Lots of Pinks and Brent numbers increasing

Calm to light SSE breeze. Sunny spells turning to overcast by mid afternoon.

There were a lot of Pink-footed geese around today. Janet reported the fields behind Meldon/Oxcliffe roads full of noisy geese at first light. The various records below record 6,000+ heading NW to NE, the latest at 15:10 - which seems late to be heading north.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Report from Alan:

With clear skies and calm conditions, there was a grass frost this morning although it didn't feel too cold except for the hands whilst setting nets. Ringing was very slow with only 9 birds caught by ten thirty. There were 20+ blackbirds grounded around the ringing area and small groups of Redwing and the odd fieldfares moving about the reserve feeding on Hawthorn berries. By 08.30 there was less movement with ones and twos of blackbirds and redwings quietly feeding in hawthorns all around.

The highlight was just after sunrise when lines (possibly 2500) of Pink footed Geese came from the Fylde area flying NE - they filled the sky almost from horizon to horizon and sound of their calls was wonderful. A second, slightly smaller flock followed half an hour later (possibly 1500) and a further 250 + 70 followed them.

Ringing:

Redwing 3

Goldcrest 1

Chiffchaff 1

Single retraps each of Wren, Long tailed Tit and Great Tit.

Up to three Water Rails calling in the reeds.

Shaun managed another visit this morning:

Half Moon Bay & Heysham Head 07:30 - 10:30

Pink-footed Goose - large group of c1300 heading North and NE at 07:35 + c130 NE at 07:45

Shag juv feeding close in just off the northern tip of Heysham Head at high tide

Little Egret 11

Lapwing 84 roosting next to Helipad with some spooked and heading north

Golden Plover group of 36 heading in to the bay

Ringed Plover 4 roosting Heysham Head

Knot c900 in several flocks heading south towards harbour

Snipe 5 flushed off Helipad by a dog walker 

Peregrine pair over power station

Rock Pipit 4

Heysham Nature Reserve 10:30 - 11:30

Did a circuit from the reserve car park to the NE corner via Dipping Pond

Very few birds besides c25 Blackbird, c15 Redwing, 3 Robins and a pair of Bullfinch! 

Small Tortoiseshell 1 seen later by Kevin.

Heysham skear - low water 14:30 (MD)

Pale-bellied Brent geese 23 - initially 21 in the SE corner with 2 more feeding further up the surface water run off. Unfortunately the track the surface water takes down to the corner is the same track used by the tractors to launch and retrieve dinghies, and one operating today temporarily flushed them to the NE corner, but they quickly returned after the tractor left. I had good views of all the birds, none were ringed. 

This shot is actually from the sea wall at Rydal road. This is 30x magnification, so probably not practical for binoculars, but a scope from the sea wall will provide better views. I would not advocate Rydal road though, as if the water had been further out the geese would be out of sight, but anywhere to the south of the skear is fine.

Pale-bellied Brent feeding in the SE corner of skear

This clip is when they all went to the NE corner, you can easily see the Stone Jetty behind, so presumably the geese would be visible from there, but they don't stay there long on calm days, as there is nothing to feed on (West to SW strong winds can drive broken weed into this corner).

Eider 155

Common Scoter 1 juvenile 

Great Crested Grebe 9

Red-breasted Merganser 3 (2 male)

Little Egret 15

Grey Heron 2

Knot - yesterday there was about 1,500 smeared along the centre of the skear, just resting, not feeding. Today there were just a few flocks of 4 - 12 birds. These 4 were also taking advantage of the fresh water run off, they appear to be having a drink.

Pink-Footed goose c600 one flock to NW at 15:10, presumably they had been flushed from wherever they had been feeding. 600 is one of the smaller flocks recorded today, even so, it is quite impressive.

Siberian (type) Chiffchaff, best of a cosmopolitan set of sightings

Light NW breeze. Sunshine all day and very warm, for mid November.

Shaun did a thorough check of all the main observatory areas.

Heysham Nature Reserve 09:00-12:00

Water Rail single squealing in the marsh

Sparrowhawk both male and female seen hunting

Great Spotted Woodpecker Dipping Pond

Blackbird c60 mostly on the eastern side of the reserve

Redwing c25 ditto

Song Thrush 5

Jay 2

Siberian 'type' Chiffchaff {greyish/brown with slight wing bar} showing well in NE corner trees, with a collybita Chiffchaff. 

