Beadnell...

John picked me up at 7.30 this morning to head up towards Beadnell for a change. We could have nicely gone down to East Chevington for Shorelarks, Hen Harriers etc, but we're cool on those so we chose to avoid the crowds as usual.

The view south from Beadnell Point. to Dunstanburgh Castle.

At Beadnell Harbour, a Merlin tried to muscle in on a flock of 35+ Sanderlings and a few Turnstones, but it failed and headed south. Off shore, a ⚢Scaup was with Eiders in the bay, 2⚥ Long tailed Ducks flew south and 13⚢  Common Scoters flew north along with a couple of Red throated Divers and a handful of Gannets, Kittiwakes and a Fulmar.

A truly awful photo of the ⚢ Scaup. A futile attempt at digi-scoping.

From here we had a tea stop at Seahouses Harbour where an immature Peregrine flushed the waders on the rocks. I wondered if it was the same bird that had been on the Farnes this week as it headed off out there.

Then it was down to Low Newton. At this time of year we used to have the coast to ourselves. Not now. The place was busy with walkers, with dogs and without so we didnt see much. The scrapes had plenty of birds but nothing of note really. The pool is looking good where the phragmites have been chopped back allowing better visibility.

And that was it really, off home.

Back at home, I took Bunty for a walk along the lane and was over the moon to get some restricted but decent views of the Water Rail under the willows. A really good bird for here and one I don't see every year. While watching it, there were a few small squeals that may have been from a second bird in there. I'd like to get a photo, but until then here is a sketch  to be going on with...

Back to Boulmer....

For a change, this morning John and I met up at Seaton Point, Boulmer with the intention to walk around the headland, checking the sea and shore line for, maybe, divers or snow buntings or something like that.

It was bitterly cold, with a thick white frost and a light NW wind that numbed the fingers. As I waited for John, a quick scan seawards revealed a Great Northern Diver heading N and a diver calling on the sea that sounded like a Red throat but I couldn't see it.

Soon, John arrived and after exchanging pleasantries and commenting on how baltic it was, we headed off down the Seaton Point steps to the shore. Well, that was the intention. From the top of the steps I lifted my bins in the dawn light to check the seaweed washed up on the tideline and the first bird I saw was a pipit with a very white belly. I commented that this looked like a Water Pipit and checked with the scope, expecting it to be either a Meadow or maybe a littoralis Rock Pipit.

What a surprise when the bird I focussed on was as suspected, a nice winter plumaged Water Pipit.

'Spinoletta' is not a common bird in North Northumberland, though I have seen one at this very spot a good few years back that flew off inland minutes after my sighting. Hopefully this one would be different.

Out on the weed were up to 20 Rock Pipits including several littoralis types and a scattering of Meadow Pipits. Mix this lot with a dozen Pied Wagtails, 2 Grey Wagtails and a few Robins that kept flighting up and down the beach, and our bird was proving tricky to get to grips with. In fact, the next two hours was spent trying to get a decent close view.

As the morning became brighter we eventually managed to get some excellent scope views to clinch the required features and even a few ropy record shots ( I think John has done a lot better than me...).

Water Pipit

Water Pipit(right) witha typical 'petrosus' Rock Pipit. 

Water Pipit, the whitish supercillium would be more obvious in some views than in others.

John trying to get some photo's of the Water Pipit.  

From here we drove into Boulmer and walked around Longhoughton Steel that was largely bird free other than a few Linnets and 2 Red throated Divers S offshore.

Oh well, it only takes one bird and bit of excitement to make the day!

Back to normal...

After the birding excitement of recent weeks, today saw things slow up a little, back into the usual pace for winter birding in Northumberland.

I met John at Warkworth and as the weather was pleasant we just pottered around the area taking a few snaps and drinking tea. No change there then.

A short drop in at Druridge Bay Country Park was all but pointless, highlights being about 70 Tufted Duck and half a dozen Gadwall.

Back up the the Coquet Estuary area it remained pleasant but very slow on the bird front, until we stopped to check a herd of 24 Whooper Swans ( with 6 juvs) and were very surprised to find a flock of 64 Black tailed Godwits in the stubble alongside them! Whilst not a rare bird in the county, flocks of 10 in early autumn or spring are more usual so this large gathering was the highlight of our morning. Further over the road another 13+ Whoopers were feeding in a rape field.

