Its not been a bad week for the naturalist around here, really.
The weather has been variable, though quite moderate.
Mid week a dog walk through the Village Wood had that soft cool, earthy, early
winter smell to it. In the diluted sunshine, a pile of oak logs left
after Storm Arwen attracted attention. It was covered in a colourful array of
small fungi, including one new to me, Purple Jellydisc as well as Hairy
Curtain Crust, Sulphur Tuft and one that remains to be identified. It may need
further scrutiny this week.
In that evening a couple of late Pipistrelles (?), well, bats, were still
hawking under the street lights.
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| Log Pile |
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Hairy Curtain Crust
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| Purple Jellydisc |
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I think the fungi at the top may be Sulphur Tuft?
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Keeping to a fungi theme, I was surprised when Debra Burley found some
Pink Ballerina Waxcaps in Alnwick Cemetary. Ive looked in many good
waxcap grasslands in North Northumberland without success so I gave it a twitch
on my way to work.
After some directional confusion, there were 10 small stout pink Waxcaps
around an area of gravestones...Excellent.
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Pink Ballerina Waxcaps
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By Friday, the wind had swung to the North and then some, On Google
Earth the northerly could be followed right up to the North Pole. The
'socials' were filed with commentary about masses of Little Auks, it could be
the best showing for years, White Winged Gulls, Brunnichs etc. I jested that
we might even get a Spectacled Eider off it, such was its reach, but, I sort
of knew that we had been here before. Many times.
On my blog in
Nov 2021, before Storm Arwen, I posted a very similar weather map and pondered just
the same. Whilst the record breaking gales blew an unprecedented number of
Brunnichs Guillemots southward, the rest was pretty much standard. This time,
I was more tempered and considered that most Little Auks would be further west
by now so although a good northerly will always give us a few birds, the
chances of a classic were slim.
Early Saturday morning found me traipsing along to my nearest seawatching spot
for a couple of hours. Yes, there wasn't a great deal moving, but there was
just enough to fill the time. From 8am - 10am I had
Great Northern Diver 5 N
Diver sp 1 N
Red throated Diver 7
Goldeneye 2m 1f N and 1f S
Teal 2 S
Common Scoter 16
Purple Sandpiper 2
Eider 7 S
Great crested Grebe 1 S the rarest bird of the day.
Fulmar 6 N
Gannet 7 N
Litttle Auk 1 N at last, and new for the year. Dan and Mark watching
from 300 mtrs south of me managed 74 Little Auks. They must have been too
distant for my eyes is I'll I can suggest.
Brent Geese 2 N
Pink footed Geese 500 S
This brings us to Sunday morning.
JWR came to pick me up to do a recce for next weeks Alnwick Wildlife Group
guided walk from Embleton to Low Newton along the coast. Before we left, I had
a quick task to collect some greenery for Jane's Christmas wreath making
session. While getting some bits of Ivy at the Lane End, the distinctive
trembling calls of Waxwings filled the air. Soon we located 26 of them
perched on top of a tall Ash tree opposite a large ornamental pink Rowan tree.
This tee is still laden with pinkish white berries that are always last to go,
usually eaten by Bullfinches and Mistle Thrushes. As we watched down they came
periodically, like locusts, to systematically clear the tree. The resident
Mistler was having none of it and did his best to keep the viking raid at bay
but he was fighting a losing battle.
All of a sudden a Sparrowhawk dashed through panicking everything and the
Waxwings headed off south to safety.
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The start of our walk, Dunstan Steads / Embleton Golf Course with
Dunstanburgh Castle in the distance.
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Long tailed Duck. I wont even try to age or sex it.
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We moved on to Embleton where the car was left at Dunstan Steads. This is only
about 5 miles from home so still pretty local.
Our walk was quite pleasant witha few bits and pieces to make it
worthwhile.
7 Purple Sandpipers, on the shore and 19 Greenfinches looked
fabulous feeding along the strand line,. At Newton Scrapes,
13 Whooper Swans, plenty of usual wildfowl and a nice
Long tailed Duck showed well as Water Rails screamed in the background.
We got back home at 12, so I took Peggy for a walk to see if the
Waxwings had returned. I was pleased now to find the numbers had gone
up to 40+. I couldn't get an accurate number as they flew off during my best
count but I know there were somewhere between 43 - 45 birds.
So, another grand early winters day out. I wonder when our roll will end?
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Waxwings. The shot above has 31 of the 40 odd birds in it.
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