Shrimping season has definitely started

Another dry and mainly sunny day with a light SE wind.

South shore (Malcolm)

Just a 08:45 check from the saltmarsh to Red Nab, unfortunately just too late in the rising tide for any Brent geese to still be on Red Nab

Wigeon 220 flew from Red Nab to the saltmarsh 

Wigeon catching the low morning sun

Rock Pipit 1 on the saltmarsh 

Rock Pipit

Common Snipe 1 along the foreshore 

A Peregrine Falcon lifted everything off Red Nab. The returned waders when I got there were: Oystercatcher, Curlew, Turnstone and a solitary Grey Plover

Grey Plover

It calmly stood on one leg as the waves lapped around it.

Imperial Rd (Malcolm) 09:15

It was noisy! There were loads of corvids around, the Water Rails (at least 3) were all calling and a Cetti's warbler singing. 

After a while the Rails and Cetti's went silent, but the corvids kept arguing.

Raven 1 (heard only), possibly what all the fuss was about.

Carrion Crow 12

Magpie 6 

Jackdaw 2

Carrion Crows and possibly a Raven it was calling from this direction 

Stonechat just a male seen distantly 

Stonechat

Fox on the prowl

Heliport and Near Naze (Malcolm)

Oystercatcher on the heliport wall

Knot on the Near Naze rocks, four new flagged birds were seen

Lapwing coming in to land

Heysham skear (Malcolm)  12:15 - 14:00

Pale-bellied Brent goose 3 came in from the north.

Pale-bellied Brent geese

Eider 43

Red-breasted Merganser 1 male

There were no female Mergansers around, so the male displayed to the Eider!

Great Crested Grebe 3 at least

Great Crested Grebe

Shag at least 1 juvenile 

Juvenile Shag

This Lesser Blacked-backed gull has a fish, can't tell what species it is

These gulls, mainly Black-Headed, were catching tiny shrimps. Looks to be a bumper year!

There ended up being 1,000 Knot and some of them were also checking for shrimps in the margins, before a Peregrine cleared them again!

Knot checking the shallow margins for tiny shrimps 

Peregrines wreaking havoc again

The rain finally stopped overnight, leaving a dry sunny day. A light SE breeze

Just my stuff so far (Malcolm)

Middleton Nature Reserve - main pond

It was still quiet, but 3 Tufted Duck and 2 Gadwall had returned 

Imperial Rd

Little Egret 1 

Grey Heron 1

It was calling as it flew off, immediately triggering a response 
from at least two Water Rail and a Cetti's warbler 

Stonechat, both the male and female were showing well again, near the blocked off entrance 50m from the bypass roundabout.

Female Stonechat 

This clip begins slightly out of focus as the focus was set to where the male had been. Fortunately he quickly returned to the same spot. They were using the fences as lookout posts then flying off when they spotted an insect.

Heysham skear 11:15 - 12:30

Pale-bellied Brent goose - at least 18. 4 and 2 flew north and at least 12 on the rocks out from the play area.

Brent geese heading north

Eider 35

Red-breasted Merganser 4

Great Crested Grebe 1

Shag 1 juvenile flew south, so close I could barely fit it in frame.

Juveniles Shag

I had gone down early in the ebbing tide to check the Knot. Initially there were two resting groups of 300, then as they moved to the newly exposing feeding areas they were joined by another 900. But no sooner had they landed when 2 Peregrines attacked and completely, well almost completely, cleared the skear of Knot.

Neither Peregrine was successful this time

This small group of Knot decided to stand their ground during the attack.
This behaviour was also seen last winter period. A reasonable tactic as long
some birds do take to the air, and the grounded ones hold their nerve!

Too wet for the ducks!

If there was ever a day ideal for watching rain, today was that day! It rained constantly all day. Kevin's weather station recorded 27cm of rain during today's daylight hours! A light SE breeze.

