A better day with better coverage

A heavy overnight frost followed by a sunny day. Very light NE breeze in the morning switched to NW after lunch.

Report from Shaun Coyle:

Heysham Head: 08:30-09:30

Single Red -throated Diver drifting in

Great Crested Grebe 4

Pink-footed Goose 12 heading east

Brent Geese min 44

Eider 68 and 18 Red-breasted Mergansers.

Also, 6 Little Egrets.

Outfalls: 10:15-11:30

Kittiwake 2cy on Outfall 1

Wigeon 257

Little Egret 3 and a Grey Heron.

Red Nab: 11:30-12:15

Brent Geese 48 and a female Eider.

Bar-tailed Godwit 4.

Ocean Edge Saltmarsh: 12:15-12:45

Jack Snipe 1 and 4  Common Snipe at high tide (all headed east towards Middleton NR).

Single Rock Pipit and 9 Reed Buntings.

Janet also checked along the south sea wall:

2nd calendar year Kittiwake

In the harbour 

Black-Headed gulls, one possibly reacting to having a large camera pointed at it!

Guillemot

Once again Janet shows that you don't need a large camera to photograph wildlife, this clip with her mobile phone.

Carrion Crow in the Nature Park

Peter and Rosemary Silvester also enjoyed a walk along the south sea wall. 

Cormorant 

Pale-bellied Brent geese leaving Red Nab

Wigeon

Oystercatchers, also enjoying the mid winter sun

I checked along the waterline out from Ocean Edge (Malcolm)

The waders were very restless, partly as the tide was covering the shore so quickly, but there was also at least one Peregrine falcon patrolling (the bird with a dislocated tallon photographed by Janet last year. Unfortunately, I couldn't manage a usable shot today.

Curlew 71 resting on the shore plus several flying around

Oystercatcher 50 along the waterline many more on RedNab

Bar-Tailed Godwit 34 along the waterline plus a large flock flew past to the south

Knot 300 along the waterline plus flocks fling past to the south

Grey Plover 5 minimum along the waterline plus at least 5 mixed with Knot flocks to the south.

Knot and 2 Grey Plover heading south

Dunlin 200 

Sanderling 1 - it flew low right past me, I watched it to the edge of the shore out from Red Nab and it seemed to land, but I couldn't relocate it when I got close enough to check.

Grey Plover, Knot and Dunlin

Bar-Tailed Godwit, Knot, Dunlin and a couple of Common Gulls.

Higher up the shore:

Redshank 130

Ringed Plover 6

Lapwing 90

Lapwing in front of the saltmarsh 

Shelduck 2 feeding

Pink-Footed goose 16 and 24 east (these are additional to Shaun's 12)

The Manxman was heading in and the Ben-my-Chree heading out.
I wish I had videoed them passing now as just at this point both 
ships blew their horns in greeting.

2025.......day 1

A lot of overnight rain, but it ended just before daylight. A west wind and an odd glimpse of the sun in the afternoon.

South Shore

I had a walk along the sea wall mid morning on the rising tide (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 55 flew from the north side to Red Nab at 10:00.

Pale-bellied Brent geese arriving from the north side.......

.......and flying past the roundhead night light (it is still dark enough for it to be on)

Wigeon 150 ended up at the saltmarsh 

Wigeon arriving at the saltmarsh

Rock Pipit 1 at Red Nab

The strong SW to W winds recently has brought a lot of natural flotsam in. A  couple of the Black-Headed gulls were feeding amongst it, presumably finding seeds and berries. Not a bad strategy, but you have to watch the waves!

Kittiwake 1 juvenile feeding on No.2 outfall. It was still there when Janet checked in the afternoon and took these splendid shots.

Kittiwake, now a second calendar year bird
(happy new year)

Howard took this shot of Knot at the heliport a couple of weeks ago. One of the
Knot seems to be practicing its murmurations skills and is flying upside down!

Happy New Year

A wild and wet end to the year

A strong south wind in the morning shifted more to SW and freshened further. Heavy rain began mid morning and didn't really stop again.

South shore (Malcolm)

I managed to walk out along the sea wall before the rain started, but walking back was rough with the south wind, at that point, driving the rain into my face. And after all that, there was nothing new!

Kittiwake 1 on its last day of being a first calendar year bird. Still feeding on No.2 outfall.

Kittiwake above No.2 outfall superstructure 

Pale-bellied Brent goose 14 initially on Red Nab, then south when flushed by the tide.

