first Shag record since early October)

Immature Shag

Oystercatcher coming in to land

Stone Jetty (Malcolm)

Just a brief check this lunchtime 

Common Scoter 8-9

Female/immature Common Scoter.

Great Crested Grebe 2

Winter Plumage Great Crested Grebe

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

A quick check of the main pond saw wildfowl largely unchanged, but 2 Tufted Duck today.

Male Tufted Duck

I positioned myself on top of the hill on the southern half of the reserve to watch the birds come in to roost as it became dark.

Jackdaw 180 minimum

Just a few of the Jackdaw 

Peregrine Falcon 1 flew off with a relatively large black bird, presumably one of the Jackdaw.

Wood Pigeon 12

Stock Dove 68 were seen flying in, the largest flock was 25, most just in twos and threes. Then a flock of 44 were flying around, but it wasn't clear if they were new birds, or some of the earlier birds had been spooked. It was quite dark even when the first birds arrived so pictures not great.

This is how dark it really was, and these two were some of the early birds

These shots are artificially bright (aren't cameras getting clever!)
The middle bird is missing half a tail

These are some of the flock of 44 late birds.

I managed a clip of the 44 birds coming in to roost

Barn Owl 1 - I had been looking out for it, but it didn't hunt on the hill while I was there. I just managed a glimpse of it through the trees on the eastern edge of the reserve at 15:55. It was probably hunting over the pasture between the reserve and the houses along Middleton Rd.

Just out of the recording area (quite a bit out actually, but it was heading our way). Howard managed this shot of Lapwings mobbing a female type Hen Harrier as it flew past Teal Bay

High Brent numbers, but an awful "count"

A fresh SW wind, overcast with a couple of short showers in the morning.

South shore (Malcolm)

Some days you get everything (well, most things) right. Other days you don't. Today, I didn't!

Pale-bellied Brent goose c90. - I walked along the south sea wall on the rising tide, specifically to watch any Brent geese flying from the north side, so that I could make an accurate count. I had reached  the lighthouse before they came past.

A flock of 37, I assumed that was it, so I headed for the waterfall. Looking back another flock was passing, it seemed to be twice the size of the first. I "dashed" back to the high point of the scrub on the roundhead, but by that time the flock was strung out and I just managed a shot of about half of them before they were lost from view.

It looks like the large second flock continued further south. As I was walking back, I could see some brent on Red Nab, but 37 flew south as I was walking back along the wall and none remained when I reached Red Nab.

The last of the brent leaving Red Nab. It was still quite early in the tide, long
before it reached Potts Corner, so presumably they were heading further south.

Although I've called them Pale-bellied Brent, all I can really say is that all the ones that I saw and photographed were pale-bellied (not my finest hour!)

Wigeon 282 - a nice precise count as they were waiting on the sea while the tide reached Red Nab.

Wigeon moving from the north to the south side of No.2 outfall

Eider 3 north

Redshank and Turnstone on No.1 outfall

Black-Headed gulls don't often get a mention. These two in the Harbour

First calendar year Cormorant in the Harbour

At the saltmarsh 

Linnet 16

Reed Bunting 3

Male Reed Bunting 

North shore (Malcolm)

I just checked the shore out from Whinnysty Lane in this "evening's" fading light. Hoping to do a better job of counting the brent. There were already c20 on the shore another 5 and 37 arrived from the south, but most headed off again some to the north and others back south.

Eider 121

Red-breasted Merganser 5

Spring Tide snack

A fresher SW wind, showers during the morning, particularly early on.

Heliport/Near Naze

Pete managed to read some more colour coded Knot during today's webs survey.

These are a couple of Howard's birds from yesterday.

Knot on the sloping heliport wall yesterday 

South shore

I checked On the rising tide this morning (Malcolm). Despite the fresh SW wind there were only two Black-Headed gulls on No.2 outfall (No.1 not checked)

Pale-bellied Brent goose feeding on Red Nab, numbers difficult to count due to a heavy shower, but 47 counted later in webs survey

Wigeon 280 ended up at the saltmarsh.

They arrive here in large numbers as this is the first tide for almost a month to cover this section of the saltmarsh, making the marsh grass seeds available to them. In this clip you can see them feeding on the seeds.

