Red backed Shrike

 As mentioned last time,  this has been a good month for Red backed Shrikes in the UK. The Northern Isles have had the lions share with up to 30 odd a day on Fair Isle only with plenty of Icterine and Marsh Warblers too. This makes it all the more frustrating when odd birds appear either side of the patch but despite searching, we've had no luck.

So, not wanting to miss out on at least some of the action, a nice male popped up about 6 miles from home at Football Hole near the Long Nanny at Low Newton, so we called along on Friday night for a look.

It was a pleasant sunny evening and we soon saw the shrike sitting around a hawthorn hedgerow across a field corner. It was always a bit distant for photos but decent views were had as it sallied down into the grass for an unseen prey species. At one stage he even began singing in the lee of a bush while catching the last rays of evening sunshine.

Male Red backed Shrike.

On Sunday some good migrant grounding weather encouraged us to head off to Holy Island where there was bound to be things of interest.

We got an exhausted soaking as we covered the Chare Ends, Excavations, Straight Lonnen and Crooked Lonnen with little to show for it. We had single Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat and Garden Warbler plus we flushed a 'long headed' warbler that may have been an Icterine or an Acro but it was never seen again. Bird of the moring was a ringtail Harrier hunting in the fog and rain. Better views by other obserevers showed the bird to be a first summer male Hen Harrier.

Later in the afternoon, after we had left, Andy Mould found and photographed a Green Warbler, a county first no less, but despite many searching, the bird was only seen briefly once more and that was the end of that.

On Bank Holiday Monday, Jane and I went back up on to the island to have a picnic over the high tide. Its great being cut off on there, like a proper island. No tourists and just quite big skies.

I didnt really search for passerines, but had 3 Little Stints with 150 Ringed Plovers on the causeway on our way home.

  

Busy...

 12th October and no blog posts. Anyone would think it has been a busy bird filled autumn but no, the first part is correct 'busy' but bird filled, no. I just haven't had much time to blog so here is a potted catch up.

Rather than birds keeping the Adrenalin flowing in October it has been invertebrates that have provided several lifers over the last few days.

To start with, an arachnid came as a surprise. When the Wild Guides 'Britains Spiders' book came out I was intrigued by a small spider that was almost only found on the smooth grey trunks of old Beech trees. We have a few good candidates in the arboretum beside us so thought I would look sometime. That project slipped my mind until 29th Sept when walking Peggy after work. We came down a steep woodland bank ending up face to trunk with a massive tree. As I looked at the bulk of the timber, a small creature ran across. A spider! Could it be the one from the book? By now I had forgotten its name and didnt have my camera so tried to see any marks on the long legged money spider. It had an obvious white band on the abdomen and thin striped legs. As described there were strands of web across the trunk too.

Sure enough back home a browse of the internet and check of the book showed the spider to be Invisible Spider Drapetisca socialis. Since then I have checked and found another couple on different trees, so it must be quite widespread.

Invisible Spider.

Several visits to Boulmer have been slow for birds but a colour ringed Bar tailed Godwit in a flock of 29 was a male bird of the year ringed in Norway.

On 5th October a Northerly storm rattled some torrential rain along the coast. I walked the north end at Boulmer hoping to find grounded migrants but returned to the car with rain running down my armpits under my clothes and a single Wheatear in the notebook. The following day the morning had a good passage of wildfowl with 2,139 Wigeon, 5 Pintail, 2 Shoveler all heading North.

On 7th a warm plume of air from the Azores bathed us in an unseasonal 20 degrees, and also dropped some migrant moths in our village. A Gem was only the second here after one in 2010 plus Dark Sword-grass, Rush Veneer, Silver Y and Diamond back. Our neighbour along at the farm did even better and caught a  , only the 15th for Northumberland.

The Delicate

The Gem

  

Rhigognostis incarnatella 

Another new species for me was a Diamond back look-a-like Rhigognostis incarnatella. The moth fest wasn't over just yet however. There was a bigger surprise waiting. Overnight on 10th it was cooler and there didnt seem much activity around the lamp. The next morning it only took a few minutes to identify and count the 20 moths of 16 species in the egg trays. That is until I noticed a single moth lying in the bottom of the trap. A long looking, Setaceous Hebrew Character shaped 'flame shoulder'?

Straight away I sort of knew what was instore here. The moth was soon processed, photographed and discussed with Tom Tams. We agreed it was Northumberlands first and most unlikely Radford's Flame Shoulder, a rare migrant of the south coast and around 400 miles north of its main known range!