Another Chiffchaff with 8 Long-tailed Tits, 3 Coal Tits and 2 Goldcrest along the marsh footpath nearby.

And another collybitta Chiffchaff with a single Goldcrest at the Dipping Pond.

Brambling dropped down and landed by the Dipping Pond.

Three grey squirrels and a fox seen

Heysham Head 12:00-13:00 (viewed from benches on footpath from Knowsley Road).

Red-throated Diver single drifting in

Great Crested Grebe 24

Shag juv feeding close to Congor Rock + 18 Cormorant

Little Egret 28

Brent Geese 6 'pale-bellied'

Wigeon pair

Eider 223

Common Scoter single juv near Congor Rock plus a tight group of 14 drifting in much further out

Red-breasted Merganser 14

Heysham Harbour Outfalls 13:30-14:15

Cormorant 31

Wigeon 164

Little Egret 5 in channels off Red Nab

Middleton Nature Reserve 14:30-16:00

Little Grebe single on 'Boating Lake'

Gadwall 28 on 'No Swimming Pond' and a pair on 'Boating Lake'

Grey Heron 2 on 'No Swimming Pond'

Water Rail 2 squealing in Central Marsh

Green Woodpecker heading NW across the reserve. Then yaffling near to the Golf Course afterwards

Cetti's Warbler 2 singing

Long-tailed Tit group of 9

Blackbird c50

Redwing c85 (some groups of 10-15 departing west/northwest late afternoon)

Fieldfare just 2

Song Thrush 6

Mistle Thrush 2

Brambling male near ringing site gate

I also took advantage of the pleasant day and had a good walk around, but didn't see anything not already covered by Shaun.  So just a few images to share with you. First, some of the inshore Eider.

The juvenile Common Scoter and a Cormorant, passing like ships in the night.

None of the 6 Pale-bellied Brent were ringed, which is a shame, they were feeding out of the water in great light, any rings would have been easy to read. This is just 3 of them feeding on the sea lettuce.

The patches of sea lettuce are increasing, despite it now being cropped. It only seems to flourish in the ground water run offs, presumably related to the minerals in the fresh water. This is a typical patch further up the shore from today's feeding birds.

This sea lettuce is what the visiting Brent are feeding on

Peter and Rosemary also had a look around:

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Brimstone butterfly near car park (Janet also had a Small Tortoiseshell nearby)

Middleton Nature Reserve 

A walk around the main pond resulted in

Common Buzzard 2

Grey Heron 1

Black-Headed gulls on the pond very noisy, presumably in reaction to the Buzzards.

2 adult mute Swans and their 9 cygnets 

The Mute family 

Common Darter 1 (I was expecting more sightings of darters today, but at least one still hanging in there. One next Saturday will be later than previous records for the Observatory (MD))

One transatlantic trip too many?

Strong SW wind with heavy showers.

North shore (MD)

First these two clips from the skear yesterday, I kept them back as I wasn't sure the weather today would allow any photography. They are a continuation of the same event, but the full clip is too large to post. This cormorant has caught a decent sized Flounder, there are plenty of bigger ones about, but this is just about as wide a flatfish as they can manage. I've seen them try with larger ones, eventually giving up and then catching another one, a more suitable size. 

The technique requires getting the fish in the correct orientation 

After that it just about squeezing it past its gape, when it goes it goes quickly!

Heysham skear today - low water 12:00

Yesterday's low water height was 2.80m today's was 3.05. So, all things being equal today's low water level should be 0.25m higher than yesterday. But everything wasn't equal, the strong SW wind was holding the tide back and the reduction in atmospheric pressure meant that the water level was generally higher (yesterday the pressure was 1024 millibar today 1004 millibar, so 20 millibar lower - 1 millibar is roughly equal to 1 cm water height). The net effect of that was today's low water was over a metre higher than yesterday. Tide tables are essential if you go on the shore, but every tide table will always qualify itself as a guide only, as both timing and heights can vary significantly.

One consequence of this is that the sea lettuce area in the skear corner did not become exposed, even so it was still accessible.

