A wild and wet end to the year

A strong south wind in the morning shifted more to SW and freshened further. Heavy rain began mid morning and didn't really stop again.

South shore (Malcolm)

I managed to walk out along the sea wall before the rain started, but walking back was rough with the south wind, at that point, driving the rain into my face. And after all that, there was nothing new!

Kittiwake 1 on its last day of being a first calendar year bird. Still feeding on No.2 outfall.

Kittiwake above No.2 outfall superstructure 

Pale-bellied Brent goose 14 initially on Red Nab, then south when flushed by the tide.

A few of the feeding Brent geese

The last of the Brent geese leaving Red Nab. The foreshore rocks in the background 

Wigeon 150+

Cormorant, also leaving Red Nab

Oystercatcher and Curlew coming in to Red Nab

Rock Pipit 1 at Red Nab

Nothing along the foreshore rocks

At the saltmarsh:

Lapwing 1

Reed Bunting 2

Surprisingly, no snipe were seen

A nice variety........of ferries

A fresh SW wind. Overcast, but it managed to stay dry.

South Shore

Janet checked from Red Nab to No.1 outfall at high water.

At 8.8m today's high water didn't quite cover all of Red Nab.
Oystercatcher, Curlew and Redshank on the few remaining outcrops.

Kittiwake - the 1st calendar year bird was showing very nicely passing just below the top of the sloping sea wall. Even so getting a good shot of it so close in isn't as easy as Janet makes it look!

Yesterday's clip of the Kittiwake saw the Ben-my-Chree ferry on the 
horizon, today it was the lunchtime ferry the Manxman.

Janet experimented with here mobile phone again. This time a slowed motion zip past.

I checked from Red Nab to the saltmarsh later in the tide as Red Nab was becoming exposed again (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent geese 48 flew from the south and started feeding on Red Nab.

Shelduck 3

Wigeon 200 - there were a few on Red Nab, then this flock of 180 landed in the creek in the saltmarsh. They clearly spotted a feeding opportunity, these tides barely reach the saltmarsh, you can see the darker patches where the water had been earlier. And the Wigeon headed for it like a plague of locust!

I presume that they were finding marsh grass seeds, but it isn't clear.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

Just a quick passing look at the main pond.

Mute Swan pair plus one immature 

Mallard 14

Gadwall 11

Tufted Duck 1 male

No Coot!

Moorhen 2

Little grebe 1

Little grebe

There were lots of gulls, presumably resting away from the wind. 

                                        Mainly Black Headed and Herring.

You can see the Little grebe top centre

This Black-Headed gull already with a black face

Horse Paddock behind Middleton Parish hall (Malcolm). 

Yesterday Howard saw 20 Redwing feeding here, so I went for a look today. No Redwing seen, but a Green Sandpipier was showing nicely. Although the bird was just beyond the recording area, it could clearly be seen from the recording area edge, although for safety sake I crossed the road for these shots.

Green Sandpiper

A glimpse of its white rump in this clip.

All the regulars present although the Knot only briefly!

A freshening SW wind. An odd sunny spell in the morning but showers in the afternoon.

North sea wall (Eddy Bayton)

Shag off the N Harbour Wall close in fishing. Big leaps to dive confirmed ID for me. Very murky. It flew off W and S across the harbour mouth out of sight. 

Heliport and Near Naze (Howard Stockdale)
I got there at 9.15am and there were no knot at all, I was just about to leave at 9.40am and a big flock c2000 appeared from the north and landed on the outerwall briefly, the Oystercatchers were already spooked and most were flying over to the naze, the knot followed them but after doing a couple of circuits around the old lighthouse carried on south over the harbour.

Some of the Knot before they headed south

One of these Knot has an orange flag, but only the last two characters visible.
It isn't enough.

Many of the Oystercatcher are metal ringed.
Many of the numbers are legible in this shot, but agin, not quite enough.

South sea wall

I went mid morning towards high water (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent geese 35 came from the north side and landed on Red Nab.

Wigeon 190

Kittiwake 1 first calendar year. The tide was almost full by this time and it was hanging on the SW wind on No.2 outfall. You can see the incoming Ben-my- Chree ferry on the horizon.

I reached the harbour before the ferry, but there was nothing of note behind it.

Cormorants and Great Black-Backed gulls resting on the wooden jetty
as the Ben-my-Chree passes

Rock Pipit 1 near the lighthouse 

Janet had a walk along the sea wall later as the tide was ebbing.

The Brent geese were starting to return to the north side, but in several smaller groups.

Pale-bellied Brent geese heading back to the north side

By this time the Kittiwake was more mobile and alternating between feeding on both outfalls and zipping along the sea wall between them. This is what a "zipping" Kittiwake looks like, as Janet said, blink and you miss it! This clip is by Janet's mobile phone.

Kittiwake along the sloping sea wall.

This is No.2 outfall

This is why it is hanging around. This shot is from earlier in the week.
It has a small Whitebait on No1 outfall here

This nice sequence is again No.1 outfall, but this is today. It looks to have found a prawn.

