And so it begins......Stonechats moving today

The fresh SSW winds continue. Overcast and wet early on. A slow moving clear front eventually reached us by late morning, after that sunny spells and showers.

This is the weather front, it barely moved in the hour that I was on the shore

Stonechat at least 4. Janet located a female quickly passing through Red Nab this morning. Kevin saw a female near the lighthouse, just possibly the same bird. Later Pete C saw three (2 female and 1 male) working their way along the children's play area in Heysham Village Bay, before moving off north.

This is the Red Nab bird photographed by Janet

Green Sandpiper 1 next to the pond near the gate on the west side of Imperial Way

Mediterranean Gull 2 adult. One followed the lunchtime ferry in plus one on the shore by and flying around the children's play area

Not a great picture, but it shows the location, that's the track to
Knowlys Rd behind the Med

Med on left with two Black-headed gulls.
You can see the gut weed on the mud, more on that later

Other stuff from north shore:

Eider 110

Great Crested Grebe 8, including a displaying pair

Knot c500

Turnstone at least 150. There was one flock c150 flew in from SW. later there were several smaller flocks, but just possibly part of the same lot flying around.

Just a few of the Turnstone flying by

Pale-bellied Brent Goose 2. These two arrived at 09:50, 20 minutes after the tide had started to come in. They made to the SE corner of the skeer, and ate the only weed available. Broken weed washed into the corner by the tide.

Most of the larger bits were deemed unpalatable. They didn't seem to be finding much that was. There is virtually no sea lettuce left around the skeer now. It is obviously a favoured food, as they have barely touched the gut weed nearer the play area, and no record at all yet of them feeding on Red Nab (also gut weed). 

Close to the children's play area there is lots of gut weed.

This is quite close in, but Brent have been seen feeding much closer than this.

Even quite a distance from shore there is plenty of gut weed
Presumably the Brent will start on this when their favoured food becomes harder to find.

Finally, this is interesting (well at least I think so). This male Red-Breasted Merganser was searching the pools on Red Nab. Not only does it capture a crab, but is a soft crab that has just shed its complete outer skeleton. This is early, particularly after such a cold spell. Although they can shed at anytime in theory, it was likely influenced by the warmer Power Station cooling water. When they are soft like this they are normally protected by a hard crab shielding them, but that doesn't seem to have been the case here. This would have been its final moult, it is(was) a full sized Shore crab.

The blog restricts video size so I have split it in two sections. First, the capture:

Part two - getting it eaten before it's pinched. The crab has no defence, its claws are as soft as its carapace.

You can't see in real time, but the first gull does manage to pinch some. But the Merganser managed most of it and looks pretty pleased with himself. There is an option to watch in slow motion, if you use the video menu option.

No hat or gloves!

As the title suggests, the warmer SSW winds continue, with some sunny spells making it feel comparatively warm.

Heysham skeer

Just a quick look at low water (09:00)

Eider 100+

Pale-bellied Brent goose 15. There were two groups (2 & 6) feeding on the mud on the south side plus 7 more on the water on the north side. There is very little weed to feed on now around the skeer.

I don't know if this young gull's instincts tell it that dropping a mussel from height is a way to open it, or if it has been watching the adults do it. Either way, it's missed the bit where you drop it on a hard surface. It was dropping it on to spongy mud, it may as well have dropped it onto a trampoline!

It was still at it five minutes later. Technique looks good though, so I'm sure it will get there. By the way, the regular Carrion Crows also open mussels by dropping them onto the skeer stones, I'm sure they have learnt by watching the gulls.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

I did a full circuit today, it was nice to walk around without my hat and gloves, shame it was a bit noisy with necessary landscape work underway.

Main pond:

Mute 8 adult 4 juvenile 

Gadwall 2

Mallard 2

Coot 2

Moorhen 2

No swimming pond:

Mute 2 adult

Gadwall 6

Mallard 3

Coot 4

Moorhen 2

Tim Butler Pond:

Gadwall 2

Teal heard calling but only 2 seen, suspect several more

Coot 2

Moorhen 4

Fence Pond:

Gadwall 12

Grey Heron 1

Western scrape:

Teal 5

Water Rail 1

The landscape work near the western scrape made the ducks flighty

Some of the Fence pond Gadwall doing a circuit 

The western scrape Teal had enough and moved on.

