A tale of two estuaries...

 Yesterday morning turned out grey and cool, but by mid morning the sun was out and it was a lovely day.

JWR and myself checked out the estuaries of the rivers Aln and Coquet, our two nearest rivers.

Alnmouth was quiet other than a few Teal and Wigeon, a pair of Gadwall and half a dozen Snipe. A Chiffchaff was singing in the willows on the edge of the golfcourse pond, where 2 Coots, 2 Teal, 2 Mallard and 6 Moorhen were the only waterfowl. Green Alkanet was in flower along the banksides.

Down to Warkworth where we walked to the north side of the Coquet. This used to be our patch in the mid 90's but I havent been here for years. Its changed a bit, mainly with picnic sites left uncut and overgrown, creating more cover for migrants! See cut backs (or lack of them) aren't all bad....

Two pairs of Stonechat were pleasing to see, having survived the winter. One of the females seemed to vanish down onto her nest while the male sang overhead. On the estuary itself, 30+ Redshank, 28+ Knot, 50+ Curlew, a few Dunlin, 1 female Red breasted Merganser, 20 Wigeon and a smatter of Teal, 8 Goldeneye flew off overhead and out to see, while my first hirundine, a Sand Martin, skimmed over head, north.

A tall Sallow here was humming with Bumble Bees and my first butterfly, a Small Tortoiseshell was sunning on the track

Back home Howick Pond was leaping with ( or should I say 'humping with') Toads all in a spawning frenzy...

Dispicable goings on...

...in the flower beds.

I have heard people complain when House Sparrows dust bath in their finely raked seed beds. The tilth, is flattened, spread and generally knackered by the shenannigans of the excitable spuggies.

Well, if that has happened to you, imagine this...

This hen Pheasant, wandered between the perennials, began scratching it all level before bathing away, flattening my Lupins and Hyacinths...As if this isnt bad enough...

In walks chummy, fit after scoffing a kilo of wheat free finest wild bird mix. Striding over the Phlox, narrowly missing a Hollyhock, to meet his laydee...and then, would you believe it...

Oh, for goodness sake, give it a rest. This would have Monty Don reaching for his prozac...Even the tete a tete daffs are amazed! 

And then off they went into the sunset. Look at the state of the garden...

This autumn I'm going out beating.....

New Additions..

Last week I forgot to mention, I was feeding the birds in the garden when a Crossbill flew north, calling. Yesterday, out with the terriator down the coast path I heard a  faint call of a Lapland Bunting. Scanning the skies I didnt see anything, then after about 10 minutes, it lifted off the field with 2 Linnets and circled around. It seemed to land behind Howick Haven, but I've checked this morning and there's no sign.


Still no Wheatears either.... I suppose it is early for them up here but I thought this mild spell would have had an effect....

Incy wincy spider....

Another Monday on holiday ( I'm starting to catch up with teachers now) and I headed all the way south down there to East Chevington for a chat with Andy and Nigel. It was a lovely sunny but breezy day, the temperature up to 15 degrees, but things were quiet on the bird front. Highlights at a well over flooded Chevington North Pool were 45 Goldeneye, 3 drake Red breasted Merganser displaying and 10+ Gadwall. A light passage of Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits tracked north overhead but there were no early hirundines.

Whilst chewing the fat we had company on the sun warmed hide sides -

Tibellus oblongus

Salticus scenicus

The little chap with the glasses is the Zebra Jumping Spider we see on the walls of houses etc, but the strange looking critter at the top is a lifer for me.

This afternoon Roger and Sylvia dropped by. Roger quietly letting on that he had photographed this Lizard by my seawatch seat...Never seen a Lizard on the patch...

What to Look for in Spring...

...goes the title of the ladybird book first published in 1961. I had all of the 'seasons' series, beautifully illustrated by Charles Tunnicliffe. They were very evocative of halcyon days out in the field, before all people cared about was their XBox, OK magazine, Big Brother, Bankers Bonuses, Cuts, Libya and Stejnegers Scoters. I loved them.

