Things are starting to move......

Light breezes today mainly SSE. Plenty of sunshine in the morning, but mainly high cloud cover after lunch.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Report from Alan:

The weather this morning was not what was originally forecast. We had expected the sky to cloud over in the early hours and possibly drop some migrants.  In the event it was clear and frosty first thing and clouds were forming only from mid morning.

The catch at Middleton was predictably low for the five nets set:

Single retraps of Wren, Reed Bunting, Dunnock and Cetti's Warbler. This Cetti's was ringed  in 2017 and has been caught regularly since then.

Blackcap  2

Dunnock  2

Lesser Redpoll   4

Two Meadow Pipits only were seen passing over.

The moth trap set overnight captured one Early Thorn and one Clouded Drab.

Pete Crooks paid an early morning visit:

Heysham North Harbour Wall (7.30 – 8.05 am)
2 Red-throated Diver – 1 in winter plumage & 1 in summer plumage together on sea, drifted out on ebbing tide
7 Common Scoter (4 male, 3 female) flew out of the Bay

Knowlys Road, Heysham (8.15 – 8.30 am)
1 Red-throated Diver – winter plumage, different to previous bird
130 Eider
4 Red-breasted Merganser

Pete (M) also checked some key areas.

Redpoll 3 over Middleton/Heysham 

Willow Warbler c4 early on at Heysham Nature Reserve (first records this year)

2cy Shag fishing just north of Heysham head

3 Twite old heliport then flew towards Heysham Head 

2 Sandwich tern

6 Common scoter flying out (different to Pete C birds)

Alan Physick checked the north wall on the afternoon rising tide:

Sandwich tern 10+ on buoys by North wall, singles passing and fishing,

I had a look at 18:30. The terns were still blogging around the two buoys, but too far from
the north wall for my camera to discern any detail, so this shot is just to show location (MD)

Shag 1 2nd calendar year roosting on wooden jetty, probably the one seen feeding earlier out from the Head.

Wigeon pair + Shelduck 18 on Red Nab

No Brents seen or reported today

Linnet 9 (2, 4 and 3) along the Power Station perimeter fence

Rock Pipit 4

Another Osprey

The breeze started off from the north before drifting to NNW then WNW. Some high cloud, but plenty of sunshine.

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Did a full circuit of the east side of the reserve today.

Mute Swan 2 breeding pairs plus a single adult

Coot 5

Moorhen 5

Teal 2

Gadwall 6

Mallard 8

Little grebe 2 trilling on the main pond plus at least one on "no swimming" pond

Osprey 1 - 10:05 - it flew low in a line from the SE corner of the golf course towards Heysham Nature Reserve. I was along the track to the east of the golf course, surrounded by trees. I could hear the gulls creating and knew it must be a raptor, so I moved into a more open area and got my camera ready. Fortunately, its flight line gave me a good, but short view.

A couple of stills from the above clip. It didn't appear to be a ringed bird.

A little later I kept hearing a "raptor" calling. But the gulls weren't interested, only the corvids were agitated. Turned out it was a Jay. Much less harsh than their normal screams, not a call I'd heard from them before. I had to check with Pete who advised "a territorial Jay"

Warblers:

Cetti's warbler 2 singing males. The "no swimming" pond bird plus another in the SW corner of the main pond. The marsh birds not heard.

Blackcap 3 singing males

Chiffchaff several 

One of today's Chiffchaffs. Presumably the dark staining on its face 
the result of feeding on nectar or pollen on passage.

Male Small White was the only butterfly seen

South shore, towards high water(Alan Physick and MD)

Three dredgers in operation. No sign of the Shag or birds out from the harbour.

No sign of any Brent either, but they do not always come to the south side on these low neap tides.

Shelduck 33

Rock Pipit 2

Wheatear 2 on eastern side of saltmarsh 

First Swallow - albeit a bit late!

Calm and clear till mid morning then the west breeze picked up slightly. Increasing cloud cover leading to some light afternoon showers, then a major evening downpour, of what is probably best described as wet hail.

Low water around the skear birds.

Count by Pete:

261 Eider

8 Great Crested Grebe 

13 Red-breasted Merganser

32 Pale-bellied Brent goose

I walked out on the skear. It was clam and sunny at low water, allowing both some clear pictures and videos not blighted with the sound of the wind, just the sounds of the skear (MD).

This first shot is just to give a feel of the skear this morning. A flat calm sea. Two
Cormorants relaxing on Conger rock, and a ship disappearing over the horizon
(or sinking into the sea, depending on your  view of the earth!)

This clip you can hear the soft grunts of the Brent and the (Frankie Howard like) display calls of the Eider, plus the ubiquitous Oystercatcher.

