Not many waders, but they were interesting ones

Some heavy overnight rain and showers all morning. A dry afternoon with a bit of evening sunshine.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

Just a passing check of the two main ponds this afternoon

The "no swimming" pond has returned to its normal height. The blackened 
vegetation shows the level it had been. There were 8 Tufted Ducks, 2 Gadwall
and two Moorhen on it this afternoon.

On the main pond:

Female Mute Swan with 7 cygnets

31 Tufted Duck (39 total)

6 Gadwall (8 total)

Mallard 23

Some of the Mallard were on the east banking. Waiting for someone to
arrive and feed them. They didn't have to wait long!

Female Mallard

Female and male Gadwall

Moorhen 4 (6 total)

Coot 14 - at this time of year it is difficult to tell if the Coot are fighting or courting. Their courtship isn't genteel! In this clip there is probably a bit of both going on.

South shore (Malcolm)

I set out from Potts Corner again. It was 14:25, just 1.5hr after low water. But we are on neap tides so the tide doesn't go as far as spring tides. Even so it was a long walk out to the waterline and it was 15:20 before I reached the recording area (although I was distracted on the way out, more on this later).

Shelduck 150 minimum, this lot decided to head south, there are 125 in this clip.

The only waders in the recording area were:

Oystercatcher 60

Curlew just 5 initially on the shore, another 80 had joined them by the time I finished.

Dunlin 11

Sanderling 38 - two groups of 30 and 8. All 30 are in this clip, which ends on the 11 Dunlin. They are feeding on the tiny snails that are currently abundant on the wet sections of shore.

After feeding a while they flew south

The other 8 were closer to the sea wall

All 8 Sanderlings in this shot

This one was ringed, no chance of reading it of course

And that was it.

Just out of the recording area - just out from Potts Corner (Malcolm)

Curlew Sandpiper 3 juveniles

Juvenile Curlew Sandpipers

This clip shows their white rumps

You can see them picking up the tiny snails in this clip. Normally on neap tides this far up the shore, the mud is dry and the snails burrow below the surface, just leaving a telltale "pimple" of mud. But the rain overnight and throughout the morning had left plenty of wet areas. Every black speck is a snail.

It was almost 17:00 by the time I got back to Potts, by that time some of
the mud had dried, and the snails were under the surface again. Every pimple
hides a snail.

Knot favouring the south side

A dry day with sunny spells. A light SE breeze

 

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Ringing report by Jean:

The weather forecast didn't look that promising, one said windy from the south, another said rain first thing. In reality it was a SE wind, not too strong and cloudy - ideal for ringing! So I stuck 3 nets up and caught 73 birds! 13 species as follows:

Goldfinch 15 new, 8 retraps (all since August)

Long-tailed Tit 8 new (one flock)

Goldcrest 5 new, 2 retraps (from 25/9)

Blue Tit 6 new, 1 retrap (from July)

Chaffinch 5 new, 1 retrap (October 2024 and March this year - regular winter visitor?)

Greenfinch 5 new, 1 retrap (from July)

Chiffchaff 3 new

Coal Tit 3 new, 1 retrap (recent)

Grey Wagtail 4 new (colour rings added)

Great Tit 3 retraps (one from July, two very recent)

Robin 2 new

Blackcap 1 new (male)

Dunnock 1 new

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 10:45 - 12:00

Very low neap tides again, so very little of the skear was exposed.

Eider 2 female

Great Crested grebe 4

Shag at least 1 juvenile 

Resting Shag, with Piel Castle in the background 

Little Egret 4

Gulls 50 mainly Herring gulls and mostly adult or sub-adult. They have stopped eating the small mussels whole and are dropping large ones to open them.

Herring gull with a mussel. They take some breaking open at this size!

This clip is from yesterday 

Oystercatcher 300

Curlew 45

Redshank 180

Knot 25 (14, 6, 4 and 1)

Turnstone 60

Ringed Plover 19

Juvenile Knot

South shore (Malcolm) 15:15 - 16:15

Just a check of the waterline out from Ocean Edge. 

Shelduck 152 - they were spread all over the shore in all directions. The shore is covered in tiny snails which also attract the Knot and Dunlin.

Oystercatcher 80

Curlew 100

Bar-Tailed Godwit 40

Grey Plover 9

Knot 2000

Dunlin 500

Some of the Godwits

Five of the Knot were flagged, but I only managed to read one of them

Apart from the Oystercatcher, they were all very flighty and soon left to the south.

Bar-Tailed Godwits, Knot and Grey Plover

A line of Knot past the StenaLine

There's always one that doesn't notice that all the rest have gone! Dunlin

Cormorants heading back to the wooden jetty

More Wigeon return and a top moth!

A mainly dry day, just one ill timed shower! Sunny spells and a light variable breeze.

Middleton Nature Reserve - Kevin Singleton 

Good numbers of tufted ducks, 41, little grebe, gadwall

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 09:45 - 11:30

Pink-Footed goose 23 in 1 skein south

Eider 3 males

Male Eider, almost in full breeding plumage 

Red-Breasted Merganser 3

Great Crested Grebe 9

Shag at least 1 juvenile 

Little Egret 7

Grey Heron 1

Gulls 50

Carrion Crows 51 - a loose flock arrived from the east and settled towards the end of the skear with others that were already resting there.

