Better than anticipated

Overnight snow, but a dry morning till just before lunch when rain and sleet showers began. A light but very cold NE breeze.

Just my stuff again so far (Malcolm), at least one of the observation team was snowed in!

Heysham skear - low water 09:20 

I wasn't planning on going out here today, but it was fine at the right time so I went for a look.

The light was strange, and the view unfamiliar. Low cloud to the west was hiding

the inland hills. Partial snow cover on the lowland shore providing a different vista. 

Pale-bellied Brent geese 13 along the northern edge of the skear, the higher shore to the south not checked.

Some of the brent geese.......

......and their location
you can make out the Hoad Monument at Ulverston on the background hill

Red-breasted Merganser 1 and Cormorants several, were was only other birds seen on the sea other than gulls.

Oystercatcher 1,500

Curlew 50

Two of the Curlew, they can quite difficult to see in this terrain 

Grey Plover 2 - likely displaced by the weather, they are not regular here.

Grey Plover can be almost impossible to spot in this terrain

The other Grey Plover is in this shot

Knot 250 in very loose groups, spreading the birds thinly all across the skear.

Redshank 120 minimum

Turnstone 20

Ringed Plover 1

Ringed Plover, a bit unusual just seeing one by itself here

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick passing check of the main pond saw the addition of a pair of Shoveler. 

The drake with his head tucked in the whole time

Similarly with the duck......

.......but she did swim back to be closer to the drake

Shoveler and Gadwall pairs (and a Black-Headed gull)

The waterlogged field next to the horse paddock behind Middleton Parish Hall was busy. All these birds are just beyond the recording area, but are viewed from Middleton  Road which is the recording area boundary here.

Pied Wagtail 3

Green Sandpiper 1

Green Sandpiper and Pied Wagtails

Green Sandpiper 

The sandpiper was clearly finding plenty to eat. It quickly finishes off a worm in the clip.

There were three Thrush species feeding in the divots produced by the ponies, Blackbird 1, Song Thrush 2 and Redwing 20+. The Blackbird, Song Thrushes and some of the Redwing in this clip.

Redwing

Almost a washout

A very light east(ish) breeze. Rain till mid morning then dry with an odd glimpse of sunshine.

Only my stuff so far (Malcolm). And my only available time for a walk today coincided with today's only prolonged rain!

Heysham skear - low water 08:30

08:30 was also the time of today's "sunrise". It didn't happen!

Carrion Crow on a rock 09:15

Also 09:15 the Ben-my-Chree approaching Heysham Harbour

Cormorant on Conger Rock 09:30

Pink-Footed goose 156 in four skeins south (three skeins before the rain eased)

All four skeins, by necessity, very low

Pale-bellied Brent goose 16 minimum - just 2 seen flying in from the west. Later as I was walking off there were 16 feeding high up the shore, likely more closer to the play area.

Some of the Brent geese feeding high up the shore 

The rain eased at 10:00.

Knots 500 in 3 feeding groups. 

Knot

Unfortunately, I only had time to check a few of them for rings/flags before two Peregrine Falcons attacked and completely cleared the Knot from the skear.

One of the Peregrine is the one with a dislocated talon.
A slightly worse shot than one I didn't think good enough to post the other day.
But times are hard!

There were some birds on the sea today at least.

Eider 13

Red-Breasted Merganser 4

Great Crested grebe 3

Other waders

Oystercatcher 1,000

Curlew 3

Redshank 10

Turnstone 15

The rain cloud was moving north, but it wasn't much brighter behind it.
I'd run out of time anyway, so time to leave.
Things look to be even grimmer tomorrow!

Another interesting day

An easing west wind. Showers, some heavy.

Seen on and from Heysham Head (Shaun)

Brent geese 60 -  54 Brent's still on shore at Sandylands after a separate group of six left earlier.

2 Rock Pipits 

3 Greenfinch

6 Linnets 

pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

Heysham skear (Malcolm)

A heavy shower began as soon as I was on the shore!

Almost nothing seen whilst it was raining. No, Eider, Mergansers or grebes.

But as soon as it had stopped and I had my camera out, things began to happen.

First the Brent started coming in, all from the north. All the ones seen were pale-bellied.

One of four small skeins of Pale-bellied Brent geese arriving from the north.
The South Lakes behind were sunlit all the while the dark cloud above
had poured rain!

This clip is a little later as they were waddling further up the shore towards the play area rocks. 

