Late Winter Seawatching

 When there is a cold, north wind in February we are often at a bit of a loose end. Its too early to look for spring migrants, too cold and windy to head inland so what can we do? There is only one thing for it really, stay on patch and look at my only decent 'wetland'  - the sea.

Seawatching at this time of year is a world away from the watching from July to December.  In spring there is usually little to see, but it is sure to throw up one or two new birds for the local patch year list, so that is how we spent Sunday morning, and for February, we were pleasantly surprised.

We sat in the vicinity of the Howick Bathing House, where you can hunker down behind a rock out of the cold wind, the spot is literally 419 metres from my house. Its just a pity I can't see it from my house, what a boost to the garden list that would be.

So, what was on offer.

As is the way, quite a few birds were too far off to do much with, though a steady northerly movement of Kittiwakes with a few Gannets were the start to my list additions. Soon, a few more things of interest appeared with both Great Northern and Red throated Divers, a nice drake Velvet Scoter, a few parties of Common Scoter and a very early Manx Shearwater.   

Great Northern Diver 2N 1 S

Red throated Diver 16N 7S

Common Scoter 23N 12S

Velvet Scoter 1N

Shelduck 3N

Razorbill only 8 identified out of 100s of auks. 

Manx Shearwater 1

Purple Sandpiper 1

Gannet 40+N

Kittiwakes 100+ per hour N

Guillemots Several hundred going all directions offshore.

Shag, a few.

Harbour Porpoise 1, a while since I've seen one. Since the Bottle nosed Dolphins became regular the poor Porpoises seem to have taken a beating.

Also in the vicinity were 18 Meadow Pipits N, 1 Rock Pipit in full display song flight, an adult male Sparrowhawk along the shore and a few 'argentatus' Herring Gulls. We had hoped there would be more Gulls to give us a chance of a white winger but there were very few around.

Common Scoters

Immature Red throated Diver

Shag

Shelducks above a Guillemot.

The same Shelducks now above a Red throated Diver.

Back in the village, this young Sparrowhawk is terrorising my Tree Sparrows by spending his days lounging below the bird feeders. It is quite obliging, behaving more like a predatory chicken that a dashing raptor. There is a cracking adult male too, probably the bird seen while seawatching, but he wont sit for a photo.

After adding a few of this lot, my 2023 Local Patch List is now standing at 96. Still plenty to look out for...there must be a Stock Dove out there somewhere.

 

Sparrowhawk watching for a meal. Pic through Kitchen window.

The Stag and the Pennymen....

A cold frosty morning turned out to be a beautiful crystal clear day. As John was tied up elsewhere, I thought I would pop up to Seahouses to try and get some photos of the Black Redstart that has taken up temporary residence among the boats there. Unfortunately, things didn't go to plan, as the said bird had 'done one'. I spent about an hour and a half over two visits there today seeing only a few Eiders and 20 each of Turnstones and Purple Sandpipers ( during a recent conversation with Iain Robson I find that these little waders were once known as 'Pennymen' by local fishermen, while Sanderling were called 'Sea Mice').

So, it was time for another couple of miles drive up the coast to Bamburgh to see what lurks off the coast there. It was fantastic first thing, with very few people and miles of clean sea, sand and rock. With the cold northerly numbing fingers and air that tasted like a drink of iced water, birds became just a secondary feature, the 'icing on the cake'so to speak.  I could see the snow speckled Cheviot over to the west and Lindisfarne Castle, Bamburgh Castle and the Farne Islands only by turning around. Can there bee a finer place than North Northumberland on a day like this?

Even so, the local sea fowl weren't too bad either, with several hundred Brent Geese, 5 Slavonian Grebes, 4 Long tailed Ducks, another 50 'Pennymen', 6 Red breasted Merganser and an exhaltation of Skylarks to back it all up.

Harkness Rocks and Lighthouse, known locally as Stag Rocks. I cant think why?

Hundreds of Pale bellied Brent Geese flighting into Budle Bay to feed as the tide drops. There were a couple of dark bellied in my photos too.

Him'n'her Long tailed Ducks

Slavonian Grebes lit up by the sun with the raft of Common Scoter. 

I caught all 5 Slavonian Grebes in this one shot.

Displaying Red breasted Mergansers in a channel across the sand.