Some seawatching

 The latter part of the week was dominated by very strong northerly winds - and that  means seawatching.

The wind really picked up on Thursday and into Friday morning but with my diary being full, I only had a brief window on Friday morning, I was in position for 07.25, hunkered down in the dunes as the wind was very strong, it was really busy with Auks, Gannets and Kittiwakes streaming north, a lot of them very close in, too close for some which would be under my scope. Just as I got settled I got onto a group of kittis very close-in and among them was something different - a juvenile Sabine's Gull. If I'd been settled in and concentrating on a single spot it would have been under my scope and I'd of missed it. 

I've never seen a Sabine's gull this close at Druridge before (I have at Church Point when I used to go there) and it was great to see it amongst adult and juvenile kittis for contrast. My first Sabine's since 2014 and my fourth for the patch - all September records in 2007, 2009 and 14. What a great bird!

It remained really busy, with hundreds of birds coming through but I only had an hour or so. Other highlights of my hour were:

Arctic Skua 1

Sooty Shearwater 9

Manx Shearwater 7

Red-throated Diver 1

and two Slavonian Grebes being tossed about on the sea.

Full list here

I had planned a sea watch on Saturday but the wind had strengthened and it was raining and reports from nearby spots weren't tempting me out - I think it was just too windy.

Janet and I had walk around the patch on Saturday evening seeing very little in the still-stormy northerly. 18 Pale-bellied Brents struggled north along the beach, just above the waves and 28 Barnacles went over, high. 

By this morning, the wind had really dropped. We'd opened some hooch that we brought back from Taiwan on Saturday night so I didn't get up early and only made it to the patch at 11am for another seawatch. It seemed quiet, nothing like Friday with few Auks, not Kittis and the Gannets well out. I gave it an hour :-

Sooty Shearwater 2

Manx Shearwater 4

Great Northern Diver 1

Bonxie 1

Barnacle Goose 19 (5N 14S)

Wigeon 27

Bar-tailed Godwit 2

Full list here

I also had ten Swallows, mostly going north! I headed for the bushes. It seemed quite quiet with nothing really calling - a single Chiffchaff was my highlight until I found a tit flock.

Chiffchaff

Here it is calling

It's always worth checking roaming tit flocks as migrant birds often join them like the Yellow-browed Warbler I found with them, a dullish looking bird, then a brighter individual which moved off north, I turned around and saw it or another bright bird - I think there was three but I'll only record two as the second bird could've done a U turn.

From the path by the midget screen, I counted 21 Swallows feeding above the bushes and 17 Barnacle Geese went south. Some waders have returned to the Budge fields at last, six Dunlin and three Redshank - it's a start.

What a difference a day makes

Two days couldn't have been more contrasting. Yesterday morning I was walking on the beach in a T shirt at 8am, today it was so cold, the winter coat came out!

The wind switched into the north overnight and the temperature dropped like a stone. A northerly at this time of year normally means seawatching and mid afternoon reports were coming in of Sabine's Gulls and Leach's Petrels from coastal watchpoints  - I was stuck in the office until 17.45. I eventually made it to my dune look-out by 18.05 - the light was poor and the birds were distant. It was getting dark after an hour and I was freezing cold so I quit then.

Highlights -2 Sooty Shearwaters, 1 Bonxie, 4 Manx, 4 Pale-bellied Brent, 27 Teal, 3 Red-throated Divers, 1 Shoveler and 25 Sandwich Terns. An Arctic Skua was harassing Kittiwakes offshore, it even had a go at a large juvenile gull, chasing it very high into the sky before giving up. Three Mediterranean Gulls went South.

There were flocks of Kittiwakes, moving north but stopping to feed, but they were way-out. Not good for Sabine's spotting. There were about 400 Common Scoter still on the sea.

Tonight's full list here

Monday and Tuesday mornings I've had a walk around the patch, both mornings were quite good for vizmig, with Meadow Pipits still dominating. 

