Saturday 23rd August 2008

This morning was warm and sunny with a light SW3.

We walked around Seaton Point first thing. The biggest suprise was when 2 Crossbills flushed from the point and flew off south calling as they went. Only my second record here. At the high tide roost 161+ Oystercatchers was a massive count and 10 Grey Plovers were also present.

A Painted Lady came in from the sea and rested on the beach edge before moving on. 1 Wall and 7 Large Whites were on Hawkweed here too.

In our yard, 2 Peacocks, 1 Red Admiral, 2 Small Tortoiseshell, 1 Wall and 4+ Large Whites were on the Buddleia.

Above - A couple from yesterday, top, Wall Brown Butterfly on our Buddleia and a bathing batch of spuggies in my birdbath ( a bin lid on a concrete drain pipe, finesse...)

The wind was up slightly from the NW this evening at Boulmer. I'm getting sick of rain every day with winds from the wrong half. Wait till September. Clear high pressure with light southerlies until November...

I plodged Bunty around the north end, dodging puddles in the track and seeing only a few birds. 3 ( or maybe 2?) Arctic Skuas drifted north. I say 3 because they all looked the same but I did see 2 at once, then a single. 1 Whimbrel, 100+ Curlew, 50+ Oystercatchers and masses of gulls loafing around. No Swifts today though I did see two yesterday...

Weather looks ok for the Saturday and Sunday.

On a flat calm evening we walked around the Seaton Point. The tide is a big one so there was no beach to walk on confining us to the caravan site. 4 Swifts flew south overhead, 115 Linnets were on overhead wires and a good number of waders were on the only spot of shore line available - 30 each Dunlin and Ringed Plover, 12 Knot, 1 Bar tailed Godwit, loads of Redshank and Turnstone ( maybe 50 each?).

Back along to the village and a scan from the seawatch seat had 2 Roseate Terns loafing around and 4 Goosanders on the sea. A female Sparrowhawk dashed through putting 50 Swallows into a panic...

No willow warblers let alone greenish...

Rain at first, overcast witha SE4. Boulmer at 7.20am was quiet. The flooded field held 12 Mallard, 3 Teal and 45 Curlew. On the beach were 8 Dunlin, 6 Sanderling and 44 Ringed Plover.

As the wind was from the eastern half I decided to head north to Holy Island to meet a man about a Wryneck...

On the causeway 176+ Redshanks were a good count. I checked the Snook, Chare Ends, Excavations and the Vicars Garden for very little indeed. On the migrant front were 1 Pied Flycatcher, 4 Willow Warbler, 1 Sedge Warbler.

Butterflies were a bit better with 8 Dark Green Fritillaries, 1 Grayling and 12+ Meadow Brown. A Fox Moth caterpillar was climbing up some willowherb.

The damp areas were full of a nice little plant called Grass of Parnassus and a few spikes of Evening Primrose were unexpected.



Above - Lindisfarne Castle with Bamburgh Castle in the distance...



Above - There must be a good bird out there somewhere...



Above - The Snook.



Above - Oh dear. Thats all I could get of the 'dear little piedy fly', a phrase used by Misses Baxter and Rintoul on the Isle of May just before they shot it...



Above - Grass of Parnassus. No not a grass at all.



Above - Evening Primrose in the dunes. Not a primrose either.


This afternoon a walk around Seaton Point had the Common Sandpiper still present, 1 female Sparrowhawk and a 2nd summer Mediterranean Gull N.

Thats it really...

Not much compared to 11th August 2004 when on a similar route on Holy Island I had -

Whinchat 5
Pied Fly 63 (!)
Spotted Fly 1
Garden Warbler 5
Icterine Warbler 2
Willow Warbler 5
Wryneck 3
Lesser Whitethroat 4
Whitethroat 1
plus Green Sand, Merlin, Short eared Owl, Sparrowhawk and Greenshank...

There's time yet...

Above - 3 Commas along the hedgerow bordering the old Alnwick railway line.





Above - and a few Peacocks, including a mating pair, something I have never seen before. They left before I could take a a picture. Click on these two...

