The cold spell is kicking in!

Freezing (-3°C) overnight. A sunny day with a light variable breeze. Snow showers began after dark with freezing temperatures to follow!

South shore - Malcolm 09:30 - 11:15

The sun was just breaking through the low clouds. This Goldfinch was presenting
as much of its back and rump as possible to catch what warmth it could.

Pale-Bellied Brent geese 44 flew to Red Nab.

Pale-bellied Brent geese

Pink-Footed geese 62 to NW

Wigeon 150+

Eider 1 male 

Male Eider drifting in with the tide

Kingfisher 1 flew across Red Nab

Kingfisher

Rock Pipit one each Red Nab and lighthouse 

Cormorants and Wigeon

Turnstone and Bar-Tailed Godwit

Grey Seal by No.2 outfall

Saltmarsh:

Much of the marsh was already covered when I arrived, most of the Common Snipe would have already been flushed, but another 19 were flushed while I watched.

Jack Snipe 7 sightings, but probably only 5 birds as they tend to land back on the marsh fringes.

This is typically what you see, Jack Snipe lower middle

Jack Snipe

One of two Reed Buntings 

Song Thrush

 Middleton Nature Reserve main pond - Janet

Mainly Mallard, but there is a male Teal just showing.
No sign of the Tufted, but there were several Gadwall

Adult female Mute Swan

I was quite surprised that the Cygnets greeted the mum with a display
when she finally joined them.

Moorhen, not actually as graceful as it looks here!

Heron

Blue Tit with a titbit 

Dunnock

Howard checked the heliport, there were no roosting Knot. However he did find two high water roosts occupied. 2000 on the Sunnyslopes groyne and a further 3000 just out of the recording area on Teal Bay groyne. Flagged birds seen on both groynes have also been seen on the skear and heliport previously, so there is currently a pool of at least 5000 Knot.

One of the flagged Knot on Sunnyslopes groyne. Later seen on the skear

These shots from the Heliport wall by Kevin Singleton 

Curlew

Wren

Robin

Heysham skear - Malcolm 14:30 - 15:30

Pale-bellied Brent geese at least 31 flying around

Pale-bellied Brent geese

Eider 30+

Red-breasted Merganser 6

2000 Knot turned up, but they feed differently on these very fast draining spring tides. Lots of invertebrates get stranded behind the rough ground on the north side and the Knot stayed there until they all moved much further out, also to rough terrain.

I only saw a few flagged birds, and no new ones, but one was the same as one Howard saw on the Sunnyslopes groyne earlier. So the flags provide useful information about local population movement as well as their larger movement picture.

Jack Snipe best of the day

Another freezing night followed by a bright cold day with a fresh NW wind

Shaun Coyle checked a few areas this morning:

Imperial Road marsh:

Water Rail 3 calling/squealing.

Single Little Egret & Grey Heron.

Stonechat pair.

Jay 2 and a roe deer.

Green Woodpecker flew from MNR to roadside trees at the end of Moneyclose Lane. Then showing well for 10 minutes.

Ocean Edge saltmarsh:

Wigeon 172.

Lapwing 24.

Grey Plover 1.

Common Snipe 42.

Jack Snipe 2.

Skylark 2.

Rock Pipit 1 and 4 Reed Buntings 

Red Nab: 

Turnstone 15.

Pair of Rock Pipit's, before they headed over to the power station.

Brent Geese group of c40 then 5 past harbour heading towards Heysham Head at mid-day.

Heliport - Malcolm 09:30

Knot c1000 mainly flying around, they settled briefly a couple of times, but were nowhere to be seen on a second check 30 minutes later

High numbers of Oystercatcher again

Middleton Nature Reserve main pond - Malcolm

The pond was partially covered in ice, no Tufted Duck around, but still 8:Gadwall

Mallard, Gadwall, Coot and Moorhen

Plenty of gulls on the ice, but none ringed

Pink-Footed geese 20 south

Heysham skear - Malcolm 14:00 - 16:00

Pale-bellied Brent geese 35 minimum.