In an hour on Monday I counted 328 Meadow Pipits headed south, some stopped to feed, rest and drink. I heard two Tree Pipits amongst them as well as 23 Swallows, 11 Skylarks and 1 Grey Wagtail.

Resting Meadow Pipit

In the dunes beyond the Dunbar Burn, a big finch flock has built up numbering around 180 birds. I estimated 65% Goldfinch and 35% Linnet but it could be 60/40. Yesterday, they were spooked and all got up and six birds flew out from the flock calling - Lesser Redpolls. It was almost as if they'd been roosting with flock overnight.

Young Stonechat

My usual route these mornings takes me north along the road/coal road to the edge of the patch and back along the beach, returning to the car by the road. There's usually not much to see on the beach or sea with just bins, other than the Sanderlings feeding busily along the tideline. The noise of the sea drowns out any vizmig.

I promise this is a colour image - Sanderling feeding on the shore

Red-throated Diver offshore

Mondays list

Tuesdays List

Way west

There's been no updates for while because I've been west, way west, in fact at one point as far west as you can get in mainland Britain - Ardnamurchan Point. We were staying on the Morvern Peninsula for a week but traveled around Sunart, Adrnamurchan and over to Mull a couple of times. It's a beautiful area but it is a lot wetter than here in the east and we got wet a few times.

Doirlinn

Heading for Sanna Bay

It was nice to get back to Druridge and stand on the dune and have the north on my left where it belongs. I've been down to the patch everyday since I back. 

Janet and I had brief wander on Saturday after our long drive south. Offshore the Scoter flock numbered 400-450 and there were six Red-throated Divers with them. This ship - the Normand Clipper has taken up residence in the Bay, seemingly it is to do with the new connector cable to Norway. 

The Normand Clipper

On Sunday afternoon,  it was quite warm with sunny spells, Chris Barlow let me know he'd seen a new hover for the patch so I went looking. I didn't see it but saw some other species and a couple of interesting other beasties. 45 plus Goldfinch rattled around me whilst I was hunkered down with the macro lens and a whimbrel flew south. 

Hoverfly Eristalis intricaria (worn female)

Female Helophilus pendulus

Eupeodes latifasciatis (f)

I think this might be one of the Lauxaniid Marsh Flies?

22-Spot Ladybird

When the sun went, I had a look offshore and three Sooty Shearwaters went north and the Red-throated Diver count was up to ten. 

On Monday evening Janet and I had a walk through up to the north of the patch and back by the beach. Our first bird was colossal female Sparrowhawk coming off the dunes. Further north we had Buzzards and a juvenile Marsh Harrier. 

This morning, my pre-work wander didn't get me far as there was some good vizmig going on. First birds heard were a small flock of Siskin going south. As I walked along the road, good number of Meadow Pipits, Sand Martins and House Martins flew south. A single Tree Pipit went south, calling and by the Dunbar burn there were two Wheatears and a juvenile Whinchat with a gang of resting Meadow Pipits and Linnets. 

A few Herring Gull loafed just offshore and this second winter bird gave good views in nice light and I found what I think is a dead Manx Shearwater on the beach. 

Second-winter Herring Gull

Dead Manx Shearwater

I estimated the following counts in my 45 minutes or so of counting

75 Sand Martin

57 House Martin

86 Meadow Pipits

32 Siskin (in three groups)

17 Swallow

1 Tree Pipit

This evening, I had a quick look on the sea, there wasn't much to report but this Chinook Helicopter gave good views as it passed low over the dunes. 

Chinook

Sanderlings on the beach this evening - adult and juvenile

Seawatching and some thoughts on it.

With strong northerlies forecast overnight and early morning I suspected I might be seawatching today especially as I had the day off work. When I woke at 6am it was lashing it down with rain, I turned over and went back to sleep, If I'd had to go to work, I would've got up and gone anyway but I had the luxury of more time.

