Where did everything go? Including the colour!

A very cold NE fresh wind. Light showers on and off all day.

Just my stuff so far today (Malcolm). There was "light" rain all the while I was out. Technically it wasn't heavy rain, but it was wind driven and stinging!

Heysham skear 09:30

I went to see if the Knot were still around, but there wasn't one as the skear was becoming exposed. I couldn't see any Brent geese either. 10 Eider on the sea and a couple of Little Egrets were the only birds other than the usual waders.

Middleton Nature Reserve main pond 10:00

Mute Swan female with 6 cygnets flying around.

Mallard c25

Tufted Duck 8

Gadwall 8

Little Grebe 1

Coot 13

Moorhen 2

Cormorant 2

Gadwall pair plus Little grebe

Tufted Duck

Cormorants, Mallard and a Coot

Imperial Rd 10:15

Pink-Footed geese flying silently into the wind

Little Egret 

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 flew towards the copse

Wood Pigeon 8 including 2 juveniles 

Juvenile Wood Pigeon (front) with adult 

South shore 10:30 - 11:00

A walk from the saltmarsh to No.2 outfall and back through the Nature Park.

Sparrowhawk 1 flew across the saltmarsh, the only passerines seen were 8 Starlings

Shelduck 80. It was still raining and my camera was stashed away. As I fumbled to get it out I inadvertently set it to monochrome, it was such a grey day that I didn't notice!

Shelduck feeding out from the foreshore. Even if I had been in glorious 
Technicolour, the only colour would be the Shelduck's red bill and brown bib.

They feed a while filtering snails and other invertebrates from the mud,
then head for one of the freshwater runoffs for a drink

Perhaps understandable not noticing the Little Egret was in monochrome 

But I should have noticed with a Curlew, although B&W does 
produce interesting contrasts

Wigeon 50+ keeping out of the wind along the inner face of No.2 outfall

Chiffchaff calling in the Nature Park

I did a passing check in the afternoon from Knowlys Rd, I still couldn't seen any Knot or Brent geese. 

Camera reset for colour pictures again tomorrow. Hopefully there will be something worth photographing.

Footnote:

Juvenile kittiwake on outfalls reported on Lancaster wildlife and nature group 

Large Knot influx

Heavy overnight rain then a dry day with sunshine in the morning. Rain returned by evening. A light SW wind switched to NE this afternoon.

Heysham skear Malcolm 08:30 - 10:30

I went out just as the tide was exposing the inner skear, but there were already thousands of Knot waiting for the  feeding areas to become exposed. It is hard estimating numbers when they are spread out over a large area, and today there were no Peregrine attacks, while I was there, so the only flying birds seen were partial movement to feeding areas. There was certainly more than 5,000, and judging by the number of flagged birds seen, many more than that.

Knot covering the beginning of the inner skear

Just a fraction of the total number of Knot

I ended up reading 30 flagged birds from three different schemes covering England, Scotland, Wales, Holland and Iceland. 17 new birds for this autumn!

This one from a Wadden Sea scheme, Holland, is about to be obscured by
a flurry of birds landing

There must have been many flags that I didn't see, particularly when they
were resting. This UK scheme bird, ringed in Scotland, eventually showed 
enough of its flag to read it

They were easier to see when they were feeding. This is an Icelandic ringed bird

Eider 8

Some of the Eider bobbing in the waves

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Mergansers drifting past some resting Knot

Little Egret 3

No Shags seen today.

Cormorants 

Herring Gull, I haven't seen a ringed one for ages. There are still lots of small
mussels that they had been feeding on, the Knot are feeding on them now

A Swift sp was seen over Pilling Lane Ends this morning and looked to be heading towards Heysham. There is a chance of Pallid Swifts at this time of year. If you see a swift please try and take a photograph, as a picture is essential for positive identification. The head and throat regions are particularly important.

Still Goldcrests moving through and Brent numbers growing

It remained dry but mainly overcast till evening rain. A light south breeze.

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Report by Alan:

I set just a couple of nets early this morning at Heysham NR.  Expectations were not high at this date and especially after the continuous rain yesterday and during the night but surprisingly there were a few unringed 

goldcrests about. Total catch was:

Goldcrest 7  + 2 retraps

Blackbird  2

Chaffinch  1

Wren  1

Treecreeper  1 retrap

 

There were quite a few grounded Blackbirds around the reserve taking advantage of the Hawthorn fruit crop.

The post has been playing up again. If you play a clip that clearly isn't what it is supposed to be click refresh and it should correct it.

Heysham skear 

David Kaye

Pale-bellied Brent geese 23 at least

Shag on Conger Rock

Several Snipe off the play area

I checked  09:00 - 11:15 (Malcolm)

Pink-Footed goose 45 SE

Eider 2

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Red-breasted Merganser

Little Egret 4

Little Egret heading off as the tide came in

Skylark 1 east

I went to check the Knot, there were c4000 and for the most part just resting in large compact groups.