A few of the feeding Brent geese

The last of the Brent geese leaving Red Nab. The foreshore rocks in the background 

Wigeon 150+

Cormorant, also leaving Red Nab

Oystercatcher and Curlew coming in to Red Nab

Rock Pipit 1 at Red Nab

Nothing along the foreshore rocks

At the saltmarsh:

Lapwing 1

Reed Bunting 2

Surprisingly, no snipe were seen

A nice variety........of ferries

A fresh SW wind. Overcast, but it managed to stay dry.

South Shore

Janet checked from Red Nab to No.1 outfall at high water.

At 8.8m today's high water didn't quite cover all of Red Nab.
Oystercatcher, Curlew and Redshank on the few remaining outcrops.

Kittiwake - the 1st calendar year bird was showing very nicely passing just below the top of the sloping sea wall. Even so getting a good shot of it so close in isn't as easy as Janet makes it look!

Yesterday's clip of the Kittiwake saw the Ben-my-Chree ferry on the 
horizon, today it was the lunchtime ferry the Manxman.

Janet experimented with here mobile phone again. This time a slowed motion zip past.

I checked from Red Nab to the saltmarsh later in the tide as Red Nab was becoming exposed again (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent geese 48 flew from the south and started feeding on Red Nab.

Shelduck 3

Wigeon 200 - there were a few on Red Nab, then this flock of 180 landed in the creek in the saltmarsh. They clearly spotted a feeding opportunity, these tides barely reach the saltmarsh, you can see the darker patches where the water had been earlier. And the Wigeon headed for it like a plague of locust!

I presume that they were finding marsh grass seeds, but it isn't clear.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

Just a quick passing look at the main pond.

Mute Swan pair plus one immature 

Mallard 14

Gadwall 11

Tufted Duck 1 male

No Coot!

Moorhen 2

Little grebe 1

Little grebe

There were lots of gulls, presumably resting away from the wind. 

                                        Mainly Black Headed and Herring.

You can see the Little grebe top centre

This Black-Headed gull already with a black face

Horse Paddock behind Middleton Parish hall (Malcolm). 

Yesterday Howard saw 20 Redwing feeding here, so I went for a look today. No Redwing seen, but a Green Sandpipier was showing nicely. Although the bird was just beyond the recording area, it could clearly be seen from the recording area edge, although for safety sake I crossed the road for these shots.

Green Sandpiper

A glimpse of its white rump in this clip.

All the regulars present although the Knot only briefly!

A freshening SW wind. An odd sunny spell in the morning but showers in the afternoon.

North sea wall (Eddy Bayton)

Shag off the N Harbour Wall close in fishing. Big leaps to dive confirmed ID for me. Very murky. It flew off W and S across the harbour mouth out of sight. 

Heliport and Near Naze (Howard Stockdale)
I got there at 9.15am and there were no knot at all, I was just about to leave at 9.40am and a big flock c2000 appeared from the north and landed on the outerwall briefly, the Oystercatchers were already spooked and most were flying over to the naze, the knot followed them but after doing a couple of circuits around the old lighthouse carried on south over the harbour.

Some of the Knot before they headed south

One of these Knot has an orange flag, but only the last two characters visible.
It isn't enough.

Many of the Oystercatcher are metal ringed.
Many of the numbers are legible in this shot, but agin, not quite enough.

South sea wall

I went mid morning towards high water (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent geese 35 came from the north side and landed on Red Nab.

Wigeon 190

Kittiwake 1 first calendar year. The tide was almost full by this time and it was hanging on the SW wind on No.2 outfall. You can see the incoming Ben-my- Chree ferry on the horizon.

I reached the harbour before the ferry, but there was nothing of note behind it.

Cormorants and Great Black-Backed gulls resting on the wooden jetty
as the Ben-my-Chree passes

Rock Pipit 1 near the lighthouse 

Janet had a walk along the sea wall later as the tide was ebbing.

The Brent geese were starting to return to the north side, but in several smaller groups.

Pale-bellied Brent geese heading back to the north side

By this time the Kittiwake was more mobile and alternating between feeding on both outfalls and zipping along the sea wall between them. This is what a "zipping" Kittiwake looks like, as Janet said, blink and you miss it! This clip is by Janet's mobile phone.

Kittiwake along the sloping sea wall.

This is No.2 outfall

This is why it is hanging around. This shot is from earlier in the week.
It has a small Whitebait on No1 outfall here

This nice sequence is again No.1 outfall, but this is today. It looks to have found a prawn.

Dunnock in the Nature park