The Autumn that keeps giving...

 I ended last Monday's post wondering if this week with its associated weather forecast would bring anything of interest. Well it did, and here is a longer than usual post covering my three days leave and this weekend. Please bear with me...

Wednesday 14th October...

All over social media birders hopes were high that this week would bring an avalanche of good birds to the East coast. To me, the surface pressure charts didn't seem quite the classic being mooted but it still held promise. The wind has been largely in the North and East, but there was no long corridor of isobars across to the orient.

Today was breezy with a NE3-4 and quite mild. This changed at around mid afternoon when it became cold and grey with some heavy rain squalls moving through. To keep an eye on the prospects, I spent the day seawatching. Two sessions from 08.45 - 11.00 and 2pm - 4pm. It was slow but steady.

Red throated Diver 25 N 2 S

Wigeon 223 N

Teal 59 N

Pale bellied Brent Geese 3 N

Dark bellied Brent Geese 14 N

Common Scoter 32 N

Red breasted Merganser 14 N

Goldeneye 5 N

Mallard 4 N 3 S

Eider 11 N

Shelduck 1 N

Manx Shearwater 3 N

Fulmar 1 S

Pomarine Skua 1 juv N

Bonxie 2 N

Little Auk 1 N First of the autumn, typically very close in just over the breakers.

Later in the afternoon, news came out from Holy Island of lots of migrants, including several rare and scarce birds. Red flanked Bluetail, Dusky Warbler, Barred Warbler and Little Bunting highlighted the finds until a distantly observed small 'red-backed' type Shrike was found near the Chare Ends. It had my alarm bells ringing straight away with its dark chestnut upper parts and disproportionately long, stuck-on, tail.

Thursday 15th October...

After yesterdays poor weather today was fine and clear with a light N3 Breeze.

A promising sign when I had Peggy out for her early walk, when we flushed 2 Woodcock of the coast path.

I met John up on Holy Island at 0830 to check out the shrike. It was now being put out as a first winter Brown Shrike, a first for Northumberland and a UK lifer for me and John. Before we got across the causeway, the bird had flown off high west and was missing, being looked for.

We joined in the hunt wandering over the the Excavations but birds were thin on the ground. There were no or very few common visitors such as thrushes etc. A Snow Bunting called as it circled around over head and a nicely marked Merlin watched us from the top of a hawthorn in the dunes. We were about to give up, when the message came through, Brown Shrike, back on hawthorns near its original spot. Within 10 minutes were were on the bird. We kept our distance, from it and each other but viewing through the scope was excellent in good early light. I have seen many Brown Shrikes in China and this bird gave no cause for concern to me, a classic mahogany coloured, bull headed Brown Shrike with a tail like a Long-tailed Tit!

Unfortunately I needed off the island before the tide for dog duties, leaving no time to catch up with a Bluetail or Dusky Warbler.

 

Above -  Brown Shrike, first winter, Chare Ends, Holy Island.

Friday 16th October ...

Met up with John and Boulmer to see if we could get in on the rarity action closer to home. We spent the morning covering the north part of the headland on a calm cool morning not seeing very much.

1 Chiffchaff, 9+ Crossbills N, 6+ Twite with 100+ Linnets, 10 Whooper Swans S, 2000 Pinkfeet S, 1000+ Golden Plover, 1 Peregrine, 2 Grey Partridge and the usual common species. All to be enjoyed but with this weather hype, a bit disappointing. Still, we worked for the birds we had and after all, time in the field equals good birds found. Eventually...

Sunday 18th October...

Last night I messaged John saying we should really go back to Holy Island as we must be the only Northumberland birders who haven't seen a Red flanked Bluetail this week. Somewhere between 2 and 5 individuals have been on the island along with the shrike and many lesser rarities, it would make for a good morning out. After an hour thinking, I sent him another message saying I think we should just go to Boulmer to find our own Bluetail...you never know. Its always a gamble to risk missing some excellent birding for little reward.