Tom had it confirmed by Steve Nash and I was commented on by Dave Grundy and Les Evans-Hill.

What an amazing record! 

Radford's Flame Shoulder, centre, with a Flame Shoulder from the summer on the right to compare. 

Check out the distribution. We are at the top line, 5 squares above the Isle of Wight.

 Now, all was not lost on the bird front either. On Friday 8th a visitor to Holy Island found Northumberland's 3rd and only twitchable Red eyed Vireo along the Straight Lonnen. The previous two were only seen by the finders so all county birders were interested in this one. I can remember being in awe of the first in 1988 and again racing to the scene in 2014 to no avail. However this latest blood shot yank was much more polite and is still present on day 5.

I went up on Saturday morning and managed a lot of short glimpses in thick cover then two longer more open views. We went back on Sunday for another look but the breeze made it impossible so we left empty handed. Not to worry I was please to update Bubo with my 357th county bird.

Above - Red eyed Vireo, Holy Island. 

Holy Land.

Today I joined Alan Tilmouth as his guiding assistant at Holy Island to show some visitors to the Pilgrimage to the Islands Festival some birds.

The weather was diabolical and not conducive to trailing non birders around east coast headlands looking for migrants, so we adopted the stand and wait approach. Before heading off towards the location, we met up at the Crossman Hall. As I stood at the door, a quiet call caught my attention and a bird dropped into a small tree across the road. I gazed bemused at a wet silhouette before lifting the bins, to see a Hawfinch! At that point if flew up and east, then doubled back to drop somewhere in the village near the school. Alan didnt even get on to it as he was doing the meet and greet bit!

From here was stood on the shore near the Vicars Garden, in the shelter of an old building seeing 3 Slavonian Grebes, inc 1 summer plumaged bird, 2 Red breasted Mergansers, 2 Long tailed Duck, 10 Bar tailed Godwits, 2 Grey Plover. A few migrants dropped out of the murk, 2 Song Thrushes a few Blackbirds and a Goldcrest.

After leaving the island, I called in the Low Newton Scrapes that has played host to a Grey Phalarope for the last 4 days. Today it was looking settled, feeding on the water, head into the wind bobbing up and down. These little wisps of feather winter out in the Atlantic and are as tough as old boots. We get a few in Northumberland but not often on freshwater so it was a pleasure to see this one before it continues northwards...

Isabelline...

As I alluded to in the last post, a trip up to Holy Island on Wednesday for Britains 6th Siberian Accentor came to nothing, our Russian had defected elsewhere. None the less, the trip was not wasted as only 100 yards from the Accentor spot another British tick for me was showing very well indeed, an Isabelline Wheatear. This was the second for the county and the first since 1980, so it was nice to finally 'unblock' this one....

This means my last five blog posts have all been rare birds, all British lifers too. Scroll back the 10 years this blog has been going and you won't find a spell like it anywhere! I think that this may be the last of its kind for some time...

Siberia...

As birders we are very lucky, in European terms, to live in the UK. Being at the westernmost edge of the continent, stuck out like a giant headland into the Atlantic, we are set to get birds from all points on the globe. This Autumn certainly has done its best to prove the point. Firstly a brace of small American Waders, followed by an Eastern European/ African traveller then Nanook of the North, so whats missing?

Its Autumn, we live on the East coast, so what else could that mean but...Sibes!

From early October a massive high pressure settled over northern Scandinavia, flanked on its southern edge by several low pressures off the Atlantic, forming an corridor of Easterly winds stretching way back towards Lake Baikal in Siberia.

Soon, they came, wind blown waifs such as Yellow-browed Warblers (only the one in our garden this year) and Red breasted Flycatchers and Little Buntings. I have been unlucky with the latter two this year due mainly to being stuck in an office all week, but on the 5th all of that would change.

I just arrived at work and logged on, when a message came through saying 'WHITE'S THRUSH in willows at the end of the straight lonnen NOW!'

If I had been standing, my legs would have given way. One of the most wanted Siberian vagrants, not on Shetland or Scilly but right here in Northumberland what should I do....

Normally I would have downed tools and legged it, but due to prior appointments this was a non starter, so after a fraught, stressed day, at 3 o'clock I finally left work and raced off up the A1 to Holy Island. No need to panic, the White's Thrush was just about hanted to one willow, and while I was there it only hopped about 2 feet. What an absolute stunning bird it was too. Cuckoo sized, golden buff and white with random black crescents scattered all over the upper and undersides.

