A nice day, but a biting wind!

Freezing overnight, but the NW wind kept the larger ponds ice free. Sunny but cold in the fresh wind, until it suddenly eased mid afternoon.

Imperial Rd - Janet

The Stonechats came to check me out

Male Stonechat - this is one of the rocks that prevent cars entering the 
opening just 50m from the roundabout 

Very inquisitive.......

Female Stonechat 

Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

These two Mallard were having a bit of a bicker

Coot

Grey Heron

Robin 

Heliport - Howard

C1200 Knot on near naze pre high tide, 7 flagged birds photographed, they were spooked by corvids and flew off north

A Dutch scheme top, an Icelandic scheme and a UK scheme flagged Knot

Heysham skear - Malcolm 13:00 - 15:00

Pale-bellied Brent geese 28 (26 + 2)

26 Brent heading north after being spooked from the play area rocks

Two flew to the rocks from the west

Eider 44

Some of the Eider heading north, no snow on the hills yet

The word has finally gotten around the Black-Headed gulls that there are shrimps a plenty. Each time they bob their head they are probably catching a tiny shrimp.

The Redshank were catching shrimps too. There are Knot on the banking behind them, but the mud was so soft any flags were hidden.

There were over 2000 Knot and many of those were also after shrimps. But they prefer (need) the shallower water. They also find them in the crevices between the shells and stone above the water line, where the shrimps can happily wait out the tide. Unless they are eaten of course!

These Knot are shrimping, but the one bottom left has a small mussel.
The Knot just to its right has a shrimp, but they are translucent and difficult 
to see. In the water it is normally their shadow on the mud below that betrays 
their whereabouts 

All of the flagged Knot seen by Howard earlier were eventually seen feeding here today, along with a few others.

I normally struggle to remember the code, but this one is easy!
Ringed at Merseyside 2020, it has been seen at Heysham for the last three winters

2026! Where did 2025 go?

Happy New Year

Overnight rain then a dry day. The west wind continued, drifting towards NW by "evening".

Heliport/Near Naze - Malcolm 08:40 - 09:00 high water

Initially there were just a few Oystercatchers on the Heliport wall....

.......more Oystercatchers and a few Knot on the Naze rocks 
The Knot centre picture has an orange flag

Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank and Lapwing also on the Naze rocks

The rising tide must have displaced more Oystercatcher and Knot from where
they had been roosting, by 09:00 there were 350 Knot on the Heliport and Naze
 rocks, two were flagged.

Knowlys Road - Pete Crooks

28 Pale-bellied Brent Geese on the relatively narrow strip on shoreline beyond the children's play area on the early ebbing tide

South shore - Pete Marsh - lunchtime 

flock of c30 black-tailed godwit flew past OE to the north then inland of the power stations climbing high 

Heysham Skear - Malcolm 12:00 - 13:30

Eider 14

Cormorant and Eider

Knot c2500 arrived throughout my visit, I should have stayed longer, but the cold was getting through to my bones! 

It can be very difficult checking the Knot for flags in some areas

But I eventually managed several, including both birds seen at the Naze this
morning. There were three new Icelandic birds, and one new bird each for a UK 
scheme and a Dutch scheme 

One of the Icelandic flagged birds 

Redshank 250

Redshank and Knot 

Other waders similar to recent

Gulls shrimping in the drain along the northern edge of the skear.
Not as many as there sometimes are, perhaps there isn't a huge number 
of shrimps, or perhaps the gulls just aren't as shrimp savvy as the waders

Imperial Rd 

Both male and female Stonechat showing - Pete Marsh

Also, Water Rail squealing - Shaun Coyle

Just out of the recording area Heaton marsh

No Russian White-Fronted geese could be seen at lunchtime, but 14 were seen late afternoon 

Interesting response to a shift in wind direction

Freezing overnight. It was dry again and almost calm till 12:00 when a west wind began.

Middleton Nature Reserve - Malcolm

Just a quick check of the main pond this morning.

There was no sign of the Tufted Duck or Gadwall, then two Gadwall arrived.

Everything was serene, not even the Coot were bickering. I wonder how long that will last!

Pale-bellied Brent geese 31 out from the play area below Knowlys Rd - David Kaye

Heysham skear - Malcolm 14:00 - 15:15

No Eider seen

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Great Crested grebe 2

Bar-Tailed Godwit 49 along the waterline in two groups.

Bar-Tailed Godwit 

Don't watch the Godwits in this clip, watch the wave action. The onshore wind creates waves that muddy the shallows. As I pan out you can see the line between the clear deeper water and the coloured shallows.

