First Dark-bellied Brent

Very misty early on clearing slightly during the day. Very little air movement.

North Shore - seen from Sandylands - Nick Godden

Pale-bellied Brent goose 13
Dark-bellied Brent goose 1
Goldeneye 2
Teal 10
Golden plover 3 flew S
Black-tailed godwit 4
Skylark 4 NE
Fieldfare 2 S
Stonechat 1m

This is just part of Nick's report posted on LDBWS webpage. To view the full report 

https://lancasterbirdwatching.org.uk/forums/topic/sandylands/

South shore

Malcolm 08:45 - 10:30

Pale-bellied Brent goose 13 - there were 7 when I walked out. David Kaye checked towards high water as saw 11 + 2 fly off to the south.

Some of the earlier Brent geese. There is a Common Snipe in this shot too

Pink-Footed goose 4 small skeins SE 

Wigeon 223

Mainly Wigeon

You can her them whistling in this clip

Teal 1 male - seen by David amongst the Wigeon

Duck sp 16 south shrouded in mist

Ducks. Possibly Mallard?

Kingfisher 1 shot across Red Nab

Greenfinch 8 feeding in the brambles at Red Nab end of the sea wall

Greenfinch

The yellow stripe is on one of the stainless steel bollards

Rock Pipit 5. David saw 2 at the slipway end of the foreshore. There was 1 along the sea wall and 2 near the lighthouse breeding area.

At first glance this bird looked interesting....

......until I realised that its red belly was just a reflection!

I don't really know what is going on here. My interpretation at the time was that one Rock Pipit was favouring a nest hole that was much too low on the wall, while the other was trying to show it a more suitable higher nest hole. Possibly that is what is going on......but I have been known to be  wrong!

Linnet 2 near the waterfall 

Linnet

Saltmarsh at high water

With no waves and no surge even today's 9.2m tide only covered half the marsh

Common Snipe 18 (likely more would have left earlier)

Jack Snipe 1

Linnet 60+

Reed Bunting 8

These two are feeding on the marsh

Kevin and Alison had a walk along the wall this afternoon 

Alison spotted this rather nice Grey Plover with the Turnstone flock
near the lighthouse

Mist affected

A still day. No breeze to talk of and very low cloud/mist all day.

South shore - Malcolm 08:45 - 10:15

I started at Red Nab then worked round to the far side of the saltmarsh towards high water. It was misty the whole time, restricting visibility.

Red Nab

Pale-bellied Brent goose 15 

Shelduck 4

Wigeon 120

Eider 1 female

Little Egret 2

Linnet 35 (they then flew towards the saltmarsh)

Red Nab was clear to see, but the sea disappeared into the mist

The Brent geese were getting ready to leave

When they left they were disoriented. This group flew in circles a while
before heading west. Rather than the more typical destination to the SE

Female Eider

Wigeon. This male almost in full breeding plumage now.

Nothing along the foreshore except the regular Robins and Wrens.

Pied Wagtail 10 and Meadow Pipit 1 on Ocean Edge grass

Meadow Pipit

Saltmarsh 

All the while I was there a Pink-Footed goose was making the occasional soft call from somewhere on the sea beyond the visibility line. Possibly a winged bird, there was a lot of shooting going on somewhere to the south.

Shelduck 30+ drifted in and out of view to the south as the mist waxed and waned.

Wigeon, the birds from Red Nab started moving to the marsh

Lapwing 10

Common Snipe 54 lifted by the tide despite it only covering half of the marsh

Song Thrush 1

Reed Bunting 6

Finches 150+ mainly Linnet but also at least 10 Greenfinch

Lapwing

These Snipe landed on what remained of the marsh. Whether they were 
some that left earlier of from another location is unclear 

Reed Bunting

Looks like the mist is to continue for a couple more days.

Skear scoured

A dry day with the odd sunny spell. A very light west(ish) breeze.