Toady up at Branton Pits doing the count with Mr Rutter, was just like the Spring one.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes were keeping close, while Coots were territorial and the Reed Buntings looked lost as they had just returned to look for a place to call home.

Sallows bloomed around the margins, just waiting some warm sunshine to get the bees and moths to pollinate...

A Chiffchaff was in full song between flycatching sorties, and a Redwing looked ready to have a sing before heading north.

The Black headed Gull colony was starting to crowd up while down at the river, the Dippers were in full breeding fettle..

Sigh...

[Oh and I forgot to add a proper patch tick this morning. A single Red legged Partridge was along the lane end.]

Cheers!

Haha.....Andy Scorfield was my 100th follower. Ta Andy, I hope you keep following, I'll try to keep the interest up. Thanks too to Shy Songbird who narrowly missed out, but is welcomed just as much. Thanks for the kind comments.

All  the best to all who drop by whether you follow or not.

Stewart.

A plea....

Well, I am about to achieve a milestone. Not my 400th bird. Not even a great birthday. A very small (sad) milestone in fact.

There are 99 followers to the blog. I am hoping YOU will be the hundredth!

Mind you some of these may be classed as cheating due to the length of time this blog has been on the go. I'd imagine that many 'followers' have long since ceased following and have moved on to something much more worthy or have maybe emigrated...

I might go all out to follow any blog going just to get some reciprocal hits, but that would just be Facebook wouldnt it. So, no, I'll just stick to reading the drivvelings of my peers who kindly and freely offer information, advice, knowledge and sometimes humour at the press of a button.

Isnt blogging great!

Oh, Before you ask, there isnt a prize for being the ton up...

Bully...

A comment on yesterday's post from James had me hunting for more new info on 'Northern' Bullfinches.

The more I read, the more features I think yesterday's bird displayed, to some degree. Even a feature or two I didnt know about...

Main Points are -

Size. A large long bodied bird.
Colour. Pale silvery mantle and clean rose pink breast.
Wings. The bar on the greater coverts is huge. Like nothing I've seen before, not even on Northern Bullfinch in the hand. A tiny white 'thorn' is visible at the top of the spike, and the black, sawtooths into the white, but ever so slightly in this image due to distance from the bird. There are some whitish in the primaries, but a look at our own birds can show some of this too. Click on image for a larger view.

As soon as I saw this bird eating hawthorn buds it looked very impressive and even had the 'presence' alluded to by some observers.

So, no call, not trapped and measured but I still put this bird in the 'from over the watter' category...

Cheers James....Some blogs are great at pointing you in the direction of up to date info aren't they....

  

A Spring Migrant...or two.

Using up the last of my annual leave by having extended weekends is great when the weather is like today. Clear and sunny with only a hint of a breeze, although it was cool generally, sheltered spots in the sun did hold some warmth. A bit of a relief after last nights -2.5 degrees...

After doing some jobs in the morning, I managed a couple of hours wander about this afternoon.

Chiffchaff

This Chiffchaff was calling and flitting between catkins as they do, but didn't sing. A female maybe? Whatever it is, its a nice early one for here...

Further on, in the drab woodland this appeared around a corner. What a stunner, a vermillion coloured Rhododendron, very nice. While taking this pic, a Tawny Owl was hooting nearby.

The days highlight though belongs to the Raven making sport of  a Buzzard overhead, the calls, 'clip clop' above sounded like horses hooves.

Both birds above were in the same frame but at the far ends of the shot so I've pulled them closer together in this image. The Raven was exactly the same size as the Buzzard.

As I came out of the woods, the Raven was in a cow field with Jackdaws where it looked the size of a Christmas Turkey until it flew off! 

This huge Bully only lingered for a few seconds before flying away into the back evergreens with its three companions, 2 females and another male. I think it is a Northern Bullfinch, and may even be the one seen last November, but I just didnt get a good prolonged view to compare it to its mates. Still, this record shot has nothing that would dispell my theory, and it certainly stood out...What a bird...