Elsewhere, 1 Little Egret, 250 Golden Plovers, 11 Yellowhammers, a Brambling and a few Wigeon were all we could muster. A nice morning out though, all the same.

Little Grebe and BHG on the country park...

Coquet Estuary.

Old Water Pools, Warkworth Dunes

Black tailed Godwits at Birling

Whooper Swans in wet stubble at Birling.

A Waxwing Winter.

If you are a birder living in Northumberland you should count yourself very lucky.

We may be very impoverished on the butterfly, moth and dragonfly front, but we really do quite well for birds.

As a large, east facing county with a wide range of landscapes, an equally good number of species can be found all year round, but what we do excel at is autumn migration.

From late July - late November we get excellent passage of waders, seabirds that are second to none, both breeding and on migration, with things such as flocks of Roseate Terns, decent Skua movements, hundreds of Sooty Shearwaters and even thousands of Little Auks. All four divers are a real possibility if the weather is right. Wildfowl is good with seaduck, geese and wild swans aplenty, then we have drift migrants such as Wrynecks, Barred Warblers and Red backed Shrikes, and later on we do well for Sibes such as Yellow browed, Pallas's, Dusky and Radde's Warblers. Oh yes, the northernmost English county is a good place to be at the 'back end'.

As Autumn draws to a close, another Northumberland speciality appears on a regular basis - the Waxwing. Whilst further south, a lone bird or a small party attracts a good twitching crowd, here we tend to expect larger numbers occasionally. In 2012, in the first week of November ( see these blog posts for a start) we were treated to over 100 of these lovely birds around our garden with out another birder to be seen ( well maybe one or two). Since then, I have had odd singles around the area but just to add to the already superb autumn here in 2016, this year is now turning into a Waxwing winter.

My first were on Monday when 35+ flew N past me whilst driving to work between Amble and Warkworth, then on Tuesday the game upped a little with 30+ at ASDA in Ashington followed half an hour later by 60+ at the south of the town near North Seaton Cemetery.

Today there has been masses of them around the county - maybe 350 in Ashington at three locations, three flocks along the A1 between Alnwick and Morpeth, including one of 200 birds, 200+ at Cramlington, 30+ in Morpeth and many other scattered parties.

Our spring birding may not be so good for overshoots, but would I swap? I dont think so...

The ultimate...

On our way shopping yesterday my phone rang and a voice came over the speaker in the car. Quiet at first, then in a trembling, hushed tone, we could hear 'Stewart? Stewart? I'm watching a Siberian Accentor...' Alan Tilmouth had struck gold by stumbling upon Northumberland's second Siberian Accentor of the month, during this amazing arrival of the species.

Unfortunately I was pre-booked and I couldn't get away, but this morning John and myself met under a fantastic sunrise at Amble, that may have been an omen of success.

Off we went down to Newbiggin by the Sea and after a bit of a debacle with a metal fence that I won't go into on here, we both managed excellent views of the bird. At one point it ran towards myself and Eric Barnes after being spooked by a weasel, stopping only 12 feet away to snack on a grub (leatherjacket I think). I suppose it had to happen sometime this autumn. After trekking down to Hull and back the other week, then dipping out at Holy Island, I cant tell you how pleased I am with this addition to my Northumberland List. What a beautiful bird. Thats me on 339. I wonder what 340 will be?

A great bird, studied and photographed to distraction, and, as you cant take them with you, off we headed further south to see another eastern wanderer, an Isabelline Shrike at South Shields. I've seen 4 or 5 of these pallid grim reapers before, but not an adult, so this female was a nice one to catch up with. Quite a dull bird, it was very active and popular with photographers too, so after a few ropey shots we left it to its business.  A fly over Jack Snipe was nice to pad things out a bit too...

Another great days birding this autumn, surely that's the finish now?

Isabelline...

As I alluded to in the last post, a trip up to Holy Island on Wednesday for Britains 6th Siberian Accentor came to nothing, our Russian had defected elsewhere. None the less, the trip was not wasted as only 100 yards from the Accentor spot another British tick for me was showing very well indeed, an Isabelline Wheatear. This was the second for the county and the first since 1980, so it was nice to finally 'unblock' this one....

This means my last five blog posts have all been rare birds, all British lifers too. Scroll back the 10 years this blog has been going and you won't find a spell like it anywhere! I think that this may be the last of its kind for some time...