Just a quickie...

Out around Seaton Point with Bunty at teatime had -

Ringed Plover 34
Turnstone 40
Grey Plover 8
Roseate Tern 1 ad N
Arctic Tern 14+
Common Tern 1 juv
Sandwich Tern 5+
Peregrine 1 ad male very close over head ( I could see it panting)! It soon put on the speed and went into 'stealth' mode...

" No Stork today,
My Stork has gone away,
There's nothing else to say,
Nothing left to say..."


Yesterday, I needed to be home for Bunty as Jane was out. Black Stork on display for about 4 hours at Ryton.

Today, kit packed in car, ready to leave work at a minutes notice, not a snifter of Stork. Not one jot all day.

Dandy.


Back to yesterday, walked Bunts around the Seaton Point. A large gathering of terns were out on the rocks facing a rising tide. There were 50+ Arctics, 2 adult Roseates, 10+ Sandwich and I couldn't see any Commons but there had to be some somewhere in that lot surely...

Oh and today the Wilson's Phalarope was still, at Grindon Lough near Corbridge. Although this is a great bird for the area, I've had two county birds and its a bit of a trek over to Grindon for me so I decided to sit this one out. Pity it hadn't been along the coastal strip...



This Wilson's Phal was at Cresswell Pond in 1997...it had a great attitude stalking individual flies as they landed.

Wizard.

After the heavy rain yesterday today was bright and sunny with a moderate W5.

I spent the morning having a wander around Boulmer with PF checking the local sites. Generally it was a quiet morning but there certainly was a raptor feel to it. Our first were 2 Kestrels together, both with legs in tact, then came a cracking fresh immature Marsh Harrier complete with golden crown. The harrier was seen a couple of times and seemed to be loitering around, rather than just passing through. Next up we flushed a young male Sparrowhawk from the gorse.

That was to be it for Pete, but I was to add to the list on my way home. As I approached the coastguard house a little male Merlin (above) flashed over from the beach and pitched onto the roof. ( I said we'd meet again...). He posed like a star for 45 minutes before setting off to hunt again. It seemed to have an injured left eye that it kept closed.

Then SR and AH arrived. We were chatting about the Merlin when an adult Peregrine stooped in and took a bird from the shore, looking like either a Dunlin or a Starling. It flew with its prey over the house the Merlin had been perched on minutes earlier.

So, not a bad morning at all...

And raptor No6 appeared this afternoon when a Buzzard flew from the region of the RAF Base...

I'm close to tears now. I've just looked at the Black Stork on Blyth's blog and those 2 barreds on Bitter Bonxie too. Today I've been delivery boy for Jane who is doing wedding flowers for someone nearby, so no trip to Durham for the Stork. Maybe it will show up tomorrow ? I've had a few posts on this blog now lamenting my dismal failures with this clan. Black, missed 3, White, missed too many to remember.


Highlights today -

Boulmer after the heavy rain this morning had 2 Velvet Scoters fly south very close in, 1 Arctic Skua too, 35 Dunlin and 37 Ringed Plover on the beach.

And I caught the Rat's cousin, brother, mother or whatever. It too was sent to join Rat 1 along the railway lines several miles away...

A canny day then, soaked to the skin delivering and setting up wedding flowers, dipping Black Stork and a Rat in my car boot.

The sun will come out tomorrow....bet your bottom dollar...

Thursday 7th August

As I was finishing work this afternoon the wind seemed to have increased from the north so I decide to pop in to Newbiggin for a seawatch, my first of the year.

17.07 - 18.45 hrs had -

Sooty Shearwater 1
Manx Shearwater 2
Roseate Tern 3 adults
Arctic Skua 1 dark adult
Mediterranean Gul 1 second summer
Common Scoter 6
Teal 3
Grey Plover 1 ad summer

All flew N.

Typical fare for this time of year here...

Tonight -

Walked Bunty around Seaton Point on a very pleasant evening. A Common Sandpiper was feeding on a tiny wet runnel from the dunes onto the beach after last nights rain, 2 Willow Warblers were at Seaton House, 2 Stonechats nearby plus the fields here had a large flock of finches, Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Linnet mixed.

