A bit of variety

A dry day with sunny spells. The light north wind alternating between NW and NE. 

South shore (Malcolm)

Two checks again, once as the tide covered the skear this morning and again as it being exposed this afternoon.

Pale-bellied Brent goose just 12 seen this morning but 26 arrived this afternoon 

Eider 16

Goldeneye pair drifted in with the making tide this morning, this is the first and could be the only sighting this year, as they are increasing scarce in the recording area.

Goldeneye pair

The female didn't take kindly to a passing male Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser 11 minimum seen on both visits.

Female Merganser with three males in hot pursuit 

This male and female seem to have bonded

Oystercatcher 1,500

Bar-Tailed Godwit 4 high to the north

Curlew just 10 seen

Redshank 350

Knot - none left the skear this morning, but there were 600 flying south of Heysham Head. None returned this afternoon to feed. We need an onshore wind to bring the shrimps close enough in for the waders to easily catch them, and at this time of year shrimps are the main attraction for Knot to the skear. Unfortunately it looks like easterlies now for the rest of the month!

Turnstone 60

Dunlin 2 high up the shore

Ringed Plover 4

The lack of shrimps was probably not the only reason for a lack of 
Knot this morning. This immature Peregrine was resting on the rocks.
You can just see that it has a pink ring on its right leg

The waders seem to tolerate a Peregrine when they are resting, there were over 150 Redshank feeding close in front of it. If I know there is a Peregrine there, you can guarantee that the Redshank know too. Their lives depend on it! Presumably they are confident of out manoeuvring it from a standing start. They didn't even take flight when the Peregrine flew to another rock.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

Just a quick check of the two main ponds.

Main Pond

Mute Swan pair

Mallard 4

Gadwall 28 all seemed to be paired up

Teal pair

Teal pair

Coot 8

Moorhen 2

Little grebe 1

Chiffchaff 1 singing

"No swimming" pond

Gadwall 3 males

Tufted Duck 3 - 2 male and a female

Female Tufted Duck

Coot 1

Cetti's warbler 1 singing

Not bad, but nothing new.

A dry day with a light north wind, that switched to a westerly in the evening.

South shore (Janet)

Rock Pipit still displaying along the foreshore 

In the Nature Park 

Chiffchaff

Honey Bee

North shore 

Howard checked the Heliport area around high water.

There were fewer Knot today  c1500 favouring the grass once more, only disturbance was via the corvids which allowed a couple of inflight grab shots.

This is the first record for this Knot which was flagged in Merseyside 08/05/24

I checked the skear twice, once this morning as it was being covered and again this afternoon when it was uncovering again (Malcolm).

Pale-bellied Brent goose 24 this morning, and at least as many scattered around this afternoon. With all yesterday's rain, the freshwater runoffs on the skear were gushing. These are some of this afternoon's Brent freshening up.

Eider 26

Red-breasted Merganser 9

Male Red-breasted Merganser coming in to land

Great Crested Grebe 2

Oystercatcher 1,500

Curlew 30

Curlew, probing its long bill under something 

Redshank 250

Knot 600 moved off the skear this morning and didn't feed on the mud shore. c1,500 eventually turned up this evening. At least one new flagged bird for this winter seen. Unfortunately the switch of the wind from north to west this afternoon came too late to provide a shrimping opportunity for the waders, other than in the draining pools. Forecast back to NE wind for tomorrow which also won't provide.

Dunlin 30

Turnstone 60

It gets busy as the tide starts to uncover the feeding areas.
Brent goose, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Knot and Turnstone all looking for a meal.
You can see some quite lush gutweed the Brent is feeding on. There are small
pockets like this all around, and why the Brent are feeding in small groups

Some colour ring news

A dry morning with sunny spells, some very heavy showers in the afternoon. A fresh north wind.

This Grey Wagtail was ringed at Middleton Nature Reserve 18/09/24 as a first winter - see sidebar for the scheme details.

Photographed by Helen Reilly at Flimby near Maryport on 9/3/25
82km NW from ringing site. 

Presumably it  headed south for winter then Helen’s pic taken on return migration with three other birds (unusual for grey wag to travel in groups in spring) 

This orange flagged Knot was photographed by Kevin Singleton as it was
coming in land on the heliport wall 23/02/25. It was ringed at Ainsdale beach
Merseyside 27/05/21. It was seen at Heysham once last winter, this was its
 first sighting this winter

South shore 

I checked from the saltmarsh to Red Nab on the rising tide this morning (Malcolm)

Rock Pipit 2 - one on the saltmarsh another, displaying along the foreshore.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 34 on Red Nab

Shelduck 25

Wigeon 200+

Shelduck, Curlew and a Redshank

Janet checked from Red Nab to the harbour a little later.

Some of the Brent geese

Wigeon

Rock Pipit 3 (making a total of 5) - 2 on Red Nab and one near the nesting area near the lighthouse.

One of the Red Nab Rock Pipits

The lighthouse Rock Pipit was parading around with a large Sea Slater.
presumably intended as an offering to a mate.

Turnstone along the sea wall

In the Nature Park 

Many species enjoy the seeds left by visitors.

