Fog and Sun...

 An early start yesterday and keen to get out was soon dampened by thick sea fret reducing visibility to a couple of hundred metres. 

I met John at Boulmer, as our default setting when the weather isnt too good. A walk along to the north end at Longhoughton Steel was slow going. The Minke Whale is still on the shore, now becoming particularly flavoursome and we commented on how someone's terrier would get inside it... We listed for waders but all we had were 2 Golden Plover and 2 Redshank while a Whimbrel flew North with a dozen Curlew.

At the car park the first fledged Swallows sat out on the wooden bin store while the adults mobbed seven shades out of the local Barn Owl.

 The only other thing into the book were the Wormwood Artimesia absinthium plants along to the north of the village. Its quite a scarce plant up here and I always forget its name.

After the walk, back at the car park, it was filling up rapidly and one oik in particular helped us decide to move location.

Alnmouth South Dunes was our destination all of about 2 miles away. Now the bumpy track is closed to traffic it is quite a walk down but at least it reduces visitor numbers to the dunes which cant be bad.

It was still warm and for a short while the sun came out to make a nice window of summer weather to look for plants and insects.

Sedge Warblers and Reed Buntings seemed to be all over carrying food for young while a single singing Reed Warbler hid in the depths of his reed bed. A Whimbrel was roosting on the salt marsh and a nice juvenile Cuckoo gave us a close fly by while being beaten up by Meadow Pipits. Its ironic really as it probably thinks they're its parents...

 We wandered around some nice dune slacks that were emblazoned with colourful flowers and their attendees, the bees, moths and butterflies.

Narrow bordered 5 spot Burnets were just emerging and gave shocks of crimson as they buzzed around everywhere. Butterflies were counted for John's spreadsheet to send in at the year end to Butterfly Conservation. We had 5 Small Tortoiseshell, 10 Ringlet, 9 Common Blue, 2 Large Skipper, 10 Small Heath, 5 Meadow Brown but no whites at all.

From top left, Common Centaury, Hemlock, Musk Mallow and Pyramidal Orchid.

From top left - Biting Stonecrop, Wild Thyme and Ladies Bedstraw all over the place with one of the Burnets in the foreground, Stork's Bill and Sea Purslane.

Pyrausta despicata day flying.

What began as a very drab day turned out to be bright and colourful after all...

Gannin' soft...

 Back in September 1993 the late Andy Booth found Northumberland's first Gadfly Petrel off Hauxley. In 1996 it was accepted by BBRC as a Soft-plumaged Petrel of the race 'feae' or Fea's Petrel. Back then this was a mythical sighting, a once in a lifetime event never to be repeated. If we fast forward to the present day, how things have changed.

It is usually understood that these Fea's or to give them a proper term Fea's/Zino's/Destertas Petrels are actually rare but annual visitors to UK waters. The difficulty in identifying them at a seawatch has resulted in a lot of controversy over what can and what can't be ticked by birders so they are usually referred to as Fea's Petrels and are, quite rightly, very much sought after. To see one, you must either do a lot of hours seawatching or have some excellent communications in place so when one is reported coming your way along the coast you can get out to head it off.

Yesterday a Fea's type Petrel flew north at Flamborough Head around 9.30am. When it was seen along the coast at Long Nab, birders to the north mustered themselves, made plans to leave work early, put off pre organised plans and headed for the nearest headland.

This particular petrel was due to arrive in Northumberland at around 5pm so, having only ever seen one back in 2014  I fancied having a go for a local patch bird and was out at Cullernose Point at 5.30pm. Shortly after sitting down reports came through that it had gone past Newbiggin, 24 miles to the south and was on its way.

By now, a crowd of 7 of us had gathered expectantly on the cliff. The atmosphere was tense as we all screwed eyes into scopes and waited. A distant oil tanker was to be our spotting sight should one of us pick it up, to get others a bearing.

At 6.15pm Mark Eaton gave the 'Thar she blows' ( not literally) and there was the typical panicking until we got on it. Distant and way to the SE at first, I saw it then lost it just as quickly. The sea was flat calm so I just kept breathing and scanning and in a minute it was back on show. It came to a very reasonable 800mtrs - 1km off and we all had it in view until around 6.23pm, a duration of 7 or 8 minutes before it was lost to view.

Celebrations were made as Northumberland's 15th Gadfly was added to the record and more to the point, added to my patch list.

A short while later, back home, a scan of social media found a Tweet by Paul French of BBRC who had seen some photos taken at Newbiggin of our bird. Did it really show a breast band? 