Also of note were 2 or 3 Grey Wagtails and 3 Little Grebes on the pond.

Quite a pleasant day today, well this afternoon anyway. This morning was calm and 'soft'. Dull, damp fine drizzle. By 4pm the skies had cleared but it was already down to 3 degrees.

Out with Bunty first thing had some light visible migration underway, with one or two Linnets and Skylarks, and, at last, a flock of 6 Meadow Pipits all going north. Down at Rumbling Kern, 3 Linnets were singing on territory but were still in winter plumage, while another 4 Meadow Pipits were in nesting habitat with the males song flighting. These birds must have only just arrived, it doesn't take them long to settle in! 2 fighting male Reed Buntings were new ones for the list too, at least they were in dapper summer plumage.

Down at the pond, the Mutes are nest building, but there was little else of note.

In the afternoon, 4 Buzzards and a Peregrine were in the air together not far away.

Along the coast path later, my first Lesser black backed Gull of the year flew north, close in, to a backdrop of kitt-wake kitti-wake as each ledge had a territorial bird proclaiming its rights...

A Kittiwake Cacophony...

A lovely crystal clear and sunny day today, with a cool W breeze.

In contrast yesterdays upland jaunt, today was with Bunty just down onto the shore. We usually stay up on the coast path, but the weather was so nice we clambered down the cliff to get a view from sea level for a change.

200+ Kittiwakes were to and fro-ing from the nest ledges making a right racket. Its great to hear them back after the winter months at sea. the whole bay seems alive again...

This was the first bird I saw actually sitting on a  nest. It checked out one or two old nests before settling at this one. I wonder if they are exactly nest faithful, or do they get better positions with experience. I suspect the latter...

I had  a peer into some rock pools, but didnt get too involved as I had the dog with one hand and the camera in the other. I think I'll give the shore a bit of investigation this year. There aren't many blogs posting info about the aquatic wildlife that can be found in this habitat ...I might wait until the weather warms a bit first though, the water was absolutely baltic today. 

Sunday...

A morning spent up on the moors. As we arrived at the spot, top, we could hear a distinctive loud kew-kew-kew call from a short way into the trees. Goshawk. There appeared to be a pair calling and interacting with each other and surely it was only a matter of time before a multitude of calling and displaying Buzzards attracted the male up into the air. After an hour or so we needed to get off, so it looked like our birds had taken stage fright.

We had retraced our steps for only 10 minutes or so when they appeared from behind some tall pines ( in the right of the photo) and began soaring. There was a brief spell of  'butterfly' flapping, then both moved back over the trees and out of sight. Superb birds with a palpable air of menace as they called and flew around. Everything else went quiet and vanished!

Maybe there will be better views in weeks to come. Not much else was seen during our wait other than 4 Crossbills, a Great spotted Woodpecker and the 7+ Buzzards..

On the way back I found this cast Red Deer antler in the heather. Red Deer are very scarce in Northumberland so this was lucky indeed. Its now back home and is going up on the shed... 

Spring has sprung...

Kitti's are back! Not that I've seen them mind you, but this morning Jane had 50 ish on the sea in our bay calling and flying to the cliffs. By this evening when I got down there they had flown back out to sea, probably to roost.

This week Tawny Owls have been much in evidence in the village with 4 or more calling each night. Tonight a male was hooting in flight as he flew up our drive into the copse next to the house. Another male was hooting from the far end of the same wood, while a female kee-wicked from the pines near the village hall. I must get a nest box up in the copse sometime....

Tonight is garden moth survey night for the first time in 2011. Last years opener drew a blank but that wont be the case this evening...

Day off yesterday. It was generally fine and dry, if a little cold. Still not much doing but 124 Curlew, with some singing, in the coast field was a good number here.

Just along the road from the 'dry arch' I found this chap. In immaculate condition he was still warm when I picked him up to bury in the garden...

YOU WERE GOING TOO FAST. SLOW DOWN!

