Plenty going on

A dry day, sunny spells till mid afternoon then overcast. A light west to SW breeze.

Shaun Coyle made an early start:

Heysham area 06:30-09:45.

Canada Goose 3 into the bay.

Little Egret 4 Red Nab. 

Eider 7 off the outfalls.

Sparrowhawk 2 over Ocean Edge heading inland.

Peregrine annoying the gulls at Red Nab.

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1.

Wheatear male Red Nab.

Cetti's Warbler singing HNR marsh and just 2 MNR.

Chiffchaff 11 in total (including Dog Walk Track). Plus 2 MNR.

Single Rock Pipit seawall. 

Later when Janet checked Red Nab, there were two male Wheatears, probably both additional to Shaun's.

Song Thrush, still feeding young in the Nature Park

Janet also checked Middleton Nature Reserve 

I left some sunflower seeds in a feeder at MNR the other day, today there were Male and female Bullfinches on it and Goldfinches 

The female was more wary of going to the feeder

Still Shoveler on the main pond

Heysham skear - Malcolm 08:45 - 10:15 and 13:00 - 14:15

Pale-bellied Brent goose 30 seen this morning 54 this afternoon. They were feeding all around both sides of the skear

Eider 25 this morning, not as many in the afternoon 

Red-breasted Merganser, just this male seen

He was doing a spot of snorkelling, no luck this time

Common Scoter a female drifted in on the tide this afternoon 

She has damaged or malformed feathers on her left wing

The right wing seems fine

Operational, but not practical for flying! Hopefully ok for diving 

This clip shows just how close to the shore she was

Little Egret 3

Bar-Tailed Godwit, several groups this morning, the largest 32, at least 65 in total. This afternoon a flock of 96 flew south

Bar-Tailed Godwit 

Knot c2200 this morning. There was a resting group of 1200, that were joined by a flock of c1000 that came from very high in the NW. the arriving birds were strung out in a long line, these are some of them coming in.

There were still c1500 around this afternoon, but they quickly moved to the south. Just a few previously seen flagged birds were located 

This is 14:00. You can clearly see the weather front moving in

Imperial Rd - Malcolm

I just called in to see how the nest in the copse was doing. 

It was no larger than it was a week ago.....

.......but it was occupied. Sorry about the shaky clip but this is full zoom. It isn't possible to be sure of the bird in the nest, but it is clearly quite large.

I moved to get a closer look, but as I did, three Buzzards appeared overhead.

Eventually one of the Buzzards was "seen off" and just two remained in the air. I looked to check the nest again, but it looked empty. I don't think it was a coincidence.

One to keep an eye on. It is easily visible from the road, at least until 
the foliage develops 

Teal 2

Stop, start rain!

At least there were gaps in the rain today, not only that, they were visible gaps with sunshine allowing you to see the next shower arriving. When they came they were heavy and sometimes of hail. It was much cooler, peaking below 8°C, with a WNW wind.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Janet checked first

Roebuck on the peninsula of the main pond, with 4 male and 3 female Shoveler

Roebuck and Little Grebe

Chaffinch - Finches are particularly susceptible to this scaling on the feet and legs. 

I checked mid afternoon - Malcolm

The water level on both ponds was notably higher, particularly on the "no swimming" pond. Still a pair of Mute Swans on each pond, but when I checked the main pond female was swimming with the male. I feared the nest might have been swamped, but Janet advised that the female was on the nest when she  checked.

Still 4 male and 3 female Shoveler on the main pond plus another pair on the "no swimming" pond.

Tufted Duck pair on the main pond, plus 2 female and 8 males on the "no swimming" pond

Mallard 6

No Gadwall seen

Little Grebe 2 on the main pond.

You need a long neck to preen if you have a long bill.....

.......and Shovelers certainly have long bills!

These are the "no swimming" pond pair

Some of the Tufted Ducks

Little Grebe

A bit further south

Jackdaws had invaded the Rookery on Middleton Rd...

.......but the Rooks soon cleared them off

There was no sign of the Green Sandpiper in the horse paddock across the road, but there was:

A White Wagtail 

A Mistle Thrush 

South shore - Malcolm

Same walk as yesterday along the sea wall, but timed between showers, I almost got back before a heavy hail shower.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 38 on Red Nab

Pale-bellied Brent geese

Shelduck 4

Shelduck, actually a drake with an impressive bill knob

Red-breasted Merganser pair

No Wigeon seen

The iridescent feathers on this Magpie were catching the sun nicely 

Wheatear 1 male

Wheatear

Pied Wagtail 1

Pied Wagtail 

Rock Pipit 2

Nothing of note along the sea wall or in the harbour. 