It's nice to see the Brent so relaxed now, after a winter of scraping the bottom of the weed barrel, by feeding on the gutweed directly below the sea wall. The weed in that area is now almost a metre long as they have not ventured there since abundant weed became available in other areas. It just shows how much they must have braced themselves to feed amongst the regular dog walkers. Weed is plentiful all around the skear now, this is a nice shot of three Brent, the lead bird can't even be bothered to eat the strand of gutweed dangling from its bill.

Pale-bellied Brent geese

This Great Black-Backed gull has found a dead plaice. It's currently too wide for it to swallow, but it won't give up. It will work on it at low water, then leave it till low water the following day. After a few days the cumulative effects of its pummelling plus the mass reduction by shrimps crabs etc, will enable it to swallow the carcass. I've known them spend a week with a fish, this one won't take that long, it is a "spent" plaice (recently spawned), so it's already very thin.

About 16:00 the sky went black and a very heavy hail shower started. I went to check if it had grounded anything.

This Wheatear was on the saltmarsh, it was motionless (sadly, unlike myself - sorry about the wobbling). It seemed to be in a torpor, perhaps ruminating on the wisdom of leaving warmer climes.

This clip is a minute later, still motionless, then suddenly, quite early in the clip, it becomes very animated and casts out a waste pellet. So, it was indigestion (literally). After that it was quite active, the hail was easing, so it moved on just after this clip. I wonder where the source of the pellet was originally eaten (MD)

This is a still from the above clip. The pellet is circled after it rolled down the rock.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

The hail was easing. Wildfowl as yesterday. But this is where the Swallows were. At leat 2, probably 3.

One of this evening's Swallows over the main pond

First Skua

Very strong overnight "westerly" winds eased slightly and quickly moved to WNW then NW. Showers.

Pretty much just Pete's stuff today. He started early - 0625-0715

Early morning dropping tide seawatch at Heysham saw the wind go NW as opposed to WNW about five hours before forecast.  

Best a dark morph Arctic Skua new for year last seen sat on sea

4 Gannet,

7 Common Scoter

1 Razorbill/Guillemot 

1 Red-Throated Diver

An afternoon check located:

Purple Sandpiper with a large group of Turnstone at the base of the sloping heliport sea wall near the Cafe. Unfortunately the Turnstone and the sandpiper quickly moved off, there is a lot of disturbance here. 

Pale-bellied Brent goose 28 on Red Nab

Wigeon pair

The only bits I (MD) can add to the above is

Shelduck 9

Rock Pipit 4

Meadow Pipit 3 grounded together behind the foreshore bund

Linnet 2 near lighthouse 

Grey Seal No.2 outflow, but it was busy fishing and only revealed itself briefly a couple of times.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just the two main ponds checked

Mute 2 breeding pairs

Moorhen 2

Coot 7

Mallard 6

Gadwall 8

Little grebe 2 at least on main pond 

Cetti's Warbler - "no swimming pond" male singing

First Tern

A fresh SW to SSW wind. Some sunshine and some showers.

Pete and Jean checked from key locations - report from Pete:

North side low water channels

341 Eider

18 Red-breasted Merganser

8 Great Crested Grebe

2 Pintail 

Red Nab

32 Pale-bellied Brent goose

6 Dark-bellied Brent goose 

Heysham seawatch - too clear and wind too SSW, but:

Single Sandwich tern new for year 

12 Gannet

30 Common Scoter 

7 Red-Throated Diver 

4 Guillemot

1 Razorbill 

1 drake Goosander (uncommon in the recording area)

South shore (MD)

The earlier Brents had left Red Nab when I passed at 13:00, but at 13:15, 32 Pale-bellied, almost certainly the same birds as above, returned from the north side.

Some of the 32 Pale-bellied Brent flying to Red Nab

On returning to Red Nab at 14:00 the Pale-bellied had been joined by 9 Dark-bellied. There were two with the Pale- bellied and these 7 together.

This next clip is just to show how lighting affects the appearance of birds. I went to the other side of them and the sun came out briefly, making them look quite pale, but they are dark-bellied.

Strangely, as the tide flushed the birds, only six of the above seven birds flew off together, presumably the same six seen earlier.

Dark-bellied Brent

Wigeon 2

Rock Pipit 4

Shag 1 2nd calendar year in the harbour - first record for a while

2nd calendar year Shag 

Alan has a limited number of hard copy Observatory Annual Reports (full of useful information about species distribution for the recording area, as well as the record of last year's sightings and ringing details. It's not just Birds, but Butterflies, Moths, Mammals etc). If you would like a copy please contact Alan Draper (alanxhill@btinternet.com). A nominal contribution of £4 if you can collect, or £5 if you prefer Alan to post (If outside UK postage will be higher)

A good variety of seabirds on seawatch, plus a Purple Sandpiper

Fresh west to WSW wind. No sun but plenty of showers.