I eventually arrived at my dune watchpoint at 9am, it was too windy to stand on the dune ridge so I hunkered down in the dunes on a useful perch as I could be sometime.

The first bird I saw was a Bonxie, close in too. There wasn't a lot of action until pretty much the second notable bird I got onto was a skua,  a bit further out than the Bonxie, quite distant. A grey bird against the sea with a more languid tern-like flight - Juvenile Long-tailed Skua! My fifth of the year incredibly. 

It was steady after that, Manx Shearwaters coming through in little groups or singles and a few Sooty Shearwaters including a single group of six together about half-way out. There were a few distant Skuas that went unidentified - that's one of the problems with Druridge but a couple Arctic skuas were closer and one came into the bay to harass terns and a couple more Bonxies came through. A drake Velvet Scoter came in very close, north,  on its own and a group of ten Pale-Bellied Brent were also really close.

By 9.45am I was regretting not getting up earlier, the sky brightened and the sun even threatened to come out and the sea went 'silvery' - not good, anything more than half way out was unidentifiable. I was temped to pack up but visibility improved a bit as a cloud came over so I hung on. I was pleased that I did as the bird of the day, and one of my best seawatching experiences at Druridge happened soon after. 

A bird flew north, close-in and therefore low in my scope-view, so it passed through quickly, but it looked interesting and I tried tracking it through the troughs in the breakers, a shearwater, pale on the undersides but 'dumpy looking'. It was flying really slowly, moving back and forth, passing over and through the scoter flock, looking like it was feeding amongst them. It wasn't a Sooty, it had a pale belly anyway but the jizz was altogether wrong and it didn't have the contrast dark/white of a Manx and it just didn't look right.I was sure it was Balearic Shearwater. It landed among the Scoters briefly, before making a short flight and landing again, it did this three or four times, only landing for a few seconds before taking another short flight.These short flights gave good views when it wasn't in a trough and the dusky underwing, darker 'armpits' and dumpy appearance confirmed my initial ID. Eventually it moved off north, slowly again, feeding as it went. In hindsight I probably could have had a record shot of it, but I was too busy 'enjoying the bird'. This was my fifth Balearic at Druridge but by far the best views I've had of one here and my first since I saw two on 5th September 2013.

By 10:40, the light had really gone. I kept going until 11:05 to get the two-hours in and saw a few more birds including some Teal and a Golden Plover picked up on call just over the breakers, but it was high-tide. 

It was interesting to compare my figures with  headland watchpoints to the north and south of me. Obviously being in the middle of a bay I miss out on birds but I seem to miss out on some species more than others, Bonxies are a good example. I saw five in two hours today, Mark Eaton had 13 at Boulmer, Jack Bucknall had 13 (3 1/2 hours) at St. Mary's and Ben Steel had 19 in two and a half hours at Howick. 

I think powerful birds like Bonxies and to some degree Poms (I didn't see one today) don't drift into the Bay, they just take a straight line from Snab Point to Coquet Island so are too distant for me. I do better for Arctics than some headlands because the terns feeding in the bay draw them in and largely comparable for Long-tailed Skuas which seem to hug the coast more, or even curt off headlands (I've seen them do this at Church Point). Likewise, I do okay for Manx (and today for Balearic) shearwaters but struggle with the bigger Shears, with only one Cory's (in 2005) and no Great Shears ever. 

Despite the disadvantages of being in a bay, I'd swap a dozen of any of those species at Church Point for jut one on the patch. Above all, I love a good seawatch!

Highlights 09:05-11:05 (all N) (Full list here)

Pale-bellied Brent 12 (10N 2S)

Teal 56

Velvet Scoter 1 (drake)

Bonxie 5

Arctic Skua 4

Skua sp 6

Long-tailed Skua 1 (juv)

Golden Plover 1

Sooty Shearwater 11 

Manx Shearwater 24+

Balearic Shearwater 1

Two photos taken as I was packing up.