Mediterranean gull 1 on horse paddock by Knowlys Road. 

These excellent pictures from Kevin Singleton - thanks
Same bird that uses the lamppost.

The Oystercatchers have not returned to the cricket field, yet.

Plenty of food, for now

The wind shifted round to SWS. It was noticeably warmer, particularly when the sun was out. A few afternoon showers.

South shore

Rock Pipit 2. One being territorial on the rocky outcrop on the east side of the saltmarsh. And this one, standing above the last two year's nest site near the lighthouse.

Rock pipit above harbour nest site - picture by Janet

Reed Bunting 1 on saltmarsh 

Common Snipe 26

Jack Snipe 1

Both the above flushed from saltmarsh by the rising tide, but long before it was covered.

Grey Plover 2

Ringed Plover 26

Some of the Ringed Plover being moved on by the tide

These Redshank are feeding in the saltmarsh creek. It isn't obvious what they are feeding on, but it seems to be on the mud surface and floating in the water. I suspect it is a mixture of small invertebrates killed when the mud froze and are now being released by the rising water (the water rises under the mud as well as above it)

These Shelduck also seemed to be taking advantage of this temporary source of food. This is the same creek a little further along.

Pink-Footed goose 38 NE 12:10

Greylag goose 21 flew low from Middleton Nature Reserve then headed towards the Lune estuary 

Greylag geese - not overly common here

Janet took this nice shot of a Cormorant in breeding plumage

Middleton Nature Reserve 

All the ice has now gone.

Mute swan, some additional adults arrived towards the end of the freeze, there were still 6 extra birds today.

2 adult plus 1 juvenile on "no swimming" pond. 6 adult plus 2 juvenile on main pond.

Mallard 6

Gadwall 6

Tufted 1 male

No sign of the Little grebe

Lamppost Med obliges, for a change!

Much milder today. SSE wind and occasional sunshine.

On the 4th January Pete identified a lamppost which a Mediterranean Gull routinely uses as a vantage point. It is the third lamppost on the east side of Heysham Road, just north of the traffic light junction with Oxcliffe Road. I usually drive past this spot at least once a day, and so far had failed to see it. Today I passed twice, 08:00 and 13:30 and it was there both times (MD)

Adult Mediterranean gull

South Shore

Goldcrest 1 feeding with small tit flock at the southern end of the dog walk track.

Grey Plover 2

Common snipe 25

Rock Pipit 2, one on saltmarsh and one on Red Nab

Kevin took this nice shot of a Little Egret on Red Nab.
Looking splendid in its breeding plumage

These Black-Headed gulls were paddling to draw out invertebrates, on the mud just out from the saltmarsh. Not worms in this case, but almost certainly small shrimps. Shrimps will shuffle themselves just below the mud surface if stranded, and this is a very flat section of mud, which drains very quickly on these spring tides. If not eaten, the shrimps will easily survive till the next tide.

They seem to be getting a few, and they are not keeping bad time to the beat coming from behind me, see below.

On 29th January I posted images of a landslip on the southern boundary of Ocean Edge. Today this mechanical digger was consolidating all the rubble out from the cliffs and using it to shore them up.

The block that slipped down is just to the left of the digger.

The cold abates

It didn't freeze last night, but it was not warm enough to melt the pond ice. The SE wind became quite strong, but nothing like as cold as it was yesterday. Some rain showers during the afternoon.

Heysham skeer - low water 07:30

I was a bit late and the tide was already making quickly, not a lot to see

Knot c1,000

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Eider 24 quite close in. 

Some of the Eider, you can see them displaying, but unfortunately you can't hear them due to the wind noise.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

The only open water was on the main pond:

Gadwall 8

Mallard 6

Coot 2

Moorhen 2

The mute have moved to the "no swimming" pond, despite it still being ice covered.

The, slightly younger, juvenile from the other breeding pair is still being tolerated,
it's the one on the left. We'll see what happens when all the water is open again.

Water Rail 2 calling from central marshes.

Mediterranean gull 1 on Knowlys Rd horse paddock at high water

Rock pipit 1 around Heliport wall.

This is from the other day, when the sun was shining. I come across these two or three times a year, and I've never really satisfied myself what they are. This one was on the skeer.