Yes it really did? When we watched it, Mark Eaton I think, commented on it. I also commented on the fully dark underwings that my last Feas did not have, it had white axilliary spikes up to the leading edge. Still, we never suspected a thing.

Then experts began saying this bird was actually a Soft Plumaged Petrel Pterodroma mollis and not Fea's at all. This was a different prospect. Soft plumaged Petrel would be a first for Britain and only the 3rd for the Western Palearctic. 

So now there has been much discussion, the bird looks fine for Soft plumaged and even world experts agree on it, all from images taken by a few birders at Newbiggin. Well done lads. What a bird for the patch after July 2019's Giant Petrel and July 2020's Sooty Tern. It seems Northumberland is the place to be for a summer southern oceans seabird...

Greenfinches and Seawatching...

 Yesterday, whilst everyone was having to duck when an albatross flew by in Yorkshire, I was stuck in my cell, working, while builders were doing their best to push me over the edge as they dismantled our loft. Our old house doesn't meet the EPC standards of efficiency so roof work is being done. This means I am confined to the house as the dog cant be left while they are working. Highlight from here today was a calling Whimbrel. 

Still, it leaves hope that the albatross will give us a show during a seawatch later in the month. I have a dream...

In reality, after work I was keen to get some air. The sun was shining after a dull morning on the coast but there was a light Northerly blowing on  a rising tide so it was off to Boulmer to meet John. After a catch up over tea and mini rolls, we set up camp on the seat north of the village that is conveniently facing south east and thanks to coastal erosion it is right on the sandy cliff edge. 

We gave it an hour. There were lots of birds were moving. Thousands of them, but they were the local island breeders, auks, kittiwakes, gannets, fulmars etc  so we sat and gazed through them. 3 adult summer plumaged Little Gulls were nice as they passed close in, in a tight group. They were followed by 4 Goldeneye, what they were doing in June, I cant say, but its very unusual, 4 Common Scoter, 2 first summer Arctic Terns and 3 Manx Shearwaters. Puffins were into high double figures too.

Less pelagic were 5 Greenfinches, this area's new Corn Bunting, with 3 males and 2 females. One male was in full song and display mode from a shed roof. It shows how infrequently they make this blog, this is the first time that Greenfinch has hit the index. 2 Sanderling, 2 Dunlin, 10 Ringed Plover, 2 Turnstone and 9 Curlew were on the shore and 4 Goosanders were fishing in the haven.

Back home, a new plant for me in our small village hall pond, Great Spearwort Ranunculus lingua had about 10 plants growing. I've not noticed it before so may have come from some weed I brought in from another pond locally at Little Mill in the spring..

Great Spearwort

 

 

Contrasts.

 Thursday was our warmest day of the year so far at 25 degrees, not bad for Northumberland. Then on Friday it had dropped by 14 degrees to 11 with a northerly wind and rain. Saturday was pretty much the same. Grim. Then yesterday was meant to be cloudy but fair so we headed to Boulmer as there would probably be not much invert activity inland. How wrong could we be? It was another warm and sunny day as if the previous two had never happened.

Boulmer was 'June quiet' except for visitors. There was a 100km challenge 'Race to the Castle' from Whitley Bay to Seahouses taking place over three days. This provided a constant trail of able and not so able participants along our route. There was one unusual thing we noted. Out of hundreds of people seen and heard in the morning, only 6 others apart from ourselves had county accents. By sound alone we could easily have been on holiday.

Birds were less noticeable - Common Scoter 20 N , Manx Shearwater 10 N, Puffin 20+N, Turnstone 30+, Dunlin,, 10+, Ringed Plover 10+ and the first 2 returning Redshank after a few blank weeks for them. On the rocks were 5 Golden Plover, 33 Curlew and 4 Bar tailed Godwit, 1 in full summer plumage flew N. 4 fw Goosanders were in the haven.

At a loose end, we milled around the car park and beach. The car park Stonechats had brood 2 on the wing. A few day trippers stopped to look at what all the 'tacking' was about as they passed the breeding site to the beach. Flowers were quite interesting too - 

Henbane, a scarce plant in the county that I have only seen once before, on Holy Island.

Dwarf Mallow, a new species for me and it too seems scarce this far north?

A nice orange form of Birds Foot Trefoil really stood out.

Hedgerow Cranesbill

Sea Rocket

Jarring.

 If you read this blog regularly you will see that John and me spend a bit of time birding and looking for inverts on what we call our 'inland patch'. This is a loose definition of the upland moor areas west and north west of Alnwick. 

