A silver sea

A dry day but misty till mid afternoon, then quite warm and sunny. Very light variable breeze.

North shore (Malcolm)

Two checks again, morning on the flood tide and afternoon on the ebb.

It was strange light both visits, the flat sea was silver until the sun broke through this afternoon.

Mist rolling over Heysham Head this morning 

Pale-bellied Brent geese 37 was the most seen at one time, but they were scattered all around in small groups.

Pink-Footed goose 45 SE in the afternoon 

Eider just 20 in the morning, but an impressive 188 in the afternoon, partly as the flat sea allowed all the distant ones to be counted.

Distant Eider on a silver sea 

The skear in this afternoon's unusual light - Brent geese in the foreground 

Brent geese and Eider after the sun broke through 

Little Egret 2

Oystercatcher 2,500

Curlew 20

Redshank 120 (no shrimps close in today as the sea was so calm)

Knot 2,000 including some new flagged birds.

This Knot is part of a scheme based at the Wash, Norfolk - details awaited
It is just swallowing a small bivalve mollusc 

This Merseyside scheme bird has one of the molluscs in its bill

Dunlin 44

Dunlin

Turnstone 25

Ringed Plover 4

Grey Plover 1

Grey Plover with Knot

A good Knot day (at least for those that survived the day!)

A very pleasant and sunny day. A light west wind.

It was brought to my attention yesterday that sometimes the video links in this post open an unrelated video (from the previous day). Hopefully this software glitch will be resolved, meanwhile, if you open a clip and it isn't what it says it is going to be, refresh and hopefully you will link to the correct clip (Malcolm)

North shore

I watched the incoming tide cover the skear this morning (Malcolm)

Pale-bellied Brent geese 49

Pink-Footed goose 7 east

Eider 5

Red-breasted Merganser 1 female

Great Crested grebe 1

Little Egret 2

Oystercatcher 3,500 including birds along the waterline which I don't normally include in my counts of skear birds.

Curlew 20

Redshank 250

Turnstone 30

Dunlin 15

Ringed Plover 4

Knot 2,500 moved off the skear and on to the shore, but were almost immediately attacked by two Peregrines. One made a kill straight away, the other chased the birds further south beyond Heysham Head.

These spring tides come in very quickly, they are called spring, not after the season, but it relates to the force of the water "springing forth". Like this:

Heliport - report from Howard:

I visited the heliport this morning 2 hours before peak tide and the helipad was full of knot c4000, the corvids put them up a couple of times which was welcomed to move them round.

Some of the many flagged birds read by Howard today

I returned to the skear this afternoon as the tide was equally quickly draining off the skear (Malcolm).

At least 3,000 Knot returned to feed. Mercifully there were no further Peregrine attacks. And I also managed to read a good number of flagged Knot. It isn't as easy as Howard's lovely shots make it look. There is a flagged Knot feeding in the very soft mud in this clip.

And when you get a clear shot of it......it's as clear as, well....mud!

This Turnstone has a metal ring (no sign of any colour rings on tibia)

39 Brent geese returned

Some of the 85 Eider

South shore - Shaun Coyle

Red Nab at 12:30. 

PB Brent Geese 47 

Wigeon 204.

Ringed Plover 7

Turnstone 14 at Outfall 2.

Single Rock Pipits at Red Nab and at the Roundhead.

Plenty to see between the showers

Some very heavy showers, particularly in the morning. A light SW wind.

North Shore

The heavy morning showers tempted the waders to feed on the grass field between the play area and Whinnysty lane. Janet took these shots.

The Oystercatcher just left of centre has a worm

They all had dirty bills!

Oystercatcher, Turnstone and Redshank 
The smaller waders likely after any invertebrates disturbed by the Oystercatcher 

Redshank, with a clean bill

I checked Heysham shear on the ebbing tide (Malcolm)

No Brent geese seen.

Eider 65

Some of the Eider resting on a sandbar. 

Red-breasted Merganser 4

Male Red-breasted Merganser

Oystercatcher 1,500

Curlew 20

Redshank 150

Knot 700

Dunlin 20

Turnstone 25

Ringed Plover 2

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

Just a check of the two main ponds.

Mute Swan pair now back on the "no swimming" pond where they nest. No sign of last year's youngster.

Gadwall 35 (2 on the "no swimming" pond)

Mallard just 7 on the main pond

Tufted Duck 4 - 2 each male and female on the main pond

Coot 10 (3 on the "no swimming" pond)

Moorhen 2 - 1 each pond

Little grebe 3 (1 on the "no swimming" pond)

Gadwall pair

Coot

These are the main pond Little grebes, just one in summer plumage.
The "no swimming" pond bird was also in summer plumage.

These are Tufted and Gadwall feeding.

