It's an ill wind......

A strong and gusty W - NW wind. Heavy showers including hail and sleet. Some sunny spells in the afternoon.

South shore (Malcolm)

Another walk along the sea wall, unfortunately unlike yesterday, not between squalls, but between fine spells!

I could hardly see anything on the way out with my head down and battling against the wind and rain.

A short shelter behind No.2 outfall but there was nothing feeding on the outfall.

Next stop behind No.1 outfall. A brief glimpse of a 1st calendar year Kittiwake, but by the time I had unstashed my camera it had moved on.

Wigeon 120 - these are some to the south of No.1 outfall. 

Last stop, behind the lighthouse. It seemed odd that there were gulls hovering over the waterfall in the harbour. This shaky clip partly answers the question why, note the Cormorants also feeding there.

This gull has swooped down and grabbed a fish that a Cormorant 
has surfaced with

The gull didn't win this tug of war......

.......the Cormorant was intent on "teaching the gull a lesson"
before diving to retrieve its catch

On the way back along the wall the wind and rain was behind me and the rain had eased slightly. It was still raining when the sun came out, and once again I couldn't see anything.

Looking south along the sea wall towards No.2 outfall.

The sun wasn't out for long and by the time I reached No.2 outfall the 1cy Kittiwake was feeding.

Kittiwake (left)

Then the heavens opened! I had already had rain and sleet, this time it was heavy hail. It finally stopped when I was 50m from my car in the Nature Park. This Blue Tit and two Dunnock were feeding on the ground

They were clearly finding plenty to eat, but it wasn't obvious what. So I took another clip closer up. You can now see tiny white specks that both the Tit and Dunnock were eating.

Presumably the white specks are insect eggs or larvae, dislodged from the trees and bushes above by the last hail laced squall. Providing a nice easy meal for now, although depleting a food source for later in the winter.

Things look a bit brighter for tomorrow

Not much blown in by the wind.

A strong and gusty SW - WSW wind with some heavy squalls.

South shore (Malcolm)

Just a walk along the sea wall mid morning between squalls.

Kittiwake 1 first calendar year on No.2 outfall.

Fewer gulls were feeding than hoped for. They weren't finding much to eat, which probably explains why. (Cormorant flying off at the end of the clip)

Herring gull

This  Curlew found a crab.

Wigeon 172 beside No.1 outfall

Wigeon

Rock Pipit 1 along the sea wall.

Strong winds continue tomorrow, unfortunately forecast to have some north in it.

Correction.  Kevin advised that the shot of Jupiter he sent for yesterday's post wasn't one from his own telescope, but a screenshot from the excellent SkySafari mobile app. 

Wet and windy!

A fresh west wind, the morning was fairly dray after early showers, but plenty of rain in the afternoon.

Heysham skear - low water 08:50 (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 37 at least, some in the SE skear corner, others feeding on the skear. Although recent heavy grazing has significantly reduced the easily available gut weed and there is very little sea lettuce left.

Some of the brent in the skear corner

Pink-Footed goose 2 flying low to the south

Pink Footed geese

Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone and Ringed Plover as recent.

Dunlin flock of 30 plus 2 inshore with the plovers.

Knot 700 in one very flighty flock. There were a few colour coded birds, but only one new one seen.

Some of the Knot with a Merseyside ringed bird centre

No Eider, Merganser or Grebes seen today.

Yesterday, this planet shone in the evening sky as I was finishing watching
the Stock Doves. This was before any stars were visible. My first thought was 
that it was Venus, then I remembered - Venus doesn't have any moons.

Kevin Eaves identified it as Jupiter. 
This is a screenshot from the excellent SkySafari mobile app. 
As they say.....the truth is out there

High Brent and Stock Dove counts, plus Shag origin now known

A bright sunny day but a bitingly cold NW wind

The first calendar year Shag located by Howard Stockdale on Tuesday was ringed. Howard managed a shot of it, clear enough to read the last four numbers. This, combined with its known age was enough for its ringing history to be traced. 

1st calendar year Shag on the Near Naze 17/12/24
Ringed as a nestling 16/06/24 on Puffin Island, Anglesey, Wales
The most regular source of ringed Shag in Lancashire 

North shore (Pete Woodruff)

112 Brent Geese off Knowleys Rd 11-50am (highest count so far this winter)

South shore (Malcolm)

I walked the tide in, on the shore out from Ocean Edge at lunchtime.

Once again, a skein of Pale-bellied Brent geese left Red Nab early and flew to the south of the Lune estuary. But "only" 58 of them. The others seen by Pete probably flew further south ignoring Red Nab, as did the large second skein I saw on Tuesday.

Some of the Pale-bellied Brent geese

Pale-bellied Brent geese and the incoming lunchtime ferry

Cormorants heading to their high water roost
Likely the wooden jetty 

An unusual mix of waders

There wasn't a single Knot anywhere on the shore for as far as I could scan.

Dunlin a flock of 28 was flying around.

Curlew 20 and Oystercatcher 100 were the only waders along the waterline, then

Bar-Tailed Godwit 400 - initially a flock of 45 landed out from the sea wall. Then they were joined by a larger flock.

The first flock of Godwits came from the north side.

Then they were joined by a large flock also from the north side

But the tide was coming in quickly at this stage, and they all took to the air and eventually drifted off further south.

Sanderling 3 - just as I was heading back they came from the south and fed briefly on the shore out from the sea wall.

Sanderling 

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

Just a check from the south side as the sun was setting.

Jackdaw 200+ 

Some of the Jackdaw 

Wood Pigeon 10

Stock Dove 96 minimum came in to roost. Initially in small groups but later three larger groups of 12, 13 and 27. Definitely no overlap today.

Stock Doves

No sign of the Barn Owl this evening.

The sun had set, but the red contrails show it to be just over the horizon 

Shag still around

Strong overnight S-SE wind and heavy showers. The wind switched to SW and eased during the day. Showers ended by 09:00 and there were some sunny spells.

North Shore - Jean

Flock of 6 Pintail flew out quite distantly, 

1CY Shag flew out close inshore flew over Near Naze and carried on to wooden jetty.

South shore

I walked along the sea wall (Malcolm). 

A flock of Knot over the wooden jetty where the Shag moved to later

I did better with the Brent today, although there wasn't as many and all in one flock.

Pale-Bellied Brent goose 57

Brent geese arriving from the north side

Meanwhile, Janet was at Red Nab and watched them land.

But, once again, they didn't stay long and set off towards the Lune estuary.

Some of the c100 Wigeon.
There was also a female Eider around

Oystercatchers on Red Nab

In the Nature Park:

Great Tit

Blue Tit

Chaffinch 

One of three squirrels near the white barrier. They take advantage
of the seeds left by visitors.....

........but also feed naturally in the surrounding trees

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