More Meds than of late

A dry, mainly overcast day with a light west wind

South shore (Malcolm) 10:30 - 12:00

A walk along the sea wall then to the saltmarsh as the rising tide was reaching it.

Little Egret 3

Shelduck 44

Eider 1 near No.1 outfall

Wigeon, there were 39 waiting by No.2 outfall while the tide reached Red Nab. At least that many on Red Nab later then on to the saltmarsh.

Wigeon and Little Egret next to No.2 outfall

Rock Pipits 3 (later Janet saw 5)

Chiffchaff 1 in the scrub near the waterfall

Shag 1 juvenile on the wooden jetty

As I walked out there were no gulls at all on Red Nab, none on the beaches, just 8 Black-Headed gulls on No.2 outfall and none on No.1 outfall. So it was a bit of a surprise that Meds had turned up by the time I got back to Red Nab

Mediterranean gull 9 including 3 x 2nd calendar year.

Adult Mediterranean gull landing a 2cy bird on its right

All nine Mediterranean gulls in this shot

Four gull species, the Meds are on the finger top left. Also Wigeon,
Cormorant, Little Egret, Curlew and Oystercatcher 

Kingfisher 1 on the return leg when the tide had reached Red Nab

The Kingfisher is in this shot, but immediately apparent 

Kingfisher and Wigeon

Looking out along the waterline the only waders visible were Curlew and Oystercatcher 

Lapwing 4 at the saltmarsh 

Common Snipe 8 flushed by the rising tide

Reed Bunting 2

Linnet 100+ these spring tides leave a feast of seeds from the marsh amongst the flotsam on the strandline

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

I checked the two main ponds

Just three birds on the "no swimming" pond

Tufted Duck, Moorhen and a Little grebe

It was a different story on the main pond

Mute Swan female was in the process of chasing away a young swan

Female Mute Swan chasing off an immature swan

Some shots on Facebook suggest a juvenile Whooper Swan was being chased off, perhaps so. But there were only four Mute Swan cygnets. Where were the other three? More investigation required.

Tufted Duck 39

Mallard 35

Gadwall 10

Coot 16

Moorhen 5

Little grebe at least 2 probably 3 possibly more

Grey Heron 1

Cormorant 1

Little Grebe and Tufted Duck

Tufted Duck

Mallard, Coot, Moorhen and a Tufted Duck

It was only 16:45 but very overcast and quite dark, so I went to the top of the hill on the southern section of the reserve to see if anything was heading to roost. I normally check the roosts here mid winter, when it gets dark quite quickly, but dark as it was this evening it wasn't getting any darker. Still in 30 minutes I did  see some evidence of roosting 

Jackdaws were gathering 57 in total

Wood Pigeons were flying to roost mainly individually 14 total

Stock Dove  1 flew south 16:50 and that was it till 6 flew north, possibly landing where they roost at 17:05

Meadow Pipit 1 over

A couple of shots by Kevin Singleton near the Heliport 

Juvenile Lapwing 

Curlew 

A lot of Eider moving, but probably not far

A dry mainly overcast day with a light west wind.

Ringing report by Alan:

44 birds caught at Middleton Nature Reserve despite the slightly gusty westerly wind.

Singles of Wren, Goldfinch, Grey Wagtail, Treecreeper, Blackcap (recovery of a bird ringed elsewhere), and Coal Tit  (this individual was retrapped just over an hour later at Heysham) plus:

Chiffchaff  6 + 1 retrap

Blue Tit  2 + 2 retrap

Goldcrest 5

Dunnock  1 + 1 retrap

Reed Bunting  3

Long tailed Tit  8 + 4 retrap

Robin  2

Great Tit  2 + 1 retrap

 

A small group of 16 Pink feet flew south at 09.15 and 7 Swallows also flew south at 10.15.

 

a rather disappointing catch at Heysham Nature Reserve comprising :

Goldfinch 2

Chiffchaff 1

Goldcrest  2

Chaffinch 4

Coal Tit 2 + 1 retrap (from Middleton)

Marsh Tit 1 retrap (the same one as previously)

Cetti's warbler 1 recovery form elsewhere

Great Tit  2 retraps

Dunnock 1 retrap

Greenfinch 1

South shore (Malcolm) 10:30 -11:30

A walk from Red Nab to the saltmarsh to watch the high spring tide cover the marsh

