First Jack Snipe and Brent of autumn

A dry day with a south(ish) wind freshening by evening.

South shore (Malcolm)

A morning check from Red Nab to the saltmarsh, where I watched the tide completely cover the marsh. It doesn't take long on these spring tides.

Brent Goose 1 (probably pale-bellied) flew from the NW towards Potts Corner.

Shelduck 28

Eider 3 south

Wigeon 72 flew from Red Nab, most ending up on the saltmarsh.

Wigeon in the saltmarsh creek as the tide was arriving 

More Wigeon arrived later

Lapwing 107

Once again there were no Common Snipe flushed from the Marsh, presumably they are more sensitive to the recently regular raptor visits.

Jack Snipe 2 - one came in from the north and landed on the saltmarsh, before being flushed by the  tide and flying to Middleton Nature Reserve. The other must have already been on the marsh and flew in the same direction when flushed.

Jack Snipe

No sign of the Merlin today, but a Sparrowhawk made one pass over the marsh.

Linnet 26 on the fringe of the marsh

Rock Pipit 1

Grey Wagtail 2 together flew east over the caravans 

This Carrion Crow found this "morsel" (looks like discarded chewing gum!) on the
 saltmarsh grass. It examined it for quite a while......

.........before deciding it was indeed edible 

Janet managed an outing today. Her arm is still in a cast so she was restricted to just using her standard camera lens.

Little Egret in front of the foreshore rocks

Red Admiral 

Long-Tailed Tit

Heysham skear (Malcolm)

I went down this evening on the off chance that there were any Brents feeding in the skear corner. There wasn't.

Still loads of gutweed and sea lettuce available, they will have plenty to
eat when they do arrive 

Eider 12

Red-breasted Merganser 1

Little Egret 6

Oystercatcher 1,000

Curlew 50

Knot 500

Redshank 130

Turnstone 25

One of the Knot had an orange flag. The code on one side was 
completely obscured 

I didn't manage a clear shot of the other side, but it looks to be at
least partly obscured 

Just about worth a soaking for

Heavy rain all day! A light SE breeze and quite warm.

South shore (Malcolm)

A check from the saltmarsh to Red Nab towards morning 11:00 high water.

We are back to spring tides and the tide was covering the saltmarsh for the first time in ten days. The Sea Aster and Samphire are laden with seeds, hence the high finch numbers. These tides will remove many seeds and leave them on the strand line, but today, just as the tide reached the saltmarsh 72 Wigeon arrived and began feeding on the seeds.

Lapwing 28

Skylark 3 were lifted from the saltmarsh by the rising tide then headed SE together 

Slightly surprising that there were no Snipe.

Not entirely surprising that there were no finches, I assumed that there had been a recent raptor attack (and so there had!).

Merlin 1 female/immature. I was half way along the foreshore when it flew from the rocks just in front of me. Close enough for me to be able to see that the finch it was carrying was a Linnet. It flew towards Red Nab.  I suspect it continued on into the Power Station grounds as I couldn't relocate it on Red Nab. 

On a normal day my camera would have been ready, but today it was safely stashed under my coat!

Kingfisher 1 flew east from Red Nab. 

It's a terrible shot, but I had my camera "half ready" in case I had relocated 
the Merlin. At least it shows what to expect. Striking as a Kingfisher is, they
can easily be missed when over the open sea.

Wren on Red Nab

Linnet 4 turned up on Red Nab just as I was leaving.

I couldn't resist another look this evening. It was still pouring down, but the rain is not so uncomfortable with the very light breeze.

Rock Pipit 2 on Red Nab

Wheatear 1 along the foreshore 

One wet Wheatear

Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

Just a quick look on my way home this morning.

There were 35 gulls in the field to the east.......

.........every one was a Herring gull

This Magpie was unhappy with where the Buzzard had chosen to rest

Kestrel 1

Still stuff moving through

It just managed to stay dry, but mainly overcast. A light SE breeze.

South shore (Malcolm)

Just a high water (10:20) check from the saltmarsh to Red Nab.

Linnet 42 in one flock lifted by a 

Merlin female or immature - once again flying low and fast. It disappeared after lifting the Linnet, so I assumed it got one and settled down in the saltmarsh. 