We tend to prefer nice summer days in these places for dragonflies, butterflies, plants etc, but over the years we have enjoyed some interesting finds away from sites that are more popular. Things like Green Hairstreak, Emperor Moth, Adders, Broad bodied Chaser, Goshawk, Orange Underwing, Birds Nest Orchid, Ring Ouzels, Large Heath, Gold ringed Dragonfly etc have all brightened a 'quiet' Sunday morning.

But what of the times of day when we don't usually visit? Late evening and dusk in particular. We have often mooted checking places out for Nightjars and have never really gotten around to it. Keen for a change, this was to be 'the year'. 

Over the dry spell recently we have made a couple of crepuscular trips out to see what we could find and have not been disappointed. On this occasion I won't be giving out locations as there are already known sites where all of these upland species can easily be added to the year list, so forgive me for keeping 'our' birds to ourselves. 

Its quite a walk to get to the main spot but we arrived in time to hear the first birds begin 'churring' at 10pm. At first distant, but after a few minutes some sounded closer and there were a few 'goowick' calls too. These birds are so mysterious in looks and lifestyle, they are a highlight in any birding calendar so to have birds flying around our heads all to ourselves was truly life affirming!

A white splashed male came down this ride and circled me at about 20 feet radius. Wing claps and 'g'wick' calls looked either inquisitive or warning me. Then we had three together chasing around like outsized swifts, not at all bothered by our presence. One male landed giving great views on a fallen branch while a female landed nearby and began catching moths in the manner of a giant Spotted Flycatcher. She would drop off her perch low to the deck, swish around and then back to the same vantage point. All no more than 20 yards away for around 10 minutes.

In this game you are totally against the clock. Birds began showing at 10.10pm but by 10.35pm its getting too dark to pick them out except as silhouettes, but that 25 minutes is fantastic!

The next time we are out looking for insects in warm sunshine we will be thinking that out there, hunkered down in the bark are these animated leaf birds sitting maybe watching us through a squinted eye...

I was lucky enough to catch this female just right when she landed right beside us on the fence. Photoshop is responsible for removing the eye glare but thats all. 

I rarely make a presence on here but this shows the lengths gone to to avoid midgies. A palmful of repellent around the head worked quite well too..

Its not all Nightjars either, this scarce Ash-black Slug Limax cinereoniger, the largest of the UK slugs attracted attention while waiting for the birds to show, plus Cuckoo, Snipe, Redpolls galore almost in the dark, 2 Sand Martins low through the trees, again in near darkness were very odd. A barking Roe buck added to the ambience.   

Pacific Heights.

 

For some reason I couldn't sleep on Saturday so got up early to do the moth trap. Numbers still aren't up to usual standards but 97 moths of 36 species is enough to keep the interest going. After the catch was processed and photographs taken, it was time to up date our local moth page on FB.

It was while sat at the desk editing images that the Northumberland WhatsApp Rare Birds group came to life. A photo was uploaded, taken by Dave Elliott showing the departure of a Swift with a white rump low over water at East Chevington reserve. Even the rear-on image looked to me that it was not an abberant Common Swift. The bird was banking over showing a very slim pointed wing vertical to the water. Knowing the extreme transient nature of 'Apus' the image was taken at 7.30am and there was no further news by 9am. As the day warms, insects would rise on thermals and so will the swifts. It was currently cool and cloudy.

Then at around 9.30 information was released saying that the bird was still present, with no identification as yet.

With fixed plans for the afternoon, if I was going to have a look I better go now, so thats what happened. Arriving at a queue of cars parked along the lane side at Chev, the news was that it had not been seen for 20 minutes, however when I saw Tom Cadwallender he told me the bird was still here but away up at the far north of the reserve near Druridge Bay Country Park.

The car was given a 10 point turn and I headed up to the park, parking the car right beside the north entrance to the reserve coast track. As I made my way south, three birders were stopped on the track around 100 mtrs away looking towards the lake. I assumed they were watching the bird, but no sooner had I built my hopes up, they all just carried on wandering down to the west facing hide.

By now I was almost at their spot. Looking toward the hide, a birder was watching through his bins but he was facing directly north, an area above some trees to my right, so I stopped and scanned. With the naked eye, nothing. The bird could be more distant so a scan with the bins was similarly empty, then all of a sudden one bird came into my field of view and it had a huge wrap around white rump! It came very close giving excellent views against the trees. Immediately it could be seen not to be a Common Swift, its shape was all wrong with a narrow waist and slim more pointed wings it scythed around with Common Swifts  and to me, was all day long a Pacific Swift!

