Issues....

 A quick update on here on Jane’s iPad. 

On Thursday evening we had an 8hr powercut, that resulted in my PC going off with a crack when I turned it back on, on Friday morning. It appears to be as dead as a door nail. I am hoping it’s the power pack that is burnt out and not my hard drive with all my photos, scans of drawings and documents such as lists, database, spreadsheets etc. Time will tell.

So I am now in conversation with the insurance company and trying to find someone to recover my drive.

Chances are, as you would expect, this may not go as seamlessly as I would hope, so for the time being the blog will be in hibernation. It will be resurrected as soon as my hardware is sorted...

Cheers all...

Imperial or Metric Birding

 I have seen on Twitter that quite a few birders are taking on the new 5MR birding challenge. That is birding / listing within a 5 miles radius from their home, so they are staying local when exercising. 

Before that came about though, Alan Tilmouth, our NBNO or Northumberland Bird Network Organiser -  a good job title I've just made up for him, set up a county 5 km radius patch list page that is currently trending on BUBO.  

Out of interest, I thought I would compare the two areas directly to see if it would be greatly different and found this for my area - 

That is some extension. If I was to take on the 5 mile radius, it would cover the local patches of Gary Woodburn in the North at Low Newton, Tom Cadwallender in the South at Alnmouth and Ben Steel / Dan Langston  / Mark Eaton / John Rutter and myself in between.

Even though 50% is in the sea, the other landward half is a big area, a bit big to call it one patch really,as is the 5km to be fair, so I'll just stick with the original plan, even though I do frequently get about to the other places. 

I am always interested in these type of geographical monitoring areas. Its a great way to learn about your 'own' wildlife. Usually I would treat zones separately so I list Howick, do regular birding at Boulmer, venture to 4 or 5 inland sites west of Alnwick for invertebrates and other forms but if I were to measure the whole range I watch for 90% of any given year, it covers no more than about 12 miles from home. 

  

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.

Craster via the Hips Heugh.

 This morning dawned clear, fine and cold. Just right for a walk into some of the less visited places around home. The loop from home to Craster and back is a shade over 4 miles, taking in the fields just inland to the north then back by the usual coast route.

Only half a mile NW of home are a few long term set a side fields. I always forget how good they look for feeding finch and bunting flocks and possibly some attendant raptors. Today they held a nice selection of passerines with 40+ Reed Buntings, 60+ Goldfinches, 30+ and 100+ Linnet flocks, 7 and 16+ Yellowhammers, 50+ Chaffinches and 6 Grey Partridges.

Some of the Reed Buntings in dock.

Above - Reed Buntings

Year list targets this morning included - Brambling, Greenfinch ( yes thats right), Red legged Partridge, Woodcock, Merlin, Peregrine and Willow Tit. Its fair to say that I largely failed with this lot, but there is plenty of time until spring to seek them out. Rome wasn't built in a day.

While watching the Reed Buntings the pair of Ravens came over, calling, much to the consternation of the local Jackdaws who got up in to the air making a racket overhead. The Ravens took no notice whatsoever and even did a little bit of a display flight in tandem.

Raven low overhead, calling.

Down into Craster, a pair of Collared Doves were my first proper local birds but the Willow Tits were nowhere to be seen. Off shore, 100+ Common Scoter were loafing around still, a carry over from before Christmas. 30+ Golden Plover were on the rocks and a Red throated Diver flew N.

On the Cullernose cliffs, a few pairs of Fulmars were chattering and squabbling. I might check to see if they actually breed this year as I have never seen eggs of young at this site, despite older reports of many breeding pairs here. 

As I came to the road home, a 'blimp' on top of the Hips Heugh peak turned out to be a Peregrine, that sat for some time watching pigeons and Jackdaws flying around. After failing to catch up with the other birds on my target list, I was relieved to add something to the patch list.

The view north from Craster to Dunstanburgh Castle, the northern edge of my local patch. 

Fulmars on Cullernose cliffs. No seawatching today.

The Common Scoter flock just off the south end of Craster. Imagine living here !

