A cornucopia...

 Out and about yesterday seemed pretty much standard fare with one or two bits of interest thrown in.

Lets begin with the moth trapping.

For the first time this year I put the small bucket trap out in the Village Wood on Saturday night. The evening was calm, overcast and quite mild at 8 degrees so despite the early date I was hopeful that a few moths would show.

On collection yesterday there were a reasonable 32 moths of 6 species - Agonopterix heracliana/ciliella 1, Acleris cristana 1, a nice form I have not seen before, Tortricodes alternella 1, Dotted Border 3, Pale brindled Beauty 8 and 18 Chestnut. As usual in early spring, this outshone the more powerful garden Robinson trap that could only muster 1 Hebrew Character and 1 Dark Chestnut.

I always feel a bit guilty entering the wood at first light as I feel I am disturbing the locals - Roe Deer. The tactic is to make a small amount of noise as I walk so as not to overly surprise them when I round a corner. On this occasion, one stood only about 10 mtrs away watching me walk past, so I kept eye contact to the ground and quickly went on my way.

     

Acleris cristana

 Catch counted and released by 7.45 I met John and we headed down to Birling Carrs to have a look at the sea. This is the southern boundary of John's patch and there has been a Red necked Grebe in recent weeks so it was worth a look. On route, a short pause at Lesbury for singing Dipper resulted in a blank.

At Birling the track is now closed to all traffic like a lot of places here since covid, but in some ways at least there is less disturbance on the walk. First off, 100+ Linnets looked promising on a seeded rape field but there was nothing with them, not so much as a Tree Sparrow or Reed Bunting. Only 2 Grey Partridges added variety. A few yards further on, a distinctive call stopped us. A Willow Tit was buzzing away in low brambles and flat bracken close beside the track. It soon popped out giving good views but briefly as it flew off to thicker cover to the south.

We finally took position in the caravans to scan the sea in good flat grey viewing conditions. To be honest we were a bit disappointed. Over a vast area all we had were 17 Great crested Grebes ( 15 in one flock), 4 Common Scoter and about 20+ Red throated Divers way out 'on the edge of science'.

Back at the car, a good count of 62 Whooper Swans were in the field west of the road.

From here, a short half mile journey south to twitch a plant! At least the Mistletoe was still present and showing well. A rare plant in the county and only my second sighting up here and it looked like it was doing well.

  

Mistletoe, maybe the first time on this blog?

Back north now, to Alnmouth where we had our tea and sausage rolls while scanning the estuary. There were a lot of birds on a falling tide - 1 Black tailed Godwit,  200+ Lapwings, 18 Ringed Plover and  a pair of  Red breasted Merganser and an adult Mediterranean Gull the highlights. The Med was colour ringed but just too far to read.

Mediterranean Gull, Aln Estuary

We took a walk along to the Golf Course Pond to check for wintering Chiffchaff maybe. As often happens, that plan failed, but a nice Water Rail showed itself at our feet before vanishing again leaving me wondering if it had been there at all! A female Bullfinch and 2 Goldcrest the only passerines of note.

Alnmouth GC Pond, just the spot for Northumberland's first Penduline Tit!

This weekend has been like a taste of spring, but I'll not be putting my big coat away just yet, there could be snow before the Swallows return...

Change...

  As spring proper rolls ahead at a pace, there is a definite change on my manor.

On the 6th March my first Buff tailed Bumblebee and Peacock butterfly made an appearance, then on the 10th an emergence of Toads crossing the lane end at dusk is always pleasing to see. 

Also on the 10th, en route for a takeaway ( Chinese, if you are interested), a Brown Hare was sat out in the road illuminated in the car headlights. Its a very rural area with  no other vehicles so I turned the dipped lights to just side lights and stopped. As it was soon made obvious, this Hare was a female who was suckling a tiny leveret maybe only a day or two old on the road. She ran across to the other side, flipping junior over to be left alone.  Knowing that these tiny babies are very independent from birth I sat and watched as this hamster sized lagomorph scuttled across only to get stuck at a wheel rut in the verge.

