Gandalf's Bridge.

At a loose end this morning, mainly because the cold weather isn't really helping the arrival of spring migrants, we headed up to Corby Crag and Edlingham for a wander.

Winter was even more evident up here...

British Summer Time

...with snow lying thick on the forest tracks. Even so, the air was filled with the songs of Mistle Thrush, Chaffinch and Coal Tit, but we didnt fancy heading out at Easter through the snow. An about turn brought a nice pair of Crossbills perched on top of pines near the car on our return.

We moved off further down hill onto the old railway line that runs over the Edlingham viaduct that is seen in the 'Hobbit' film posters. The route brought us back via Overthwarts farm to Lemmington. There was no lying snow here, but it was icy cold.

Along the line track, a Woodcock flushed from the damp woods, Jays were being typically raucous and a Siskin or two flew over.

In the damp meadows at least 4 male Lapwings were displaying. 4+ Yellowhammers were in song and 3+ Nuthatch were in verge side trees.

A fallen tree over the burn had a couple of fungi to photograph for identification at home.

Scarlet Elfcup (quite a good name near a Hobbit viaduct)

Southern Bracket ( I think).

Back near the car, newly arrived Meadow Pipits must have found the snow a shock on the moor, pushing a flock of 30 or so into a rough field, lower down, next to the road.

The biggest surprise, however, had to wait until I got home. Our friends who live nearby in Howick had been alerted by the panicking calls of Buzzards overhead and looked to see a huge raptor gliding over, high, towards the quarry. The Buzzards began to mob the 'eagle' while it circled a couple of times before heading off west and out of sight. That was about 11.20am when I was west of Alnwick. They have seen White tailed Eagle before, on the western isles, and believed this is what the bird was.

They are not birders but are reliable and their fuller description of its behaviour gives me no reason to doubt their sighting. What a gripper for the patch! I've spent the last few hours with one eye skywards but without luck...

Groundhog Day...

Been out and about in the sunny weather today. Patch was quiet, but at least the wind has dropped. A short seawatch between snow showers had nothing really, well, 1 Red throated Diver S, 2 Razorbills N and a couple of Grey Seals bottling offshore.

Still not hide nor hair of a migrant, but, hey, it was a nice day for January....

Weather related...

Top - A foam filled Howick bay and below Cullernose Point takes a beating.

This last few days has shown little in the way of spring signs. Sure there are a few lambs in the fields roundabout, and hawthorn, honeysuckle and dog rose are budding, but otherwise zilch.

Without a doubt this is still winter, but I wonder for how long? This week has had snow with temps to -3 and 50 mph easterly winds cold enough to have a Toon lass reaching for her coat on a Friday night. We have had week four in the Garden Moth Scheme Survey and  my totals amount to 1 Hebrew Character. Two of the four sessions were so bad, weather wise, I didnt even bother to put the trap out. Last year over the first four sessions I had 150 moths.

As for birds, well, what is there to say. I am watching the Patchwatch updates on Twitter and see birders in the south and west complaining about having 'only' 20 Chiffchaffs and a Wheatear! What!

In January I did well with 91 patch species, but that took a drastic downturn with only 1 in February (Yellowhammer) and 1 in March ( Lesser black backed Gull) and unless there is a radical turn around on the weather forecast cant see there being any more new additions this month.

Still, I'll be out tomorrow looking to see if a battered Wheatear or Black Redstart as been catapulted onto the coast. You never know. Even a Collared Dove would do....

Roll on April.

  

  

Lots of spuggies at the feeders...

Its very quiet...

...and bloody cold!

No spring migrants, no moths or butterflies, no flowers so time for some lateral thinking.

If its an id challenge you need,  there is always something in the wide world of natural history to keep us probing. You just have to keep an eye open for the unusual.

I have just read Peter Marren's book, Mushrooms, and cant wait to get stuck in. While looking for fungi, various lichens etc also catch the eye...

A wander around some upland woods this morning after the rather slow WeBs count at Branton found a variety of life to look up later on.