It is rubbery and appears to have no "structure". The only thing I can come up with is that it is the stem (stipe) of Oarweed. This is a type of kelp, which is an algae.  The dimensions are right, but it should have an anchor grip at one end and fronds on the other. Perhaps they have been broken off, but there is no obvious sign of a break. Also the kinks don't seem right, and the few I find are always like this.

If anyone knows for sure what it is, or even an alternative suggestion, please let me know. My e-mail address is on side bar, or just leave a comment. Thanks, Malcolm

An icy blast

Another overnight heavy frost. Overcast all day, the ESE wind was bitterly cold, but things should start "warming" up tomorrow.

After a Grey Wagtail was reported for the second winter at Yeovil, we discovered an admin error and it was in fact the same bird as breeding in Roxburgh in 2020.  In contrast to this extensive movement, we had a report today of one of last autumn's birds wintering at Bolton-le-Sands, 9 or so km to the north- east:

ARB7399 M/O K/B

Ringed:  Middleton NR SD414512 whilst on NW-SE vis mig 14/9/19 as a 1CY

Seen: Ninesprings CP, Yeovil ST557153. 19/1/20   345km S

Breeding male (x 3 young) Teviot Bridge, Nisbet, Roxburgh  159km NNE

Photo: Yeovil, ST550147 ‘recently’ to 11/2/21   504km S 

Thanks to Hilary Forward for the picture and Stephen Hales for help with the record.

The only other stuff I have so far is my check of the saltmarsh on the rising tide (MD):

I got there a while before the water. The intertidal mud was frozen. There was a single Bar-Tailed Godwit feeding in the bottom of the saltmarsh creek. It wasn't really practical to use my camera until I was on the eastern side, which meant protection from the wind by the high bank and being able to have my back to the wind, so I took this clip of it later, just as the tide was displacing it.

Ringed Plover c50

Grey Plover 2

Dunlin c250

Four of the Dunlin

All the waders were having to feed where the mud was not frozen. Typically in the creek and drains, but also where ground water was emerging from below the mud.

This groundwater was emerging too high up the cliff

This would normally be a pool of groundwater, too high for the water to flow, so it froze.
But you can see it emerging at the top of the picture and then flowing down to the creek.
I actually took this picture because it looked like I felt!

This groundwater is just right, seeping out from below the mud, allowing these Dunlin access to any invertebrates.

I've removed the soundtrack, I didn't want to distract you with my chattering teeth!

I was expecting the Merlin to arrive, but no sign. Perhaps it fed earlier.

I didn't want to disturb these Dunlin, plus many more further along, so I called it a day and headed back, long before the tide covered the marsh, even so 7 Common Snipe seen,

Also

Reed Bunting 2

Rock Pipit 1. This was originally near the slipway, but then flew across the marsh to the rocky outcrop.

Fish being battered.......(sorry!)

Another, less severe, overnight frost. Technically the day was warmer too, but in the bitter ESE wind, it didn't feel like it!

The cold spell significantly affects the water temperature in the bay, particularly on these spring tides. A lot of mud is exposed to sub zero temperatures for long periods, this in turn cools the relatively shallow water when the tide comes in. The cool water is focusing the over wintering Bass around the warmer Power Station cooling water. As every wildlife documentary will tell you, a concentration of prey leads to a concentration of predators, particularly when the prey is a warm water species that becomes sluggish in cooler water. Cormorants surround the outflows and the Grey Seal was there too today.

The following excellent sequence of shots were taken by Janet, as ever you will need to open the images to appreciate the detail.

First up - the Grey Seal

Initially, resting, presumably after a meal

It then did a spot of Janet watching........

...before diving again. This revealed a lesion on its back,
possibly an ulcer, but it looks like propeller damage

Now the Cormorants

This one has caught a decent sized bass,
and the good thing about being plenty to go round.....

.....is that you get time to position it right for swallowing 

You can see the cormorant's neck skin, stretched tightly over the neck vertebrae.

The above shots are very spectacular, but understandable, this next fishy tale is neither!

This 6cm specimen is a Whitebait - nothing unusual about that, 
it is the staple prey fish for larger fish and diving birds in the bay at this time of year.

