A little bit of everything

It remained dry with sunny spells until late afternoon when the rain started. The SE wind freshened all day and ended up being strong.

South shore

I checked from the saltmarsh to Red Nab on the rising tide this morning (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 31 flew to Red Nab from the south side.

They happily fly and swim together, but when they start feeding bickering 
breaks out as they split into small, presumably family, groups

Shelduck 8

Shelduck 

Wigeon 160

Wigeon

Little Egret 3

Little Egret

Rock Pipit 1

Rock Pipit

Janet checked this afternoon on the ebb tide

The Pale-bellied Brent geese were back on Red Nab, today's high water would have moved them on. Later they flew back to the south side.

Moorhen 4 in the Nature Park.

Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

There were only a few Carrion Crows flying around. It would seem the interlopers have been seen off.

Water Rail 2 squealing

Stonechat 1 male, again quite a distance from the road

Male Stonechat

1 male Kestrel hunting 

Heliport/Near Naze (Malcolm)

I should have checked here before checking Imperial Rd. When I did arrive at 09:45 there were c700 Knot on the Near Naze. But the tide was already high and rising quickly. It moved them on before I could complete a full check for any flagged birds. I only saw one.

Knot being moved off the Near Naze rocks

The Knot resettled on the Heliport wall and the rocks below, where they mixed with Redshank, Common Snipe, Lapwing, Turnstone, at least one Dunlin and of course Oystercatchers.

A good mix of waders, all of the above in this shot.
But you will have to open the image to see the detail 

Oystercatchers carpeting the bulk of the heliport wall

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 14:00 - 15:00

The forecast rain was approaching quickly and it was already getting murky.

Little Egret 4

Eider 46

Little Egret and Eider

Cormorant and Eider

Shag 2 juveniles 

Juvenile Shag

There had been just 30 Knot around, I was about to leave when another 500 arrived from the north. By this time it was positively gloomy and the strengthening wind making it difficult to remain still. I may as well have left, the Knot settled in rubbly terrain, I glimpsed a couple of flagged birds, but no chance of reading them.

A typical view of this afternoon's (it felt like evening) Knot.
By the time I got back to my car the rain arrived.

Another washout!

It rained for most of the day. Not as heavy as the other day, but still miserable. The light SE breeze switched to the west in the afternoon.

Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

Not a lot going on apart from at least 12 Carrion crows that seem to be in dispute.

Shelduck 4 south 

Kestrel 1

Heliport/Near Naze (Malcolm) 11:00

A passing check saw a flock of 120 Knot coming in to land on the Near Naze rocks.

They were clearly still nervous and stood tall, providing a clear view of their legs

Unfortunately, none of them sported a flag 

This is one of yesterday's flagged birds. It was ringed as adult in
2014 in the NW of Iceland. So it will be at least 15 years old now

The flags are fabricated from light strips of plastic, and although the flags tend
to last longer than the average lifespan of a Knot, they are sometimes worn away
during the lifetime of the longest lived birds. The logic of placing this flag above 
the knee, is to reduce wear on rough terrain. It has clearly worked in this instance.
But the downside is that they are more difficult to read in the field and this scheme
now places the flag below the knee. This flag was also the last year that the code was
printed on. Note how faint the code is in the above shot, compared to the clearer
marking on the other face of the flag. The code is now engraved into the flag.

This Knot seen several times on the skear this winter is from the same scheme.
It was also ringed as an adult in Iceland, this time in 2017. You can see the wear
towards the end of the flag where it has been abraded by terrain such as this. 

There was a carpet of Oystercatcher on the heliport wall again.

Also on the wall

Rock Pipit 1

Greenfinch 2

This shot of a Pied Wagtail pretty much sums up today. It couldn't 
even be bothered to wag! It is a ringed bird.

Shrimping season has definitely started

Another dry and mainly sunny day with a light SE wind.

South shore (Malcolm)

Just a 08:45 check from the saltmarsh to Red Nab, unfortunately just too late in the rising tide for any Brent geese to still be on Red Nab

Wigeon 220 flew from Red Nab to the saltmarsh 

Wigeon catching the low morning sun

Rock Pipit 1 on the saltmarsh 

Rock Pipit

Common Snipe 1 along the foreshore 

A Peregrine Falcon lifted everything off Red Nab. The returned waders when I got there were: Oystercatcher, Curlew, Turnstone and a solitary Grey Plover

Grey Plover

It calmly stood on one leg as the waves lapped around it.

