Love is in the air?

Taking advantage of a brief respite in the appalling weather,I headed up the College Valley for a breath of fresh air.
Despite the fact it was snowing lightly when I parked at Hethpool,the distant song of a Mistle Thrush persuaded me to don waterproofs and head out.
On crossing the bridge over the College Burn towards Hethpool Mill,I was alerted by some persistent twittering and spent the next 15 minutes watching two  Dippers, resplendent in their spring plumage, on a large rock in the stream near the bank.One ,the larger of the two(or so it seemed) was facing the other bird with its chest thrust out and puffed up,its head back, whilst twittering constantly.The other took up a less assertive and more submissive position,twittering constantly and bobbing.This went on for many minutes with the more assertive bird hardly changing position ,whilst its companion ,turned frequently , still bobbing ,before flying off then approaching again immediately scurrying through the water.Eventually one flew downstream followed by the other where the same behaviour was repeated before they went their separate ways one upstream and one downstream.

Courtship or a territorial dispute?Comments welcome please!

Shortly afterwards,a pair of Ravens flew by side by side,in a seemingly established relationship.
Otherwise ,apart from a Jay calling from Harrow Bog,a pair of Mistle Thrushes and a selection of the usual suspects-Wren,Hedge Sparrow,Pheasant etc all was fairly quiet,probably on account of the wintry weather.

Stag Rocks 27th January

Stag Rocks 27th January

We decided to take advantage of a brief settled spell at the start of the day to have yet another look for the Grey Phalarope at Stag Rocks, but as on the previous 4 occasions it did not appear. This didn't spoil our visit as there were many other things to look at including 200+ Common Scoter, several Red-throated Diver,1 Black-throated Diver,4 Slavonian Grebes, 20+ Long Tailed Duck and the most unusual of all, a Kingfisher flying around the rocks beside the lighthouse and feeding in the rockpools.

An Unexpected Surprise!

Returning home this afternoon after a weekend down South, the boredom of the A1 M just south of Wetherby was spectacularly relieved with the unexpected sighting of three Red Kites,wheeling over the adjacent fields!Seeing them reminded me how much I have missed seeing this beautiful bird since moving back to Northumberland from our previous home in West Yorkshire.
At that time  we were near neighbours of the Harewood Estate where in 1999,a project was commenced to reintroduce Red Kites to the area with the support of the RSPB,The National Trust and Yorkshire Water.
They are now well established in the surrounding area but during our time in Yorkshire  they were regularly seen above our garden and on one occasion I counted 5 sitting in one large tree at the bottom of our garden each wearing a numbered orange tag!The sight of them wheeling over the trees on the Harewood Estate brightened my daily trips to work in Harrogate!
How wonderful if they could be seen so regularly in North Northumberland!

Birding in Windows of fine Weather

 Fourth week in January 2014:

20th: an atmospheric walk along Ross Back sands brought the sighting of 600 Common Scoter at sea & two groups of 17 & 40 Sanderling - doing what they do - on the tideline!
At Guille Point 120 Oystercatchers rested whilst a minimum of 130 Eiders were involved in courtship displays & multitudes of wader sp. were too far out on Fenham mud flats to be IDd.

21st: West of Cornhill-on-Tweed, south of river Tweed, c100Mute Swans & c120 Whooper Swans grazed on a brassica crop.

22nd: small groups of varyingly 6-18 Sanderling scattered along beaches from Newton Links to Low Newton.  A (first of the year) Skylark singing at Newton Point.  500 Lapwings, & 17 Curlew, just north of Annstead Farm.

Glossy pictures

We decided to have a day in southeast Northumberland and started at East Chevington where the predominant species was Goldeneye closely followed by Tufted Duck. From there we headed to Lynemouth Flash where we were lucky enough to get onto the juvenile Glossy Ibis which has been there for about 5 days, next to Cresswell Pond where there were large numbers of Wigeon and Teal.
Our final port of call was the Budge screen at Druridge Pools, again there were large numbers of commoner ducks which also included some very showy drake Shovelers and Pintail plus a male Green Winged Teal.

A Walk in the Cheviots

What a relief to have a dry day with a hint of warmth in the sunshine after such a dreich weekend. The Carey Burn circuit beckoned- Yellowhammers brightening the hawthorns on the bank, Robins and Mistle Thrushes singing, Dippers busy on the river. Overhead, a powerfully built raptor flew over in silhouette, then banked down and landed on the crags- joy of joys, it was a Peregrine Falcon. (Once a 'regular' in the valley, it must be a couple of years since I last saw one here.) Up on the moors beyond Hart Heugh, more than a dozen Red Grouse were flying over the heather.

Fenham Flats WeBS count

Fenham Flats WeBS count

In really poor conditions I set out from Elwick Hide, visibility was rubbish and there was a constant battle to keep the optics dry. Nevertheless the birds were still there including 320 Shelduck, 119 Brent Geese of which 4 were Dark Bellied, 380 Eiders, 290 Oystercatchers,1320 Knot and 52 Grey Plover. On reaching Guile Point I could hear this distinctive yodelling call of Long Tailed Ducks as 15 drakes could be seen chasing 2 females on the water, whilst there I also noted 2 Snow Buntings.