Adult Lesser Black-backed Gull

and juvenile

Lunchtime look

No updates from the patch over the weekend - I actually headed inland, which is a rare thing. Janet and I visited Kimmer Lough on Saturday - no photos from that day as I forgot to put a card in the camera and had to lug it all the way round our walk and take no photos. That'll teach me!

I din't make the same mistake on Sunday when we headed to Kielder via Harbottle Woods,  upper Coquetdale, the Otterburn Ranges and the forest Drive. We spent an hour or so at Harbottle, along the forest track, looking for hovers and other insects.

I popped down to the patch in my lunch-break yesterday for an hour, to have a look at 'The Post' and for hovers. I bumped into a local bee expert and we saw the flower bees coming and going and a very brief glimpse of one of the Megachille leafcutters carrying a large piece of leaf into the post. I got one chance of a photo just when the wind blew a stem of grass into the way.

Megachille sp obsured by grass

There were a few interesting hovers along the track

Eristalis tenax (f)

Eupeodes corrolae (m)

Syritta pipiens

I also found this Colletes bee - likely to be Davie's Collete (Colletes daviesanus) but not sure... and some other bits and bobs

Colletes bee - Colletes daviesanus?

Blue-tailed Damsels in 'mating wheel'

Arty shot of 7-spot ladybird

Potato Mirid again - Closterotomus norwegicus

Noon Fly - Mesembrina meridiana - my first of the year

A look offshore for an hour last night produced nine manx shearwaters north and a single arctic skua, on the beach roost there was single Mediterranean Gull, but it was early and the roost was only starting to build.  Tonight, a bit later, I counted at least 12 Med gulls! But nothing else of note.

A morning (and a bit) of ringing

The weather forecast said light SE winds and largely overcast for this morning - perfect for ringing I thought and took the day off work. For once the forecast was right. I started putting nets up just after five a.m and finished just after two as the wind stated to pick up out of the south-east.

I only had a four nets up as I was on my own. Predictably, at this time of year, breeding warblers dominated the catch with only a couple of this years young chiffchaffs. Most of the warblers that breed at Druridge are sub-Saharan migrants and ringing them gives the BTO some good data on adult survival, particularly over-winter.  We didn't ring at Druridge last year because of family reasons, but we are catching warblers that we ringed in 2018 and 2017 - for the latter they've crossed the Sahara desert at least six times.

It appears to be a very good year for sedge warblers with plenty of adult birds around, mostly exhibiting signs that they are breeding. I didn't catch any reed warblers last week but caught seven this week - a species that has really colonised Druridge Pools in recent years and now breeds in even the smallest patches of phragmites. I caught a 'control' reed warbler - this means that I caught a bird that had been ringed by someone else in a different location. Controls provide data about migration and dispersal. I will report back when hear back from BTO about where this bird was ringed.

Other than the resident warblers, a real surprise was a female bullfinch. She had a brood patch so is/has bred locally. Bullfinch are very, very scarce in breeders at Druridge (in fact I'm struggling to recall one), they are usually only seen in autumn and winter. As I was packing up I caught an entire family party of blue tits - an adult male and female and four unruly juveniles.

Today's list (not all caught and ringed, this includes other sightings)

I hope to get few more ringing sessions in over the next few weeks to catch juvenile warblers before they disperse.

After some net-ride maintenance yesterday evening, I had a quick seawatch. Other than 55 manx shearwater heading north it was just busy with breeding birds from Coquet Island. The Easterly wind pushed a few fulmars close to the dunes and I managed a couple of photos as they glided effortlessly by.

Two barn owls hunted the dune-backs behind me.

Seawatching list here

Fulmar

Fulmar at close quarters

Pre-work seawatch

After a brief spell of northerly winds I thought I would chance my arm with a pre-work seawatch this morning. I've enjoyed my local local patch during lockdown but I have missed a seawatch. Snab Point is a mile from home and I suppose I could've lugged the scope down there but the conditions were never great.

