Seawatching

The weather forecast today was for strong northerlies, become lighter as the day went on - which meant it could be good for seawatching. The wind was out of the west until the early hours of the morning so I figured later in the day would be good for a seawatch - I was wrong.

Before I got down to the patch, I had to go to Cresswell for a meeting for my second job, as I was getting ready to leave, a message arrived saying that a white-billed diver had been tracked up the coast and had just gone north at Seaton Sluice. I made quick progress to Cresswell Ices car park, as it was reported at Newbiggin, and set up my scope, no news came from Snab Point... and then I got onto a large diver heading towards to me, it was headed my way until I lost it in the breakers and it didn't re-appear, had it landed? I scanned but couldn't find it then a second diver appeared, this one was closer, just beyond the breakers. It was tricky to do much with until it got level with me and I got great views of it, the very pale, upturned bill was obvious in the sunshine. It passed by all too quickly. I presume the first bird that ditched onto the sea was great northern diver, but I never re-found it.

If I hadn't been going to a meeting, I probably could have had it on the patch but it would've been tight and given that this was a new bird for the world for me, I probably did the right thing.

I eventually made it down to the patch for a seawatch just after 2pm and was in my seat by ten-past.

seawatching seat

The first bird I saw was a drake scaup headed north but it seemed to be very quiet with hardly any birds moving other than gulls. There certainly wasn't the variety that other seawatchers had enjoyed in the morning, with no skuas or shearwaters recorded. The highlights were four long-tailed ducks, which included a stunning drake that landed on the sea in front of me, a single little auk, which was put nicely into perspective when two guillemots motored north, dwarfing it as they passed it and two groups of whooper swans. other ducks included common scoter, wigeon, eider and 39 goldeneye. A flock of at least 50 twite flew north along the dune front.

The seawatching wasn't frenetic but the light was nice - here area few iphone shots. By 4pm the light was starting to go but I persevered until ten-past to get the two hours in.

Another busy day on Druridge Bay 

Looking south

Looking north

My view

Sunset

Seawatching totals 14:10 - 16:10 (excluding gulls) - all north

Scaup 1M
Goldeneye 39
Long-tailed duck 4
Gannet 5
Guillemot  7
Razorbill 1
Eider 10
Wigeon 7
Red-throated Diver 8
Common Scoter 4
RB Merganser 2
Whooper Swan 21 (eight and 13)
Little auk 1
Shag 1
Twite 50+
Pied Wagtail 2
Snow bunting 1 (heard only)
Sanderling 14 (on the beach)

From the north

The wind came right out of the north on Friday and through to today, bringing a blast of  proper winter weather after a spell of unseasonably mild weather of late.

The northerly had come from way up north - classic weather to bring some northern specialities down, so obviously a seawatch was in order.

I timed my seawatch with the rising tide, giving me more chance to get some good waders pushed off the rocks by the advancing tide. It was bitterly cold, but as the wind had swung around out of the NNW I managed to find a little shelter in the dunes.

No sooner had I set up my scope when I had the first of many little auks headed north. There was a steady passage of these fantastic little birds throughout the morning. Mostly in small groups, all headed north. Many were very close in, flying between the breaking waves on the shore. At one point I had a 'mixed flock' of two purple sandpipers, two dunlin and two little auk flying up the shore.

It was great to get purple sandpiper on the list for the year, the light was nice so they really stood out from the dunlin.

Other highlights were two great northern divers (sadly no black-throated passed me), an adult little gull flying south, two groups of three long-tailed duck, two velvet scoter and a drake scaup. A flock of 25 twite flew north along the dunes.

Seawatching totals 1120-1250:

little auk 173
goldeneye 24
cormorant 2
little gull 1 (S)
guillemot 34
red-throated diver 3
dunlin 6
long-tailed duck 6
wigeon 49
red-breasted merganser 3
great northern diver 2
pale-bellied brent 3
velvet scoter 2
purple sandpiper 4
kittiwake 80+
common gull 10+
scaup 1
pintail 1
twite 25

Today I had to work, but popped down to Druridge for the last of the light at 3pm. I intended on doing a seawatch but the light was nice and there was some close-by gulls so I did some gull photography instead.

