Sunday, November 02, 2008

An early start today found me at Boulmer at first light. Only half an hour watching the sea on a falling tide had -

Long tailed Duck 1 female
Goldeneye 1 female
Common Scoter 2,6,50
Velvet Scoter 1 male, 3 (2 male, 1 fem)
(A flock of 50 Common and 3 Velvet Scoter plus 1 Teal flew N together)

a Red throated Diver was on the sea.

The rest of the morning was spent at Craster, where I walked the ridge north ( the heugh) to Dunstanburgh Castle and back.



Craster and Dunstanburgh are about 5 miles north of Boulmer so I thought I would check it out for a change. The west side of the Heugh is a sheltered glen with plenty of migrant attracting scrub to search. Craster village itself has another wooded ravine, the Arnold Reserve, where I had the Icterine Warbler in September.



Behind the castle are two boggy pools not shown on OS Maps.




Migrants were few and far between, best being 2 Brambling, 2 Crossbills, 4+ Fieldfare, 5+ Redwing. 1 male Long tailed Duck flew north and a Red throated Diver flew south. The pools had a few Teal, Wigeon and Mallard.

Also seen on my walk, 1 Treecreeper, 1 Bullfinch, 6+ Long tailed Tit, 10+ Blackbirds and 25+ Yellowhammers. 300 Grey geese sp flew S. Too far away to id.


Later on we went shopping at Morrisons at Alnwick when I noticed a new arrival on show from the car park - below....



What the silverback signifies I have no idea. He is on the roof of a furniture warehouse!

On the way back home from Heighley Gate, up the A1 today a large raptor was flying purposely over Causey Park Bridge ( The Oak Inn). I swung into the car park, scrabbled desperately for my bins, but by the time I found them, the 'buzzard' had gone west. I wonder....

6 comments:

Steve Gale said...

Maybe it was the Northumberland Rough-leg?

Warren Baker said...

What a great looking castle. looks really mean, and forboding!

Blyth Birder said...

There's loads of 'forboding' castles in Northumberland.

And they did a great job of keeping undesirables out for centuries.

But the Tourist Board have reversed the trend and now we're resigned to the fact that tourists will clutter up this once quiet corner of England......:)

oldcrow61 said...

I love the shots of the castle.

Stewart said...

Ta for the comments all.
OC - In the top picture, look at the right side there is a rocky bay. Its called Nova Scotia. Is that near you? :)

John Malloy said...

Hi BB

I'm back on the web - with a blog no less(?!) - "birdingsometimes"

See you at the next biggy!

John Malloy