Not easy seeing any flagged birds when they rest like this

There were three Peregrine attacks plus a couple of false alarms that shuffled them up, and I did manage to read some new flagged birds. I took this clip of the two Eiders having a bath (it seems an odd thing to say of a bird that will be in the water all day) while I waited for the Knot to resettle after an attack. It gives a sense of the activity.

As they settle again you can see their legs, but it isn't long before they
are a consolidated block again

As the tide rose they moved onto the mud on the north side. I thought that I would have a better opportunity here. But they were just standing still and the mud was so soft their legs, with any flags, just sank below the surface.

The nearest I got was when this Black-Headed Gull took exception to
the overcrowding 

It scattered the Knot in front of it allowing their legs to be seen

But it was all over very quickly and the only flag seen was this yellow
flagged Icelandic bird. But it "disappeared" after this shot, unread!

The Black-Headed gull wasn't the only bird taking exception. This Carrion Crow was cawing at me for a good 10 minutes.

It can't have been so upset though as it also continued feeding. Fortunately the Knot take no notice of their cawing.

It wasn't just me the Crows had it in for. This one was harassing a Cormorant 

Jack Snipe bonus

The overnight rain eased by mid morning, then mainly dry. A light SE wind.

Heysham Nature Reserve 

This is an extract from Pete Crook's report from Sunday, posted on the LDBWS website 

1 Cetti’s Warbler – calling at the west end of the reed-bed (1st one I can recall hearing here, but surely ought to be resident)
2 Chiffchaff (heard)
2 Blackcap – females near the ringing ride
1 male Sparrowhawk – flew along the ringing ride
15+ Blackbird – spread around the reserve
1 Mistle Thrush – singing from one of the electricity pylons

If you would like to see the full report plus others there is a link on the sidebar, or use this link.

https://lancasterbirdwatching.org.uk/sightings/

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 10:15 10:45

It was still raining at this point. As I set off a flock of 500 Knot were heading south pursued by a Peregrine Falcon. Another flock of 400 settled again on the skear only to be lifted and also chased south by a Peregrine. The only Knot remaining were three or four small groups less than 50 birds in total.

Shag 1 flew south

Pale-Bellied Brent goose 7 - they were resting on the waterline out from the play area, but the commotion with the Knot lifted them briefly.

Brent geese landing again on the waterline

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

A walk along the sea wall 2.5hr before high water. I was expecting the Brent geese to fly to Red Nab c13:30, but 10 arrived just after 13:00.

Perhaps something flushed them early from the north side, or it may just
be that the early season gutweed on Red Nab is just too lush to be ignored.

Shelduck 25

Wigeon 100+

Wigeon resting on the sloping sea wall

Cormorants and at least two Shag on the wooden jetty

This shot is from the end of the sea wall there is a Shag, either
side of the central Cormorant 

this shot is looking back from the lighthouse just a few minutes later,
just one Shag remains 

When I was almost back to Red Nab there was a juvenile Shag just out from the sea wall. The water was now too deep for it to feed by snorkelling, but presumably it had been.

First calendar year Shag

Grey Seal 1 also between No.2 outfall and Red Nab

Grey Seal

I was hoping to check the waterline for waders, but a scan from the shore showed there were just a few Oystercatchers for as far as you could see.

The waterline devoid of waders

Jack Snipe 1 accidentally flushed as I walked around the edge of the saltmarsh. It was along the northern edge where groundwater seeps to the surface, it landed again near the eastern edge. I specifically checked the saltmarsh for Jack Snipe in the recent series of spring tides, without a sign, I wasn't expecting one on today's low neap tide. Definitely a bonus!

Brent in a familiar feeding routine

The rain held off till after lunch. Some sunny spells in the morning. A light SE breeze.

Heysham Skear (Malcolm 09:45 - 11:00)

Shag 2 juveniles 

Juvenile Shag

Two Shag

Cormorant 

No Eider or Mergansers seen.

Little Egret 3

Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank and Turnstone unchanged 

Common Snipe 1 east

Dunlin 10

Knot at least 4,500

Things were pretty crowded, seeing any flagged birds was not easy

This is a typical sighting.

But occasionally one obliges. This one ringed at Dyfi estuary in Wales 2024

Unfortunately, they just began feeding in a more open area when a Peregrine Falcon attack chased all the Knot south.

The, or a, Peregrine returned a little later with empty talons

Pale-bellied Brent geese 11 were feeding on sea lettuce on the shore above the SE skear corner.

There is some gutweed growing on the rocks here, but the sea lettuce
is broken and deposited on the mud by the retreating tide

Later they were joined by another 3 as David Kaye saw 14.

Later still 11 were feeding on Red Nab - Kevin Eaves

This is the feeding routine often used by the Brent Geese, feeding on the north side till the tide covers the available weed, then fly to Red Nab on the south side.

Kevin also saw a Grey Seal in the harbour entrance.