Pale-bellied Brent 4 - unfortunately they had to feed in the water. I say unfortunately, as at least one had red and blue rings, but very difficult to see. In this clip the middle bird briefly reveals a red ring on the right leg, but you'll do well to see it!

If you missed it, this is a zoomed in still from the above clip

Pale-bellied Brent Goose with red ring on right leg

I managed to establish that at least two of the other geese had no rings, and I didn't think the third had either. This is a worry, as our two regular red/blue ringed birds from Heiberg Island Canada always feed together. 

So I returned to the children's play area 15:30, all four had moved to here, but unfortunately still mainly feeding in the water. Even so I was able to confirm that only one was ringed. There will be many other red/blue ringed birds from this scheme of course, but this one did follow previous feeding patterns. I'll see if they return tomorrow, a better height tide for feeding on the shore, so might be able to read rings.

These are this "evening's" Brent being temporarily flushed by walkers.
You can't make it out on this shot, but the lead bird here had red ring on right leg and blue on left.

Common Scoter 1 juvenile feeding just beyond the low water line on north side of skear, before flying to south side.

This is between dives, a bit different to the serene glide from Wednesday!

Juvenile Common Scoter

This is it flying back

Juvenile Common Scoter 

Another good day

Light SE breeze freshened slightly during the day. Some sunny spells in the morning but overcast with occasional drizzle by afternoon.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Report by Jean:

Vis

Pink-footed Goose 4750 north

Barnacle Goose 1 North

Fieldfare 10

Redwing 83 various directions, some heading E, others W, others dropping in to feed/roost

Mistle Thrush 1

Blackbird 26 some S,

Brambling 1

Chaffinch 4 SE

Siskin 3 lots heard SE

Pied Wagtail 1 SE

Jackdaw 4 S

Woodpigeon 16 SW

Snipe 2 dropped in from W

Goldfinch 1 SW

Reed Bunting 1 plus 3 dropped in and were ringed

Starling 20 S

Ringing - all new birds

Redwing 2

Blackbird 1

Reed Bunting 3

Goldcrest 1

Chiffchaff 1

Wren 1

Also on the reserve a flock of 25 Carrion Crows, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Cetti’s Warbler, Water Rail (2), Moorhen (2-3), Robin (3)

Pete also noted:

Common Darter - still hanging on, 1 along ringing road.

60+ Blackbird heading inland.

I had a quick check mid morning (MD)

Gadwall numbers now grown to 34

Little grebe 1

Mute Swan - this is interesting, well at least I think so, so you'll have to bear with me.

The two adults were on the peninsula of the main pond with their nine cygnets. Another adult flew in with a cygnet and landed in the middle of the pond. The "aggressive" resident male immediately flew over and chased off the adult (it has to be said the new adult didn't offer much resistance). Leaving the cygnet behind.

Then both the female and male headed towards the new cygnet, I assumed they were going to chase that off too. You can see the adult flying over at the start of the clip trying to get the cygnet to fly off. But the two adults just met up and reaffirmed their bond - the male not looking so aggressive now!

The cygnet just swam over and was readily accepted into the fold.

So this is the new family group of two adult plus ten cygnet 

This is in stark contrast to last year when the male constantly chased away the single cygnet that had survived from the other family. The third adult was now nowhere to be seen, but 45 minutes later the single cygnet was seen flying off to SW.

I didn't see anything else not already covered by Jean. I estimated c70 Redwing feeding around the east side of the reserve, most in golf course/Tradebe area.

North Shore

Pete manage a couple of quick checks from Knowlys Road.

Pale-bellied Brent goose 11 in skear corner, both on ebb and flood tide.

Common Scoter 1 juvenile, again seen both visits

Shag 1 juvenile feeding on south side of the skear on flood tide

Little Egret 10 on side of skear.

I had a walk out on the skear towards low water (MD)

The Shag was on Conger rock with a Cormorant at slack water, but as soon as the tide started moving, first the Cormorant then the Shag flew off to feed.

This is nice shot to compare profiles - Shag on the right

It didn't stay long after the Cormorant left. It did a bit of preening then had a yawn.