The Peregrine rounds up the 5km list to a steady 100 species with a few possibles yet to be found. There are some spots I have in mind to target the list gap fillers, but they are tricky to access on foot all the way from home, but one of these weekends I'll drive part of the way to avoid walking on narrow main roads for any length of time.

Expanding.

This morning I set off on an walk beyond the reaches of the Howick patch, over the burn mouth footbridge into Boulmer. Its not that I dont go there, I just usually don't walk to Boulmer.  To save time, I drive to the main car park and work away from there but today, in the spirit of Lockdown, it was Shanks's all the way. The route is below - 

A 9 km stroll took all morning with stops to scan and search.

The target for this morning were the waders at Boulmer that are in good numbers on the mud, but are scarce on my turf due to the rocky shore.

From home to the southernmost extremity of Howick produced nothing new for the year and was all but dead. 10 Goldeneye, 7 Cormorant S, 1 Grey Plover and 6 Long tailed Tits were all that went into the book.

This is Howick burn moth footbridge. The burn is the south boundary of my home patch and the northern edge of Boulmer.

On the bridge, a 90 degree left turn gives this view. 10 Goldeneye and a few Oystercatchers, Turnstones and Eider were here.

Once across the bridge, I am trying not to mix the two lists up so any species over here are only for the 5km list and not for my patch list. In the next bay, Sugar Sands, 4 Red throated Divers were together close in with 1 Grey Plover on the rocks. The very next small bay is Howdiemont Sands ( often wrongly called Sugar Sands by some near locals). Here were a Razorbill, 20+ Wigeon, 20+ Lapwing and a few Mallard. Offshore was quiet other than a scattering of Shags and auks.

From Sugar Sands looking back North towards Howick Haven.

 Once I arrived at Boulmer village and sat on an old telegraph pole in the hauled out fishing boats, I could see 11 cars in the Boulmer car park still. Not one of them local or from the area or they wouldn't need to drive.

While drinking a cup of tea, the tide pushed up all of my hoped for targets plus another couple for good measure. 110+ Sanderling, 100+ Dunlin, 12+ Bar tailed Godwit, 6 Ringed Plover and 5 Knot were the waders hoped for. A single Purple Sandpiper dropped in later. Out past the Boulmer haven a dusky looking, long, stiff necked Red-necked Grebe was a good find at this time of year but it soon flew off around Seaton Point where it possibly landed in with the 200+ Wigeon roosting on the sea. 2 Shelduck were also new here.

As I retraced my path back north towards home I took in the edge of Longhoughton Steel, a huge skeer of rock on the NE point of the Boulmer headland. 400 Golden Plover were scanned for an unseasonable oddity but the best thing here was a Little Egret fishing pools close in.

I arrived back in Howick to the local Hooded Crow waiting on the fence, calling, as if to greet me. A profitable exercise with 8 new species taking the 5km year total to 98.

  

First week of 2021 almost done.

 Good news. According to Dylan at 'Esox' Angling is back on the agenda as a legal exercise pursuit. Providing no travel rules are broken of course. For me that means local patch seawatching is on the cards too. After all, I will be sat still but instead of my fishing rod, I'll be peering through a scope. I can walk to a stretch of coast in 10 minutes with a few spots off public paths where I can be alone, but, saying that, mid winter is not the best time to be wave gazing. 

Yesterday, Peggy's walk was, as usual, past the pond field but, for a change, a little bit further into the Howick Hall Arboretum where we did a short circular to gather some missing woodland birds for the list. 

The track through part of the arboretum, an area of large ornamental pines and hardwood trees.

The day was calm, dull and cold so bird calls carried a good distance. This meant that it was quite easy to locate a tribe of Long tailed Tits and the obligatory Treecreeper with them (if you are hunting for Treecreeper, I always go for Long tailed tit calls and rarely fail) and 4 Nuthatches.  The pond itself was full and muddy brown with little activity other than 5 drake Tufties, 2 Mute Swans, 4 Coot and 4 Little Grebe.

Earlier, at dawn, Grey Partridge was calling from the back fields.

Seeing photos of other naturalists local patches is always interesting to me as it gives context. Its something that often features on here, but as we are all home birds for the foreseeable, I will try to include a picture or two of the sites visited around about home a bit more regularly.