Anyway, at 06:50 this morning it was nice to be stood on the dune at Druridge looking out to sea. It started quietly, other than the strings of gannets and large auks (95% guillemot I suspect) heading mostly north. The odd puffin and a few sandwich terns and fulmars for something a bit different.

Four manx shearwaters went through and then at about 07.20 it livened up with a close-in summer plumaged great northern diver headed north - a stunning bird, especially as the light had improved. A couple more manx through and a tight flock of 30ish small waders went north, quite far out. Some were darker above and white below, other darker over all but I think they were all the same species - sanderlings - in a range of breeding and non-breeding plumages.

And then something dark flew through my scope, close-in. With the bins, I got onto it - a very dark Arctic skua which almost sauntered along for a while before landing on the sea - nice! A few common scoters went through later and three red-throated divers went north together but far out.

Seawatch eBird list

I called it a day after an hour and had a quick check of the Budge fields but before I did I stopped to take a few pics of a reeling grasshopper warbler in a lone hawthorn.

Grasshopper warbler 'reeling' in the bushes

I didn't have much time at the Budge screen before work but it was nice to catch up with Dave Dack. Two more wigeon have arrived bringing the total to four and there were 11 black-tailed godwit as well as the usual geese, ducks and waders.

Budge and bushes list here

Tick and run for 249

I hate the tick and run culture of birding, but sometimes, needs must!

News broke this morning of a cattle egret amongst the ponies on the Budge fields at Druridge which had allegedly been found by Dave Elliott. Janet and I were in Alnwick meeting friends over coffee in Barter books when I heard about it but as soon as we could, we headed south. It was mistake to take the A1 as the bank holiday traffic had already slowed to a stop at Felton, frustration grew but we eventually made it to the patch. The egret had moved onto the field north of the pool amongst the cattle (who would've thought?) and was viewed at a distance from the turning circle. The views were satisfactory though and the bird showed well and the sunshine made the orangey colours (of the bird coming into breeding plumage) on the crown and back stand out well. Not prepared for birding, I had no cameras on me so there's no pics...

Family commitments meant I couldn't hang about, but a great bird to catch up with on the patch, if not totally unexpected. Cattle egret takes my patch list to 249 and the overall patch list to 269.

I tried a seawatch yesterday evening from 16:45 for an hour. It was quite with a couple of manx shearwaters going north, eight sandwich terns, a couple of whimbrel and nine common scoter of note.

On (or over) the Budge fields I noted all three common hirrundines and my first swifts of the year, with about half-a-dozen over the pools on the fields. Four species of raptor were also noted - kestrel (remarkably my first on the patch this year), sparrowhawk (big female over the pools), buzzard and marsh harrier - a female hunting on the Budge fields.

This rather fine lapwing caught the light outside the little hide.

The barnies are back

Today saw a huge influx of barnacle geese into the area and that was reflected in my evening seawatch at Druridge.

These barnacle geese have just arrived from their breeding grounds and most of them are just passing through our area before heading west to the Solway, Scotland or Ireland.

Barnacle geese overhead

I had an early finish from work and was seawatching from 15:40 until 17:40, the wind was variable, out of the South-east when I arrived, moving to ENE before coming back round to S'easterly when I left because we are sat in the middle of a pressure system.

Skeins of barnacle geese from 11 to over a hundred came through, going both north and south. I picked up the biggest flock, of over a hundred birds, right out to sea and watched them come in towards me before veering off north towards the Country park. There was single white bird among them - a leucistic individual, There were two leucistic barnacle geese at Lindisfarne last winter.

The in-coming flock of barnacle geese with the leucistic bird out-front

The light was fantastic and away from the geese, the seawatch started well with a distant sooty shearwater headed north. I had to wait for over an hour for another and a third, much closer bird followed it. Two arctic skuas flew south close-in, followed by a bonxie, looking gingery in the evening sunshine. Another arctic skua was harrying a kittiwake just offshore.

