Calm early on with whatever air movement there was from SE. Later a NW breeze picked up. Very low cloud/drizzle till 10:00 then some sunshine with the odd shower.
Middleton Nature Reserve
Jean did a quick, but productive check:
0915-0945
Blackbird 19 grounded
Redwing 40 grounded
Fieldfare 9 grounded
Song Thrush 7 grounded
Mistle Thrush 2 grounded
Skylark 2 east
Woodpigeon 6 north
Reed Bunting 1 present
Cetti’s Warbler 1 singing on the west and 1 on the east of the track
Water Rail 3 present
Goldcrest 2 present
Shaun did a thorough check later, although he describes it as a "trundle", obviously there will be some overlap with the above birds that were not moving through.
Had a trundle around (10:00-12:00).
Quite a few thrushes milling about/feeding - mostly on the western side of the reserve.
Fieldfare c65 (including a group of c45 that dropped in at 11:15).
Redwing c130
Blackbird c75
Song Thrush c10.
Gadwall 29 on 'Non-Swimming Pool' plus a pair of Teal and 2 Little Grebes
Also, a pair of Gadwall on the 'Main Boating/Swan Lake' plus a Grey Heron
Water Rail 2 squealing in Central Marsh
Sparrowhawk fem/imm - quite active
Cetti's Warbler three singing
Blackcap male close to 'ringing area'
Brambling 2 heading southeast
Siskin 4 in trees near Yellow Gate/Golf Course then East
Heysham Nature Reserve
Jean also managed a quick check here 09:50 - 10:10
Blackbird 18 feeding on berries
Carrion Crow flock of 26 present
Woodpigeon 18 south
Collared Dove 2 south
Chaffinch 2 south
Chiffchaff 1 by the fire pond
Goldcrest 1
Brambling 1 in the trees near the boardwalk
Heliport High water - ref Pete
Knot 2,000
Greenfinch 40 feeding on recently cut seeds
Red Nab and saltmarsh area 09:00 - 11:00 (MD)
Wigeon 60+
Rock Pipit at least 5 - 1 each on: sea wall near No.2 outflow, Red Nab, foreshore, rocky outcrop and pebble beach SE of saltmarsh. On return 3 were battling on foreshore.
Greenfinch - it was strange seeing the mustard behind Red Nab deserted, there are still some seed pods on the plant, presumably not ripe enough yet. There was flock of 27 along the foreshore and another, or possibly same flock of 31 feeding on brambles on east side of saltmarsh.
Song Thrush 2 on saltmarsh
Whooper Swan 7 (4 adult + 3 juvenile) south 09:30. The low cloud meant that they were low and close to the coast, unfortunately by this time the breeze had freshened and you can't hear them calling.
The 10m high water covered the saltmarsh flushing:
Common Snipe 7
Jack Snipe 2
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Jack Snipe - unmistakable profile,
a rubbish picture, but better than I normally manage.
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Heysham skear
Had a quick check 4 hours ebb. On these spring tides the water ebbs quickly. A lot of the birds, typically Knot and Curlew just wait till the tide exposes the area they want. Others take advantage of the quickly draining water to hunt for shrimps, small fish and the dwindling numbers of crab. This clip is just to give a flavour of the feeding activity as the water ebbs.
Eider 97
Great Crested Grebe 6
Red-breasted Merganser 6 (the family group in the above clip)
Little Egret 14
Oystercatcher c1,000
Turnstone c30
Redshank c50
Ringed Plover 18
Knot c2,200 one flock of 1,900 plus several small flocks
Curlew 160 were waiting on the beach as the tide ebbed, these are just a few of them
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| Some of the Curlew waiting for the tide to expose their favoured feeding area on skear. |
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