Nothing could beat this, ever? To be continued...

White's Thrush, with my phone through another birders scope.

Sprosser or Tosser?

Or Thrush Nightingale to be more accurate. Since childhood I always wanted to see the bird sometimes called a Sprosser and wondered why it was called that? A quick google search threw me into The Leicester Llama blog where Andy McKay says it is just the German name for Thrush Nightingale and we should all have body parts removed if we dare use this word in an elitist type of way. So Sprosser, you are now known by your Sunday best again-  Thrush Nightingale.

This morning a message came out saying that Steve Rippon had found a Sprosser Thrush Nightingale on the beach near Emmanuel Head, Holy Island. At first I thought, no chance, by the time I get there it will have been booted to the Snook and back and wont be seen again. Then a message came out with those teasing words 'showing well'. That was enough, into the car and off.

Fast forward a half hour drive followed by a half hour yomp over rabbit pot holed dunes and we meet a well ordered team watching from a nice distance along the strand line with no bird to be seen. 'You should have been here earlier...' etc 'it hasn't been seen for a while but is still in that cover over there' were the comments on offer. A tense wait followed but sure enough our target popped out, furtively at first, then by deploying some Navahoe-esque field craft we all got great views of the Sprosser Thrush Nightingale as it ran mouse like over some stones to begin feeding out on the dry seaweed. In some ways its movements recalled a Gropper Grasshopper Warbler  as it lay flat and ran like a rodent between the stones and weeds. We all took lots of photo's in the open of a bird more used to sitting in a dark forest in Fenno-Scandia Scandinavia than out on a sun drenched Northumberland beach.

This is a full lifer for me, never having seen the species in the UK or abroad so it was great to finally catch up with it. Nice for the county list too, my first since last September's Red footed Falcon!

British List - 406 Northumberland - 336

Its Black....

Black Scoter quick notes, you get the idea....

A flexi day off work today saw us heading off to Holy Island to do a recce for the Alnwick Wildlife Group field trip on Saturday. The day was overcast and windy at first making the birding difficult. As with Sunday's Iceland Gull, today's first bird was one of the highlights, heard as we got out of the car at the Chare Ends - a Raven! The first I've seen on Holy Island, it continued south along the shore mobbed by two Carrion Crows. When we came back to the car there were two Ravens flying up and down, feeding in the same field.

From here we checked the heugh for grebes and divers with out success, then tried the rocket fields. 6 Black tailed Godwits, hundreds of Pale bellied Brent Geese ( 1 Dark bellied), a pair of Shoveler and a good scattering of Teal were noted.

As it was quiet we decided to leave the island and pay a visit to Cheswick only a few miles north, to see if the drake Black Scoter was still around. After half an hour of scanning, up he popped, the closest duck to us, with 100+ Common Scoter, 20+ Red breasted Merganser, 3+ Long tailed Duck, 1 Slavonian and 1 Great crested Grebe scattered in broken groups across the sea.

It was interesting to note that he behaved the same as the Bamburgh bird in charging around, bill open, calling ( unheard) whilst the Commons, seemed quite non plussed...

This site proved to be the best of the day, the afternoon being spent 'gulling' around the very quiet Coquet Estuary. Best here were 35 Grey Plover at Birling Carrs, 50+ Knot and a young Roe buck.

Back to work to end a short week tomorrow...

Raven, centre, with two Carrion Crows.  

A Field Day...

Rainbow over the sand flats north of the causeway.

A day off work midweek is never an opportunity to be missed so when JWR said he had to use up some annual leave before the end of the month and we should have a trip out, my flexi day was booked in pronto.

Just like the old days, we decided to have the full day out birding up the coast, rather than just grabbing at a Sunday morning, and headed off to Holy Island early doors. The morning was fine and cool with a light NW breeze, but an ominous looking front could be seen further north in to the Scottish Borders, and it was heading our way.

The island was mainly tourist free, as the crossing would be closed mid morning, so we enjoyed an uninterrupted wander around the village for a couple of hours. Chiffchaff and Blackcap with a few Redwing, Fieldfare and Blackbirds were the only migrants, probably lingering from last week. Masses of Pale bellied Brent Geese and assorted waders fed and flew around the flats either side of the causeway.   As the rain arrived we decided it was time to out run it by heading south.

A few Pale bellied Brent Geese.