Better than White's Thrush?

Sitting at work two weeks ago watching the development of the twitch to Shetland for the UK's first Siberian Accentor, little did I know that before the month is out it would not only be on my list, it would have been seen in Northumberland too!

When one turned up at Easington, East Yorkshire, we just had to go. Due to commitments, John and myself were typical late to the ball, but a good day out on Sunday allowed us great views of the second British Siberian Accentor. Since its arrival, others have graced Saltburn, Sunderland and Holy Island ( I dipped that one this mornings) making the UK total now up to 5 birds.

Its great to be a part of this very strange and rare influx into western Europe. I wonder how it will all pan out...Maybe I'll catch up with a Northumberland bird eventually?

Until then, here is the one for Easington on Sunday...

The twitch has abated somewhat from hundreds on Saturday.

The skip of dreams. Home to siberian megas.

Siberia...

As birders we are very lucky, in European terms, to live in the UK. Being at the westernmost edge of the continent, stuck out like a giant headland into the Atlantic, we are set to get birds from all points on the globe. This Autumn certainly has done its best to prove the point. Firstly a brace of small American Waders, followed by an Eastern European/ African traveller then Nanook of the North, so whats missing?

Its Autumn, we live on the East coast, so what else could that mean but...Sibes!

From early October a massive high pressure settled over northern Scandinavia, flanked on its southern edge by several low pressures off the Atlantic, forming an corridor of Easterly winds stretching way back towards Lake Baikal in Siberia.

Soon, they came, wind blown waifs such as Yellow-browed Warblers (only the one in our garden this year) and Red breasted Flycatchers and Little Buntings. I have been unlucky with the latter two this year due mainly to being stuck in an office all week, but on the 5th all of that would change.

I just arrived at work and logged on, when a message came through saying 'WHITE'S THRUSH in willows at the end of the straight lonnen NOW!'

If I had been standing, my legs would have given way. One of the most wanted Siberian vagrants, not on Shetland or Scilly but right here in Northumberland what should I do....

Normally I would have downed tools and legged it, but due to prior appointments this was a non starter, so after a fraught, stressed day, at 3 o'clock I finally left work and raced off up the A1 to Holy Island. No need to panic, the White's Thrush was just about hanted to one willow, and while I was there it only hopped about 2 feet. What an absolute stunning bird it was too. Cuckoo sized, golden buff and white with random black crescents scattered all over the upper and undersides.

Nothing could beat this, ever? To be continued...

White's Thrush, with my phone through another birders scope.

Tick Two...

We that's a turn up for the books, two new British birds in a year.

After last week's Thrush Nightingale, news of a mythical mega broke on Sunday evening when a Brunnich's Guillemot was found loafing around Anstruther Harbour in Fife. I have seen this species previously on a visit to Iceland, but to see one in the UK is very tricky indeed. Many British records are of birds either dead or on the furthest outposts of the land such as Shetland or Dorset or wherever, way too far for me to visit in a day.

Superficially similar to our own Common Guillemot or Razorbill, this auk hails from the far north, mainly above the arctic circle, only venturing south to winter in the very north Atlantic off Iceland, Greenland and Norway.

Today's bird, found by the great rarity finder, Ken Shaw I believe, has caused some controversy on social media with some naysayers mooting the possibility that it could be a hybrid between a Common x Brunnich's Guillemot, all because of a few white feathers around the cheeks. Personally it looks fine for Brunnich's to me, sporting a very thick, stocky bill, complete with white stripe along the upper gape, a lumpy headed appearance and clean white flanks. This bird is in very heavy moult into winter plumage with virtually no primaries left in the wings and looking quite tattered, so a few mangy stray white feathers are distinctly possible. After all, coming from a population of millions, not every single bird can conform to the generic field guide description.

So, today Alan Tilmouth collected Andy McLevy and myself to drive the 150 miles into Scotland to pay our respects. The bird was seen immediately but lead us a right merry dance, spending more time under water than on the top and swimming seemingly impossible distances before resurfacing in a completely unexpected location. Often it would pop up only yards away, only to vanish just as quickly. Strong winds and a heavy sea made photography very difficult ( that's my excuse anyway) but I managed a few.