Little Egret 4

Shelduck 130 most already setting off to the south as the tide rose

Wigeon 49 arrived early at the saltmarsh to feed

Shift change - Shelduck about to leave Wigeon moving in

They feed on the seeds from the Marsh grass and Samphire

Common Snipe 6 flushed from the marsh by the rising tide

Swallow 2 individuals south

Plenty of passerines around the saltmarsh 

Robin 2

Dunnock 2

Wren 1

Reed Bunting 1

Linnet 107 at least

A precise number of Linnet today as this shot has 107 birds

Wheatear 5

Starlings 11

Grey Wagtail at least 1

This Grey Wagtail on the rocks on the eastern side refused to show its
legs. In contrast it or another on the shingles of the west side refused to
show itself, but its colour coded ringed legs were visible. See sidebar for
the scheme details. It was ringed at Middleton Nature Reserve in August 
last year, so obviously sticking to the same migration route

It wasn't exactly surprising when a Sparrowhawk turned up

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 15:30 - 17:30

I walked the tide out as the skear became exposed, you can walk quite quickly and far on these spring tides

Pink-Footed goose 19 to SE

Eider there were just 11 on the sea, but between 16:00 and 17:15 there were 163 seen flying into the bay. Mainly small groups between 4 and 10 with the largest group of 47 (possibly drifted out of the bay on the tide then readjusting). Some would have been missed as my back was to them as I walked back.

One of the larger flocks of Eider flying in

Red Breasted Merganser 4

Great Crested Grebe 6

Great Crested Grebe

Little Egret 13

Little Egret

Juvenile Shag 2 was the most seen at any one time, but almost certainly 3 or 4

Juvenile Shag and a Herring gull

Gulls 150 mainly Herring gulls

Oystercatcher 1400

Curlew 160 - more than recent with large numbers resting high up the shore

Some of the Gulls and Curlew high up the shore. The gulls moved out
to feed, but many of the Curlew flew north

Redshank 60

Knot 33

Turnstone 45

Ringed Plover 12

There were two Peregrine Falcon attacks

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

A victim of storm Amy. Fallen across the footpath in the wood

2 Black Darter

at least 4 Common Darter

several Speckled wood and a Red Admiral 

two Buzzard

Icelandic visitor returns for the winter

It remained dry till light showers started late afternoon. A light SW wind

South shore

I checked the shore out from the saltmarsh then back to Red Nab (Malcolm) 08:30 - 10:30

Pink-Footed goose one skein of 28 north

Shelduck 210

Little Egret 6

The heavy rains of storm Amy has changed things towards the waterline. New drains have formed, some running NE to SW as opposed to the normal SE to NW. This restricts the stretches of waterline that are safe on these fast flooding spring tides.

Not that it would have made any difference today the only waders along the waterline were

Curlew 150

Oystercatcher 140

Even scanning along the waterline far to the the south saw no other waders.

Dunlin 13 (6, 4, 2 and 1) were feeding, hidden in the newly formed drains

Dunlin

Some of the drains cutting across the mud. You need to keep on the shore
side of them when spring tides are racing in

Golden Plover 1 flew south

The only other waders were close to the saltmarsh 

Redshank 43

Lapwing 1

This was a bit odd. A gang of Carrion Crows were making a racket and all the other Crows on the shore flew to join them. There ended up being 60 of them chasing one small raptor.

At least I knew that I would be alerted if anything else moved through. But nothing did.

Wigeon 53 left Red Nab early to feed at the saltmarsh, none remained on Red Nab

Wigeon. This isn't the creek through the saltmarsh but the secondary 
creek along its southern edge 

Linnet 100+ around the saltmarsh

Rock Pipit 3

Wheatear 6 - all were quite rufous and they were moving through quickly. 

Wheatear

Kevin Eaves checked after lunch.

A Wheatear on Red Nab was almost certainly additional, and it too quickly moved on.

Kingfisher 1 around Red Nab

Heliport wall (Malcolm)

Just a quick look on my way home saw a significant increase in Oystercatchers since yesterday.

These were the Oystercatchers yesterday 

This is the same stage of the tide today

This Icelandic ringed bird was with them today. Resting at the very edge
of the group in the same spot it favoured last winter. It wasn't there yesterday.
Ringed at Selfoss,Svarfhólsvöllur (golf course) Iceland as a breeding adult 
in 2023 and it bred there again in 2024. It was seen several times at
Heysham last winter. We await news of if it bred there again this year.

A flock of Lapwing arrived.

Lapwing

42 Lapwing ended up joining the Oystercatchers

Nice to see some youngsters amongst them

Middleton Nature Reserve (Janet)

Cetti's warbler singing in the central marsh

Janet will be restricted to mobile phone photography for some while, but she still managed some lovely pictures.

