Barnacles top a busy goose day

A light SW wind overcast but it remained dry.

There was quite a bit of varied goose movement today, mainly Pink-Footed. Kevin Eaves saw a very high flock of c2,000 heading NW 14:30 in a purposeful manner. Pete advises that Pink-Footed geese have also been heading north along the east coast today.

More local movement was a low skein c200 to the east over my house at 09:00 and c80 south at 15:00.

But not just Pink-Footed.

Barnacle Goose 6 to NW over Middleton Nature Reserve at 12:05 - scarce in the recording area

Barnacle Geese - a heavily cropped shot, they were quite high (MD)

The local movement of the Brents is covered below.

Red Nab to Saltmarsh 10:00 -10:45 (MD)

There were no Pale-bellied Brent feeding on Red Nab as I arrived, then 10 flew in from the south (more on this later)

Wigeon c200

Shelduck c80

Rock Pipit 2 - 1 each Red Nab and saltmarsh 

Turnstone 50 in one flock

Common snipe 86 flushed from saltmarsh 

I didn't wait till the saltmarsh was fully covered, but did wait till the tide covered the line of marsh grass to the south of the saltmarsh. No Jack Snipe seen today.

This is looking south from the saltmarsh, on the left is the "rocky outcrop", and far left the faux castle.
The dark line just above the waterline is the line of marsh grass which now follows the freshwater 
channel. Water almost constantly drains over the shoreline here, again more on this later.

Great White Egret 1 SE 10:20

Great White Egret - another heavily cropped shot

Heliport 

Just a couple of the ringed Knot identified by Howard today.

Spot the ring.......you'll probably need to open the picture 

Heysham Head (Mark Jones)

It was a nice day for a walk around the Head, if nothing else, the views are great.

Curlew

Eider

Redshank 

No Rock Pipits seen or heard

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a stroll around exercising my daughter's dog. This is where I saw the Barnacle geese.

Mute Swan 2 adult 5 immature 

Pochard 1 male

Gadwall 4

Mallard 4

Teal 2

Coot 4

Moorhen 6

Little Grebe 2

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1

Sparrowhawk 1

Just out of the recording area

Mark Jones has just arrived at his holiday caravan. The beginning of the caravan site can be seen in the above shot from the saltmarsh, it is just south of the faux castle which is nominally the southern boundary of the recording area. Look what Mark saw when he opened his curtains this morning.

The important thing here is the green swathe close in. The coastline here is boulder clay and groundwater constantly seeps out below it (even during the deep freeze and hot spells). This results in gutweed growing between the rocks. It's a relatively quiet area, but the few walkers around must pass along here, otherwise the Brent would be feeding here constantly (at any time except during the highest spring tides). Perhaps this explains why the Red Nab birds arrived from the south today (they normally come from the play area rocks to the north). 

The ground water eventually drains into the creek that defines the saltmarsh and it is now lined for most of its way by marsh grass.

Grey Plover and Ringed Plover in the same area

Cetti's warbler singing at the top of Carr Lane to the caravan site, Mark has not heard one here before

Jack Snipe turn up

A fresher SW wind. Overcast but mainly dry, just occasional drizzle 

Heliport 

First a couple of nice shots that Howard took yesterday.

Rock Pipit on the heliport sloping wall

Curlew dismembering a shore crab before swallowing it "whole"

The Knot were more active today and Howard and Richard managed to identify 11 birds

One of today's colour ringed Knot

Red Nab to Saltmarsh - high water 11:15 (MD)

No Brent geese seen this morning, but still lots of Wigeon and c30 Shelduck

Red-breasted Merganser 1 female 

Lapwing 14 on saltmarsh 

Also, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Redshank and Turnstone 

Some of the Turnstone - sometimes it hardly seems worthwhile taking "colour" photographs!

Rock Pipit 4 - 1 on Red Nab plus 1 + 2 together on the saltmarsh 

Reed Bunting 3 on saltmarsh 

Today's high tide at 9.3m easily covered the saltmarsh, as would the overnight tide. The snipe tend to get "fed up" of being flushed and numbers normally reduce as the spring tides progress. Even so, reasonable numbers again today.

Common Snipe 76 flushed from saltmarsh by the rising tide......then

Jack Snipe 4 - these flew in together from the south, probably flushed from the line of marsh grass now stretching along the shore between the rocky outcrop and Potts Corner. They made to land on what little was left of the saltmarsh. 1 did land, but the others turned round and headed for Middleton Nature Reserve.

