Patch Tick

A patch tick today - not a bird but a new dragonfly for the patch. Broad-bodied Chaser. The species had been reported a couple of times earlier in the week so I was pleased to catch up with them today. 

I saw the female first, sat motionless on a dead stick.

Female Broad-bodied Chaser

A few minutes later a male flew in from somewhere, perched briefly and was off.

Male Broad-bodied Chaser

A nice addition to the patch odonata list. 

There were lots of damselflies on the wing today, all Blue-tailed and Common Blue that I could see. 

Two different forms of female Blue-tailed Damselfly

A few hovers were out on the Hemlock Water Dropwort and along the path. 

Helophilus pendulus (m)

Syritta pipiens  - Thick-legged hoverfly

Syritta pipiens  - Thick-legged hoverfly

 - female

Eristalis pertinax (m)

On the Budge fields, a single summer-plumaged Spotted Redshank, Little Ringed Plover and Dunlin were noteworthy. No sign of the two Spoonbill reported earlier. Offshore the scoter flock is starting to build with c120 in the Bay. 

Black-neck

A quick post-work visit to the patch this evening to catch up with Black-necked Grebe that had been reported on Druridge Pool earlier in the day. Black-necked Grebe is a tricky bird to see on the patch and this was my first since a summer-plumaged bird in May 2018. No chance of any photos as the bird kept a distance from the shore. A Pochard was another scarcity.

The recent rain has re-wetted the Budge fields and this had attracted a decent smattering of waders including three Knot, two Ruff, a single Turnstone (rare on the Budge), Little Ringed Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, three Ringed Plovers and a few Dunlin and Redshank. A single first-summer Little Gull was in front of the little hide. 

The wind has strengthened out of the south-east and it's raining. Could be good in the morning...

Head down

It's that time of year again...

Rather than looking up into the sky or even into the canopy of the bushes, my head is down, looking at flower heads and grasses in search of invertebrates. I do enjoy the challenge of identifying these tiny insects and spiders but it takes time and patience,  I have precious little of either.

On Saturday evening Janet and I had wander around the patch. There were at least 40 Black-tailed Godwits on the Budge fields, most of them look like icelandica race birds and five Ruff including a juvenile, there was also Little Ringed Plover and a handful of Dunlin.  At least one of the cuckoos was still present and there were plenty of 'toggers' lined up along the road all taking the same photo - we left them to it and went looking for bees and hovers but it was a bit late in the day. We did find some more of the funky caterpillars of Depressaria daucella which are starting to build their cocoons. We summoned Tom Tams away from the Cuckoo as we knew he was keen to see them as they aren't a commonly recorded moth in the county.

Depressaria daucella Caterpillar building its cocoon in cow parsley

We had some adult moths and butterflies and other stuff. I'll put Sunday's sightings on here tomorrow hopefully.

Male Syrphus sp hoverfly

Beautiful China Mark moth (Nymphula nitidulata)

Common Blue butterfly (female)

Potato Mirid Closterotomus norwegicus

Yellow Shell moth (Camptogramma bilineata)

Small skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)

Field grasshopper 

A bit of ringing

Well, the bloody weather forecasters got it wrong again.

With thoughts of ringing this weekend, I've been checking out the forecast for this weekend since Thursday and it was constantly changing. By Friday night it looked like Saturday would be the better morning for ringing, dull with light westerlies, so I left home at 5am to set some nets up. When I pulled out of our street the wind turbines on the horizon were moving too quickly for my liking and it was glorious sunshine.

And so it was... bright and breezy with the wind out of the west. The worst conditions to ring at Druridge. I persevered, but gave up by 9am having only caught 6 birds.

Today was supposed to be bright and breezy again, but the wind was to be stronger and move more southerly. I didn't wake up until 7.30am (it had been a late night) and looked out of the window - still calm and overcast... I was at Druridge and nets up by 8am.

Despite the late start, I caught 20+ birds, mostly juvenile warblers.

There were two highlights. The first was catching a whitethroat that we first caught in July 2014 as an adult female - so the bird was at least five years old. Not a record by any means - the BTO record longevity record is seven years and nine months, but it does man that this little bird, weighing only 13 grams had crossed the Sarah desert at least eight times.

Five year-old whitethroat

The second highlight was controlling ( this means catching a bird that has been ringed elsewhere) a reed warbler. We will have to wait to hear from BTO exactly where it was ringed. Reed warblers are a bit of a success story at Druridge. They started breeding in the little Phragmites reedbed in the south-east corner of the big pool about six years ago with one pair, before that they were a passage migrant.This year we have already ringed six breeding males and three females and today, our first juvenile of the year.

Controlled reed warbler

On Friday I popped down to the patch after work. Terns were feeding close into the shore including a handful of roseate terns, I even managed a photo of one of them.

Sandwich tern

Sandwich tern

Roseate tern

Offshore, a good flock of common scoter has built up in the bay, numbering up to a thousand. They were dispersed into several smaller groups on Friday, here are some of them...