After a couple of minutes it flew back down to the water so I headed to the hide where around 20 birders stood around outside. Someone asked 'Well, what is it?'  'Its a Pacific isnt it!' was my excited response only to be doused by a 'Is it though?' by very experienced birders. White-rumped Swift was not eliminated. This was a bird I have no experience of but I have seen Pacific Swift in China. If only we had a field guide because given these brilliant views, there isn't really a danger of confusion. We commented on the slimmer structural build, the pale scalloped under parts and the size. Some felt it should be bigger than Common Swift, but guide measurements show them to be the same.

By now it was a big twitch with lots of people taking photographs so no doubt its identification would be confirmed soon.

I left after an hour, not believing what had just happened. After last weeks stint, now this! Northumberland is getting some great birds again this year.

By the time I was home, the information services were posting images of the now identified Pacific Swift and everyone was getting good views. I could get on with today's plans quite happy...

Northumberland List 356  British List 423

Red necked Stint.

 Its taken a little while to get over the excitement of this weekend's birding up here. What a spell Northumberland is having this past week, with good birds galore descending on the county like flies on the proverbial.

On Friday there were 2 Rose-coloured Starlings, one at 25 miles either side of me that I didn't go for as I'm sticking it out for one locally. My fat ball feeders are well stocked and waiting... also Mike Carr was working at the burn mouth near our village when he had a Bee-eater fly over north. Unfortunately it didn't stop for breath and bypassed me at home. Its another one to watch out for.

Down the coast at East Chev, Dave Elliott had two good mornings, on the first he found a female Woodchat at Hadston Dunes, then next day a singing Great Reed Warbler at Chev south pool reedbeds. The shrike was only present until 9am then vanished as silently as it arrived, though the warbler is still present. Interestingly another, this time male, Woodchat was found yesterday up the coast from us at Goswick golf course. Two in a year in Northumberland is unprecedented.

However great these bird are both in looks and to find, the grand finale was down to Alan Curry on the less than salubrious River Blyth Estuary. 

On Saturday evening around 8.30pm just as most birders are cracking open a bottle or tinnie, Alan was grilling the handful of Ringed Plovers on the mud when, alongside a Little Stint for field guide comparison he found the UK's 8th recorded, 7th alive, Red-necked Stint! 

For us old timers, we were lucky enough to see the Wansbeck bird of 95 and we never thought there would be a second chance at one in the county. We are now the only UK county to have more than one record of this cracking little peep with both sightings only 3 miles apart.

Like the Aug 95 bird, this one was in full summer plumage  and as there have been no British records for a decade it was going to attract some attention. One birder on Twitter, tweeted by 9pm, 'I'm on my way, from Somerset!' Being cool after one sighting 26 years ago and seeing hundreds in China, I kept my powder dry until Sunday morning before following the masses.

I met up with John at Boulmer at 6am, sifted through 70 or so Starlings on the shore looking for a whole lotta Rosie, without luck, then we headed down the A189 to Blyth. A moderate number of travellers were on site from dawn and the bird was showing out on the flats albeit quite distantly, but giving decent scope views.

The twitch is on..

We left the site happy with our views, totally unaware of how things would pan out later as the tide rose...

Our next stop was up at Chev for the Great Reed Warbler, on the way back home. Several people had difficulty with this bird, waiting hours for only a song, but we were there 10 minutes and out he popped, right on top of the phragmites, chugging, croaking and swaying at the same time, bending reeds double with his song thrush sized mega warbler bulk. Like the stint, this is only my second in Northumberland, though there have been a few other occurrences I didn't bother going for. Because I'm not a twitcher.

Then it was back up to civilisation at Boulmer, motivated by the success of others we cast around hoping for our own rarity but it was not to be. You can't have everything so it was time to call it a day and head home for lunch. A good day.

Red-necked Stint, River Blyth.

Great Reed Warbler, East Chevington.

Back home I caught up with some sketches from memory and some dodgy phone scoped reference material when the Twittersphere started showing more stint images as the twitch increased apace. There are photos and there are photos but eventually some of the shots were practically unbelievable. The tide had pushed the bird onto a spit on the opposite shore. Birders, seeing an opportunity made the half hour jaunt across to the far side and were treated to spectacular views down to 20 feet!

Of the best images, Tom Tams, Alan Curry, Josh Jones all stand out but there were others too that made me feel quite jealous that I didn't linger. We all knew better views would be possible as the tide came in...

It seems most of the country made the pilgrimage north for this Siberian stint but as I write this today, it has flown off on its globe trotting travels to where, who knows....

What a bird...

Tom Tams kindly let me use one of his amazing images of the Red necked Stint at point blank range.

