Boulmer Mammal Fest

 It was pretty grim yesterday on the coast, with a strong ESE wind, 100%overcast and some occasional horizontal drizzle. Needless to say, we didn't go far.

I met John and Boulmer car park at 8am and the first hour was spent watching the sea from the car. The waves were rolling in on a white foamy sea. Our hopes of a white winged gull or something came to nothing. A couple of Kittiwakes were the best birds we could manage, plus a tiny Weasel carrying a mouse along the edge of the car park, under the toy box and under our cars out of sight, so we decided to venture out. 

A wander north along the beach to the village was the plan to see if there was anything loitering around the corner.

Sadly the first thing of note, was already deceased. A fresh Harbour Porpoise was washed up. Its body covered in small white lesions of some kind.

Deceased Harbour Porpoise, Boulmer

Only 200 mtrs beyond the beached cetacean I notice some fresh looking Stoat tracks on the sand by some tank blocks. John then called out, 'Whats that moving on the sand?' 'Its a Stoat with a Black Rabbit!'.

Sure enough, a moribund melanistic Rabbit was hanging on to life as the Stoat did its very best to serve the coup-de-grace by biting the nape of its neck, but the prey seemed a bit too big to get a good grip. We watched for half an hour until near hypothermia set in. In that time, the Stoat dashed to the long grass at the beach edge a couple of times before returning to its kill. It tried dragging the sad Rabbit up the beach but each time it would muster enough life force to kick back and slow progress. As we left, the Stoat had the Rabbit nearer to cover but the struggle looked set to continue for a while yet.

So. some great mammal experiences were had, it just shows there is always something if you just put a little effort in.

Dull January Days...

 After a week of village birding where the white Blackbird was the highlight, on Sunday we took a short trip inland to Hedgely and Branton Gravel Pits. Its a site we used to do a Webs count but havent been for a while so it was nice to get back. When I say nice, I am being polite. The weather was dismal. The fog and light dampness came in at Branton so thickly we couldnt even see the water let alone birds on it.

Still, before that, the first stop in slightly better weather was at Hedgely where and American visitor, a drake Ring necked Duck has been present for a few weeks. Sure enough, it was an easy find on the most open, westerly, pool with around 35 Tufted Ducks and other assorted wildfowl including 100 Wigeon, 50 Gadwall, 3 Goosander, 37 Teal, 9 Goldeneye and 12 Little Grebes. The Ring neck was showing well and very active, swimming around as fast as its feet could paddle to female Tufties and occasionally doing some head up, bill nodding display to them. It was a very smart bird in full plumage, easily picked out from the male Tufted Ducks. When checking my photos back home I saw that one of the Wigeon has a very green band across its head. Apparently this is a natural variation more prevalent in birds from the far east?

  

Third from the left a green faced Wigeon stood out from more normally coloured birds.

Above Drake Ring Necked Duck

As the fog enveloped the view we walked around Branton looking at passerines close enough to see. A Marsh Tit and 2 Willow Tits were seen and heard, we were surprised to see the former here. A flock of 25+ Siskins fed in alders with 14 Long tailed Tits and a Treecreeper nearby.

That was a bout it, not too bad for dull January morning but I am looking forward to some brighter days. After this one, the bar is set pretty low...

Ermine!

 Yesterday was grim, blowing a Southern hoolie with bitterly cold sleet most of the day. It scarcely got light all day. So we called off our usual birding morning. During the day various minor jobs were faffed at including getting the latest Alnwick Wildlife Group newsletter stuff away to be draughted.

It was around 2.30pm while watching the telly in front of the fire  that the phone rang. It was one of our neighbours along the village to say that they have just seen a white Blackbird ( Whitebird?) in their garden. Keen for some mental enrichment, I was off up the lane with the camera.

Sure enough, a ghostly apparition fluttered across the lawn to land below a thick evergreen shrub before running under it to hide.

After a bit, the Blackbird hopped forward and flew up onto the fence for a second then dropped back into cover.

What a bird, I enjoy these varied colour aberrations and this one was a stunner. It was difficult to tell the sex. The bill was indeed bright yellow like a male, but the few darker feathers it had were more browny grey than black.

I cant see this bird having been hiding in our village of 18 houses for long. Apart from the snow last week, it stood out like a sore thumb. Maybe it has arrived with the recent influx of Redwings and Fieldfares off the continent?

This morning it was a shade off being dark, and there it was, a beacon below Audrey and Robert's bird feeders. Its a shame there was no sign at lunchtime when the sun came out and I had my camera.

Not a tick of any kind, but certainly a years local patch highlight so far...

Leucistic Blackbird or maybe an Blackbird in Ermine!.

Local Patch End of Year 2025

 As the end of 2025 approaches we always like to appraise how the birding has gone and for me that means, in particular, my local patch. As I have mentioned on more than one occasion, my patch is not a nature reserve. It has no large areas of fresh water, estuaries or scrapes. There is not a hide to be had. Other observers are thin on the ground, so combining this with working full time, a lot of the birds are self found on my daily dog walks. I miss a bit too when I am at work.

This year I have been using eBird to keep a list and in doing so I have input quite a few records for my 3 sq km area, see Map -

Whilst 2025 was just about average in the number of species recorded at 154, over the last 16 years on site ( record is 166 in 2019, lowest 136 in 2014) . Here are the rarity highlights with comments - 

White fronted Geese  - 6 stayed for a month Jan - Feb. Only the 3rd occurrence after birds in 2011 and 2023.