We were on site for first light and it was very quickly apparent that today was quiet. Still, there had to be a good bird somewhere around, it was finding it that was the problem. Along the shore were 2 Red throated Divers, 1 Red breasted Merganser, 12+ Sanderling, 8+ Bar tailed Godwit and 1 Purple Sandpiper with hundreds of mixed gulls and smaller waders such as Dunlin and Turnstone.

Up at the caravan site we had Blackbirds dropping in with 30+ birds and a scattering of Song Thrush and Redwing. Skylarks were moving south, we had over a hundred in the morning, plus 7+ Siskin and several very high Redpolls.

It was time for our breakfast back at the car along at the south end layby, near the top of the golfcourse. 

We had scoffed a box of veggie sausage rolls, a scone each and a chocolate brownie and were contemplating what to do next over a second cup of tea when John commented, whats that? 

He was looking up at the sycamore beside the car. I raised the bins and could see it was a Wheatear. It seemed quite small and it was very late now but being back lit against the sky wasn't going to solve it. 

I walked back along the road to get a better light on the bird. Luckily it stayed put. On looking at it, on the top of the tall tree, I could see it looked pale and asked John to bring his camera along. He took some record shots. The bird still didn't move so I went back along the verge to get my own camera. 

By the time I got it out and turned on, I pointed up at the branches and locked on to a ... male Stonechat? Looking back at John, he was now facing away from me bent,  stalking along the fence with his camera. The bird had flown along and on to the fence line where it looked much better at eye level. We were over the moon to realise it was a female Desert Wheatear!  The increasing traffic along the road flushed the wheatear and we lost it. For the next hour we hunted along the shore and across field but it seemed to have moved on. Luckily reinforcements arrived and Mark Eaton picked the bird up half way over the ploughed filed on the opposite side of the road.

While we discussed it, a nice Siberian Chiffchaff called its light piping noe in the bushes, eventually showing quite well.

Desert Wheatear. What a bird to find on a quiet morning on the patch. A first for Boulmer too. I am pleased we didn't follow the masses to Holy Island after all because finding your own rare bird can't be beaten. I've just remembered too, there is a super hyperzonky mega rarity 300 miles away in Norfolk. What's it called again?

One of those days.

 Despite some northerly promise, the day turned out to be pretty average overall with too much rain for the forecast.

The morning was spent at Boulmer to Longhoughton Steel, looking for Dan's American Golden Plover on a rising tide. Unfortunately we only saw 180 Golden Plovers out of about 2,000 so it may have moved on.

At first light, 10 Whooper Swans flew S over head and a couple of Bramblings came into the village. Waders on the shore included 71 Dunlin, 9 Sanderling, 1 Knot, 9 Bar tailed Godwit and 30+ Turnstone. A pair of Stonechats and 6+ Rock Pipits were on the seaweed.

A casual seawatch had 1 Sooty Shearwater, 2 Common Scoter, 2 Velvet Scoter all N with 9 Red throated Divers N and 1 S. We missed a high over the top White billed though that was a bit irksome, but you can't get them all.

An adult Mediterranean Gull was with Black headeds, a Peregrine hunted the Golden Plovers and a male Merlin came in with prey, maybe a Starling and headed off inland.

In the afternoon, chivvied on by thoughts of divers, I had an hour at Cullernose but it was all Gannets and Auks apart from another 2 Velvet Scoter, 2 Sandwich Terns, 2 Red throated Divers N and 37 Pink footed Geese S.

6 Rock Pipits were entertaining as they checked me out while I was seawatching...   

Hopefully a change in the weather this week will provide more interest...

Migration, and not just birds...

 There has been a lot of exciting birds on the move recently so its easy to get fixated on finding more, but autumn comes to other groups too, none less so that the moths.

Last night shortly before 7pm, it was getting dusk so I was out putting the moth trap on. Adjusting the auto timer anyway. As I stepped out of the door, a large moth buzzed past me below waist height . It flew the length of my car and I lost it as it left the beam of the head lamp. 

I knew it could only be one thing at this time of year -  a Convolvulous Hawk-moth.

Jane came out to help me look for it. We have one or two 'last-legs' nicotiana flowers hanging on in the garden so we checked these first. My initial sighting was at a planter near our door that has a couple left in. We wandered around but there was no sign. There was clearly an arrival of Silver Y moths on other plants, but no biggie.

