It's been a while

It's been a while since my last blog post. My excuse for this tardiness was a two-week trip to Finland and Norway and an ailing computer that now struggles with big RAW files.

I'll hopefully have some Finland and Norway photos processed soon and up on Flickr. But here is a video of me enjoying my 'summer holiday'.

Summer in Varanger

I've managed a few visits to the patch since I got back, but have been busy catching up with work, the garden and chores. A combination of the above and changeable weather has meant no ringing yet.

On 18th June There were 18 black-tailed godwit on the Budge fields - having been away, I was trying to work out whether these were late birds headed north, early returning birds or loafing non-breeders - I suspect the latter.

Barn owls from nearby farms are being seen regularly, hunting in the dunes and grass fields and attracting their share of photographers. A cuckoo in the dunes has also attracted attention.

Offshore, there have been some good rafts of scoter, but these have often been distant. A few manx shearwaters have been noted passing-by.

NWT have been busy getting their new Hauxley Discovery centre ready to open (well worth a visit just for the building) so I helped them out by strimming in front of the hides. It was a very warm evening and I sweated buckets! Hopefully the photographers will appreciate it, I know that the resident swallows will.

Strimming

On 20th June there were two avocets on the Budge fields - still an uncommon visitor to Druridge Pools despite their increasingly colonisation of South East Northumberland.

On 22nd whilst checking the heronry, a male marsh harrier passed through - my first on the patch this year. A pair of curlews had a chick or chicks in the silage field. I knew it was going to be cut, so alerted the farm who looked out for them.

This weekend, I saw my first patch roseate terns of the year, with at least two feeding offshore on Saturday, a few manx went through too.

An early morning visit on Sunday was nice, through cold and blustery -  we've had our summer I think. I was kitted out in a jumper and fleece jacket (and was still cold). I wandered up onto the dunes for a look on the sea and there, strolling, nay marching, along the beach, was a bloke who was completely starkers. A braver man than me.

There were at least 200 swift feeding behind the bushes, taking advantage of the shelter they afforded from the strong wind.

On the Budge fields, it felt autumnal with little-ringed plover and wood sandpiper. Three spoonbills were also on the fields - doing what spoonbills do best, sleeping.

Sleeping Spoonbills

The warmer weather of last week had obviously brought a few butterflies out - there were lots of ringlets, red admirals, speckled woods, large skippers and meadow browns in the shelter of the bushes. There were also common blue and blue-tailed damselflies on the wing.

Speckled Wood

Ringlet

Large skipper

Red Admiral

Common blue damselfly

Blue-tailed damselfly

Two collared doves headed north were a year tick.

In the evening, the LRP and wood sand were still on the Budge along with 18 black-tailed godwits and there were now at least 300 swifts feeding in the lea of the bushes.

A quick summary of a long weekend

Friday 22nd

Finally caught up with the very mobile spoonbill (118) which was fast asleep on the Budge fields also managed to nail for certain, Arctic tern - previous likely terns have gone down as 'commics', though no sign of the reported great northern diver offshore. Also of note - two whimbrel north.

Saturday 23rd

Ringing from 0445. Caught three whitethroats and re-trapped a willow warble that we ringed as an adult last May, a greenfinch was an unusual species to catch in May - brought in by the addition of feeders to the patch. Definitely two, maybe three barn owls hunting first thing. Year-ticked collared dove at the farm (120).

Monday 25th

An early start (for a Bank Holiday) to be on the patch and away again before the masses arrive. There appears to be four active swallow nests in the Oddie hide now, twice as many as last year.

In full song outside the little hide

The mute swan family were asleep outside the Oddie hide, with all six cygnets hiding under the female when I arrived.

This photo amused me, it looks like a two-headed swan! A first for science at Druridge Pools.

'In tow' the female followed by her 'otter food'

Showing off! "I can break a man's arm you know"

A little grebe was, incredibly, my first of the year - what had happened to them this year, is it just Druridge?

My first speckled wood of the year in the bushes (iPhone shot)

With reports of little gulls at both Chevington and Cresswell Pond, I returned for an evening visit to try and catch up with this species. When I arrived, there were over 150 black-headed gulls hawking St. Mark's flies over the bushes. I plonked myself on top of the big dune to find the little gulls among them. I only found one, a first summer bird (122).

I am slowly making up lost ground in the Patchwork Challenge, with the latest additions giving me 155 points. I am going to have find some serious rares to top last year.

What's wrong with Druridge Pools?

What is wrong with Druridge Pools?

Before you switch off, this isn't a rant about the lack of grazing.

Mr (or Mrs) Greater Yellowlegs mustn't like the look of something. It has been commuting between Hauxley, Druridge Bay Country Park, Chev and Cresswell Pond for the last three weeks, so it must be flying over Druridge Pools, why has it never landed?