Manx shearwaters drifted through, mostly singles and not numerous. A black-throated diver went north and there were a few red-throated divers both heading north and on the sea. A few ducks were noted with small groups of common scoter, wigeon and two tufties.

First-winter Herring Gull

Seawatching totals (15:40-17:40)

Barnacle Geese c157 N and c185 S
Sooty Shearwater 3 N
Arctic Skua 3 (2 South and 1 lurking)
Bonxie 1 S
Red-throated Diver 6N and 6 on the sea
Black-throated diver 1N
Manx Shearwater 8N
Wigeon 9N
Sandwich Tern 16 (all S)
Commom Tern 4N
Common Scoter 20N
Fulmar 1 S

A surprise catch

We were ringing birds at Druridge this morning.  It was the same day as the North-East Skinny Dip at the Country Park and we had the dippers 'on call' as we put our nets up and they went into to the sea - It must have been cold as the calls were all high-pitched!

On a day dominated by tits, we were very surprised to catch this in one of our mist nets.

Adult female barn owl

Janet and I were extracting a robin when we heard a bird, which sounded like a woodpigeon, crashing through the bushes behind us. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a bird hit the net a bit further along from where we stood, expecting it to be a woodpigeon, I was very surprised to see a barn owl in the net! It was quickly extracted and taken back to the car to be ringed.

Sasha the trainee with the barn owl

It was an adult (probably in it's third calendar year) and a female - you can tell this from the dark spots on the breast and flanks (this one is very spotty - they are variable). We've caught a few long-eared owls in mist nets at Druridge but never a barn owl.

Between 0630 and midday, we caught 33 birds, mostly tits, including a blue tit which we ringed as juvenile in September 2014, canny for a blue tit. We also controlled (caught a bird that had been ringed elsewhere) a robin and a blue tit. The blue tit will probably be local, but it will be interesting to see where the robin has come from.

Controlled Robin

We also caught our first goldcrest of the autumn, chiffchaff, whitethroat, blackcap, dunnock, and reed bunting.

Common Whitethroat

Between about 8 and 10 am there was steady stream of skylarks headed south but only single figures of meadow pipits. This kestrel was feeding nearby but I only managed to get 'arse-on' shots of it.

Kestrel - arse-on

I went back down to the patch in the evening, prompted by some seawatching reports from elsewhere in the county. I arrived at 6pm and stayed until just before 7, leaving in time to catch The Archers on Radio 4. Seawatching totals from 1800-1850 were (all north)

Manx Shearwater 41
Pomarine Skua 1 adult
Velvet scoter 1 drake
Sooty Shearwater 3
Red-breasted Merganser 5 (south)
Sandwich tern 3
Wigeon 3
Gannet 200+
Shag 1
Cormorant 3
Guillemot 3

and 7 red-throated diver on the sea

By the time I left there were upwards of 3000 gulls on the beach between Druridge and Chibburn Mouth, mostly common and black-headed.

Just waiting for some easterlies now...

Sea-watching and Stormies

With reports of a movement of seabirds from coastal watchpoints, I headed to Druridge for a sea-watch on Saturday afternoon.

I arrived at quarter to five and it was quite quiet a first with a few distant manx shearwaters beyond the pot flags. There were a lot of fulmars and a few roseate terns were flying by and feeding. I had my first of two sooty shearwaters, which was about two-thirds out, at about half five, the second one was later and closer. 

The manx shearwaters kept coming, some very close and a couple of arctic skuas went through together in line with the flags. Just after 6.15 I got onto a pale skua about half-way out - a very pale adult pomarine skua 'with spoons'  - bonus! It was interesting that this bird hadn't been seen at Newbiggin so presumable had been sat on the sea somewhere before flying past Druridge?