Birch Polypore

Hairy Curtain Crust

Lichen Cladonia portentosa

Lichen Ramalina canariensis ?

Dogs Vomit Slime Mould 

    Now, these are very basic identifications so if you are an expert in these fields I would appreciate a comment to keep me right. The Dogs Vomit (sorry) is  past its best, but I am just about sure thats what it is...unless it actually is...

A bit of archaeology too...

On Sunday, John and myself took a trip to the most ancient of Northumberland's landscapes, to visit a site of cup and ring marked stones. There are countless opinions as to the meaning of the carvings and symbols and we will never know for sure why they were produced. 3,000 years ago, primitive man must have had a plan for them. What I find amazing is that similar carvings are found in other countries too, in a time of no communication I would have thought even a few miles away things would have evolved differently.

Northumberland contains the largest number of recorded cup and ring marked sites in Britain. These ancient markings are found on exposed rock faces in the northern hills and usually involve cup shaped depressions surrounded by concentric circles that are often joined by grooves.

Up here in this quiet, now bleak, landscape you wonder how people lived then and how people will live in 3,000 years time....

Our (public) path took us right past a newly refurbished Raven's nest where the adult let us know we werent welcome with variety of cronks, chuckles and capercaillie like 'pops'. We left them at peace in obvious view so they wouldnt be afraid we were lurking nearby.

Some rocks were covered in lichens including the Golden Shield Lichen Xanthoria parietina and the one below that I am struggling to i.d ( any help appreciated). [Dog Lichen Peltigera canina. Thanks anon.]

Near home, a flock of 80+ Bramblings was a nice find at the entrance to Howick Quarry where they fed in a game crop. The group also had single numbers of Tree Sparrow, Yellowhammer, Goldfinch and Chaffinch.

Casualty...

This female Great spotted Woodpecker was the unfortunate casualty of a window collision in our garden yesterday. Maybe flushed by a Sparrowhawk or maybe not, what a shame at this time. I get a pair or more chasing aggressively around the feeders most days. I'll be on the look out now to see if there is a second hen bird for our man...

On checking the Baker Guide to Non Passerines, this bird is an adult female. there is no contrast in the wing coverts, just a nice uniform glossy black colour.


[ 27th Feb - another female on the nuts, it doesnt take long ...]

Goosanders, Goldeneye and Goshawk...

Its nice have a pleasant, fair and sunny weekend for a change.

Yesterday morning my first singing Blackbird of the year was announcing the new day in all his glory.

I went off to meet John a little earlier than usual now that the mornings are getting light sooner, and we headed off to Branton Pits to do his WeBs count a week late.

Some of the pond had a very light skim of ice showing that winter is still grabbing on to the door frame as we throw her out for, what we hope will be, the last time. The wildfowl were in fine fettle though with groups of Goldeneye and Goosander displaying around the site.

Goosanders

The Fishing Party...

We had 10+ Goldeneye, 6+ Goosander, 25+ Tufted Duck, 1 Pochard, 20+ Wigeon and 61 Teal. Returning waders included 17 Oystercatchers and 4 Lapwing, while around the car park 3 Song Thrushes were singing and chasing around, Chaffinches sang every where and, not to be outdone, even a Reed Bunting was 'shouting it out'. A Kingfisher dashed across the pond while maybe another two called unseen.

At the west pond, an imm male Peregrine was showing well sitting on one of the pylons before moving off up the valley. We checked the favoured spots for Adders but there were none, its still maybe a little too early.

One of Johns pics, better than mine...

Goshawk

After finishing the count at Hedgeley, we moved up to higher ground to scan some forest while having our tea. Soon, our goal appeared,a close view of a male Goshawk over the road showing close enough to see his supercillium in the sunshine. Its a pity my photos are so poor...

Back home, more raptors were being territorial when 4 Buzzards flew low over garden mewing their heads off. 30+ Tree Sparrows were on the feeders and checking out nest boxes and 2 Grey Partridges were in the back field.

Last Nights Mothing...

