Winterlude.

That's the first week of March over and last night was the coldest of the year so far. Our thermometer showed -3.9 degrees at 06.25am this morning. That was 10 minutes after our electric cut out and with it, the heating and hot water too. Great. This was followed by a despondent 3 hrs until the power pinged back into life and normal life could be resumed.

The quiet period had me thinking about how we go about our birding, as I often do. Now, we are swamped with bang up to the minute ( literally) information on what is around . I wonder how we would get on if WhatsApp  and Social Media all stopped. If we were back in a time like the 80s when we used an ineffective telephone grapevine. A part of me might quite like that, but I haven't got the bottle to stop it all voluntarily in case I missed anything. The state of things...I have blogged a few times about Olden Days and Old Ways ( see index) so wont repeat myself now, but you never know, one day I might just go off grid.

Back to whats been happening. As usual we have kept it local over the last week. 

On my main Local Patch ( we watch a few, in our vice county as you have seen) things remain a bit samey though signs of change are coming. Our Village Water Rail has started to be seen a bit more often in its usual burn, and even staying a few minutes before running off. Nice. Some thrushes are returning back north with a few Redwings and Blackbirds in the paddock and gardens, while down at the pond, the female Kingfisher is still about with 6 Tufted Ducks though the Gadwall seem to have gone now. The other evening, a lovely group of 5 Whooper Swans trumpeted their way NW low over the village, What a sight and sound they made. I stood, with the dog, and just soaked it all in as they slowly moved out of earshot.

Same place on different days, the Water Rail.

On Sunday we had the morning down the road at Alnmouth. Surprise of the week occurred with two Chiffchaffs including my earliest ever singer at the waterworks. Down on the river, Little Egret, Barnacle Goose, a pair of Grey Wagtails and a scatter of wildfowl gave plenty to look at.

Looking from the line down to the River Aln valley.

JWR on the disused railway line

The haunt of Willow Tits.

As the village became busy we moved a short way to the disused railway line at Greenrigg. A pleasant wander here had 2 Willow Tit, 2 Grey Partridge, a Woodcock, 2 Kestrels, 2 Buzzards plus a few more regular farmland birds.

Flyover Sparrowhawk.

One of the pair of Willow Tits.

As I write this it is gently snowing though sunny and cold. Hopefully it wont be long before the wind swings back to a more southerly direction so we can expect some more bird movement and insect activity.

  

 

Late Winter Seawatching

 When there is a cold, north wind in February we are often at a bit of a loose end. Its too early to look for spring migrants, too cold and windy to head inland so what can we do? There is only one thing for it really, stay on patch and look at my only decent 'wetland'  - the sea.

Seawatching at this time of year is a world away from the watching from July to December.  In spring there is usually little to see, but it is sure to throw up one or two new birds for the local patch year list, so that is how we spent Sunday morning, and for February, we were pleasantly surprised.

We sat in the vicinity of the Howick Bathing House, where you can hunker down behind a rock out of the cold wind, the spot is literally 419 metres from my house. Its just a pity I can't see it from my house, what a boost to the garden list that would be.

So, what was on offer.

As is the way, quite a few birds were too far off to do much with, though a steady northerly movement of Kittiwakes with a few Gannets were the start to my list additions. Soon, a few more things of interest appeared with both Great Northern and Red throated Divers, a nice drake Velvet Scoter, a few parties of Common Scoter and a very early Manx Shearwater.   

Great Northern Diver 2N 1 S

Red throated Diver 16N 7S

Common Scoter 23N 12S

Velvet Scoter 1N

Shelduck 3N

Razorbill only 8 identified out of 100s of auks. 

Manx Shearwater 1

Purple Sandpiper 1

Gannet 40+N

Kittiwakes 100+ per hour N

Guillemots Several hundred going all directions offshore.

Shag, a few.

