Nocmig Confusion

What a summer. After a couple of weeks laid up with the lurgy that I thought might have been 'the Covid', I think it was just one of them summer colds. I've still got a heavy chest.  What with that and the relentless poor weather I've struggled to find much to write about. Even my notebook is a bit thin but here goes the update so far.

26th June, thick fog decended. That puts the kybosh on most things but on this occasion a few Sandwich and Arctic Terns flew over our house quite low calling as they lose sight of the actual coast.  

A poor juvenile Song Thrush made a bang as it crashed into the kitchen window unfortunately. I decided to draw it, life sized...

Song Thrush a window casualty.

Friday 28th June, on my way to work a surprise Red Kite very low above the road at Red Row was nice. It was so low it became at risk of being another casualty but luckily it dodged the bullet so to speak...Kites may well be the new Black headed Gulls around the rest of the UK but in this black spot they are still very much noteworthy.

On Saturday 29th June at midnight there was a bit of a mystery unfolding.

I was out for Peggy's late night stroll. It was calm and still when I heard a totally unfamiliar call over towards the coast. It called once, then a gap, called a second time then another gap, then called a third time as it made its way south. Given the three clear sounds I was able to memorise the info long enough ( minutes) until I got in and added the details to the notebook before I could forget.

Then I put a tweet out to those who like to record nocturnal migrants overhead at night - Nocmig. They are more practised at this specialist field than me. From what I could tell, this was a wader, sounds like a small calidrid type on the move. Soon two replies came with Temmincks Stint? 

This is s scarce migrant of muddy edged pools so cant imagine one over here but I went straight online to Xeno Canto and checked the call there. It sounded good and I passed thanks to the responders.

I still was a bit unsure. As a Nocmig sceptic as you might have seen here I always wonder what else it may have been. You cant see it, so its always a long shot for these unfamiliar migration sounds. This kept me thinking about the so called Temmincks overhead in the night. Its not impossible but lets face it, it is unlikely.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I am speaking to my neighbour, published bird sound recordist and all round expert in avian audibles, Geoff Sample, when I recount the tale. Straight away he says what about Curlew Sandpiper? 

I have heard them calling before but didn't remember 'my' call. Time for another check on Xeno Canto. Well I never, Geoff was spot on. Similar to Temmincks but as my note says, drier and more distinct. At that time there were a couple of Curlew Sandpipers down the coast so they were certainly out there. A much more likely fit than the stint. Interesting isnt it....

Have a listen to this link - Xeno Canto Curlew Sandpiper Flight Call try the 8th one down the list by Stanislas Wroza 22 seconds Mongolia its the clearest without the background noise. Most like my bird.

To compare try the Temmincks Stint calls here too.

Oh and as I actually heard it and didn't just hear a recording of it, it was a patch tick too!

 

The adult Curlew Sandpiper taken a few years ago has the reddish belly in this pic with a juv Curlew Sand to its right and some Dunlin.

 

Boulmer

It was a very big tide at Boulmer this morning. 5.4mtrs brought it within 2 mtrs of the grass at full tide around 6.30am. Its not often you cant walk in front of the village. At low tide it will have been a kilometre out beyond the rocky skeers. The morning began very pleasantly with  clear skies and a light, cool westerly breeze.

Before we made our move a scan of the remaining beach had 5 Goosanders and 20 Pied Wagtails over flown by a female Sparrowhawk. There was a steady passage of hirundines with 120 south in the first half an hour. While looking along south to Seaton Point ( top image) an angler wearing chest waders was fishing a lure in quite shallow water where he caught a nice, silver, Bass that appeared to be around the 3lbs mark. Note, I don't call them 'Sea Bass'? I leave that to the chefs because we only have one Bass in the UK and they were never 'sea bass'. Just Bass.

We walked north beyond the village to see if there were any migrants around. It was always going to be unlikely with this weather. We did have 4 Wheatears and 2 Sedge Warblers in the mugwort though, plus a lone Willow Warbler that came out of some long grass on the edge of the beach and flew West. A covey of 8 Grey Partridges looked a bit moulty in the field west of the coast path.

Waders were in reasonable numbers with - 

2 juvenile Curlew Sandpipers, 36 Dunlin, 6 Sanderling, 7 Knot, 17 Ringed Plover, 47 Golden Plover, 6 Bar tailed Godwit, 1 Whimbrel, 30+ Curlew, 30+ Turnstones and a call only Greenshank.