Just out of the recording area - Heysham Moss Nature Reserve (MD)

This reserve is along the eastern boundary of the recording area, but always worth a visit, although I didn't have very much time today

Barn Owl 1 - a dog walker with a couple of dogs was approaching, I think they may have flushed it. 

Barn Owl

This clip isn't great, I was trying to get to higher ground for a better view. The bark towards the end is one of the approaching dogs.

I expect its hunting sorties will take it within the recording area. One to watch out for.

Knot initially static, Snipe erratic

Quite a light SW wind. Mainly overcast but it managed to stay dry(ish).

First, Janet sent these shots she took during a walk along the south sea wall yesterday.

Blue Tit, choosing a sunflower seed from a selection of treats
left by regular visitors to the Nature Park

Red Nab Rock Pipit

Turnstiles on the sloping sea wall

Redshank on No.1 outflow 

First winter Kittiwake, also on No.1 outflow

First winter Kittiwake feeding on No.2 outflow

Curlew on Red Nab rocks

Back to today, I just checked the saltmarsh at high water (MD)

9.3m high today, enough to flush any Jack Snipe, but none seen.

When I got there, tide was already as high as it reached yesterday, even so there were still lots of Common Snipe being flushed. 124 counted leaving the saltmarsh plus two flocks (27 and 32)  flew over, didn't land today, from the NW. I suspected they came from the Heliport area, and Jean's report below suggests that was the case. Anyway, it resulted in an impressive total......

Common Snipe 183 - these are some of the birds leaving the saltmarsh 

Pale-bellied Brent goose - 14 seen flying from Red Nab direction towards Potts Corner at 09:45. Once again, Blackpool Tower finds itself in the background.

Reed Bunting 2

Rock Pipit 1

Heliport 

Howard had the opposite problem to recent outings, the main body of Knot was stationary in the middle of the outer wall.

Knot and Oystercatcher on the outer Heliport wall

Still, perseverance eventually paid off and he did manage to read two ringed birds

Colour coded ringed Knot

Howard had to leave, but Pete and Jean were doing a webs high water roost count, this report from Jean:

High drama on the heliport today with a female Sparrowhawk spooking 4200 Oystercatchers, 10200 Knot, 350 Redshank and 100 Turnstone. The Sparrowhawk was making off with one of the waders when a Peregrine swooped down on the Sparrowhawk and chased and swooped a bit more but the Sparrowhawk managed to escape with its dinner.

About a third of the Knot heading off

Loads of Wigeon at Red Nab - 285 - and 40 more on the saltmarsh. 14 Pale-bellied Brent at Red Nab (same birds as above).

51 Cormorants and the Shag roosting on the wooden jetty.

Imperial Rd (MD)

Just a quick in passing check

Little Egret 4

Song Thrush 2 singing

Redwing 1 in a bush by the road

Redwing

Thrush sp 6 small thrushes flying south

Nothing new, but a wealth of birds

A moderate SW wind mainly overcast with light showers

South shore - high water 09:40 (MD)

We are just moving back to spring tides, but high water today was only 8.6m and it only just covered the edges of the saltmarsh.

Today's high water at the saltmarsh 

So I was surprised at how many snipe were lifted by the tide

Common Snipe 108, absolute minimum. I counted this many lift, in several groups, and head towards Middleton Nature Reserve. Then c20 and c30 came in and landed on the marsh. I couldn't tell if they were returning or if they had arrived from elsewhere, so there was little point in continuing counting.

Common Snipe lifted by tide

Common Snipe coming in to land on the saltmarsh 

This is the smaller of the two flocks coming in to land.

Reed Bunting 1 on Saltmarsh 

Rock Pipits 4 - 1 on Red Nab and 3 between lighthouse and waterfall.

By the time I reached Red Nab it was largely covered. These Oystercatcher and Redshank were roosting on the sloping wall. I knew they were going to take flight as someone was approaching them with a phone camera. It's just to show the number of birds around Red Nab, it ends on a few of the Wigeon.

Shag 1 immature on wooden jetty

Kittiwake 9 (2 adult) on outflows and in the harbour

Pale-bellied Brent Goose 6 - on my return just a few rocks were exposed on Red Nab, but the Brent were already feeding.

Heysham skear - low water 16:40 (MD)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 10 (8+2 although all together, two birds were regularly shooded away). They were feeding in the SW skear corner, there is no weed growing there this year, but they were finding plenty of broken weed collected in the corner by the wind and the tide.

This clip starts with 3 Bar-Tailed Godwit, again, just to show the diversity of birds around.

Eider c80 - these are some of them

Red-breasted Merganser 2

Little Egret 1 feeding

Oystercatcher, Redshank, Turnstone and Curlew plus

Bar-Tailed Godwit 3

Knot c2,000

Dunlin 30

Dunlin - all but one on the up beat - there's always one!

