The last of the sunshine....

Above and below - Howick in an autumn light.

A lovely mild calm and quiet day today. A real pleasure to be out and about. The last rays of hazy sunshine lighting up golden leaves and red berries.

At home, while waiting for JWR to arrive first thing, a few things attracted attention.While having a coffee and gazing through the kitchen window, a 'buzzard' glided low over our house chased by a crow. I nearly didnt give it a second glance, but I lifted the bins and I was pleased to see not a buzzard at all, but a Short eared Owl! Not only new for the garden but new for the patch too...

Some viz migging from the drive had 1 Brambling, 1 Redpoll, 3 Siskin and 400+ Pinkfeet all south. Later, in the afternoon a walk to the Pond had 2 distant hirundines over the wood that I think were probably Swallows and 5 Crossbills circled about low overhead.

After John arrived we took a short trip up to Craster and walked the Heugh and around the Village. After some time, we found a nice Yellow browed Warbler that showed very well but only briefly before taking cover, a House Martin and a flock of 12 Crossbills flew S, a female Blackcap was in the allotments and a Purple Sandpiper was with Turnstones in the harbour. The sea was quiet with only a couple of Red throated Divers and Guillemots seen. A few birds were in a hedge next to a game crop including 15+ Tree Sparrows, 12+ Yellowhammers and a couple of Reed Bunting.

Yesterday...

A flexi day off.  I headed off to Holy Island to arrive there shortly after first light. There were not as many migrants as may be expected considering the weather on Tuesday but there was enough to keep the interest up.

Back home at 1pm, I had a walk from home down to the Howick Burnmouth and back via the coast path. Two female / fw type Black Redstarts ona manure heap near the farm was a nice record and a male Stonechat with yesterday's Whinchat were the highlights. The Stonechat was my first on patch this year. It shows how the winter has affected this bird, when a couple of years ago there may have been 3 or 4 pairs in the area.

To save me writing please click on the notebook to see the birds seen....

FW Male Blackcap...

The most unusual sighting...a bloke playing sax to Pale bellied Brents...

A nice chat...

Finished work early and headed home to check the coastal path and village to see if any migrants had dropped in. A strong SE wind and torrential rain through the night had built up expectations..

All was quiet really with not even the expected thrush-fest. A fllock of Chaffinches in the back field soon moved on, probably new in and a group of 11 Mistle Thrushes tried to look foreign, but generally a few Goldcrests were the only sign of immigration. That is until I was almost home, when a nice, late, Whinchat popped up on the fence behind our house.

Flexi day tommorrow so maybe I'll fare a little better....

A double dip day saved in the closing minutes...

I collected JWR at 7am and we headed off to Teesside to see if we could find the Pallid Harrier and Semi palmated Sandpiper that were still present yesterday. I had a chance to go for the harrier with Alan and Andy on Friday but work commitments put the block on it.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we never did see the harrier. Making matters worse for John ( he hasn't seen Semi P either) we didnt see the sandpiper but it was relocated minutes after we left! Oh well you cant win them all.

Of interest during the morning were 1 Merlin over the car at Greatham Creek, 1 Peregrine at Saltholme, 3 Little Egrets, 8 Black tailed Godwits, 100+ Golden Plover  3 Pintail and, my highlight, 130+ Shovelers feeding together in one group.

A wander around the RSPB reserve at Saltholme was a first for us. Its very nice too with all the facilities at hand, nice paths, comfy spacious hides and a cafe. A bit too soft and sterile for us though, back to normal next week - cold, knackered, and damp...

Speaking of which, back home this afternoon a stroll around the coast path brought a pleasant surprise, a Snow Bunting. A drab fw female but very nice all the same as it skipped along the ash path ahead of us until it was stampeded by a family striding forward on their afternoon walk. I didnt see it again after that...

Take it as Red....

Autumn sunshine at Howick Hall.

Masses of Red Admirals on ivy flowers high up in the sun. Click for a larger image.

The only time the thing sat still long enough to get a photo...

Speckled Wood.

A walk around the Hall grounds this afternoon was very pleasant. Lots of butterflies on the wing - 2 Speckled Wood, 1 Small Tortoiseshell, 50+ Red Admirals, including 40+ on one ivy bush all together made a spectacular sight and a lone Painted Lady flew through our garden.

A Red Squirrel rang rings around us, literally, very close to begin with but high and distant before he sat for a photo.

On the way home a Raven cronked high over the Hall and flew east towards the coast, the surrounding Jackdaws were not happy with its appearance.

Later this afternoon news of a Great Grey Shrike 2 miles along the coast at Dunstan almsot had me jumping into the car, but it will wait until the morning...maybe?