Chiffchaff

Redwing

Blackcap

The Bamburgh and Seahouses area was our next stop, taking in several sites in the area. At Budle Bay the tide was almost up and had pushed thousands of birds up together. Highlights here were a powerful immature Peregrine that narrowly missed catching a Redshank before continuing south to let the birds relax until the next 'sortie'.  At Stag Rocks, there was little on the sea other than a Slavonian Grebe but a late Sandwich Tern sat on the rocks with waders was a surprise find at this time of year.

A quick check of the castle wood for migrants was quiet apart from a Woodcock flushed from the leaf litter.

A small feeding station just outside Bamburgh village held the usual woodland species including Marsh Tit, Nuthatch and Great spotted Woodpecker. 

Stag Rocks, Bamburgh

Imm Peregrine.

Marsh Tit

 A final stop at Beadnell and Low Newton where the rain was now becoming irritating turned up a single Long tailed Duck, 3 Red throated Divers, another Chiffchaff and a scattering of Goldcrests.

A quick tally showed that we had recorded 81 species of bird, not a bad total with out really trying too hard. We might start and make this a habit....

Holy Island fall?

Yellow browed Warbler 

A day off work today to visit Holy Island to look for migrants. With the wind in the east now for a few days, and rain forecast, the charts seemed good for a few birds to arrive. Bring on the bluetail!

As it happened, it was a reasonable day out but not all it was cracked up to be. Rain and over cast skies made viewing tricky and there just didnt seem to be many birds around. There had been a small arrival of Thrushes, with a couple of hundred Redwings, 50+ Blackbirds, 3 Ring Ouzels, 1 Fieldfare and some grey dark continental Song Thrushes. Half a dozen Bramblings 'wheezed' from the sycamores and there was a nice sprinkling of Goldcrests.

Three Yellow-browed Warblers were in the vicinity of the Vicars Garden with two of them chasing around over the open field next door. The one in the photo nearly flew in to me before landing and turning around to see what the hell was that standing in its way!

Also here were an 'eastern' Chiffchaff probably 'tristis' but it didnt call, alongside a usual 'collybita', a male Blackcap and a good number of Robins. Two Black tailed Godwits flew overhead.

While walking along to the Chare Ends, a Water Rail got up at my feet from a patch of Meadow Sweet, flew around then dropped back in, where I left it in peace. The Lonnens and Lough were quiet but a few Little Gulls were off shore.

A Merlin and a Little Egret rounded up the day nicely along the cause way on the way off. If you throw in hundreds of Pale bellied Brent Geese, Bar tailed Godwits, Knot and Golden Plover, I suppose it wasnt a bad day after all...

Above - Ring Ouzel and Eastern Chiffchaff in very poor light...

A bird in the bush is worth two in the hand...

Greenish Warbler, Chare Ends, Holy Island.

I took a flexi day on Tuesday after the rain, fog and easterlies yesterday to try and catch up with or, better still find, some of the scarce migrants that have littered our coastline. St Mary's fared well yesterday, and Holy Island had some good birds, so what was in between?

I started off at 7.30 this morning at Craster. I yomped over the heughs and the Arnold Reserve. It all started well with a good scattering of Blackcaps, Whitethroats and Chiffchaffs with a single Willow Warbler, but scarceties remained just that. Scarce.  Two Redwings were very early and were probably the highlight here.

So, off up to Low Newton, where I met Gary who was ringing on site. Migrants were very thin on the ground here, so a check of the Tin Church area and the Pool Willows was largely fruitless.

Next stop Holy Island. I got on to the island at about 12 noon and have never seen so many tourists here. Robson Green has a lot to answer for... 11 coaches were in the top car park and the main car park was almost over flowing. The village was like the Metro Centre!   

Despite this, plenty of migrants were on offer, and with the sun beginning to shine the day was looking up. The very first bird I came across was a Barred Warbler in a willow at the Chare Ends watched by a small gathering of Greenish twitchers, it was typically shy, but could be followed as it thrashed the thin branches around. A lovely bird, but too distant and flighty to get a single pic.

The Vicars Garden had Pied Flycatchers, a Spotted Flycatcher, loads of Willow Warblers ( some singing) and Chiffchaffs. I missed a Yellow browed Warbler present here earlier. On route I also had Wheatear, Redstarts and Tree Pipit.

Back at the Chare Ends and the Greenish Warbler, now in its third day, was showing beautifully in the afternoon sunshine to only two or three birders.

