Hungary for birds

There's been no updates from the patch lately because I've been to Hungary.

We went for a short winter birding trip and a quick mooch around Budapest where we met up with our friend Gerard Gorman for a beer or two and got some guidance for our days of birding. Rather than target species, which I did have two - red-breasted goose and lesser white-fronted goose, it was the 'birding spectacles we were interested in.

The first of these spectacles was the great bustards in Kiskunsag National Park, where we saw a group of over 60 in one field.

Some of the great bustards in Kiskunsag

Then it was on to geese. Both Kiskunsag and Hortobagy National Parks attract huge numbers of Eurasian white-fronted and Eursian greylag geese as well as a LOT of other wildfowl. We weren't blessed with good weather, most of a whole day in Kiskunsag was written off due to rain and when it was raining it was grey and damp. I took hardly any photos and what I did take are silhouettes against a grey sky.

white-fronted geese at Hortobagy

Greylags and a great egret at Hortobagy

The next great spectacle was watching thousands of common cranes coming in to roost at Hortobagy. great long lines of them flying in at dusk - an amazing sight.

Finally, the surreal experience of an urban long-eared owl roost in trees in a residential cul-de-sac int he middle of a large town. We counted at at least 30 individuals in a handful of trees.

One of at least 30 roosting long-eared owls

I managed to see six red-breasted geese after a long walk in to the main fish ponds at Hortobagy but the lesser white-front was literally liking for a needle in a haystack and with poor light it was even trickier.

Raptors were good with plenty of hen harriers and white-tailed eagle, an adult imperial eagle and a couple of saker falcons were great to see.

Anyhoo - back to the patch.

Yesterday (Saturday) I had a quick wander out before the football. Gary Wren had reported a snow bunting on the haul road so I headed for that and met Gary who was watching the very-confiding bird on the northern boundary of the patch.

Snow bunting on the haul road

It wasn't long however, before it was chased north by a dog (literally) and I headed south through the dunes picking up some twite with a roving flock of goldfinch and linnet. A long-tailed tit flock roamed through the dunes and a second flock was by the path to the hides. Not much else to report. Full list here

When I was nearly in to Newcastle on the bus to the match, a report came through of nine waxwings moving south towards tot he Budge screen. I've still not seen waxwing on the patch so was more than a bit gutted but at least the toon managed a win.

Janet and I went for a walk this morning in the vain hope that the waxers might have hung about but as I suspected they'd just been fly-throughs.

There was a group of barnacle geese, maybe 14, with about 300 pinks on the front field, the bushes were quiet however - a few long-tailed tits. We met up with David Elliott and got on to a finch flock which included a bullfinch and a lesser redpoll.

Some of the pinks in the front field

We walked back by via the beach looking for snow buntings, we didn't see any but the sanderlings kept us entertained.

Full list here

It's all great at Druridge

Rained-off from my gardening duties this afternoon, I was sat at home preparing a pub quiz when a message appeared on the grapevine from Jonathon to say he'd had a great egret fly past him and it was now on the big pool at Druridge.

The rain had stopped and the quiz abandoned. 

Mixed messages on the grapevine had me confused but I headed to the Oddie hide to find a few folk watching great egret on the southern bank of the pool. A nice adult coming into breeding plumage. It was too obscured by a willow bush that has shot up near to the hide for a photo (note to self: ask NWT about dispatching (I mean coppicing) the willow).

A good year-bird that is becoming much more common. Incredibly it has been recorded on the patch in five out of the last six years. Both great egret and spoonbill used to be megas a few years ago, now they're annuals! 

Jonathon was having a good day - whilst I was admiring the egret, he was watching a velvet scoter offshore.  I hung around and counted the gadwall  - 30! that's an impressive count for Druridge. Six red-breasted merganser and a handful of goldeneye were also noteworthy.

I headed for  the dune-ridge.There was no sign of Jonathon or his velvet scoter- in fact there were no scoters or Farooqi's at all. There were 27 red-throated divers which was a good count and my first puffin of the year, just the one, but a good start for March.

The Whoopers, about sixty, and the lone Bewick's swan were scope-able from the dunes.

We've had news of a ringing recovery from BTO, which is always exciting. One of the eleven lesser redpols, which were mostly 'younguns', that we caught on 14th October last year has been caught again by a ringer in Swaffham, Norfolk - 329km from Druridge, 160 days later and now identifiable as a female bird. 

Not the bird caught in Norfolk as this is an adult, caught on the same day -nice though.

Long day on the patch

Last night, the forecast for today was rain - all day.