Jane went in to finish tea. I was about to give up then thought how there were very few flowers suitable for a hawk-moth in our village right now, so it might be worth another lap, it might just come back?

In the front garden I slowly checked along the house windows with the torch. Nothing. Then I heard a buzzing behind me. I turned and there it was! A lovely Convolvulous Hawk-moth at the nicotianas! We have planted these for 10 years for this very reason but have had no luck until now. If you saw the One Show the other night, they did a piece on these moths and how they come to flowers along the south coast of England. Northumberland is a long way north, so to get a Convolvulous is a red-letter day indeed.

Over the years I have seen several. My first was at our old house where it was attracted to an outside light so I got a sweeping brush, reached up high, and persuaded it into the bedroom window. We also found one randomly on the hub cap of a Vauxhall Astra in a pub car park at Blakeney, Norfolk one year while we were on a holiday, and we saw a few at Portland Bird Obs moth trap too, but to get a nice one in our garden is still amazing...

After a few flash lit photos we placed him, it was a male, back into the nicotiana thicket and left him to continue what time he has left...

That moth is every bit as good as the Great Grey Shrike!

Grike!

 A day annual leave due to the weather forecast from last week, just in case there were more migrants to be had. I didn't go up to Holy Island after all. The Bluetail was a little bit more reticent than yesterday and I wasn't desperate for Lesser Grey Shrike either, so, on a lovely fine mild autumn day, I stayed local.

Mid morning as the sun warmed the large sycamore on our gable end I pulled up a chair and watched for  half an hour. A single Yellow browed Warbler showed beautifully in dappled sunshine between the branches,  male and female Blackcaps gleaned the leaves while a few Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs flitted around. Another two Yellow-browed Warblers were seen and heard nearby with one on the coast path and another in our village wood.

I walked Peggy up the back field where the Lesser Whitethroat was still present but elusive. It called an unusual 'chuk chuk churrrrrrrrrrr' the last dry rattle was like a wren or red breasted flycatcher. a call I've not heard before. A Brambling made a right old racket calling near our feeders with another along the village lane.

A few Skylarks, 2 Grey Wagtails and 6 Redpolls flew south over head.

At 3 oclock I checked my phone and had missed a call from John. He had found a 'grey shrike' at Boulmer but it was distant and he had gone for his scope. In full frantic mode I jumped i the car and was there in 10 minutes but the shrike was nowhere to be seen.

We grilled every hedgerow across the farmland where there are no public paths at all despite some decent tracks that could be walked. Nothing. We decided to walk the main road and view east so the light would be better for spotting shrikes on hedges. Only 5 Blackcaps, 3 Chiffchaffs and few Goldcrests and a Willow Tit were seen, so we were doing the trudge back thinking the shrike had continued its migration.

As we passed Seaton Park caravan site, a bird flushed from the roadside hedge and flew high. Our shrike! It soon landed atop a tall sycamore to view the field for prey. Here it could be seen to be a lovely Great Grey Shrike, probably the finest and most stately of the tribe. After a while it dashed into a linnet flock , hovering like a kestrel but failing to secure a meal. It then flew across the field back to its original hedge.

What a spell Boulmer is having this autumn! Long may it continue...  

Great Grey Shrike, Boulmer, a first for the site. 

 

They fell for it...

 It seems that the weekend's Easterly weather pattern certainly lived up to its expectations, on the islands anyway. 

Holy Island was sinking under the weight of a fall of migrant birds and and an even bigger deluge of migrant birders with fans drifting in from far and wide to catch a glimpse of the rare and scarce. 

What a day they had too, with Red flanked Bluetail, Lesser Grey Shrike, 2 Red breasted Flycatchers, Little Bunting, Barred Warbler, multiple Yellow browed Warblers, Hawfinch and hoards of padders  ( for those with a notebook, probably rarer than the bluetail) to make for a once in a decade spectacle. For once, this part-time island was more like one of the more popular Northern Isles than an offshoot of North East England.

