A lovely day...

Met John down at Alnmouth this morning ( well, he had gone to my house before hand forgetting the arrangements :) . A short wander around had my first ( well, my first countable after the tape luring debacle a couple of weeks ago) Sedge Warbler of the year. A single bird was parachuting from a small phragmites patch near the cricket nets. Also here a single Black tailed Godwit was on the flood meadow nearby.

Sedge Warbler in habitat.

Yellow Wagtails new in, like animated dandelions...

From here we headed south to Chevington to see the summer plumaged Black Tern that has been around since Friday. I saw it on Friday on my way home from work, but we don't get too many looking like this so it was well worth another look. Too distant for photos but nice in the scope.

A close Grasshopper Warbler singing to another bird across the ditch was nice, again my first for the year was here on Friday night after being hoodwinked by an arse with a tape machine two weeks ago.

Grasshoppper Warbler.

We decided that the fleshpots of the bay were too much for us anti-social types so we made off slightly inland to some old stomping ground by Widdrington Tip / Felton Lane.

We didn't see much, but a male Orange Tip was  my first this season along with 2 Speckled Wood, 1 Peacock, 2+ Green veined White, and a couple of Small Whites. This was a very pleasant area to wander around looking for insects and plants. There aren't any decent brown field sites in the north of the county, so this was like returning to my roots...we will be back on another warm day for sure...

Green veined White on a yellow wagtail...

Cool nights have quietened the moth trap, but this Streamer was nice to get...

After the rain all day on Friday I was keen to see if there were any migrants around, on both patches. The Farnes and Holy Island between them held Red backed Shrike, Barred Warbler, Wryneck, Thrush Nightingale and 2 Greenish Warblers so maybe we would find something of interest.

On Saturday morning I headed to the north end of my patch at Craster, where there were a few common migrants to look through but that's all.

Today was a lovely sunny morning down at Warkworth where a few more birds were in evidence. The beach car park was a hive of avian activity first thing with 6+ Whitethroat, 6+ Blackcap, 6+ Willow Warbler, 4+ Chiffchaff and a Sedge Warbler. This theme and list continued around Birling Carrs and Amble Marina.

Two Yellow Wagtails flew south.

This Sedgie was not yet on passage, feeding fledged young nearby.

Waders continue to provide interest on the estuary with 228+ Dunlin, 58+ Ringed Plover, 11 Knot, 7 Golden Plover, 3 Sanderling, 1 Common Sandpiper, 2 Juv Ruff ( probably the day's highlight) and a few Turnstone. Redshank numbers were high but not counted. It was just the cherry from the top that remains missing...

Knot are difficult to approach...

10 Goosander, 3 Little Egrets ( 'Egberts', er, no. This isn't even an abbreviation!) and a Common Tern added to the show.

Out to sea, a large group of dolphins were leaping right out of the water but they were way too far out to identify. A few butterflies were seen -Small Copper, Small Tortoiseshell, Meadow Brown, Wall Brown and the Whites.

So no really noteworthy birds on offer today, but that's the beauty of patch watching...there is always tomorrow.

Small Copper

Small Tortoiseshell

On the home patch this week a few new additions to the list are beginning to trickle through -  a juv Spotted Flycatcher on Tuesday, 2 Dunlin and a Knot with 336 Golden Plover on Thursday. Not a year tick here but only the second on patch was a female Shoveler on the pond this evening hiding under the overhanging trees. A good bird for here but I'd have swapped if for a Gadwall...

128. Spotted Flycatcher
129. Dunlin
130. Knot

In the pink...

Sedge Warbler juveniles.

Is it my imagination or are there a lot of young warblers around this year? Most spots this morning held a good selection, in particular the Warkworth Gut top car park where there were 5+ Chiffchaff, 1+ Willow Warbler, 5+ Blackcap, 3+ Whitethroat and 1 Sedge Warbler. Overhead, 2 Yellow Wagtails flew south and a Wheatear seemed to drop out of the sky from nowhere.

Over in the bay, a dark phase Arctic Skua stalked along N and a Whimbrel trilled going south.

Its years since my first ever Surf Scoter was at Birling Carrs, just to the north of Warkworth and I can count on one hand the times I have been there since, but today we gave it a look.

In a proper stubble field (one with weed seeds) we came across a large flock of small birds with maybe 500+ individuals comprising of mostly Linnets but with good numbers of Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Skylarks too. Its nice to see this again when we are old enough to remember when every cut corn field was like this, not so long ago. Later next month this might be worth checking for Lap Bunts, providing its not ploughed in by then.

By the time we got to the beach, the sun was out and things were warming up nicely. there was a large tern roost on the one flat rock that merited a closer look. In there, were 80+ Sandwich, a few Common and Arctic and 2+ Roseate Terns including a nice very pink adult. I thought this would have faded by now?

A Med Gull here looked like an adult, but might have been second winter, as I didnt get to see the primaries at all...  

A nice pink adult Roseate Tern in the flock..

...and again this time it is far left, three down from the top.

Mediterranean Gull

Birling Carrs

Brown Hawker in Northumberland?

Sedgie.

Recently I have heard reports from good observers that they have seen Brown Hawker dragonflies at Newton Pool. This is a very rare species in Northumberland, so I thought I would have a look today. The sun, in sheltered spots out of the wind, was warm and there were lots of insects on the wing but no Brown Hawkers...

The scrapes were chocca with birds, including 2 Wood Sandpipers, 8+ Black tailed Godwit, 6+ Ruff, and an adult Mediterranean Gull amongst dozens of commoner species.

On the main pool, a Little Grebe had 4 newly hatched humbugs on its nest, a bit late I think, and there were good numbers of wildfowl including 3 Wigeon. Willow Warbler and Sedge Warbler were in the willows.

I spent some time wandering the track outside hoping for the hawker without success but I did see a single male Common Darter and a host of butterflies  - 1 Painted Lady, 1 Red Admiral, 2 Wall Brown, 2 Small Copper, 3+ Green veined White, 2 Large White all in a short distance.

The seawatching was poor, the wind needs to be more northerly than north westerly here.

Above - Painted Lady with an unidentified caterpillar not seen until the pics were on the computer.

A pair of Wall Browns

Small Copper

Large White