Wax - wings and caps

 Its not been a bad week for the naturalist around here, really. 

The weather has been variable, though quite moderate. 

Mid week a dog walk through the Village Wood had that soft cool, earthy, early winter smell to it.  In the diluted sunshine, a pile of oak logs left after Storm Arwen attracted attention. It was covered in a colourful array of small fungi, including one new to me, Purple Jellydisc as well as Hairy Curtain Crust, Sulphur Tuft and one that remains to be identified. It may need further scrutiny this week.

In that evening a couple of late Pipistrelles (?), well, bats, were still hawking under the street lights.

Log Pile

Hairy Curtain Crust

Purple Jellydisc

I think the fungi at the top may be Sulphur Tuft?

Keeping to a fungi theme, I was surprised when Debra Burley found some Pink Ballerina Waxcaps in Alnwick Cemetary. Ive looked in many good waxcap grasslands in North Northumberland without success so I gave it a twitch on my way to work.

After some directional confusion, there were 10 small stout pink Waxcaps around an area of gravestones...Excellent.

Pink Ballerina Waxcaps

 By Friday, the wind had swung to the North and then some, On Google Earth the northerly could be followed right up to the North Pole. The 'socials' were filed with commentary about masses of Little Auks, it could be the best showing for years, White Winged Gulls, Brunnichs etc. I jested that we might even get a Spectacled Eider off it, such was its reach, but, I sort of knew that we had been here before. Many times.

 On my blog in Nov 2021, before Storm Arwen, I posted a very similar weather map and pondered just the same. Whilst the record breaking gales blew an unprecedented number of Brunnichs Guillemots southward, the rest was pretty much standard. This time, I was more tempered and considered that most Little Auks would be further west by now so although a good northerly will always give us a few birds, the chances of a classic were slim.

Early Saturday morning found me traipsing along to my nearest seawatching spot for a couple of hours. Yes, there wasn't a great deal moving, but there was just enough to fill the time. From 8am - 10am I had

Great Northern Diver 5 N

Diver sp 1 N

Red throated Diver 7

Goldeneye 2m 1f N and 1f S

Teal 2 S

Common Scoter 16

Purple Sandpiper 2

Eider 7 S

Great crested Grebe 1 S the rarest bird of the day.

Fulmar 6 N

Gannet 7 N

Litttle Auk 1 N at last, and new for the year. Dan and Mark watching from 300 mtrs south of me managed 74 Little Auks. They must have been too distant for my eyes is I'll I can suggest. 

Brent Geese 2 N

Pink footed Geese 500 S

This brings us to Sunday morning.

JWR came to pick me up to do a recce for next weeks Alnwick Wildlife Group guided walk from Embleton to Low Newton along the coast. Before we left, I had a quick task to collect some greenery for Jane's Christmas wreath making session. While getting some bits of Ivy at the Lane End, the distinctive trembling calls of Waxwings filled the air. Soon we located 26 of them perched on top of a tall Ash tree opposite a large ornamental pink Rowan tree. This tee is still laden with pinkish white berries that are always last to go, usually eaten by Bullfinches and Mistle Thrushes. As we watched down they came periodically, like locusts, to systematically clear the tree. The resident Mistler was having none of it and did his best to keep the viking raid at bay but he was fighting a losing battle. 

All of a sudden a Sparrowhawk dashed through panicking everything and the Waxwings headed off south to safety.

The start of our walk, Dunstan Steads / Embleton Golf Course with Dunstanburgh Castle in the distance.

Long tailed Duck. I wont even try to age or sex it.

We moved on to Embleton where the car was left at Dunstan Steads. This is only about 5 miles from home so still pretty local.

Our walk was quite pleasant witha few bits and pieces to make it worthwhile. 

7 Purple Sandpipers, on the shore and 19 Greenfinches looked fabulous feeding along the strand line,. At Newton Scrapes, 13 Whooper Swans, plenty of usual wildfowl and a nice Long tailed Duck showed well as Water Rails screamed in the background.

We got back home at 12, so I took Peggy for a walk to see if the Waxwings had returned. I was pleased now to find the numbers had gone up to 40+. I couldn't get an accurate number as they flew off during my best count but I know there were somewhere between 43 - 45 birds.

