Bridled or Sooty? That is the question...

 Last Monday a Bridled Tern was reported on Inner Farne briefly. Then, very soon after the Coquet Island wardens put the cat among the pigeons when they reported that a Sooty Tern was on their island. The two bird theory? With no photos of the Farnes bird, it doesnt seem plausible to me that these two tropical terns would arrive on the same afternoon with no sightings of either anywhere else. Apparently the Farnes team are sticking by their guns with their original theory but the bird has not returned.

As is the way, local Puffin Cruises boats were chartered to get birders out to Coquet where those on board got decent views of the Sooty. Unfortunately I was working from home and couldnt make it. Next moring I was passing Amble on the way to work so I took bins and scope hoping for  a distant dot from the mainland. Plans took a dip when there were no further sightings of the bird after Monday night.

Bringing us back to the present, yesterday morning, the WhatsApp buzzed again with Richard the warden reporting that the Sooty Tern was back. After a week where presumably it had been out to sea as these terns are very pelagic, it was now on the island.

This time I was ready to give it a go. Again working from home, I finished earlier and headed down to Hauxley late afternoon. In the two years since the Bridled Tern here., Id forgotten how ridiculous this is. We could see the tern but it was a miniscule speck and in the hour I watched, it didnt fly from its rock. Just when you think views cant get any worse, it sank back over the rock to roost and it couldnt be seen at all.

See here for dejavu...the tale was identical!    

Click to see the bird and this is at 50x mag through the scope!

So at 6pm a dozen of us clambered aboard the boat on a lovely evening and headed across to the island. Due to the tide being quite low we still couldnt get close in but views were at least more reasonable than earlier. The trip was an hour long and for the first half of that the bird was nowhere to be seen. Luckily it eventually reappeared much to the relief of all on board.

This is the 4th Sooty Tern in Northumberland since the first in 1966, and is my 2nd after the 2020 local patch bird. 

Most of the morden day records of this pair of terns in Northumberland get misidentified on first sightings. In 88 a Sooty became Bridled, In 2020 a Bridled became Sooty and again this year.  So, it pays to keep an open mind when one is reported but whichever one it is, they are well worth going to see. Fantastic.

High Summer

 Its been a few weeks since I actually posted about some of the things I have been seeing over the warmer period. Before that though, I'll add, while we have had a nice summer, we've not had a heatwave on the North Northumberland coast. To update here is a bit of a calendar - 

4th July - 

A Quail was calling in the bean field behind us. It was heard a few times but it never did that prolonged dripping tap call they usually do, just an odd phrase here and there.

5th July - 

The Quail again briefly.

7th July - 

And again only once at 11pm.

8th July - 

I didnt get Grasshopper Warbler here in the spring so it was a surprise to get one reeling at this late date in the back hedge at 11pm.  

9th July - 

Despite the moth trap being used, the moth highlight was only my 2nd Bordered Straw perched out at lunchtime on some Sweet Williams. I moved it to Ragwort to get this shot.

10th July - 

Had an open trap morning for AWG with 12 visitors attending. We had 205 moths of 79 species to view.

11th July - 

The morning birding at Alnmouth with John. The wind has swung northerly cooling things a bit. On the estuary were 5 Little Egret, 1 male Bar tailed Godwit in summer plumage, 3 Common Sandpipers, 1 Avocet. 

Up viewing Foxton Bends from the road we had- 7 Avocets, 3 Lesser black backed Gulls, 1ad summer Mediterranean Gull, 4 Little Egret, 6 Common Sandpiers, 2 Greenshank and most unusually, a Whooper Swan!

Next off to Seaton Point to check the sea. 11 Manx Shearwaters N, 45 Common Scoter N, 42 Arctic Terns N, 3 Goosander n, 1 Red breasted Merganser N, 18 Sandwich Tern N, 1 ad Little Gull N, 6 Puffins.

13th July - 

A bit of excitement with the arrival of a summer plumaged female Red necked Phalarope on Druridge Budge Fields. What a stunner. 

In the half an hour I was there, while watching the Phalarope, an adult Hobby flew low over the hide and circled the plantation over the field. Nice views. 1 ad Mediterranean Gull flew N, plus 12 Black tailed Godwits, 1 male Ruff and 2 Greenshank.

21st July - 

2 Hedgehogs below our feeders on eating a pear! 30 Sand Martins were picking at the gable end of School House for some unknown reason?

22nd July - 

A large count of 48 Small Mottled Willows in the moth trap, what a year its been for this normally rare moth. A Little Egret was on the rocks at Salters Gate layby and a juv Red Kite was catching grasshoppers up on the Hips Heugh field. A patch first for me and on the garden list too.

 26th July - 

Finally rain all day other than a couple of hours around lunchtime.

At the Aln Estuary were 3 Greenshank, 2 Common Sandpipers, 3 Avocets plus a chick, 60+ Dunlin all adults, 7 Little Egret, 15 Swifts over head.

1st August - 

A gardening day with 1 Whimbrel over, 1 Painted Lady, 1 Holly Blue, 1 Comma and 1 Wool Carder Bee.

Up at the Cricket field a new plant for me, Common Hemp Nettle.

Another quiet summer....