Between gulls I did note long strings of kittiwakes  headed north and some sizeable stings of guillemot. There were a few little auks, but nothing like yesterday and a couple of RTD.

Adult common gull

First-winter herring gull 

Arty gull photo

Second-winter great-black-backed gull. Check out the obvious white tip to the bill

Snowy sky over Cresswell - I'm pleased it missed me!

Nice wintry sky at dusk

Pink-footed geese coming in at sunset

 My seawatch brought me a little haul of year-ticks - brent goose, scaup and purple sandpiper (my first on the patch for six years!) taking my total to 159 which is well down on the last few years. Still a chance of one or two more species before New Year...

Old Sqauw

I've managed about an hour on the patch this weekend with a brief stop yesterday and a bit of wander today.

I've been checking the Budge fields for garganey but they're not back yet. Two or three chiffchaffs were back and singing today but no other new migrant passerines were added to the list. There are still 50-60 teal and wigeon on the fields - they'll be off soon.

Offshore, there were 22 red-breasted mergansers in the bay, I'll need to check my database but that could be a patch record count. Even more exciting than the mergs was a drake long-tailed duck, first picked up among some distant mergs then picked up flying north. It was a stunner, in full breeding nick.

Alongside the chiff and the 'old squaw' tree sparrow on Wednesday takes the patch list to 81 species for the year.

Unprecedented

I didn't get down to Druridge today, some of us have got proper jurbs....

Other birders did though, as an alert from Birdguides at lunchtime told of a black-throated diver on the Budge fields. How odd after my red-throated diver there yesterday.

Ian Fisher called me later to say he was watching the black-throat and it was in front of the little hide and he was photographing it.

black-throated diver (c) Ian Fisher

And yes, before you ask, the diver I saw yesterday was definitely a red-throated diver. So two divers on the Budge Fields in two days. The word unprecedented is over-used, but on this occasion it'll do nicely!

Ian also saw a female long-tailed duck on the big pool. This looked liked the same bird that I saw close in offshore yesterday.

long-tailed duck (c) Ian Fisher

Thanks to Ian for the pics.

WeBS count

Today was count day and there was lots to count. The Budge fields were lifting with birds. Lapwing were by far and away the most numerous species (apart from starlings which don't count for WeBS), with 495 give or take a few each way. Interestingly, there were no redshanks or curlews today, the only other wader was snipe. This might be a record lapwing count, I will need to interrogate my database.

Teal numbered 157 and wigeon 126 (dropped int he last week or so). Bird of the morning went to a red-throated diver on the Budge fields of all places. This was a first for me, I've seen them on the big pool a few times but never on the fields. It flew off before I could photograph it, only to land on the big pool, until a passing police helicopter scared it away from there too.

Also of note; a pair of pintail on the Budge fields, the long-staying common scoter on the big pool and a pair of red-breasted merganser.

Off shore, there was a really close long-tailed duck of note.

Yesterday I had a quick look on the sea at high-tide. It was a big tide and the waves were lapping up to the base of the dune. I picked up a couple of turnstone flying south, they joined about 18 others on the beach - 20 turnstone is definitely a patch record count.

Offshore, there was drake velvet scoter.

83 snipe
84 turnstone

PWC score = 102

A bit of a wander roond the patch

I had a bit of a wander to the far flung ends of the patch today.

After seeing twite and pied wag on the dunes to the south, my route took me firstly to the Oddie hide, but not before I had stopped to look at a lone whooper swan on the Budge fields. Initially the big pool looked empty (for some reason when the pool is full (the outflow is blocked with flotsam and jetsam) there are never any birds on it - an edge thing?) other than a handful of tufted duck and teal, then a long-tailed duck popped up in the middle of the pool. Then, when I scanned the seaward side, a red-throated diver had appeared. It didn't hang around long before it flew off towards the south.

red-throated diver. A rare visitor to the big pool

My route then took me to the preceptory, which was owl-free, and then down to High Chibburn Farm where a flock of 200 or so golden plover lifted off the fields. At the farm  house sparrow, collared dove and dunnock were added to the year list. At the cottages, tree sparrows and a great tit were coming to the feeders.