So, another grand early winters day out. I wonder when our roll will end?

Waxwings. The shot above has 31 of the 40 odd birds in it.

April Gone.

 Since the excitement of the Red throated Pipit things have taken the predicted down turn. This is mainly due to the relentless cold and poor weather that has hung around since March. In April the winds often take on a northerly view, making finding spring migrants a losing battle in Northumberland, but this April its not just us that has suffered. This April has been the frostiest on record nationally.

We have plants around us with brown and yellow new growth due to the constant cold overnight. Even hardy natives like Dogs Mercury and Stinging Nettle are looking a tad yellow around the gills but here we are in May so hopefully things will improve.

Last Sunday we had a change of scenery visiting some spots very close to where I live, but are scarcely visited, to do the Breeding Waders of Wet Meadows survey near Dunstanburgh Castle. Needless to say we didnt find many. Only two Snipe lifted from a small flooded patch near the castle and that was it.

Of interest last week were 5 daylight hunting Barn Owls again. I have seen 14 day hunting different individuals in that last 7 days. 5 on the moors the week before, this 5, 2 at Low Newton and 2 at home. Barn Owls here are a daily occurrence, an ever presence. This however, is not a good thing. The poor birds are only out during the day, every day, because they are struggling to find enough prey to keep them going overnight. Local ringers who study them have weighed some adults from nest boxes and found them very underweight. At D'burgh, one of the local Raven pair fancied one of the owls for a snack and gave a short flight pursuit, twice knocking the bird into the grass until we intervened. The owl recovered composure for a few minutes then flew off, leaving the Raven to find more suitable food along the shore.

Raven pursuing Barn Owl with intent.

A pair of Gadwall on the small Dunstanburgh wetland were a 5km tick for me, 1 Whimbrel was on the shore and 2 male Greenland Wheatears dashed around the rocks. On the sea off the castle were some close feeding frenzies that included 100+ Razorbills in fine summer plumage.

A feeding frenzy of Kittiwakes, Gulls and Razorbills close in off Dunstanburgh Castle

Greenland Wheatear

Yellowhammer

Gadwall pair

The past week has been just as quiet only adding Whitethroat to the list on the patch.

Today we headed up to the moors west of Alnwick. 

A walk along a burn lined with ancient twisted Alders and Birch was nice in lovely sunshine. A female Redstart was nest building, a Tree Pipit was song flighting and 3 Cuckoos were calling in the background. A Barn Owl was hunting the moor ( yes, another one).

As the clouds gathered and rain began to spit, another site had a Whimbrel circling low, unusual inland here, a Fieldfare, a male Wheatear but best of all two nice Green Hairstreaks and a male Emperor Moth were good to see again after an absence during last springs lockdown.

One of the Green Haistreaks. The bottom shot looks odd because the butterfly is lying tilted over to catch some of the sun.

Female Redstart nest building in old birch tree,

 

 

Craster via the Hips Heugh.

 This morning dawned clear, fine and cold. Just right for a walk into some of the less visited places around home. The loop from home to Craster and back is a shade over 4 miles, taking in the fields just inland to the north then back by the usual coast route.

Only half a mile NW of home are a few long term set a side fields. I always forget how good they look for feeding finch and bunting flocks and possibly some attendant raptors. Today they held a nice selection of passerines with 40+ Reed Buntings, 60+ Goldfinches, 30+ and 100+ Linnet flocks, 7 and 16+ Yellowhammers, 50+ Chaffinches and 6 Grey Partridges.

Some of the Reed Buntings in dock.

Above - Reed Buntings

Year list targets this morning included - Brambling, Greenfinch ( yes thats right), Red legged Partridge, Woodcock, Merlin, Peregrine and Willow Tit. Its fair to say that I largely failed with this lot, but there is plenty of time until spring to seek them out. Rome wasn't built in a day.

While watching the Reed Buntings the pair of Ravens came over, calling, much to the consternation of the local Jackdaws who got up in to the air making a racket overhead. The Ravens took no notice whatsoever and even did a little bit of a display flight in tandem.

