A Tern up for the books

A Tern up for the books

Tuesday morning saw us at Druridge Pools looking for a Long-billed Dowitcher, despite checking through numerous birds on the water it couldn't be found. As we checked out the Budge Screen a lady with a scope and bins said she had just seen what she thought was a species of Marsh Tern heading in the direction of Druridge Pools so we headed off in that direction and after a bit of scanning noted a Tern jinking about over some wet ground, it soon showed itself to be a Black Tern with November being very late for this species. Next to Cresswell Pond where we had been told the Dowitcher was visible from the hide, soon we were looking at the bird as it fed endlessly along the west shore amongst Teal and Wigeon, a great morning's birding and 2 new birds for the year list.

Scandinavians

I decided to have a short visit to Holy Island this morning and was striding through the dunes by 8 o'clock. The weather was grey and hinted at dampness to come, perfect!, nothing was seen on the rarity radar but it was one of those days where you can just enjoy migration. The dunes were alive with the sights and sounds of wintering Thrushes, every bush held chattering masses, the air was filled with their calls. I eventually gave up counting and just enjoyed the spectacle but numbers did reach into the hundreds, Redwing( several hundred), Fieldfare(150+), Blackbird(several hundred).
Thrushes weren't the only migrants and during the morning I noted 8 Woodcock fresh in from the continent, 1 was flying up the main road from the Village to the car park and on Fenham Flats some 2500 Golden Plover were gathered.

                                    A Varied Day in the Rain!

With the weather forecast promising drier conditions by 11 am,three of us decided to see what was around.
First stop at Fenham le Moor produced a lot of activity in the trees and bushes around the hide-Reed Bunting,Yellow Hammer,Tree Sparrow,Greenfinch and Linnet being of most interest.Into the hide and a solitary Barnacle Goose was spotted.It seemed in reasonable condition,preening and feeding in the same spot but when it turned ,an area of matted feathers and raw flesh was spotted above its right wing-shot?Texted this info to Mhairi McLaughlan.
The bird was still in the same spot when we left after an hour or so during which time we also recorded Brents,Goosander,Shelduck,Wigeon,Eider ,Gadwall, and a solitary Grey Plover.

Then it was off to Low Newton.On the the path to the hide the heavens opened and we arrived soaked to the skin.Lunch in the hide was accompanied by an orchestra  of around 200  noisy, restless Grey Lags plus the  constant roaring of the brushcutter being used on the reeds near the hide!Apart from Little Grebe,Grey Heron,Shoveller and Gadwall there was little else to keep us long.

With the light poor and the weather predictions proven badly wrong,we headed to Spindlestone Hide having heard from Winnie Banks earlier that Brambling had been spotted.A quick stop at Budle Bay turned up about 1500 plus Brents on the mud across the Bay to the North west;Shelduck,2 Little Egrets,Grey Plover ,Wigeon and a good number of Gadwall.Pink Feet were flying over,above the mist.

Spindlestone hide was next where a Red Squirrel,2 Nuthatch and a Marsh Tit  kept us amused for 20 minutes or so .Of the Brambling there was no sign ,but we were briefly joined by Charles Baker -Cresswell who left us some peanuts,seed and some hazelnuts to top up the feeders before we left.

As we emerged,the sun had broken through-finally!We agreed however there were many less enjoyable ways of spending a rainy day!

When the dust settled

When the dust settled

September is a great time to visit Musselburgh especially if you want Red Necked Grebes before they disperse. With this in mind we headed off with the dog early morning, on arriving at Levenhall Links there seemed to be a lot of people about and not just dog walkers, we began chatting to some people and found out the reason was at 12 o'clock they were going to blow up the chimneys at Cockenzie power station. As we headed off along the seawall there were 2 tides one was the sea, the other was a tide of humanity heading out of Edinburgh to watch the spectacle and it would be churlish not to do the same. At the appointed time there was an explosion of dust and the 2 huge towers sank slowly to the ground followed by a muffled thud, as the dust spread out a large flock of Feral Pigeons circled where their home had been. To our astonishment the large flocks of birds on the sea appeared to be un-affected, we counted 110 Goosander, 50+ Velvet Scoter and large numbers of Eiders, Wigeon and Grebes including 20+ Great Crested Grebes and 15+ Slavonian Grebes. On moving on to Gosford Bay the numbers were equally as impressive with more Great Crested and Slavs but also 7 Red Necked Grebes the birds we had hoped for, as well as several Red Throated Divers we also had terrific views of a Great Northern Diver now in full winter plumage, a great end to a great day in a fantastic birding area.  

Holy Island early migrants

Holy Island early migrants

Looking at the weather charts we noticed a high over Scandinavia and a low over Britain with rain and northeasterlies yesterday, this promised maybe a few good birds for today, so early on we headed for Holy Island. Our first port of call was the Snook and after 10 minutes we were checking out the garden at Snook House, Keith caught a glimpse of an interesting warbler, which eventually came out into the open and proved to be an Icterine Warbler, our first in Northumberland since 2008, this was a great start and boded well for the rest of the day. Our next stop was at the Half Moon slack, here we carefully walked up either side of the bushes and eventually found our second rarity of the day in the form of a juvenile Barred Warbler, it flew into a bush and joined another bird which also turned out to be a Barred Warbler, we left them in peace and continued on only to come across a third bird. We next headed for the Village and gravitated towards The Straight Lonnen, very little was seen except a female Marsh Harrier cruising about over the nearby fields, on reaching the Willows at the far end we noticed several birds moving about, one was a Pied Flycatcher along with Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff, the final bird of the day was, yes you've guessed it a Barred Warbler, our 4th of the day, bring on the autumn!.      

Migrant Wader numbers increasing...

Today:  Black-tailed Godwits - 36 at Newton Scrape, 15 at Monks House Pool; Ruff - 4 at Newton Scrape, 1 Monks Hse Pool; 4 Snipe at each above site, 30 Dunlin at each site, 30 Redshank at each site , 20 Lapwing at Monks House Pool, 1 Greenshank at Newton Scrape.
Yellow Wagtail: 1 at Newton Scrape, 2 at Monks House Pool.                                                               A Peregrine pair at Budle Bay (this pair credited to Winnie Banks).

Birdy places to go !

Although slightly out of NNBC's area, S.E. Northumberland coastal reserves have plenty to offer - today:
Cresswell Pond produced 12 species of wader: Little Stint, Reeve, Common Sandpiper, Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Snipe, Curlew, Whimbrel, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Dunlin &Lapwing accompanied by 2 Little Egrets, Common Tern, Shelduck, Mallard, Teal, Canada & Greylag Geese, Coot & Moorhen. Also a family of Reed Warblers near the hide, whilst a Barn Owl flew over (19.00hrs) as I departed. (On Tuesday, 3 days ago, I saw an Otter from this hide but no sign today!).
Druridge: Whitethroat feeding at close range and Reed Buntings.
Chevington: Great Crested and Little Grebe, Heron, Tufted Duck, Swifts & more.
Worth a visit!