Meanwhile, those mainland patch loyals still did quite well if you were lucky. No doubt you will read the exploits in the east coast birding blogs, so here are our findings.

As usual, Boulmer was the morning destination. It was unsettlingly quiet with few migrants really. The background consisted of grey continental Robins in every bush and clump of weeds, plenty of Goldcrests, a few Blackbirds and Song Thrushes but no Redwings? Highlights were few with only 1 Yellow browed Warbler, 4 Blackcaps, 1 Wheatear and a late Swift S. Fortunately the Bluethroat looked much better in the sunshine late morning in its small temporary marram grass home.

I have a day holiday tomorrow so if the Bluetail remains for another day, I might take the half hour drive North...

Playing it not so cool.

 

A tiny green warbler in here...

It took a bit of patience to see...

At the beginning of this week Ross Ahmed and Chris Knox found a wing barred phyllosc at Budle Point caravan site. The bird had originally been identified as a Yellow browed Warbler on Monday but by Tuesday it was calling and was clearly not that species. Although still very elusive in heavily foliaged sycamores, many hours of observation by the two finders pieced together the correct identification as a Two-barred Greenish Warbler, despite some nay sayers at first. It is now actually called a 'Two-barred Warbler' but being old school I cant bring myself to use that confusing term as some parties would ( and did) construe it as a brace of Barred Warblers at some stage. 

I wasn't quick enough to go on the Tuesday evening and on Wednesday I had work commitments. Luckily the weather was poor on Wednesday with several observers visiting and drawing a blank.

Thursday was much better. The sun was shining and the wind was in the west in single figure speeds.  I was on site by 08.30 and gave myself 3 hours to connect then I would have to leave for work. After some run around and tail chasing for an hour, the bird finally began to show through gaps in the leaves. I had around 8 sightings totalling no more than 1 minute, but in good light the bird could be seen quite well. I didn't even try for a photo until I had seen enough but when I finally thought I might get a record shot, the bird went to ground and remained hidden til I had to go. Hence the illustration above.

This is a first for Northumberland and only the 8th for the UK putting me on 420 and 352 respectively. Bubo has me on 351 but it doesn't include Fea's type Petrel.  

Back home a short stroll up the back hedge had my first Brambling of the autumn, a Lesser Whitethroat and 2 Grey Partridges. 

On Friday a cool N breeze dropped 2 or possibly even 3 Yellow-browed Warblers into my garden. They showed well in good fine weather at lunchtime.

One of three Yellow-browed Warblers in our garden.

Back in the little bedroom office, working in the afternoon, a vague message came through about a Bluethroat on the shore at Boulmer. Interesting but it would have to wait until someone confirmed it. Half an hour later sure enough the sighting was verified as a fw male Bluethroat, in autumn, at Boulmer! I clocked off early and popped along. Like the Budle Warbler this was another skulker behaving more like a vole than  a bird as it ran along under marram grass beside the beach. Eventually it came out onto the strand line to feed, What a great bird for Boulmer, a site first.

First winter male Bluethroat, Boulmer.

Today the weather was filthy. Heavy rain and a NW swinging E wind made birding all but impossible but a few short walks out had the following - 2 Yellow-browed Warblers, 2 Redwings, 4 Goldcrests and 2 Chiffchaffs in the garden, On the coast path singles of Redstart, Blackcap and Wheatear, 4 Swallows S, 5 House Martins over our village and 2 ad winter Mediterranean Gulls with Black headed's in the coast field. With the wind swinging full East overnight, hopefully Sunday will give us more to look at, and just in case I have taken Monday off too...

October has certainly started with a bang.

Bluethroat twitch...

  

Moths..

 All this good seawatching weather recently has been a death knell for moth trapping, but I have had a few before the winds swung north. One in particular was a new species for me and might be the most Northerly UK record to date - 

Clay Triple Lines.

I used to record these in my first attempts at moth trapping in the 90s at Stobswood. They didnt occur in the county then and I was only using the Chinery insect guide for id purposes. I was clearly miss identifying Riband Wave of the non banded form....