Just after the 'Pom' a Fea's petrel was reported past Whitburn. It would take it at least and hour and a half to get to Druridge and the light would be fading but I thought I would hang on. I had lots more manx, another arctic skua but not much else. When the Fea's hadn't been seen at St. Mary's or Newbiggin it was time to head home  - It was a chilly night and I was freezing!

The evening forecast was light winds and no rain so we decided to have a last try for storm petrels. We've never tried to catch any this late in the year before, our previous latest session was 8th August, but worth a try.

When we arrived on the beach and got the nets set up, there was big, bright full moon - it was almost like daylight! Not good for catching birds as they would see the net. The forecast predicted increasing amounts of cloud as the night went on. 

We were joined by Laura Shearer, Paul Stewart, Irene Ajo and the Farooqi's and to our amazement we caught a storm petrel just before half-past ten, the earliest we've caught one by a whole hour - and in what we thought were impossible conditions. We had the nets up until 12.30 and didn't catch anything else so we packed up and went home.

Storm Petrel (Photo: Laura Shearer)

That will be our last session for this year. We've had two sessions this year and caught four storm petrels and one Leach's petrel.

Some you win...

Well...where to start?

What a weekend  - on so many levels.

It all started on Friday when I was just to about to get on the train at Widdrington, headed for the Test Match at Chester-le-Street when I get a call from Dave Elliott to say he was watching either an icterine warbler or melodious warbler at Druridge - both new patch birds. It ended today, with me watching a stunning broad-billed sandpiper on the Budge fields - a new bird for the patch.

Dave soon nailed the warbler as an icterine and by the time I was downing my first pint in Newcastle Station he'd found another new bird for the patch - common rosefinch. No turning back now, I was bound for Chester-le-Street and like a tory recession - a double-dip (the cricket was good though).

With much restraint on Friday night and against all odds, I was up at 5.30am on Saturday and setting my nets up at Druridge by 6am - the weather was perfect for ringing but I wasn't catching many birds. I think most of the warblers are on eggs now. I did catch a grasshopper warbler, reed warbler and a low-flying swallow.

Gropper

Fridays double-dip was partly avenged with a pair of glossy ibis dropping briefly onto the Budge fields (thanks for the call Alan G!) just next to one of my nets. These birds had previously been at Newton-by-the-Sea, after calling at Druridge they made their way via Whitburn and Hartlepool to Saltholme.  These are the second and third patch glossy ibis - the first being  a long-stayer in 2011. The great-white egret that has been around for ten days or so was also there.

On Saturday evening there were six ruff on the Budge fields - five males displaying with full ruffs to a reeve. I've not seen displaying ruff like this on the Budge fields since the early nineties, it was amazing to see again. Far more exciting than glossy ibis! There was also a first-summer little gull, 16 summer-plumaged sanderling on the beach, my first two manx shearwaters of the campaign, a med gull on the sea and a pair of goosander on the big pool.

On Sunday there was an avocet on the Budge fields, with a handful of dunlin and ringed plover as well as two little gulls.

Bank Holiday Monday brought  little of note, just the usual campers, mini motorbikes and tribes of dog-walkers with out-of-control hounds.

So back to work today...just before lunchtime I come out of a meeting to find a message about a broad-billed sandpiper on the Budge fields - yowzas! The benefits of flexi-time brought an early lunch-break and I was off to Druridge, arriving in already-full little hide behind Stef and Mrs Stef, I had to blag a look through someone's scope as I had no gear with me (thanks Hector!)...and there it was, wandering around between the rush clumps - a very stripy wader indeed! A wood sandpiper and garganey also put in appearance.

I was a very-happy patch watcher, though still smarting from Friday).

The addition of broad-billed sandpiper takes my patch list to 239 species. That and the common rosefinch take the patch list to 261 (there had been an icterine in 1966).

My year list at the end of May stands at 135 and my PWC score is 186.