I have donated last nights moth post to Alnwick Wildlife Group. Please check them out and give it a follow...

Alnwick Wildlife Group

Cheers.

Its that time again...

Chestnut sp?

A time of confusion. I logged this moth as Chestnut the other night when it flew in the kitchen, but now, looking at the photos I'm erring on the side of a worn Dark Chestnut?

Any comments gratefully received. I do this at the beginning of every year...

Stewart and the Birdcatcher...

Steve Gale has started something here on his blog North Downs and beyond, yet again... . He askes why do we do it, this birding mullarky. I started to leave him a  comment but I got a tad carried away so here it is. Please check out Steve's blog, he's a great writer that certainly gets you thinking...

Anyway where was I, oh yes -

Why?

Why wake up? To me birding isn't a hobby or something taken up to fill in early retirement and to spend cash on now the kids and mortgage have gone. 

Its something I have done for ever, but maybe not in the form we 'birders' would recognise today. 

Aged  6 or 7 I liked books with pictures of birds or animals in. I didn't have any interest in cars or trains or football. Those things were all made by man, so by default, everything that it was possible to know, was already known. If you get the drift. Not that I knew that as a wee bairn, but I did seem to have some empathy for creatures other than my species.

I was given the first edition of Heinzel, Fitter and Parslow in 1972 aged 8. In this year my mother died so maybe that forced me to get stuck in, to blank things out, but I read that guide like kids would read Janet and John. Cover to cover. I could name the lot, and even recognised bits of text to show what bird was what, but I didnt know that people actually went out specifically to look for birds. Bird watching.

As a child, I just went out to play and took notice of the birds around the council estate where we lived. The only other people I knew who looked at birds were the older lads at school who went nesting. If you've seen the film 'Kes' I could have slotted in there, seamlessly.

I remember my first Goldfinch on a fence, my first Blue and Great Tits, known from the book, on a neighbours peanuts. My first Dunnock sneaked into view on our lawn when I was gazing through a rain spattered window. I could go on. They all came to life like seeing a famous person in the flesh for the first time, or like a footballer other lads idolised from the telly. 

My dad was the local park keeper and had to take me to work with him during the school holidays and on summer nights so I prowled around catching butterflies, frogs, hedgehogs and even finding nests in the hedges ( no eggs were taken, dad would have killed me).  

Aged about 10 or 11, dad took me to see a bloke he knew from the local working mens club. His name was Geordie. He was a retired coal miner with an allotment filled with strange wire mesh covered greenhouses. Imagine taking a young lad and dumping him in a secluded hut with an old fella these days!  The reason for it was that Geordie, bred cage birds. Not just canaries or budgies, oh no, this was the hard up north east, budgies seemed a bit too tropical, Geordie was a British bird breeder who specialised in finches. 

He was a bird catcher.

That first day 'down the garden' was a revelation. Dad kind of paraded me around several aviaries and sheds getting Geordie to test my id skills...'Whats that' he would say pointing high up to a shape in some gorse tied to the mesh of the well covered aviary. 'Siskin!' 'Male' ( or what ever) was the cry, and one after another I got them all right. There were Goldfinches and Bullfinches, Greenfiches and Siskins, Redpolls and Linnets many singing their heads off in their large secluded 'bioshpheres'.

Now I'm not getting into the debate of the legalities and rights and wrongs of this, but in 1974 no one was really bothered.

I went to see Geordie every Saturday and Sunday morning at first light where, during the late autumn and winter we would try and catch specific birds such as female Bullfinch or Greenfinches to breed from. When he had a target everything else was left to its business, so needless to say we never caught much. The few hapless individuals that were caught, where taken in a 'greenhouse' aviary with the door open and a string tied to it leading back to the shed. Male 'call birds' were hung in small cages  inside to sing and chatter to attract their own kind. If we were lucky and one went in, the string would be pulled and the door closed. No Bird Lime here, it was frowned upon, it would damage the feathers and feet of the birds.It was cruel.