Great Crested Grebe 3

Red-breasted Merganser 6

Oystercatcher c1,000

Knot c250

c20 each, Turnstone, Redshank and Curlew 

Half Moon Bay

A couple of nice shots from Kevin Singleton 

Little Egret

Pied Wagtail 

Mmm........somewhat better!

Calm first thing with light SW breeze developing later. Overcast all day but it remained dry after some early morning drizzle.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from John

Not quite the weather I anticipated this morning.

Heavy drizzle when I left home, and still light drizzle for a period, at Middleton before two nets were set.

Disappointing catch with only ten birds caught, but did include two new Cettis Warblers. 

Other birds comprised:

Redwing x 4

Goldcrest x2

Blackbird x 1 retrap

Blue Tit x 1

I just did a quick check of the main ponds late morning (MD)

Still 30 Gadwall, but now joined by a male Tufted.

Male Tufted with Gadwall

Heysham skear - low water 09:30

Pale-bellied Brent Goose 12 - the only other low tide this winter where Brent have been seen in the skear SE corner was 1st November. Then low water was 2.4m, today it was 2.3m. These 10 were in the corner where the sparse sea lettuce is growing, at 10:00.

Shaun was also checking from the shore, he managed an additional 2 feeding separately. Later (10:47) as the tide covered the sea lettuce all twelve flew together, to the west of the skear and landed on the water. 

Tomorrow's tide is 2.8m at 10:30 low water. Similar weather conditions so is worth a look.

A small dark duck drifted in with the tide, till it reached the skear, then it started diving.

The small duck on the left with Eider and a Cormorant for size comparison 

This is it drifting in 

And this is it diving, sorry about the occasional loss of focus.

Pete managed to identify it with stills from these clips as a juvenile Common Scoter.

Great Crested Grebe 15

Eider 75 (this is Shaun's figure, I managed 67, which is pretty close for me, it shows the advantage of counting on flat seas)

Little Egret 7

Oystercatcher c750

Ringed Plover 45 on inner skear

No Knot

Not many Curlew, Turnstone and Redshank.

Shag 1 juvenile spotted by Shaun trying to oust the cormorants from conger rock.

Red Nab and saltmarsh area 

Just a quick check towards high water

Wigeon 135 on Red Nab

Shelduck 97 out from saltmarsh - these are just some of the Shelduck 

Greenfinch at least 17 around the saltmarsh edges

Great White Egret 1 high to NW 14:30

Finally, this shot is from this morning's walk on the skear. It was an interesting walk in terms of birds seen, but I would have enjoyed it anyway. I like it on the skear in all conditions, but flat calm and overcast produces a unique beauty (MD).

The view north from the skear this morning.

Nothing, well almost nothing........and wet!

SE breeze in the morning accompanied with penetrating drizzle!

Most of the regular recorders were busy today, and I only had time for a quick check of the south shore first thing. Shame no one had time to check Middleton, Pete advised that there could be a major Blackbird fall today.

South shore (MD)

The good news is that both outflows had plenty of gulls and they were finding food. Unfortunately, today there were only Black-Headed Gulls with a few Herring and Lesser Black-Backed.

The only grounded bird seen was a Song Thrush, being heckled by a Robin near the Harbour waterfall.

Wigeon flock of 24 flying south

Greenfinch 4 on Red Nab

No Rock Pipit seen or heard!

Redshank 47

Lapwing 101

Both the above on mud out from saltmarsh 

Common Snipe 7 

Possibly more to come, but I'm not optimistic.

A good all round day topped with a Snow Bunting!

SE breeze, very low cloud early on with some drizzle. A few light showers during the day.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Report from Alan:

It seemed like an Autumn Thrush type of morning with almost calm but damp air when I arrived at Middleton in the dark - it turned out that it was when John and I set nets. The breeze got up from the south later with fine drizzle for 30 minutes or so from 09.00. A total of 42 birds captured, of which 19 were Redwings.

Wren 1 + 3 retraps

Blackbird 2

Song Thrush 1

Redwing 19

Cetti's Warbler 3 retraps (one of these was first ringed here 22/10/2018)

Chiffchaff 1

Goldcrest 5 + 1 retrap

Long-tailed Tit 1 retrap

Great Tit 2

Chaffinch 1

Lesser Redpoll 1

Bullfinch 1

Pink Footed Geese - large numbers moving NE to feeding areas early on

Fieldfare - at least 30 in one flock flying eastwards.