This was just about the only noteworthy bird seen all day, but it was well worth the jaunt north. Great crack, a great place and a great bird made for a very enjoyable days leave from work.

 

Sprosser or Tosser?

Or Thrush Nightingale to be more accurate. Since childhood I always wanted to see the bird sometimes called a Sprosser and wondered why it was called that? A quick google search threw me into The Leicester Llama blog where Andy McKay says it is just the German name for Thrush Nightingale and we should all have body parts removed if we dare use this word in an elitist type of way. So Sprosser, you are now known by your Sunday best again-  Thrush Nightingale.

This morning a message came out saying that Steve Rippon had found a Sprosser Thrush Nightingale on the beach near Emmanuel Head, Holy Island. At first I thought, no chance, by the time I get there it will have been booted to the Snook and back and wont be seen again. Then a message came out with those teasing words 'showing well'. That was enough, into the car and off.

Fast forward a half hour drive followed by a half hour yomp over rabbit pot holed dunes and we meet a well ordered team watching from a nice distance along the strand line with no bird to be seen. 'You should have been here earlier...' etc 'it hasn't been seen for a while but is still in that cover over there' were the comments on offer. A tense wait followed but sure enough our target popped out, furtively at first, then by deploying some Navahoe-esque field craft we all got great views of the Sprosser Thrush Nightingale as it ran mouse like over some stones to begin feeding out on the dry seaweed. In some ways its movements recalled a Gropper Grasshopper Warbler  as it lay flat and ran like a rodent between the stones and weeds. We all took lots of photo's in the open of a bird more used to sitting in a dark forest in Fenno-Scandia Scandinavia than out on a sun drenched Northumberland beach.

This is a full lifer for me, never having seen the species in the UK or abroad so it was great to finally catch up with it. Nice for the county list too, my first since last September's Red footed Falcon!

British List - 406 Northumberland - 336

Crappy Moth Photographs.

Now that many more people are becoming interested in moths and moth trapping, the internet and social media is saturated with images of the lovely insects being caught. Quite rightly, people who have never seen a Peppered Moth would be well pleased to find one in their trap in the morning, and are keen to capture it for posterity and to confirm their identifications with other like minded observers.

But is it too easy? The reason I ponder this is that there seems to be little care taken over these images of stunning lepidoptera. I mean, when would someone catch a Red Admiral, put it in a plastic pot then take its photo above last nights edition of the Evening Chronicle? Never. It would look awful, seeing a beautiful butterfly against a scruffy bit of plastic wouldn't it, so why would a moth be any different? I even see photos of clearly dead and knackered specimens that have been just left through neglect. Even common things with legs in the air, there's just no need.

Now, I'm not preaching here( maybe I am a bit) because I too am guilty of this. We all are to some degree. Scroll through these pages and you will find moths on old egg boxes and through dirty old pots, and I suppose this will happen for those species that are rare or locally scarce needing a record shot before they fly off. But why on earth would you take a photo of a Buff Arches or Poplar Hawk-moth on an egg tray? You cant get them to fly if you try so why not just take a few minutes to make them look as nice as any butterfly by positioning them carefully on a nice background.

Here are some examples of crappery that I have used in the past -

Both of these are common enough here, so I could have done better than this surely.

If you catch moths why not try this - look for any nice fresh specimen in your trap, something that may catch you eye. If the weather is nice with some good light, use a small stick or something ( I use coffee stirrers, like thin lolly sticks) to gentle slide under the moth, and lift it somewhere that will show it off to its very best. This can just be a large flat leaf or a bit of twig, what ever, experiment with different things. Some will work, others may not, but its worth a try.

Then, take a good few photos, after all, they cost nothing now, from differing angles and sides until you get something that looks nice. After all we are catching wild life here, so we should treat them with some respect...

So, I will say that from now on, I will only post crappy egg box shots or pot shots on here of a species that  a) It is likely to fly off  or b) I've not seen before or is new for the garden and is likely to fly off! Otherwise I will be trying to get something decent of it.

You don't need expensive camera gear, even a phone will do if you just take a little more care.

This is what I am trying for now -

Shoulder striped Wainscot from the summer.

Above - An autumn selection box of Pink barred Sallow, Frosted Orange, Brown spot Pinion, Black Rustic and Bulrush Wainscot.

Next time I post a micro in a hairy scruffy dull plastic pot, feel free to chastise me. We should really try harder!