I don't normally mind walking in the rain (Malcolm). But the tide was out for much of the day and the wind insignificant. I couldn't think of anywhere for a productive walk. So I just did two quick tours in my car, this morning and again this afternoon.

Imperial Rd

Common Buzzard 1

Grey Heron 1

Knowsley Rd

No Brent geese could be seen on either visit.

Heysham Cricket Club

There were no Mistle thrushes on the adjacent football pitch today, but Black-Headed Gulls and five Jackdaws had joined the Oystercatchers

Black-Headed Gulls, Oystercatcher and Jackdaws

This Stock Dove was on the cricket field

Middleton Nature Reserve - main pond

This morning the wildfowl seemed to be as usual 

Mute Swan 1 female plus 6 cygnets 

Mallard c30

Tufted Duck 8

Gadwall 6

Coot 10

Moorhen 4

Tufted Duck and Coot

Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Coot, Black-Headed gull and a cygnet's bottom

Cormorant 

There were also 30 plus gulls, Herring and Black-Headed

When I returned this afternoon the pond looked deserted. There were still Mallard around the fringes, but there were noTufted and no Gadwall, and the gulls had moved on too.

Hopefully things will be a bit brighter tomorrow.

Plenty of Brent, but a bit erratic

A mainly sunny day with just a very light west breeze.

North shore

Pete Crooks checked from Knowlys Rd

70 Pale-bellied Brent Geese – distantly off the children’s play area.
1 male Common Scoter – offshore
1 Grey Plover – among the large numbers of Oystercatcher and Knot on the tidal skears

And from the Battery car park
c.400 Eider drifting south on the ebbing tide
1 Guillemot
10 Red-breasted Merganser (6 males, 4 females)

I checked the skear as it became uncovered (Malcolm) 09:30 - 11:00

Two lots of Pale-Bellied Brent goose flew north 6 and 71, the latter would have been Pete's birds, presumably disturbed, but no idea where they were heading.

Brent geese heading north

Eider 114

I managed a marginally better shot of the Common Scoter today

Great-Crested Grebe 4

Great Crested grebe

Little Egret 4

Oystercatcher 700

Curlew 10

Redshank 150

Turnstone 40

Dunlin 1

Knot 1500 - they were resting on the edge of the skear and didn't move for 30 minutes until a Peregrine Falcon attacked them.

You can see the Peregrine in each of these shots. This attack was unsuccessful 
but all these Knot continued south.

Later 400 Knot arrived to feed, possibly additional, or possibly some returning. I managed to read two new flagged birds for this winter.

Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

I just got out of my car and both Stonechats flew over to "greet" me. I suspect that on one visit I must have flushed a tasty morsel for them, and they were hoping for an encore.

The male rested on this post only 3m away

The female was close too, but I zoomed out to show the location. That's my
car parked just by the blocked entrance 50m from the roundabout.

I was only there two minutes!

Stonechats still around

Mainly overcast with the odd light shower. A very light variable breeze.

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

Pale-bellied Brent goose at least 4 out from the play area.

Eider 80

Eider

Common Scoter 1 male

Male Common Scoter out to the west of the skear

It had been diving, but refused to perform when I took a clip.

Great Crested grebe 4

Great Crested grebes

No Shag or Mergansers seen

Little Egret 4

Oystercatcher 800

No Curlew seen

Redshank 250. They appear to be feeding on tiny shrimps. It seems early for shrimp fry, but I seem to say that, perhaps slightly earlier, every year.

Knot 150

Turnstone 40

Turnstone

Dunlin 60 in one flock that arrived from the south

Some of the arriving Dunlin

Imperial Rd (Malcolm) 10:45

Teal 1 

Kestrel 1 male

There were lots of winter midges in flight, presumably just part of a greater insect presence. Both Stonechats were close to the boulders c50m from the bypass roundabout.

Male and female Stonechats

Football pitch next to Heysham Cricket Club (Malcolm)

A number of Oystercatchers have taken to feeding there, yesterday and today  they were joined by two Mistle Thrushes

Mistle Thrush