South shore -Malcolm 09:15 - 09:45

Just a quick check from saltmarsh to Red Nab

Saltmarsh 

Linnet 120

Reed Bunting 3

Reed Bunting 

Lapwing 5

Curlew 4

Little Egret 2

Pied Wagtail 2

They light produced some interesting effects

Curlew 

Little Egret and Lapwing

Lapwing

Pied Wagtail 

There were just 5 more Pied Wagtails and a couple of Robins along the foreshore.

Red Nab

Pale-bellied Brent goose 11

Shelduck 4

Wigeon 88

Look how flat the sea is!

Brent geese, Wigeon and a Shelduck

Heysham skear - Malcolm 14:45 - 16:30

Pale-bellied Brent geese 14. Possibly this morning's 11 plus 3 that were feeding separately 

Some of the Brent geese amongst the Honeycomb worm clumps in the skear corner

The light was fading quickly and by 15:25 they headed off to the west

Eider 14

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Goldeneye 1 female or immature male

Goldeneye 

A nice size comparison with Eider

Great Crested grebe 4

Oystercatcher c1500

Curlew 30

Redshank c50

Knot 26

Turnstone 40

Dunlin 1

Ringed Plover 3

I managed to get to the edge of the middle skear today, possibly the last time till next spring (to get this far you need something approaching low water on a spring tide, which are typically between 05:00 - 0700 and 17:00 - 19:00. All in the dark in winter. Indeed the light was already fading and it was almost dark by the time I returned to the promenade). A week or so ago I said that the recent storms seemed to have little effect on the skear, but that was the inner skear. It was a different story out here.

 

All the substrate has been scoured away. Leaving just the boulders and 
empty Mussel shells on the skear bottom. All the live and particularly the
small Mussels will have gone with the underlaying mud. Probably
explaining the recent lack of Knot.

A good tide for Brent geese

Large dark clouds rolled through all day, but somehow it managed to stay dry. Sunny spells in between. A west wind.

Heysham skear - Malcolm 13:15 - 14:15

I went out later in the tide than recently. Low water today was 15:00, and at 2.4m it would expose the SE skear corner where there is lots of sea lettuce. As I approached the corner, there were already 2 Pale-bellied Brent geese feeding, but they were soon joined by 17 others. So 19 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, possibly joined by more later as I didn't have time to stay till low water.

This is one of the early arrivals 

These are the others coming in, they actually land in the bay just west of the skear corner.

Pale-bellied Brent geese

They immediately swam towards the skear corner and began feeding. These tides are ideal for them. The sea lettuce is still underwater but easily in reach. You can see them eating the lettuce in this clip.

This is typical of the area they were feeding at. This is actually one of the
pools in the skear middle, so there are other easy pickings for them.

Quite a striking shot of some of the Brent. Looking into the light,
but dominated by dark clouds.

There were some quite dramatic skies

Eider 4

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Great Crested Grebe 5

Little Egret 3

Oystercatcher c1500

Curlew c40

Grey Plover 1

Redshank c60

Knot c300 (no colour marked birds seen)

Turnstone 45

Dunlin 55

Ringed Plover 1

Ringed Plover having a paddle

Oystercatcher having a swim

Dunlin

South sea wall - Kevin

Nice to see this Buff-tailed Bumblebee on the sea wall today.
We're still clinging on to autumn. 

BRS passes through

A brighter day today with just a few light showers. A cold NE light wind.

Ocean Edge Foreshore - Janet 

Black Redstart 1 female type quickly moved through at 12:20

Nice record shots. Janet was exercising a dog and only had her small lens.

Heysham skear - Malcolm 10:00 - 11:30

No Brent geese seen today, but the tide was still ebbing when I left.

Eider 106

They really are fine looking birds. Even the females aren't the plain
brown they look to be at distance 

Red-breasted Merganser 3

Red-breasted Merganser pair

Wigeon 11 - 2 and 9 flew north

Wigeon

Great Crested grebe 3

Incoming Cormorant and a Great Crested Grebe

Little Egret 5

Redshank c250, Knot c300, other waders similar to recent.

Curlew, Redshank and Oystercatcher 

Oystercatcher, Redshank and Knot

Turnstone