More Canadas

Mainly dry after a morning shower, an early light south wind freshened as it moved to SW

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Canada geese 40 minimum. A skein of 40 flew east over the golf course, a little later a similar sized, possibly the same, skein flew north.

Canada geese

The Coot still bickering

Swallow

House Martin

Common Whitethroat 

Cinnabar moth 1 first of the year

Imperial Rd (Malcolm) 09:45 - 10:10

Buzzard 2, possibly more - one soaring and "hovering" around the marsh area whilst at least one was calling from the copse. Unfortunately no Buzzard calls in this clip.

Raven 1 over to the north

Reed Bunting with a Cranefly

Common Whitethroat both with food.
It looked like they were trying to persuade the young to leave the nest

Singing warblers:

Cetti's warbler

Chiffchaff 

Sedge warbler

I only stopped off to see how the Stonechats were doing, but it took me 15 minutes to find them. Mainly as I was looking in the wrong place! I think I got the nest location wrong, all the activity today was around these bushes at the side of the road.

This shot is taken from where the wooden gate used to be near the roundabout.
All today's Stonechat sighting would be within this frame.

I definitely saw the male and probably the female although I was looking into the light so partially silhouetted.

Male Stonechat with a larger potion of food than the other day.
The white in the background is the lorry in the above shot

Off to find more food, but he didn't have to go far

This isn't a great clip, but it does show the abundance of insects despite it being overcast.

All watched over by a Roebuck 

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 17:30 - 19:00

I went down early in the tide but didn't see any small waders today.

But I wasn't the only early arrival.

A handful of gulls arrived early and waited on the mud for the skear to
be exposed. Remarkably, one Lesser Black-Backed was ringed. It's the one
in the middle having a flap

A new bird for here, details awaited. 
Eventually c500 gulls arrived and I must have checked at least half of them,
but didn't see another ringed bird

Red-breasted Merganser 1 male

Eider pair with 3 well developed young. 

The only wader other than Oystercatcher was a Whimbrel.

Whimbrel and Lesser Black-Backed gull

Canada goose moult migration in full swing

A fresh SW wind eased by evening. It remained dry after a very heavy morning shower.

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 09:00 - 10:30

Low water was 09:00. The heavy morning shower had ended and the sun was trying to get out. Before I had even got my camera out of the car Canada geese began piling through to the north, low and along the line of the promenade. Presumably the shower had put them down close by and it was time to continue their journey to safe waters for their annual moult (for non breeding birds).

Some have already started moulting 

This is the last of the 132 passing through. I was still at my car, that's a lamp
on the promenade 

I only saw two more while I was out on the skear, these heading NW

As I was leaving a group of 17 that had drifted in on the tide lifted when they reached the skear and flew back south.

I didn't see them beyond Half Moon Bay, so I suspect that they landed again to get their bearings. Anyway they brought this morning's total to 151.

Eider just 2 (male and female)

Great Crested grebe 1

Great Crested Grebe

Little Egret 5 - this one catches what looks to be a Common Goby

Grey Heron 1

Grey Heron

Apart from Oystercatchers the only other wader seen was a Curlew

Gulls they were well spread out as most of the skear was exposed at low water, there were at least 700 mainly Herring gulls. I managed to check a few hundred for rings but failed to see any. 

Sometimes checking for coded birds can be frustrating, but it can also be rewarding.

This winter plumage Knot was seen on the skear in March this year

Yesterday it was seen in Norway

Nesseby Norway - what a beautiful place!
Many thanks to Jeff and Allison Kew for these pictures.
It was also seen in Orkney in early May on route to Norway. And this will only
be a staging post for its final destination, breeding grounds in Greenland or
Canadian arctic. These records help to better understand migration routes and 
areas that require preserving, ensuring that future generations continue to thrive.

One of three Barrel Jellyfish stranded on the skear. That's a £1 coin on top.
This one survived this stranding, but it will likely be left higher and drier by 
the next tide.

