At least one Med lingered

A showery day, particularly in the morning. A freshening south wind.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Some more shots from Janet yesterday evening.

Tufted Duck

The Gadwall were battling over partners

Blackbird

Heysham Skear low water 10:00 (Malcolm)

It rained throughout my walk!

Pale-bellied Brent Geese 3

Shelduck 2 singles south

Wigeon 2 males on the sea then north.

No Eider, merganser or grebes seen.

Oystercatcher 1,000

Curlew 30

Redshank 30

Knot just 8 (6, 1 and 1)

Turnstone 30

Dunlin 8 with

Ringed Plover 14 high up the shore.

I took this shot yesterday, the rocks in the background are the sea wall defences.
So this is the very edge of the inner skear. There are 10 ringed Plover and a
Turnstone in the picture. Without opening it you won't be able to see any!
Says something about their camouflage.

This is another shot from yesterday. These neap tides do not expose much
of the skear. These nine Carrion Crows had just chased off another six who
must have encroached on what they regard as their territory.

Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

I called in on my way home. It was still raining. The gulls spotted feeding yesterday by Jean were still there. But they were not feeding just resting and preening. There were two main groups.

Gulls in the field just beyond the road hedge

Another group in the next field east.

Mediterranean gull 1 adult seen in the nearer group. There was no obvious one in the further group.

Mediterranean gull centre with Black-Headed and Common gulls

I checked again after lunch when the rain had stopped. All the gulls had moved on, although the smell of slurry lingered!

South shore (Malcolm)

A walk along the sea wall early afternoon.

Shelduck 32 on Red Nab

Some of the Shelduck

Wigeon 100+ on Red Nab.

It started raining again, so I stashed my camera. This Cormorant caught a Bass, but in the time it took me to get my camera out it was just about swallowed.

Just the Bass' tail remained.......

........but not for long

More rain was on its way, and it arrived quickly 

I took shelter behind the lighthouse until the rain moved on.

I was just admiring a rainbow.......

.........when 41 Pale-bellied Brent flew from the north side

They flew along the wall and landed on Red Nab.
There was still plenty of weather approaching, so I headed back.

Barn Owl showing well again. Plus Meds around

A mainly overcast day with rain either side of lunch. The east wind continues.

Heysham skear - low water 09:20 (Malcolm)

No brent geese seen and only 24 Eider

Red-breasted Merganser 5

Peregrine Falcon attacked twice clearing the skear of 700 Knot.
Just 150 Knot remained in small groups

Oystercatcher 1,500 other waders as recent.

South shore (Malcolm)

A check of the waterline on the rising tide saw few waders.

Oystercatcher 120 along the waterline

Dunlin 300 in one flock at the southern edge of the recording area

Knot 15 flew south

Black-Tailed Godwit 3 flew high to SE

Black-Tailed Godwit

Curlew 13 further up the shore

Redshank 41 near the saltmarsh 

Shelduck 52 

Teal 2 flew from the saltmarsh 

Wigeon 160 at Red Nab

It had just stopped raining and many of the Wigeon were feeding
on the wet gutweed near the sea wall

But even here it is still very close cropped (although well fertilised)

No Brent geese arrived

Reed Bunting 2 around the saltmarsh

Reed Bunting

Imperial Rd (Jean)

Large numbers of Common and Black-Headed gulls were feeding in the recently "slurried" field to the east of the road. 

Mediterranean gulls 2 adults were with them.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

A check this evening included

Gadwall

Barn Owl

Male Sparrowhawk 

This shot is also from Janet on her window at home this afternoon.
Alison Hayward identified it as likely a Yellow/Golden Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)
Possibly attracted to the area by the not too distant slurry spreading?

At least one Shag around

A dry day with some sunshine. An east wind.

First some shots by Janet from yesterday on Middleton Nature Reserve 

Gadwall and a Tufted Duck

Drake Tufted Duck

The Coot were still battling 

But a snack in between

Blue Tit

Long-Tailed Tit

Heysham skear - low water 08:50 (Malcolm)

I went down early hoping to see some Knot before they were moved on, as they have been this last few days, by a Peregrine. There were 1,000 on the strips of the outer skear that were exposed, but once again attacked by a Peregrine Falcon and they moved south. The only other Knot seen were 12 on the middle skear. This is the last tide for over a week when the outer skear will be exposed. It will be interesting to see how things change.

Pale-bellied Brent geese 5 flew to the north.

Eider 65

Red-breasted Merganser 4

Great Crested Grebe 2

Shag 1

Herring Gull, Cormorant and Shag

It was resting on a Honeycomb worm reef out from the green marker post. This clip shows the location, but not so much of it will be showing tomorrow.

There seemed to be a lot more Oystercatcher today, probably as not much of the outer skear was available to them. 2,500 on the skear and similar numbers along the waterline to the south. I always thought Oystercatcher was a bit of a misnomer. Oysters don't need much "catching", and of course hereabouts it is Mussels not Oysters that they are "catching". To be fair they do need a bit prising to free them, then the Oystercatchers display their real skill, opening mussels. I've split this clip in two as it is too long to upload as one, and both the start and end are of interest.

This clip begins with an Oystercatcher with a mussel, it places it down then appears to fend off a potential rival. But it then defecates on, or near, the mussel and leaves it for the other bird to open and eat. Some kind of bonding? Note the Turnstone are always around and are ready to clear any remnants from the opened shells.

This clip begins just before the one above ends. Watch the lower Oystercatcher and the apparent ease at which it opens quite a large mussel, the trick is to find the right spot to wedge it in to.