More standard autumn species are the mainstay of the sessions - 

Grey Chi

Yellow line Quaker

Canary shouldered Thorn, in short supply again this year.

Large Wainscot

Pink barred Sallow

Flounced Chestnut

Lunar Underwing of the plainer orange form. 

The sad side of Local Patch Listing.

 I keep a colour coded spreadsheet of the birds on my Local Patch, Howick / Craster. I have Boulmer separately but might create a 'uber patch' next year copying my fellow blogger Steve Gale who has a similar set up in Surrey.   

As you can see above, the colour codes look like this. Green is a common or regular species seen in at least 10 out of the last 12 years, Orange species are Uncommon seen in 6 - 9 years, Blue are Scarce seen in 4 - 5 years  and Red are Rare birds on the patch being seen in only 1 - 3 years out of the last 12.

The lemon filling are birds on my garden list.

Using this record, I am looking at how the rest of 2020 will pan out. If I have a fair wind I could break last years record total of 163 species. Todate ( the pic above is out of date) I am on 161 species this year only needing another 3 to make it the best. Out of the species in the Green and Orange categories I am missing 6 possibles. They are Gadwall, Little Auk, Black throated Diver, Waxwing, Twite and Snow Bunting. Hopefully I can get three of those and maybe jam in on a rarer species too if I am lucky....fingers crossed.

Sorry to have bored you with my anorak tendencies....

End of the Northerlies...

 Yesterday morning was spent in our usual positions eyes screwed into the scope, facing east.

From the left - Sam the dog, the nicest, most well behaved seawatching company you could have, Sam's dad, Mark Eaton and John Rutter. My scope is in the middle...In the background you can see the Sooty Tern cliffs...

 Cullernose is getting a bit of a reputation these days, at one point there were six observers looking at the sea. That is a record number of birders here when there has been nothing to twitch ( the Sooty Tern will never be beaten on that score).

The wind had dropped significantly to a NW4 from the last two days making watching much more comfortable. We watched from 7am - 12 noon with the following results.

Sooty Shearwaters again took pride of place with 407+ N you could never get an accurate number as they are passing all the time often at long range. 

Manx Shearwater 6 N

Storm Petrel 1 N close in, a great bird for here and my first since the 2011 influx.

Bonxie 6 N

Arctic Skua 1 N

Barnacle Geese 254 N inc a strikingly leucistic individual.

Barnacle Geese with the leucistic 'snow' goose with them...

Pale bellied Brent Geese 18 N

Wigeon 236 N

Teal 24 N

Common Scoter 70 N

Velvet Scoter 4 males N

Goldeneye 5 N 

Eider 6 N

Great Northern Diver 4 N

Red throated Diver 10 N 13 S

Purple Sandpiper 1

Bar tailed Godwit 4 

Knot 2

Puffin 3

Sandwich Tern 3 N

Mediterranean Gull 1 ad w 

By the time we left the sea was calming off and the sky was brightening up. 

Adult summer (top) and juv Great Northern Divers.

Back home and the sun was shining so I needed to cut the grass. It is quite warm after being stuck on the cliff all morning, very pleasant. I had just finished and was putting the mower in the shed when I heard a single call in the large sycamore at our gable - 'tisswsp'. A Yellow browed Warbler. I dashed for my bins and camera and waited. A Chiffchaff and 2 Goldcrests showed but no sibe. I still get excited about these little birds and see them as rare but younger birders must just see them as common migrants these days. In fact they are the most reliable of our autumn passage birds, being easier to catch up with than Garden Warbler or Tree Pipit these days.

After about 20 mins or so a small bird flitted from the sallow I had planted just for this occasion, into the taller sycamore I was watching. That was it. Although tricky to see in the browning wilted leaves it gave short views for about 5 mins before it vanished. I managed a few shots...

A tiny Yellow browed Warbler graces our garden. It really is autumn...

Now that October is rapidly approaching fingers crossed for some easterlies...

Sooties sweep the board...