Middleton Nature Reserve 

Just a quick check of the two main ponds. As expected, yesterday's scoter had moved on overnight.

Mute Swan 2 pair

Coot 7

Moorhen 2

Little grebe 2 at least

Mallard 6

Gadwall 10

Pete and Jean managed a bit of sea watching.

Report from Jean:

Seawatch 11:50hrs - 13:30hrs (High tide 14:39 9.07m)

Migrating seabirds  included;

Gannet - 21 into Bay, 2 out of Bay

Red-throated Diver - 1 summer plumaged bird into Bay, 1 summer plumaged bird and 1 x 2CY out

Fulmar - 1 into Bay

Razorbill - 1 out of Bay

Inshore movements seen from Heysham churchyard, all birds heading to high tide roost areas to south :

Brent Goose - 48 PBB, 3 DBB

Turnstone - 255  

Purple Sandpiper - 1 with the Turnstone

Black-tailed Godwit - 6

Oystercatcher - 1711 

Curlew - 30 

Shelduck - 4

Eider  - 5 prs plus a male 

Also seen:

Rock Pipit - 3

South Shore towards high water (MD)

Brent goose 50+ They flew overhead as I was approaching the wooden jetty, not easy to count accurately and check the birds when they fly over quickly. They were obviously the same birds from Jean's report, but they had picked up two flocks of 3 Dark-bellied

Pale-bellied Brent goose 40+

Dark-bellied Brent goose 8

All the Pale-Bellied birds were in the main flock, but there were also at least two Dark-bellied amongst them.

Two Dark-bellied Brent geese, top left, with the main Pale-bellied flock

Two following flocks of three birds, both were Dark-bellied

Unfortunately the Brent were just leaving Red Nab and flying towards Potts corner as I returned to Red Nab.

Shelduck 17

Eider 10 out

Purple Sandpiper 1 - at this point I wasn't aware that Pete/Jean had seen one flying south with the Turnstone, but I always check roosting Turnstones for Purple Sandpiper. There were some Turnstone resting on No.1 outflow rails with Redshank, unfortunately it was obvious that a couple of walkers approaching from the other direction were going to flush them. I had my camera ready and set for the expected Brent (flew over about 2 minutes later) so I took some shots as the spooked birds flew off. Fortunately the sandpiper was with them. Almost certainly the same bird seen earlier past Heysham Head.

Purple Sandpiper - circled

Same shot as above, but cropped further 

A third of a second later and zoomed in further

Rock Pipits 6

Wheatear 1

More Gannets and a Scoter surprise

Quite fresh WNW wind moving more west by the afternoon. Light rain intermittent in the morning becoming heavier and more prolonged in the afternoon 

Middleton Nature Reserve (MD)

Just a quick morning check of the two main ponds

Mute two pairs nesting

Coot 7

Moorhen 2

Little grebe 3 at least, probably more

Teal 2

Mallard 6

Gadwall 7

Common Scoter 1 female on the "no swimming" pond. This is unusual and presumably related to some overnight passage. I located it at 09:15 and it was still there when Kevin checked at 12:00. This excellent photograph is Kevin's and really should be opened to appreciate the detail - it's not often we get a chance of a close view of this sea duck.

Female Common Scoter  - Kevin Eaves

Although my shots can't compete with the above for quality, I did manage some interesting behavioural clips. In each of the clips you will see it constantly head bobbing, I don't know this species well enough to know if this is typical. In this first clip it takes a sip of water, presumably at sea they get all their water from their food. Perhaps the head bobbing is reaction to drinking fresh water, for the first time in a long while (MD). A Blackcap is one of the birds singing in the background.

It kept diving, but I'm not sure if it was trying to feed, or just avoiding the attentions of the male Mute who would otherwise have chased it off.

This one is just a general view. The "no swimming" pond male Cetti's warbler sings during the clip, I then pan out to show the location on the "no swimming" pond

Report from Pete - 

Sea watching from the back of the harbour from 1110 to about 1200 when the weather closed in:  

Gannet - flock of 6 out and different flock of 8 in (all ads), 

Red-throated Diver - 11 out including four together, 2x2, three singletons and one in could have been one of these,  

Common Scoter - drake in then u-turned and flew out, one out distantly 

A later check from Ocean Edge located 

Pale-bellied Brent goose 26

Dark-bellied Brent goose 2

On Red Nab

The Brent were still on Red Nab when I walked down the wall a little later (MD)

Two Dark-bellied Brent right

Their dark bellies more obvious when they are out of the water.
Although, the likely Russian bound, birds were not exactly welcome!

As the tide covered Red Nab all the Brent flew off together towards Potts Corner.