Harbour Porpoise 1, a while since I've seen one. Since the Bottle nosed Dolphins became regular the poor Porpoises seem to have taken a beating.

Also in the vicinity were 18 Meadow Pipits N, 1 Rock Pipit in full display song flight, an adult male Sparrowhawk along the shore and a few 'argentatus' Herring Gulls. We had hoped there would be more Gulls to give us a chance of a white winger but there were very few around.

Common Scoters

Immature Red throated Diver

Shag

Shelducks above a Guillemot.

The same Shelducks now above a Red throated Diver.

Back in the village, this young Sparrowhawk is terrorising my Tree Sparrows by spending his days lounging below the bird feeders. It is quite obliging, behaving more like a predatory chicken that a dashing raptor. There is a cracking adult male too, probably the bird seen while seawatching, but he wont sit for a photo.

After adding a few of this lot, my 2023 Local Patch List is now standing at 96. Still plenty to look out for...there must be a Stock Dove out there somewhere.

 

Sparrowhawk watching for a meal. Pic through Kitchen window.

Moth.

 Its been all birdy for weeks now and I am eager for some variety when the weather gets a bit warmer. Soon it will be time to dust off the moth trap and get some early spring moths caught, but for the minute cold, dull weather means birds will still be the way to go.

As a taster of things to come I was pleased to see this small Many plumed Moth in our house last night, my first moth of 2021 on MapMate...

Many Plumed Moth Alucita hexadactyla beside a drawing pin for size.

 Last night dusk was around 4.45pm as I took Peggy out. It was just about light enough to look for a Barn Owl over the back field but it seemed quiet. Then a movement caught the periphery of my view . In the gloaming, a Buzzard, a male, was in full hunt pursuit of something just behind the hedge line. Then I got my eye on the victim, a bird, very unusual... made even more so when I saw the bird was a Sparrowhawk. You would think it could easily out pace a lumbering Buteo, but its surprising what a run it gave. The hawk had to switch and flip before plummeting like an arrow into some small Scots Pines beside the village hall. the Buzzard followed the same route straight in with such a clatter. The hawk emerged from the other side and off across the road, but it was now too dark to see the Buzzard again.

This shows that these large carrion, worm, and vole eating raptors are more active than you might first think. The Sparrowhawk should thank its lucky stars.

The Raider

 Since I have been working from home, I have been watching the garden birds much more closely than usual, making some form of notes almost every day. Usually at this time I only see the garden in daylight at weekends so it is interesting to get to grips with what exactly is going on out there.

Take the Sparrowhawk for instance. This is a bird I assumed would visit occasionally to attack the bird table visitors, and Id see one maybe once a month in winter. What actually happens is that these birds are as frequent to our feeders as the Blue Tits! 

My kitchen window observations ( and the back bedroom window when I am at the computer) show that there are currently at least 1 juvenile female and a juvenile male making several visits each and every day. I was wondering why the seed feeders are often barely touched. Yesterday I had three sightings, 2 of the female and 1 of the male. Today there are no sightings yet but they are around. The other garden residents are very quiet or making those high pitched alarm calls, so the hawks are probably sitting quietly in cover waiting their chance.

Whilst this is a wholly natural process, my artificial feeding increases bird densities in this area, but the passerines seem to have a strategy for it in that most small birds have dispersed, I hope? My Tree and House Sparrows, for instance, are down to single figures of each, but not far away there are some game feed crops that attract seed eaters so I am hoping they have just gone there for a change. 

As birds numbers decrease, so the Sparrowhawks must also move on to find enough prey, allowing more birds to return, such is the circle of predator / prey relationships... I might give my feeders a move around into the other side garden at the weekend just to reduce the hawks familiarity with its ambush...

   

Spring.

Recently we have a had a few spring like days with nice sunny weather, though temperatures still seem a bit below average. the moth trap is not doing well, with some blatant misses up to now including the usually common Red Chestnut and Early Grey. I hope they get a move on....