Knot 500 in three or four small groups, they must have hunkered down somewhere during the shower but now began feeding. Unfortunately, the end of the rain was also the beginning of feeding time for at least one Peregrine Falcon and they were spooked several times before the tide covered the skear.

Knot taking a bath after just sitting through a shower!
It was still very dark, but fortunately I did manage to read one new coded bird

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

Just a quick passing check of the two main ponds, by this time the sun was shining. The "no swimming" pond is still 2m above its regular height. The only wildfowl was a Moorhen.

Main Pond.

Mute Swan pair with an increasingly adventurous immature 

Mallard 24

Gadwall 19

Tufted Duck 1 drake

Moorhen 3

Coot 1

Coot

Tufted Duck

This female Mallard was swimming around with a large piece
of weed, and was being followed by a male

Its a bit early for courtship, but these certainly appear to be bonding.

Dunnock oblivious to my presence with the low sun behind me.

I stopped by the roadside gate by the horse paddock behind Middleton Parish Hall. Much of the field beside the paddock is now covered in pools, the margins of which were still iced over.

Green Sandpiper 1 - flew into the field from the west, but it didn't stay long. It flew off high over the trees where the rookery is and headed towards Imperial Rd, well within the recording area.

Green Sandpiper 

South sea wall (Janet)

At least some of the Brent ended up on Red Nab

Rock Pipit also on Red Nab

2cy Kittiwake above No.1 outfall with the wooden jetty behind

Grey Seal 1 - looks to be a male.

Grey seal with impressive eyebrows 

A better day with better coverage

A heavy overnight frost followed by a sunny day. Very light NE breeze in the morning switched to NW after lunch.

Report from Shaun Coyle:

Heysham Head: 08:30-09:30

Single Red -throated Diver drifting in

Great Crested Grebe 4

Pink-footed Goose 12 heading east

Brent Geese min 44

Eider 68 and 18 Red-breasted Mergansers.

Also, 6 Little Egrets.

Outfalls: 10:15-11:30

Kittiwake 2cy on Outfall 1

Wigeon 257

Little Egret 3 and a Grey Heron.

Red Nab: 11:30-12:15

Brent Geese 48 and a female Eider.

Bar-tailed Godwit 4.

Ocean Edge Saltmarsh: 12:15-12:45

Jack Snipe 1 and 4  Common Snipe at high tide (all headed east towards Middleton NR).

Single Rock Pipit and 9 Reed Buntings.

Janet also checked along the south sea wall:

2nd calendar year Kittiwake

In the harbour 

Black-Headed gulls, one possibly reacting to having a large camera pointed at it!

Guillemot

Once again Janet shows that you don't need a large camera to photograph wildlife, this clip with her mobile phone.

Carrion Crow in the Nature Park

Peter and Rosemary Silvester also enjoyed a walk along the south sea wall. 

Cormorant 

Pale-bellied Brent geese leaving Red Nab

Wigeon

Oystercatchers, also enjoying the mid winter sun

I checked along the waterline out from Ocean Edge (Malcolm)

The waders were very restless, partly as the tide was covering the shore so quickly, but there was also at least one Peregrine falcon patrolling (the bird with a dislocated tallon photographed by Janet last year. Unfortunately, I couldn't manage a usable shot today.

Curlew 71 resting on the shore plus several flying around

Oystercatcher 50 along the waterline many more on RedNab

Bar-Tailed Godwit 34 along the waterline plus a large flock flew past to the south

Knot 300 along the waterline plus flocks fling past to the south

Grey Plover 5 minimum along the waterline plus at least 5 mixed with Knot flocks to the south.

Knot and 2 Grey Plover heading south

Dunlin 200 

Sanderling 1 - it flew low right past me, I watched it to the edge of the shore out from Red Nab and it seemed to land, but I couldn't relocate it when I got close enough to check.

Grey Plover, Knot and Dunlin

Bar-Tailed Godwit, Knot, Dunlin and a couple of Common Gulls.

Higher up the shore:

Redshank 130

Ringed Plover 6

Lapwing 90

Lapwing in front of the saltmarsh 

Shelduck 2 feeding

Pink-Footed goose 16 and 24 east (these are additional to Shaun's 12)

The Manxman was heading in and the Ben-my-Chree heading out.
I wish I had videoed them passing now as just at this point both 
ships blew their horns in greeting.