Imperial Rd (Malcolm) 09:15

It was noisy! There were loads of corvids around, the Water Rails (at least 3) were all calling and a Cetti's warbler singing. 

After a while the Rails and Cetti's went silent, but the corvids kept arguing.

Raven 1 (heard only), possibly what all the fuss was about.

Carrion Crow 12

Magpie 6 

Jackdaw 2

Carrion Crows and possibly a Raven it was calling from this direction 

Stonechat just a male seen distantly 

Stonechat

Fox on the prowl

Heliport and Near Naze (Malcolm)

Oystercatcher on the heliport wall

Knot on the Near Naze rocks, four new flagged birds were seen

Lapwing coming in to land

Heysham skear (Malcolm)  12:15 - 14:00

Pale-bellied Brent goose 3 came in from the north.

Pale-bellied Brent geese

Eider 43

Red-breasted Merganser 1 male

There were no female Mergansers around, so the male displayed to the Eider!

Great Crested Grebe 3 at least

Great Crested Grebe

Shag at least 1 juvenile 

Juvenile Shag

This Lesser Blacked-backed gull has a fish, can't tell what species it is

These gulls, mainly Black-Headed, were catching tiny shrimps. Looks to be a bumper year!

There ended up being 1,000 Knot and some of them were also checking for shrimps in the margins, before a Peregrine cleared them again!

Knot checking the shallow margins for tiny shrimps 

Peregrines wreaking havoc again

The rain finally stopped overnight, leaving a dry sunny day. A light SE breeze

Just my stuff so far (Malcolm)

Middleton Nature Reserve - main pond

It was still quiet, but 3 Tufted Duck and 2 Gadwall had returned 

Imperial Rd

Little Egret 1 

Grey Heron 1

It was calling as it flew off, immediately triggering a response 
from at least two Water Rail and a Cetti's warbler 

Stonechat, both the male and female were showing well again, near the blocked off entrance 50m from the bypass roundabout.

Female Stonechat 

This clip begins slightly out of focus as the focus was set to where the male had been. Fortunately he quickly returned to the same spot. They were using the fences as lookout posts then flying off when they spotted an insect.

Heysham skear 11:15 - 12:30

Pale-bellied Brent goose - at least 18. 4 and 2 flew north and at least 12 on the rocks out from the play area.

Brent geese heading north

Eider 35

Red-breasted Merganser 4

Great Crested Grebe 1

Shag 1 juvenile flew south, so close I could barely fit it in frame.

Juveniles Shag

I had gone down early in the ebbing tide to check the Knot. Initially there were two resting groups of 300, then as they moved to the newly exposing feeding areas they were joined by another 900. But no sooner had they landed when 2 Peregrines attacked and completely, well almost completely, cleared the skear of Knot.

Neither Peregrine was successful this time

This small group of Knot decided to stand their ground during the attack.
This behaviour was also seen last winter period. A reasonable tactic as long
some birds do take to the air, and the grounded ones hold their nerve!

Too wet for the ducks!

If there was ever a day ideal for watching rain, today was that day! It rained constantly all day. Kevin's weather station recorded 27cm of rain during today's daylight hours! A light SE breeze.

I don't normally mind walking in the rain (Malcolm). But the tide was out for much of the day and the wind insignificant. I couldn't think of anywhere for a productive walk. So I just did two quick tours in my car, this morning and again this afternoon.

Imperial Rd

Common Buzzard 1

Grey Heron 1

Knowsley Rd

No Brent geese could be seen on either visit.

Heysham Cricket Club

There were no Mistle thrushes on the adjacent football pitch today, but Black-Headed Gulls and five Jackdaws had joined the Oystercatchers

Black-Headed Gulls, Oystercatcher and Jackdaws

This Stock Dove was on the cricket field

Middleton Nature Reserve - main pond

This morning the wildfowl seemed to be as usual 

Mute Swan 1 female plus 6 cygnets 

Mallard c30

Tufted Duck 8

Gadwall 6

Coot 10

Moorhen 4

Tufted Duck and Coot

Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Coot, Black-Headed gull and a cygnet's bottom

Cormorant 

There were also 30 plus gulls, Herring and Black-Headed

When I returned this afternoon the pond looked deserted. There were still Mallard around the fringes, but there were noTufted and no Gadwall, and the gulls had moved on too.

Hopefully things will be a bit brighter tomorrow.