Saved by the wind....at least we were

A light east wind, later moving more SE. Mainly overcast with some very light showers.

Report from Pete:

Marsh tern sp 1 at the seaward end of No.1 outflow, seen only briefly and distant from Ocean Edge. Too distant and brief to be able to rule out a juvenile White-winged Black Tern, but probably a juvenile Black Tern

Heysham skear - low water 11:00 

I went down about 08:00. One reason for going early was that a White-Tailed Eagle with radio tracking was known to fly to Humphrey Head yesterday evening. It was a bit hazy, but at least I could see Humphrey Head, probably as close as I'll ever get to seeing a White-Tailed Eagle (MD)

Eider 7 female/immature plus a raft of 11 males

Wigeon - 2 + 14 north

Great Crested Grebe 5

Shag 1 x 2nd calendar year feeding

As I was leaving it was obvious that a serious fire was raging somewhere south of Heysham Head. Not only plumes of black smoke billowing across the bay, but a continuous sound of emergency vehicle sirens.

Serious fire south of Heysham, more on this later.
This was 10:00, David will be in this shot somewhere, see post below

Heysham Head

Report from David Kaye

9-10.30

Small group of house martins and swallows included a single sand martin

4 wheatear

1 shag (same bird as above)

1 very dark fox near the chapel

1300-1430

2 eider

2 new rock pipits chased off the regular single

4 wheatear 

Wheatear 

alas no eagle

After leaving the skear, I followed the smoke, it became obvious that it was somewhere close to Middleton Nature Reserve. I couldn't get too close as fire engines were already on the scene and more were arriving all the time. The main outpouring of smoke appeared to be just south of the Water Treatment Works within the industrial estate. I would have only been in the way if I had stayed, so I left, sincerely hoping that no one had been, or would be, injured.

Janet went to Middleton in the afternoon. The fire was still smouldering and she said that Middleton had been very lucky, if the wind had been from the more normal west the southern section of the reserve would have been at serious risk.

Still wisps of smoke visible in the afternoon, just beyond the
the western boundary of the southern section of the reserve

Some of the Goldfinch flying from just one tree

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Report from Jean

Despite the drama at Middleton, the Heysham birds just got on with attending the feeders behind the office and the following were caught and ringed between 10am and midday:

Greenfinch 10 (one was a retrap)

Chaffinch 2

Dunnock 3

Blue Tit 1

Chiffchaff 1

South shore - high water 16:40

I went down just before high water to check the waders on the beach out from the saltmarsh (MD)

Wheatear 2 on foreshore 

Rock Pipit 2 on foreshore plus 3 on the rocky outcrop just south of the saltmarsh 

Three Rock Pipits on the rocky outcrop. A bird held territory here all
last winter, but I couldn't find any evidence of them breeding here

Swallow 2, 6 and 2 south

There were a lot of waders on the tide line, but at 8.1m is was still coming in quite quickly and the smaller waders soon moved further south. The numbers below are what I counted but I didn't get them all:

Dunlin 570

Ringed Plover 6

Oystercatcher c500 (didn't count)

Knot 33

Grey Plover 85

Bar-Tailed Godwit 19

Curlew 60

When one takes flight it spooks others and soon most are flying. This is the point when most of the small birds and some of the larger ones took flight.

In this clip, it's mainly the  Godwits and Oystercatchers remaining, but it does show how quickly the tide was coming in.

Dunlin and Ringed Plover
I've not pre sized this one, in case you want to check the detail

There always seems to be one bird that behaves differently to the rest, while 570 Dunlin were feeding along the water's edge, this one was quite happily treading for small invertebrates just a few metres from me.

When all the other waders had moved on, I remembered this bird and looked around. It was still in exactly the same spot, although now up to its belly in water. Perhaps a different sub-species to the others or perhaps just a different "personality" (MD)

One of two Painted Lady resting on the saltmarsh rubble during a light shower

Footnote: Checking local media shows several reports of today's fire, but none mention any casualties.