Low Chibburn Preceptory

In front of the cottages, a skein of over 2000 pink-footed geese dropped in. I scanned them later in the scope, they were all pink-feets.

Whiffling

Pink-footed geese settled for a graze

Four pintail were on the Budge fields and two black-tailed godwits with the usual teal, wigeon and shoveler.

Offshore there were at least 77 red-throated divers in the bay, among them was a red-necked grebe, a good patch bird. Also on the sea were at least 25 guillemots and a couple of razorbills, mergansers and shags. A single sanderling was on the beach.

40 chaffinch
41 twite
42 pied wagtail
43 rook
44 gadwall
45 grey heron
46 jackdaw
47 golden plover
48 dunnock
49 house sparrow
50 woodpigeon
51 tree sparrow
52 great tit
53 collared dove
54 pintail
55 red-necked grebe
56 shag
57 cormorant
58 razorbill
59 red-breasted merganser
60 sanderling
61 eider
62 whooper swan

PWC score 74

More coppicing

We were doing more coppicing at Druridge this morning so had very little time for any birding.

What we actually do is a cross between coppicing and pollarding, leaving a higher stump than traditional coppicing. This creates nesting habitat off the ground as well as giving the 'coppice stool' more chance of surviving amongst the deep grasses that might out-compete it early in the spring.

This is important work. Firstly it keeps the height of the belt of trees down, decreasing the edge effect on the adjacent wet meadows (and pool) which is better for breeding waders. It also creates much better habitat for warblers, my territory mapping exercise that I did a few years showed that warbler territories were a greater density in recently coppiced areas. It is also beneficial for our ringing activities, keeping more of the trees below net height.

Once the work was done, I did manage a brief wander around the patch. A long-tailed duck was on the big pool, but then flew off, maybe the noise from the chainsaw disturbed it? Other than that, only common species were added to the list.

32 long tailed duck
33 robin
34 blue tit
35 coot
36 tufted duck
37 stonechat
38 pheasant
39 feral pigeon

PWC Score: 45

Turned out all white

At lunchtime today , I was sat in the Oddie hide with Graeme Bowman and Les Robson contemplating heading home to watch the Newcastle match and eat last nights cold pizza when Graeme got a muffled call about an ivory gull at Seahouses.

We were soon on our way and this is what greeted us when we arrived at the golf course.

A stunning juvenile ivory gull, which showed incredibly well, thankfully the course was too flooded for it to be bothered by golfers.

The assembled crowd watched as it took off and headed south and almost in unison shouted 'there's two of them' with various expletives rightly added. They called to each other and continued south together. Amazing. Congratulations to Gary Woodburn on another great find.

As regular readers of this tosh will know, I rarely twitch, because when I do I don't see the bird, so it nice to twitch a bird and see two!

The 'Seahouses-two' were relocated on the beach at Annstead and everyone enjoyed further views of them on the rocks before the tide pushed them off and they flew off north.

A new bird for me and a lot of the Northumbrian birders there, the last being in Seahouses in 1979. This takes my county list to 311.

There was little doing at Druridge before I left. There wasn't a bird on the sea, all the divers from last week have gone (tell a lie, there was a single shag). On the big pool there were two long-tailed ducks.

Outside of the patch at Hemscotthill links the finch flock had about 40 twite among it. I scanned them for colour-rings without success. There were tree sparrows, reed buntings and strangely a rock pipit amongst the linnets, goldfinches, chaffinches and twite.

I would love get access to the Hemscothill Links to woosh that finch flock.

Countdown

Having only added one new species to patch list in November and the Patchwork Challenge coastal North mini-league hotting up at the top, I'm going to have to get down to the patch more often in December. The countdown to end of the year has begun.

