Pause....

 March is a quiet time on the Northumberland coast. A lot of our wintering birds have moved on, so we have no Golden Plovers and few Curlews now and the  Northern Thrushes have vanished too so now we are left birdless apart from a some slow signs of spring in our resident populations.

A walk around the village lanes and pond yesterday turned up very little. The Hoodie is still hanging around but even it seemed lethargic yesterday refusing to come down for food thrown into the paddock. Maybe he ? is getting lonely seeing the other corvids pairing up now. Ive not seen the Barn Owls either since Thursday...

The weather this week is reverting back to winter so the chances of a singing Chiffchaff will be pretty slim until there is a calmer spell maybe next week. Its spells like this that really shows a local patch for what it is, but time passes and in doing so we can see that change is just around the corner... At least this hiatus gives me a chance to get the garden ready for the growing season...

   

Another day, another PC...

 My last PC, that blew its electrics after a power cut in January, was almost 9 years old, so it had a decent innings. To be totally honest, the incident was a bit helpful as it was an aging Windows 7 PC that became obsolete last January, so it was time to renew it anyway. My household insurance paid out about 60% of the total final cost after renewal and paying an I.T guru to save my hard drive etc, so it could have been worse.

Now, I have a fast Windows 10 machine that should be future proofed enough to last as long as its predecessor. It might take me a while to get used to the new workings of W10 but that is just the norm with new technology I suppose.

Right, where was I? Since my last proper post we have endured a mini Beast from the East and a nice mild sunny spell to off set it, making us believe spring was really here. Remember Winter II will be waiting in the wings, ready to pounce just as we start mowing the lawn again.

Over these last weeks of Lockdown I have continued to enjoy getting my wildlife fix from the local patch, staying within not much more than a mile radius of home other than to go for some shopping or essentials. During 2021 I have not been birding anywhere outside of my village other than single walks each down to Boulmer and up to Craster.

I have largely succeeded in following Government regulations, but last week my will power was pushed a bit when a county first, a  dapper drake Bufflehead, spent an afternoon on Cresswell Pond only 20 miles south of me. For the first time, the following morning  I was genuinely relieved with news that it had gone for good. 

Staying within almost sight and sound of my house has not been the martyrdom that you might think. There has been a lot of interest ranging from hundreds of thrushes heading to the snow free coast, daily sightings of Barn Owls and even a prolonged stay by probably two Humpback Whales. Not many people can say they've walked along the lane to see one of those... You might think that should be anyone's absolute highlight, and you would be right, it was a lifer for me, but the best thing comes with a bit more swagger even than a 40 foot long cetacean.

The resident Hooded Crow I have posted about on here a few times has now made a move actually into our village, to become a fully bonafide garden bird. One morning it made an attempt to join the dawn chorus, waking me up until some food was put out for it. Since that day, I feed it across the road in the Rectory Paddock each morning on what ever comes to hand. So far it has enjoyed Pancakes, Flat bread, Duck Eggs, Fat Balls, Tortillas and standard bread crusts. Some are eaten on the spot, some hidden in grass tussocks for later. I'd like to see it pair with a local Carrion Crow. Now that it is practically domesticated, it will leave a gaping hole when it does decide to move on... 

Here are a few photos to be going on with...

One of the local Barn Owl pair on a gate post next to the village green.

The snow brought hundreds of Fieldfares into the area with a lot coming to fruit laid out in our garden.

Hooded Crow. 'Today I is mostly eating fat balls...'

A pair of Kestrels frequented our garden during the cold snap. One day they were even fighting on our porch roof.

Pre cold spell, the Kingfisher fed in the ditch running along the lane out of the village.

Thar she blows! ( You have to don't you)

Some distant shots of the Humpback Whale. I cant believe this could be seen from our village road end! The herring gull wingspan gives an idea of tail fluke width, it must be around 8 feet wide!

4pm UPDATE - There is a dead Humpback Whale in the sea offshore about 2 miles north of us now. Initial thoughts are that it may be due to entanglement. I'm totally gutted. This sea is just too crowded for these animals. I hope I never see another off here.

 

Hoodlums!

 The other night Jane was making tea when the dog took an unusual interest in the microwave. On investigation, the fattest House Mouse you could ever see popped out and ran back behind! We cleared the bench and with some deft keepering, using a coffee pot, the said bariatric rodent's freedom was no more...It was released several hundred yards away at the opposite side of our village.

I posted on here in July when I saw a House Mouse at our bird feeders, the first I had seen for many years, but now we may have the start of a colony. We will be keeping an eye on the situation...