Coot, Tufted, Gadwall and Little grebes.

Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

Just a passing check.

Barn Owl 1 dropped into the scrub to the north of the copse. I didn't see it lift again.

Mallard 4 and Teal 10 in a tiny pool just to the east of the road (visible only through the hedge)

Teal and Mallard

Wood Pigeon c90 roosting in the copse

Some of the Wood Pigeon

Doe Roe Deer

I have just been notified by a post reader that the videos didn't match the caption when first viewed. This is obviously a glitch in the software (although I am perfectly capable of uploading the wrong clip!). If what you see doesn't make sense please try a second time. Malcolm

Stonechat passing through

A dry day with sunny spells. A light west to SW wind.

North shore

Pale-bellied Brent goose 45 - David Kaye

I checked the skear on the ebbing tide this afternoon (Malcolm)

Some of the Brent were resting on the skear. The lower one on the right
is squatting not stood as the others. Possibly the bird with the missing foot?

A Peregrine attack lifted everything, at least all the Brent managed to
take off together

Eider 30

Female Eider

Great Crested Grebe 1

Oystercatcher 1,500

Curlew 40

Redshank 450 most were shrimping 

Knot 2700 including three new flagged birds for this winter.

This Knot was ringed in Inverness Scotland in 2023

Turnstone 40

Dunlin 30

Ringed Plover 2

Knot, Redshank and Curlew feeding. Note the Curlew, many text books
and information plaques along the promenade tell you that Curlew use their
long bills to probe deep into the mud. And of course they have that option.
But more often than not they use it to probe horizontally under rocks etc.

Today's conditions were perfect for the waders. The west wind brought
small shrimps into the shallows all around the skear. Plus we are moving 
back to spring tides now and areas of skear not exposed for a week are
available again. These are Knot flying out to newly exposed strips of skear.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

A late afternoon check failed to locate the Barn Owl. But this male Stonechat was near the turning circle on the road to the water treatment plant.

Stonechat

Good and not so good Brent news

A sunny day after a cloudy start, although there was heavy rain in the evening. A light south wind.

North shore

Janet checked out from the Sunnyslopes around high water and managed to read three Orange flagged Knot.

Knot

I checked the skear as the tide was ebbing (Malcolm). There were over 3,000 Knot until 500 left to NW after a Peregrine attack. They were feeding on shrimps, which meant their legs were in the water for much of the time. These are Knot and Redshank shrimping.

Shrimps are packed with protein and the Knot don't have to feed for very long periods. Instead they rested for long periods making finding any flagged ones difficult. Even so some new birds for this winter were seen.

Oystercatcher 1,500

Curlew 40

Dunlin 30

Redshank 250

Turnstone 35 - the Turnstone turned their nose up to shrimping and stuck to their tried and tested feeding technique.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 28 minimum, they were scattered all around the skear and some higher up the shore. The good news is that the two ringed Canadian arctic birds were with them. This is their first record on this side of the bay this winter.

Ringed as a breeding pair at Axel Heiberg Island Canada in 2014.
They have been seen at Heysham every winter since then. It's a long way!

Unfortunately this Brent is missing its left foot. Otherwise it looks
to be healthy enough

Eider 8

Wigeon 2

Wigeon and Brent geese

Miserable weather!

A strong SE wind with, almost constant, rain.

Time to reflect.

These are some shots of Knot at heliport earlier this week - Howard

Knot

Two of yesterday's Knot on the skear - Malcolm

Ringed in Holland in 2018. It has been seen here before in two previous 
winters. Recent history awaited

Ringed in Merseyside 08/05/24. It has been sighted in three Merseyside locations 
and more recently at Barrow in January. This is its first sighting here.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

Just a quick passing check of the two main ponds was all I managed today.

Main pond:

Mute pair (no immature with them)

Mallard 8

This Mallard had a strikingly orange bill

Tufted Duck pair

Gadwall 34

Teal 1 male

Coot 10

Moorhen 1

Some of the wildfowl, Mallard in the foreground, Gadwall,  Coot and
the Teal behind.

"No swimming" pond

Mute Swan 1 immature, but it wasn't mute! It kept calling wistfully, presumably now an unwilling outcast.  I tried to get a clip of it calling, but as soon as I got my camera out, it stopped calling, began feeding, and showed me its backside! 

Tufted Duck 1 male

Tufted Duck having a stretch

Coot 2

Little grebe 2 - one chased another halfway across the pond then both dived and presumably the pursuit continued under water. These are terrible shots of the leading grebe, but they do give a sense of the action.

Well.......it is a slow news day!

Just outside the recording area  - horse paddock behind Middleton Parish Hall (Malcolm)

Green Sandpiper

Also on/around the pool:

Mallard pair

Redshank 2 together