Sanderlings still on the move

Another wet night, but just the odd shower during the day. A fresh SW wind

Heysham skear - Malcolm 09:15 - 11:15

Eider 5 males including 1 immature 

Drake Eiders, the one on the right is a 2nd calendar year bird

Great Crested Grebe 5 (2 pairs and an individual)

Little Egret 7

Pink-Footed Goose 1 "shot at" looking bird resting on the mud and occasionally waddling off in front of the tide.

Pink-Footed goose

Gulls 150 mainly Herring gulls. 

I'd set off at low water to check the progress of the seed mussels further out on the skear. Once past conger rock there was a thin blanket of them covering most of the surface.

This is the size of the seed mussels, that's a £1 coin

This shows the typical coverage

The above mussels are on a relatively muddy area and are tightly packed together. They are still tiny and you would imagine hardly worth the effort of eating. But the gulls were feeding on them nevertheless. They were favouring the rougher ground where the seed mussels wouldn't be so embedded.

Oystercatcher 1000+

Curlew 1

Whimbrel 2 flew north when moved on from the skear

Dunlin 6

Sanderling 48

These flew west along the northern side of the skear

Smaller groups were still feeding along the north side.

The bottom bird here has a small bivalve 

By this time the tide was racing in, I knew it wouldn't be long before these had to move on.

I managed another look on the ebbing tide this evening 17:30 - 19:00

Additional to this morning:

Eider pair 

Female Eider, she's not floating like a balloon, but stood on a rock

Male Eider

Curlew 2

Knot 1

Sanderling just 10. None to start with then a single bird flying around, later joined by 4 then 5 more.

Sanderling 

Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

Very busy over the main pond. The young Coots were oblivious of the action going on all around them.

Swallow

House Martin

Swift

Barn Owl on the day shift

Overnight rain stopped just after dawn, then just the odd light shower. A southerly wind in the morning shifting to SW in the afternoon 

Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

A Barn Owl was hunting over the central marshes. It couldn't have hunted during the overnight rain.

Hopefully it has some little beaks to feed

Kestrel also hunting 

Herring Gull with nesting material

This young Coot on the main pond seemed very independent 

Roe Deer 1

Heysham skear - Malcolm 16:30 - 18:00

Sanderling 80 minimum.

I started as soon as the first rocks were being exposed again. Things were looking promising as a flock of c50 Sanderling were milling around just offshore. Four then landed on the innermost rocks.

Three of the four early arrivals 

The location of the above shot is circled. This is only 50m from the promenade 

Unfortunately a Peregrine passed over and all the Sanderling were gone. Later, somewhat further out, I managed to count 80 in three main groups, but there were likely more scattered around, by this time it was a large skear.

Initially they were in smallish groups

But they merged into larger groups, scurrying around like mice.

Sanderling and a Herring gull (1 of c150)

I do look forward to the Spring Sanderling passage, they are my favourite wader!

Knot 16

Knot, plus 2 Sanderling (they get everywhere!)

The Knot landed in the shallows and began probing for food. They were too tightly packed to be after the invertebrates. They were finding small mussels. 

The Knot on the left is swallowing a small mussel. This isn't one of the
new crop of seed mussels, which are still tiny

Bar-Tailed Godwit 1

Curlew 5

Ringed Plover 1 flying purposefully north  

Eider 5 (3 male)

Great Crested Grebe 1

Herring gulls, Eider and Great Crested Grebe

Another Cuckoo and Sanderlings oblige

Overnight rain turned to showers early morning, the last one 09:00. A light breeze initially from the south switched to west.

Cuckoo calling from the wood just inshore of Half Moon Bay car park - Phil Rosser

South shore - Malcolm 09:00 - 10:45

A walk from the saltmarsh to the harbour and back.

Osprey 1 (at least) - I could see one on the post at the end of No.2 outfall from the slipway at the end of the foreshore. A shower started then so I had to stash my optics. When the rain stopped I was just past Red Nab and there was no sign of the Osprey. I checked the harbour and was heading back when an Osprey appeared at 10:15, being followed by gulls. It must have come from the south or east.

The gulls get particularly nervous in the breeding season

As well as being harassed, the tide was getting a bit high for its favoured fishing area between the outfalls, so it settled on the rails of No.2 outfall briefly.

Almost managed to read its blue ring, but not quite!

It then returned to the post at the end of No.2 outfall and was still there as I was leaving the sea wall.

This shot shows No.2 outfall, the yellow arrow pointing to the Osprey 
on the post at the end

This gull has a Pipefish and is taking it away to work
out how/if to eat it. Blackpool Tower behind.

Carrion Crow still sat on the nest on one of the harbour platforms 

Linnet 1 at the saltmarsh 2 near the waterfall 

Rock Pipit 3 minimum. One on No.2 outfall, one each at the lighthouse and waterfall.

This is the lighthouse bird with a bill full of goodies for the kids

They don't normally fly down to the nest hole on the vertical wall when they know they are being watched. Perhaps this one knew that I couldn't actually see the hole from where I was.

This is the waterfall bird, with one of the dredgers behind

Eider pair flew SE

Curlew 5 together came from the north side and settled on the mud

Janet had a bit of a mammal themed walk.....

Weasel on Middleton Nature Reserve 

Common Whitethroat also on MNR. All the regular warblers heard
except Grasshopper 

Vole sp on the saltmarsh 

Heysham skear - Malcolm 15:45 - 17:00

These spring tides go out very quickly. I started as the first skear rocks were being exposed, and by the time I finished a huge expanse of skear was open.

Eider pair + 1 male

Red-breasted Merganser 1 male

Great Crested Grebe 2 + 1

Little Egret 2

Oystercatcher not counted 

Curlew 2 (it felt strange without the constant calling of Whimbrel that there has been of late)

Bar-Tailed Godwit 2

Bar-Tailed Godwit 

Knot 2 + 1

Solitary Knot, the other two had already flown off to the north

By this time there was a nice onshore breeze, just enough to colour the inshore margins, bringing shrimps and other invertebrates close to the shore. They were everywhere, and the quickly ebbing tide leaves them in the shallows. This was in a clear pool that was just draining. It's not a brown shrimp, but a shrimp of some description, it is about 2cm long. It is accompanied by its shadow, but another similar sized invertebrate makes a brief appearance too.

Both invertebrates from the above clip circled here

Conditions felt right for Sanderling. And I managed to find one 

Then more began arriving in groups from 2 to 20. They came from further
north, presumably where they had been feeding 

At least 55 Sanderling in total.

They moved quickly along the skear edges. I suspect that when after such relatively large and slow moving prey, it counts to get to new feeding areas first. I've joined a couple of clips together here to give a sense of the activity.

A variety of stages of moult to breeding plumage

Watch the bird bottom right here. It ejects a pellet towards the end of the clip.

Sanderling ejecting a pellet