WBD2

 

Yesterday, Les Hall, found another White Billed Diver or Loon or whatever in Blyth South Harbour. This is almost 30 years to the week since another great banana bill graced the estuary, that one was found by the late Tim Cleeves and the resulting phone call found me 20 minutes later standing on the Seven Stars Jetty still in my slippers, alone with the monster. 

This bird showed very well in the  calm water of the marina area, albeit still a bit of a distance out, but the scope views were fantastic. In the hour I was there it loafed around in typical lethargic manner, only getting active when it appeared to try and dislodge something from its throat? Counting back I think this is my 7th in Northumberland, with 3 of those coming in the last 13 months.

Part of a recent influx of birds into the north east UK, this is the 5th in a week in Northumberland with another dozen or so in the Firth of Forth . It appears there has never been a better time to add the rare arctic visitor to your self found list. ( two for me, one at Boulmer, one at Hauxley back when they were really rare).

Joking aside, these are magnificent birds to see and, lately, almost passing Black throated Diver in accessibility. So when the chance arises, go out an meet one, you never know when the next will come along though at the current pace, it might not be too long...

HMS White billed Diver

 On Saturday we went for a pub lunch at Warkworth. On the way back as we called in to the CO-OP a message came through saying Ben Steele had a White billed Diver on the sea close in at Seaton Point, about 2 miles away. What was there to do but to head straight there.

A quick yomp south from Boulmer on a rising tide and there it was, a battleship of a bird floating in a weed filled rock channel about 100 mtrs off the beach. The bird gave great views in the scope as it loafed around between dives but when it went under, creating a big bow wave, it was down for ages and would appear well away from where you first saw it.

White billed Divers are getting about as easy to see here as Black throated Divers these days. In fact Ive had two White billed since my last Black throated sighting! This bird was a second year, showing some white spots on the wing coverts.

Back home, a flock of 200 Geese headed low towards our house so I dashed in for the bins. Sure enough the first birds I got on to were 3 Russian White fronted Geese in with the Pink feet. They were too low and quick for details searching for others.

The moth trap was dusted off on Saturday night for its 2026 debut. It was a good success too with 34 moths of 9 sp, inc 3 Satellite, 13 Chestnut, 3 Dark Chestnut etc.

On a lovely fine sunny Sunday morning John and myself went back to Boulmer to see if the diver was around, but, as expected, the tide has been out and in again since Saturday taking with it the banana bill to who knows where. 4 Purple Sands, 21 Bar tailed Godwits and 37 Pink feet S were the best.

As it was sunny we headed a couple of miles to one of our off coast sites. We did a full eBird count with some good resluts. We had 2 Stock Dove, 2 Woodcock, 1 Willow Tit and a singing Dipper, 13 Crossbills inc a nice red male perched in hazel catkins and 12 Yellowhammers. Best though was a fluke while John was elsewhere. Awaiting his return I scanned the rise over the fields to increase the Buzzard count to three . A large rapter flying steadily south attracted attention. It looked to have a longer tail than a Buzzard, then a crow came up to head it off, After some panicking from both birds, the raptor flipped around and headed back north where I could see it was a nice adult Goshawk! White below, with long flappy wings, the hand narrower but the secondaries carried a large curved trailing edge. The tail had some darker banding. When flying a hint of display was noticed with deep butterfly wing beats. I could also see it was a size bigger than the crow too.

What a bird, this is my first Gos east of the A1 up here. Maybe the storm flattened forests since Arwen in 2021 have dispersed birds out into other bits of countryside?

 

A rewilded field that held a few birds of up to 42 species.

Getting lighter...

 Apart from a couple of fine days the weather remains pretty much dreadful across the board. At least the days are beginning to lengthen noticeably now, which is good.

For what is generally accepted to be one of the slowest months for birding, February is not turning out too bad considering.

The White Blackbird hung around into the 1st but despite looking daily I've not seen him thereafter. Pity, I hoped he would become a feature of the village.

What must be the highlight of the month came on the 7th when news emerged of an totally unprecedented flock of up to 40 Common Cranes in a field by the A1 at Denwick! At first we were all sceptical of such a number, but it turned out to be true, well, almost with up to 38 birds counted. I didn't arrive on site despite it only being 3 miles from home until nearing dusk at 4.30pm but sure enough 29 Cranes were in view striding in a line across a rushy field. All appeared to be adults and some observers even noted some tentative displaying between them. In my life I dont think the Cranes I've seen previously totaled 29 birds.

I did an Alnwick Wildlife Group guided walk before the Cranes news arrived also on the 7th around the local Arboretum and coast. 12 souls dared the weather and were gifted with a dry window for once. 46 typical mainly woodland species of birds were recorded plus some oddities such as Oak Moss Evernia prunastri , Harts Tongue Thyme Moss Plagiomnium undulatum , Frizzled Pincushion Plenogemma pyllantha Crystal Brain Fungus Exidia nucleata, Hairy Curtain Crust Stereum hirsutum, Velvet Shank Flammulina velutipes, Lumpy Bracket Trametes gibbosa and Turkey Tail trametes versicolor. 

Guided Walk

Frizzled Pincushion Plenogemma pyllantha

Lumpy Bracket Trametes gibbosa 

Unusually for us we had a trip down to the Druridge Bay Flesh Pot where we caught up with a couple of good birds but missed out on the White tailed Eagle that has been around for a few days. We did get 16 Pochard singing Cetti's Warbler at DBCP, a nice Red necked Grebe showing nicely at East Chevington with more Cettis' and 23+ Goldeneye and 2 Otters, a redhead Smew at Widdrington Moor lake with 5 Mediterranean Gulls and finally back at Alnmouth we were over flown closely by 12 Russian Whitefronted Geese.

 Red necked Grebe, East Chevington.

Yesterday I finally caught up with the Tundra Bean Goose influx with 4 nice birds showing at Gloster Hill Amble on my way to work. Pad these out with multiple Barn Owls, Ravens, Woodcock and a Little Gull its not been a bad couple of weeks.

A poor phonescoped shot with 4 Beans, 1 RWF and a Greylag.

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!.