Tread carefully.......

A very pleasant day with plenty of warm sun to counter the cool south wind.

Caution!

The council have put a barrier around an "oil" spill on the shore near Half Moon Bay cafe. Seems odd, the tide won't have reached that far recently. Please avoid and advise anyone who walks their dogs in that area to take care.

Heysham skear (Malcolm)

I checked on the ebbing tide in the morning and another quick look as the tide covered the skear this afternoon.

No Brent geese seen in the morning.

Eider 14

Second calendar year Herring gull

I've never seen any gull feeding as daintily as this young Herring gull, so I took a clip.

Oystercatcher 2,000

Curlew 15

Redshank 70

Dunlin 30

Dunlin

Turnstone 35

Ringed Plover 6

Knot 1,200 - most were resting amongst the stones on the skear. Even so four new flaged birds for this winter were found. 

These very low neap tides are a double edged sword for waders. On the bad side, the tide never goes out far enough to expose their favoured areas, but the good side is that the tide never fully covers the shore, so there are feeding opportunities during all daylight hours.

Some of the Knot resting on the skear

So I returned later hoping the tide would push the Knot on to the beach, but only 50 arrived and none of them flagged. The remaining birds flew to NW in several flocks.

Knot on the beach south of the skear

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1

Pale-bellied Brent goose 51 - 8 were already on the skear when a further 43 arrived from further north.

Some of the eight Brent on the skear, these are having a drink in
a freshwater runoff

Some of the Pale-bellied Brent geese

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

A Barn owl was hunting over the central marshes again and Janet managed these lovely shots before it crossed to the south side of the Reserve.

Barn Owl

Wind assisted tuft

A strong SE wind easing in the afternoon as it shifted to SW. just one heavy afternoon shower (guess who was in it!)

Oystercatchers feeding on the grass to the south of Whinnysty Lane yesterday - Kevin Singleton 

South shore (Malcolm)

I walked along the sea wall mid afternoon on the rising tide (just in time to catch the only serious shower of the day!). The wind was still strong and partly from the east, but after the squall it eased and was SSW.

Wigeon 120 on Red Nab

Shelduck 2 on Red Nab

Shag 1 in the harbour

Just a hint of a tuft, when the wind was behind it

I took this clip expecting it to dive but it just kept swimming, although it had clearly been feeding well (note the white cloud that appears in its wake).

It swam to the middle of the harbour, this shows its location. It stayed there
till a young gull swooped at it. It dived out of the way and was not seen again.

Cormorant, also in the harbour, and also sporting a wind assisted tuft.

It was at this point that the threatening dark clouds started delivering what they had threatened! Fortunately the lighthouse makes for a good shelter. What I saw as an inconvenience, this Rock Pipit saw a feeding opportunity. Don't know what on, and I wasn't tempted to go and investigate.

Curlew and Oystercatcher a steady movement south 

Grey Plover 1 had been resting on sea wall then south

Redshank 29 along the sea wall

Turnstone 5 along the sea wall.

There wasn't really anything feeding on the outfalls. There were lots of large gull hanging on the wind above the sloping sea wall. I didn't see a single Black-Headed gull, they were probably following a slurry spreader somewhere.

This is a telling shot. The sea is rough between the outfalls, but quite calm
Between No.1 outfall and the wooden jetty. This is the area where the 
Sandmason worms flourish, and this reduced disturbance is one of the key
reasons (coupled with the wash of nutrients the beach receives when ships 
enter and leave the harbour)

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