During the summer Geordie and me would go out collecting wild food for his breeders, plants such as Fat Hen, Chickweed, Persicaria, Docks, Thistles and bunches of groundsel,  things like larch branches, broom and gorse as nesting cover were all  brought back. He would show me nests of Redpoll, and even Willow Warblers and Whitethroats, There were tales of Red Squirrels and Bats ( bats down the pit!?). Before I was 12 I could pick out a flying Redpoll half a mile away on call, and Bramblings likewise.

This was my learning ground for about 5 years, not Bird Forum.

Another real mentor of mine, I hope wont mind me saying, is still in the side column on the right, under the blog Abbey Meadows. Nigel lived near relatives of mine in another village several miles away. When I was about 9, Nigel was two or three years older. I used to stay over at the relations, and go to seek Nige at about 5.30 or 6 am when we would set off wandering the lanes and bridlepaths looking for wildlife. In those days Nigel had been on real bird watching trips to the coast seeing Merlin and Arctic Skua, just fantasy birds for me. I was over the moon to see Goldcrests  and Yellowhammers and Corn Buntings were widespread in Northumberland then. Nigel told me what various wild flowers were ( I still struggle with those) and he is still hunting them out now, 40 years later.

So thats HOW it all started, but WHY?

You know, I dont really know. I just know that when I am outside feeling the wind on my face and hearing my first Swallow overhead or jostling for my first Belted Kingfisher, or hearing the Tuk Tuk Tuk of a cock Pheasant waiting under my feeders in the garden, looking at the first Speedwell flowers in spring, or seeing a fleeting Stoat dash across the road, this just seems right. 

All problems are put in a different room even just for few minutes...It helps me breathe...

As for those that can just pack it all in because they dipped a Scarlet Tanager in Cornwall? Thats the real 'why'? Its all their loss... 

Thanks for your patience. Especially if you have read some of this babble before...

     

In the doldrums...

February can be like that. For me. probably the worst month of the year. Locally, most of the wintering birds have been found by the end of January, and its while before spring reaches Northumberland ( does it ever?) so its a case of getting out and about regardless and hoping for the best.

Today I walked down to Howick burn mouth and back by the coast then had a quick drive up to Craster to check the harbour. It was dull cold and breezy from the south east. Bleak might describe it. I was hoping to add to the patch list with Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Collared Dove, but even these paltry specimens remained elusive. This is the bit where I drop in 'I found a Ross's Gull' 'Which was nice', but I didnt.

The highlight would have been 2 probably Whooper Swans N but I only caught their arse end but I think I heard one call ( its not going on the list) and 8 Shelducks N along the coast, ...and nothing else.

Yesterday, my first new bird of Feb was the missing Yellowhammer, when a lone male was glowing from overhead wires above the bean field.

No 92

Pah...

Note the sun is shining and the bird is in our garden so its an old photo...

Birding Frontiers and Biotope at NTBC

Last night I went to my first bird club meeting this year ( and maybe last too?). The reason? Well, it was to see Martin Garner and Tormod Amundsen shake their stuff and hopefully provide some inspiration. This they did in spades, in fact they could have been life coach speakers, with the crowd almost whooping with fevered excitement!

It makes a change to get a double act that holds attention for the full night. A superb night and it would be highly recommended for anyone except this was their last date on tour, so if you didnt catch up with them, reflect on missing a great talk.

Afterwards we did the usual stand around and chat at the club. I say usual, it used to be usual for me. I never missed an indoor meeting for about 15 years until recently, but now the distance is a bit too far from home. I noticed another thing too, in my self imposed exile, half the attending members have changed into people I dont know! No sign of stalwarts like ADMC, Alan Jack, Richard Dunn, Nigel, John, John H, Nick Rossiter, John Richardson Tom n Mu, Les Robson, Ian Douglas, Bob Dack, Mike Holmes, Mike Natrass, Alan Johnston, Alan Janes, Lindsey MacDougall, etc etc. all ones I liked to catch up with.

This got me wondering about their absence...Some will have been busy, but others, I know for a fact, have jacked it all in. I wonder why? I wonder when I'll cut the reins and be added to the 'missing in action' list?