So this morning, we didn't set an alarm, when we got up it wasn't raining and it was calm. The forecast still predicted showers, but we headed down to Druridge and put some nets up, you've got to make the most of any chance in the autumn. Whilst we sorting the nets, the sky was full of pink-footed geese - easily 6000 passed over. A small flock of about eight brambling flew south and a yellow-browed warbler called form the bushes by the car

There were a few showers, but they didn't really come to much, we furled a couple of nets early on but continued ringing with three nets up for the whole day. It was worth the effort, as we caught 60 birds in total of 14 different species.

Of note was a flock of lesser redpolls - we caught 10 in total, all within an hour, I think they were just passing through.

Lesser redpoll - a nice pink male

We caught a very late willow warbler (rare beyond September at Druridge), two chiffchaffs and five blackcaps. One of the blackcaps was female that we first caught in the spring as breeding female, she must've nee ready for the off as she had built up a large amount of fat (migratory birds build up fat ahead of migration).

Late willow warbler

male blackcap

female blackcap

Despite the huge arrival of thrushes yesterday, they must've all gone straight inland as we only caught two song thrush and redwing today - one of the song thrushes was a retrap, Tom Cadwallender and I caught it in October last year as first-year bird. I wonder where it's been since?

Redwing

Also of note was a magpie - Not everyone's favourite species and some it will probably end up in the farmers larsen trap. It was a first-year bird and only the second we've ever caught at Druridge. Despite they're reputation amongst 'country folk' they are incredibly intelligent and very beautiful birds.

Magpie - only the second one we've caught at Druridge

Bizarrely, we also caught our first wren of the year today. Last year we caught more wrens than any other species, but the 'beast from the east' wiped them out and there were no breeding bird at Druridge this year. The five we caught today will be post-breeding dispersers from elsewhere.

wren - first of the year!

Today was also WeBS count day. As the Budge fields are still pretty-much dry it didn't take too long and there wasn't much of note.

As I was packing up the nets at about 4pm, the skies cleared and the sun came out. I stopped by the plantation and birded until nearly 6pm. Most of that time was spent trying to get detail on a grey-looking phylosc in the sycamores. It was really tricky to get decent views, but it was a chiffchaff, very grey/off-white below and grey above apart from green in the wings - it looked like a Siberian chiff,  it eventually called and gave its ID away as just that. I only managed a very poor, arse-end photo.

From the east

The wind has been out of the east for the last five days or so, and it is really coming from the east with an airflow coming from from Siberia and beyond.

An easterly wind in October...the perfect combination.

And so it was, White's thrush on Holy Island on Wednesday and a supporting cast of several Pallas's warblers, red-breasted flycatchers  and little buntings and lots of yellow-browed warblers and that was just in Northumberland. Not so much excitement on the patch. There have been at least two yellow-browed warblers in the bushes by the entrance from Sunday.

The start of the week was quite summery, on Sunday speckled wood butterflies were obvious in the rides with 20 noted, common darters and migrant hawkers, including this pair, were still evident.

Speckled Wood

Migrant hawkers

The wind did come out of the north and a seawatch produced three sooty shearwaters and a summer-plumaged great northern diver headed north.

On Thursday morning, thrush passage was evident with mistle thrushes and a few fieldfare passing over, song thrushes, redwings and blackbirds in the bushes. A group of ten swallow passed south - could be the last?

Sunset on Thursday

On Friday and Saturday mornings we put some nets up. We caught about 70 birds on each session. Goldcrests were the most abundant species with 18 on Friday and 26 on Saturday - we also caught a lot of robins and a handful of song thrushes, redwings, chiffchaffs, wrens, dunnocks and blackcaps. Lesser redpoll and siskins were newly arrived on the patch and a couple of great-spotted woodpeckers were new-in.

Great Spotted Woodpecker - this photo shows its incredibly long tongue

Redwing  - one of three

Pink-footed geese were heard regularly overhead and about 500 have settled in the stubble field at High Chibburn and about 65 barnacle geese headed south on Friday

Bright and breezy conditions were forecasted for this morning so a more leisurely start was in order. A wander through the bushes from 11am this morning - there had obviously been a clear out with goldcrests being particularly less obvious. A yellow-browed warbler was very vocal in the willows by the entrance and a few redwing sprung out as I passed by and blackcaps were gorging on elderberries.

As I loitered by the middle bushes, I heard a rustling in the grass and a stoat popped it's head up, I managed a to grab a photos...

Stoat

There were a few waders on the budge fields and I thought I must return with my scope and then a message arrived on my phone 'red-flanked bluetail at Amble Yacht Club'. I was hungry so a drive by the pasty shop and onto Amble but there was no sign of the bird so back to Druridge.

