This week on the patch

Internet problems have prevented any blog updates this week, back online now so here goes:

Monday

Monday morning was cold, but bright and sunny. There was some notable vizmig;

Pink footed goose - 954 south in several skeins

Skylark 23 (s)

Swallow 24 (s) including a group of 17

Tree Sparrow 4 (S)

Meadow Pipit 34 (S)

Linnet 15 (S)

Siskin 9 (S)

A couple of Chiffchaffs and the first Goldcrests of the Autumn were noteworthy

Some of the 953 Pinks that flew south

Tuesday - Ringing

Tuesday looked the best day of the week so I took a flexi-day from work and set some nets. The day started cold and I didn't get much early on as the birds stuck to the sunny edge of the bushes. A Lesser Whitethroat, three Yellow-browed Warblers and couple of Chiffs were with a tit flock. 

As it warmed up, the birds used more of the bushes and I caught a few Goldfinches then some of the Long-tailed Tits with two of the Yellow-brows and a Chiffchaff. A few birders were loitering around my car and watched me extract the first Yellow-browed Warbler from the bag and promptly let it go - how embarrassing. All ringers occasionally let a bird go, but not with an audience. Luckily there was a second bird.

I caught 40 birds, no photos though as I was ringing on my own.

Two Grey Wagtails flew south and a Great-spotted Woodpecker was about. 

Wednesday 

Patch-gold at the end of the rainbow?

Would there be 'patch gold' at the end of the rainbow?

Wednesday started bright but light rain set in. I walked north and back by the beach and got very wet. It was quiet, s couple of Chiffchaffs were singing and two Swallows went south.  The highlight was a Rock Pipit feeding amongst weed and detritus on the edge of a pool at the Dunbar burn formed by the big tides. My first Rock pipit since 2013 - a difficult bird on the patch that needs a build up of weed. Not quite patch gold - bronze mebbes?

Weed and detritus at the mouth of the burn - Rock Pipit habitat

Thursday

Thursday - the first day of October. It started cloudy but brightened up later, the brisk SW wind made it feel colder. A Ruff was in the Front Field with two dozen curlew.  A single Yellow-browed Warbler called from the 'Little Wood' and a couple of Chiffchaffs 'wheeted' from the bushes. A bit of vizmig was going on:

Pink-footed Goose 230 (S)

Wigeon 8 (In-off)

Skylark 22 (SW)

Tree Sparrow 4(S)

Meadow Pipit 35 (S)

Crossbill 12 (Over - seemed to be generally heading north)

Goldfinch 44 (S)

Siskin 9 (S)

Today (Friday)

A proper frost this morning - a crusty grass frost. A little arrival of Song Thrush and Goldcrest maybe? One Blackcap was the only warbler noted. There were 38 Curlew in the front field and depressingly 26 Pheasants - all but three of which were cock birds. 4 Lesser Redpoll and five Siskin flew south and more unusually, three Little Egrets went north. 

Whilst Openreach replaced the cable to our house (we could do no work) we headed north to Bamburgh Golf Course to twitch the Two-barred Greenish Warbler that has been there since Monday. As usual when I twitch anything, I dipped - it hadn't been seen since first-thing. As Unlucky Alf would say - Bugger!

Bugger!

Pink-foots herald the arrival of winter

It was a chilly six degrees when I arrived on the patch this morning, the brisk westerly wind made it feel colder despite the sunshine. A flock of about 70 Pink-footed Geese arrived on the Budge fields, freshly arrived from their Arctic breeding rounds to spend the winter here. My first of the winter on the patch - we heard some last night nearer home when we were ringing a late brood of Barn Owls.

For me the sound of Pink-footed Geese coming ans going over the patch as they fly from roosts to feeding areas is the sound of winter. It just feels a bit early! (this is my earliest autumn County record by six days).

The cold start meant that birds were making the most of the sunny side of the bushes to warm up and catch insects. Plenty of Chiffchaffs still, I counted 21 and at least six of them were singing - young males trying to sort their chiffs and their chaffs I fancy. 

Smart Chiffchaff among the Whitebeam berries

More of a scruffy moulting bird

A single Spotted Flycatcher and Lesser Whitethroat also being noteworthy. In the big Elderberry bush, the berries are just ripening and it had attracted three Blackcaps and a Song Thrush. I hope they leave some for the Barred Warbler!

Spotted Flycatcher

Same bird - different perch

and fly-catching as Flycathcers do

Overhead there was a moderate passage of Meadow Pipits and two flocks of Siskin -  30 and nine. A Grey Wagtail went north - my second of the Autumn. Still no Collared Dove though!

Hirrundine passage was light with just a handful of Sand and House Martins and few Swallows.

In the 'Front Field' at Druridge Farm there are some enormous Giant Puffballs - they grow here every year and 34 Pheasants! 

Football-sized Puffball

Early warblers and a late skua

With a band of rain passing through overnight and a brisk south-easterly I thought that this morning had potential for a few migrant passerines to be dropped in and I was partially right. So an early-ish start was required and I was down on the patch just before the sun came over dunes. It started quietly, I checked the plantation and the bushes around the entrance and their was little life - three Swifts flew south, could they be the last of the year? There was a strong southerly movement of Barn Swallows too.

