Edge of Winter

 November starts in autumn and ends in winter. Our old county winter atlas surveys began on 13th of the month, so I tend to think of that period as the beginning of winter, though autumn bird migration can continue into December. By mid month, the majority of our winter visitors will be in situ, and our summer birds long gone. 

This week is make or break for one iconic winter visitor in Northumberland. This will not relate to more southern counties but it is very accurate up here. Waxwings. If it is to be a Waxwing Winter, Northumberland will have a decent arrival before bonfire night.  In 2023, I had seen 5 Waxings on patch by now, and a flock of 45 was in residence by the 20th. Overall by 31st December exactly 100 Waxwings had presented before me. Come 1st January I didn't see another! So, 2024 / 25? not a report of a single bird yet here, so I'll go all out to say, no Waxing Winter this time...shame.

The first week of November has been quite good on the local patches of Howick and Boulmer. No real rarities but a good variety of species to keep up the interest.

To summarise - 

1st Nov - 

High pressure  with mild calm dull days has been the flavour this month, so far. What is it they say? In like a Lamb out like a Lion?

5 Whooper Swans flew west over the garden, while 66 Curlew, a Stonechat and 7 Grey Partridges enlivened a quite early morning dog walk around the village.

2nd - 

Unusually, Peggy was asking to be out at 0530 so off we tootled into the darkness for no more than 5 or 10 mins. We were met with bird calls all around. Redwings and Blackbirds at the rate of about 10 cals per minute. We also almost stood on a Woodcock beside our neighbours corner too.

A couple of hours later I was up at first light to see if any of these birds were grounded.

In an hour I had 32 Redwings, 94 Fieldfares, 35 Blackbirds, 1 Chiffchaff, 3 or 4 calling Brambling, 1 Sinipe in off, 1 Whooper Swan over, Golden Plover S, 12+ Chaffinch and 400+ Starlings.

A stand around on the drive for an hour mid afternoon added 1 Raven N, 23 and 7 Whooper Swans S, 1 Brambling beside the garden, 5 Long tailed Tits and 3 Mistle Thrushes.

3rd - 

Met John at Boulmer where we did an ebird full count of our walk. The route was only three miles around by Longhoughton Steel but the bird range was excellent with 69 sp recorded. Not on the list, below, was a huge falcon bearing a red breeders ring, on the rocks with prey. Unsure of its parentage but Id say Peregine x Lanner or Saker... the Xs below are birds present in good numbers but we didnt bother counting them.

Apologies for the poor digiscoped phone shots...

As we enter the dark days of a Trump administration across the pond, who will say what disasters will befall us at the hands of the orange manbaby...

October catch up

 Dear readers, if you are still out there, apologies for the neglect of this space.

Its not that I haven't been out, I have, its not that I've not seen anything, because it has been ok, but for blogging purposes, there has been a minor change. Lately I've not been camera motivated. Its a big lump to lug around, so I went back to basics with bins, scope and notebook, like those good old days we birders of a certain age tend to hark back to. And you know what? Its been great. Without the camera I think I might have even seen more birds due to the freedom to observe and concentrate more.

So, here is an update of the October highlights on my local patches . The few illustrations are phone related...

9th October, midweek, we had a bit of a storm. A strong N6 was whipping up a hoolie all day with some rain. I ventured out for half an hours seawatch. It was only half an hour as it was too blustery to sit and look through the scope. All I managed were 6 Sooty Shearwaters N and a Red throated Diver south before retreating back to cover.

10th October, the night of the Aurora. A truly unbelievable naked eye show of epic celestial proportions. If you missed it, I am gutted for you as this might be a once in a lifetime even for us Englanders.

The aurora above our house and top at the village lane end...

13th October, John  and myself put the morning in at Boulmer. There was plenty to go into the notebook...

Pinkfeet 1245 S, Barnacle Geese 28 S 2 N, Little Egret 1, Swallow 3, Merlin 1 chasing a pipit over the shore, Peregrine 2, 1ad, 1 juv together on Longhoughton Steel, Little Gull 80+ off Longhoughton Steel, a great count for here, Red throated Diver 6 S, Great Northern Diver 1 N, Long tailed Skua 2 juv N, Bonxie 1 N, Whooper Swan 1 S and a Siberian Lesser Whitethroat feeding in some garden weeds along the coast path. A smart bird.

14th October, Apart from the 13 Grey Partridges at home, sighting of the day was, again, astronomical. The Comet Tsuchinshan - Atlas A3 was showing well on its 80,000 year orbit of Earth.

16th October, thinking I had missed out on a striped sprite on patch this year as I was away during peak influx, I was over the moon to come across a non calling Yellow Browed Warbler along our village lane while out with Peggy at lunchtime. Good views as it flitted around a roadside sycamore with a Chiffchaff and a Goldcrest.

19th October, the calm before the Storm ( Ashley). Some viz mig had Wooper Swan 6 S, Swallow 1 S, Brambling 1 W, Pinkfeet 350 S, Golen Plover 100 S, Meadow Pipit 9 S, Redpoll 6 S, Siskin 12 S, Redwing 2 S. Elsewhere around the village had a single flock of 36 Mistle Thrushes! No doubt these would have been Fieldfares on a fleeting glimpse. 5 Gadwall were on the pond.

26th October another dog walk had a few birds on patch with 23 Whoopers S, 155 Pinkfeet S, 2 Twite S, always a good record here. Redwing 45 flew into the wood next to our garden. 

27th October, I spent a couple of hours doing an ebird list around Cullernose Point with surprising results for a rocky over grazed, freshwater barren, field! To record 57 species was way better than expected. See below - 

 

 

Snow Bunting, one of a pair at Cullernose Point.

29th October, I should have had a kick up the backside. Spend a fortune on new bins and didnt I take the dog out without them. You just know what comes next...

At the top of our village in a small isolated hawthorn, a small bird was flycatching. I circled the bush to get better light and approached  closer, then I kid you not, I put my reading glasses on to see if I could get a better look! The bird was a small short tailed phyllosc, active around the bush. There was no call and all of a sudden it flew off over the gardens into the wood beside the village never to be seen again. Now, this bird was almost certainly another Yellow browed, but I could not eliminate Pallas's either! An hour with the bins looking at the wood turned up nothing. Needless to say Ive not left the house binocular naked since!

30th October, 60 Whooper Swans S over the garden plus 29 Pinkfeet. The mild spell brough a few Red Admirals, Speckled Woods and  alone Comma into the garden.

 Halloween. A short trip out looking for fungi in Alnwick Cemetery. Here we had 2 Ballerina Waxcaps, Plums and Custard, Trooping Funnell, Wrinkled Club, Parasol and Red cracking Bolete. A second stop at Swarland wood had Yellow Stainer and new one for me, Wood Blewit, Liberty Cap, Amethyst Deciever and Grisette.

November has started quite well too but more of that later... 

Ballerina Waxcap and Alnwick Cemetery