I had another check as the skear became exposed again this evening.

Sanderling 23 flew west across the bay, almost before the inner skear was exposed, I'll have to go even earlier in the tide tomorrow evening.

Little Egret 10

Even though the SW wind had eased there were loads of shrimps and other invertebrates in the shallows, so much so that the c500 gulls were feeding on them rather than the seed mussels. Just one previously seen ringed Herring gull located.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Linnet

Four-spotted Chaser

Very fresh Black-tailed Skimmer

Large Skipper

Several Small Heath and.......

Burnet Companions

Common Green Grasshopper with its wings showing

Wet and windy

A strong SW wind with showers 

South shore (Malcolm)

A walk along the sea wall on the rising tide this morning. Plenty of wind, but nothing much to see.

Shelduck 1 out

Shelduck 

Kittiwake 1 adult in

Plenty of gulls on the outfalls but just: Herring, Lesser Black-Backed, Common and Black-Headed

A particularly large Herring gull resting with another Herring and
Lesser Black-Backed gulls

Rock Pipit 3 - one tried to rest above the nest site near the lighthouse, but was blown off the wall twice. These two were in a much more sheltered area near the waterfall.

Obviously preparing what is presumably a second nest nearby.

Linnet 6 between the lighthouse and waterfall

Blackbird 1 male flew to the Elder bush near the waterfall.

The SeaCat heading out

Someone must have been bored, and laid a line of quite sizeable rocks out from
the foreshore. This nicely marks the area where a fine Sea Kale plant grows. You
can just make it out in the foreground, its flowers are finished now but.......

.......Janet took this shot of it a couple of weeks ago, when it was looking its best!

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

The only thing of note today was a Greylag goose flying over.

Imperial Rd (Malcolm)

Just a short look this evening during a light shower.

Stonechat just the male seen.

Sedge Warbler singing (when the rain eased)

Common Whitethroat seen

Cetti's warbler 1 seen flying from the wet area near the roundabout carrying a fecal sac. So another confirmed breeding. Only a few years ago this species was a rarity, hence the bold highlight. But it is now one of the commoner warblers in the area.

These shots are from my garden (Malcolm)

Every evening I wire a string of peanuts to the bird table. Three species of covid come for them, Magpie, Jackdaw and Jays, but I rarely have my camera to hand. Today I did when a Jay visited.

This nice shot of a male Greenfinch by the heliport yesterday - Kevin Singleton 

Sanderling trickling through

A day of two halves really. Overcast and showers in the morning then a sunny afternoon. A light SW wind.

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Male Broad-bodied Chaser

Male Black-Tailed Skimmer

Small Tortoiseshell 

Small Heath

Burnet Companion 

Roe Deer

Heysham skear (Malcolm)

I checked twice today, this morning as the tide was covering the skear and this evening as it was being exposed again. Totals are highest count unless specified.

Canada goose 8 north low up the middle of the bay this morning 

Eider 18

Drake Eider

Red-breasted Merganser 3 - just a male in the morning and an additional pair this evening.

Male Red-breasted Merganser

Pair Red-breasted Merganser

Little Egret 6

Grey Heron 1

Oystercatcher 1,200

Whimbrel 1 heard this morning 

Curlew 1 seen this evening 

Sanderling 7 this evening. Two groups 2 and 5 and both quickly continued north, despite there being lots of invertebrates to eat. Perhaps they already had eaten their fill.

Sanderling centre. Note the gull on the left, it has a shrimp in its bill 
but can hardly be bothered to swallow it!

A nice size comparison shot Oystercatcher and Sanderling 

Five Sanderling in this shot

Sanderling, well on the way to Summer Plumage 

Gulls 800+ this morning 600 this evening. No ringed birds seen this morning, but 4 this evening, including one new one for here.

This one has been seen before, but we have just received its details.
Ringed 2/07/24 on Inchcolm Island in the middle of the Firth of Forth.
The sightings here are the first records