Despite it being a "nicer" day it was still wild, it was obvious that few people had ventured along the wall today as my path was blocked by a line of resting gulls.

Gulls resting on the sea wall

As I was setting back the next shower was clearly on its way. I got back as far as No.2 outfall before it hit. Fortunately, the wind behind me and hail bounces off you, so better than rain provided that you are protected.

This is literally seconds before the hail hit. The ship is still sailing in sunshine.... 

........but not for long!

Non stop rain!

Very strong SW wind driving heavy rain all day. 4.5cm fell during daylight hours. Although falling isn't the correct adjective, most of the time it was almost horizontal!

There was only me daft enough to venture out - Malcolm

South shore

Pale-bellied Brent goose 29 flew south from Red Nab.

Wigeon c30 around Red Nab

Rock Pipit 1 on Red Nab

Nothing along the sea wall except the regular gulls and nothing in the harbour. It always puzzles me why more birds don't take advantage of the harbour's shelter in these conditions.

Linnet 2 near the waterfall

I took a breather in the lee of the lighthouse, at least I could unstash my camera there.

It was pretty wild

A pair of Red-breasted Merganser flew out

Male Red-breasted Merganser

Heliport towards high water

Knot and Oystercatcher hunkered down behind the sea wall

Middleton Nature Reserve - main pond

Just a passing car bound check

Mute Swan 1 adult male and an immature 

Mallard pair

Tufted Duck pair

Little grebe 1

The Tufted were feeding. It couldn't have been any wetter underwater than above!

Cetti's warbler one burst of song

This is the Rookery at the southern edge of the recording area, on Middleton Rd
opposite the horse paddock behind Middleton Parish Hall. At least ten nests

And this Green Sandpiper was on the other side of the road in the horse paddock. Just beyond the gate on to Middleton Rd. Therefore just outside the recording area, although easily seen from it.

Looking through the bars of the gate to Middleton Rd

Every day I put a string of peanuts in shells on top of my bird table. Some days Jays get to them first, other days the grey squirrels beat them to it. Today the squirrels had cleared them before two Jays arrived, so the Jays began looking for the ones that the squirrels have buried, at least I won't have too much moss to rake out of my lawn! Watch out for the Jay flashing its crown in this clip.

Every time that I put a trowel anywhere in my garden, I invariably find a peanut in its shell, so I am sure the Jays would have found some eventually.

Still plenty of Knot, but probably not for much longer.

A dry overcast day with a light southerly wind.

Heysham Nature Reserve yesterday's ringing - Jean, Nick and Rachel.

We caught 27 birds of 12 species:

New birds comprised

Goldfinch 3

Chaffinch 2

Great Tit 2

Coal Tit 1

Goldcrest 3

Robin 1

Blackbird 1

Wren 1

Retraps consisted of:

Goldfinch 6

Greenfinch 1

Robin 1

Wren 1

Blue Tit 2

Long-tailed Tit 2

Treecreeper 1

The retraps were mostly last year's youngsters and local to Heysham NR but the Greenfinch was much older, having been ringed on 8/10/2021 at Middleton NR.

A Cetti's Warbler was heard in the bushes near the fire pond area. It's been there a few days now so hopefully it will attract a female and breed. 

Saltmarsh to Red Nab - Janet

This Carrion Crow has found a dead rodent on the saltmarsh 

Shelduck flying from Red Nab

Female Eider on Red Nab

Two male Wheatears were quickly moving through, first seen on the foreshore rocks, these shots on Red Nab

Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

Two male and a female Shoveler, we're hoping for the patter of tiny shovels this year!

Cormorant 

This Coot on the "no swimming" pond came right up to Janet.
Certainly being bold, but definitely not bald!

North shore - Malcolm

Pale-Bellied Brent goose 10

A check of the waterline to the south of the skear 10:00 saw 2500 Knot feeding on the mud. I took this clip hoping that their soft calls would be clear, you can hear them, but the south breeze sounds stronger than it was.

Very few flagged birds were seen

A Peregrine Falcon eventually cleared them all

A check on the skear this evening saw 2000 Knot with at least one new flagged bird for this winter. It won't be long before most of them will leave our area, although we do sometimes get some late flocks.

The yellow ring under the orange flag denotes ringed in Scotland.
Details and history awaited

Eider 14

Red-breasted Merganser 7