After the long day I was on my way home when Gary rang to say he had caught the two Red breasted Flycatchers together. I had a bit of time while he cleared nets and processed birds so arrived just in time to assist him with a photo, after all you cant hold two rarities and take the photo, can you!

What an end to a great day away from work...  

Me posing two Red breasted Flycatchers for a photo. They flew off strongly non the worse for their brief interruption.

And another of a Red breatsed Flycatcher. Both pics thanks to Gary Woodburn.

Turn your back for five minutes...

I've been birding with JWR now for over 25 years. He has his own way of doing things. One thing that anyone can notice is that he is very sharp when getting on to birds that have gone missing for a while, or picking something out miles away when others are standing navel gazing. One thing I've learned over the years is to be aware of where he is when he wanders off as is his want on most weekends, just in case he gets his eye in...

Today was such a day, but more of that later...

First thing and an overcast grey sky with a light easterly can only mean one thing - a trip to Holy Island for migrants. As the crossing didnt open until 10am, we checked a few wader sites on our way north, seeing nothing but a few 'padders' - Several Ruff and Greenshank, Spotted Redshank and Black tailed Godwit.

We crossed over to the island, flanked along a good stretch of the causeway by a male Wheatear flying alongside the car. Masses of birds were on the flats with several hundred Bar tailed Godwit, Golden Plover and Pale bellied Brent Geese.

We parked on the strand line just before the island proper and followed the track around the Chare Ends towards the Lonnens. All was quiet. We bumped into 'the butcher' coming out of the straight lonnen willows. He told us of a Red backed Shrike across at the lough and a scattering of common migrants that looked promising. In the willows were male and female Redstart, Pied Flycatcher, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff. 

A Stoat dashed around the track ahead of us.

We gradually made our way, anti-clockwise, around the lonnens towards the lough but we dipped miserably on the shrike. A Whinchat was little compensation. Back along the wall, our first Merlin of the autumn sat watching a family group of three Kestrels together squabble around the fields.

Time was pressing on now and we started to wind down heading back to the car and off home.

Back at the Chare Ends, we split up, John followed the west side of the bund, and I took the east. Remember what I said earlier? I am now looking for migrants and, with a, not insignificant, sense of paranoia, keeping an ear out for John finding something just out of eyesight. A second Whinchat was all I could muster on the route.

I now cut across the dune, back to his car and when I got there, there was no sign of its owner? Where is he now? I pondered and checked my phone for messages, then heard a faint whistle from somewhere out of sight. I blanked it. Then it came again, it wasn't a pipit, it sounded human. What is he doing I thought, then decided I better just go and see if it is John trying to attract my attention. I deftly leapt the barbed wire [?] narrowly avoiding being a shrike larder, and strolled up a high piece of dune.

There was John on the other side, crouched under a hawthorn, armed with his camera, pointing upwards.  'Psst,' I spat to get attention. He looked up and indicated on his upper arm, that what ever was in there had  a wing bar! It could only be one of the striped phylloscs surely, so I stalked down to be told in hushed tone, 'Greenish'...

I was worried in case it flew out of the lone bush before I saw it, but some soft 'pishing' brought the Greenish Warbler out to the front for a brief time before it flickered over to the next shrub. Superb! We watched it for no more than 15 minutes then put the word out to other birders on the island, then we had to make an exit for home...

Now maybe you can see that it is best to keep an eye on your mate if he is out of sight...

Greenish Warbler

Its 'cat' here.

The Excavations, taken on my phone.

For a change I decided to head out early for the half hour drive north to Holy Island. At this time of year with an easterly breeze, and rain yesterday, its as good a place as any. I was hoping for a Red backed Shrike or Rosefinch maybe?  Alas, 'the best laid plans' and all that meant that it was not to be. All I could find in the way of avian migrants were singles of Tree Pipit, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff. There would have been more in our village.

Well, at least the sun was shining, so I turned my face downwards to see if there were any inverts or plants of note. As I left the Excavations, above, this caterpillar was feeding on a dwarf or creeping willow right at my feet. Immediately I knew this was a new one for me and I recall someone posting a similar image on Twitter earlier this week - a Dark Tussock moth. Quite scarce in Northumberland with a disjointed distribution being found either on upland moors feeding on heather or down in the dunes on these low willows. A funky little chap with a badger patterned mohican 'do' it was quite easy to confirm when I got home.

Dark Tussock moth caterpillar

Garden Tiger caterpillar

I also located a few Garden Tiger cats, 1 Burnet Moth cat and one or two Drinker Moth caterpillars for good measure.