Vaccine blues...

 Yesterday Jane and myself headed up to Berwick for our first COVID jab. It all went like clockwork and we were back home before lunchtime. I had read about the aftermath of the injection and all the people I had spoken to had suffered some side effects to a greater or lesser extent, but its all worth it in these times of pandemic.

I felt fine until after about 9pm last night when the shivering started. My fingers went white and I couldn't keep my legs still for nagging aches. Despite taking paracetamol this continued all night and this morning I felt like I had a big hangover. Still, I thought I better try and shrug it off and get out for a walk to Boulmer.

The morning was beautifully clear and sunny if a little cool. Yesterday, both John and myself had opted not to twitch the 20 miles south for the pristine Citrine Wagtail at Lynemouth. Even though it was a stunner, I've had a few in the county, so would have preferred to see something more local.

As it turned out, it was a very quiet morning bird wise. Nothing was moving at sea and land migrants were equally sparse. Still, the first Wheatear of the year was flitting around Longhoughton Steel and a few Sand Martins trilled overhead. Otherwise, 13 Purple Sandpipers, 5 Grey Plover, 250+ Pinkfeet N and a singing male Greenfinch were all the headland had to offer.

I turned over a few stones on the dune edge and found a Hairy Rove Beetle Creophilus maxillus, but didn't have any pots or lens to get a shot.

Young Grey Seal

Male Wheatear.

Around the garden yesterday and today, Hairy-footed Flower Bees were active, still all males, alongside, Garden, Tree, Red tailed and Buff tailed Bumblebees. An early Orange Tip was in the village wood.

The reason why they are called Hairy footed Flower Bees.

 

Up to the Guts....

A day off today, with a reasonable weather forecast, so we went birding...

With no planning whatsoever John and myself began at Amble Harbour and worked north.

Amble was very quiet indeed with nothing of note. Further along the river, a few ducks were worth a look, 100+ Wigeon, 1pr Gadwall, 4 Red breasted Merganser, 2 Goosander and 2 Goldeneye fed on a low tide, while a Little Egret flew over the point to the Gut  er Old Water.

At this stage we discussed the local site names for our usual birding spots. Traditionally, all bird records from most of the Coquet estuary were labelled Warkworth Gut. This name, however, is just wrong. Warkworth Gut is a small muddy creek running from the south behind Amble Marina and not the channel edged in saltmarsh and reedbed that runs to the north. This place, where most birds are found, is called Old Water. Now there are some tidal pools at the head of Old Water we have imaginatively named 'Old Water Pools'.

Just to confuse matters further, there is a small, difficult to view 'Gut' opposite the weir laybye, that could also be called Warkworth Gut, but it doesnt have a separate name, it is just known as 'the river above the weir'.

There, that's that clarified. Several Guts, but the real one rarely has birds...

Back to the birds. As we were here it would be rude not to call in to see the Coues Arctic Redpoll for the 5th time. Today the bird was running a bit late and left us standing twiddling our thumbs for half an hour before it and it's colleagues flew in to the usual fence line to allow viewing. There was some discussion about the identity of the rest of the flock. These birds get no easier. Most could feasibly be Mealies rather than the assumed Lessers. In fact only 2 birds out of 30 or so were obvious Lessers, one a very red breasted male and another browner bird, both small compared to the rest. There are definitely 3+ Mealies, the rest are just Redpolls....

Coues on its usual post....

 From Birling we headed up to Boulmer via Foxton Bends where 500+ Wigeon were unsuccessfully  scanned for yanks. At Boulmer we walked both north and south along the shore. There were lots of birds to search through, many hundreds of gulls and coastal waders with a few wildfowl too but it was a day of spectacle rather than substance. A Peregrine hunted the rocks and a Twite flew south. On the flash, a few Mallard were joined by a juv Pale bellied Brent Goose. It was the shere number of gulls and waders though that caught our attention the most. As the tide neared the high mark, the waves washed piles of seaweed around exposing tasty morsels for the birds. There were 8+ Purple Sandpipers, 50+ Turnstones, 20+ Bar tailed Godwit, 100+ Dunlin, 40+ Sanderling, 2 Grey Plovers, 200+ Curlew, 50+ Redshank on the shore. It was great to watch them swirl around and return to the beach every so often.

A sample of waders flying around.

Nearby a young Grey Seal watched us pass then went back to sleep.

Not a bad day, certainly better than being office bound that's for sure!

Grey Seal

Female Blackcap.

After a bit of a blogging break, I thought it high time I got back 'into the saddle'. Last week, despite having a good Sunday out with Hooded Crow, Great Northern Diver, Slavonian Grebes, Long tailed Ducks, Barnacle Geese and Greenshank, I just couldn't get motivated to write about it. It was a dull cold day, and I didnt get any photos or any sketches so I just left it at that.

Today turned out much nicer. An icing sugar coat of snow, plus a clear blue sky and some warmth in the sun raising the temperature to 7 degrees placed springtime at the end of the tunnel.

A walk from home down to the burn moth and back via the coast turned up a good few patch year ticks.Mostly just day to day stuff that remained elusive but my first Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtail of the year ( another portent of spring days), a female Blackcap on the feeders all weekend, a ridiculously tame Pale bellied Brent Goose grazing on the Rumbling Kern cliff top were all well appreciated.

7 Lesser Redpolls, 3 Grey Plovers, 1 Bar tailed Godwit and 9 Purple Sandpipers also made a worthwhile day on the district. 

PB Brent.

A Grey Seal pup lying on some barely accessible rocks looked at first as if it might have some net tangled on it, but closer investigation showed it just to be sleeping in the sun. Down to four feet it looked in a shabby way, only breathing shallowly, and I thought it was to become Great black back fodder. As I kneeled to take the pic below, one eye opened, then the other and the startled youngster barked his disdain at being woken up at the ungodly hour of 11am on a Sunday morning. Not wanting to face the teenage wrath further I left him to go back to kip until the tide rose...

Now, if that is the end of the snow, my first crocuses and narcissus have just opened in the garden so can we just let spring get on with it...please.