Barn Owl and some colour coded birds updates

Another dry overcast day with a SE wind

Heysham Skear (Malcolm)

A check on the rising tide this morning.

Pale-bellied Brent goose - just two feeding along the northern edge of the skear. (Later David Kaye saw 34 out from the play area)

Pale-bellied Brent geese, Oystercatcher and Redshank

Eider 35

Wigeon 7

Red-breasted Merganser 8

Great Crested grebe 4

A Peregrine Falcon lifted a few hundred Knot off the skear which then disappeared to the north. Presumably earlier attacks had already moved some on as no more Knot could be found. Then a flock of 62 came from the north and landed on the skear. Yesterday's post showed that one in a hundred is often the ratio for flagged Knot. But that is only typical, not universal. One day last week there were 3,000 Knot on the shore and I had to check over 1,000 before seeing any flagged birds........

........but amazingly, there were two flagged Knot in this small flock!

After landing many took a bath. Both orange flagged Knot can be seen in this clip.

Both the birds have been seen here before, in fact you could call them regulars.
It has been previously noted that this one tends to distance itself from large groups,
 it prefers to roost and feed apart from them, lending itself to be more easily seen,
both at roost and feeding. This is the 18th sighting of it at Heysham this winter!

No other Knot returned

Oystercatcher 1,500

Curlew 40

Redshank 120

Turnstone 25

Ringed Plover 12

Dunlin 8 feeding high up the shore with the Dunlin.

Red-Nab (Malcolm)

Just a quick look towards high water

Pale-bellied Brent geese 2 - almost certainly this morning's 2.

Shelduck 32

Wigeon 160

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Barn Owl 1 hunting over the central marshes this afternoon 

Barn Owl

This yellow ringed Common Gull was found by Janet on the frozen main
pond 10/01/25. We have now received its history.
Ringed at Frederikshavn Denmark 12/05/23. This is the only record outside Denmark.

Coot numbers approaching critical mass

A dry day with some sunshine. A light SE wind

This is a shot taken by Howard earlier this week of waders lifting off the Sunnyslopes 
groyne. Count estimate is 638 Knot excluding Dunlin.
This is interesting on two counts, first it allows an easier estimate of Knot numbers
in a flock. i.e. multiples of this size flock equals multiples of 600+.
 Howard has circled  the marked Knot in this flock. 7, that represents 1%, and that
 tends to be the approximate number of marked Knot in many flocks.
 Although some flocks have barely any.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

Just a passing check of the two main ponds.

Nothing seen on the "no swimming" pond.

Main pond

Mute Swan pair plus 1 immature 

Mallard 18

Gadwall 35

Tufted Duck 5

Moorhen 2

Coot 13 - every one seemed to be either chasing another or being chased!

Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

A quick look this afternoon 

Teal 3

Moorhen 2

Fox

These two Herring gulls were paddling, this normally attracts worms to the surface. They were definitely catching plenty of invertebrates, but it isn't clear exactly what, although you can see one worm being swallowed.

Herring gulls, one with a strand of grass 

It is nice seeing Herring gulls feeding naturally, unlike many of their urban counterparts. This is a familiar scene, very nicely depicted in a new mural in Morecambe.

Eerily calm

The threatened rain never really materialised, but the clouds hung low all day coupled with mist this morning. Almost no air movement.

First, some lovely shots taken by Howard at the Heliport yesterday.

Lapwing 

Curlew 

North shore (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent goose - at least 16 were feeding between the skear and play area this morning. 35 came in from the south side this evening.

Eider none seen in the morning but 103 were close in this evening plus others in the distance 

Some of the Brent landing this morning 

Brent geese, Eider, oystercatcher and Redshank this evening 

Great Crested grebe 3 this evening 

In the morning c3,000 Knot were moved off the skear by the rising tide and worked their way along the shore.

Some of the Knot and Oystercatcher with a flat sea and the beginning of
Heysham Head behind. Behind that is obscured by mist

Viewing conditions were difficult in the murk, but it was surprising that I only managed to locate eight flagged birds. There would have almost certainly have been more, but I doubt I missed many.

It always looks strange with a flat sea and no horizon 

No sign of any Peregrines this morning until most Knot had already left to the south. It did find a flock of 700 Knot that had settled on the Sandylands groyne. These too then headed south.