With the ready access to virtual birding colleagues via the internet, maybe these casual catch ups dont fill the gap they once did? More for discussion here another time...

Mmmm....Night all.

Oh we got our 2011 annual report -

One of the illustrations I did for BiN2011...

You dare....

A county tick...

I'm just waiting for the first blogger who titles their Cattle Egret post 'Egret's I've had a few' and that's my monitor booted...

Anyway, yesterday on Holy Island, a fantastic county bird was identified after a three day guise as a Little Egret, an understandable oversight considering this is only the second for Northumberland and the first since 1986. That bird was on private land and seen only by Roger Forster, 'Hexham' Ray Craig and John Proudlock.

As you can imagine all the local county listers, including yours truly, were keen to get onto Lindisfarne to add this fallen blocker to ever slowing lists. Unfortunately for those tardy enough to have a cup of tea and half a bar of dairy milk at the car before going on site, by nine oclock it had taken cover in the only sheltered garden on the Crooked Lonnen.

The garden of the white chalet is the only inaccessible tree filled spot on the island, but it is quite small so we just had to wait it out and scan through the straggled hawthorns and sheep mesh until our goal wandered into view on the lawn.

I managed a couple of just about reasonable views as it pulled unseen morsels from the grass and that was it. It filtered out of sight, a bit like our enthusiasm, so we wandered off towards the harbour.

On the rocket fields were 380+ Teal, scanned for yankee versions, and 60+ Pale bellied Brents.

Thats probably the listing excitement for this year so its back onto the patch, where I still cant find a Yellowhammer. I know where they are though...

...while us filthy county listers were shamefully abandoning ship, a well known Stringer  Pied Piper has lured them to his lair....

No photos today which is a shame as it was sunny with a good covering of snow first thing.

A walk around the coast path was very scenic but almost birdless apart from one or two species in good numbers. Skylarks made their presence known in a steady southerly drift with flocks of 300, 200, 100+ and 30+ all within half an hour.

On the garden feeders were 22 Tree Sparrows, 3 Fieldfares plus the usuals.

This afternoon a lot of Redwings and Fieldfares were around the village, maybe 70+ of each, with a few Bramblings well scattered. A Stock Dove was only my second this year, while 2 Lapwings flew west and a Pied Wagtail south A pair of Hares were out the back looking just about to start boxing and a Roe doe had to be encouraged gently to move off the road and into safety.

A detour from shopping via Boulmer showed the field to be back to its pre-drainage days giving the place its old name of Bulls-mere. A flock of 29 Brent Geese on here were mostly pale bellied but there were maybe 5 dark bellied plus 3 Canada Geese.

Tomorrow we are heading up to Holy Island, hoping to connect with Northumberland's 2nd Cattle Egret. It would be a county tick for just about every one after the first bird spent 10 days on a private site in 1986.

Fingers crossed.

Some Snow...

This weeks snow pattern has been mostly away from the coastal strip. Yesterday all of our snow here had gone, but a surprise lay in wait when we got up for work this morning. A good 2 inches had dropped and was still tipping it down until almost lunchtime. First thing we checked the roads and found them to be a nightmare so, an impromptu holiday was called in and that was the day off.

The main coastal road south. Nice, clear and well gritted.

 We didn't go far, but the garden birds provided a good distraction -

Fieldfare 17+ on the few apples we had left. A garden record.
Blackbird 6+
Redwing 1
Tree Sparrow 6+
Chaffinch 10+
Brambling 4 ( 2 males and 2 females)
Goldfinch 5
Long tailed Tit 4
plus all the other regulars...

4 Lapwings and a Redpoll flew south overhead.

Fieldfare

From the Notebook

Oh and I almost forgot, a new moth for the year on our kitchen wall last night - Agonopterix arenella.

Ton Up...

Another bleak winters day today, but the morning on foot around the patch turned up a massive 6 new additions, including two of the targets mentioned yesterday.