Later on, along the coast path, some Fulmars were right next to the cliff top making a right old racket. Not the most inspiring of species, they are quite comical in appearance and can be very inquisitive. They especially like to have a close look at the dog by doing regular close fly-bys. I once had one come in off the sea at Hauxley beach to check out our previous dog. He was running around while this Fulmar passed time and again only a metre or so above his back, cocking its head, to have a look....next time you are near some cliff edges just stand and watch them come to check you out...

Its not that funny....

   

Although there are 40 (not) breeding pairs of Fulmars, no Kitti's yet. Any day now....

Sorry no photo's...

Another day out and about with nothing to photograph. The last few weeks the light has been dreadful but today there wasn't anything either in range or sitting long enough.

Various walks out and about with the terriator had -

Purple Sandpiper 8 in a nice tight flock on the rocks from the coast path. This is an excellent count here where 3 or 4 is considered a good number.
Oystercatcher 21 in the same group as the Purps.
Peregrine 1 imm from our drive, soaring over the back field for 10 minutes. It tried to flush prey from the pines up the hill without success.
Stock Dove 2 in the Long Walk.
Woodpigeon 300+ in local fields. Peregrine food.
Skylark 3 in song around the area. the first ones back in teh village. Still no Meadow Pipits.
Rock Pipit 1 feeding along the coast path.
Siskin 1 male in full song next to our garden would have been a nice photo if it hadn't done a runner while I went to get the camera.

On the plant front I saw my first flowering Coltsfoot and Dandelions of the year around the village this morning.

Note to self - GET SOME PHOTO'S FOR THE NEXT POST!

Hols...

Last night on the way home, I had to rescue 4 newly awakened male Toads from the road at our lane end. My first amphibians of 2011 were closely followed by a Smooth Newt this evening on the road near the phone box.

Another good sign of spring is the increased Fulmar activity around the village. The other morning 6 together were slowly stiff flappng around the woods and back field before moving off inland. I imagine visitors would get a suprise if they saw this pelagic species behaving so gull-like, but they 'nest' in the local quarries around about. When I say 'nest', they seem to, but I have never seen any chicks at these sites, nor on our local sea cliffs come to that...

Had a good moth catch last night with a couple of early arrivals, see here for more details...

Im on a long weekend now, so no work until Tuesday. Get in...

Yesterday...

...morning on my way to work at about 8.15am, two tremendous floaty pale Barn Owls were hunting 20 or 30 yards apart on a small patch of rough right next to the roundabout on the southern edge of Amble. In the gloom, they positively glowed.The last few days have been a bit blustery so maybe they were still hungry and took advantage of a dry calm spell.

After work I popped down to the Gosforth Park Marriot to meet up with Mark Skevington ( Skev's blog in the column over there) who was up here on business. Its great to get a chance to meet up with other bloggers who you almost feel you know just through reading their regular postings. I just hope I didn't bore him to death, I don't get too many people with the same interests to chat with up here!

Dusk...

On my way to drop Jane off at Amble at 5.30pm this evening, we were commenting on the large congregation of pre-roost Jackdaws and Rooks, about 500+ or more, when an owl showed up coming along the roadside.

At first glance I expected it to be a Barn Owl, then it showed up brown against the trees. The shorter wings and jizz immediately eliminated short-eared owl, and as we got closer it was more apparent that this was indeed a Long Eared Owl. Coming out of Amble too!  It soon flipped over the hedge and disappeared along the river side. No doubt this is a bird heading back to its Scandinavian breeding grounds and its been held up by these strong SE winds and rain...

If only it had been at Howick.

Birding.

After my short venture into non romantic fact, I need to get back to birding.

The weather is back to winter here, with a hard frost and -2 degrees last night. The wind is a gusty strong SE 6.

Blog posts have been sparse lately because there is nothing much to see and less to write about. After a lull of a couple of weeks a couple of new species have graced the OFFH list this weekend.

On the pond, a pair of Little Grebes have returned as harbingers of spring to come, and in the garden on Saturday 3 Waxwings arrived from the south, perched for a few seconds and were instantly set upon by a Jackdaw. They flew off strongly NE and are probably in Norway as I type this now...Still, a good bird to get, there may be none next winter.