Rock Pipit 5 including the ringed male near the lighthouse.

Wheatear 2 on foreshore 

Back to "normal"

It started off calm and clear, then a WSW breeze brought in the cloud as it freshened. A few light showers.

Nothing different today, just my records so far (MD)

Heysham skear - low water 08:10

Eider only 80 counted, but they were well spread and there would have been more.

Wigeon 4 flew in from the east and settled on the sea.

Female leading the Wigeon on to the skear

Little Egret 6

Carrion Crow 15

Peregrine Falcon 1

Great Crested Grebe 7

Red-brested Merganser 14

Again the above two were difficult to count, particularly the Mergansers who were constantly feeding. This was largest group of 7

Red Nab 1.5 hours after high water:

Pale-bellied Brent goose 34

Wigeon 2

The Wigeon left when the Brent set off for the north side

Rock Pipit 1

Gannets start to move, plus an Osprey

The wind started light from the east before freshening mid morning and swinging around before settling to NNE. Plenty of sunshine between the high cloud.

Morning seawatch report from Pete:

Osprey NW at 0810 over Kent Channel 

Gannet 5 adult, flew out together - first of year I think 

Eider 224

Red-breasted Merganser 16

Great Crested Grebe 8

Pale-bellied Brent goose 52 on the water near the eider on the north side, before flying to south - they were seen landing at Red Nab, long before the tide reached it.

Foreshore to saltmarsh shore (MD)

Wheatear 2 together on foreshore 

Shelduck 17

Curlew 70 

Redshank 60

Grey Plover 2

Dunlin 1

Grey Plover in winter plumage 

Grey Plover with Redshank 

The other Grey Plover had an "unwelcome" hanger on. Today's only Dunlin.

I know that it is unlikely, but a part of me thinks this has to be the same Dunlin that refused to leave the Red Nab rock yesterday. It obviously has an identity crisis and seems to think its legs are longer than they are. Eventually the Plover went out into water above the Dunlins depth, but the Dunlin stuck with it.

The Plover eventually flew off south, with the Dunlin hot on its tail.

Tim had a promenade in the afternoon sun, whilst the tide was still quite high:

Walking from Morecambe to Heysham 15.20-15.45

26 Eider out from north of Sunny Slopes

Another 23 Eider out to South

2 Merganser 

No geese seen

Snow Bunting visited yesterday

Cold WNW fresh wind, mostly sunny

Update from yesterday.

Snow Bunting 1 male - initially just south of the recording area at Potts Corner, then flew north into our territory. Report and excellent pictures from Mark Jones.

Male Snow Bunting

A couple of images that I managed to grab of a lovely male Snow Bunting yesterday on my return from Sunderland point mid afternoon. It was, unbelievably, in front of a caravan just 2 away from mine, feeding on the ground, I watched it for around 10 mins before it flew off up the coast towards Morecambe.

Beautiful, striking white back wing feather pattern, just a single call as it took off, easily the best views I've had of one.

Report from Jean:

Pete and I were in the area from 0750 to 0930 and saw the following:
Eider 207
Red-breasted Merganser 15 (groups of 6 and 5 and rest in 1s and 2s)
Great-crested Grebe 9
The mergs and grebes were displaying 
Common Gull 270
Mediterranean Gull 2 x 2CY
Peregrine - adult and immature targeting the waders and crows on the skear.

Vis:
Very little overhead.
Meadow Pipit 5 singles north
Little Egret 4 north low to water following the Kent channel
Red-throated Diver - a group of 10 summer-plumaged birds headed high out of the Bay then turned and flew north. 

In the woodland on Heysham Head no Chiffchaff were calling so previous birds must have moved through.
A Tawny Owl hooted once and then it sounded like all the Blackbirds, Dunnocks etc had found it as there was quite a racket from them.

A grey seal was in the near channel being mobbed by Black-headed Gulls.

South shore (MD)

Pale-bellied Brent goose 42 flew from Red Nab to Potts

Wigeon 16

Dunlin c200

The Dunlin still in winter plumage

This one was reluctant to leave its Red Nab rock, I got bored waiting for it to take flight and in the end almost missed it, so I've stitched two clips together.

Turnstone c150 on the Wooden Jetty

Redshank c50 each Wooden Jetty and saltmarsh 

Wheatear 4 at least along foreshore, I saw 3 on the way out and 2 on return, David Talbot saw 4 later.

Jack Snipe 1, flushed from the saltmarsh at high water 

Rubbish shot as ever, but not without some charm

Rock Pipits 1 each saltmarsh, Red Nab and Sea wall - an evening check of north side located 4 more: 1 heliport, 2 just north of Half Moon Bay and 1 near Heysham Head.

Osprey reported heading our way from Plover Scar. Unfortunately not picked up in the recording area.