These are Black-Headed gulls, Redshank and Dunlin

By the time I'd got back to the skear corner it was low water. There were now only 8 Brent. I don't know if they had been there all the while I was out. Either way a little later, they flew off north.

Pale-bellied Brent geese

Better variety today, plus an "Inland" Kittiwake

A day of two haves.....the strong overnight SW wind soon eased. Rain showers reduced in frequency and length as the morning wore on. The afternoon was sunny.

South shore mid morning (MD)

It was raining for much of the walk, but you could see the clear weather front approaching.

Clear weather approaching from the SW

Wigeon c200 Shelduck c50 on/around Red Nab

Reed Bunting 1 on saltmarsh 

Rock Pipit 3 - 1 each on foreshore, Red Nab and near lighthouse 

Knot c1,500 flew past the roundhead in two flocks

Shag 1 immature on wooden jetty

Kittiwake 9 - 2 first winter feeding on No.2 outflow. 2 adult and 7 first winter in the harbour, mainly on their pipe.

Adult Kittiwake with a white winged feral pigeon
- this bird can be frustrating when you only get a glimpse of it in flight

These Great Black-Backed gulls appear to be bonding, shame you can't hear them clearly with all the background noise.

Pete managed to read the Iceland ringed Oystercatcher on the Near Naze - White XE

Ringed as an adult male nesting 31/05/21 

Árn.,Selfoss,Svarfhólsvöllur (golf course), south ICELAND 63 94N 20 97W

Also seen breeding the following year in the same area 9/04/22 - 10/07/22

Now seen twice at the Heysham Near Naze 26/12/22 and 17/02/23

Also:

Mediterranean gull 1 adult in the harbour at lunchtime 

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

A very pleasant afternoon stroll in the sunshine! No Stonechat seen today.

The Pochard was back, plus 4 Gadwall, 2 Teal, 11 Mallard, 3 Coot and 4 Moorhen, plus the Mute Swan family.

Little Grebe 3 at least, including a trilling bird on the main and "no swimming" ponds. This bird was on the "no swimming" pond. It has caught what looks like an invertebrate. There were no gulls around today so it ate its meal where it surfaced.

Kittiwake 1 first winter bird resting on one of the shallow scrapes on the western marsh. This is about 1km inland from the harbour and at least 0.5km from the nearest reach of the highest tide.

I couldn't resit checking where I "released" the Smooth Newt yesterday. I decided there were two likely scenarios, one, she lay where I left her, having not made it. Or, two she wasn't there, meaning she had at least revived enough to move on. This is the stone where I left her.

When I got there, the stone was bare 😊

But, there was a third scenario. If you look closely at the top right hand corner of the stone, you can see a newt looking back at you. Not only had she revived but was now looking healthy and happy with her new environment.

This is just a detail from the above shot
I doubt she recognised me today.....I didn't have my mitts on

The Interlude

A light south wind, low cloud/fine rain all morning, but largely dry and overcast in the afternoon.

Just my stuff today (MD), and precious little of it. A morning check of saltmarsh to Red Nab

Rock Pipit 2 - 1 each on foreshore and Red Nab

Kingfisher 1 - it flew out from the culvert and was lost as it headed to the outer edge of Red Nab. I had thought that it had moved on as I haven't seen it for a few weeks.

Shelduck and Wigeon c50 each on Red Nab (the tide had already left the rocks).

Nature Park

Jay 1

Bullfinch 2

Greenfinch 6

Goldfinch 8

Chaffinch 2

The other day I was talking to a regular post reader about recognising bird songs and calls. I advised to start with the obvious ones and quoted the "wheeze" of a Greenfinch as a good example. Unfortunately I failed miserably to explain what it sounds like. So I took this clip today.

A quick check of Imperial Rd fared little better

Little Egret 4

Wood Pigeon 16 - perched in the same tree as yesterday's Buzzard

Middleton Nature Reserve 

A late afternoon check, it had been dry for some hours by this time.

No sign of any Stonechat today despite a thorough check.

No Pochard or Gadwall either - the rest of the wildfowl unchanged 

I was approaching the Tim Butler pond when I noticed this small female newt laying, apparently dead, on her back. The spots on her throat identifying her as a Smooth (Common) Newt.

Female Smooth Newt

But when I picked her up there were signs of life, and the warmth of my hand seemed to revive her a little.

Presumably she had come from hibernation this morning when the fine rain would have been ideal, but now she was obviously very dry, and you can tell by my mitts that is was still cold. So I took her to one of the permanent ponds and placed her on the water ..........Nothing! 