My visit started with a bit of drama. A sheep in the paddock south of the plantation had got itself onto its back and couldn't get back onto its feet. As much as I detest sheep (they are the stupidest of creatures), I couldn't see the poor thing suffer, so I went to its rescue. My good deed for the day done.

Off it goes, not even a thank you

Sheep rescued, I went to the north end where there about 1200 pink-footed geese in the fields west of the haul road. The weedy areas of the dunes held three stonechats and a handful of linnets, dunnocks, goldfinch and reed buntings.

Linnet

On the sea, there were an impressive 38 red-throated divers and three red-breasted mergansers. 16 sanderlings were pushed back and forward along the beach by dog walkers.

Sanderlings

Talking of dog-walkers. When I got to the Budge screen hide, one of the lazy bastards had left a full bag of stinking dog-shit on the seat of the hide. And then, I trod in a heap by my car. Druridge is becoming a massive dogs-toilet and I am getting fed-up with it.

Wildfowl numbers are picking up on the Budge fields with 90-100 of teal and wigeon. Two long-tailed ducks were on the big pool.

Aerial display team

It felt a little bit more like Spring today. There was some warmth in the sun, if you were out of the cool wind coming off the sea and the temperature reached a balmy eight degrees.

The warmth and sunshine was enough to encourage the lapwings on the Budge fields to start displaying again. They were displaying in early March, but the cold spell put thoughts of breeding on hold I think. Today, though, display was in full swing and I spent a nice hour just watching them.

Lapwing acrobatics

And the crow got some stick (deservedly so!)

Elsewhere on the patch, there was a complete lack of new migrants arriving. My 'hoped for' species not made it this far yet. There has been a decrease in the number of winter visitors though, with both teal and wigeon numbers much reduced and only three curlew.

At the 'haul-road flash' there were dozen ringed plovers and redshank and a single dunlin - probably all passage birds. On the beach there were 21 sanderling dodging the crowds of human visitors.

Sanderling - one of 21

A long-tailed duck was on the big pool.

So no new additions to the patch year-list, but a quality days birding nonetheless. 

Like a bank holiday...

You get two sunny days in a row and every man and their dog(s) head for Druridge. It was like a bank holiday Monday in August this afternoon, cars, people, dogs and kites everywhere.

A quick look on the sea produced a flurry of year ticks - guillemot, red-breasted merganser, eider, razorbill and kittiwake (the patch competition is very generous, awarding two-points to the latter three species!). There were also 11 red-throated divers offshore and 17 sanderling on the beach.

After nearly being attacked by a huge black shark (on the end of strings, held by a small child) we headed for the tranquility of the Budge screen.

The Budge fields still hold a lot of water and a lot of birds. The highlight were three pintail amongst the wildfowl. A visiting birder alerted us to a short-eared owl, perched on a fence to the south of the screen. It sat, perched on the same fence-post, for half an hour. It was too far away for photo's.

Two long-tailed ducks are still on the big pool. The female was being harassed by the first returning shelduck of the spring.

At the 'top-end' a mixed flock of goldfinch and linnet also contained a single greenfinch.

So the year-list stands at 73, giving me a score of 81 on the patch competition. The mini-league for the 'Coastal North' has been published for January and I am last - got some catching up to do.

65 moorhen (seen last week but missed)
66 kittiwake
67 eider
68 red-breasted merganser
69 guillemot
70 razorbill
71 short-eared owl
72 shelduck
73 greenfinch

WeBS Count

Today was WeBS count day and the WeBS count was about all I could manage. The wind from the south was biting and sleet threatened, it was grim!

The Budge fields were full of birds and they were flighty, so counting was tricky.

plenty of birds on the Budge fields

The top five were:

Wigeon 226
Lapwing 145
Curlew 118
Teal 114
Greylag 54

Highlights were the two long-staying long-tailed ducks and three pintail. Snipe was the only addition to the year list. It was sleeting hard when i finished the count, I was freezing, so I packed in and went to the Country Barn for some sustenance. 

I managed a brief check of Druridge on Friday evening after work, the evenings are getting lighter and there was still some visibility at half-past-five. Two barn owls were hunting around the dunes and song thrush was addition to the list. This takes the patch list to 64 and the Patchwork Challenge to 68 points.

