Quite a bit going on

Another overcast day with occasional very light rain. The cold NE wind continues.

South shore (Malcolm)

Once again there were no small waders feeding along the waterline on this morning's rising tide.

Curlew 152 along the waterline plus 30 on Red Nab

Oystercatcher 40 along waterline, Red Nab birds 300+

Redshank 87 closer to the shore

Dunlin 2 close to the shore.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 33 flew in to Red Nab from the north side.

Shelduck 46

Wigeon 120

The gutweed on Red Nab is very closely cropped now

Some of the Wigeon were nibbling the gutweed on the foreshore rocks

Just one Little Egret

Two immature Cormorants, there were several others

Rock Pipit 1 along the foreshore 

Heysham skear - low water 17:00 (Malcolm)

I went down early in the ebbing tide, before the outer skear became exposed

Pale-bellied Brent at least 17 around, almost certainly some of this morning's birds

Eider 95 initially close inshore then most flew to the north.

Great Crested Grebe 2

Oystercatcher 1,500

Curlew 60 including 21 that flew in from the east.

Redshank 250

Knot 2,000

Some of the Knot and Brent geese arriving together

Unfortunately, most settled in areas that there legs were not visible.

Knot and a Herring gull with a mussel.
The gull will repeatedly drop the mussel from height until it breaks open

Knot with a bivalve mollusc that it will swallow whole

Turnstone 25

Ringed Plover 6

Dunlin 80 plus 2 feeding high up the shore with the plovers.

Dunlin

Just out of the recording area Sunnyslopes Promenade (Janet)

Stonechat

Plenty of Curlew

A dry, mainly overcast day with a cold NE wind.

South shore (Malcolm)

I went to check the waterline out from Ocean Edge on the rising tide this morning but the only waders were Curlew 138

Some of the Curlew

Shelduck 14

Shelduck with a few Wigeon

Wigeon 60

Wigeon on Red Nab towards high water

North shore 

34 Pale-bellied Brent's. 25 flew off north towards Sandylands, 9 remained close to the prom just north of the play area - Pete Crooks

Howard checked at high water.

Knot 2,000 roosting on Sunyslopes groyne. Unfortunately spooked by dog walkers when the tide began ebbing.

Redshank, Knot and Turnstone

Turnstone

I had a quick look on the skear on the ebbing tide (Malcolm)

By that time the Brent geese were scattered all around the skear.

Some of the Brent on the north side

No Eider or Mergansers seen.

Great Crested Grebe 1

Oystercatcher 1,500

Curlew 60 this is more than I usually see feeding on the skear.

Curlew and a Redshank

Redshank 100

Knot 750 (most feeding on remote sections of the skear, being exposed for the first time for a few days.

Dunlin 30

Turnstone 25

Ringed Plover 4

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick check of the two main ponds on the way home (Malcolm)

The "no swimming" pond has been at its normal level for a few weeks now, but it is still strangely bereft of wildfowl. It was graced with just a single Coot today.

Main pond:

Mute Swan pair plus 1 immature 

Mallard 18

Gadwall 27

Tufted Duck 3 (2 male)

Coot 4

Moorhen 2

Tufted Duck pair

Plenty of Eider today!

A dry overcast day with an east breeze.

South shore (Janet)

A walk along the sea wall at low water.

Shelduck on Red Nab

Heron hunting by No.2 outfall

North shore 

Pete checked the sea this morning.

Eider 311 between Sunnyslopes groyne and the Stone Jetty (a further 101 to the north of the jetty)

I went down to check the skear for Knot on the ebb tide this morning. Just in time to see a Peregrine take a Redshank and flush all the Knot.

Carrion Crow and an Oystercatcher mobbing the Peregrine after it took a Redshank

But it was too late!

Oystercatcher 2,500

Curlew 40

Redshank 200 (199)

Knot 100 remained

Dunlin 10

Turnstone 35

Ringed Plover 6

This clip shows how eager the waders are to feed on the skear as soon as it becomes exposed. This thin strip is soon occupied by Redshank, Oystercatcher and Turnstone as the tide slowly ebbs.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 36 minimum

They were seen flying both south and north. There is a skeer forming out
from the Battery, I suspect that they are feeding there when the tide allows.
I'll have to go and have a look.

I returned early evening for another look.

Pink-Footed goose 24 east

There were now about 1,000 Knot but very flighty (who could blame them). A few flagged birds were seen but reading was difficult in the fading light.

This was just before 17:00. Time to leave them in peace

This is what it looked like by the time I'd got back to the promenade 

Just out of the recording area

Green Sandpiper in the horse paddock behind Middleton Parish Hall - Pete

Stonechat - the darker bird was on the sunnyslopes this morning (Malcolm). The lady gardener said that she hadn't seen the paler one for a couple of days.