Sparrowhawk 1 attacked the flock whilst they were airborne but failed to catch one. At least it had the decency to pose for a picture.

Sparrowhawk 

Kestrel 1 flew across the saltmarsh.

The saltmarsh is a dangerous place for small birds and rodents to feed!

Stonechat 1 female in NE corner of saltmarsh 

Female Stonechat

Pied Wagtail 2 in/off then SE

Lapwing 74 - they headed off when the Merlin attacked (and it is such a small raptor)

Common Snipe 3 flushed by the rising tide

Wigeon 79 had been on Red Nab then headed south.

Wigeon

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Report by Jean:

Thick cloud put the lid (as it were) on any vis, although when it brightened up later in the morning a couple of Skylarks and Chaffinches flew over. Ringing was fairly low key but all 12 birds were new suggesting they were on the move:

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1

Blue Tit 1

Chiffchaff 4

Goldcrest 3

Chaffinch 1

Goldfinch 2

A couple of Water Rails squealed and a couple of Cetti's Warblers called from the western side. A Grey Wagtail was around mainly near the sewage works, Three Reed Buntings evaded the nets. 

I had a quick look at the main ponds this afternoon (Malcolm).

Not really much change.

Mute Swan pair with immature plus another adult 

Mallard 12

Tufted Duck 8

Gadwall 6

Teal 2

Coot 18

Moorhen 8

Common Snipe 1

Cetti's warbler 2 singing 

Migrant Hawker 1

Lots of corvids moving through

A cold start, but quite warm by the afternoon. Plenty of sunshine and a light east breeze.

The title says corvids, but the vast majority were Jackdaws flying south(ish).

228 headed south over the saltmarsh at 09:30. Then headed back before disappearing to the east.

120 headed east over my house (Malcolm) at 11:20

77 flew south over Middleton Nature Reserve 14:40. Plus another 43 milling around on the south side.

So 425 Jackdaws over plus 43 possibly residents. And that must only be a sample, the saltmarsh and MNR sightings from only an observational window of 90 minutes total. And the ones over my house would have gone unnoticed if I hadn't have popped into the garden.

This looks to be a blank shot, but if you open it and zoom in you can see the birds
in the saltmarsh flock. They moved over a large front and were well spread out.

Not all were Jackdaws, there were at least 3 Rook in the above flock.

Rook

Other stuff 

South shore (Malcolm)

A morning check around 09:15 high water. Saltmarsh to Red Nab

Linnet c30 on saltmarsh - no sign of the Merlin this morning 

Knot 64 resting on Red Nab

Some of the Knot, also Oystercatcher and a Turnstone 

Shelduck 2 

Wigeon 46

Little Egret 6

Grey Heron 2

Kingfisher 1 female

Not so obviously a female in this shot
(females have red on the bottom of the lower bill)

She flew from this perch to the large rock on the other side of the freshwater run off. 

The tide is full at this point and just high enough to make this stream saline enough for sea fish to tolerate.

She quickly caught a common goby, this is just about as large as they grow

But it soon went down!

I know birds can't smile, but you have to say she looks content.
Not long after this she flew east along the foreshore rocks

I had a walk along the sea wall this evening. It had been sunny all afternoon, but now was clouding over. There was nothing new to see, but the evening light provided some opportunities to be "artistic".

Little Egret and the SeaTruck

Cormorants resting on No.1 outfall post

Cormorants coming in to roost on the wooden jetty

This is the dumper boat for the harbour dredger.

Red Admiral 2 came in/off along the sea wall, plus 2 more in the Nature Park

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

Just a very brief check mid afternoon.

Wildfowl pretty much unchanged

Sparrowhawk 1 - it had a go at the passing Jackdaws, but only briefly

Common Buzzard 1 to the east of the Reserve 

Migrant Hawker 1

Common Darter 6

Speckled Wood 2

Another YBW!

A cool dry day. Very light breeze from the north. 

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Report by Jean:

I arrived at Heysham full of hope for Redwings and Chaffinches. There were a few of the latter but none of the former. It was pretty quiet, the thick cloud seemed to deaden any vis and the chilly weather put off birds arriving at the feeder till mid morning. But by 1300hrs I'd caught 42 birds - 31 new ones and 11 retraps, so not a bad haul. All the retraps were recent birds.