I did the WeBs count at Branton Pits with John on Sunday. Signs of spring abound up there too, with flocks of Lapwing and Oystercatcher returning inland to nesting sites. A nice flock feeding on fallen Alder seed was made up of 10+ Siskin, 8+ Lesser Redpoll and 2+ Mealy Redpoll.

The wildfowl were in good numbers for this site too with many birds displaying, 37 Goosander, 18 Goldeneye, 3 Pochard, 28 Tufted Duck, 44 Wigeon, 35 Teal, 20 Mallard and 8 Coot.

Once this weather gets a bit better the first Lesser black back will be out there waiting to be seen.

An unhappy Valentine...

This is a short tale of deceit, infidelity and intrigue worthy of a Christmas edition of Eastenders.

Howick Pond is a small, insular body of water, idyllic in aspect, sheltered and edged with reedmace and meadowsweet. Rafts of yellow water lillies grace the open water, a spot ideal for raising cygnets. The resident pair of Mute Swans, UNA (him) and FUZ (her) have raised many an ugly duckling here since they arrived in 2002. Things were going swimmingly with the birds, now getting on a bit, even surviving the hard freeze of January 2010 by cuddling up together to keep a hole in the pond ice free.

UNA is a  Teesider, his formative years beginning at Peterlee on 10th August 1998 when he was one of a pair of cygnets ringed from a brood of four. FUZ is a Northumbrian, but is very similar to UNA. She was ringed at Ellington Pond on 8th August 1998, one of two cygnets from a family of five. The pair crossed paths on the river Tweed at Berwick in the summer of 2000, and as bright and breezy two year olds they had their minds set on starting a family of their own...

From the Tweed they flew south,  moving in to Rock Pond in April 2001, a temporary measure until they found a place to bring up baby. Howick Pond fitted the bill nicely. A des res indeed.

The pair, often accompanied by four or five brown woolly cygnets were familiar faces on the pond until cracks began to show last November...

As the snow fell and the mercury dropped, UNA was found alone on the pond. A bedraggled figure, with a swollen and bloody neck, there was no sign of his beloved. Visitors assumed the worst. He had been the victim of an errant hound, and the carcass of FUZ probably lay hidden in the wood.

December arrived colder than the previous month and the wild things found life hard. UNA vanished and in his place were two new posuers, APN a young female and a strapping cob, 817. It looked like a new regime had arrived to replace the old timers. This was a sad day for the villagers of Howick, who had developed a bond with their old downy neighbours. However the new leading lights soon dimmed as UNA burst back on to the scene to regain his kingdom in the hope FUZ would return unharmed to resume domestic bliss.

This to-ing and fro-ing continued into the New Year with some days the old ruler in charge and on others it would be the young turks.

It is well known that in affairs of the heart, one day the truth will out, and last week this surely happened. UNA was found wandering the track to the pond, far from the water. He was looking weaker than ever. A local, out with his dog, managed to get him underarm, and carry him back to the water. Here they were met by a very agressive pair of Mutes who were both clearly up for a battle. UNA struggled free and ran back up the hill into the wood. There's no way this old timer whose strength had been sapped by heartache and a hard winter could survive up here, so after a few phone calls and emails he was rescued by Berwick Swan Rescue and taken up north for his own safety and recuperation...he will be released back onto the Tweed after a few days rest and relaxation.

Curious, the local man, decided to check out those young swans to see if the mild spring weather had brought such an violent response. There were two swans sure enough but not APN and 817...

The bloke stooped to read the ring on the close bird on the bank. F..U..Z!

It seems that the 'loving mate' of UNA had sloped off at the onset of winter, with her toy boy, after giving the old man a right bashing, only to return for a spring clean with chummy! So much for Mutes pairing for life....

UNA during happier days...

FUZ and UNA. Two summers ago...

 


I wonder how the new couple will get on in 2011? Will UNA return ...Mmmm.