10+ Swifts were over Longhoughton Steel.

A small gull roost in the field consisted of 40+ Great black backed, 1 Lesser black backed that looked very dark , possibly 'intermedius'  and 6+ Herring Gulls. Most of the terns seem to have gone with only 6+ Sandwich Terns being seen.

By now the summer crowds were arriving so it was time to move off.

     We moved only a mile or so away to Foxton Bends, a meander in the River Aln that sometimes holds waders. Today we had 6 Little Egrets, 2 Greenshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, 2 Dunlin, 20+ Curlew, 9 Teal, a Yellow Wagtail and a Kingfisher. A female Redstart flew across the road but we couldn't relocate it. Not a bad little stop. 

Then it was back home where the moth trap was waiting. The catch was uninspiring but the bycatch was quite nice, a Twin-spot Centurion Sargus bipunctatus, a lovely soldierfly...

Twin spot Centurion Sargus bipunctatus 

Curlew Sandpiper

This has been a good autumn so far for Curlew Sandpipers in Northumberland. Down on the shore at Boulmer there are still 4 juvs with 300 Dunlin, 36 Ringed Plover and a few Turnstone feeding on a mound of rotting seaweed. The birds change over on a daily basis so it is worth keeping an eye on such a concentration because they may just carry something even rarer. Close scrutiny today, however, didn't reveal anything else.

Juv Curlew Sandpipers can be tricky to find in a large flock of Dunlin.

But here we can see the taller, paler bird. 

Here is a good comparison.

Feeding on seaweed maggots.

Wadering..

As I drove home from work I passed Warkworth and saw that the increasing tide was already a shade too high for birding, so I popped home then headed down the road to Boulmer. Its a while since 'Boulmer Birder' has actually been on site due to some nasty environmental changes there, but it is still a good site for waders so I gave it an hour this evening.

Down behind the Fishing Boat Inn were 100+ Dunlin, 20+ Ringed Plover, 2 Common Sandpipers, 2 nice Little Stints and 3 Curlew Sandpipers ( 2 juvs and 1 adult).

Three Yellow Wagtails flew from the rotting seaweed pile. I then had a walk along to Seaton Point where more Dunlin, Redshank and Oystercatcher were up the tide line with 35 Turnstones and a Whimbrel. By now the light was going so it was time to head home for tea...

Two out of three Curlew Sandpipers with Dunlin.

A duo of Little Stints.

Rusty red and the mud hoppers.

My route to and from work drives right past a nice, medium sized, Northumberland estuary. Complete with mini mudflats and saltmarsh, the river Coquet at Amble is an excellent spot for migrating waders. Best of all, not having any hides, it hardly gets a look at by birders compared to the Druridge Bay reserves only a few miles south.

For me, this is its main attraction. You don't have to put up with 'birders' saying 'is the blackwit showing' or queues of cars waiting for the Barn owl to be papped a millionth time.

Right enough of that. Yesterday and this evening, on my way back from work I stopped for a quick scan of the mud for new arrivals. I've promised myself a White rumped Sand on here this year, even though its not strictly 'my' patch. I visit here with John regularly on a Sunday as he is doing a low key year list on the site. As he is busy elsewhere this week, I feel obliged to check the area on his behalf.

Last night there was a nice party of Dunlin, 40+ at least, all sporting neat black bellies and 11+ Common Sandpipers. Not earth shattering, for sure, but promising.

Tonight I only had about 20 minutes to spare, but straight away I could see the numbers had increased as the tide shuffled the birds backwards. Dunlin had upped to 80+ and a tidy Black tailed Godwit brightened things up. A very distant little wader scuttled through the Dunlin in a stint-like fashion so I left the car and walked a good 100 yards closer for a better look. No sign of anything resembling a stint, but Bingo! a lovely breeding plumaged Curlew Sandpiper stood heads above the Dunlin on the opposite shore. Occasionally the flock would lift and do a 'murmuration' around the edge before pitching in again. One stop had Common Sand, Curlew Sand, Dunlin, Redshank and Black tailed Godwit all in a line. Nice.

So, no sign of any peeps this evening but the one from arctic Russia was just as pleasing. Lets hope there are more nice waders over the coming weeks.