On the pager tonight a Black Stork was in a pasture near Greenside, County Durham. I still need that one...I wonder if it will linger till Sunday? Not likely I bet.

Meet the Fokkers...

When I'm 'blogging' I share the spare room with these two Fokkers ( Robert De Niro isn't in this version)...



Above - Buggy. A Blue Masked Lovebird. Intensly irritating with his pinging call that would shatter glass...and...



Above - Chichi. Originally called Cobweb but that soon went by the wayside. The second of the two 'hangers on' in our household...this one is the reason we don't have a land line and that this PC has its cables held together with tape...



Above - They don't even like each other. Chichi trying to rob Buggy's seed at risk of that wopping pink beak...

Nothing whatsoever to do with natural history but I thought I'd show you what we bloggers go through just to publish a post.

Rodent Relocation, Relocation...

Ho Ho, foiled him at last! Today Rattus norvegicus succumbed to my whiley ways...After the poser had scoffed the last of the seed I baited the live trap this morning and went to work, hoping it would do its job. Sure enough, when Jane came home from work at lunchtime the pesky ( nobody says that) rodent was under lock and key.

I spent the afternoon at work in a moral dilemma. Should I administer the coup de grace or should I treat his little life with the respect he deserves and release him to the wilder countryside...

Compassion won the day and Ratty was placed in a large box in the boot of the car ( imagine if it escaped!) and taken out to a remote car park and released into a nice convenient pile of fly-tipping.

Note - Releasing Rats into the countryside is bound to be illegal. Do not try this at home

One down ? to go...




Lunchtime today was down to the Ashington Community Woodland. I had 4 Ruddy Darters, 2 Common Darters, 1 Southern Hawker hunting the rides, several Emerald Damsels and a Comma.

The term 'Community Woodland' is like 'Community House' in that both are usually in places blighted by deprivation and vandalism ( or am I wrong?)For example, no one refers to the New Forest or Abernethy as 'community woodlands' do they... An interesting sighting here today were a couple of natives ( chavs) in traditional dress ( Fred Perry tops and Kappa joggers complete with ankles tucked into socks and checked baseball caps) dragging wheeled suitcases full of old car batteries to fly tip into the 'community woodland'. Well, it is for everyone isn't it...

Fen Blog...

A flexi day off work today myself and RF headed south into North Yorkshire for a change...

Just in case, I'll leave out the exact location but there's a clue here somewhere...I don't want a repeat of the White faced Darter debacle!




Above - Our 'mystery' site was a very scenic spot with a lowland bog enclosed in moorland bordered by this steam railway. Only a short way from the car we had 6+ Dark Green Fritillaries, 5+ Small Heath, 10+ Small Skipper and several Ringlets. On the bird front 3 Whinchats were on the heath nearby.





Above - Our main target here were these Keeled Skimmers of which we saw 3 males and 2 females. 2 female Black Darters were also present.



Above - Sundews were in flower along the water run off edges.




Above - Dark Green Fritillary.



Above - Wall Brown.



Above - As we were about to leave this fantastic adult Hobby flew right over our heads. It circled a few times before drifting off. Had we had our cameras at the ready the photo would have been much closer. By the time we scrabbled to the car it had gained a lot of height. So much that I fluffed my photos and need to thank Roger for this one...

All in all a good day out. Shame we couldn't find any Beautiful Demoiselles though, but there's always next time...

Click on all images for a bigger one.

Today there was more rain than fine so I had a short sortie down to Boulmer and along to Alnmouth. Little of note at Boulmer ( though Peter Francis had a Marsh Harrier here after I had left) and at Alnmouth, 5 Greenshanks and 3 Common Sandpipers on the River Aln were the highlight.

I'm off work tomorrow and will be venturing a little farther afield...




Above - Alnmouth. Photos taken yesterday when weather was nicer....

Ratcheugh Observatory.

Above - This is Ratcheugh Observatory. A folly built in the mid 1700's. From our usual view ( top) it looks like a stately home, but today it was open to the public and could be seen for what it was. A large room with 360 degree views of rural north Northumberland. It is located on the road between Alnwick and Longhoughton.