 

The wind swung North West on Thursday evening so I popped down to Craster in the car to check it out. It was raining heavily but I wanted to see if any birds were moving. As I've said here before, we are often spoiled by having a lot of seabirds to look at, so much so that we routinely ignore Gannets, Kittiwakes, Fulmars and Auks in the hope that 'proper' seabirds are out there.  

As I scanned the grey lumpy sea, it was like the moon, but liquid. There were no birds. I don't mean no shearwaters and skuas, I mean NO birds at all. Not a Gannet or Fulmar in sight. It is as difficult NOT seeing Gannets at this time of year as it is seeing a Sabine's Gull here. It happens, but rarely. I have no idea where the birds were but I planned to try again at first light on Friday. Experience tells me, they won't be gone for long.

I was out on Cullernose Point at 7am and could instantly see a few Gannets moving through. I sat down and set up the scope. On looking at about three quarters range I was confused. The sea was alive with birds. Auks and Gannets in lines, but also dark looking shearwaters. The problem with early seawatches on the east coast is that if there is a sun rise instead of thick cloud the birds are just silhouettes on blinding water. The sun wasnt bright this morning but the sky was glowing making a lot of loose shadowy bird images. I could see dozens of stiff winged tubenoses but until I got my eye in some looked like Manx Shearwaters, some like Fulmars but most looked like Sooty Shearwaters. In their dozens.

Were my eyes deceiving me here? I took a breath and whilst being buffeted on the left side by a strong northerly, I could see these really were all Sooty Shearwaters. Then I had company, Mark Eaton arrived with Sam the Retriever. I suggested he had a look out there at all the Sooties. I had counted 40+ in only a few minutes. They were never off show. A North -South scan with the scope went, 1, 2, 3, 4-5, 6-7-8, 9, 10... it was never ending. I had not seen a Sooty movement like this since 2002 when we had 1700 North in a day at Newbiggin. If only we could sit all day, that county record would surely fall but I only had til 09.30 so I got counting.

By the time I had to leave, I had counted 463 Sooties N. Mark stayed on for a while upping the total to over 750.

The thing is, there was little else of note moving through the turmoil. I had 9 Manx Shearwaters, 19 Sandwich Terns, 2 Arctic Skuas, 1 juv Pomarine Skua, 3 Bonxies, 3 Red throated Divers, 2 Pale bellied Brents and a likely Long tailed Skua that was a bit too far off.

After work I popped back down for an hour seeing only 12 Sooties and by now the sea was too rough with birds just being blasted south.

The interesting thing about this movement was that at the southern Northumberland seawatching stations like Seaton Sluice and Newbiggin, Sooties scarcely made it into double figures? The mysteries of birds eh?

 

  

 

Northumberland Birding....

 What a great county Northumberland is for birding. Although spring is a none starter here, once we get to August, right through to December we can usually count on going out and seeing interesting birds. My local area is not as heavily watched as the south east of the county or maybe Holy Island, but that only adds to the appeal. It is a bit awkward to get to from Newcastle, being an 80 miles round trip, there are no reserves at this part so it doesn't often seem worth the travel when there might not be much to see.

Yesterday I took the 10 minute or 3 miles trip to Boulmer to check out the waders and maybe see some migrants too. Boulmer is a big flat headland with no real focus, but it turns up the goods for those with patience.

The tide was high on arrival first thing this morn, a whopping 5.6 mtrs job leaving only a narrow line of beach. On this line were thousands of birds. Waders were prominent with 300+ Dunlin, 50+ Turnstones, 6 Ringed Plover, 8 Knot, 10+ Bar tailed Godwit, 1 Purple Sandpiper, 1 Little Stint and 1 Curlew Sandpiper. There was no sign of the Buff breasted Sandpiper. As we scanned the waders off shore a flock of 17 Red throated Divers flew South and a few Manx Shearwaters loafed around, a few Wigeon and Teal moved North and a female Pintail sat on the sea with the gulls was unusual. A nice female Merlin strafed the beach narrowly missing the Curlew Sandpiper! 

Back at the car for tea and an adult Mediterranean Gull slowly flew past along the shore.