Local Patch Year List ( or Northumberland Lockdown 2021 5km from home) 87 sp  

 

This is the small pond beside the Village Hall car park that we renovated last Feb. Its totally flooded at the minute, out onto surrounding grassland. This week it has hosted a flock of Yellowhammers and a single Snipe.

Adapting.

 I am so used to the 11 years watching my home patch that I have forgotten that I now have a much larger area to play with. So far the list is up to 83 species in Howick without a step beyond, a reasonable total for January, where last year it ended on 75 for the month. I am already beginning to struggle to find new additions. At an outside bet, 90 was just about possible leaving me with very little else until spring migration.

Then I remembered my Lockdown 5 km includes Boulmer, just down the coast and the route to get there, as well as the journey most of the way to Alnwick for shopping. A walk down to Boulmer in decent weather should easily boost the total up to the 90 mark I'm sure. One for the weekend I think.

Back on patch, today's Peggy walks have added Whooper Swan, 3 S over our house, Redpoll 1 N along the lane and Redwing 2-3 dotted around the wooded areas calling. Also of note, the local Siskin flock has doubled up to at least 60+ birds now, 6+ Yellowhammers were bathing in our flooded village green and 50+ Chaffinches are still in the Rectory Stubble. 

Although there is renewed excitement at the off patch possibilities, the local and 5km patches won't be merged on the multi-coloured spreadsheet. That's just for Bubo.

This 5 km thing has worked out quite well. I was discussing the possibility of joining the Boulmer and Howick patches anyway, with John, as most weekends we are already at Boulmer at some point.

An older Redpoll shot, I haven't had the camera out this year yet...

Lockdown 3.

 It was always going to happen. This up and down roller coaster of COVID hasn't gone away, yet the way some people act, it would seem it had.

Within an hour of Boris's speech last night Twitter was awash with comments from birders making caveats to continue what they do, unabated. That's the problem with the Government rules, they are open to much ambiguous interpretation.  

I am waiting to see what new definition the words 'stay local for exercise' will get from the birding community?  

Writing this, above, looks as if I am having a 'holier than thou' approach, but genuinely I'm not. What would I do if someone turned up a mega county bird 30 miles along the coast? I'm sure I would be rolling out my own justifications too, but I certainly wont be getting into the car and driving out for a year tick.

For me, lockdown isn't as bad as it is for some. I don't tend to venture very far or very often either so this period will be little different.

But, just so I can interpret these to suit myself here are the 5th January Government Rules - 

Exercising and meeting other people

You should minimise time spent outside your home. 

It is against the law to meet socially with family or friends unless they are part of your household or support bubble. You can only leave your home to exercise, and not for the purpose of recreation or leisure (e.g. a picnic or a social meeting). This should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area.

[Note - So many definitions available in this one sentence] 

You can exercise in a public outdoor place:

• by yourself
• with the people you live with
• with your support bubble (if you are legally permitted to form one)
• in a childcare bubble where providing childcare
• or, when on your own, with 1 person from another household

Public outdoor places include:

• parks, beaches, countryside accessible to the public, forests
• public gardens (whether or not you pay to enter them)
• the grounds of a heritage site
• playgrounds

Outdoor sports venues, including tennis courts, golf courses and swimming pools, must close.

When around other people, stay 2 metres apart from anyone not in your household - meaning the people you live with - or your support bubble. Where this is not possible, stay 1 metre apart with extra precautions (e.g. wearing a face covering).

You must wear a face covering in many indoor settings, such as shops or places of worship where these remain open, and on public transport, unless you are exempt. This is the law. 

Travel

You must not leave your home unless you have a reasonable excuse (for example, for work or education purposes). If you need to travel you should stay local – meaning avoiding travelling outside of your village, town or the part of a city where you live – and look to reduce the number of journeys you make overall. The list of reasons you can leave your home and area include, but are not limited to:

• work, where you cannot reasonably work from home
• accessing education and for caring responsibilities
• visiting those in your support bubble – or your childcare bubble for childcare
• visiting hospital, GP and other medical appointments or visits where you have had an accident or are concerned about your health
• buying goods or services that you need, but this should be within your local area wherever possible
• outdoor exercise. This should be done locally wherever possible, but you can travel a short distance within your area to do so if necessary (for example, to access an open space)
• attending the care and exercise of an animal, or veterinary services

If you need to travel, walk or cycle where possible, and plan ahead and avoid busy times and routes on public transport. This will allow you to practice social distancing while you travel.