I hadn't planned to go back this evening as it was almost dark, but I was pleased that I did. It was eerily still and quiet. Bizarrely, I could hear the roars from the football stadium, and even more bizarrely, Morecambe scored! (Twice actually, but I only heard the roars from for the first goal).

I managed lo locate a small feeding group of 250 Knot in the twilight, and contrary to this morning there were three flagged birds amongst them and one was a new bird for this winter.

Just out of the recording area Sandylands (Malcolm)

Stonechat 2 female type. One slightly paler bird was on the southern section south of the groyne.

Stonechat on the Promenade railings, that is the Sunnyslopes groyne behind

Southern section Stonechat 

This one was at the northern end where the houses begin.
It is stood on the sea defences in this shot.

It's always worth a walk along the promenade here, as well as the Stonechats there were 2 Reed Buntings, a Pied Wagtail, Robin and Dunnock. Plus a healthy population of House Sparrows and Starlings, plus of course, the sea and shore beyond.

Not easy, being a Knot!

A dry day with some sunny spells. A fresher, but less cold SE wind.

South shore (Janet)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 35 on Red Nab

Some of the Brent coming in to land

Shelduck

Wigeon, Redshank and a Grey Plover

Grey Plover

Curlew and Oystercatcher on the saltmarsh 

Moorhen by the pond along the dog walk path

Rabbit hiding amongst the foreshore rocks

Rock Pipit by the foreshore slipway - Kevin

Heliport area (Howard)

Knot and Oystercatcher on the Heliport wall

Unfortunately another, over zealous, photographer spooked the Knot by approaching too close. Please respect the roosting birds here. In winter they need to be either feeding or resting to conserve energy. Wasting energy can result in failing to keep warm enough overnight, or failing to avoid the next Peregrine attack, both result in death!

Fortunately, Howard still managed to read some of the flagged birds.

Heysham skear (Malcolm)

A check on the rising tide this morning saw.

Pale-bellied Brent Geese 22 

Pink-Footed goose 33 to SE

Pink-Footed geese in the low morning sun

Eider 124

Red-breasted Merganser 2

2,000 Knot were lifted off the outer skear by the rising tide. As soon as they were up they were attacked by a pair of Peregrines and all disappeared to the south. Another 500 Knot had been on the middle skear, these remained but were understandably flighty. 

A second check this evening again saw the Knot attacked by a Peregrine Falcon. It lifted 2,000 birds that then headed north.

This evening's Peregrine was the one with a dislocated talon

Dunlin 40 seen morning and evening.

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1 this evening.

Other waders as recent

One of three Great Crested grebes this evening 

All 35 Brent geese returned to feed around the skear

Otters still around

Another dry but overcast day. A light east breeze.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Linda Renshaw)

Several Otter spraints were found on the west side of the main pond. The freshest, at the pond edge contained rodent bones, but some further from the bank contained shells, possibly signal Crayfish. There were no record of any spraints last year, this was blamed on the sudden drop in the Crayfish population. The Otters have probably returned at this time to catch the frogs and toads as they turn up to breed.

Barn Owl was seen patrolling on two occasions.

North shore 

Howard checked the heliport wall and Near Naze.

Knot c3,500 mainly on the Heliport sloping wall

they took to the air briefly to move more central on the outerwall

There were a few flagged birds, but the vast majority of legs were not visible.

This ringed Oystercatcher (left) has been with us all winter.
Ringed at Iceland in 2021

Janet checked from the shore later in the ebbing tide. Many of the Knot were now resting on the mud. 

There are two orange flagged birds in this shot. One facing away so just
the shaft visible. The other illegible at this range.

Redshank

Pale-bellied Brent goose 34 flew into the corner of Half Moon Bay, where the Cafe is.

Still no sign of the Canadian ringed birds on this side of the Bay.

They don't eat the wrack, just the fine green gutweed on the rocks.

Heysham skear (Malcolm)

I went down early evening as the tide was uncovering the skear.

Eider 172

Red-breasted Merganser 4

About 1,500 Knot arrived to feed, but spread thinly around the edges. No Peregrine disturbance, presumably they had already eaten. Several flagged birds were seen and at least one new one for this winter.

One or two are already showing hints of their fine red summer plumage.

Oystercatcher, Curlew and Knot

The light was fading quickly, but the sun's rays were still illuminating 
the Lakeland hills

Just out of the recording area, horse paddock behind Middleton Parish Hall.

Green Sandpiper - Pete