The wind was strong again, cutting, on the coast path, but after adding an extra layer, I took position on the cliff top at Cullernose Point gazing at a largely blank sea. If I had not been doing the Patch Challenge, I would have given this no more than a cursory glance and been off for shelter, but common species take on extra significance with an added spice of competition.

So, I sat it out for 45 minutes seeing three new additions that would have hardly had me lifting the bins later in the year -

Gannet 3 adults S
Kittiwake 1 adult N
Wigeon 2 N
Goldeneye 1N
Eider 3 N
Common Scoter 1 female N
Fulmar 30+ milling around.

Amazing to see the top two species are worth two points in the challenge...

In the fields were 100+ Skylarks, 40 Golden Plover, 2 Lapwing, 30 Fieldfare and 50+ Linnets.

At this stage I retired home for breakfast and to shake off hypothermia before heading out again in an inland direction.

A wet corner was very productive when 11 Snipe flushed with 2 Woodcock nearby. I'll keep an eye on this damp spot for Jack Snipe, a full new species for the patch, as the weeks go on. A rough field here had more Fieldfares and Redwings with 3 Reed Bunting but still no Yellowhammers?

3 Brown Hares were beginning to 'box' on the heugh.

The route home was mainly quiet in the woods but after some lengthy perseverance my target surrendered -a Treecreeper, skulking about in the moss low down on a tree trunk. The pond here had 6 Mallard a Little Grebe and a Heron. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was in full drumming mode, a hint of spring in this winter weather.

That's me then for another week, 90 species (100 points) and a new record for January after 87 in Jan 2010. With still another weekend to go and a common species or two left to find, hopefully I can push the boundary even further.    

What a dismal day here today. The wind was a cold easterly that almost knocked me on my arse as I walked the coast path. This, interspersed with sleet and hail on an overcast day didn't bode well for birding.

We walked from home around the coast path and back via the village Lane within an hour this morning, and surprisingly had a few things of note.

In the sheltered fields were 70+ Golden Plover, 100+ Redwings and 30+ Fieldfares. The stubble field near the old rectory held a nice flock of 200+ Skylarks that were diligently scanned but the only other birds with them were one or two Linnets.

A party of 30 or so Lapwings flew from near the Bathing House then I noticed the muscular shape of a large female Peregrine, in flight, facing into the teeth of the gale as if it were a summer day. A closer look showed the bird to be an immature, that eventually flew north towards Cullernose Point.

One or two Meadow Pipits were calling unseen near the farm, while a Buzzard was viewed from the kitchen as it cruised the Heugh fields..

I'll be out 'patching' around the doors tomorrow hoping to add Yellowhammer ( where have they gone?), Treecreeper and maybe Woodcock to the list. No doubt I'll see none of these, but something is sure to turn up with this weather.

Watch this space.

Peregrine 84 sp ( 92 points) on the Patch Challenge. 

An older notebook sketch...

A working week...

Means that there is no daylight to do any patch birding. However, a change in the weather on Monday did, indeed, shuffle things up a bit. Most of this week has seen temps drop to -5 here at Howick, with snow in varying amounts most days. This has encouraged birds to move towards the coast from more hard pressed areas, so I have managed a good total of patch ticks without leaving the garden.

Each day I feed the birds at first light before heading off to work. In the quiet of morning, calls are easy to detect as things move from roost to feeding sites early on in these short days.

So what has been occurring?

Skylark - The distinctive ripple call of birds in the stubble behind our house.
Barn Owl - In the evening, the harsh, wheezing hiss of a bird hunting along the field margin next to our drive.
Grey Wagtail - One over the roof of the holiday cottage calling 'Tssick'.
Golden Plover -  Three this morning flying over the back field. Silent.
Redwing -  A few in the copse next to the garden calling 'Tzeee' then seen in flight.
Fieldfare - 20+ with Redwings above, including one on apples in our garden today.
Meadow Pipit -  A lone bird dancing over the stubble calling 'seeet'.

Nice, 7 patch ticks, all on foot, taking me up to 83 patch species so far in January ( 82 on shanks's). Hopefully more to come this weekend in this easterly gale and snow...