Great Crested Grebe 1 on the sea in August, like the geese only the 3rd occurrence after birds in 2011 and 2016. 9 years since I last recorded one here.

Red necked Grebe 1 on 26th October on a seawatch another 3rd record after birds in 2010 and 2019. Equals Great Crested Grebe in regularity here.

Glaucous Gull 1 2nd Winter in February seen twice. Yet another 3rd after singles in 2015 and 2018.

Osprey 1 flew N past our house early on 24th April, the 4th here. 

Bee-eater 1 south on 31st May a patch first at last. Pity it didnt linger for photos, it was seen twice in half an hour as it moved south.

Garden Warbler. This is what makes patch watching interesting. Despite being on the east coast these birds are hard to catch up with here. This one singing on the coast path and seen in spring was the first for 9 years. They were more or less annual for the first few years after we came here in 2009. Getting rarer.

Common Rosefinch. My second garden record, but not as good as the first one in 2010. In fact this one was a heard singing only record that departed before I could get eyes on it. 27th May.

Other notable species for the patch were Gadwall, Pintail, Long tailed Duck, Cuckoo, Water Rail, Grey Plover, Knot, Bar tailed Godwit,  Greenshank, Mediterranean Gull, Little Gull, Little Tern, Roseate Tern, Pomarine Skua, Long tailed Skua ( all 4 skuas), Little Egret, Marsh Harrier, Short eared Owl, Willow Tit, Yellow browed Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, Twite. 

Biggest misses include Sanderling, Common Sandpiper, Redstart, Red legged Partridge, Little Auk and Waxwing both the latter near annual. Its 5 years since my last Whinchat here though they have been seen by others occasionally.

So, here's to 2026, lets hope it brings something interesting...

Cold spells

 I once read how regular weather patterns can be. On a broad scale for example, here we get cold northerlies from April to May and mild southerlies in September and October. The exact opposite of what we would like to see.

Snow is a bit less predictable. 

Or is it? Since the millennium we have had some snow each year in November and December. 

30th December 2020. A dusting at midnight.

29th November 2021. The aftermath of Storm Arwen was cold. Above shows our snow covered bathroom lit by candle. No heating or hot water for 11 days.

14th December 2022. White on the flatter surfaces.

1st December 2023. Tricky driving as our roads are often last to be gritted.

20th November 2024. This is uncanny. Same date as this year below...

20th November 2025. 2 inches fell driving very difficult until later in the daty.

20th November 2025 being out here when the roads are difficult we have the coast to ourselves...

End of the Moth Season

 That's another year garden moth trapping over with the Robinson being retired into the shed. This is my 16th year trapping here. I've still got records to add to my MapMate database but I think all new species are in. 

Several new species arrived this year, something that always surprises me how new moths keep being added after all this time.

Caloptilia honoratella 1 , a First for Northumberland. Always good to get a county first.

Plutella porrectella 2, nice, unexpected too.

Coleophora alcyonipennella Clover Case-bearer 2 only 3 previous county records.

Palpita vitrealis 2 a great year for these in the county. Only 17 records.

Agriphila latistria 1 Only 14 records of this crambid.

Odontosia carmelita Scarce Prominent 1 One of my most wanted moths, a fine fresh one too.

Heliothis peltigera Bordered Straw 1 Everyone was catching these bar me, so was pleased with a nice fresh one. 

Dryobotodes eremita Brindled Green 1, less than 100 ever in the county all further south.

Mythimna vitellina Delicate 2 Only 25 records for the county.

Autumn almost over.

 October is now over with only a single post on the blog.

This might be because this may be one of the poorest autumns birding I can recall. Since August we have had a constant southerly or south westerly airflow. For us on the NE Coast that is about as bad as it can get.

Looking at some stats, Manx Shearwater for example. Not one in September. There was just no suitable seawatching conditions. Same goes for drift migrants. On my patch there have been no Redstarts, Whinchats or Pied Flys.

It shows, people think we have it made watching a patch on the east coast, but that is only if the weather is in our favour. Back in August I wondered if the steady S winds would ever change, and they didn't apart from a couple of very narrow sub standard windows of opportunity.

On 25th September a seawatch was largely quiet other than a few Dolphins a Wheatear and an in-off Short Eared Owl.

Above- Bottle nosed Dolphins and a Short eared Owl at Cullernose.

A brief twitch to Holy Island on 27th September while we were up that way had a nice Red breasted Flycatcher. The following day a Cetti's Warbler giving short snatches of song at Foxton Golf Course pond was a first for the Boulmer patch. The same morning a good count of 71 Redpolls flew S. It at least has been a good year for Redpolls with bird moving S on most days.

On 5th October a nice group of 7 Curlew Sandpipers dropped on to the Aln Estuary. 

On 20th around our village were 6 Little Gulls N, a Woodcock, 18 Crossbills and 9 Whooper Swans S while the glitch in the machine dropped a few Yellow browed Warblers on site with 3 at Craster with a late Willow Warbler and two Willow Tits.

Willow Tit

Willow Warbler 

Half a Yellow browed Warbler

And thats about it .

So, its no good wondering what could have been.

Winter is coming...