Above - Views from all sides. Top west towards Alnwick complete with Castle. Next, NW to the Cheviots, SE over Amble and Coquet Island. With binoculars Souter Lighthouse at Whitburn could be seen in the extreme distance ( rain willing) and north up to Bamburgh Castle in the gloom.

All the proceeds of the day are to help a little boy with a brain tumour. I hope it raised a lot of cash.

Just what you want when putting the bird food out...

Prickly Customers...

I've been pipped to the post...Kingsdowner blog has just done a post about Thistles along the south coast of Kent. I've been going to do this for a few weeks now and keep putting off, but here they are anyway. Above - Centre, Creeping Thistle, Clockwise from Top Left - Spear Thistle, Marsh Thistle, Welted Thistle and Slender Thistle.

Great for wildlife these lot, attracting Painted Ladies, Silver Y's and charms of dancing Goldfinches all can be found widely around Northumberland. Keep an eye out, all thistles aren't the same...

This evening I walked Bunty through the pastures at Alnwick in front of the castle by the river. My first Merlin of the autumn came straight overhaed. I was alerted to its presence by the Swallows mobbing overhead. It dashed by in typical hunting mode taking a swipe at a Swallow before leaving towards the coast. No doubt we'll meet again at Boulmer...

This one was nicely on time. Merlins return to our coasts here from the third week in July, and from August through to October they can be seen on most days spent on the open coastal strip, becoming scarcer as winter progresses.

Confession time. Look back at my Suffolk post. The 'Black tailed Skimmer' photo is a male Scarce Chaser. I was (am) pleased with the photo too, pity I cocked it up...

Ruddy v Common Darter...

After Nigel's comment on yesterday's post I think I better put some features down -

Male Ruddy Darter ( compare against pic below) -

Smaller than Common.
Club ended tail made obvious by narrow waisted apperance. Common is more straight parallel bodied.
Darker red in colour deep and rich. Common more orange red.
Face red. Common has yellowish on there.
Plain black fore legs. Common has some yellowish on legs.
The thorax is more or less a dark burgundy brown, not as patterned as Common.

On a personal note I think these Ruddies are great little beasts with loads of character. Easier to get close to than Common?

I hope that helps....

I recieved this reply tonight from Harry Eales the Northumberland and Durham Dragonfly recorder...

"Hello Stewart,

Thanks for sending me the photographs. I can confirm they are Ruddy Darter. I saw some nice mature males today myself. This species has only been in Northumberland for less than a decade but it can be found at most low level ponds as far north as the River Aln and probably a bit further north...

[etc]

Regards,

Harry Eales"

Interesting.

This afternoon became warm and sunny after the dull drizzle this morning.

I had a half hour to spare so I popped into the Community Woodland at Ashington to look for dragonflies, in particular I was hoping to see ruddy darter, a relatively new species this far north and one I had not seen before.

Along the ride to the pond were 20+ Meadow Browns and a couple of Small Skippers. Down at the pond it was very sheltered and red hot in the sun. On my way in through the trees a few Common Darters were buzzing around and sunning themselves on the foliage. Once I got to the pond edge, at exactly the same spot as I saw the Four spotted Chaser in June, a small bright red dragon caught my eye. It looked very bright and I could get down to 3 or 4 feet from it, quite easily. It flew off but returned to its favourite spot, allowing me to get these photos ( click on them, I'm pleased with the results).

I suspected that it was a Ruddy Darter but when I got home I emailed a couple of friends who know about these things more than me. I was pleased to see that the replies so far are unanimous, agreeing with my initial id - a male Ruddy Darter - a lifer.

Also here were 6+ Emerald Damsels including a mating pair and a few Blue tailed Damsels.

I only spent about 15 minutes at the spot. Cant be bad eh..




Above - Male Ruddy Darter. Click for a larger image.



Above - Common Darter. Immature male I think? It was hooking its abdomen as if it had been mating....Ian's comment on this post explains that this ia a female Ruddy too...