Redwing - at least 244 moving west to east during the first part of the morning then twos and threes around the reserve feeding on Hawthorn berries (which are abundant here this season).

I just did a quick check of  the main ponds mid morning:

Mute unchanged 

Moorhen 7

Mallard 8

Gadwall 30

Little grebe 2 (one each pond)

Even with the "no swimming" pond water level being back to normal, the Gadwall can only just reach the weed they feed on. No wonder they moved elsewhere when the water was deeper. All the birds were upending to feed today.

Heysham skear mid morning (MD)

A check 1.5 hours after low water meant that the tide was rushing in and many waders already moved on. But some of the diving birds come in closer.

Eider only 38 seen but they were in the far channel and many could have been out of sight.

Red-breasted Merganser 2 (pair)

Great Crested Grebe 12

Little Egret 19

Oystercatcher c200

Turnstone c30

Redshank c30

Curlew 10

Knot - none on the skear but c40 over from north to south.

Ringed Plover 17 

Heliport area

Report from Pete:

Snow Bunting 1 male - seen by Jean on the sparse vegetation  at the top of heliport seawall but lost it when it flew seemingly out to sea

Rock Pipit 3

Greenfinch 65

Red Nab and saltmarsh (MD)

Just a brief check at high water

Chiffchaff 1 near nature park pond

Wigeon 56 out from saltmarsh 

Rock Pipit 3

Reed Bunting 1

Song Thrush 2 on saltmarsh 

Jack Snipe 2 - flushed by dog walking along saltmarsh water's edge. Both birds landed back on other sections of saltmarsh, providing the typical selection of blurry pictures!

We saw-sea birds.

Strong WNW wind largely overcast, but a few sunny spells and the odd light shower.

Heliport area,

No Knot early on, but a flock arrived late in the tide allowing Howard to read three more ringed birds.

I say we saw sea birds. It was Howard who saw one. A partially summer plumaged,  adult Red-Throated Diver, feeding in Half Moon Bay towards high water.

Adult Red-Throated Diver

A check along Half Moon Bay and Heysham Head shore, to see if it was still around failed, but did locate:

Rock Pipit 3 - 1 Half Moon Bay plus 2 around the Head.

South shore late morning (MD)

Wigeon 99 arrived at Red Nab as the tide reached it. Later 59 out from the saltmarsh 

Rock Pipit 2 - 1 each saltmarsh and Red Nab

Greenfinch 44 - 11 Red Nab + 33 saltmarsh 

Reed Bunting 4 on saltmarsh - first records here this winter

Common Snipe 5

Jack Snipe 1

Kestrel 1

These Redshank were "playing" chicken with the waves along the sea wall - there was ever only going to be one winner!

The other sea bird was, as predicted, a single adult Kittiwake out. Seen by Pete whilst checking the outflows.

Tough ducks!

 Very strong SW winds all day. Largely dry till late morning then heavy showers.

First the old Heliport. The Knot numbers have increased on this set of spring tides (2,000 yesterday). And Howard is checking them for ringed and flagged birds. Two pictures below one from yesterday and the lower one from today. Remarkable shots, particularly today's in very difficult conditions.

Colour ringed Knot on the old Heliport wall.
Both these images should be opened to really appreciate the detail.

The only other stuff I have so far are from my two walks along the south sea wall (MD).

Late morning:

Wigeon 103, most taking shelter in the saltmarsh area. But this lone bird choosing to tough it out on the open sea.

Greenfinch 12 Red Nab

Rock Pipit 5 (1 on foreshore, 2 Red Nab, 2 between lighthouse and harbour waterfall). This is one of the harbour birds, it had just been "squaring off" with another bird half way between the lighthouse and the waterfall. This is the boundary between two territories, and where Jean caught and ringed a male this spring. It seems to be finding plenty to eat, can't think what, and eventually revealed its ringed right leg.

Jack Snipe 1 - the tide had already covered the saltmarsh on my return. This bird lifted from the water's edge as I walked past.

Mid afternoon - got a soaking on the way out, but at least when it wasn't actually chuckling it down, it was a good drying wind!