Brent Geese making their way to the play area rocks

Eider 50+

Male Eider, including an immature one on the left

Red-breasted Merganser 10

Red-breasted Mergansers

Great Crested Grebe 2

There were a lot more Oystercatcher on the skear than recently, c5000

Knot 2000 unfortunately two Peregrines were attacking today.

Peregrine over a Knot flock

At this time of year the light goes like someone turning off a switch. Still, we are on the right side of winter now.

Not quite sunset, but the light was gone before I got back to the seafront.

A nice day, but a biting wind!

Freezing overnight, but the NW wind kept the larger ponds ice free. Sunny but cold in the fresh wind, until it suddenly eased mid afternoon.

Imperial Rd - Janet

The Stonechats came to check me out

Male Stonechat - this is one of the rocks that prevent cars entering the 
opening just 50m from the roundabout 

Very inquisitive.......

Female Stonechat 

Middleton Nature Reserve - Janet

These two Mallard were having a bit of a bicker

Coot

Grey Heron

Robin 

Heliport - Howard

C1200 Knot on near naze pre high tide, 7 flagged birds photographed, they were spooked by corvids and flew off north

A Dutch scheme top, an Icelandic scheme and a UK scheme flagged Knot

Heysham skear - Malcolm 13:00 - 15:00

Pale-bellied Brent geese 28 (26 + 2)

26 Brent heading north after being spooked from the play area rocks

Two flew to the rocks from the west

Eider 44

Some of the Eider heading north, no snow on the hills yet

The word has finally gotten around the Black-Headed gulls that there are shrimps a plenty. Each time they bob their head they are probably catching a tiny shrimp.

The Redshank were catching shrimps too. There are Knot on the banking behind them, but the mud was so soft any flags were hidden.

There were over 2000 Knot and many of those were also after shrimps. But they prefer (need) the shallower water. They also find them in the crevices between the shells and stone above the water line, where the shrimps can happily wait out the tide. Unless they are eaten of course!

These Knot are shrimping, but the one bottom left has a small mussel.
The Knot just to its right has a shrimp, but they are translucent and difficult 
to see. In the water it is normally their shadow on the mud below that betrays 
their whereabouts 

All of the flagged Knot seen by Howard earlier were eventually seen feeding here today, along with a few others.

I normally struggle to remember the code, but this one is easy!
Ringed at Merseyside 2020, it has been seen at Heysham for the last three winters

2026! Where did 2025 go?

Happy New Year

Overnight rain then a dry day. The west wind continued, drifting towards NW by "evening".

Heliport/Near Naze - Malcolm 08:40 - 09:00 high water

Initially there were just a few Oystercatchers on the Heliport wall....

.......more Oystercatchers and a few Knot on the Naze rocks 
The Knot centre picture has an orange flag

Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank and Lapwing also on the Naze rocks

The rising tide must have displaced more Oystercatcher and Knot from where
they had been roosting, by 09:00 there were 350 Knot on the Heliport and Naze
 rocks, two were flagged.

Knowlys Road - Pete Crooks

28 Pale-bellied Brent Geese on the relatively narrow strip on shoreline beyond the children's play area on the early ebbing tide

South shore - Pete Marsh - lunchtime 

flock of c30 black-tailed godwit flew past OE to the north then inland of the power stations climbing high 

Heysham Skear - Malcolm 12:00 - 13:30

Eider 14

Cormorant and Eider

Knot c2500 arrived throughout my visit, I should have stayed longer, but the cold was getting through to my bones! 

It can be very difficult checking the Knot for flags in some areas

But I eventually managed several, including both birds seen at the Naze this
morning. There were three new Icelandic birds, and one new bird each for a UK 
scheme and a Dutch scheme 

One of the Icelandic flagged birds 

Redshank 250

Redshank and Knot 

Other waders similar to recent

Gulls shrimping in the drain along the northern edge of the skear.
Not as many as there sometimes are, perhaps there isn't a huge number 
of shrimps, or perhaps the gulls just aren't as shrimp savvy as the waders

Imperial Rd 

Both male and female Stonechat showing - Pete Marsh

Also, Water Rail squealing - Shaun Coyle

Just out of the recording area Heaton marsh

No Russian White-Fronted geese could be seen at lunchtime, but 14 were seen late afternoon