Some migrants at last...

Yesterday an early morning dog walk had a few migrants arriving from the coast. 21 Redwings flushed from Village Wood while 6 Bramblings, my first of the autumn, flew west. Another single Brambling was in the copse next to our garden.

Late on last night a Whimbrel was calling as it flew north along the coast path, a late bird here.

Today there are quite a few Blackbirds and smaller numbers of Redwings dotted about the village. A lone Redpoll that was big enough to be a Mealy dropped into the Rowan on our drive before carrying on west.

I might get a better look tomorrow. I might not have missed out on a chance of Yellow browed quite yet...

Norfolk...

This week we have been on holiday in Norfolk, staying at Sea Palling. We tried further east for a change, but in future we will stick with the north coast. Its much nicer.

Our digs for the week...

We hired this boat for a day...they'll let anyone drive these....

The weather, as you well know, was unbelievable. Temperatures in the first half of the week were consistently between 26 - 29 degrees, peaking at 30 on our way down last Saturday. Unfortunately, the settled weather meant that few birds were to be had, but one or two bits of interest were noted.

Marsh Harriers seen in a few places including 3 together at Cley.
Cetti's Warblers heard only on the Broads and at Cley.
Mediterranean Gulls in bulk at Great Yarmouth with 25+ together on the beach.
Common Crane, a flock of 8 birds seen from near our cottage flying off to roost but distant.
A few passage waders, including Spotted Redshanks, Greenshank and Little Stint.
Lapland Bunting 2 seen well on the ground at Kelling Quag were nice.

Non avian interest also added to the week -

Adder 1 golden yellow female at Waxham dunes.
Moths - Large Wainscot, Beaded Chestnut and Herald at the lighted windows of our cottage.
Chinese Water Deer, 1 nearly knocked me over while I watched the cranes go to roost, disturbed by a farm vehicle.
Hornet, quite a few at Hickling along lanes near some woodland.

We visited the various coastal towns and villages around about. All were nice and quaint with that 'seaside' feel to them - Blakeney, Cley, Kelling, Sheringham, Cromer, Sea Palling and Waxham but nothing could compare with Great Yarmouth....I couldn't stop laughing the whole time we were there! I should have taken a tracksuit....

Great Yarmouth Pier. Oh dear we missed Joe Pasquale and the Chuckle Brothers...

'Ket' Shops abound...

'Joyland' looks like a set from the Scooby Doo cartoons....

Adult, second winter and first winter Med Gulls.

Herald Moth

After the 'fish out of water' experience of us at Great Yarmouth it was a pleasure to get back to the cool and quiet of Northumberland...

Near Miss...

After Sunday's twitch north for the Sandhill Crane, imagine my face when Alan Priest called me this morning to say it had just flown over Newbiggin and was heading towards Blyth! Oh no, I thought, dejavue, Short billed Dowitcher scenario all over again...

Fortunately my fears did not materialise, our costly trip to Scotland had been worthwhile after all, the Crane continued its journey south.

I must be the only person in Northumberland who wished a county first would bugger off!

On the way home from work this evening 2 Little Egrets flew serenely up the River Coquet into Warkworth, keeping up speed with the car.

Back to reality...

I forgot to mention, on Saturday night at 11.30pm I popped out for the terriers last walk and activated the outside light on the Old School holiday cottage.

The glow lit up a Barn Owl hunting the Starling roost in our neighbours garden. The Starlings were flushing everywhere and the owl flew through our garden into the sycamore above the moth trap, where it gazed back looking at me like I'd ruined its evening....On our return, it flew out of the garden and along the field edge nicely lit by 125 watts of MV Bulb...

Not a regular sight to get one actually IN the garden.  Nice....

Milestones...

Its only taken about 38 years of birding for the Sandhill Crane at the Loch of Strathbeg to take its place on my list...I dont want to make a song and dance about it, but, it is my  400th species in the UK..... I say... its.....

Sandhill Crane ...

...not 399...

Cheers Alan!

Not another word to be said on the subject. I dont recall seeing anything else up there really...see here for another account of our twitch.

Woe is me...

The Swallows have gone.

Last weekend there were still 30+ in the village but none today. Late afternoon produced 15 flying strongly south overhead, but they aren't ours. It will be 15th April before they return...

Over the back field this morning were 5 Yellowhammers and a Reed Bunting were in the hedge while 2 Sandwich Terns were on the rocks in the cove. The garden still has plenty of Chiffchaff comings and goings while a male Blackcap is in the elders. A single Grey Wagtail and my first 9 Pinkfeet of the year flew south.