Bob Gadjus was in the Budge screen when I arrived, and had picked up a distant owl. It flew south then closer, I got onto it in the scope and at first I thought it was long-eared but on reflection it was probably a short-eared owl - it never got close. A second Asio owl was much closer, over the bushes by the path to the Oddie hide and was definitely a long-eared owl.

I scanned through the waders and came across a group of dunlin, there was a bird amongst them that was different - about 1/4 bigger than the dunlin with a no markings on the flanks or belly, the streaking on the breast ending abruptly against the white lowerparts. Pectoral sandpiper - my first on the patch since 2007. Seemingly there has been a 'pec' at Chev for much of the week so I am guessing this is the same bird - nonetheless a welcome year-tick.

Two juvenile ruff, four black-tailed godwits, three redshank and 20+ snipe made up the rest.

The easterly airflow is set to continue until at least next Monday. I will be grilling the patch for my first Pallas's warbler, little bunting or maybe...even... a Siberian Accentor....

With the addition of kingfisher (first since 2007) and the above, my year list stands at 166. 171 is my highest ever count in 2013 and 2014. My Patchwork Challenge score is 241.

Fog-bound

The weather forecast predicted light winds this morning, but it didn't mention thick fog, which Druridge Bay was cloaked in for most of the day.

Luckily,  it was the 'dry' type of fog, not a wetting fog which makes ringing impossible as the nets and therefore the birds, get wet.

So, dry fog and no wind, meant good ringing conditions.

As I was putting the last of the three nets up that we were going to sue, I flushed a long-eared owl for the nearby bushes, it flew off, silently...

Our first net-round only yielded a couple of birds, both retraps, until we checked the last net. The long-eared owl had obviously returned to its roosting spot and was now in the net, quickly extracted, we returned to the car to ring it.

Long-eared Owl

Fantastic eyes! - click for bigger image

Long-eared owls can be sexed quite easily, this was a female, told by having less white about the face and the 'ground' colour of the underparts being more buff than white. This bird was in active moult, growing a new fourth primary feather on both wings, making it at least a 2nd calender year bird.

This is the third long-eared owl we have caught over the years at Druridge, the last one was last year, a breeding female, which was sadly found dead by a member of the public only 12 days later.

After the excitement of the long-eared owl, we continued to catch steadily throughout the morning until the fog lifted and wind picked up in the early afternoon.

It was obvious that the last two dry and sunny days had encouraged the migrants that had arrived on Tuesday and Wednesday, particularly the thrushes, to move on. We caught 40 birds in total, the only warblers were blackcaps of which there four, three juveniles and a retrapped resident female that we ringed with a brood-patch in August.

 This is a male Blackcap, told by the black crown, but you can still see some of the brown juvenile feathering in the crown.

Three goldcrests and a song thrush were 'passage' birds. We also caught 12 of the huge goldfinch flock that is hanging around Druridge, making the most of the bumper thistle crop, there are a few lesser redpolls in the finch flock and we caught two of them.

Whilst putting up the nets first-thing, a yellow-browed warbler was calling but was not relocated and later a couple of great-spotted woodpeckers put in an appearance by the car.

Throughout the morning, at least until 11am, there was a virtually constant sound of pink-footed geese flying over. Mostly, they appeared to be going south, but we couldn't see them for the fog, some of the groups sounded quite numerous.

Ringing on Saturday

The weather forecast for last weekend went a bit wrong, Sunday was forecast to be quite windy from the west  whilst Saturday was due to be calm, but bright.

Saturday was calm and bright. Sunday started very calm and was overcast but the wind picked up later.

On Friday we worked to clear some vegetation from our net rides and it was obvious then that there were very few birds around, other than a large number of goldfinches. Migrants were particularly thin on the ground with a only a few 'wheeting' phyloscs and one or two goldcrests, but quite a few robins.

robin

 So on Saturday we decided to try a ringing session despite the forecasted sunshine and the lack of any migrants (the clear, calm night with light westerlies would not drop anything new in). As predicted we didnt catch many birds, only 20 in fact. We caught a few robins, goldcrests, goldfinches and a nice juvenile siskin. This whitethroat was our only warbler, it was carrying a lot of fat so was obviously on the move.

migrant whitethroat caught and ringed

There was some vizmig going on, with a few skylarks headed north, a grey wagtail over (always a autumn bird at Druridge) and a few siskins and lesser redpolls moving through or joining the goldfinch flocks.

Car problems have prevented any further visits to the patch.

Last ringing session

Today was the last ringing session for the year at Druridge, with no leaves left on the trees, it was time to pack up and close down the site for the winter.