Avoid car sharing with anyone from outside your household or your support bubble.

So now we know. 

What ever version you take on board, try to think of the bigger picture. 

Stay safe everyone, see you at the Little Bustard, but that will be ok for me because...

The List begins...

 Alan Tilmouth suggested we do a 5km radius from home lockdown list this year which sounds good. For me it must nearly double my existing patch which is around my house anyway. 

The 5km radius from home above and my existing patch below. It merges the Boulmer and Howick patches into one.

I will keep it in mind, but the likelyhood is, I wont visit most of the area, focussing on my usual two 'patches'.

So far in 2021, the weather has been pretty grim with heavy rain and sleet flooding everywhere and strongish onshore winds making it quite cold. I have been out and about each day for no more than a couple of hours, most wanders have been attached to the dog...

In doing this I have gathered a reasonable 4 day total of 79 species around the village, the best being Hooded Crow, Mediterranean Gull, Brent Goose, Kingfisher, Grey Plover and Purple Sandpiper.

Yesterday was damp but interesting with a good count of 229 Curlew feeding in the now soaked field along the coast path at the bathing house, 11 Stock Doves was also a decent total for here while a short seawatch had over 300+ Kittiwakes N along with about 20+ Gannets both tricky to get this early in the year ( though both are abundant from summer onwards). 25+ Siskins and 9 Tufted Duck were at the Pond Field and a Snipe was an oddity on our small village pond. The local Barn Owl showed well one day from the kitchen window while 450+ Pink footed Geese flew south overhead.

Nothing to get birders arriving so far but its nice to get the foundations laid...

  

 

2021 and on and on.

 'Happy' New Year all.

This time last year I tweeted my plans ahead - Here . What I was going to do. As it happens a bit of it fell at the first hurdle, so this year I am not making plans. I have some intentions, but planning ahead? No.

In 2020 I did increase both my Blogging output and my Notebook work, so they were positives. Working from home and with restrictions preventing us going too far resulted in more local patch coverage and a record high species total, so, again, it shows that something worthwhile came from watching the home area.

Hopefully, at least these two projects will be built on over the coming 12 months but we never know what is around the corner. As I write this one of my friends is suffering from the dreaded Covid, whilst another is self isolating, filled with worry as two of his family have also tested positive. Luckily, for the minute, they are both managing it so once they are over this next two or three weeks it will be a great relief.

We have a couple of usable vaccines available now, but it seems this government can even cock the use of this right up, so even that glimmer of hope is being held at finger tip length away. Maybe this time next year things will have improved? I hope so.

Over the coming 12 months I intend to do my best just to get through it and hope that all of you will too.

At least now we are past the shortest day, so with the first Snowdrops and Aconites showing their sunny faces things may indeed improve.

  

  

Stewchat's Sketchbook Hootenanny 2020

We bloggers like an end of year round up don't we. Writing this in mid December my family is one of the lucky ones and I hope yours is too. 70,000 other households are not so fortunate, so while our interests seem frivolous at this time, please try to spare a thought for others who didn't have a good Christmas this year and join me in wishing them all the very best for 2021. Who knows what that will bring? 

In Northumberland, this has been a vintage birding year that may not be beaten for a long time so I think it deserves a recap.

January.

Little did we know what the year had in store for us back then. Covid-19 was a new word that had something to do with China. 

What did I do this month? Very little as it happens so its best to move on.

February.

The weather was generally poor with stormy, wet days for weeks on end. One trip started a good birding year when we found a lone Tundra Bean Goose in a stubble full of larks and linnets near Warkworth.

March

The biggest change of the year came when we were told to work from home from the 20th, and I still am. In April my work colleagues ran a sweep to see when we would be back in the office. I guessed 11th May. No one said March 2021.

Bird highlight was a White tailed Eagle, free from accoutrements, viewed for 30 seconds as it glided without a wing beat low over my house and away west on 31st. A great Northumberland and Garden addition.