Raven low overhead, calling.

Down into Craster, a pair of Collared Doves were my first proper local birds but the Willow Tits were nowhere to be seen. Off shore, 100+ Common Scoter were loafing around still, a carry over from before Christmas. 30+ Golden Plover were on the rocks and a Red throated Diver flew N.

On the Cullernose cliffs, a few pairs of Fulmars were chattering and squabbling. I might check to see if they actually breed this year as I have never seen eggs of young at this site, despite older reports of many breeding pairs here. 

As I came to the road home, a 'blimp' on top of the Hips Heugh peak turned out to be a Peregrine, that sat for some time watching pigeons and Jackdaws flying around. After failing to catch up with the other birds on my target list, I was relieved to add something to the patch list.

The view north from Craster to Dunstanburgh Castle, the northern edge of my local patch. 

Fulmars on Cullernose cliffs. No seawatching today.

The Common Scoter flock just off the south end of Craster. Imagine living here !

The Peregrine rounds up the 5km list to a steady 100 species with a few possibles yet to be found. There are some spots I have in mind to target the list gap fillers, but they are tricky to access on foot all the way from home, but one of these weekends I'll drive part of the way to avoid walking on narrow main roads for any length of time.

Sunny Patching

What a difference a week can make.

Since last Sunday's post, I have twisted my back dragging a dumpy bag of logs and have been in pain all week, I have had a bit of a thing on one of our local What'sApp bird groups, that has resulted in me bowing out ( it was just getting a bit too fussy for me, so no hard feelings to anyone reading this) and I have had a right old debate on Twitter about a certain gull north of the border and whether it is right to add it to a life list. (No, of course it isnt!).

Social Media and me definately have a love/hate relationship. Sometimes I cant stand it and think 'thats it, I'm packing it all in' then, there are good days with some interesting snippets of info that could not be found elsewhere. Its these things that are educational, funny and interesting that keep me on it.

With that put behind me it was a relief to get out on the patch again. Saturday was very windy and just a bit uncomfortable, but today has been a glorious sunny, cold, calm one.

Nothing of note was seen on Saturday really though I did take a photo of a House Spider, Tegenaria sp, in our boiler shed. I am faffing around with flash, trying to get it to help me take some sharp record shots when there is not enough ambient light. Its all in the 'diffusion' of light so as the image doesnt come out too harsh with dark shadows. My home made diffuser, constructed out of a plastic chinese takeaway carton, some tin foil and a piece of kitchen roll fitted on the front of a 30 yr old flash gun seems to be working. Here is the image below -

Today, John couldnt get out until later on, so it was back onto the patch first thing.

On a morning like today's I feel so lucky to live in a spot like this. No inland urban reservoir for me. The views are lovely.

I began down at the Rumbling Kern. Here is a good stand and watch spot, in a way, its my own East Bank / Patch / Narrow Neck . Its a good open vista looking at the sea, the rocky shore and is backed by some degraded scrub. In the past, it has held Red backed Shrike and Olive backed Pipit in season and it could always produce again. Today I was hoping for lesser fry such as Bar tailed Godwit or Lesser black backed Gull but there was little moving. On the calm water was a single Red throated Diver, 10 Goldeneye, 1 Shag, 1 Cormorant, 10+ Eider and a Porpoise was hunting below.  The rocks held 6+ Turnstone and a Purple Sandpiper with 108+ Curlew in the field behind. On my way back up, the old muck heap by the layby had one each of Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit.

The Rumbling Kern view point. No freshwater here, but it still hold some variety.

The track to the right of the first shot viewing south. Some scrub that holds a few migrants in season.

The view north over the bathing house towards Dunstanburgh Castle.

Behind the watchpoint is Seahouses farm. It has an old barn dump and some straggly gorse and dog rose. Stright in off the north sea, whats not to like.

John turned out to join me at about 9.30am so we had a walk through the Howick Estate just a few hundred metres inland from the coast.