Yesterday Paul Cassells found a Black Redstart on the coast just along the road from us. I was working and couldn't get away while it was light enough so we went to check it out today, at lunchtime. Unfortunately the coast path and layby were more like a scene from the Great North run with loads of people out enjoying lockdown so I didn't bother looking too far. It comes to something when we can't even walk around where we live because of people walking around where they don't! Some Lockdown.

The highlight of 20 minutes out was our semi resident Hoodlum, the Hooded Crow who lives in the vicinity of the local farm. It showed really well in nice light, even giving me some anti-social verbal abuse at one stage, befitting of his / her kind...what a star. Hoodlum was the 6th species of crow around our village today. It would be nice to get a Chough. 

Hooded Crow

 

A winter visitor in summer...

After spending the last couple of Sundays on our inland patch we felt it was time to stay coastal this week. To be honest, this is a quiet spell until August kicks in so we hadn't really been missing much. Late summer holiday time can be a pain on the coast with lots of visitors around but an early start means you can make the best of it and leave as things get busier.

Today we met at Boulmer at 6.15am and with a 5 mtrs high tide at 7.30, we decided to start at the North End to see if any waders had been pushed in closer.

Although still early in the 'autumn' bird numbers were picking up with 250+ Dunlin, 6+ Turnstone, 8+ Bar tailed Godwits, 4+ Whimbrel, 1 Sanderling, 2 Ringed Plover, 1 Common Sandpiper, 30+ Curlew, 20+ Oystercatcher, 25+ Golden Plover and 30+ Redshank.

15 moulting Goosanders were in the haven and a juv Wheatear was on the beach..

On an area of barley field flattened by tractors putting in new drainage pipes ( god forbid an area around here has so much as a puddle left) a few passerines were attracted. 10+ Yellow Wagtails, 6+ Skylarks and Tree Sparrows, 1 juv Whinchat and many Meadow Pipits. A large, difficult to view, gull roost in a cow field had 1 ad Mediterranean Gull.

More unusually, a Hooded Crow was sitting along the wall. At this time of year we always get reports of Hoodies that are actually dull, dusty greyish juvenile Carrion Crows, but this was the real deal. Can't recall ever seeing one here in summer?

Common Sandpiper

Hooded Crow.

Returning waders....

After a couple of hours we headed back for tea, pasties and cake, you have to look after yourself in this game, to stop concentration levels dropping you understand. From here, the car park was full by now so we moved base to the South End at Seaton Point. We checked the point and along the road to the golf course layby.

A few more waders were on the shore. The tide had dropped considerably by now so most birds were distant but closer on show were 1 Bar tailed Godwit, 3 Ringed Plover, 6 Dunlin and 2 Sanderling in summer plumage. Off shore a few Sandwich, Common and Arctic Terns milled around but there were no Roseates unusually.

Along in the scrub at the edge of the golf course were 1 Sedge Warbler, 3+ Willow Warblers, 3+ Lesser Whitethroats, a family party likely, and 1 Common Whitethroat. 12 Crossbills flew S overhead.

The morning was almost over, so it was time for home to get the moth trap done. Its best to count the moths early on, but on Sunday they always get counted at the worst possible time when the slightest movement sends them flying away...

Boulmer Village viewed from the North, Longhoughton Steel.

The Rhinns of Galloway

Sounds like a nasty ailment I know, but this is the furthest southwest corner of Scotland where we stayed over the New Year week. The weather was mixed, but all in all we had a nice relaxing time, just walking when the sun shone, and watching DVDs when it didnt.

This is more of a photo post really. Of course there was an odd spell of birding...

The little one on the right is Seascape cottage where we stayed. A new place, very comfortable and as you can see, away from everything.

Loch Ryan at Wig Bay.

The Wig Bay was the best bit of birding during the week. The waters, when calm were full of wintering birds including - 6+ Slavonian Grebes, 3+ Great Crested Grebes, 2 Scaup, 30+ Red breasted Mergansers, 1 Tystie, 5+ Long tailed Duck, 3 Red throated Divers, 20+ Goldeneye, Eiders, Wigeon.  

Stranraer Harbour.

You dont expect to see this on 29th December! My latest ever Peacock butterfly.

A large Starling roost of several thousand birds all crashed into two barns nearby. The noise from inside sounded like an aviary!

Portpatrick Harbour

Smugglers Cove, a troll shop in Portpatrick.

A Hoodie at Wig Bay. It was with a hybrid Carrion x Hoodie nearby.

This Black headed Gull came to chips at Stranraer Harbour. I must send off the ring details, but is says Volgel something Arnhem on the metal ring so it must be dutch...[Update - Ringed as a pulli ( nestling) in Holland on 4th June 2011. It has been wintering at Stranraer every since and summering in its natal colony.]

The view from the cottage door, facing directly over towards Belfast, Northern Ireland on the horizon.