Newton Point and Long Nanny

Newton Point and Long Nanny

We parked at Links House car park where the Lesser Grey Shrike was still showing well, which is a bit worrying as it should be in Africa. From here we headed off to Newton Point where we noted 5 Long Tailed Ducks, 2 Red Throated Divers and a flock of about 1500 Wigeon in Beadnell Bay. Next we walked along the beach towards Long Nanny which was very quiet only 3 Sanderling on the tideline but no Twite or Snow Buntings, the only other thing of interest was a Merlin chasing small birds in the dunes.

Shrikes and Snowflakes

An early afternoon visit to High Newton and Links House through some surprisingly snowy conditions over Belford Moor was rewarded with some cracking views of the very confiding Lesser Grey Shrike now in its fifth or sixth day of wondering if it should have turned 'left' rather than 'right' at some critical point in its migration to Africa. Nevertheless, it still seems to be finding food  in these wintry conditions, flying down from the hawthorn bushes on to the open areas adjacent to the car-park, even finding the energy to  'buzz' a female stonechat on its way back to the hedge!

      Close by, the little saltmarsh at Long Nanny held eleven Twite and two beautiful Snow Buntings restlessly feeding on the strandline. The winter sunshine lit up two Red-throated Divers in the bay.In the opposite direction, over three hundred Golden Plovers and nearly as many Lapwings gathered on the scrapes at Low Newton, beautifully back-lit by the setting sun when they took to the air and re-assembled in much the same place.

Shrikes and Gulls

Shrikes and Gulls

We were out with North Northumberland Bird Club at Bamburgh today but decided to go via Low Steads car park(as one does) and there as promised was a very smart looking 1st winter Lesser Grey Shrike. It performed well for all those present throughout the day, next on to Bamburgh where at Budle Bay we had 2 Peregrines out on the mudflats,whilst at Stag Rock there were Velvet Scoter, Long tailed Duck and an unexpected bonus in he form of the much twitched Bonapartes Gull.

Winter Visitors - more of them!

Are the birds telling us something? Might colder weather be on the way! A large influx of the thrush family have invaded our area, in Cheviot foothills, where increasing numbers of Fieldfares & Redwings, together with immigrant Blackbirds are feeding up on haw berries and fallen fruit - crab apples.

Increasing numbers of 'garden birds': tits & finches, plus Tree Sparrow, Nuthatch & G.S.Woodpecker are appreciating what the garden feeders offer.

A late note that on Tues.5th November at Stag.Harkness Rocks, Bamburgh, 130 Common Scoter & 3 Red-throated Divers were afloat, whilst 100 Purple Sandpipers explored the rocks for food and 90 Linnets were near the shore.

Nearer to today, 3 days ago, on Nov 12th a Merlin mobbed a Buzzard at Doddington and a flock of 200 Lapwings were spotted.

Birding home and away

Birding home and away

The day got off to a really good start when 9 Grey Partridge appeared in our garden, they ran and jumped about in typical gamebird manner but stayed still long enough for a few photos through the kitchen window. After breakfast we headed off to Stag Rock to look for a Bonepartes Gull reported yesterday, after a scan around the lighthouse we headed off towards Budle Point. Just offshore from the sandy spit were a group of Black Headed Gulls feeding, one bird was smaller and showed an all grey nape and head. On getting the scope onto this bird we realised it was the Bonepartes Gull, a dainty little bird with a black bill, a grey mantle,a dark cheek patch,limited black on the primaries and pale pink legs. What a delicate looking bird to have flown all the way from North America.

Garden visitor

Garden visitor

I was sitting at the computer this morning with a feather in hand looking at a bird book and mulling over emarginations, luckily at this point my attention was drawn to a commotion outside and a thump as a large bird hit the window. As I looked at the powder impression left on the glass I noticed a juvenile Sparrowhawk perched in a tree just outside, it was quite recently fledged and still had a number of white feathers on it's mantle and wings. After a short rest it flew off, later in the morning my attention was drawn to Wrens and a Robins making a real racket down the garden, I was expecting a cat but there on the hedge was the juvenile Sparrowhawk looking very subdued, it must have flown into another window as it remained there some time, long enough for me to get one or two photos before it flew off. Many people would not be pleased to see such a bird in their garden, but as the top avian predator I think it is a privilege and shows a healthy population of small birds.

Foray North of the Border

A rare opportunity to finally catch up with a new species  saw me visiting a wonderful little marshy pool in the Eastern Borders at the invitation of the landowner, where we saw more than twenty Common Snipe and three of their relatives, the elusive Jack Snipe. The latter, smaller and much shorter-billed winter visitors from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, rarely break cover until the very last moment when they fly up silently and quickly take cover again, unlike the Common Snipe (which invariably call as they zigzag wildly into the air). An unexpected and slightly bizarre bonus came in the form of an Arctic Skua circling over the site, a few miles inland from the coast.
     Earlier in the day, I managed to catch up at last with the Sardinian Warbler at the Mire Loch, St Abbs, where it has been entertaining ( or frustrating) visiting birders since the end of September. There were many other migrants passing through including Chiffchaffs, Blackbirds, Redwings, and a goodly number of Blackcaps. In the warm sunshine I enjoyed listening to a Yellow-browed Warbler, which was calling from a particularly dense area of vegetation along the western edge of the loch, but it never broke cover while I was there. Must stray across the Border more often!