A biting wind a reminder that winter isn't over yet!

A dry but largely overcast day. An icy east wind!

These Pale-bellied Brent geese were feeding just out from Whinysty Lane yesterday - Kevin Singleton 

There is gutweed here, but it is thin on the ground.

Cormorants in Heysham Harbour - Kevin Eaves

Heysham skear (Malcolm)

I did two quick checks, one in the morning on the ebbing tide and again in the afternoon on the flood tide. Not really a lot to see.

Pale-bellied Brent 35 arrived from the north in the morning.

Some of this morning's Brent geese arriving, with Black Combe as a backdrop

Twenty also flew from the north this afternoon 

There were no ducks or grebes seen on the sea during both visits.

Oystercatcher 2,000

Curlew 60 including 30 that flew inland this morning

Black-Tailed Godwit 1 flew high to the north

Redshank 150

Knot 1200 peak in the afternoon 

Turnstone 35

Ringed plover 6

Dunlin 45

One of five inshore Dunlin, the others feeding with the Knot

Just out of the recording area. Janet had a walk along the promenade at sunnyslopes but couldn't locate a Stonechat. Possibly they have moved on as a male turned up at Potts Corner today (Mark Jones)

Male Stonechat at Potts. Possibly heading our way?

Mark was also delighted to see a couple of Skylark flying and tentatively singing near the car park. The longer days must be making them think of spring - it couldn't have been the temperature!

A nice day to watch birds

A heavy overnight frost followed by a sunny day. Once again becoming quite warm in the afternoon. A light east breeze.

Heysham Skear (Malcolm)

I checked in the morning on the ebbing tide.

There were no Brent Geese.

Pink-Footed goose 82 south

Eider 60

Oystercatcher 2,000

Curlew 40

Redshank 150

Knot 1,000

Dunlin 60

Turnstone 25

Curlew, Oystercatcher, Knot and Dunlin

These Knot are feeding on small invertebrates in the shallow water. One has an orange flag, it turned out to be one of two new flagged birds seen today. The flag is visible in parts of this clip.

I returned for a quick look in the afternoon as the tide was covering the skear.

A flock of 50 Turnstone with some Dunlin arrived from the south. These are in addition to the 25 feeding birds.

Turnstone and Dunlin

It became quite crowded as the tide rose.

Pale-bellied Brent geese 38

Brent geese arriving from the north

They ended up feeding just out from the Sunnyslopes groyne. Pickings are slim here, but they were finding the odd scrap of weed.

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Great Crested grebe 2

The Knot had disappeared from the skear, but 400 returned from the south to roost on the rocks below the groyne.

Knot in front of Sunnyslopes groyne. They were very flighty and were 
lifted three times by passing crows.

Just out of the recording area. Just the darker Stonechat seen/reported from the Sunnyslopes sea defences.

Pintail bonus

A sunny day becoming quite warm by the afternoon, but temperatures quickly dropped after sundown. A  SW breeze.

Heysham skear - low water 10:30 (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 31 at least, including 15 that flew to the north.

Some of the Brent geese heading north

Eider 65

Red-Breasted Merganser 4

Pintail 3 - they came from the north, then west along the northern edge of the skear,

Female Pintail with two males in tow

Then settled in the channel to the NW of the skear

Great Crested grebe 3

Great Crested Grebe 

Oystercatcher 1,500

Knot 1,400 including two new flagged birds.

This one ringed at Skogarnes, SW Iceland on 17 May 2023 
This is the only sighting since then.

Redshank 200

Curlew 35

Turnstone 23

Dunlin 8

Ringed Plover 16

South shore (Malcolm)

It was such a pleasant afternoon I couldn't resist checking the waterline on the incoming tide, although my legs are complaining at the moment!

The only waders feeding along the waterline were

Oystercatcher 100

Knot 500 in four flocks flew south.

Curlew 126 in small groups flew south.

Curlew

Pale-bellied Brent 37 - likely including this morning's birds. Unusually, they arrived very early in the tide and settled on the sea.

Brent geese arriving and then settling on the sea

When the tide was high enough, they made their way along the channel
next to No.2 outflow, then below the sea wall to Red Nab

Shelduck 8

There were 100 Black-Headed gulls feeding high up the shore. By this time it was quite warm, I couldn't decide what they were finding to eat, possibly flies had been emerging along the strandline and landing on the mud. I checked, but I couldn't see anything.

Just out of the recording area, Janet located one on the Stonechats along Sandylands again. Today's bird looked paler than the one she saw yesterday. It would be nice to get a shot of them together.

Stonechat