After the birding excitement of recent weeks, today saw things slow up a little, back into the usual pace for winter birding in Northumberland.
I met John at Warkworth and as the weather was pleasant we just pottered around the area taking a few snaps and drinking tea. No change there then.
A short drop in at Druridge Bay Country Park was all but pointless, highlights being about 70 Tufted Duck and half a dozen Gadwall.
Back up the the Coquet Estuary area it remained pleasant but very slow on the bird front, until we stopped to check a herd of 24 Whooper Swans ( with 6 juvs) and were very surprised to find a flock of 64 Black tailed Godwits in the stubble alongside them! Whilst not a rare bird in the county, flocks of 10 in early autumn or spring are more usual so this large gathering was the highlight of our morning. Further over the road another 13+ Whoopers were feeding in a rape field.
Elsewhere, 1 Little Egret, 250 Golden Plovers, 11 Yellowhammers, a Brambling and a few Wigeon were all we could muster. A nice morning out though, all the same.
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| Little Grebe and BHG on the country park... |
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| Coquet Estuary. |
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| Old Water Pools, Warkworth Dunes |
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| Black tailed Godwits at Birling |
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| Whooper Swans in wet stubble at Birling. |
3 comments:
11 Yellowhammers would be a thrill for me, I love them and they are scarce nowadays.
See a fair few in the country lanes around me, better year for yellowhammers this year than last.
I love the shots.
Thanks all, yes Yellowhammers are going the same as most small farmland birds...lets hope they aren't the next Corn Bunting.
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