Calendar Girls...

Tonight I have just given a talk to our local branch of the WI. There was no mention of Victoria Sponge Cake or calendar photography, just a short presentation about my searches for Butterflies and Dragonflies at home and beyond.

It seemed to go down ok?

  Above - Some slides from my talk tonight...

Is that...sunshine?

Yes, a bright sunny day! After 30 days of night this was a pleasant surprise despite the cold SE wind.

I decided to check out the northern end of the patch today taking in Hips Heugh and Craster.

Craster Harbour

On foot from home, it is about a 3 miles circular route over mixed farmland down to the coast. In a set bird food crop planted behind us was large flock of over 200 birds, inc 100+ Goldfinch, 50 Linnet, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Reed Bunting, 20+ Yellowhammers and 3 Grey Partridges. A lone Skylark flushed nearby.

Goldfinches

Grey Partridge

The wooded Arnold Reserve was bird free, but the harbour had a few waders -  6 Purple Sandpipers, 5 Turnstone, 20+ Oystercatcher, 2 Redshank and a single Rock Pipit was new for the list. Eiders, Gulls and Cormorants were offshore.

Boats

Purple Sandpiper

Turnstones

Walking back past the houses a Hebe hedge was in flower! February...

Then I noticed a sea angler just south of the village, fishing into the teeth of a gale from the rock edges. He appeared to be struggling to reel in and I assumed ( as is the case 99.99% of the time) that he was snagged or had a lot of kelp on the end.

What a surprise when he finally lifted up a Cod weighing 6lbs. It was a gravid female with a fat belly full of roe, so he unhooked and released it back into the sea. What a refreshing change from the tossers who kill every mackerel going in the summer. I hope this bloke catches more...

My first addition to the fish year list thanks to angler Mr Rob O'Hagan.

Big Garden Birdwatch...

Watched from 9.35 - 10.35am, the results are as follows -

House Sparrow 25
Tree Sparrow 26
Starling 3 (58)
Great spotted Woodpecker 1
Goldfinch 2
Greenfinch 1
Chaffinch 12
Coal Tit 2
Dunnock 3
Blackbird 4
Woodpigeon 4
Magpie 2
Jackdaw 3 (23)
Robin 2
Blue Tit 3
Kestrel 1
Great Tit 2
(Mistle Thrush 1)
(Common Gull 3)
(Herring Gull 4)
(Black headed Gull 76)
(Fulmar1)
(Rook 30)
(Stock Dove 1)

All of birds / figures in brackets were outside of the garden boundary but seen from inside the house. The rest were in the garden.

The first garden Greenfinch of 2014

The Spuggies

Woodpigeons

Sassy Ibis...

Above -  Glossy Ibis.  

I was on my way to work this morning with never a birding thought in my head until I reached the half way point and the sun was shining. 'This would be good for the ibis' I thought, but not remembering my bins or camera, I was thinking it could be a waste of time.

As its favoured field is only 10 mins from work, I thought I'd give it a drive by. A good decision! The bird was feeding only about 30 yards from the road in bright sunshine. Time to improvise. I had my scope and my phone, so these pics will have to do courtesy of an iphone 4s hand held to my old Leica.

After a few minutes watching Glossy flew casually to the back of the field for some peace and quiet.

This is only my second Glossy Ibis in the county. It wasn't long ago that this species was a real Northumberland mega-blocker seen only by Marty Anderson at Bothal in the 80s. No doubt as their numbers continue to arrive in Britain from a burgeoning Spanish population, sightings will be more regular...

Not a bad start to the working week...

A right off!

Its not often the full day is a birding right off, but yesterday was that day. Nothing went into the notebook and we sat in the car chatting for ages to see if the showers would pass. A short jaunt down to Lynemouth saw us dip the Glossy Ibis just to add insult to injury.

Well, at least I am off work today. I've been getting some camera practice on garden residents...

Please click on them for a better resolution. I don't think I have ever been so pleased with a Dunnock! 

And a snatched Fulmar from the coast path this afternoon...

The Northerners...

If you frequent this blog at all, you may have already noticed that I do like it up north, but I am biased.

This is probably where I get my affinity with our northern wild vagrants too, and so far I have been very pleased ( and lucky) to catch up with Snowy Owl, Ivory and Ross's Gulls, Stellers and King Eiders, Arctic Redpolls, Snow and Lap Bunts, Bluethroats, Waxwings, Shorelarks and even Orca all on the mainland UK.
But, for the discerning observer, there is more than these pager darlings to set the pulse racing - the sub-species. Northern races of our own familiar hedgerow birds.