At this point, it seemed the best option to give it a wide berth as I drove past and check it on the way home.

Twenty minutes later I slowly retraced my steps and the little hare was nowhere to be seen but I could see the mother quietly weaving her way along the hedge bottom. Hopefully the youngster was lying in there out of harms way.

At 11.30pm a Moorhen called repeatedly as it circled our garden and headed off north.

A small flurry of birds came on Saturday 12th. Farmer Tom was ploughing the Rectory stubble and was being escorted by an entourage of between 700 and 1000 Black headed Gulls. There had to be a Mediterranean Gull in this lot, so repeated scanning of the blizzard of gulls soon revealed the expected, lovely, dapper adult male Med standing on the plough in full summer plumage. What a smart bird.

 The first Chiffchaffs of the year made an appearance with up to 4 seen and heard around the pond field.

On the way back from the walk, the Water Rail had returned to the burn near the bridge but as per usual  ran off into cover in a flash. Other birds noted were 25+ Siskin, 1 Fieldfare, 4 Redwings ( one was singing today), 2 Buzzards and a few Meadow Pipits.

On Sunday 13th, John came over first thing to have a wander. The main reason for not going to Boulmer or the moors was that I had put the small bucket moth trap in the wood over night and I needed to retrieve it. While my large garden 125w MV Robinson caught a single Hebrew Character on a cool windy night, the little bucket caught 35 moths of 10 species. Habitat is everything at this time of year.

Twin spotted Quaker, its a while since a moth has graced these pages.

 Birds around the patch included 11 Fieldfares, 3 Lapwings S, 1 Raven over the road seen well quite close to, 2 Grey Partridges, 2 Treecreepers, 1 male Greenfinch and a pair of Grey Herons have built a nest only three feet from the water surface in a fallen tree at the pond field. Not even a usual nesting tree either. I hope it is successful.

 

Today was a fine day. Working from home gave me a chance to have a couple of walks out early and lunchtime with Peggy. The Raven was in good voice, 2 Grey Partridges, 2 Yellowhammers a singing Goldcrest on the coast, a singing Redwing in the village and a large total, for here, of 6 Magpies together in the back field.

Away from birds, a few Buff tailed Bumblers and the years first Tree Bumblebee  were near the Hall car park with the first Marsh Marigolds, Lungworts, White Butterbur, Ivy leaved Speedwell and Primrose in flower. 

White Butterbur a naturalised species in the woods

Weekend Catch up.

Late November and December are the absolute worst time of the year for me. After the rush of autumn, it feels that all hope is lost. At least when we get to January we are looking forward to longer days and the new things in store for us in the coming year. So, for the next 5 or 6 weeks I will be mostly bumbling around making the best of a bad job.

And so it was on Saturday. I managed a couple of hours out on the patch, so decided to have a sit and wait along at the Rumbling Kern. On the sea were 6 Red throated Divers and a Great Northern flew North out on the edge of science. A female Common Scoter loafed with a few Eiders and a couple of late Gannets also moved north. On the rocks, 2 Grey Plovers were my first on the deck here this year while 6 Meadow Pipits, 1 Rock Pipit and a Stonechat were in the scrub behind the cliff.

On returning to the car ( when time is limited I take the car all of half a mile to the layby) 3 Grey Partridges watched me and a pair of Mediterranean Gulls were with Black headed's in the fields behind.

A Blue Lick Bucket.

Two Mediterranean Gulls

Sunday dawned clear and frosty and stayed that way all morning. For a change I met John up in the Alnwick Moors for a wander.

As you would imagine at this time, uplands are generally devoid of life but its still nice and bracing plus there were no other people around.

1 or 2 Peregrines, a few Buzzzards, 2 Ravens, Crossbills and unusually, 2 fly over Snow Buntings were about all we saw. 

For those wondering how far I have travelled between flat coastal farmlands and conifer clad moors, its about 10 miles.

Crossbill

Ravens. Look at the conk on that.