To be honest, I thought last week might have been the last week and it would've been if I'd had more time to take in the poles last Sunday. I am pleased as I didn't though, as today was very worthwhile, with variety being the name of the game, catching 59 birds of 15 different species.

We ringed six species of finch including three bullfinch, which are scarce at Druridge, nine siskin and six lesser redpolls.

You can't beat a bit of bully on a Sunday!

One of six lesser redpolls 

 We also caught a very late chiffchaff.

chiffchaff

All packed up and ready to go

There were lots of pink-feet moving south this morning and this afternoon a well-marked barn owl was hunting the dunes.

Yesterday, I did my WeBS count, a week late, but better late than never I suppose. Wigeon numbers are picking up with 55 present along with 61 teal. Also of note was a single black-tailed godwit on the Budge fields and on the big pool, a great-crested grebe and a drake red-breasted merganser.

Long weekend

I took Friday off work so I had a nice long weekend to do some ringing and birding on the patch.

Thursday

An early morning, pre-work visit. There seemed to have been an arrival of birds overnight with more robins, goldcrests and wrens than the previous day. There were also three great-spotted woodpeckers, blackbirds, lesser redpolls and a single blackcap - all new arrivals.

grey heron over

Work beckoned though....

Friday

I spent Friday morning checking the bushes, from the plantation in the south, up to the north end. Robins, wrens (over 32 counted), goldcrests and chiffchaffs were really evident. Thursdays redpolls had been joined by a flock of siskins and blackcap and great-spotted woodpecker were still present.

I finally got my yellow-browed warbler, just off the 'Mike Carr' path. picked up on call and found with goldcrests and a chiff in the willows. It didn't hang about. The birds were moving in waves like you get in the tropics.

One of many  robins

 There was at least nine stonechats in the dunes - showing how good a year this species has had.

Male stonechat

Vizmig was obvious with a constant movement of skylarks (35+) and meadow pipits (24+) moving south in small groups. A juvenile marsh harrier flew south, low over the bushes.

Pink-footed geese were also on the move. I estimated this skein at 150 when they flew over, I counted them on the photo and there were 151 - how's that for accurate guesswork?

151 pink-footed geese headed south

Saturday

We put some nets up on Saturday. It was 3 degrees C when we arrived and there was light frost, first frost of the year on the patch.

We caught 43 new birds, including an incredible 16 wrens. We also caught five song thrushes, which must have been freshly in. We didn't catch any chiffchaffs, but we did ring a single willow warbler, which is quite late. A great tit was a control (meaning that it had been ringed elsewhere, it had a larger 'B' ring on, so it was probably ringed as a pullus from a nestbox.

Goldfinches eating last years alder cone crop - this years very good crop is not quite ripe yet.

Yesterdays yellow-browed warbler called from the bushes. Skylark and mipit migration was still evident.

Today

Today was WeBS count day. My attempt at an early start was thwarted  with car problems. After a jump start and a trip to Kwik Fit for a new battery, I got down to patch at 15.40, £110 lighter.

An interesting wader on the far bank of the big pool had a few of us guessing for a bit. It looked a bit like a dunlin, but the jizz was wrong and some features didn't tally. It looked 'rounded and compact' and small, but difficult to judge size at such range with no comparison. It had no pectoral band, with colouring only reaching the throat. We decided that it was just a odd-looking dunlin. Interesting though.

Notable on the WeBS count was 18 little grebe, 26 gadwall and a great-crested grebe.

164 lesser redpoll
165 siskin
166 yellow-browed warbler

PWC Score - 258

The weekend

Time on the patch was limited this weekend due the Toon kicking off at 12.45 yesterday. This meant two things;

1) Limited birding time on Saturday morning to catch the 10.30 bus
2) A guaranteed hangover this morning as we were going out for dinner after the match

So I had an hour or so on the patch yesterday morning before heavy rain set in. There were newly-arrived blackcaps and blackbirds in the plantation and willows by the entrance. It was quiet, so I gathered some field mushrooms to go in my pre-match bacon butty and headed home.

field mushrooms

The predicted hangover wasn't as bad as I expected, so I was down on the patch for 11am. The rain hadn't dropped many birds in, the plantation being virtually bird-less other than a fly-in great spotted woodpecker, I saw two more great-spots later too.

12 lesser redpols flew over and kept going. The other bushes were quiet too, with only a few goldcrests of note

goldcrests

Dave Elliot's goosander had gone from the pool, but I picked up three together offshore. There were 6 red-throated divers on the sea.

166 Goosander

A first for Druridge?