I've just looked its movements up on the RBA website and it has never been reported from Druridge, so I am presuming it hasn't been seen there - unless somebody knows otherwise (do let me know). Today, it was a stones-throw away, on a small flash pool just north of Hemscotthill Farm. How frustrating! I could see the twitchers watching it from the little hide. Is this as close as I am going to get to it? The chances of seeing it fly over as it commutes along the bay are very, very slim.

The water level on the big pool is as low as it has been all year, so there is loads of 'edge'. Three redshanks thought it good enough this afternoon, so why not a yellowlegs. Maybe it's a snob, come from Boston or New England and doesn't like the look of down-trodden, rough-around-the-edges Druridge pools?

My mood was lightened by a year-tick, snow buntings at long last. Six of them flew off from the beach over the dunes towards the big pool. A patch-record was also broken today with a mahooosive count of 21 collared doves at High Chibburn Farm, easily smashing the previous total.

There was a huge flock of mixed finches on Hemscotthill links, including about 60 twite, certainly worth a scan through them if your passing.

Viz-migging

An early start at Druridge this morning, making the most of the calmer conditions before the gale force winds arrived.

Walking along the road, it was soon evident that there were a lot of birds on the move. Linnets were the most obvious at first, with small parties moving south, hardly any of them stopping to feed, a few goldfinches among them too. Then a group of 12 lesser redpolls moved through, stopping briefly in the bushes.A couple of grey wagtails, my first of 2011, flew south, calling as they went.

There were also lots of hirundines and pipits moving through, along the dunes and over the bushes. I climbed to the top of the highest dune to give myself a good vantage point. I sat there for two and a half hours, just watching the spectacle of visible migration.

I always struggle to count such large numbers of birds on the move, the same with sea-watching unless I keep a tally. Swallows were the most numerous and I estimated about 350-400 per hour, then probably 150/hour house martins and less again of sand martin. I reckoned on about 100-150/hour for meadow pipits.

Throughout the morning small parties of linnet flew south and few goldfinches (but these could have been local birds?). I also had three more grey wagtails, a collared dove, three skylarks and a merlin.

There were also a LOT of racing pigeons, mainly headed south, they were just clearing the top of the dune, so close I got a couple of gliffs.

Also of note this morning was a male marsh harrier and about 360 canada geese on the stubble fields, moved on by a man with a gun, they dispersed into smaller parties.

154 grey wagtail
155 lesser redpoll

A New Year, same old patch...

Back on the patch today for the first time this year.

Birding on new years days is never really an option for me and with the Toon away to Wigan yesterday today was my first chance to get out.

I did promise a short report of 2010, I ran out of time on NYE, too busy preparing tapas and making  my 'Captain Chaos' outfit. It might still happen.... Amazingly last years bird species total was exactly the same as 2009  - 157! One short of 158 in 2008 and well short of my best ever total of 168. Two new species were added to the patch list, great-white egret back in April and red-legged partridge on Christmas Day.

Hopefully 2011 will bring a few more patch ticks, there are still some commoner species I still need such as bluethroat, pallas's warbler, icterine warbler, wood warbler and tree pipit.

Today, the 2011 list got of to a fair start given the very cold weather we have been experiencing. It was still cold at Druridge with a biting NW wind, the ponds and fields still frozen. I walked up to the Preceptory and down to High Chibburn and back via the hamlet.

A quick look on he sea produced five nice drake red-breasted mergansers in full summer garb and a single red-throated diver. Passerines were thin on the ground, with the winter thrushes present last week apparently retreated back inland, robin, dunnock and wren also notable by their absence.

My first raptor of the year was a buzzard, out from the back of the big pool, I caught up with Bob Biggs and he picked up a distant peregrine on the patch boundary - nice one Bob!

Other good patch birds to get the list rolling were stock dove, woodcock (still plenty about), long-tailed tit, yellowhammer (still good numbers on the roof of the farm) and collared dove, once a rare bird at Druridge, have now taken up residence at the farm.

Rabbit and hare were the only mammals of the day.

here's the list:


1 shag
2 red-breasted mersander
3 cormorant
4 guilliemot
5 sanderling
6 carrion crow
7 herring gull
8 great black-backed gull
9 common gull
10 black-headed gull
11 teal
12 wigeon
13 red-throated diver
14 curlew
15 redshank
16 starling
17 skemmie pigeon
18 mallard
19 grey partridge
20 greylag goose
21 stock dove 
22 long-tailed tit
23 common buzzard
24 lapwing
25 rook
26 pheasant
27 blackbird
28 magpie
29 chaffinch
30 yellowhammer
31 coal tit
32 collared dove
33 blue tit
34 house sparrow
35 moorhen
36 mistle thrush
37 pied wagtail
38 oystercathcer
39 woodpigeon
40 tree sparrow
41 great tit
42 dunlin
43 woodcock
44 peregrine
45 pink-footed goose