 

At long last...

 ...some moths!

Last night was mild at 14 degrees at 11pm with some cloud and no wind. It was still 10 degrees when I got up this morning.

Late last night I checked the trap before bed and was pleased to find 9 species on the outside of the light, so it boded well for the morning.

The results today have ended up with 104 moths of 39 species. This is not earth shattering here, or even out of the ordinary, but after a cold nightmare of a spring where the usual catches are in single or low double figures, to get back to average is great.

Highlights were 3 Lunar Thorns, Pale Pinion, 2 Grass Rivulet, a Narrow winged Pug and a nice micro, Esperia sulphurella which is only my third here, I think.

The catch is as follows -

     Agonopterix heracliana/ciliella (Agonopterix heracliana agg.) 1

Coleophora species (Coleophora sp.) 3

03.002 Common Swift (Korscheltellus lupulina) 6

28.019 a moth (Esperia sulphurella) 1 NFY

32.017 a moth (Agonopterix arenella) 5

41.003 a moth (Blastobasis lacticolella) 1 NFY

44.001 Many-plumed Moth (Alucita hexadactyla) 1

49.109 a moth (Agapeta hamana) 1 NFY

49.166 a moth (Celypha lacunana) 4 NFY

49.214 a moth (Ancylis badiana) 4

62.001 Bee Moth (Aphomia sociella) 5 NFY

63.025 Small Magpie (Anania hortulata) 1 NFY

69.003 Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi) 1

70.049 Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata) 3

70.054 Silver-ground Carpet (Xanthorhoe montanata) 10

70.061 Common Carpet (Epirrhoe alternata) 3

70.095 Red-Green Carpet (Chloroclysta siterata) 1

70.097 Common Marbled Carpet (Dysstroma truncata) 1

70.137 Grass Rivulet (Perizoma albulata) 2 NFY

70.168 Narrow-winged Pug (Eupithecia nanata) 1 NFY

70.183 Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata) 2

70.190 Grey Pug (Eupithecia subfuscata) 1 NFY

70.222 Brown Silver-line (Petrophora chlorosata) 3

70.226 Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata) 2

70.238 Lunar Thorn (Selenia lunularia) 3 NFY

70.240 Scalloped Hazel (Odontopera bidentata) 1

71.020 Pale Prominent (Pterostoma palpina) 1

72.003 Snout (Hypena proboscidalis) 2 NFY

72.019 Buff Ermine (Spilosoma lutea) 2

72.020 White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda) 7

72.022 Muslin Moth (Diaphora mendica) 1

73.032 Nut-tree Tussock (Colocasia coryli) 1

73.102 Brown Rustic (Rusina ferruginea) 2

73.158 Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens) 7

73.201 Pale Pinion (Lithophane socia) 1

73.281 Lychnis (Hadena bicruris) 1

73.317 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 1

73.334 Small Square-spot (Diarsia rubi) 13

74.004 Least Black Arches (Nola confusalis) 2

  Now this morning as I sit in the office 'working' there are reports that a Bee-eater flew north over my patch while a flock of Snow Geese as flown south. There are Rose-coloured Starlings to the right and left of me ( by about 25 miles each) and odd Red back Shrikes, Black Tern etc. Lets hope its a good weekend....

Esperia sulphurella, a lovely little micro.

Grass Rivulet. Not so lovely, in fact the epitome of drab.

Lunar Thorn. Three of them was quite good, still a regular species up here but it has severely declined in the south of England. 

Narrow winged Pug for the heather moors. It has either come a long way or lives on garden heathers nearby.

British Birds? Its not you, its me....

 Tuesday I came back with the dog from her lunchtime walk to find that the latest British Birds 'journal' was lying in the porch. We all get a bit of a buzz when some reading material arrives I'm sure, so with a little pick-me-up in the mid day, I eagerly opened it to see what lay instore.

Before I go on, you might have a look at Gavin Haig's take on it here , and I will say that this is my own, self indulgent view on things, mainly because it is my money that gets it delivered to the door.

I opened the packet keen to see what had been going on in the world of UK birds over the past month but only 10 minutes later, Vol 114 June 2021 was resigned to the book shelf where it will just gather dust.

I tweeted this - 

By close of play I had received a wide range of feedback, but a lot seemed to miss my point, such is the nature of Twitter. Whilst I did throw out a Boxplot graph as the catalyst for my whinge, my disappointment in BB stretches beyond that. Several well educated academics gave me advice on what this image of jargon means, and yes I could have read the whole article in detail and probably understood the results. I might live like a yokel, but I'm not quite Worzel Gummidge yet. The thing is, I don't want to read it. It is visually and mentally mind numbing. To me.  The article was about 3 Buzzards attending a nest with young, a pair and a helper. Now I am interested in that, but I could have been told that in a sentence or a paragraph without the use of phrases like 'Boxplots indicate the median and interquartile....zzzz' sorry I nodded off there.