April

Into Lockdown proper when we only left the house to shop for essentials. Well, we did, others carried on regardless.

This months wildlife highlight wasn't avian, no, a small 'hoverfly' seen very briefly in late March turned out to be a Hairy footed Flower Bee. A first for me and the beginning of daily April visits by these delightful little creatures. They are new to Northumberland recently so to find some in my garden was as good as a Sea Eagle.

May

On the 12th my second patch Golden Oriole was singing for 15 minutes in the arboretum. Despite trying to follow the song, it remained one tree away all the time until singing stopped without a sighting.

After a 2019 blank it was nice to find 2 Spotted Flycatchers on on 23rd and on 26th an incongruous Reed Warbler was singing from our garden hedge for a short while. Finally on 31st a Red tailed Cuckoo Bumblebee was a new one for me again in the garden.

 June

Thankfully lockdown restrictions had been eased in time for a twitch all of 30 miles north to see Northumberland's first Asian Desert Warbler on Holy Island. My second after one at Flamborough 29 years previously.

July

There is only one top spot in July and that goes to Sooty Tern, my absolute bird of the year 2020. After missing its coastal trek in 2019, I hoped for a second chance and even in my dreams I couldn't have hoped for better than the views it gave on the 29th when it spent the afternoon only 300 mtrs from my house. Priceless.

August

Autumn kicks in properly now but we didn't dare to hope it would be as good as it was. Only 10 days after the tern, we found our own rarity along the road at Boulmer, a spanking summer plumaged Pacific Golden Plover. What a bird. This stunner knocked a good passage of Long tailed Skuas on patch into runner up place with 5 - 9 birds seen on the 17th alone. These and a Great Shearwater on 29th could have easily taken top slot in any other year locally. The Hooded Crow became a village resident. A couple of good moths arrived on 4th with Common Emerald and Southern Wainscot both new to VC68.

 

September

The excitement continued with some good seawatching - 16th an adult Sabine's Gull and 7 Pochards , 17th Buff breasted Sandpiper at Boulmer, 21st 2 Lapland Buntings at Boulmer along with Short eared Owl, Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint, 26th 700 Sooty Shearwaters N at Cullernose plus Storm Petrel on 27th when the first of the seasons Yellow browed Warblers appeared in my garden.

Inverts are being routinely ignored in this pandemonium but Clay-Triple Lines was new to my garden and VC68.

October

Can things get any better? Of course they can!

On the 3rd a Two barred Greenish Warbler gave fleeting but decent views at Budle Bay, 3 Yellow browed Warblers were in my garden and a male Bluethroat was at Boulmer. The Bluethroat was joined on the 5th by a Great Grey Shrike. On 8th a hand netted Convolvulous Hawk-moth at our garden nicotianas was new for the site. On 15th another UK and county tick came in the form of a Brown Shrike on Holy Island where it was accompanied by a Bluetail, Dusky and Pallas's Warblers that I didnt have time to check out. On 18th a female Desert Wheatear was a welcome self find at Boulmer. Phew.

November

Surely that's autumn done with? No, on 11th a Dusky Warbler was at Boulmer and on 19th a Buff-bellied Pipit was my last of 4 UK lifers and 6 Northumberland ticks this year.

December

A final flurry with a  nice Grey Phalarope on the sea off Cullernose on the 5th.

This ended an amazing year for birding locally, breaking my Howick / Craster local patch year list record of 163 set in 2019 with an excellent 166 species. 

I had 3 new species for the area, White tailed Eagle, Grey Phalarope and Sooty Tern with other patch rarities - Pochard ( the third year out of 11 and the first since 2014), Black tailed Godwit ( 2nd year, last 2012), Sabine's Gull ( 3rd year, last 2019), Storm Petrel (2nd year, last 2011), Great Shearwater (2nd year, last 2017), Balearic Shearwater ( 2nd year, last 2011), Golden Oriole ( 2nd, last 2009), Hooded Crow ( 2nd , last 2019), Reed Warbler ( 2nd, last 2016),

Apart from trips to Holy Island, Budle Bay and Amble for new Northumberland birds or lifers, all birds were local patch stars. My six county ticks are - White tailed Eagle, Asian Desert Warbler, Sooty Tern, Two-barred Greenish Warbler, Brown Shrike and Buff-bellied Pipit making my Northumberland list 353 species.