Not a bad patch really, still no Yellowhammer or Collared Dove though....

It could be a little 'otter...

Out to Branton and Hedgeley Pits near Powburn on this fine calm morning with John.

A phone photo I'm afraid.

It was a frosty -1.5 according to the car, with a very light peppering of snow on hard surfaces. The ponds were very calm with lightly frozen margins that look like the whole surface would soon be covered if the recent weather forecasts are correct.

Quite a few ducks were present including a hundred or so Tufted. In this flock were a nice male Pochard, an all too scarce bird up here these days, and best of all two Scaup. A long way inland, I cant remember seeing one here before, though John assures me we have had one at some time.

In my notes they went down as a fw male and a female, but on checking the literature at home, both may have been females. They looked quite different, one having a blackish brown head and greyish brown body, but it did have a huge white blaze on the face, even bigger than the so-called female.An adult and imm female perhaps?

Scaup

Anyway, they were both Scaup. Good enough.

A nice Kingfisher landed next to us briefly until it realised its mistake and flew off to cover, calling.

Over the road to Hedgeley, there were less birds but it still had some to count. The surprise here was a flock of 22 Curlew, already looking towards upland breeding areas. A stroll down to the river Till here had a Dipper fly downstream, calling and a Green Sandpiper upstream, again, calling for attention. An Otter had left its tracks in the soft wet sand on the stream edge not too long before our arrival...

A quickly scribbled Green Sand.

Back home, no new patch ticks this weekend, but the forecast for some snow and cold winds might shake things up a bit...

Otter tracks on the Till.

Nice day...

Today I had a walk to the lesser visited areas of the Howick patch, the north west ( check the map, right).

Above - The path in the left of this shot going across the turnip field is the north west boundary of this years recording area. In the background is Hips Heugh ( pronounced 'hyuff'), part of the Whin Sill a geological feature.

 

Above - The track along this field edge borders some mature trees, not quite a wood, more a belt. This is the western boundary.

Above - A winters view of our village. Facing east.

Anyway, the pics above kind of show the route I took this morning for an hour. Three species were added to the year list - Brambling, 1 flew calling from the copse next to the village, Reed Bunting, a male near the turnip field in the top image, and Nuthatch a nice male prospecting tree holes near the main road.

This afternoon in a change from the norm, I took the car along to Craster to check the far north ned, a new addition to my usual recording area. Straight away one of my target species in this area fell - Willow Tit. On feeders near a holiday chalet next to the tourist info car park. 2 Purple Sandpipers were in the car park and that was about it really. This end will come into its own during the migration seasons...

List now - 76 ( 83 pts)

 

Off Patch Gandalf...

Hobbit 2012

Middle Earth 2007

 We must have just missed him....

Much ado about mothing...

Only one moth in the trap last night -

Pale brindled Beauty

Still, its early so anything is better than nothing. Looking forward to spring...

Out with Bunty, north to Cullernose. The weather was calm and dull but mild, looks like rain later. A nice flock of 60+ Linnets with 5 Greenfinches and a Goldfinch were in the stubble, and the cliff face Fulmars were active but other than that there wasn't much to raise the bins for.

On the return journey a Razorbill, a list addition, was preening and stretching offshore with a Red throated Diver alongside.

A Snatch of Patch...

Today was my first real bash at the patch, so armed with scope I headed off the have a 'stand and stare' from the high point at the Howick Haven. I arrived to meet a lovely calm sunrise over a mirror flat sea, with a mild very light SW1 blowing. Just the job for listening out for birds flying over.

Dawn at the Haven

As the dawn light increased, new patch species came thick and fast - 3 Purple Sandpipers, 11 Goldeneye, a pair of Red breasted Merganser, Common Scoter and a faint 'peep' alerted me to a nice female Kingfisher sitting on the rocks. Over head, 22 Pink feet flew south while 9 Red throated Divers loafed in the bay.

The view south, this is the south end of my patch.