Monday was my final day off. It was cold and dull, almost dark, all day so I didnt take any photos.

A walk from Boulmer up to Longhoughton Steel had a very close in adult Great Northern Diver, showing some summer chequer board pattern on its back, 1 then 2 Snow Buntings flew West and South respectively, an adult male Peregrine stooped and knocked a wader into the sea, distantly up at Sugar Sands, 1 Purple Sandpiper, 3 Knot, 10 Bar tailed Godwits, 4 Grey Plover, 400 Golden Plover, 20 Sanderling and 80 Dunlin were roughly counted but Redshanks and Turstones were scattered throughout. About 6+ Red throated Divers were offshore, and 30+ Common Scoter flew S.

Back home, a dog walk to our small pond showed an increase in Teal with 31 birds present.

 

 

Boulmer Birder

When I first started this blog back in July 2006, almost 14 years ago, it was my intention to mainly record the sightings from my then local patch, the headland of Boulmer.

At that time I lived less than 2 miles away and would pop down on a regular basis to see what was around. Boulmer has potential ( or maybe that has already been uncovered) as it is a big square faced headland into the North Sea that attracts migrant birds. The main issue with it, is the lack of public access. There are few public paths and the landowners are not a friendly bunch either.

By 2009 I had moved house to our present digs at Howick about 3 miles from Boulmer. Now Howick, whilst not a promontory is also on the coast and for residents has much better access around the farmland and estate behind the coast path. Hence I adopted this as my new patch, and why wouldnt I, I live smack centre of it!

Back in 06, I was the only birder to watch Boulmer on anything like a regular basis, but now with no little thanks to some of my first observations a small group of Boulmer Birders has developed and as a result more good birds are being found. There are now, 3 regulars who would call it their patch and me and John who might call by sometimes for old times sake. 

We made such a visit on Sunday. It was generally quiet and access averse a place as you could find, but we still wandered into the corralled spots where the public are still allowed to wander. Two nice Med Gulls were along the shore, an adult and a second summer bird, the latter showing quite well. There was a steady viz mig of Swifts overhead with 300 south, joined by a flock of 23 Siskins and a Redpoll that for all the world was very pale and Mealy like to me, but in June?

We then met Daniel, the most recent Boulmer patcher who I know will turn up good birds as time progresses. He had a female type Grey headed Wagtail briefly on the beach before it flushed North ( the same bird is at Low Newton today).

We left at lunchtime with mixed emotions. It is still a good bird spot for sure, but just heart breaking to see 20, yes 20 signs saying No Parking, No Access, No Camping etc at all points. Places we used to park now blocked by wooden bollards forcing everyone into one car park. On top of that, this is the weedkiller sprayed capital of the North with brown verges a feature. 

Here is the good side of Boulmer...

One of the Meds... 

And here is the insidious bad side of this lovely place... 

A fresh water drainage ditch sprayed to death with herbicide. Into a water source...

We used to be able to walk here as the Close the Gate sign suggests. Not now.

There, isn't that better.

Third time lucky...

This morning, the weather forecast was quite uninspiring with rain predicted for most of the day, however, as with most things weather related, the day didn't turn out as reported. It started off dark and overcast but ended up quite bright and fair, and we scarcely saw a drop all morning.

I met with John and headed off to East Chevington again for the third time since Christmas, hoping, again, to catch up with the wintering Shorelark flock, present here since November. Today was to be third time lucky as the birds, all 7 of them, were feeding on a tiny ribbon of strand tidemak as soon as we peered onto the beach. A few dog toting dudes did their very best to chase the birds off, but they were keen to get back and we finally got some great views. One bird in particular was a stunner, a full, horny male, with jet black face and breast markings on a primrose yellow background, while one was a drab female. The other 5 were more intermediate in colour and condition , but all were very nice, charismatic birds.

While John took a few photos, a nice flock of 42 Twite dropped in to feed near the larks.

