Wow! A bit of sunshine

 Heavy overnight rain, but followed by a dry and sometimes sunny day. A light east wind.

Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

Tufted Ducks. There was a Gadwall pair as well 
Later Pete saw 10 Teal

Long-Tailed Tit

The last three characters on this Reed Bunting's ring are clear to read.
It isn't possible to be positive about an individual with just a partial code,
but one with a matching last three numbers was ringed here in 2023

Imperial Rd - Malcolm 09:30

Buzzard 2 constantly calling and flying between the copse and the trees along the bypass.

This one with a white bib, was doing most of the flying, it is also the
smallest of the two so that should make it the male

Not a great shot of the second bird, but the one on the left is the bird in 
flight in the shots above, and is clearly the smaller bird

At one point there were 12 Magpies mobbing it, but they had more or less given up at this point, although it did seem to be taunting them. You can hear Teal calling in the background as well as the roar of vehicles along the bypass.

Sparrowhawk 1 flew north

Surprisingly, no Kestrels seen

Carrion Crow 6

Jay 2 individuals, both north, but suspect just local movement 

Little Egret 1

Stock Dove 2 together 

Teal 7

Water Rail 2-3

No Stonechats again, and also none seen by Janet when she checked this afternoon 

South shore

I checked towards high water 13:00 - 14:00 (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 28 on Red Nab

Wigeon c200 on and around Red Nab plus several rafts further out to sea

Peregrine Falcon 1 east

I went to watch the tide covering the saltmarsh, but I underestimated the time that it would be covered and overestimated my patience to wait! I left before the whole marsh was covered and didn't manage to see any Jack Snipe.

Common Snipe 23

Reed Bunting 3

These are the Brent Geese after leaving Red Nab. I tried to see where 
they ended up, they went past Potts heading towards the Lune estuary
before being lost from view

When Janet checked later in the afternoon on the ebb tide, the Brent were back on Red Nab.

Pale-bellied Brent geese

Wigeon

Cormorants 

North shore - Malcolm

A check of the skear from the promenade as the tide was coming in and a check of the Heliport high water roost later on failed to locate any Knot.

Possibly a red herring!

Overcast all day with light showers. The east wind continues!

Heysham skear - Malcolm 10:00 - 11:15

Whooper Swans 4 (1 adult and 3 immature) flew low to the south. It had just stopped raining and I suspect they had been resting on a sand bar. I was checking out to sea for ducks etc. and didn't see them till they were almost overhead, fortunately I had just unpacked my camera. The adult had a yellow ring, but I couldn't read it.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 12

Some of the Brent geese out from St Peter's church 

A few were scraping a living on the skear

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Red-breasted Merganser pair

There were very few small waders around.

Oystercatcher 1500

Curlew 25

Redshank 20

Knot just 2 flew overhead briefly 

Turnstone 40

Dunlin 1

Oystercatcher about to lose a feather

South shore

The adult Shag was showing really well on the nearest platform in the Harbour 
Kevin Eaves

These two Eider had been just out from Red Nab, then drifted out beyond the southern recording area boundary. They rested on a rock before moving back to Red Nab with the ebb tide - Mark Jones 

This clip taken from Mark's holiday caravan - not a bad view!

Janet spotted this fish on Middleton Nature Reserve. It is quite large c10 inches so possibly dropped by an overly ambitious gull. It could be one of the Rudd-goldfish hybrids from the pond on the dog walk strip. Or possibly a Koi missing from someone's pond. But it does seen a bit like a red Herring!

Pretty much the same.......but with moving pictures

A very strong east wind with occasional light showers.

South shore - Malcolm 11 - 12:15

Nature Park

Kevin was right the Goldcrests are finding invertebrates amongst the woodchip piles near the small anemometer. Only one seen today though.