I wandered up the road and when the sun hit the bushes, things livened up. The sheltered spot by the path the path to the hides was alive with warbler, mostly Willow Warblers with the odd Chiffhcaff and Whitethroat. These weren't all local birds although some were as the adult feeding two freshly-fledged young proved.  A few of the Willow Warblers were attempting a song, as was a Chiffchaff or two, I fancy these are males of the year, testing out their singing abilities.

A moulting chiffchaff

Willow Warbler

male Goldfinch

I estimated 52 Willow and about 20 Chiffchaff and a few Whitethroat and Blackcap - no Sedge again though. A lot of warblers but no scarcities. A Grey Wagtail flew south, a scarce patch bird normally only seen on viz-mig in the autumn. On the Budge fields, there were two Ruff still and a handful of Dunlin and Redshank. These two Mute Swans made a splash-landing scattering the waders. 

Splash landing

I popped back to the patch this evening, the light was awful for the Budge fields so, as the wind had swung easterly again, I had a look on the sea. It was fairly quiet to sea until I picked up an Arctic Skua, way out, it came closer until it was just over the beach, harrying a group of Sandwich Terns and allowing a few pics.

Spot the odd-one-out

 

 

Despite a few folk being around there were 45 Sanderling and 18 Ringed Plover on the beach. 

Autumn migration, vizmig and skinny dippers

The pace of migration and birding as tailed-off a little bit since last weekend when easterly winds brought some interesting passerines onto the patch.

The highlight for me was a little influx of lesser whitethroats, which are a really scarce bird at Druridge these days. Janet and I found a couple on the Saturday morning before we went to twitch the hoopoe at Amble links.

Post and pre-work visits on Monday and Tuesday brought the maximum count of lesser-whitethroats to four, including a very pale looking individual which I only saw for seconds before flitted off. On Monday two of the lesser-throats were joined by at least five chiffchaffs one of which one looked and called like a Sibe chiff  tristis.

I added some other Autumn goodies to my list including yellow-browed warbler, bullfinch, greenfinch, siskin, lesser redpoll, brambling, redwing, grey wagtail and fieldfare. A late flurry of swallows and house martins headed south over the same days and there was good passage of skylarks.

The wind turned westerly for the latter part of the week and a work trip meant it was it was Saturday morning before I got back to the patch.

I paused by the 'front field' at Druridge Farm as there were some pink-footed geese, about 300, feeding, but mostly sleeping, there. I scanned them all, but noting unusual stood out, other than couple of neck-collared birds which I couldn't get the full code from. They got up and flew around when a small came over.

Pink-footed geese

In the same field were about 250 golden plover, 280 lapwing and 62 curlew.

Some of the golden plovers

Whilst I was scanning geese, a flock of 31 whooper swans flew south and along with the two in the adjacent rape field, were my first of the autumn. I managed to get some photos as they flew over.

Three adults and two juveniles

Juvenile

Overhead, a near constant stream of common gulls flew west from the sea to agricultural fields - they return each evening at dusk to either roost on the sea or the beach depending on the state of the tide.

One of the common gulls

 No scarce passerines were found, just a chiffchaff or two travelling with the long-tailed tit flock.

Long-tailed Tit

 On the Budge fields there was another flock of 18 whooper swans - 15 adults and three juveniles.

Whooper Swans

 Today started overcast and grey. Janet and I headed down to the patch for just after first light. It felt quite quiet with few passerines moving other than a roving tit flock.

From the plantation, I spotted a large bird flying strongly south just above the dunes - it was an adult ruddy shelduck. I've seen ruddy shelduck on the patch on the patch before but many years ago. I'm not sure where this species stands on the official British list now, I must check...

There were a few cars parked together near the blockhouse which was unusual, by the time we reached the cars there was a group of a dozen or so folk standing around them. As we approached one of them said;

"You're too late"
me - "For what?"
him- "Skinny Dip"
me - "Thank god for that!"
Another chap (very excitedly)  - " We've been in the sea...naked!"
me - "rather you than me!"

They asked us join them next month or on 21st December - we politely declined and wandered on.

It rained heavily just before 9am which was quite handy as we had an appointment with friends and a large breakfast at the Drift Cafe.

I'd completely forgotten it was WeBS day. The rain had eased a little after 5pm so I went back and did my WeBS count -it was pretty grey and miserable and the rain became heavier. The highlights were a little egret and a kingfisher, my second of the year, over the big pool.

My year-list now stands at 156. A few species are still feasible but it ain't gonna be a record-breaker.

Ringing Demo

I've said it before and I will no doubt say it again. I've given up with weather forecasts. Look out the window and see what its doing is the best way, especially as we can now see 13 wind turbines from our bedroom window.

The forecast for this morning was 13 mph westerlies, gusting up to 28mph - no good for ringing at Druridge. The reality at 7.30am was virtually flat calm with a light southerly. So we put some nets up.