Curlew 35

Turnstone 45

Redshank 120

Dunlin 8 with

Ringed Plover 6

Heliport wall (Howard)

The Oystercatchers started to fill the outerwall 2 hours before peak tide with no Knot until a small flock of c200 arrived and placed themselves in the middle of the wall on the water line, a larger flock then appeared from over heysham head, they did a flyby then headed south over the harbour and that was it for them.

One of two Rock Pipits at the heliport

South shore - Mike Stocker

Adult Shag mouth of Heysham Harbour 1600,

Rock Pipit by wooden jetty

31 Pale-bellied Brent geese 1530 red nab 

Barn Owl and some colour coded birds updates

Another dry overcast day with a SE wind

Heysham Skear (Malcolm)

A check on the rising tide this morning.

Pale-bellied Brent goose - just two feeding along the northern edge of the skear. (Later David Kaye saw 34 out from the play area)

Pale-bellied Brent geese, Oystercatcher and Redshank

Eider 35

Wigeon 7

Red-breasted Merganser 8

Great Crested grebe 4

A Peregrine Falcon lifted a few hundred Knot off the skear which then disappeared to the north. Presumably earlier attacks had already moved some on as no more Knot could be found. Then a flock of 62 came from the north and landed on the skear. Yesterday's post showed that one in a hundred is often the ratio for flagged Knot. But that is only typical, not universal. One day last week there were 3,000 Knot on the shore and I had to check over 1,000 before seeing any flagged birds........

........but amazingly, there were two flagged Knot in this small flock!

After landing many took a bath. Both orange flagged Knot can be seen in this clip.

Both the birds have been seen here before, in fact you could call them regulars.
It has been previously noted that this one tends to distance itself from large groups,
 it prefers to roost and feed apart from them, lending itself to be more easily seen,
both at roost and feeding. This is the 18th sighting of it at Heysham this winter!

No other Knot returned

Oystercatcher 1,500

Curlew 40

Redshank 120

Turnstone 25

Ringed Plover 12

Dunlin 8 feeding high up the shore with the Dunlin.

Red-Nab (Malcolm)

Just a quick look towards high water

Pale-bellied Brent geese 2 - almost certainly this morning's 2.

Shelduck 32

Wigeon 160

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Barn Owl 1 hunting over the central marshes this afternoon 

Barn Owl

This yellow ringed Common Gull was found by Janet on the frozen main
pond 10/01/25. We have now received its history.
Ringed at Frederikshavn Denmark 12/05/23. This is the only record outside Denmark.

Coot numbers approaching critical mass

A dry day with some sunshine. A light SE wind

This is a shot taken by Howard earlier this week of waders lifting off the Sunnyslopes 
groyne. Count estimate is 638 Knot excluding Dunlin.
This is interesting on two counts, first it allows an easier estimate of Knot numbers
in a flock. i.e. multiples of this size flock equals multiples of 600+.
 Howard has circled  the marked Knot in this flock. 7, that represents 1%, and that
 tends to be the approximate number of marked Knot in many flocks.
 Although some flocks have barely any.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

Just a passing check of the two main ponds.

Nothing seen on the "no swimming" pond.

Main pond

Mute Swan pair plus 1 immature 

Mallard 18

Gadwall 35

Tufted Duck 5

Moorhen 2

Coot 13 - every one seemed to be either chasing another or being chased!

Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

A quick look this afternoon 

Teal 3

Moorhen 2

Fox

These two Herring gulls were paddling, this normally attracts worms to the surface. They were definitely catching plenty of invertebrates, but it isn't clear exactly what, although you can see one worm being swallowed.

Herring gulls, one with a strand of grass 

It is nice seeing Herring gulls feeding naturally, unlike many of their urban counterparts. This is a familiar scene, very nicely depicted in a new mural in Morecambe.

Eerily calm

The threatened rain never really materialised, but the clouds hung low all day coupled with mist this morning. Almost no air movement.

First, some lovely shots taken by Howard at the Heliport yesterday.

Lapwing 

Curlew 

North shore (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent goose - at least 16 were feeding between the skear and play area this morning. 35 came in from the south side this evening.

Eider none seen in the morning but 103 were close in this evening plus others in the distance 

Some of the Brent landing this morning 

Brent geese, Eider, oystercatcher and Redshank this evening 

Great Crested grebe 3 this evening 

In the morning c3,000 Knot were moved off the skear by the rising tide and worked their way along the shore.

Some of the Knot and Oystercatcher with a flat sea and the beginning of
Heysham Head behind. Behind that is obscured by mist

Viewing conditions were difficult in the murk, but it was surprising that I only managed to locate eight flagged birds. There would have almost certainly have been more, but I doubt I missed many.

It always looks strange with a flat sea and no horizon 

No sign of any Peregrines this morning until most Knot had already left to the south. It did find a flock of 700 Knot that had settled on the Sandylands groyne. These too then headed south.

I hadn't planned to go back this evening as it was almost dark, but I was pleased that I did. It was eerily still and quiet. Bizarrely, I could hear the roars from the football stadium, and even more bizarrely, Morecambe scored! (Twice actually, but I only heard the roars from for the first goal).

I managed lo locate a small feeding group of 250 Knot in the twilight, and contrary to this morning there were three flagged birds amongst them and one was a new bird for this winter.

Just out of the recording area Sandylands (Malcolm)

Stonechat 2 female type. One slightly paler bird was on the southern section south of the groyne.

Stonechat on the Promenade railings, that is the Sunnyslopes groyne behind

Southern section Stonechat 

This one was at the northern end where the houses begin.
It is stood on the sea defences in this shot.

It's always worth a walk along the promenade here, as well as the Stonechats there were 2 Reed Buntings, a Pied Wagtail, Robin and Dunnock. Plus a healthy population of House Sparrows and Starlings, plus of course, the sea and shore beyond.