One of the two barn owls hunting in the dunes

curlews silhouetted at dusk

62 song thrush
63 barn owl
64 snipe

February gets of to a flying start

With the toon at home yesterday and a belated birthday night out on Friday, I only managed one visit to the patch this weekend and that was delayed due to much celebrating last night, after the toon's magnificent victory.

A flock of about 450 pink-footed geese on the filed in front of the hamlet were grilled, they were all pink-foots. In the same field, three male grey partridges were competing for the attentions of a female - quite an impressive display, spring must be in the air.

The Budge fields are holding a lot of water, which has attracted a lot of dabbling ducks and few diving ducks too. Mostly wigeon and teal but also today were mallard, gadwall, shoveler, tufted duck, pintail and pochard. There were singles of each of the latter two, both new for the year list. There were also lots of curlew. On the big pool there were still two long-tailed ducks.

I saw a couple of species that I really didn't expect to see until the autumn today, great-spotted woodpecker and goldcrest. The goldcrest was in with a flock of ten or so long-tailed tits and a great tit. A passing sparrowhawk rattled them a bit!

Long-tailed tit

Elsewhere, at the north end, there was a small flock of mixed finches, mostly twite with linnet and goldfinch and on the beach, a female stonechat poked around amongst the flotsam and jetsam.

A couple of birders had seen a short-eared owl, but I didn't.

So today's effort takes the patch total up to 61 species and 65 points on the patchwork challenge.

49 grey partridge
50 pintail
51 pochard
52 great-spotted woodpecker
53 long-tailed tit
54 great tit
55 goldcrest
56 sparrowhawk
57 linnet
58 twite
59 stonechat
60 mute swan
61 cormorant

Twitch before patch

A twitch took priority over my patch this morning, as I headed north, with what seemed like most of the other birders in the County to Holy Island, to see Northumberland's second ever (and first twitchable) cattle egret.

The bird had roosted in the garden of the bungalow on the Crooked Lonnen overnight and was still in the garden, barely visible, when we arrived. It vacated the garden and flew around for a while, before landing in the adjacent field giving the assembled twitchers good views.

Sizeable twitch (Tom Cadwallenders luminous green hat could be spotted from the mainland!)

As regular readers of the blog will know, I am a reluctant twitcher and rarely travel beyond the County line and I have to admit today's experience isn't high on my list of memorable birding experiences. It was good to catch up with a few folk I've not seen for a while. The addition of cattle egret took my Northumberland list to 306, it was also a British tick for me, but I haven't a clue what that list stands at.

After a quick brew and bacon buttie at home, I was down on the patch. First job was my overdue WeBS count, which took a while as there was lot of birds on the Budge fields, not helped by them being flight for some reason.

Teal numbered 139, wigeon 127, shoveler 9, greylag 112, dunlin 22 and gadwall 10. On the big pool, the long-tailed duck reported yesterday was still present - a good patch bird indeed! This is my first patch 'oldsquaw' since 2007.

Oldsquaw - drake long tailed duck on the big pool

It may be because I have been in Thailand for three weeks, but the strong SW wind made it freezing cold, I retreated to the shelter of the dunes for a quick look at the sea. There wasn't much on it, one red-throated diver and some gulls, I picked up a great northern diver flying north, close in, and a flock of about 60 curlew with a single bar-tailed godwit amongst them.

So today's efforts saw my patch list reach 48 species (52 points in the patch competition). This could well be my last visit of January unless I can sneak in a quick dawn-raid before work.

24 teal
25 coot
26 gadwall
27 wigeon
28 shoveler
29 mallard
30 greylag goose
31 canada goose
32 stock dove
33 dunlin
34 redshank
35 pheasant
36 goldeneye
37 long-tailed duck
38 tufted duck
39 sanderling
40 red-throated diver
41 great-northern diver
42 herring gull
43 great black-backed gull
44 bar-tailed godwit
45 redwing
46 chaffinch
47 house sparrow
48 collared dove