From here we had a brief stop at Amble Harbour where the local Mediterranean Gull was sat on its rock on the little shore, then we headed off up to Boulmer. The tide was miles out here, but there were a lot of birds, distantly to scan through. There were 35 Bar tailed Godwits, 3 Grey Plover and the juv Glaucous Gull down on the waters edge. Off we set, resulting in John getting some decent shots ( check his blog out here).

As it started out dull, I didnt bring my camera but managed a few shaky seconds of video with my phone hand held on to my scope. Not bad?

Christmas List

Ages ago, over the Christmas period, Andrew Dawes of Wessex Reiver blog challenged everyone to a Christmas doldrums bird race. I haven't done anything similar since, apart from the local patch thingy and a laid back, head to head with Mr Gale of Surrey.  I was interested the other week, when Andrew threw down the gauntlet again for another week of petty competitiveness where by we all get out between Christmas Day and New Years Day and count how many bird species we see.

As this festive holiday is often quite busy and taken up with visiting family and friends, the challenge can be taken in a very tongue in cheek manner, the whole point being to have fun during the final week of the year.

My week got off to a damp fizzle seeing next to nothing on Christmas Day ( 9 species) and Boxing Day ( not many more). Today was my first proper morning's birding this month so every sighting was to be savoured and made all the more delicious by the sharp, bright, calm weather we crave at this traditionally dull and wet time of year.

I met with John at Amble, first thing, and we covered the whole south side of the Coquet Estuary from the sea upstream to Warkworth. Not wishing to let the cat out of the bag, all I'll say is that a few nice birds were seen such as Little Egret, Peregrine, several Knot, 3 Purple Sandpipers, 40+ Black-tailed Godwits, Mediterranean Gull etc.

Hopefully the weather will hold this week, and I'll build a reasonable total without racing around twitching everyone else's finds. I'll save that one for 2017...

Amble Pier

Adult Med Gull

Eiders in full display, while not eating Warburtons.

Some of the Black tailed Godwits on the estuary.

The calls during disputes were just like a dog's squeaky toy.

Redpoll...week 4.

You will all be getting sick of me chuntering on about the Coues's Arctic Redpoll at Birling / Warkworth by now, but today we managed some great views and this time I even had the camera instead of the scope.

I've jumped the gun a bit though so first things first. I met John at Warkworth at 7.30 this morning just as it was getting light. It was nice and calm for a change, overcast and cold. To start things we walked down towards the beach and along to view the salt marsh, to check the local Twite flock for the first time this year. As expected, about 15 Twite showed well, in less than good light, but with them were 2 Redpolls, one a sure fire Mealy, the other more ambiguous. I dont recall ever seeing redpolls in this habitat before...

While here, a Barn Owl hunted the car park banks and a host of waders roosted along the edge, where Bar-tailed Godwit and Little Egret were both new for the year.  

Twite in the gloaming at first light.

From here we walked back up and followed the field north along the golf course to view the redpolls. Today numbers were up to 34 birds and the Arctic was easily picked out as they came in and sat, obligingly, along the fence line.

Coues's Arctic Redpoll showing well, sticking out like a sore thumb. This shot shows its bull-head and necked appearance well.

We stood back from the fence a few yards and the birds came in every so often. Here the Arctic is showing its typical puffed up pose, complete with huge, unstreaked white rump.

In this shot, the Arctic has not had time to fluff up, giving an altogether different appearance. It appears to be a first winter male as there are odd reddish feathers in the upper chest / cheek area. 

 This is my fourth audience with exilipes and he never fails to impress. What a little cracker!
As we watched, John and I met with John Richardson and Sasha Elliott who also got some nice photo's. Pleased to meet you Sasha....

From here, we returned to the car for a refill of tea, pasty and cake ( no....) then off down to the harbour and estuary. Highlights here were a nice male Goosander, 3 Purple Sandpipers and the adult Mediterranean Gull has finally returned, albeit a little bit late....

So, a nice winter morning out with some excellent birds. If only all weekends were like this....

Mediterranean Gull with Black headed Gulls, Little Shore, Amble.