September has been a flop here so far with scarcely a hint of an easterly that is so well required at this time.

Oh well, maybe October will give us a.....Yellow Rumped Warbler ( ? or something with a yank accent) that is now on the Norwegian coast waiting for a cool tail wind to restart its migration...That is how Northumberland's only Red eyed Vireo arrived many moons back on Holy Island...

Corby...

This morning I went to do JWR's WeBs count up at Branton Pits.

Highlight was a Little Egret, the first we've seen at this site, and quite uncommon so far inland. Apart from that it was a standard wildfowl count really.

From here a jaunt up to Corby Crags to check for some dragonflies was quite a good diversion.
Masses of Black Darters, with two or three Common Hawkers along the rides, a single, tiny, Common Lizard posed well and the birds were quite active too - 13+ Crossbill, several Redpoll, Siskin, Bullfinch, 3+ Goldcrest and 6+ Chiffchaff.

The view from Corby Crags. Proper Northumberland...

Fungi sp, to be id'd...maybe Melanoleuca cognata?

John 'Insect Magnet' Rutter finds photographing Black Darter tricky...

Common Hawker ovipositing.

Red Admiral

Common Lizard. Looks the size of an iguana, but only about the size of my little finger.

The wind has dropped to a SSE2 this morning, with odd showers, brightening to a nice sunny afternoon.

A seawatch from 8am - 9am was a tad slow. The southerlies have blasted the birds back into the north Atlantic. Still a few wildfowl were moving -

Pale bellied Brent Geese 11
Teal 130
Wigeon 58
Shoveler 2 a rare bird on the patch.
Pintail 2 ditto
Common Scoter 101
Red throated Diver 3
Arctic Skua 4
Bonxie 7
Manx Shearwater 1
Arctic Tern 6+
Sandwich Tern 3+
Grey Wagtail 2
Whimbrel 1 on the rocks.

All going north.

A few Chiffchaffs were in the coastal scrub including one singing. At least 4 were in the garden this afternoon. One bird was very inquisitive, peering in at our windows, gave me a nice photo opportunity. Click for a bigger image.

A Swift went S over the garden this afternoon in with 30+ House Martins and 86+ Swallows.

This morning and the wind had increased in tempo, still from the SE. I quickly dashed to the coast for a half hour seawatch before work. It was half light with an orange glow on the horizon and there were thousands of birds on the move. The problem being, the light was very poor and, the SE blow ( we are more used to seawatching an a N wind) meant that the birds had a rocket up their ar.. and were very difficult to track.

Still the potential was there -

Sooty Shearwater 4
Manx Shearwater 3
Arctic Skua 6
Bonxie 2
Red throated Diver 2
Eider 27

All flying N.

The light was dismal this evening and the wind is a gale now with heavy rain. It might be worth a look first thing...

A Good Hour...

I came in from work at 6pm this evening and was changed and down on the coast path by 6.10pm.

Although not ideal seawatch conditions, I fancied that the recent jet stream / hurricane would blast some birds over and into the north sea and there might be a bit of a high pressure movement to follow. Today's light SE3 came from a small, moving high, and if the forecast is right it will soon be replaced by another rain bearing low...

Enough of the Michael Fish, what was had...

6.10pm - 7.10pm

Sooty Shearwater 11 N my first of the year.
Manx Shearwater 34 N
Arctic Skua, difficult to be sure but somewhere in the region of 9 seen. They sneak around after tern frenzies so I tried not to duplicate counts.
Bonxie 1 N
Red throated Diver 1 S
Pale Bellied Brent Geese 29 N
Black Tern 2 in a tern frenzy consisting of about 50+ Arctic and Common Terns and a few Kittiwakes.A patch tick!
Wigeon 9 N
Pintail 3 N
Teal 16 N
Common Scoter 3 N

Then back to set the moth trap in time for tea...

Good old BOU...

On perusing the Birdwatch Mag website today I find that the BOU have added two new lifers to my list.

Siberian Stonechat Saxicola maurus ( used to be maura?) Seen several, my first being at Newbiggin in Oct 1990 in a massive fall. Previously Saxicola torquatus maura/stejnegeri 'lumped' with Stonechat Saxicola torquata.

Hudsonian Whimbrel Numenius numenius  One seen on St Mary's Isles of Scilly in Sept 08 or 09? Previously this was the American race of Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus hudsonicus, lumped with Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus.

This brings my bird lists to -

BOU British 399 ( oh yes...what will it be, and mores to the point - when?)
Northumberland 325.

Pre-Hurricane Migration.

View south from stubble field to the village. Copse on the left and Back Hedge on the right.