For non subscribers, the rest of the journal discusses Nesting Spoonbills in Norfolk (15 pages, 8 tables and graphs with hatching and fledging times, incubation periods etc), Breeding Range Expansion of Caspian Gulls (10 pages), Recovering the Eurasian Curlew in the UK and Ireland since 2015 (10 pages), The Value of Webcams in Monitoring nesting Peregrines ( 4 pages). All very laudable and important documentation I agree, but I'm no ecologist or ornithologist. I'm just a birder.

I should probably add now what I would like to see in BB?

 Despite what I have just written, I think those articles should have a place. This is as well as, rather than instead of, except with more balance. BB is becoming 'high brow' for no good reason.

There should be a lot more about what today's birders are discussing in the field, in the obs common room, in the hide, at the bird club meeting and less of what passes as a post grad thesis . 

For example - 

Nocmig. Photography. Reserve management.

Gossip. What do you talk about with other birders? Covid not withstanding, a lot of hide gossip is great. It can be hilarious, enlightening, irreverent. It covers everything from the local cafe on the coast, to stringers, to remember when he did that and on and on. Boxplots have NEVER been discussed by birders in the field.

Rare Birds. Bird Anecdotes / recollections. Birding Folklore, frauds and fakes, our history our past.

Frontiers. Now we have lost Martin Garner who will pick up his baton.

I don't want to see another Green, Wood and Common Sand separation article, but maybe if a new field character or idea is considered we could be updated.

BB should help us find a focus in birding. It should help us renew the joy and excitement and not be so dry and up tight it doesn't get read. 

It should bring back birding and reduce things like - 

'Decadal means (with standard error bars)for a) the number of sites and b) the minimum number of confirmed breeding pairs and c) the maximum number of breeding pairs in six regions of Britain ( excluding Worcestershire) from the 1970s to the 2010s. The mean is calculated based on the number of years that data were collected within each decade; for example, in decades where three years lacked data, the mean was calculated for the seven years with data.'

 ...until the next time you hear some one discussing 'decadals' in a hide at Cley or East Chevington.

After all that, its probably not what British Birds is for, but I wish we had a magazine or journal if you like for birders rather than ornithologists. Not the level of 'Bird Watching' that gives woodpecker id articles and places to find bluebells, but a more mature, experienced take on things.  

On that note, it shows that its not me who doesn't want British Birds. 

Its seems that British Birds doesn't want me.

 

 

    

Bank Holiday Weekend.

 As most of the UK basks in some well deserved sunshine and warmth, there is no such luck for us souls on the northeast coast. Friday was nice and clear with blue skies and sun, but since then it has been 100 yard visibility with thick fog, mist, haa all day this side of the A1. Combine that with a blithering south easterly and temperatures struggling into double figures its been a few days for watching Netflix rather than  hunting for wildlife.

Since Bonxie Wednesday birding has been almost non existent but I have been out and about. My notes reflect an apathy about it all.

Saturday 29th May

Cool sea fret all day.

In the Greenhouse were Walnut Orb Weaver and Tetrix denticulata. An Orange Tip, male, was in the garden briefly.

Tetrix denticulata, only my second.

Sunday 30th May

Thick fog at home, but sunny west of Alnwick.

So thats where we went. A Cuckoo showed well on wires and over the road as we arrived while 2 Barn Owls hunted the verges.

It finally warmed a bit at 11am bringing 6+ Green Hairstreaks, 50+ Common Heath moths, 10+ Large Red Damselflies and 1 Small Heath on the wing.

Green Hairstreak

Small Heath

Large Red Damselfly

Bank Holiday Monday 31st May.

At home visibility 100 yards in fog and mist. Windy, cool. We headed inland again to avoid the autumnal weather where it was 19 degrees and sunny.

Hedgley and Branton Pits near Powburn - 

Highlight was a nice picnic in the sun but a few things were noted.

Little Ringed Plover 3, Gadwall several pairs, Four spotted Chaser 2, Saxon Wasp 1 queen gathering wood for its nest, Blue tailed Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Small Copper 2, Orange Tip 1 .

Above - Saxon Wasp Dolichovespula saxonica 

Common Blue Damselfly, teneral I think.