Chiffchaff calling from path just behind Red Nab

Pintail 8 to SE at 14:45 - I always think of Pintail as "the masochistic ducks". I only ever see them when they have a strong wind to fly against! Not a great record shot, but it was hard won, so I'm going to use it. They were beating their wings furiously, which can be seen on this shot.

Pintail flying SE across a very strong SW wind

The only other bird of note was this adult Mediterranean gull on the mud, trying to keep its feathers in order, and its feet on the ground.

Pete advises that there is a possibility of sea birds tomorrow, e.g. Kittiwake 

Good coverage, plenty of birds, especially thrushes.

 Calm early on with whatever air movement there was from SE. Later a NW breeze picked up. Very low cloud/drizzle till 10:00 then some sunshine with the odd shower.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Jean did a quick, but productive check:

0915-0945

Blackbird 19 grounded

Redwing 40 grounded

Fieldfare 9 grounded

Song Thrush 7 grounded

Mistle Thrush 2 grounded

Skylark 2 east

Woodpigeon 6 north

Reed Bunting 1 present

Cetti’s Warbler 1 singing on the west and 1 on the east of the track

Water Rail 3 present

Goldcrest 2 present

Shaun did a thorough check later, although he describes it as a "trundle", obviously there will be some overlap with the above birds that were not moving through.

Had a trundle around (10:00-12:00).

Quite a few thrushes milling about/feeding - mostly on the western side of the reserve. 

Fieldfare c65 (including a group of c45 that dropped in at 11:15).

Redwing c130

Blackbird c75

Song Thrush c10.

Gadwall 29 on 'Non-Swimming Pool' plus a pair of Teal and 2 Little Grebes

Also, a pair of Gadwall on the 'Main Boating/Swan Lake' plus a Grey Heron

Water Rail 2 squealing in Central Marsh

Sparrowhawk fem/imm - quite active

Cetti's Warbler three singing

Blackcap male close to 'ringing area'

Brambling 2 heading southeast

Siskin 4 in trees near Yellow Gate/Golf Course then East

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Jean also managed a quick check here 09:50 - 10:10

Blackbird 18 feeding on berries

Carrion Crow flock of 26 present

Woodpigeon 18 south

Collared Dove 2 south

Chaffinch 2 south

Chiffchaff 1 by the fire pond

Goldcrest 1 

Brambling 1 in the trees near the boardwalk 

Heliport High water - ref Pete

Knot 2,000 

Greenfinch 40 feeding on recently cut seeds

Red Nab and saltmarsh area  09:00 - 11:00 (MD)

Wigeon 60+

Rock Pipit at least 5 - 1 each on: sea wall near No.2 outflow, Red Nab, foreshore, rocky outcrop and pebble beach SE of saltmarsh. On return 3 were battling on foreshore.

Greenfinch - it was strange seeing the mustard behind Red Nab deserted, there are still some seed pods on the plant, presumably not ripe enough yet. There was  flock of 27 along the foreshore and another, or possibly same flock of 31 feeding on brambles on east side of saltmarsh.

Song Thrush 2 on saltmarsh 

Whooper Swan 7 (4 adult + 3 juvenile) south  09:30. The low cloud meant that they were low and close to the coast, unfortunately by this time the breeze had freshened and you can't hear them calling.

The 10m high water covered the saltmarsh flushing:

Common Snipe 7

Jack Snipe 2

Jack Snipe - unmistakable profile,
 a rubbish picture, but better than I normally manage.

Heysham skear

Had a quick check 4 hours ebb. On these spring tides the water ebbs quickly. A lot of the birds, typically Knot and Curlew just wait till the tide exposes the area they want. Others take advantage of the quickly draining water to hunt for shrimps, small fish and the dwindling numbers of crab. This clip is just to give a flavour of the feeding activity as the water ebbs.

Eider 97

Great Crested Grebe 6

Red-breasted Merganser 6 (the family group in the above clip)

Little Egret 14

Oystercatcher c1,000

Turnstone c30

Redshank c50

Ringed Plover 18

Knot c2,200 one flock of 1,900 plus several small flocks

Curlew 160 were waiting on the beach as the tide ebbed, these are just a few of them

Some of the Curlew waiting for the tide to expose their favoured feeding area on skear.