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.

Expanding.

This morning I set off on an walk beyond the reaches of the Howick patch, over the burn mouth footbridge into Boulmer. Its not that I dont go there, I just usually don't walk to Boulmer.  To save time, I drive to the main car park and work away from there but today, in the spirit of Lockdown, it was Shanks's all the way. The route is below - 

A 9 km stroll took all morning with stops to scan and search.

The target for this morning were the waders at Boulmer that are in good numbers on the mud, but are scarce on my turf due to the rocky shore.

From home to the southernmost extremity of Howick produced nothing new for the year and was all but dead. 10 Goldeneye, 7 Cormorant S, 1 Grey Plover and 6 Long tailed Tits were all that went into the book.

This is Howick burn moth footbridge. The burn is the south boundary of my home patch and the northern edge of Boulmer.

On the bridge, a 90 degree left turn gives this view. 10 Goldeneye and a few Oystercatchers, Turnstones and Eider were here.

Once across the bridge, I am trying not to mix the two lists up so any species over here are only for the 5km list and not for my patch list. In the next bay, Sugar Sands, 4 Red throated Divers were together close in with 1 Grey Plover on the rocks. The very next small bay is Howdiemont Sands ( often wrongly called Sugar Sands by some near locals). Here were a Razorbill, 20+ Wigeon, 20+ Lapwing and a few Mallard. Offshore was quiet other than a scattering of Shags and auks.

From Sugar Sands looking back North towards Howick Haven.

 Once I arrived at Boulmer village and sat on an old telegraph pole in the hauled out fishing boats, I could see 11 cars in the Boulmer car park still. Not one of them local or from the area or they wouldn't need to drive.

While drinking a cup of tea, the tide pushed up all of my hoped for targets plus another couple for good measure. 110+ Sanderling, 100+ Dunlin, 12+ Bar tailed Godwit, 6 Ringed Plover and 5 Knot were the waders hoped for. A single Purple Sandpiper dropped in later. Out past the Boulmer haven a dusky looking, long, stiff necked Red-necked Grebe was a good find at this time of year but it soon flew off around Seaton Point where it possibly landed in with the 200+ Wigeon roosting on the sea. 2 Shelduck were also new here.

As I retraced my path back north towards home I took in the edge of Longhoughton Steel, a huge skeer of rock on the NE point of the Boulmer headland. 400 Golden Plover were scanned for an unseasonable oddity but the best thing here was a Little Egret fishing pools close in.

I arrived back in Howick to the local Hooded Crow waiting on the fence, calling, as if to greet me. A profitable exercise with 8 new species taking the 5km year total to 98.

  

Happy New Year

Good bye 2018, and welcome 2019. I didnt get around to doing one of those summary of 2018 posts that we all like to do, what with Christmas duties and what not. Last Thursday we went up to Insh on Speyside for the week. My birthday is on New Years Day so it is nice to get away a bit and just relax.

The weather was decidedly un-Speyside like for Hogmanay with temps mainly in the 7 - 11 degrees bracket with no snow at all on the high tops. I have had colder days in June than this. We came hme yesterday and as we left the sun was shining and, at last, there was a -5 degree frost.

Glen Feshie

I'm not sure what has happened to Speyside, but it seems to have turned into a theme park since our last visit ( when the temperature was -17 degrees a whole 28 degrees colder than this time!). We could scarcely go out without being ran over by a family on mountain bikes. And what is it with people who go into the most quiet areas of our counrtyside to behave like a bus trip of Millwall supporters? At one spot near Glen Feshie and extended family ran amok with kids and dads screaming like X Factor rejects, the sound of which reverberated for miles. No wonder there are no capercaillies any more...

I did manage to see a few Crested Tits and Red Squirrels but that was about it really.

So back home yesterday arriving back at 2.30pm to my first patch bird of 2019, and a good one too, a Buzzard sitting at the top of a tall tree right on the patch edge as we arrived by car.

I'm not at work now until Monday so I gave the Howick patch a short sharp thrashing this morning in an attempt to catch up with, the award winning, Mr Gale of Banstead .  I had intended to get out for a couple of hours this afternoon too but the Northumberland Hunt was rampaging around the area like a family in the Cairngorms. Funny isnt it, 30 dogs, half a dozen horses and a quad bike flushing hares and sheep alike, blatantly flouting the law, but we get snidey comments when we walk our dog in a rough field free of livestock? I was suitably boiling.

However, this mornings 3 hours turned out very well. I visited the Rumbling Kern on the coast, the pond field and village wood, all within 1km of our door step seeing some decent birds. These included only my 2nd patch Red necked Grebe after one in 2010, both Ringed and Grey Plover, with the ringed being especially tricky on our all rocky coastline and 30+ Crossbills which are always nice to get, ending the days count on a respectable 61 species.

With a few days to go and a decent weather forecast, I should clear up most wintering species before gainful employment calls me back...