There are a huge amount of tiny shrimps around at the moment, they are attracted to these coloured margins as the disturbed mud releases the detritus that they feed on, and the colour in the water provides some cover. During the recent period of offshore breezes there have been no Knot on the skear. I suspected that these onshore winds might attract them back by tomorrow, but 1500 were already on the skear edge! This is only 2 hours since the onshore wind began, so, baring an unlikely coincidence, the Knot must have headed here as soon as the wind changed. This suggests that the experienced birds can anticipate suitable feeding conditions based on the wind, tides and time of year. I managed to read a couple of flagged birds, it would be interesting if they have been seen elsewhere recently.

Some of the resting Knot at the skear edge, no chance of seeing if any are
 flagged, as the rough skear and tightly packed birds obscure any flags.

A paddle further out provides a better view of some legs at least

One of these has an orange flag of a UK scheme

Redshank 150 were shrimping all around the skear edges.

Other waders in similar numbers to recent 

Redbreasts provide much of the interest

Overnight frost and a cool overcast day. The light NE breeze continues.

Middleton Nature Reserve - Malcolm

I was feeling a bit ropey today, so just had a sedate plod by the ponds and around the central marsh.

Main pond

The Tufted Ducks were absent again, but there were 10 Gadwall.

Mute, Mallard, Coot and Moorhen unchanged 

"No swimming" pond

Completely frozen over and empty 

Fence Pond

Moorhen 1 - you can hear a Great-Spotted Woodpecker in this clip

Water Rail at least 4 calling. Their piglet like squeals are unmistakable, but their softer contact calls can catch you out. Nothing to see in this clip, other than the area where a Water Rail is calling from.

Teal 8 in the more sheltered small pools/dykes

Great-Spotted Woodpecker at least 1, probably 2

Green Woodpecker 1

Jay 1

Common Snipe 2

My reaction time today was far to slow to manage a decent shot of any of the above!

Kestrel 1

Little Egret 1 east

Little Egret with muddy feet

Cetti's warbler 1 making contact calls

Bullfinch 2 males, doing what they always do in winter, feed on the swelling tree buds.

Male Bullfinch 

Some of the buds were more than just swollen!

Imperial Rd - Malcolm

Just a brief passing check, fortunately the Stonechats were accommodating today. They never seem to feed in one area for long, so presumably cover all of their territory in a food searching cycle. I don't know the extent of their territory, but they were near the stone blocked gate near the roundabout about again today.

Both Stonechats 

A Robin regards this area as its territory. It is politely asking the male Stonechat 
to move on

Male Stonechat 

Robin happy when the other redbreast has moved on.
He'll be back.

Kestrel 1

Buzzard 1

Roe Deer 2. These look to be the young female and male, that had been accompanying an adult female until recently. The clip begins on the female, the male has small velvet covered antler buds. The crackling sound is from the cables overhead and the swoosh sounds from the nearby wind turbines.

It's more about what there wasn't today

Another dry day, but today it was overcast. The almost nonexistent NE breeze remains.

Middleton Nature Reserve main pond - Malcolm

No sign of the Shovelers this morning.

Tufted Duck 8

Gadwall 6

Little Grebe 1

Mute, Mallard, Coot and Moorhen unchanged 

Still some ice but much of the pond is now ice free

The Tufted Ducks were happily feeding again.

Heysham skear - Malcolm 12:00 - 13:00

Pale-bellied Brent geese 8 - 3 flew north, 5 arrived from the west and headed to the play area rocks. There would likely have been more Brent there, but not checked today.

Pale-bellied Brent geese

No Eider

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Great Crested grebe 4

No Little Egrets

Oystercatcher 1500

Curlew 30

Bar-Tailed Godwit 13

Redshank just 12 and all along the northern edge feeding in the drain

No Knot 

Turnstone 40

Dunlin 15

Ringed Plover 13

The low Knot and Redshank numbers will be linked to the lack of shrimps in the shallows due to the clear water. The significant reduction in mussel cover is likely linked to the low numbers of Eider.

Bar-Tailed Godwit and Dunlin

One of the Godwits still with a blush of summer plumage 

The Ringed Plovers were high up the shore, where they usually feed. They seemed to be finding plenty to eat.

Imperial Rd - Malcolm

No Stonechats seen

Water Rail 2 calling

Heron 2

Kestrel 2

This female hovered over a few locations 

Before deciding to watch from a pylon

This shows just how sharp their eyesight is. The Kestrel spotted a rodent
in a quite overgrown area, and flew this 100m flight line to catch it. 

It then flew to this lamppost to eat it. No sign of a tail on the rodent,
so presumably a Vole.

By the time I had got close enough for a better view, it was just cleaning up after its meal. I don't suppose the designers of this light sensor envisioned this use of their product, but this won't be the first time it has been used as a face wipe. 

Just out of the recording area, Heaton marsh - Pete

Adult Russian White-fronted goose with 246 greylag