Some of the 1000 common scoter in the bay at the moment

On the Budge fields there were two wood sandpipers, a little ringed plover and 15 black-tailed godwits. These waders were joined by a whooper swan on Saturday that has been knocking about on the bay. A water rail was calling from the corner of the big pool this morning and a few whimbrels were in the silage fields with the curlews

Ian Fisher and I have been checking the egrets and herons in the shelterbelt this year, we did our final check tonight but I'll write about the outcomes next time.

Twitching and patch oddities.

The undoubted ornithological highlight this week, possibly the year, was off-patch. A black-winged pratincole was found yesterday afternoon by Dave and Bob Dack at Bothal Pond.

black-winged pratincole at Bothal Pond

A new bird for me, anywhere in the world, it showed terrifically well, flying regularly back and forth over the pond. It didn't come too close to the southern shore so this is the best photo I managed. A cracking bird though, so cracking I spent over two hours watching it.

Back on the patch, on Wednesday morning two mandarin ducks and a barnacle goose were reported on the Budge fields. I had to drive past Druridge, so took my lunch-break on the patch, catching up with both species. Since my first patch mandarin in June 2012, I've recorded the species in three out four years. Odd timing for a barnacle goose, maybe it had decided not to make the trip back north?

There was also two garganey and a little ringed plover of note.

On Thursday a male ruff was present and it was joined by a second today along with a black-tailed godwit and the two drake mandarins.

mandarin

mandarins

Stints in a storm

I called in to Druridge after work this evening to give the Budge fields a quick check. A black-tailed godwit was out front, as I scanned the mud a single little ringed plover dropped in, but it didn't stay long.

I got onto two small waders way out in an area of shallow water and plants. They were stints, distant and up to their bellies in water. My first thought was to go with the most likely - little stints as they had been seen recently, but I couldn't rule out Temmincks.  I called Dave Elliot to let him know.

I continued to watch them and as the light improved my suspicions grew. Dave arrived but the birds had moved, we soon picked them up on some mud and could get more on the 'jizz'...but now there were four of them.

We watched them for ages, the upperparts were greyish, with little rufous and no sign of any pale 'braces', we couldn't do anything with leg colour at this distance, but they appeared at times,  to have the creeping gait that Temmincks have.

The birds were flushed and flew, showing white a white outer-tail - things were looking good for Temmincks. After flying for a while, the birds settled nearer the little hide, we headed for that hoping for a better view, which we got. The light was still awful as a storm brewed to the north, but against a darker background we saw the leg colour was greenish, not dark. We were both happy they were Temmincks stints.

16 Black-tailed godwits arrived and so did Trevor Blake (wearing a T Shirt!) as the rain began to fall and the thunder and lightening started. By the time Andy Cowell arrived the rain and turned to hail. An almighty storm passed through with massive hailstones and virtually constant rattles of thunder. I wished I had brought my SLR camera to capture it well. We were joined in the hide by some swallows seeking shelter.

Storm at Druridge from Iain Robson on Vimeo.

I saw something I have never seen before. At the height of the storm, two black-headed and a common gull dropped in, onto the pool in front of the hide. As soon as the landed, all three tipped their heads backwards and pointed their bills directly upwards into the air. They stayed like that until the hail ceased, a few geese and ducks were doing the same. We presumed they were doing this to protect their skulls from the large hailstones?

Jonathon Farooqi and his father arrive, crunching through the hail

Looking a lot like Christmas!

iPhone shots - I wished I'd taken the SLR!

I called briefly at Druridge this morning on my way to work, after DE had reported a spoonbill, no sign of it, but an avocet was on there.

Later in the day 'lucky' Andy McLevy had an Osprey at Druridge. I've only ever had one 'patch' osprey, a spring bird, back in the late nineties. I'm long overdue another one!

117 Temmincks Stint

PWC Score 147 (self found bonus points for Temmincks)

Back for a stint

There has been no blog updates for a while as I have been in Spain for a week. We started in Valencia and headed down in to Castilla-La Mancha to the La Mancha wetlands where we saw lots of these:

Flamingoes at Laguna Larga

Next we headed to Sierra de Andujar in search of lynx, it was unseasonably hot which meant we didn't see lynx or many birds. We did see lots of these:

Azure-winged magpie at Sierra de Andujar

We finished the trip checking out saline lagoons and salt pans on the Murcia/Alicante coasts. it was interesting to see the breeding little terns there, making their scrapes on the banks between the salt pans.

Little tern at Las Salina de San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia

It was also interesting to see some passage waders coming through including a lot of curlew sandpipers, little stints and even turnstone.

It wasn't long until I would see little stint again..

Back to reality on Sunday morning, back to Druridge to the WeBS count in the freezing wind. There was crowd of folk in the Budge screen when I got there, I thought it was a twitch! A drake garganey and two wood sandpipers were soon pointed out and four little egrets were out on the fields - canny start to the count!