"Whitebait" is a generalisation for small fish fry that school together. I think this is a young Sprat, possibly Herring. It lays were it died, fine feathering in the surrounding mud shows it to have flipped a couple of times, before quickly succumbing to the cold air. The location is just adjacent to the creek by the saltmarsh I showed yesterday. The only way it's ended up here is by jumping out of the creek water on the early morning ebbing tide (it would have been c02:30 when this mud was exposed, next to a full creek). Again, nothing unusual about that jumping out of the water is a tried and tested escape mechanism from predators, just unfortunate to have landed on the mud. The puzzle is, what was chasing it? The traditional winter predators, Codling and Whiting would not feed in such shallow water when the tide was ebbing. The only two other candidates would be Flounder, but they are not really a nighttime feeder, or Bass, but I would have thought it too cold for them in shallow water on a freezing night so far from the outflows. Even so, I'm pretty sure it would have been one of these two, so I'll plump for Bass. (By the way, there were no tracks near by, so it couldn't have been a bird or mammal).

Other stuff:

The Merlin was again hunting a small flock of Dunlin out from the saltmarsh.

Pink-Footed goose, small flocks wandering in all directions except west

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Both the Tim Butler and "no swimming" ponds are completely frozen over, but the size of the open water on the main pond has increased.

All the remaining wildfowl were using it:

Mute 2 adult 3 juvenile 

Coot 4

Gadwall 24

Mallard 4

Stock Dove 2 together flying towards the golf course

Wood Pigeon 40+ resting in trees along SW border of the reserve

Heysham ice floes

Another freezing night and sunny day. The cold east wind eased slightly and moved towards ESE.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

The good news is that the juvenile mute, that appeared to be stuck on the ice yesterday, is fine. Indeed, as with the last cold spell, it was allowed to join the others. This is it, second from the left.

I did go with the necessary rescue equipment, but was pleased not to need it. Mainly for the swan's sake, but also mine. Previous experience at rescuing wildlife has taught me not to expect it to be friendly, helpful or grateful!

No ringed gulls again.

Mallard 6

Gadwall 2

Coot 2

No other ponds checked.

Red Nab and saltmarsh area

Part of a flock of Shelduck over Red Nab - there are c80 on this frame

This, more detailed shot from Janet is later in the tide.
Still plenty of Shelduck and Cormorant close in

Lapwing 190

Redshank 70

Grey Plover 8

Dunlin c40

Ringed Plover 33

A few of the Ringed Plover

Rock Pipit - none on Red Nab again, but this one was on the rocky outcrop on the east side of the marsh.

I made an effort to get the Power Station in the background.
EDF provide a lot of support for the Observatory 

But I wanted a clear background for this recording of it calling. It does get a barely audible reply from its mate towards the end of this clip. Perhaps, this is the bird that was displaying on Red Nab on Tuesday.

The background noise, apart from the wind, is the tide starting to surround me and the rock - time to leave!

There were no snipe or Reed Bunting seen, on the return leg I found out why:

Merlin 1 female type. Flew low across the marsh then around the edge before heading north.

This is the tide coming up the creek on the southern boundary of the saltmarsh. This creek is the culmination of a succession of ground water springs making their way to the sea. So not surprisingly some of the water froze between tides. The various groans and squeaks are not me, for once, but the sound made by the ice.

I know it's hardly the Yukon, but what do you expect from a saltmarsh creek?

The juvenile Norwegian ringed Oystercatcher was back on the football pitch with just one adult. They were managing to get their bills into the ground, but I don't know if any worms remained within reach.

A scan from Knowlys produced:

Eider 210

Goldeneye 1 male

Single figures each Red-breasted Merganser and Great Crested Grebe

No sign of any Brent geese

Finally, there were some nice cirrus cloud formations early to mid morning

Plenty of ice.

Another heavy overnight frost. The wind more to NE, but still cold. But the day was again pleasant to walk in, with the warming sun shining for most of the day.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Again plenty of gulls on the main pond ice, but none ringed. We have just received the details of a Black-Headed gull read on the ice earlier this winter:

Black-headed gull K03025/J1TH

Adult	Musoya Strand, Drammen, Buskerud,  NORWAY 59 45N 10 08E	13/04/2013
Seen	Linnesstranda, Lier, Buskerud,  NORWAY 59 44N 10 16E	05/07/2015	8km E
Seen	Linnesstranda, Lier, Buskerud, NORWAY	18/05/2016
Seen	Linnesstranda, Lier, Buskerud, NORWAY	25/05/2016
Seen	Middleton NR	03/02/2019
Seen	Middleton NR	29/12/2020
Seen	Middleton NR	04/01/2021
Photo	Middleton NR	15/01/2021	1014km S

This is the second consecutive winter that it has been recorded at Middleton 

This is size of the hole on the main pond being maintained by the Mute.
Also the favoured area for the remaining 6 Mallard,
they probably also get the bread taken for the swans.