On my visit to Druridge yesterday I might have seen a first for the patch - an inland turnstone.

I'm saying inland, it was in the field west of the Budge fields, which is quite inland for a turnstone. It was feeding with some redshank, curlew and lapwings and it wasn't even high tide. Normally, the only turnstones at Druridge are fly-by birds pushed off either Snab Point or Hauxley rocks at high tide. Very, very occasionally they are on the beach.

The 'turnstone' field was quite good for waders with 91 curlew, 41 redshank and 76 lapwing, there was also a small flock of 20 odd fieldfare with a single redwing.

Two kestrels were still about the patch and a handful of lesser redpolls moved through the alders.

My patch year-list for 2012 currently stands at 146, ten off my usual year tally. I will be very lucky to get another year tick before I go on holiday on 28th December - my worst finish in years is on the cards.

Ringing Demo

A long time ago, we were asked if we'd do a ringing demonstration at Druridge for ERIC volunteers. To be honest, we had forgotten all about it until Steve Lowe reminded us during the week. We would have probably ringed at Druridge this morning anyway, but having to do the demo made sure we did.

The session stated well, before the group turned up we had caught a treecreeper. In fact we caught it before the net was properly up. This is only the third treecreeper we have ever caught at Druridge, so it was nice to catch it.

treecreeper

The group turned up shortly after and waited patiently whilst we checked the nets and we returned from our net-round with a good catch to show them. 

The assembled group

The highlight for us was a yellow-browed warbler, the first one we have ever caught at Druridge. The assembled group were amazed that this little bird had come from Siberia to arrive at Druridge, that said, they were equally impressed with the blue tits that were taking the skin from my fingers.

yellow-browed warbler

We caught 18 lesser redpolls today, not a species we normally catch a lot of at Druridge. They appeared to be feeding on the seeds of meadowsweet. Most of them were this years' juveniles, this one caught Janet's eye when she extracted, nothing unusual, just some leucism. 

leucistic lesser redpoll

Interestingly, yesterdays' fall of thrushes had virtually cleared out, we only caught three blackbirds and two song thrushes.

We caught 59 new birds and 5 retraps in total. Not bad for a bright and breezy morning with westerly winds.

Six cows have appeared on the Budge fields. Too little, too late,  but it is encouraging to see them, hopefully they'll be here to stay.

Ringing totals

treecreeper 1

long-tailed tit 11

goldcrest 7 (1)

great tit 1

song thrush 2

blackbird 3

dunnock 1 (1)

chiffchaff 1

wren 2 (1)

robin 2 (1)

lesser redpoll 18

yellow-browed warbler 1

blue tit 6 (1)

goldfinch 1

blackcap 1

siskin 1

143 treecreeper

End of September...

The last day of September, Autumn is slipping away into winter and my year-list for the patch is well down on what it should be.

On Wednesday I did pre and post-work visits to the patch. On Wednesday morning, there had been an obvious overnight arrival of common migrants, song thrush were the most numerous with 50-60 passing through. There were ten+ redstart, lesser and common whitethroats, garden warbler  15+ blackcap, ten+ chiffchaff, two willow warbler and eight or more goldcrest. Also newly arrived were a party of eight lesser redpolls and six siskin.

lesser whitethroat

Most frustrating though was the one that got away. A bunting, facing me, with a pale, almost white belly but with strong streaking on the flanks, it turned it's head to show orangey-brown cheeks then promptly flew off, never to be seen again. I would bet my mortgage it was a little bunting but I didn't get enough on it to be sure. I didn't catch up with the little bunting that Janet caught in 2005.

Also of note was another bonxie, flying east from the land towards the sea, my second of the week and a steady passage of skylarks still passing overhead and this roe deer which was not shy at all.

roe deer

By Wednesday afternoon there had been a clear-out. Only two or three song thrush remained and no redstarts, everything had moved on. Bob Biggs had a knot on the flooded fields in front of the cottages which was year-tick.

Today was quiet as I dodged the showers. There were still six redpolls hanging about and a few chiffchaffs. Two grey plover flying west, calling, were also of note. There were hundreds of dragonflies on the wing today, especially in sheltered areas of tall vegetation.

It rained again so I thought I would call at Cresswell Pond to have a look at the Long-billed Dowitcher that had been reported but when I got there and saw 15 cars at the end of the track I kept going.

Am I getting old and grumpy? I used to enjoy the 'craic' in the Cresswell Pond Hide on a Sunday morning, now the thought of a hide full of other birders makes me run the other way. Has birding (and birders) changed or it just me?

136 lesser whitethroat
137 redstart
138 lesser redpoll
139 knot