Dunnock in the Nature park

Shrimping season begins

Today we went from drizzle to mist, then back to drizzle again! A light east wind in the morning switched to the west after lunch.

Heysham skear (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 26 minimum, but basically they were all over and around the skear. These had just come in and landed on the shallow water in the SE skear corner. They start by taking a drink, the water here will be brackish as it is fed by a large freshwater runoff.

In contrast, these three landed directly on the skear to feed.

Pale-bellied Brent goose and Oystercatchers

Eider c70 including a distant raft

Red-breasted Merganser 5

Great Crested grebe 3

Great Crested Grebe and Eider

Little Egret 4

Grey Heron 1

A change in the wader mix today.

Oystercatcher 1,500

Curlew 100+ most resting high up the shore and others, coming in from the east, regularly joining them.

Knot just 1 seen on the skear plus a distant flock of 100 to the north

Bar-Tailed godwit 17 in a loose flock heading south

Turnstone 30

Turnstone

Redshank 200+, a big increase and for a good reason, the first onshore breeze for a few days had muddied the water in the shallow margins. This in turn brought large numbers of early stage (tiny) shrimps within their range. This clip shows Redshank, Black-Headed gulls and a Little Egret feeding on the shrimps. They are a bit small to tempt the Heron though.

Little change

We went from drizzle to mist to very low cloud. Almost no air movement.

North shore 

No reports from here so far from today, but some nice shots that Janet took yesterday.

First calendar year Kittiwake feeding on No.1 outfall

Little Egret, just below the sea wall

Oystercatcher and Turnstone feeding between the crevices on the 
Honeycomb worm bed out from the roundhead.

Heysham skear (Malcolm)

I went down at lunchtime as the ebbing tide was exposing the inner skear, by this time the mist had lifted and it was just very low cloud.

Pale-belied Brent goose 30 minimum feeding all around the skear and the rocks closer to the play area.

Pale-bellied Brent geese, Knot and Oystercatcher 

Eider 73 - 33 close to the skear plus a raft of 30 further out. These are some of the close in Eider with Brent geese. The geese are stripping the gutweed from the rocks.

Red-breasted Merganser 5. First record for a while, these two had just come in and were freshening up.

Wigeon 1

Great Crested grebe 5

Little Egret 4

Waders:

Knot 2,000

Curlew 120 - the majority just resting high up the shore

Knot 500 formed by several small groups.

Redshank 45

Turnstone 25

Looking back at a hazy Heysham Village

The sounds of the skear

Almost still today, just the odd waft from a variable breeze. Overcast, but it just about stayed dry.

South shore - Janet

A walk along the sea wall.

Kittiwake 1 first calendar year feeding on No.1 outfall.

Wigeon coming in to land by No.2 outfall

Some of the cormorants in the harbour.

Heysham skear - Malcolm

I went down early in the ebbing tide again today.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 20 minimum. There were small parties feeding all over the inner skear, plus some in the rocks near the play area. There were almost certainly more that I didn't count.

Pale-bellied Brent goose coming in to land

This is one feeding on the skear, you can see that there are still plenty
of pockets of gutweed to be found here.

Eider 73 close in plus a raft of 30+ in the distance 

Eider drake

Eider with a Brent goose

Wigeon 3

Great Crested grebe 6

Great Crested Grebes

Little Egret 2

Oystercatcher 1,500

Curlew 15

Redshank 35

Knot 700

Turnstone 25

The very light breeze meant that there was little wind noise, so I took a few clips to try and capture the sounds of the skear. 

This first one sets the base level. The majority of the piping is from the Oystercatchers, the Knot calls are largely swamped out. This is the constant background noise on the skear, and yet I don't hear it! It's only if it ever stops (occasionally if there is a hint of danger) or something different calls, that I notice. 

These are newly arrived Knot taking a bath. The tide has just left the pools they are bathing in, but the pools are fed by a freshwater runoff and will already be brackish.

These are some of the Brent feeding in the SE skear corner. You can hear their contact calls (grunts) plus a couple of Carrion Crows calling.

These are some of the Eider, you can just about make out their Frankie Howard like calls above the Oystercatchers.

Merry Christmas

A gentle SW wind. Drizzle occasionally and a sea mist by the afternoon.

This lovely Robin made from autumn leaves is from Jean

Heysham skear (Malcolm)

Just a quick check this morning on the ebbing tide.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 10 at least. None initially then 2, 2, 4 and 2 arrived from the west.

Brent geese over the emerging skear

Pink-Footed goose 171 - two skeins 61 and 110 to NW.

Eider 112 - these are some of them

Male and female Eiders

Female and male Eiders

This male was eating mussels onshore.

Oystercatcher 1500

Knot 600

Curlew 20

Redshank 30

Turnstone 30

Later there were 34 Pale-bellied Brent off knowlys Rd - Mohammed H

Another lovely card, this one by Howard