 

Amble Harbour.

Today's weather turned out a lot better than expected. The forecast on Thursday said it would be raining all day and blowing a gale. It was windy, but the sun shone brightly most of the time.

I met up with John and we covered the Coquet Estuary area from Warkworth road bridge down to the harbour. Bird-wise it was all a bit same-old same-old so we just pottered around getting some nice photographs in bright sunshine.

This Turnstone on one of the trawlers in the harbour came out well. It is almost a full image, with only a very slight crop to balance it out.

Its not often I wish I hadn't left my small lens in the car, but this young Great black backed Gull was way too close for my 300! It spent the whole time pulling bits of flattie from the net, followed by an entourage of Turnstones cleaning up after it.

Wigeon are usually the most wary of wildfowl but here, half a dozen birds were pushed up by the rising tide to a point they were used to people wandering around the prom. The drakes are stunning in the sunshine, one to be appreciated when the opportunity presents itself.

They were accompanied by a nice adult Med Gull loafing just offshore...

The Coquet Estuary....

Amble Harbour

Eider displaying.

The day dawned calmish and quite bright but soon became dull, making these photos very grainy and drab. We covered the Coquet estuary from Amble Harbour up to Birling Carrs, adding a couple of new species to JWR's patch list.

On arrival a huge number of Rooks and Jackdaws were leaving their roost, numbering several thousand birds. The sky was full of them, the air ringing with their calls.

The estuary was full of birds with up to 700 Golden Plover, 300 Lapwing, Dunlins and Redshank. A lone Grey Plover and a few Knot added interest. Up at the harbour, an adult Mediterranean Gull loafed, but it wasn't the usual bird carrying a red darvic. This one only had a metal ring on one leg.

8+ Red breasted Merganser were spread right up the river, one or two pairs were in full display mode and a female Goosander was up near the road bridge.

2 Purple Sandpipers were on the pier, 2 Grey Partridges were along the braid with another 5 at Birling. 5 Roe Deer showed well near the river.

Small stuff around the Braid car park included a female Bullfinch, several Long tailed Tits and a host of Goldfinches.

Mediterranean Gull at the Little Shore.  

Starling singing from lobster pots.

Female Bullfinch.

Long tailed Tit

Back home, a short look along the shore added othing to the Howick list, but 5 Grey Plovers were extra noteworthy, not being annual here, 2 Harbour Porpoises off shore near 2 Red throated Divers.

A cold spell forecast for mid week might shuffle the pack a bit...

In the pink...

Sedge Warbler juveniles.

Is it my imagination or are there a lot of young warblers around this year? Most spots this morning held a good selection, in particular the Warkworth Gut top car park where there were 5+ Chiffchaff, 1+ Willow Warbler, 5+ Blackcap, 3+ Whitethroat and 1 Sedge Warbler. Overhead, 2 Yellow Wagtails flew south and a Wheatear seemed to drop out of the sky from nowhere.

Over in the bay, a dark phase Arctic Skua stalked along N and a Whimbrel trilled going south.

Its years since my first ever Surf Scoter was at Birling Carrs, just to the north of Warkworth and I can count on one hand the times I have been there since, but today we gave it a look.

In a proper stubble field (one with weed seeds) we came across a large flock of small birds with maybe 500+ individuals comprising of mostly Linnets but with good numbers of Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Skylarks too. Its nice to see this again when we are old enough to remember when every cut corn field was like this, not so long ago. Later next month this might be worth checking for Lap Bunts, providing its not ploughed in by then.

By the time we got to the beach, the sun was out and things were warming up nicely. there was a large tern roost on the one flat rock that merited a closer look. In there, were 80+ Sandwich, a few Common and Arctic and 2+ Roseate Terns including a nice very pink adult. I thought this would have faded by now?

A Med Gull here looked like an adult, but might have been second winter, as I didnt get to see the primaries at all...  

A nice pink adult Roseate Tern in the flock..

...and again this time it is far left, three down from the top.

Mediterranean Gull

Birling Carrs