She didn't attempt to move. "Playing dead" is a typical amphibian ploy, but don't think she needed much acting. So I pushed her below the surface tension.

She settled by a rock and at least looked more normal now. There was no more I could do, so I wished her well and left.

Today's title will mean little to most of you, but when I was young there were regularly gaps between the television programs (my granddaughter insists that I must be the last person on earth to still call it a television!). The gaps were euphemistically called "interludes" and filled with stock footage. I remember a windmill and a potters wheel. Today felt like a gap between sightings, I couldn't find a potters wheel, but this wind turbine, turning through the low cloud was close enough to a windmill. If you put it on a loop and watch for about 5 minutes you'll get a sense of what a television interlude was like. Although, to be fair, they were generally better than the programs!

Hopefully, normal service will resume tomorrow

Another? Stonechat

A light southish wind. Overcast till lunchtime then some light showers.

South shore (MD)

I really just went down in the morning to see if any Stonechat had turned up at the saltmarsh and foreshore, but then couldn't resist a walk along the sea wall (feeling a bit brighter today!).

No passerines around the saltmarsh except a Rock Pipit, two more seen on Red Nab and Lighthouse area.

Shelduck c50

Wigeon c150, but well spread as the tide was out

Shag 1 immature in the harbour again.

The mature Cormorants now in breeding plumage

Kittiwake 9 including 2 adult. One in the harbour mouth the others resting on the pipe near the waterfall.

First winter Kittiwake in the Harbour mouth

This was slightly unusual, I noticed something moving in a crevice in the roundhead wall. Turned out it was a Starling, it was still there 15 minutes later.

Imperial road - mid afternoon (MD)

Again, primarily a quick check for any Stonechat, and again, none seen.

Grey Heron 1

Teal 13

Some of the Teal

Common Buzzard 1

Common Buzzard - a nice view of the upper tail

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

The original mute pair have reclaimed the "no swimming" pond, the 5 immatures remain on the main pond.

Pochard male 1

Little Grebe now trilling on three ponds: main, no swimming and Tim Butler.

Other wildfowl as yesterday

Common Snipe 2

Stonechat 1 male. Only distant glimpses on the western marsh.

Male Stonechat about 250m from yesterday's birds, but this one "felt" like a different
bird, not least as it was alone and seemed to be moving north through the marsh

Gordon Taylor sent us a nice clip of one of the colour ringed Grey Wagtails overwintering in his Bootle garden (first seen 29/01/23). But, frustratingly, I can't persuade it to load on the post, so will have to, settle for this still from the clip.

Colour ringed Rey Wagtail ringed here last autumn - see scheme details on the sidebar 

Stonechat movement begining

Very light variable breeze. Mainly overcast although the sun did make a few valiant efforts to break through in the morning.

First, Alison Hayward sent this nice shot of an immature Shag in the Harbour on Saturday (11/02)

Immature Shag

Today

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Ringing report from Jean

I put a net up at the feeders again and soon caught 28 birds (17 new and 11 retraps) (Paul, John and Alan got roped in as well!)

New birds:

A nice surprise today was a Siskin - an adult male. 

The most  numerous species was Goldfinch with 8 caught 

Another surprise was catching no less than 5 Bullfinches (4 new and 1 retrap)

Other new birds were a Dunnock, 2 Blue tits and a Greenfinch

Retraps:

Blue Tits were the most numerous (5) but one was notable for its age: It was first ringed as a juvenile in September 2015, making it the grand old age of 7yrs and 5mths. The oldest captured Blue Tit in the UK was a bird in 1984 that was 9yrs 8mths 16dys, so the Heysham bird only has a couple of years to go to beat that record. The average age of a Blue Tit is 3yrs.

Two Long-tailed Tits were retrapped, one from this winter but the other was ringed on 15 March last year.

Other retraps were fairly recently ringed birds - a Great Tit, a Goldfinch, a Greenfinch, the Bullfinch mentioned above, a Robin, and a Dunnock

Two flocks of Pink-footed Geese flew over Heysham NR mid afternoon - one flock of 200 S and another unseen flock in the same direction. 

  

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

I was as breathless as the weather (man flu again!), and might not have bothered at all today, but I was committed to taking my daughter's dog out. We had a trundle around the reserve and I did feel a bit better for getting out. 

Still 2 additional adult Mute Swans on the "no swimming" pond.

Moorhen 6 

Coot 6 - the additional birds were not exactly welcomed!