Over the past week a few birds are on the move with groups of Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Pink footed Geese and Whooper Swans all going north over the garden. A party of 10+ Blackbirds towered high to the east at dusk one evening, only to drop back down into cover, as if testing the weather to see if it was good enough to head home to Scandinavia.

The first Chiffchaffs are finally singing in our village now , but only two birds. After this next cool spell numbers should increase.

One morning 4 Buzzards soared together high over the garden, calling steadily until one pair escorted the others off their territory.

Barn Owls have been very much in evidence with almost daily sightings all over the place as have Brown Hares, doing their mad march boxing.

Last Sunday our first Hedgehog of 2018 was out in the garden. Unfortunately it needed assistance from Northumbria Hedgehog Rescue due to 3 large ticks on its head. Other than that, a few days in rehab should see it ok and back into the wild. We asked them to let us know when it is ready and we will collect it to return back home.

A few willows now ready to feed Bumblers and early Butterflies.

Common Quaker

Satellites.

   

Oak Beauty 

This young male Sparrowhawk spent some time below our feeders yesterday in the rain.

Coltsfoot

Common or Field Speedwell?

Toad.

Something sinister in the garden...

Over recent weeks we get daily visits to our feeders from a young male Sparrowhawk. He is pretty fired up by the birds gathered but I have missed several opportunities to photograph him until the other day...Looking from the kitchen window he was sat on the wall, bold as brass, just watching the bird table...

Sparrowhawk

Sparrowhawk food.

Garden Daffs

Another 'seen from the window' Toad emerging from hibernation.

Photo from a couple of weeks ago now, a Buff tailed Bumblebee, my first of the year.... 

Our Garden....#2

What a lovely day to sit around the garden today. Jane is away to Newcastle with friends so I've pottered around cutting the grass and taking some pics...

 Above - This is our 'no mow' bit of lawn, its full of Cats Ear, Clover, Daisies and some Bugle.

This Red tailed Bumblebee is doing a good job pollinating the flowers.

Above - Our hedge. We planted this from odds and sods and its coming along well. It has held Barred Warbler in the past ( have I mentioned that before?)

Above - This is the far end of the hedge in the other shot. Just planted a year ago, the dog roses are flowering for the first time this summer.

Above - The hebe is covered in bumblers, including Early Bumblebee ( above), Tree Bumblebee, White and Buff tailed Bumblebees and Common Carder Bee.

But a real exciting bit happened as I was cutting the grass. This Sparrowhawk dived through my neighbours shrubs and emerged witha juvvy Starling to eat on the lawn!

I was out of its line of sight behind the sweet peas so I dashed inside, grabbed the camera and stalked carefully back to get some shots before it flew off, taking its meal with it. Lovely!

On the patch...

Out early this morning to try and catch up with some spring visitors on the patch. First stop was Craster where the only sounds were the birds singing against the distant thrum of a boat engine off to collect the pots. The morning was crystal clear and sunny with a chilly NE nip in the air. Around the village were 12+ Chiffchaffs, 7+ Blackcaps, 3 Willow Warbler, 3 Swallow, 4 House Martins, 2 Willow Tits and 2 Bullfinch.

Four House Martins straight in at the nest site, quite early here, but still no Sand Martin...

Next, a short run along to the Rumbling Kern to check for Sand Martins proved fruitless, but 6 Sandwich Terns flew N close inshore, 3 Canada Geese flew south and 2 male Stonechats on territory put on a great show in the morning sunlight. A female Sparrowhawk dashed south along the cliffs.

Sparrowhawk, nearly sharp too!

Later a visit down to Howick Pond had Coot, Little Grebe and Mute Swan all sitting on nests, plus several more Blackcaps and another Willow Warbler along the lane.

The willow warblers wouldnt play so who could ignore these chaps, possibly the easiest bird to photograph after the robin!

107. Willow Warbler
108. House Martin
109. Sandwich Tern