Its Black....

 

The sweep of Beadnell Bay looking up to the roped off tern colony at the Long Nanny burn mouth and the wardens hut.

Last year, by a quirk of fate, I missed two good birds in quite similar circumstances . Firstly there was the Bempton albatross fiasco with an all day cliff stand watching Gannets.  Luckily the bird returned this year, as I hoped it would, and a second pilgrimage was made, this time successfully.

Also last year, much nearer to home, all for 6 miles in fact, a Black Tern summered in the Long Nanny tern colony in Beadnell bay.  Whilst Black Tern is a good bird in Northumberland, its not something I would go out of my way for. I'd rather hope to find one on my own local patch, so June and July was filled with What's App messages of its presence in the Arctic Tern nesting area, with me hoping it might give Cullernose a fly past. It was always a long shot and did not materialise.

Then, at the end of July, some good photographs were posted of the bird that set people thinking. It was highly odd that a Black Tern would spend this long during the summer in one spot. And, it looked very, very dark. Ideas that it could be from across the Atlantic rather than from across the North Sea were discussed and after some scrutiny and expert analysis, the bird was indeed confirmed as an American Black Tern. 

Now this is an altogether different prospect.   There have only been half a dozen records of this Nearctic race of Black Tern in the UK and this is the first adult in breeding plumage.  I suddenly became interested and decided 6 miles might not be too far to go after all. Unfortunately after a stay of about 10 weeks, today it had decided to migrate, leaving me sat on a sunny evening beach eating an ice cream, and wondering.  Like the albatross, would it come back next year? 

The good news is, yes, it came back last week, so yesterday morning I was up bright and early and on site for 06.45am after a right old faff with the car park ticket machine leaving me 7 quid out of pocket.

There was no sign initially the bird having gone out to sea, but after around 15 minutes it returned to give the best ever views. Watching from the wardens hut decking, the American Black Tern  flew around, displaying and showing aggression to the Arctic Tern pairs, down to about 20 feet! Landing only for brief spells, usually behind marram grass, photography was tricky, but it was a pleasure to watch such a dapper birds at close range.

The features that differentiate it from Eurasian Black Tern were easily seen ( isnt previous knowledge great). It was an intense black, like a White winged Black Tern rather than the charcoal grey of Black Tern. This contrasted well with the pale whitish underwings and pure white undertail coverts. It also showed a very obvious white forward edge to the wings, looking like headlight strips in flight.

Although it does not count as a new bird being 'just' a race of Black Tern, this did not detract from such a nice bird at all.  Along with the American, there were hundreds of Arctic Terns, 16 Little Terns and single Roseate and Sandwich Terns making it a 5 tern day. A nice first summer Little Gull dropped by for good measure. Well worth the trip I'd say...

American Black Tern, Long Nanny.

It terned out just 'fine'...

We had a plan this morning to go up to Newton and the Long Nanny to search for Dark Green Fritillaries, but the weather put paid to that. It was overcast with irritating heavy little showers, overcast with a cool northerly wind blowing, hardly ideal for butterfly watching.

Still, we were out, so make the most of it.

At Newton Pool, a single Little Gull was the highlight plus an array of post breeding warblers including Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat.

Along Beadnell Bay, the wind cost me £25 when it blew my car park ticket into the grass, unbeknown to me, so we came back to a nice yellow plastic packet stuck on the windscreen. its ironic, I actually paid this time and got a ticket. Must be some divine justice there somewhere...

The Arctic Tern colony gave a good show, as well as shelter from the rain, in the lee of the wardens hut, but there was little else of note. It seems to be a good season for them with over 2000 nests. The grass in front of the hut was full of chicks running to be fed. Pity the sun didn't shine to bring the butterflies out...

Sea Swallow...

and Land Swallow....

Pyramidal Orchid

Legged it....

A trip up to the land beyond the Long Nanny this morning for the Beadnell Lesser Yellowlegs was a failure, the said target having continued onward migration yesterday.

It was a cool breezy day, today, but at least the rain mostly stayed away. After gazing at an empty flash, devoid of birds for 10 minutes, we headed over the the tern colony on the shore for a look. Hundreds of Arctic Terns were pairing up, but only 4 Little Terns were present. A dark phase Arctic Skua was a nice bird to get in the spring here as it hunted off Beadnell harbour.

I'm not sure what this fish is, maybe a Sand Smelt or a fry of some sort? Some had sandeels too...

Also here ,a steady passage north of hirundines with a few Swifts, 1 Yellow Wagtail north, 7 summer plumaged Dunlin and a female Wheatear.

Next stop, the Tin Church and Pool.

Straight away a Lesser Whitethroat was heard singing from the scrub, along with 2 Common Whitethroats and a Willow Warbler.

Lesser Whitethroat in the open briefly.

 The scrapes were as empty as I've ever seen them, with only 1 Teal, 2 Shelduck and 2 Gadwall. The pool wasn't much different, but a Reed Warbler ( or two) singing over the far side was noteworthy.

As the sun came out and the temperature rose slightly, a few insects emerged in the pool willows including 1 Orange Tip, 3+ Green veined Whites and a few hoverflies that remain to be identified. Celery-leaved Buttercup was in flower in the damp areas.

Green Nettle Weevil

Possibly Brassy Willow Beetle?