Mallard 17 - 13 on the main pond plus 2 each "no swimming" pond and western scrape

Some of the main pond Mallard

Gadwall 12

Teal 8

Pochard 1 male

Grey Heron - the "resident" bird was present, but not where it normally rests,

Can't say I've seen the Heron on the pylon before

Redwing c15 milling around the eastern side.

Redwing

Song Thrush 3 - 1 singing

Blackbird 8

Jay 2

Jay

Great Spotted Woodpecker - drumming

Stonechat 2 - 1 female and a male. They were both close together, but the female quite elusive 

Meanwhile the male was much more prominent. Here he has a leather jacket (Crane Fly larvae). He flies with it to where the female was skulking (Bullfinch calling in the background)

The female was out of sight, but I assume he handed the grub to her as he quickly returned, empty billed.

Male Stonechat 

This is the male Bullfinch that was calling the in the above clip

On the way home I drove along Imperial Road, it can be good for Stonechat movement here, but none seen today.

Feeding time

A very light SE wind, a hazy morning, the sun not breaking through till mid afternoon.

North Shore low water 10:10 (MD)

No sign of any Brent in the play area rocks (also none on Red Nab at high water)

Pink-Footed goose 92 SE.

Eider 35. The tide didn't go out very far, so the feeding Eider were quite distant. This clip shows them surrounded by gulls waiting to pinch any catch.

Great Crested grebe 2

Red-breasted Merganser 2 - it wasn't just the Eider having to avoid the gulls. The male merganser on the left surfaces with a small fish, but quickly dives again to avoid its catch being pinched.

There weren't many waders either:

Oystercatcher c300

Curlew 15

Bar-Tailed Godwit 2

Knot 50 

Dunlin 2

Turnstone 4

No Redshank seen

South shore

Janet had a walk along the sea wall

c150 wigeon in the channel next to No.2 outflow 

Curlew

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

The 2 adult and 5 immature mute were all on the main pond, another 2 adults were on the "no swimming" pond.

Coot 3

Moorhen 6

Mallard 13

Gadwall 4

Teal 4

Pochard 1 male

Little Grebe 3 including two trilling. There were two feeding on the main pond.

Little Grebe already largely in summer plumage 

Not sure what it has caught, possibly a small fish but equally possibly a dragonfly nymph. Again it dives before the gulls pinch its prize. It will have surfaced again in the margins where there is more cover.

Woodcock 1 

Reed Bunting 1

Cetti's Warbler 1 singing in the central marsh

There were lots of tits around again, but no large feeding flocks seen. The Great Tits in particular are appearing territorial. This Long-Tailed Tit was feeding on the tiny seeds of the reed mace (a Great Tit being annoyed at me in the background).

Sparrowhawk 1 and Kestrel 1 male both hunting. This is the Kestrel.

No surprises today

A dry overcast day with a light south wind.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a brief check of the two main ponds

Mute, Coot, Moorhen and Mallard unchanged. The immature mute are moulting, there are feathers everywhere.

Gadwall 6

Teal 6 - this male Teal reminds me of a pull along wooden duck my daughter had when she was little.

Pochard 1 male

Male Pochard and male Mallard

No Little Grebes seen or heard today.

Saltmarsh to Red Nab (MD)

I went onto the shore out from the saltmarsh. These neap tides do not cover the mud and visitors to Potts Corner were taking advantage by riding motorbikes and later a car on the mud. Not close enough to disturb birds in the recording area (although the noise pollution was an irritant!). But it did send lots of waders into the recording area. This is just a flavour, these are mainly Knot, with some Grey Plover.

I didn't try and count the Knot, but there were also at least:

Curlew 40

Bar-Tailed Godwit 150

Oystercatcher 100

Grey Plover 30

Dunlin 200

These neap tides do not rise very quickly, but it is so flat here the tide still covers the mud quickly. These are a few of the Knot and Oystercatcher keeping ahead of the rising tide with Bar-Tailed Godwit feeding behind.

Reed Bunting 3 on saltmarsh 

Rock Pipits 4 - 2 together on saltmarsh, plus 1 each foreshore and Red Nab

Two Rock Pipits amongst the saltmarsh flotsam 

Shelduck 60+

Wigeon 200+

Pale-bellied Brent goose 17 - including a white ringed bird, almost read today, but after this clip they moved behind the outer rocks, obscuring their legs (they look alert as a couple with their dog were getting close, but they turned back).

Angela checked the Nature Park

Great-Spotted Woodpecker 1 seen and it sounded like two different birds drumming

Mixed Tit flock lead by Long-Tailed Tits - still no Coal Tits

Bullfinch pair

Chaffinch 2

Goldfinch 6

Song Thrush 2

Blackbird 4