Next stop was north of the village overlooking Longhoughton Steel. There were no migrants in the weeds but 2 male Lapland Buntings came 'in-off' doing that 'tickety peu' call as they went. A glance offshore here had single Arctic Skua south  and a drake Velvet Scoter north.

At the top of the headland I was surprised to see the Buff breasted Sandpiper fly low past me and on to the beach where it fed for a while with wagtails and Starlings before heading back towards the village. a Short eared Owl was getting chased by crows for a while. Down at the south end of the patch, Foxton GC scrub was checked hoping for a Yellow browed but it wasnt to be ( Dan Langston had one in the village later). 50+ Swallows and a few House Martins were still around plus a Chiffchaff and a Grey Wagtail.

Some nice birding in a morning just along from home...

Busy...from Fungi to Buff breast!

 Although I have managed to get out and about this week after work, I have struggled to catch up with my notes, sketches, blog posts etc. I blame social media. It has to reduce. Is it any wonder it is only drugs and the internet that call their market 'users'!  

Last Sunday the weather was ok but with a clear night and a westerly wind, it didnt look good for birding so we took the opportunity to hunt for fungi a short way inland, still within our 10km square of course.

I find them incredibly difficult to id, but we managed a decent list and with the images, I got most identified from the field guide and some helped by the demon Facebook...

The list looks like this - 

Birch Polypore Piptoporus betulinus

Common Puffball Lycoperdon perlatum

Orange Grisette Amanita crocea

Suede Bolete Xerocomus subtomentus

Brown Birch Bolete Leccinum scabrum

Pearly Webcap Cortinarius alboviolaceus

Fly Agaric Amanita muscaria

The Blusher Amanita rubescens

Porcelain Fungus Oudemansiella mucida

Orange Peel Fungus Aleuria auranta

Yellow Stagshorn Calocera viscosa

Larch Bolete Suillus grevellei

Red cracked Bolete Xerocomellus chrysenteron

False Chanterelle Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca

Amethyst Deceiver Laccaria amethystina

Egghead Mottlegill Panaeolus semiovatus

Glistening Inkcap Coprinus micaceus

Primrose Brittlegill Russula sardonia

Ochre Brittlegill Russula ochroleuca

Beech Milkcap Lactarius blennius

Grisette Amanita vaginata

Cep Boletus edulis

A Webcap Cortinarius pseudosalor

23 species and good showing.

Amethyst Decievers with an unknown of which there were many.

Beech Milkcap

Larch Bolete

Orange Grisette

Pearly Webcap

  On Wednesday 16th, there was a window of opportunity to have a seawatch.

Two, 2 hours sessions from Cullernose Point had  - 

Manx Shearwater 48

Sooty Shearwater 4

Arctic Skua 6

Bonxie 14

Common Scoter 70

Velvet Scoter 2

Pochard 7, unprecendented. An absolute mega that would have been the highlight of the day had they not been overshadowed by a stunning, adult, summer plumaged Sabine's Gull that came past, quite close in, with 30 Kittiwakes on my last scan of the day!

Adult Sabine's Gull with Kittiwakes.

Knot 1

Shelduck 5

Wigeon 107

Teal 60

Red throated Diver 16 all S 

Bar tailed Godwit 2

Puffin 30

Tufted Duck 3

Scaup 1

Pintail 1

Pale bellied Brent Geese 54

Unless stated they all went north. Not a bad four hours on the patch.

And finally to end this scrambled post, Gary Woodburn found a Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Low Newton while we were seawatching. He went for his camera and when he came back it had gone. Later on, it reappeared 5 miles down the coast on the wader hotspot that is Boulmer beach. 

Having seen a few in the county over the years I didn't go for it the same day despite only being 3 miles away on me on my 2nd local patch. The next day was fine and sunny so after work I thought Id pay it a visit. It is new for Boulmer after all... 

What a lovely little American wader, no bigger than a Turnstone, feeding on the beach at high tide facing regular flushings by dog walkers. I managed a few pics and left it to its business ... 

Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Boulmer.

It seems Blogger has changed again, this time for the better? I click my 1200 pixel wide images to original size and blogger has fiited them in my column width without faffing with the HDML code? Mmm, nothing is that easy....