Dove's Foot Cranesbill

Boulmer Bonxie

Met up with John on a fine, bright evening at Boulmer.

The car par was three quarters full and many visitors were still on the shore. The tide was high, leaving little room for waders so we sat on the bench and pointed our scopes seaward just to see what was passing.

First of all a nice close fly by from 8 Common Scoter heading North followed by an Arctic Tern. The local breeders were out in force with many Auks, Terns and Kittiwakes feeding further out. The tide was just about to turn...

As we chatted and drank tea, I glanced north towards the village and saw that all the gulls were up over the beach as a couple walked along the strand line. Just over their head was a large dark bird hanging in the breeze. At first I thought is that an Arctic Skua, then it banked around to reveal that it was much bigger, a huge Bonxie , right over the beach! As if that isnt unusual enough, as soon as the people passed by, it dropped out of the sky to land in the washed up kelp right up against the marram grass.

We had great scope views, but hadn't I forgotten to bring my camera. Typical. So I watched the gear at the seat while John stalked down the beach, like a ninja Navajo, melting into the shadows until he was close enough for a shot. Unfortunately another couple and their dachshund had other ideas and marched right up to the bird. They were almost standing on it before it flew, off and away around the corner never to be seen again. 

After the skua had cleared off so did most of the public, thank goodness, and the tide was on its way out. Waders were flighting in to feed with 70+ Ringed Plover, 70+ Sanderling, 20+ Dunlin, 20+ Turnstone, ( no Redshanks always seems odd) and a single summer plumaged Knot. While 8 Shelducks rested on newly exposed rocks, the village pair were out with 11 ducklings, just Bonxie fun sized.

Further along, a pair of Stonechats with 2 juvs and the male Greenland Wheatear was still on the beach.

Not a bad couple of hours on an evening...

Giving Back...

 

A downpour just misses the group...[Photo JWRutter]

We have all learned a lot of what we know about natural history thanks to the efforts of others. 

This could be through friends, or early mentors, bird clubs, natural history societies, book authors or whatever, but do you give back?

Beginners wouldn't be expected to, of course, but a lot of us out there have many years of field experience of varying levels. Just about everyone I know who is a naturalist or birder are always willing to help others in some way. I have read about cliqueish behaviour, suppression, standoffishness etc but as a rule this is very rare and we mostly delight in being able to help someone out.

I do this in various ways. The commonest is probably people who are coming to visit Northumberland or Northumberland birders /naturalists going to somewhere I've been before. It takes little time to knock up a map and email some findings so they can enjoy the wildlife you have already done. With local young people and beginners I have given out copies of bird reports, books and advice on how best go about things etc all the while being conscious of  the needs of the wildlife the info is about. For example If I think too many might visit a site for something I have found, I might give advice on places to look, habitat requirements etc where an observer might make a similar discovery for themselves.

Another way to help out is by giving talks to local clubs or leading  a guided walk in an area you are familiar with.

This is what we did yesterday. John and myself arranged to meet up with other members of Alnwick Wildlife Group for a morning birding walk around our patch at Boulmer. Well, Seaton Point really, but its all Boulmer.

13 participants, mostly relatively inexperienced or casual bird watchers, gathered at Seaton Point layby at 8am . We walked the shore around to Boulmer navigation poles and back by the coast path returning to the cars at about 11am.

Boulmer has been very slow in recent weeks so I was worried there might not be much to show them, but a few summer plumaged waders and terns with some id tips and nice scope views always goes down well.

On arrival before the guests came, we had a singing Lesser Whitethroat at the golf course layby, my first here this year.

As we walked the beach the first waders were Oystercatchers displaying around the rocks, then a nice summer plumaged Grey Plover sat out in the seaweed. This could be nailed down in the scope for all to get a view of and it was a new bird for most present. Next up were a small party of Sanderling, Dunlin and Ringed Plover all in breeding dress but it was a male Turnstone in his tortoiseshell finery that got the oos and ahhs.   

While watching the waders, my birds of the morning flew in, 5 Little Terns, a great count for here, to fish in the rock pools. They were tricky to get good views of but the flickering wings hovering and the chattering squeaky calls were well appreciated.

Around the corner on the dune edge a nice Greenland Wheatear did the right thing, glued to a fence post long enough to give close scope views, while nearby a family of Stonechats also allowed close scrutiny.

At sea, 20 Common Scoter and a Red throated Diver flew south while Gannets, Auks and Sandwich Terns were ever present.

As we walked back by the coast bushes 3 Whitethroats, several Reed Buntings, Linnets and Meadow Pipits could all be pointed out and identified by song, behaviour and field marks. 