Crossbills were very active with at least 7+ birds calling and flying around, but there could be double this. I hope they are nesting nearby? A singing male Siskin was my only new list addition of the weekend. In February and March up here patch listing is a case of diminshing returns, with this little songster lifting me to 97 sp. Also in here were 6+ Bullfinch, 3+ Jay, 4+ Nuthatch, 12 Tufted Duck, 3 Teal, 3 Mallard, 1+ Buzzard and a fly over Brambling.

3 Roe Deer added to the interest as did the first Hoverfly of 2019, an Eristalis tenax female.

Above - The Muck Heap Grey Wagtail.

Song Thrush.

Eristalis tenax, a female, according to Hoverflies UK.

At dusk, a trip to the bottle bank at Craster found two seperate Barn Owls, 1 near the Arnold Reserve and 1 near the Cottage Inn. Still a lot of sparrows were at our feeders with 38 Tree and 30 House Sparrows making good inroads into the feed left for them.

I am off work on Wednesday, dog sitting so, weather permitting I'll get out again to break up the working week...

A 300mm shot of Dunstanburgh Castle and Cullernose Point taken from Rumbling Kern... 

Hello 2017.

First post of the New Year.

Last year at this time, the weather was dreadful until about the 8th, with wind and rain on a daily basis. This year cold breezy sunshine has been the order of the day since Christmas so long may it continue.

This morning John picked me up and we were at Low Newton for 8am, to add to the year list. As I have already mentioned, this isn't an all out go-for-everything list, it's more of a chance to add variety not only of birds but of locations too, with visits to sites not usually seen by us in a long while, but before all of that, we decided to stick to somewhere we do come to on occasion.

The view south from Low Newton beach towards Dunstanburgh Castle. There aren't many better views than this in England...

 The pool and scrapes were a bit disconcerting as there were 4 men shooting just behind the nature reserve, taking pot shots at geese far to high to drop. Some of these poor birds will get pricked by shot and die slowly of lead poisoning I'm sure. One Greylag on the pond didn't look to clever to start with, with some primaries sticking out at a jaunty angle...

Velvet Scoter, female.

Highlight on the wetlands were 13 Whooper Swans and a Shoveler with a good number of Wigeon. A Water Rail squealed in the phragmites.

A walk along the shore added Purple Sandpiper with commoner waders, Rock Pipits and Stonechats before a tea stop back at the car. From here we headed out to the point to check Football Hole, a small sea cove that is good for seafowl.

Today it was excellent with a cracking female Velvet Scoter showing well in bright sunshine, having a hint of Harlequin about it with the bright white ear spot. It made me wish I'd brought the camera, but I hadn't so the notebook came out. I felt I had to take something of it home with me. Also in the hole were 10 Long tailed Ducks, all female types, 13 Goldeneye, 4 Common Scoter, 2 Red throated Diver and a Guillemot. Offshore, a few birds passed including Gannets, Kittiwakes and another 4+ Red throated Divers.

On our way back, a seed crop next to the point had a nice flock of 25+ Skylarks and a few Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings.

Only one day of holiday left before work on Wednesday...

What a day....

November 1st. What a glorious day it has been. Sunny and warmish all day with only a light breeze. If only our summers were this good!

Out alone today, I took a trip to Craster and walked the heugh up to Dunstanburgh castle on the quest for fungi. Waxcaps to be precise. These lovely small mushrooms glow like jewels in short un treated grasslands, but are not something I am not too familiar with, only having found them rarely. I could have headed inland towards the Cheviots or Simonsides but thought I would stay local to see if I could find some near home.

As the weather was so good, I took a lot of pics, so I make no apologies for making this post very photo heavy. Craster is less than 2 miles from home, and on a day like this there cant be many better places to be in the UK.

Grasslands down to Dunstanburgh Castle

Add caption

Snowy Waxcap ( thanks to all who helped me with this one)...

Candle snuff Fungus in the dew.

Golden Waxcap

Above - Scarlet Waxcap, I only found two, one freshly emerged and one well open.

Golden leaves in Craster

Feathered Thorn, a new moth for the year.

Above - Red Admirals on Ivy in Howick Village

Speckled Wood with the Red Admirals.

In the warm sunshine the ivy along our lane in Howick was humming with insects including hoverflies, wasps, bees, 5 Red Admirals and a Speckled Wood.