Great Tit

Blue Tit - both tits selecting sunflower seeds from the mix.

Carrion Crow

North shore (Malcolm)

I went to watch the skear being exposed by the ebbing tide. A heavy shower meant a wait in the car before starting. It was nice and sunny as I walked out, but that clearly wasn't going to last.

Rain was heading my way......and very quickly!

The rain arrived and was every bit as bad as it promised! Fortunately it didn't last long and the sun was quickly out again.

Pale-bellied Brent geese 12

Eider 16

Oystercatcher 1,000

Curlew 25

Knot 600 including a few flagged birds and at least one new here for this winter. 

Brent geese, Oystercatcher and Knot in this clip.

Curlew, Oystercatcher and Knot

Turnstone 40

Dunlin 20

Another downpour was fast approaching. I'd seen all there was to see,
time to leave. Even so, I was soaked by the time I reached my car.

This moth was on an east facing wall by my front door this morning. 
Quite a common species Diurnea fagella, but still nice to see (Malcolm)

Just the shore checked today

A dry day with sunny spells. A light NE wind to begin with drifting round to the NW by this afternoon.

North shore

Howard checked the Heliport and Near Naze around high water.

The Knot were on the naze shoreline when I arrived c1000 with c2000 on the mid outer wall, I was able to get a few flags before they were flushed by a contract driver waiting to get entry to the port to collect a car, they had a fly round then joined the bigger flock on the outer wall, they settled there for nearly 45 minutes before two corvids put them up, when they came back down they settled in the grass which has grown since my last visit so legs were completely obscured.

One of today's flagged Knot

Pale-bellied Brent geese heading to the south side

As Howard was watching the Knot, a Snipe was watching him.

I checked the skear as it became exposed this afternoon (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent 50 - likely including Howard's birds, but these did fly directly from the west, presumably from the other side of the bay.

50 Knot arriving together from the west. They split into smaller
feeding groups on arrival.

There still isn't a lot of gutweed out here, but they were finding plenty of broken weed after yesterday's strong winds. 

Eider 10

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Female Red-breasted Merganser

Great Crest Grebe 1

There were a lot more waders around today.

Oystercatcher 1,500

Curlew 30

Redshank 450 - many shrimping in the quickly draining pools (we are already moving back to spring tides)

Knot 3,000 most arrived in three similar sized flocks. They also started feeding and bathing in the draining pools.

Peregrine Falcon at least 2 individuals and a minimum of three attacks.

Peregrine Falcon with a rapidly disappearing Knot (far right)

The Peregrines were targeting the Knot, but the commotion lifts everything 

Even the Brent get spooked, some take flight, these just voiced their discontent!

Dunlin 80

Turnstone 120

Turnstone 

A dark-belly turned up

Another dry but cooler day. A NE wind freshened during the day becoming very strong by mid afternoon, before easing again.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

A couple of shots from yesterday

Summer Plumage Little grebe

South shore (Malcolm)

Just a short walk from the saltmarsh to Red Nab and back through the Nature Park.

Rock Pipit 1 display calling and flights along the foreshore.

Rock Pipit

Meadow Pipit 16 north. Five landed briefly near the displaying Rock Pipit but quickly moved on.

Meadow Pipits

Pied/White wagtail 1 north

Redshank 145 along the waterline. The only other waders visible along the waterline were Curlew and Oystercatcher 

On Red Nab

Pale-bellied Brent goose 22 

Shelduck 15 plus 20 near the waterline

Wigeon 180

Nature Park

Chiffchaff 1 singing

These Blue Tits seemed to be checking for a suitable nest hole

Near Naze and Heliport (Malcolm)

I just had a look in passing to see if there were any grounded migrants. There wasn't, but there were 3,000 Knot. Unfortunately, very flighty and 2,000 quickly left towards Heysham Head, the other 1,000 out of sight beyond the Oystercatchers on the Heliport sea wall. Still I managed to read a few flags before they left.

These are some of the departing birds. None obviously with a coloured flag.
But the circled bird does appear to have a black flag

This Knot with a black flag was on the north shore last week. We have now
received its "history". Ringed November 2018 eastern Wadden Sea Holland.
Amazingly, this is the only confirmed sighting since it was ringed!

North shore (Malcolm)

I went out on the skear this afternoon towards low water. The NE wind was surprisingly strong out there!

Pale-bellied Brent geese 33 (almost certainly including this morning's 22)

Dark-bellied Brent goose 1 - I didn't see it arrive, but suspect that it just had done so, as it was having a thorough bath.

It climbed out to dry itself off......

......but as soon as it opened its wings to shake them......

........the wind blew it back into the sea.

Probably all of this morning's Knot were on the skear. The strong NE wind stirred up the water enough along the northern edge of the skear to bring small shrimps into the shallows.

Knot shrimping in the shallows, you can see the line towards the top
of the picture where the clear water becomes muddied.

Despite the high number of Knot, checking for flags was difficult, partly as many legs were hidden, but mainly as it was barely practical to stand still! Some new birds for the skear were seen though. 

Redshank and an orange flagged Knot. Unfortunately, in this case part of the
code is obscured by a blob of something on the flag - you can't win them all!