Happy New Year all, stay safe. Here's to an even better 2021. 

New Blog Link - Mark Newsome at Whitburn.

 Hi all, I have added the new blog by Mark Newsome to the side bar, right. Mark is a great seawatcher, based at Whitburn Obs on the Sunderland Coast. This site is a great help to Northumberland birders, as they call the seabirds as they pass, north, and we can try to stake them out miles up the coast. Sometimes it works, others it doesn't, but we are grateful all the same.

Cheers Mark... 

Winter Specials.

 As is usual in December, posts are getting thin on the ground. This is normally due to more time spent doing other, Christmas related, tasks. This year is a bit different in that there wont be any visiting or taking Jane to the train as she jaunts off with various friends groups for Christmas soirees or any such frivolities. This year my lack of midweek action is mainly due to the combination of a shortness of daylight along with a lack of much going on. So, before I start the main bit, here is a short round up of the midweek wildlife that has crossed my path.

Tuesday 15th. A lunch time walk with Peggy to the coast path was enlivened by a group of around 10 Bottle-nosed Dolphins in our cove. They were particularly acrobatic, and obviously feeling the Christmas spirit. There were one or two small calves with them that also jumped clear of the water with the adults a few times. Funny isn't it that Bottle-nosed Dolphin is a much more easily seen mammal on my patch than the Fox... While watching them, a Kingfisher flew in to fish on the rock edges. They do well here on the coast in winter when the streams are cloudy and in spate making fishing more difficult. They like the rockpools and gullies.

Wednesday 16th. The large female Sparrowhawk came and sat on her usual perch below the bird table. A Woodpigeon happened to wander along below her so she off after it and out of sight. At the same time, 2 Grey Partridges were in territorial dispute already in the field behind us.

Saturday 19th. Now on holiday for a full fortnight. I cant tell you how pleased I am. A walk down to the pond field was quiet but a female Kingfisher perched out in the tree at the back of the pond enjoying the brief, luke warm, sunny spell at the time. In the evening I was taking washing in off the line when I saw a Barn Owl pop out of my nest box in the wood beside us to a chorus of mobbing garden residents.

And that's about it really for mid week.

On Sunday, as usual this year, I met with John on my other local patch, at Boulmer.  At 07.50 the car park already had 13 cars in it while it was still dark. What is going on here I have no idea, we used to have it to ourselves in winter. A few of these cars were ladies indulging in some pre dawn wild swimming in the haven. Good luck with that.

On route here what I assume was the same Woodcock, was in exactly the same spot as last week, sitting on the road along the lane out of our village.

In order of appearance at Boulmer were, a Barn Owl hunting around the Herring Sheds cottage, 2 Stonechats just out of roost and a Little Egret hugged the shore as it flew north.

We headed south to Seaton Point for a change. A lot of Rock Pipits were on the shore including a high percentage of 'littoralis' types but there were no colour ringed birds. The tide was starting to drop so waders were gathering on the small patches of rock showing. There were 32 Grey Plover, 8 Knot, 100 Dunlin, 22 Sanderling, 25 Bar-tailed Godwit, 4 Purple Sandpipers along side good numbers of Redshank, Curlew and Turnstone.

John taking pictures.

Bar tailed Godwit at dawn.

From the point we had 4 Whooper Swans S, 3 Red throated Divers S and 2 N, 6+ Gannets N, 3 Common Scoter S, 300+ Pinkfeet S and in with them, 1 Barnacle and 1 Greylag Goose.

On the way back a scan of the sheltered waters of the haven is usually not very productive but today it was home to a fw Black throated Diver. It showed nicely in the sunshine but was a bit distant for photos.

Then it was time for home. Not a bad morning out with some nice wintry specialities. 

Black throated Diver, one of the most tricky to find here.

Above - Purple Sandpipers with Turnstones. They followed the Turnstones until they flipped a stone or weed then fed in the patch left exposed.