Janet took the above two pictures, this is the estranged juvenile,
Janet was worried that it may be stuck on the ice, as it didn't move to reach bread
but I'm sure it was closer to the hole when I checked.
I'll have a proper look tomorrow  and take my chest waders, just in case.

The small hole on the "no swimming" pond is now frozen over, there were just 4 coot and 2 Moorhen walking around the margins.

But, surprisingly, there is still a small hole on the Tim Butler pond, maintained by 25 Gadwall

There were also at least two Teal calling, but out of sight.

Cetti's warbler 1 singing on the central marsh

Red Nab and Saltmarsh - high water 10:20

Plenty of birds on Red Nab, nothing unusual, but easy to see on these medium height tides: Cormorant, Shelduck, Wigeon, Red-breasted Merganser, Grey Heron, Little Egret, all the common gulls (and possibly some less common too), Oystercatcher, Knot, Lapwing, Curlew, Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Redshank, Dunlin, Grey Plover. No Rock Pipit today.

Just a flavour of the abundance of birds, there are 70 Curlew on this shot,
and this is only a small area.

The water on Red Nab was frozen, before the tide reached it,
but it has been 5 days since the tide got this high, so the water would have been fairly brackish 

Kevin took the following shots on Red Nab

Reshank

Grey Plover (Kevin says it appears to be limping)

Cormorant in breeding plumage 

Again the tide was not high enough to cover the marsh, but it still flushed:

Common Snipe c20

Jack Snipe 1 flushed by tide plus 1 flushed by me around the edge where groundwater was seeping onto the marsh

Reed Bunting 1, but different to yesterday's bird.

A quick scan of the skeer towards low water found no Brent geese

Goldeneye 1 male

First in the queue at the breadline!

A harder frost last night froze all open water, except the few pockets maintained by the wildfowl. Although it was another reasonably pleasant day as long as you were protected from the cold ENE wind. A few short snow showers mainly in the afternoon. A very heavy frost expected tonight.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

A check first thing saw 140, mainly Black-Headed, gulls on the ice of the main pond. None were ringed, a bit frustrating as a blue ringed BHG was seen briefly yesterday, out of only 6 on a small pocket of ice.

Janet took this shot a bit later

Less gulls now, but you can see the small hole being kept open, mainly by the swans.

Janet also took these two shots.

A BHG dropped this bread, and the resident Grey Heron flew over to investigate 

It wasn't overly impressed, a nice frog would have been better, but wasn't for handling it over!

Mallard 9

Teal 8 - stood on ice

Gadwall 4

Coot 6 (more on these later)

Little grebe 3 (2 + 1) I have suspected 3 birds for a couple of days (MD)

The Little grebe seemed to "know" that they needed to feed as much as possible (while they still can).

Cetti's warbler 1 singing in central marsh

Red Nab and Saltmarsh - high water 09:25

Rock Pipit - 2 on Red Nab, one displaying. 1 near rocky outcrop on east side of saltmarsh.

I thought there may have been some cold weather passerine movement to the saltmarsh, but the only additional birds were a Song Thrush and a Blackbird

This Reed Bunting was puffing itself up to keep out the cold

The 8.4m tide just reached the edge of the marsh, but still lifted 29 Common Snipe

I like this shot of a Grey Plover on the foreshore 

But this one is not quite so easy to see

Unusually, there is just one each of five species on this shot on Red Nab
Grey Plover, Knot, Lapwing, Redshank and Turnstone 

Jackdaw 10 by Trumacar Stores - a new area for local birds

Mediterranean gull 2 - one behind lunchtime ferry plus one seen out from Knowlys Road

Brent geese none seen/reported in the area today

The Oystercatchers were also not on the cricket or football field

Finally two clips of Coot. This first one is of one feeding yesterday, showing just how graceful they can be.

A grace not transmitted to walking on ice:

Walk this way........

......err......perhaps not!