And the view North towards the Bathing House and Dunstanburgh castle.

Further down to the burn mouth, a male Shelduck was a good find for the time of year being more easily seen in the spring. Another glance seaward added a Guillemot to the total.

Fired up with this boost, I headed around to the Pond Field to see if there were any ducks at all, as there were none on my last visit. As I was the first visitor here this morning at least Mallard, Teal and Little Grebe made a show, with Stock Dove, Greenfinch and a bonus female Blackcap in the woods for good measure.

Back home for a late breakfast, no new species were added, but on the feeders a Siskin was at the niger seed with Goldfinches, 4+ Long tailed Tits fed like animated lollipops on the nuts and at least 10 Tree Sparrows were on the seed feeders.

Goldfinch male. Note the extent of red on the face.

Long tailed Tit.

My first Moth trapping session of the year yielded only a single moth but it was notable, being my earliest Hebrew Character by a full month. 

Hebrew Character, first moth caught of 2013.

If this nice weather holds maybe a few common omissions from the bird list will show themselves...

The running total after today - 71 species ( 77 points). Maybe another 10 to get before the end of January...All on foot and all self found.

I was pleased to see that the first Winter Aconites are in flower in Denwick Churchyard. Often they are later than the Snowdrops to start, so they must be around somewhere too.

A couple of dog walks today yielded some patch additions - Mute Swan, Fulmar, Shag, Buzzard and more unexpectedly a first winter Mediterranean Gull wandering the top fields with a few Black headeds. I've added these birds to the Patch Challenge record sheet and find that the sea birds are worthy of 2 points making them 'better' than the commoner species. Yet Tree Sparrow is only a one pointer.

The only other thing of note today were a few Long tailed Tits on our garden feeders, not a common sight here.

Tomorrow I'll be out having a bit of a seawatch, first thing. I'm not particularly after the typical sea birds, but it can be a good way for me to add a few freshwater wildfowl, some waders or maybe a Snow Bunting on a fly by. I'll give it an hour anyway.

You never know there may be a photo or two on the next post...

A flurry...

..of blog posts.

Those of you who thought I'd had a big 'drift' of Snow Buntings are to be disappointed. Work beckoned today, this means that I will not see daylight at home on my patch before Saturday. The plus side though is that I am off most of next week, due to pet care issues, so weather permitting I should boost the Howick list little bit.

Just scanning down the blog I see that I have a few more followers than I expected, maybe due to my recent Twitter activity ( @Stewchat) or maybe not. I also see that in 2012 I only made 67 posts on 'From the Notebook' though other moth related posts were on 'The Orthosia Enthusiast'. This is my worst year on here since I began blogging in 2006. Even then in 6 months I had 85 posts. So its time to get my finger out and get back to blogging basics. I'll be putting 'TOE' on hold and joining my moth posts in with this lot.

In 2013 I will try and A) See stuff to blog about and B) Blog about it once seen.

Please have patience...

Happy New Year

Not a proper days birding but a few walks out with Jane and Bunty with a running total kept along the way.

In total 50 species were recorded 'on foot from home' which is about what I would expect to get, however, a few common species were missing that must be lurking somewhere - Collared Dove, Mallard, Shag, Cormorant, Fulmar, Buzzard, Yellowhammer, Goldeneye, Treecreeper, Nuthatch etc.

I think the biggest stumbling block for getting a full 'expected' list here is that the daylight hours are not long enough even on days with good weather. Not to worry, these birds and others will drop into place soon.

The days highlights were a good late passage south of Pink footed Geese with 75, 40, 46, 25 and 22 all going south, a scattering of Crossbills with 1 and 6 over home and 10+ at the burn mouth and a flock of 10+ Bar tailed Godwits flying north seen from the pub window at Craster!

The day ended with a few Tawny Owls in full hoot heard from the drive.

I checked our local copse to see if the Snowdrops were flowering yet but they weren't, maybe another week or so. Last year they were out on 2nd January.

Well, it's back to work tomorrow with the likelyhood of a few days off next week...