Soon after ADMc had left to look for a little stint at Cresswell, Bob Biggs picked up three small waders in flight, over the fields, which appeared to head off over the big pool. They hadn't, as I soon picked them up on the mud, two dunlin and a little stint. Little stint is a bit of rarity at Druridge, I've only seen them in three of the last eight years.

I had a quick visit to the Budge fields tonight. One of the wood sandpipers was still there and a little ringed plover was out on the mud.

115 little stint
116 little ringed plover

PWC Score 141

Mega Patch Tick

The early bird catches the worm, so they say.

Well I was at Druridge early this morning and it certainly paid off when a scan of the waders turned up a STILT SANDPIPER!

Here's the tale..

I bumped into fellow patcher Dave Elliott on the way into the Budge screen (you have to be up very early to beat Dave), he was telling me of a wader that he had seen yesterday but wasn't sure about as the light was terrible...it could have been stilt sandpiper or it could have been a wood sandpiper, he wasn't committal.

I started scanning the mud and amongst the snipe was something different, it was arse-on at first, then it raised it's tail to reveal strong barring on the underside and the dark centres to the feathers stood out really well. We didn't need to see any more - Stilt Sandpiper - the bird that was at Cresswell Pond until Thursday had turned up on my patch. Patch mega!

crappy iPhone-scoped shot of the Stilt Sandpiper.

We had really good views of it for a while, Dave went off to check the rest of his gigantic patch and it slipped off into the rushes. Then one of the Chevington marsh harriers turned up and scattered everything, including the curlews and spoonbills and there was no sign of the stilt sand for nearly 20 minutes. The marsh harrier had another go at it re-appeared back on the mud and was seen on and off for the rest of the day and was enjoyed by a good number of birders.

marsh harrier arrives....

....and causes havoc

This bird is the second record for Northumberland, the first being two years ago on the Stringers patch at Newton. I saw that bird and only one other, ever, in Texas.

This is the second new patch bird this year after May's woodchat shrike, taking the patch list to 234. Seemingly, as this bird was re-found, it counts as find for the patchwork challenge, thus netting me a whopping 15 points.

Elsewhere on the patch three little egrets were on the edge of the shelterbelt, one of them was the colour ringed bird DE had at Chevington, the other two were juveniles. They relocated to the big pool soon after.

Juvenile little egret. The yellow/green legs and yellow tinge to the lores as well as being 'fluffy' give it away as a juvenile.

Also on the big pool was LRP and common sandpiper. This stunning red admiral brightened up the track.

red admiral

Druridge version of oxpeckers

So what chance of another patch tick this year. Well, I reckon so and my money is on red kite.

Patch List 234

Year List 145

PWC Score 205

Waders

Autumn is here, at least in the ornithological calender, as return wader passage has begun. The mud on the Budge fields is looking really good, although frustratingly obscured by tall vegetation,  it is attracting birds.

Over the least three days there has been up to three wood sandpipers, three little ringed  plovers, 35 black-tailed godwits, 33 snipe, three ringed plovers, 15 dunlin, eight redshank and two common sandpipers. It will certainly be worth checking over the next few weeks.

Two spoonbills and a little egret continue to hang around on the Budge fields.

Hare on the Budge fields

Elsewhere on the patch, swallows are fledging from the hides and concrete blockhouses and second brood are underway. Stonechats have fledged second broods of young, they will probably triple-brood this year if the weather holds.

Stonechats - having a good year!

Heavy rain for much of last night and this morning must have kept one of the local barn owls indoors overnight, so it was making up for lost time, hunting the dunes at lunchtime today.

Barn owl hunting at 1.30pm

Offshore, the scoter flock remains at about 700. A pair of velvet scoter was with them on Thursday, but they are frustratingly far-out at the moment to pick anything else out.

Lots of butterflies are on the wing now including small skipper, ringlet, dark green fritillary, meadow browns and small tortoiseshells.

Tatty ringlet

Dark green fritillary

small tortoiseshell

Burnet moths are also abundant in the dunes with about five to each thistle head.

narrow-bordered five-spot burnet moths

138 little ringed plover
139 common sandpiper

PWC score 182

Felt a bit autumnal

It felt a bit autumnal down at the patch today. There had been a small arrival of warblers I think, there were a few willow warblers and chiffchaffs 'wheeting' in the bushes and down the path to the hides and a collared dove flew north - a sure sign of Autumn.

There were also more migrant waders on the big pool, a juvenile little ringed plover, common sand, green sand and dunlins. Tonight three greenshanks dropped into the Budge fields.

Juvenile LRP. You can see the beginnings of the orbital ring 

These common terns were also entertaining for a while, displaying and presenting fish. Mute swans were also doing a bit of display.

Displaying common terns

Mute swan

Two little gulls were still present on the big pool. This juvenile black-headed gull has caught the fish. I am not sure of the species of fish, but it appeared to have something stuck to it or living on it, small white spheres.The gull spent ages trying to dislodge, then wash off, whatever was stuck to the fish. It gave in in the end and just ate it.

Black-headed gull with fish

Here is a close up of the fish - any thoughts?

 143 Little ringed plover