Goldcrest

Watched over by a female Bullfinch 

Along the sea wall

Rock Pipit 2 - this one also finding small invertebrates concentrated by the wind

Wigeon 290 waiting for the tide to reach Red Nab

Just some of the Wigeon between the outfalls

Some were feeding at the base of the sloping wall

Pale-bellied Brent geese 32 arrived at Red Nab 

Shelduck 1

Little Egret 1

There were lots of Cormorants, but no Shag seen today

Some of the 65 Redshank. Look how flat the sea is despite the very strong 
wind. Being an offshore wind, the waves haven't had time to develop close in.

All the regulars are still around

Some light rain early on then dry with a light east breeze.

First, this report by Michael Stocker from Monday:

Minimum 57 Pale-bellied Brent on Red Nab on dropping tide

Grey Wagtail 1

Rock Pipit 2 between outflows

Adult Shag in corner of harbour

Kevin Eaves checked today

49 Brent Geese on Red Nab 

2 Goldcrest near the small anemometer. They seem to be finding some insects in the woodchip piles. 

Pale-bellied Brent geese

Goldcrest

Janet is back after a holiday in the sun (whatever that is!). She took these shots at Middleton Nature Reserve 

Teal on the No swimming pond along with Tufted/Coots/Mallard

Main Pond. Gadwall and more Tufted ducks

Gadwall having a fly round

Gadwall and Tufted coming back in to land

Plenty of weed for the Swans

Reed Bunting 2 hanging around the feeders

A bit better variety

A dry day but mainly overcast. The east wind becoming strong and blustery by late afternoon.

Nature Park - Kevin Eaves

Ca. 30-35 Siskins near the small anemometer, accompanied by a Goldcrest and a male Bullfinch.

Middleton Nature Reserve - Malcolm 10:45 - 11:15

Just a quick circuit around the eastern section.

Main Pond

2 adult and 6 immature Mute Swans

8 Tufted Duck

6 Gadwall

20+ Mallard

Little grebe at least one trilling

Tim Butler pond

Teal at least 12

Woodcock 1 flushed from the trees on the south bank

"No Swimming" Pond 

Tufted duck pair plus more Mallard around the fringes 

Little Egret 1 east

Little Egret

Heysham skear - Malcolm 14:30 - 15:30

A check as the skear was becoming exposed, by this time the offshore wind was quite strong.

Pale-Bellied Brent goose 25

Some if the Brent geese

Eider 100

The males are in full wooing mode now. Shame their calls aren't easily picked up by my camera. It is the constant background noise here, although my ears do filter out the Oystercatchers!

I went to check out the Knot, there were c500 in 4 feeding groups. Then something spooked them and they all headed off to the north. I didn't see any raptors, but they had many more eyes than me and much more at stake! I just managed to read a few flags, but from three different schemes.

This is an Icelandic scheme. At least the yellow flag stood out in the fading light.
Details awaited

Curlew, Knot and Oystercatcher 

At least the crows had something to shout about

Morning showers, then dry and overcast. A light SE breeze dwindling down to nothing in the afternoon.

Heysham skear - Malcolm 14:00 - 15:15

A check as the tide was ebbing.

No Brent Geese seen

Eider 160, easy to see on a flat sea.

Some of the Eider heading back into the bay

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Great Crested Grebe 2

Great Crested Grebes

Little Egret 5

Herring gulls and Little Egret 

Oystercatcher 15000

Curlew 20

Redshank 180

Knot 80

Turnstone 40

Dunlin 70

Dunlin in the foreground, the Oystercatchers behind not included in the skear count

Mainly Redshank 

The Redshank, Black-Headed and Common gulls were shrimping where the freshwater runoff flows into the SE skear corner. Presumably the runoff providing enough detritus to attract the still tiny shrimps.

None of the Knot were flagged, but this one had a distinctive white spot on
its crown. One to watch out for

This Oystercatcher with a partially leucistic head is even more distinctive.
I tend to see it about one in ten visits 

Carrion Crows 25, they were being particularly noisy today.

Cormorant and Carrion crows