One of the cygnets, a Mallard and two Tufted Duck on the main pond

Speckled Wood 

Little Egret out from the foreshore

And a garden safari 

Red Admiral

Carder Bumblebee and a Marmalade Hoverfly

Frantic feeding after two difficult days

Early showers then a dry but overcast day. A light SW wind

South shore

I just checked from saltmarsh to Red Nab towards morning high water (Malcolm)

Linnet 100+ on saltmarsh

Wheatear 2

Kingfisher 1 flying around Red Nab and resting briefly on several rocks.

Kingfisher 

Wigeon 60+ there were already 24 at the saltmarsh, 28 flew to the saltmarsh from Red Nab and at least 12 more still at Red Nab

Some of the Wigeon at the saltmarsh 

When Kevin checked this afternoon there were 30 Wigeon on Red Nab

Kevin located another Fox moth caterpillar in the scrub near the lighthouse. This one showing no 
inclination to curl into a ball. Either this one is less timid, or, as Kevin suggests, I'm more scary! 

Heysham skear (Malcolm) 14:30 - 16:15

There were a lot of birds around today after two days of difficult feeding conditions for most of them.

Eider 23

Red-Breasted Merganser 2

Red-Breasted Mergansers

Great Crested Grebe 8 - none in summer plumage 

Great Crested Grebe

Little Egret 13

Little Egret, Herring and Black-Headed gulls after shrimps

Two of several Cormorants 

Shag at least 4 juveniles 

There are three resting birds here and there was at least one feeding at the same time

They were still on the same rock later as the tide had ebbed further.
They won't be there much longer........

Gulls c100 mainly Herring but at least 25 Black-Headed

Gulls can't help themselves calling when they find food. This Herring gull has a shore crab, at times it seems more intent on calling than having its meal. I think its mate was expecting a share.

Oystercatcher 1000+

Curlew 80

Redshank 350+

Redshank

Turnstone 60

Knot 23 eventually. Initially there was just the odd one and twos, but as the group grew it attracted others. Then a Peregrine Falcon attacked. The Knot were the only waders to take flight and were not seen again.

That's the three Shag taking flight as the Peregrine flew past

Carrion Crow 23 - I took a clip of this one as it was making an odd rattling call. It calls several times during this clip, and it was perfectly clear at the time. Unfortunately, wind noise almost drowns it out in the clip. You might just be able to hear it.

Carrion Crow 

Grey Phalarope best of the day

A fresh NW wind. Showers with sunny spells.

Seawatch from North Harbour wall (Pete Crooks and Shaun Coyle)

07:45-12:15: 

Gannet – 1 adult in

Shag – 1 juvenile out, close inshore at 0945 hrs – probably heading to roost on the wooden pier

Pink-footed Geese – 123 out (skeins of 73 and 50)

Pale-bellied Brent Goose – 1 out with 3 Shelduck at 0950 hrs

Shelduck – 90 out

Wigeon – 27 out

Pintail – 2 out

Eider – 6 (4 out, 2 on the sea)

Red-breasted Merganser – 2 out

Great Crested Grebe – 3 on the sea

Guillemot – (1 on sea, 1 out)

Grey Phalarope – 1 flew out relatively close inshore at 1025 hrs – a small black, white and grey wader with a distinctive ‘rocking’ or ‘jinking’ flight action, blackish wings, with obvious white wing-bar, messy grey and black mantle, dark mask and crown

Common Gull – c.60 out

South shore (Malcolm) 

A 15 minute check from the lighthouse 09:30 - 09:45 saw

Shelduck 38 out (likely included in the above count)

Pink-Footed goose 73 in one skein south (clearly one of the skeins seen by Pete and Shaun)

Shag 3 juveniles flew to the wooden jetty. Probably including the 1 seen from the north wall.

There was a juvenile Shag and a Cormorant just out from the harbour mouth, providing a nice comparison of the two species.

Wigeon 19 on and around Red Nab

Wigeon

Kingfisher 1 on Red Nab

Rock Pipit 3

Rock Pipit

Wheatear 2

Wheatear on Red Nab

Wheatear out from the foreshore 

Linnet c80 around the saltmarsh 

Middleton Nature Reserve (Malcolm)

Just a quick look at the two main ponds revealed Tufted Duck numbers still increasing 

Tufted Duck 54 (37 on the main pond and 17 on the "no swimming" pond)

Tufted Ducks were the only wildfowl seen on the "no swimming" pond the following all on the main pond.

Gadwall 16

Teal 8

Mallard 34

Little Grebe 2 

Coot 10

Moorhen 2

Mute Swan female with 7 well grown cygnets 

A nice variety of ducks on the main pond

Some of the Tufted Ducks on the "no swimming" pond

Tufted Duck