We arrived back at the cars just before a heavy shower came, but everyone was pleased with the morning and most had at least seen and learned something new about our local birds, which can't be a bad thing.

 

Some quick moth stats...

 We've all been saying that 2021 has been a poor mothing year so far, but just how bad?

In my garden the species totals for 1st Jan to 20th May each year over the last decade are as follows -

2021 47

2020 85

2019 69

2018 60

2017 87 [best year]

2016 33

2015 47

2014 83

2013 32 [worst year]

2012 43

Average 58.6 species over the period in 10 years.

So yes 2021 is below par but its way off being the worst. There have been 5 better springs and 5 equal or worse...and its looking grim until Thursday when hopefully things will pick up.

Moths Update

 What a poor mothing year this has been so far and this weekend and week to come for that matter, doesn't change things. Its been very cold, often with a stiff northerly breeze and clear skies, Possibly the worst conditions for garden moth trapping.

Still we plug along with regular trapping, only missing out on the many grim days and using any window of opportunity available.

Clockwise from top left - Common Carpet, Yellow barred Brindle, Garden Carpet and Brown Silver Line.

Clockwise from top left - Small Square Spot, Rustic Shoulder Knot, White Ermine and Water Carpet

Clockwise from Top Left - Ancylis badiana, Brown Rustic, Pale Prominent and Cinnabar.

The species selection by using the Garden Robinson Trap and a small bucket trap a couple of times in our village wood has produced 54 species - 

  Agonopterix heracliana/ciliella (Agonopterix heracliana agg.)  24

17.011  a moth (Ypsolopha ustella)  1

18.001  Diamond-back Moth (Plutella xylostella)  1

28.010  Brown House-moth (Hofmannophila pseudospretella)  2

29.001  a moth (Diurnea fagella)  2

32.007  a moth (Agonopterix ocellana)  1

32.017  a moth (Agonopterix arenella)  10

44.001  Many-plumed Moth (Alucita hexadactyla)  2

45.044  Common Plume (Emmelina monodactyla)  2

49.076  a moth (Acleris cristana)  1

49.214  a moth (Ancylis badiana)  3

70.049  Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata)  2

70.061  Common Carpet (Epirrhoe alternata)  1

70.066  Shoulder Stripe (Earophila badiata)  1

70.067  Streamer (Anticlea derivata)  1

70.094  Small Phoenix (Ecliptopera silaceata)  2

70.095  Red-Green Carpet (Chloroclysta siterata)  2

70.101  Mottled Grey (Colostygia multistrigaria)  5

70.103  Water Carpet (Lampropteryx suffumata)  21

70.106  Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata)  1

70.141  Double-striped Pug (Gymnoscelis rufifasciata)  3

70.156  Brindled Pug (Eupithecia abbreviata)  8

70.200  Yellow-barred Brindle (Acasis viretata)  2

70.202  Early Tooth-striped (Trichopteryx carpinata)  3

70.222  Brown Silver-line (Petrophora chlorosata)  1

70.237  Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria)  3

70.239  Purple Thorn (Selenia tetralunaria)  1

70.245  March Moth (Alsophila aescularia)  11

70.247  Pale Brindled Beauty (Phigalia pilosaria)  7

70.255  Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria)  6

71.020  Pale Prominent (Pterostoma palpina)  2

72.001  Herald (Scoliopteryx libatrix)  1

72.020  White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda)  2

72.031  Cinnabar (Tyria jacobaeae)  2

73.032  Nut-tree Tussock (Colocasia coryli)  11

73.069  Early Grey (Xylocampa areola)  16

73.102  Brown Rustic (Rusina ferruginea)  1

73.158  Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens)  1

73.194  Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii)  35

73.195  Dark Chestnut (Conistra ligula)  2

73.201  Pale Pinion (Lithophane socia)  3

73.209  Red Sword-grass (Xylena vetusta)  2

73.210  Satellite (Eupsilia transversa)  16

73.241  Pine Beauty (Panolis flammea)  2

73.242  Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta)  28

73.244  Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi)  46

73.245  Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda)  14

73.247  Powdered Quaker (Orthosia gracilis)  20

73.249  Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica)  372

73.250  Twin-spotted Quaker (Anorthoa munda)  3

73.325  Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta)  1

73.334  Small Square-spot (Diarsia rubi)  12

73.336  Red Chestnut (Cerastis rubricosa)  41

74.004  Least Black Arches (Nola confusalis)  1

Not as much as there should be at this stage in the year but enough to keep the interest going...Lets hope the weather in June improves and we get a scorcher of a summer!