Great Spotted Woodpecker  0 new, 1 retrap (young male that I'd caught in August)

Coal Tit 1 new

Blue Tit 1 new, 2 retraps

Great Tit 2 new, 1 retrap (all males)

Chiffchaff 1 new (early morning, none later)

Goldcrest 2 new (a male and female caught together  - do they travel together, as a pair I wonder?)

Wren 0 new, 1 retrap

Blackbird 1 new (a female)

Robin 1 new, 1 retrap

Dunnock 1 new, 2 retraps

Chaffinch 6 new

Goldfinch 13 new, 11 retraps

Other birds of note:

2 Mistle Thrushes dropped in.

This report and excellent pictures by Craig Bell:

Yellow-Browed warbler - at the gate/galvanised fence on left hand side of road before the entrance to Ocean Edge

Located mid afternoon, it was still present at 16:00. This was after a thorough search of Heysham Nature Reserve had found nothing of note.

Yellow-Browed Warbler 

South shore 

I Just had a walk along foreshore and sea wall at 08:30 high water (Malcolm)

I started the walk past the galvanised fence and didn't see or hear any warbler at that time.

When I got to the saltmarsh, there wasn't a single small passerine. I suspected that they had been moved on by a raptor. So I had my camera and my wits ready - neither proved to be good enough! 

As I approached the slipway a Merlin flew from that direction low and fast over the saltmarsh, then disappeared . All I managed were a few blurry shots!

As I walked along the foreshore Linnets were returning to the saltmarsh, 2, 20, 1 and 12. When I checked again on the way back there was a flock of 80+ finches. Mainly Linnet, but some Goldfinch amongst them. No sign of the Merlin this time.

Rock Pipit 3 (foreshore, Red Nab and lighthouse)

Meadow Pipit 3 SE

Shelduck 43 - 34 feeding, 8 south and 1 north

Shelduck flying south past along the shipping lane

Wigeon 35

Some of the birds on Red Nab. Wigeon, Redshank, Curlew,
Black-Headed and Lesser Black-Backed gull

Grey Heron 1

Little Egret 6

Little Egret resting on No.2 outfall rail, with Black-Headed and Herring gulls
This bird later flew off NW

Great White Egret 1 - flew NW from the direction of the Lune estuary

This Common Gull was the only gull feeding on No.1 outfall

Immature Herring Gull with a plastic bottle - oh dear!

More wagtail details......but little else

The light early south wind freshened as it shifted to the west. By evening it was very strong. Heavy afternoon and evening showers.

The Pembroke grey wagtail was seen at St David’s 4/10/24.  Ringed Middleton Sept 2022, a distance of 288km SW

South shore (Malcolm)

I was busy this morning and couldn't get out till mid afternoon as the heavy rain was easing. I was hoping the rain might have grounded something, but the Foreshore was deserted.

Shelduck 49 - 46 feeding plus 3 south

Wigeon 29

There is still lush gutweed, even on the outer Red Nab rocks

Some of the male Wigeon are getting their yellow foreheads now

Little Egret 3

Linnet 77 at least - one flock of 70 on the saltmarsh plus 3 and 4 seen along the sea wall.

A small raptor, probably a Merlin, flew across the saltmarsh, unfortunately the sun was out at that point and behind the bird.

Some of the Linnet landing on the saltmarsh, Shelduck on the mud
and Blackpool Tower on the skyline

And that was about it for the birds. Plenty of Black-Headed gulls feeding on the outfalls, but nothing else. The wind is battering heavy rain against my west facing window as I type this, but it is scheduled to ease long before morning.

The strong west wind blew straight into the harbour. This Cormorant 
sat down to brace against it. Also two Great Black-Backed gulls.

30,Cormorants on the wooden jetty.
Another squall was approaching, time to leave

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

Just the briefest of checks of the two main ponds on the way home.

Mute Swan pair with cygnet on main pond. Just one adult on the "no swimming" pond.

Mallard 19

The mute family with Mallard and Coot

Gadwall 11

Tufted Duck 9

Gadwall, Tufted Duck and Coot

Coot 18

Moorhen 7 including 2 immature - the Moorhen strategy in the strong west wind was to wait on the east banks and pick food from the surface that had been blown across the ponds. This is an immature bird.