There was a bio-blitz type event organised by NWT this weekend, so we agreed to do a ringing session as part of it. Quite a few folk turned up to see what we were up to. We caught 23 birds, which wasn't bad considering a lot of the new arrivals had obviously shipped-out in the clear conditions overnight.

Star of the show for the punters was undoubtedly this great spotted woodpecker (not so much fun the poor ringers who had to extract it and hold it for a photo - but to be honest it was quite well-behaved)

Great-spotted woodpecker

Other ringing highlights were whitethroat, blackcap and two chiffchaffs.

It was still good for viz-mig with small groups of goldfinch, tree sparrow, meadow pipit and skylark going through with the occasional pied and grey wags, linnet and lapwing. Pink-footed geese were moving through most of the morning in small groups.

In the bushes one, probably two, yellow-browed warblers were still calling.

What is most worrying is a incident of cattle rustling. The cows, that have been doing such a great job of tackling the rank vegetation on the Budge fields have vanished. As they were doing a grand job, surely NWT wouldn't have taken them off? The only answer is that they have been rustled. The thieves were obviously not being keen on ponies as they left them behind. 

I will report the disappearance to NWT tomorrow and report back.

A tale of 'the one that got away'

There is an interesting pre-amble in the latest issue British Birds to the rare bird report for 2012. The introductory text talks about changes to the way that records are submitted, the decline in note-taking and the increase in digital images as well as 'single observer records'.

It also mentions the line that is drawn between 'the one that got away' and a return from the BBRC of 'not proven'.

We saw a bird today that is well into 'the one that got away' territory. Hopefully it will also be a useful learning experience. Here's the tale...

Ten to eight this morning and I was in the plantation at the entrance to Druridge Links. Janet had just called to say she arrived and asked where I was.

As I was talking a warbler popped out from some low pine and nettle vegetation and I got the briefest of views before it dropped into cover. It was a chunky looking acro, brown above, pale-creamy buff below - but the most striking thing was the way it's tail was 'cocked' pointing up the way like a cetti's warbler or sprosser holds its tail (it did this every time we saw it).

Janet arrived, I explained the situation. We got two more very brief views as it skulked about in the thick, low-lying, pine. I managed to get some detail on the bill, dark above, paler lower mandible and on the legs which looked dark. The second time it flew a little into a higher pine, still obscured, then dropping back into the low stuff it preferred. It never called. I tried a record shot, but just got over-exposed twigs. It skulked away into the vegetation. Nick Adams turned up and joined the search but we never saw it again.

Describing our bird to Dave E, he said 'shaped like a banana'  - and that's exactly what it was. I found the reference to 'shaped like a banana' - http://punkbirder.webs.com/acroholics.htm

In fact that photo that punkbirder used could have been our bird...

We had ruled out the 'bigger' acros and paddyfield. So, we probably had a Blyth's reed warbler today we didn't clinch it because we couldn't rule out reed warbler as didn't see the upper-parts for long enough to gauge primary projection and we never heard it call. So it will always be a 'one that got away'.

Viz-migging was good again today, especially earlier in the morning with pipits, skylarks and oddly, tree sparrows being really obvious, the latter headed south in small groups. There were also a few swallows and martins, small groups of pied wagtails, siskin and redpoll with a couple of  grey wags over too.

We heard, but didn't see, a yellow-browed warbler and the subalpine warbler was again in the 'Druridge bushes' north of the turning circle. We watched leave those bushes, land briefly in a lone hawthorn, then disapear into a large clump of Rosa rugosa 15 yards south of the turning circle. It may never be seen again - that rose clump is very dense!

161 golden plover

Well, you can't say I didn't try

I've spent much of this weekend perched on the dunes at Druridge scanning the sea, trying to add a very special tern tot he patch list.

I have seen the bridled tern, that terned (geddit!) up on Inner Farne last Monday. I was on a 6am boat on Tuesday morning to see it. But as soon as it re-located to Druridge Bay, there was a really possibility that  I could get it on the patch.

Dave Elliott did. Jamming it from the dunes at Druridge. I've not been as lucky and despite over 15 hours of searching it has eluded me.

Looking for a single bird in miles of sea, on your own with no help, is always going to be tricky. I did see some nice birds whilst I searched for the rarity including; stacks of manx shearwaters, double figures of red-throated diver, four or five Arctic skuas, three drake velvet scoters (tonight), great-crested grebe, several roseate terns and also tonight, two adult summer plumaged little gulls flying north.

Also tonight a minke whale moved south through the bay (thanks to Dave Dack for the tip-off). The tern could still be around (last seen today at Cresswell Pond at 15:20) so there's still a chance.


We also did some ringing this morning. it was perfect ringing conditions this morning. Barely any wind and overcast for much of the morning. Ringing was dominated by juvenile warblers, which is great. We caught 27 new birds and three retraps which is excellent for July.

 Juvenile Warblers

Grasshopper Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Whitethroat

Adult Warblers

Reed Warbler

Sedge Warbler

 Not a warbler

Juvenile dunnock

Also of note this morning was a cuckoo and a grey wagtail flying south

131 Grey Wagtail

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