Since I was a kid out in the woods and fields with 'Old Geordie' we looked for and found Mealy Redpolls and I longed to see a big brutish glowing Northern Bullfinch or those white headed Long tailed Tits. The old handbook and of course my early mentor looked at these races almost as if they were good species in their own right.

Living in Northumberland I suppose we are quite well placed to catch up with these birds and since those early days I have found several big bullies, and lots of Mealy Redpolls ( 'Common Redpolls' never).

This week I hear that another of my 'most wanted' has hit the headlines. Northern Treecreeper. A lovely, frosty, classic example is at Flamborough, and what a bird. If these are being overlooked we should be ashamed. Do you look at Treecreepers? I know I do, because for years, between October and March, I've hoped that one day I might come across one with a Swedish accent in some local coastal scrub or woodland. ( our garden is ideal!)

In the late 80's DIM Wallace mentioned this form in an early edition of Bird Watching magazine, and I was inspired all over again.

I know that Mr Wallace's ideas are not to modern tastes, but the man is very perceptive and open minded. I wonder if the Willow Tit will ever be found? One day maybe.... In the mean time, this weekend I'm going to check my local Long tailed Tit flocks, they often carry Treecreepers with them...

And who knows, maybe a snow ball Long tailed Tit too!

Newton Nanny....

Low Newton

This morning was spent wandering around Gary's patch at Low Newton and the Long Nanny.

A thick hoar frost whitened the landscape and left a film of ice over still waters. Most of the morning was in that subdued winter grey light, brightening up for an hour later on.

Started off at Newton Pool. It was 'lifting' with wildfowl including 105+ Teal, 94+Wigeon, 30+ Mallard, and more unusual for me, proper freshwater ducks - 3 Shovelers and 2 male Gadwall. 100+ Greylags fed in the field behind the pond until a wildfowler fired off a couple, flushing everything around.

Down on the beach a few waders gathered ahead of the tide - 10 Sanderling, 5 Dunlin, 15 Oystercatcher, 5 Bar tailed Godwit, 2 Turnstone and a Rock Pipit. Back at the car thawing out blue hands, a Willow Tit was calling near the Tin Church. 

Moving the car along to Newton Links, where the car park is still free ( noteworthy in itself), I walked to the Long Nanny burn and back. An immature female Peregrine hounded a Redshank off the burn, unsuccessfully, as was I when I tried to get a photo and found I had cocked up the settings and couldnt remember what to do! Bloody novices....By the time I put that right, the bird was back on the breeding grounds....

A large gathering of Gulls on the beach didn't hold any surprises but the light was better anyway...

Common Gull taking off...

Its snowing....

First Snowdrops of the year.

Only a short couple of walks from home with Bunty this morning. On the first one at sunrise, a female / fw type Snow Bunting ( the white in the wings was seen from below) flew low north over Seahouses farm, calling as it went. They can be tricky in the New Year here so its a good one for the patch list.

Generally the whole area was almost bird-less but a wander into the pond field mid morning added a couple more common species for the patch.

I could only find one small clump of Snowdrops in flower, making them a bit late this year. This is probably due to the mild weather, these bulbs need a sharp cold snap before a mild one to set them off. Its still like autumn here.

Alder catkins.

 The Alders looked nice in the morning sun decked with catkins,and 3 Bullfinches fed on bramble and docks along the track side briefly.

Bullfinch on bramble seeds

End of the holidays...

Well that's Christmas and New Year over for another 12 months. From now on we can look forward to signs of spring, but, in the mean time the regular winter wildlife fills in the day. Highlights of a non birding day yesterday were a nice hunting Merlin over our garden and a wintering Chiffchaff in our Village Wood. 

I wondered about the Chiffchaffs arrival as there seemed to be a lot more local Blackbirds too. Could there be a local movement of birds or maybe even from the near continent?

JWR and myself started today off at Alnmouth, checking the estuary. A lot of Wigeon, Teal and Mallard were present along with a couple of male Red breasted Mergansers. 10 Whooper Swans circled around before returning to their usual fields to feed.

This Little Grebe would have been a right poser for photos under a small footbridge if it had been daylight! Even DSLRs cant cope with rapidly moving subjects in the pre light of dawn.

From here we moved down to Amble Harbour to check out the gulls. Unfortunately there were no new northern arrivals but the regular wintering Mediterranean Gull was in the usual place on the little shore.

Amble Harbour 

Black headed Gull

First winter Common Gull

First winter Great black backed Gull

Mediterannean Gull ( in the shade) showing off its bracelet.

Then we moved back up to Foxton Bends. Despite looking good with lots of standing water, there wasn't much to note.

Last night my first moths of 2014 were on our door ( I haven't used the trap since November) - 

Pale brindled Beauty

Mottled Umber