Also at the saltmarsh:

Rock Pipit 1

Linnet 15

Linnet

Reed Bunting 6 at least

Reed Bunting 

Common Snipe 26 

All the Snipe eventually flushed by the rising tide and flew towards
Middleton Nature Reserve 

Redshank 21

Grey Plover 1

Grey Plover top, with Redshank

Janet checked on the ebbing tide. The Brent geese had returned and were now heading off to the north side in small groups.

Pale-bellied Brent geese heading to the north side

The Oystercatchers were restless too

An excellent high water Knot roost plus a few Redwing around

Overcast, but only a couple of showers. A light SW wind.

Heliport/Near Naze high water 10:00.

Knot 2,500 roosting. A Peregrine attacked once and took a Dunlin.

Howard Stockdale and Richard du Feu carefully and thoroughly scanned the Knot and managed to identify an incredible 30+ coded birds.

If you ever go here to see the roosting Knot, it is very important to keep your distance and not spook them.  Not just so that more coded birds can be seen, but to help the Knot in their constant battle for survival. Spring tides in winter means that their feeding grounds are covered from mid morning to mid afternoon, leaving the Knot very little time to feed up for another long night. When they can't feed, they need to rest to conserve their energy.

I just checked a few locations this morning (Malcolm)

Red Nab towards high water.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 8

Wigeon 150

Pale-bellied Brent geese, Oystercatcher and a Bar-Tailed Godwit

Imperial Rd

Unusually, there were no raptors seen

Teal 11

Most of the Teal were on the west side of the road, but this female 
was on the east side 

Not in a large pond, just a puddle in the field

Redwing 4 at least in the trees that form the copse. More thrushes could be seen in the distant trees on the recording area boundary. So I drove around for a look.

These are the trees where the Rookery was located this spring.
Just across the road from the horse paddock behind Middleton Parish Hall

Redwing 12 - they were feeding on the ground in the horse paddock, easily visible from the recording area. Then resting in the above trees and the ones flanking the paddock.

Redwing

Also a Song Thrush

and a Meadow Pipit

Wood Pigeon 40+

All the above shots were taken from the edge of the recording area. This clip was actually from the Parish Hall car park. But only as it was a better angle to see the feeding Wood Pigeon and Redwing.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick look at the two main ponds on my way home. The "no swimming" pond is still 2m above its normal height and deserted.

Main Pond

Mute Sawn Pair plus immature 

Mallard 27

Gadwall 17

Tufted Duck 1

Coot 4

Moorhen 2

Male Tufted Duck

A bit of colour on a grey day

Low cloud all day light rain on and off. Calm to very light variable breeze.

Red Nab to saltmarsh - high water 09:15 (Malcolm)

Pink Footed goose 325 north at 08:30 (a large flock flew south over my house this evening at 16:45).

Pale-bellied Brent goose 30 on Red Nab. These are some of them, this clip is at high water. At 8.8m the tide normally moves the brent off here. But there were no waves and no one around, so they remained. This clip is really to demonstrate the clamour here as the tide covers the ricks.

Shelduck 4

Wigeon 150

Shelduck, Wigeon, Curlew and Oystercatcher 

Wigeon, Oystercatcher and Redshank

Heron and Redshank

Cormorants

Little Egret 3

There were also a few Turnstone and two flocks of Knot totalling 1,500 flew towards Potts Corner.

Kingfisher 1 - it zipped across Red Nab, I barely managed a shot

A terrible shot, but it does emphasise its speed. I was panning so quickly 
that the background is a blur. Even so I only just got it in the frame.

This is looking back at Red Nab from the foreshore. You can see the sea wall
and the outfalls. All the above birds are still there at this point, but it wasn't to last!

Saltmarsh 

Reed Bunting 3

Dunnock 2 (slightly unusually they were keeping together)

Common Snipe 1

This is looking out from the saltmarsh, the black specks in the background 
are Brent Geese and Oystercatcher flying from Red Nab. Something (someone)
must have disturbed them

Heysham skear - low water 16:00 (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 49 minimum (almost certainly including this morning's 30).

These higher tides allow the sea lettuce in the SE corner to be available 

But they didn't feed there for long, the lettuce stocks must be depleted. There is still lots of gutweed all over the skear and that's what this group was feeding on as I left.

Eider 77

Eider drake in breeding plumage 

One of several groups of Eider

Red-breasted Merganser 8

Red-breasted Merganser pair

Great Crested grebe 10

Little Egret 2

No godwits seen today and only c300 Knot. Other waders as recent.