The coast path viewing south from Cullernose.

Up and out by 7am. After checking the moths, I popped to the coast path to see if I could get a Black Tern for the patch list. With the milky back light there was little chance of this, but I gave it an hour anyway.

I had -

Arctic Skua 6 S including some very close in.
Bonxie 1 N
Arctic Tern 5 S but there were loads of terns offshore too far to id in the poor light.
Sandwich tern 4 S
Wigeon 28 S
Teal 6 S
Shag 3 S
Knot 2 S
Red throated Diver 1 adult still in summer plumage on the sea close in.
Further offshore there were loads of Gannets in feeding frenzies, plus a few Fulmars.

While seawatching it was clear that there was some viz-migging going on along the coast. The next hour or so was spent wandering the back field at home up to Cullernose and back counting the birds moving south. The strong SSW breeze was keeping them low and near the coast, but birds were moving on a broad front so these are absolute minimal counts.

Swallow 180+ S
House Martin 55+ S
Sand Martin 1 S
Swift 1 S mobbed by Swallows then it or another over the Village later on.
Meadow Pipit 200+ S
Skylark 4 S
Goldfinch 61 S
Linnet 34 S
Siskin 19 S
Redpoll 7 S
Pied Wagtail 1 S
Grey Wagtail 4 S

A male Blackcap was still in the elders in the garden and 4+ Bullfinch were in Village Wood, and thats about it really. No Hoopoes here I'm afraid ( Bamburgh 7.55am)...

Buzzard - Gull - Buzzard?

On my way home from work this evening via the A1, a large bird caught my eye hanging in the wind right over the road near the turn off to Eshott. After assuming it was a Buzzard then thinking, no its just a gull, I drove right under it, and was over the moon to see it was an Osprey!  

A very brief view at 50 mph but enough to id it. Nice one.

Delayed Post from Sunday...

On Sunday I actually did some birding complete with scope and everything. Well I had a couple of hours around the Village and a short jaunt to Alnmouth and Boulmer so here goes -

6.45am wandered to the coast path to look at the sea. On the way noticed some viz migging going on -

Siskin /Redpoll a flock of 36, sounded like 80% Siskin. S
Meadow Pipit 63 S
Swallow 99 S
Sand Martin 1 S
Yellow Wagtail 1 S
Grey Wagtail 1 S

All in about half an hour.

Seawatching from 7am - 7.30am over a calm sea -

Sandwich Tern 35 S
Roseate Tern 1 N
Cormorant 7 S
Shag 14 S
Goosander 1 S
Little Gull 1 fs very close in with a few Black headed Gulls flew N, a good bird for here.
Red throated Diver 1 S and 1 on the sea.
Skua sp 1 N too far off the Hubble couldnt put it in a family...
Whimbrel 3 S
Wigeon 8 N my first of the autumn. Oh dear winter is not too far away.
Common Tern 1 S
Common Scoter 1 N.

Around the village were -
Sparrowhawk 1 female next to a Kestrel on fence posts.
Willow Warbler 1 singing.
Chiffchaff 1
Blackcap 1
Whitethroat 2
Redpoll 11 NE over the garden.

Nota  bad local tally.

At Foxton Bends with JWR we had Kingfisher or maybe two, 4 Greenshanks, 4 Common Sandpipers. Alnmouth Rugby Club saltmarsh pool had a juv Black tailed Godwit and a Bar tailed Godwit flew around. A Little Egret flew S and 100+ Curlew dropped in.

Up at Boulmer the tide was starting to recede and waders were moving in with 3 Curlew Sandpipers, 100+ Dunlin, 7 Bar tailed Godwit, 15 Ringed Plover and a Turnstone. 20+ Common Scoter were offshore.

Back home for lunch...

Around about...

Theres a distinct lack of illustration on here at the mo, must do better....

Any way, todays dog wanders around the village and coast path had -

Meadow Pipit 17 S in 20 minutes first thing.
Sandwich Tern 4+ offshore.
Common Tern 1 offshore.
Whimbrel 3 N at sea and some whistling, unseen, inland from our drive.
Arctic Skua 1 hammering a kittiwake offshore.
Sparrowhawk 1 female ( I see there was a Gos at St Mary's Island today. I wonder what that was...)
Jackdaw / Rooks 600+ in back fields.
Still plenty of Swallows and House Martins.
Theres a canny Starling roost building in my next door neighbours four conifers recently. There might be 100+ birds? Not exactly the smoke waves of the Somerset Levels, Dumfries or Brighton Pier, but, you know...I'll try and get a count at the weekend.

I might do some proper birding this weekend, using the scope and everything...