Some of the crows coming in to land.

Normally the resident crows here are very territorial, but there were only minor squabbles today.

As I got closer 34 flew off to the SE, the remaining 17 continued to ignore me, as is their wont.

Swallow 6 south together 

Oystercatcher 600

Curlew 30

Redshank 160

Knot 450 - two seen with orange flags, one was read.

Turnstone 70

South shore (Malcolm) 14:45 - 16:00

Even at "high" water, on these neap tides the waterline is 700m out from the shore here. I walked out from Potts Corner, 14:45 being the time I entered the recording area.

I could see a large flock of waders on the waterline just inside the recording area, but before I reached them a hang glider lifted everything. Some of them resettled closer to the sea wall, by the time I reached them the only shower of the day had started and I couldn't use my camera.

Curlew 150

Oystercatcher 50

Bar-Tailed Godwit 140

Grey Plover 9

Knot 1500

Dunlin 350

Sanderling 1

The shower stopped and I managed to take a few shots and read another flagged Knot, before a helicopter went over and everything flew south.

Sanderling with Dunlin

We saw this Knot earlier in the year. It was ringed at Merseyside in 2020
Hopefully it has been seen since it left us. Details awaited

The aftermath of a passing helicopter 

Shelduck 18 

Wigeon 32 flew towards Red Nab

Wigeon 

Silver Y on the sea wall - Kevin

Clifden Nonpareil (Catocala fraxini) in the trap at Heysham this morning. 
A big surprise and huge moth. Alison Hayward

It started with a mist......

A very misty start before a SW breeze started and the sun broke through. It remained dry and largely sunny for the rest of the day.

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 09:00 - 10:30

It was still misty when I set off. One of my daughters spotted me heading out.
That's me disappearing into the mist

It was eerily quiet, even the Starlings were silent and subdued 

Knot 500+ I kept seeing glimpses of a flock flying around, then almost at once the mist in front of me cleared and the sun broke through.

The largest of three groups of Knot

This is looking back to shore at the same time. It was still grim,
but the mists were starting to lift. Noise returned to the world!

Oystercatcher 600

Curlew 35

Redshank 60

Turnstone 40

Sanderling 1 flew west

Dunlin 2 flew south

Ringed Plover, just one seen there were probably others.

Pink-Footed goose 115 south in one skein, another skein of 67 flew north

Eider 6

Red-Breasted Merganser 2

Great Crested Grebe 5

Shag, at least one juvenile 

This Cormorant caught a flatfish but was struggling to swallow it. The Great Black-Backed gull was hoping that it would fail.

The next time I looked all the birds were swimming away, and no sign of the fish, suggesting that the Cormorant succeeded.

Gulls just 30, mainly Herring Gulls

Little Egret 16

Some of the Little Egrets

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Green Woodpecker 1 flew past near the golf course

Several Common Darters on both the north and south side of the reserve

Male Common Darter

Female Common Darter

South shore (Malcolm) 13:00 - 14:30

A walk out from the saltmarsh close to shore then back along the waterline on the rising tide.

No Linnets seen 

Wheatear 3

Wheatear

One of two Common Gulls with several Black-Headed gulls

Pink-Footed goose 15 south

Wigeon 4

Wigeon

Curlew 180 resting on the mud

Oystercatcher 50 along the water line. The only other waders were:

Dunlin 1

Grey Plover 1

Golden Plover 1

Golden Plover and a Dunlin

Golden Plover and the Manxman ferry

Golden Plover

Grey Plover

A flash of colour on an otherwise grey day

A freshening SE wind. Overcast all day but it managed to remain dry till evening.

South shore (Malcolm) 09:00 - 10:30

Linnet 112 seen, there were probably more

Shelduck 119 feeding all along the shore out from Ocean Edge

Just a few of the Shelduck

Kingfisher 1 flew up the sloping sea wall from Red Nab then along the perimeter fence towards the Nature Park.

Not the greatest of shots but nice to see

Plenty of gulls on No.2 outfall, but almost all Black-Headed gulls

Cormorant drying its feathers

I went along the wall when the tide was out to check the feeding beach by the wooden jetty. It was pretty much deserted, just 4 adult Mediterranean gulls at the seaward end.

Mediterranean gull with a white ring, far too distant to read

Rock Pipit 3

Rock Pipit on Red Nab

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

Just a passing check. The water level on the "no swimming" pond is still high, but that doesn't explain why it was duckless today. The diving birds can still find food. Clearly they prefer the main pond when disturbance is minimal. I made these counts and took the pictures while sat on the bench by the bottom car park.

Cormorants 2

Mute Swan female with 7 cygnets

Tufted Duck 34

Mallard 12

Gadwall 7

Coot 12

Moorhen 2

Little grebe 1

Female Tufted Duck

This clip provides just a flavour of the abundant wildfowl on the main pond. It's a Cormorant that flies across the frame.

And that was it for the day, I don't have much time at the weekend. But I can normally enjoy watching the birds on my garden feeders. Not today, this Sparrowhawk left the garden deserted all afternoon!