Busy Week

I've had a week off work but have been to busy to update the blog. I've had two friends from Malta, Ian and Edward, visiting on a birdwatching trip. They came with a list of target species, which we managed to see most of. They also came with beer...

Cisk - the national drink of Malta

I've really enjoyed it, it got me out some places I don't normally get to, even Durham! I'm not keen on crossing the Tyne.

Before they arrived on Tuesday night however, I managed some time on the patch. On Monday, I spent the morning at Druridge, highlights were an increase in the number of sedge warblers, a male sparrowhawk and a stock dove. Prompted by reports of Manx shearwaters elsewhere, I had a look on the sea and in 50 minutes had 122 manxies go north, including a flock of about 70 birds, not strung out like manxies usually are, these were in a tight flock.

When I got home and checked my email, someone had reported, via my blog, that they had seen and heard a marsh warbler singing in the bushes by the entrance. I headed back to check it out, when I got there, a warbler was singing at the back of the bushes, it wasn't sedge and there was some mimicry, but it was muffled. A few folk stopped by and as the bird made its way forward and the song become more audible, we all agreed it was just a reed warbler - in marsh warbler habitat. Worth checking out though.

The two drake mandarin were still on the Budge fields as was a pair of yellow wagtails.

On Tuesday, I put some nets up and ringed some birds. The increase in sedge warblers was evidenced further as I caught five of them. Worryingly, I only caught four juvenile birds, two tree sparrows and two chaffinches. I think the harsh weather of late did for the breeding attempts of many small birds. There were 24 black-tailed godwit on the Budge fields.

On Wednesday we went to the Farne Islands, it goes without saying how much two birders from Malta would enjoy the Farnes experience. Roseate tern was top of the wish list, we saw four near the jetty.

Ian gets the traditional Farnes welcome

grey seal

Arctic tern

Obviously these fellas were popular

Not a black and white photo, black and white birds on white rocks

Room for a small one?

You can't see me? Puffin hiding from black-headed gull trying to steal its catch

We rounded the day off with a visit to the Long Nanny and Low Newton scrapes.

Arctic tern at the Long Nanny

On Thursday, Janet was in charge and we went down to the North Pennines. Red and black grouse were the targets here and we weren't disappointed. We finished the day at RSPB Salthome, the first time I have been since RSPB tarted it up.

On Friday we walked up to East Chevington from Druridge, grasshopper warbler was our target species. We were checking the bridge area out when Dave called to say he had one reeling to the north, we were off and the Maltese boys were soon enjoying great views of a singing gropper. Edward had all five of his targets in the bag.

Whitethroat at East Chevington

Back to the patch, there were 33 islandica black-tailed godwits on the Budge fields. There were also two curlew chicks, which is very significant. I have never recorded curlew as breeding on the site, I am waiting to hear if it is a new record for the site.

One of the curlew chicks, heavily cropped

One of the proud parents

 After breakfast we headed out a 'Puffin Cruise' from Amble to see more roseys.

Roseate terns 'urn the jurb

We sauntered back down the coast via Warkworth, East Chev, Cresswell and finished at Snab Point with red-throated diver, manx shearwaters, harbour porpoise and an arctic skua.

Saturday morning took us back to Druridge where we had a cuckoo, which was a welcome year-tick for me. We then went to Warkworth lane for yellowhammer and on to the airport via Bothal and Scotch Gill Woods, dipping marsh tit. Both Ian and Edward had a great time, Edward got all five of his targets and Ian saw 19 new species. We saw 117 species in three and a half days, all but four of them in Northumberland.

It's hard work guiding people,  I was exhausted on Saturday night, but had thoroughly enjoyed the three days. I had a quick look at the patch this morning, once the rain had stopped. No new migrants had dropped in (it's a bit late now...) but Saturdays cuckoo was still present.

126 Manx Shearwater
127 Cuckoo