Un-bee-lievable!

I thought about calling in to the patch this morning on my way to work, but I decided against it and went straight to the office. I'm at my desk and check my phone to find a message 'Bee-eater, Druridge Pools, 0820-0920 per RBA'

Bugger, I thought, if only I'd gone...

Then another message 'Bee-eater still at Druridge'

Bugger it! I've got plenty of flexi-time in the bank and I've got evening meetings until 8.30pm, my seat was still spinning as I headed down the stairs. Despite being held up by old duffers doing 30mph I got to Druridge in good time, but had just missed a fly-by by a few minutes...Would that be it?

A good crowd was gathered on the path to the hides where the bird was last seen - the tension was unbelievable! Then ADMc appeared with news that the bird was heading our way. Peering over the top of the bund, distant views were had of a bee-eater hawking over the fields beyond the big pool, until it disappeared towards the bushes by the turning circle. 

Alan Jack and I decided to head that way and this is what greeted us in the single ash tree by the turning circle...

a bloody bee-eater

It was like being back in Spain! 

A good crowd had gathered to watch it, it sat for ages in the top of the ash tree before flying off and hawking for insects over the dunes, picking prey off the tops of bushes before landing out of site and I had to reluctantly leave it and head back to work.  It is a juvenile, told from the pale colour of the mantle and the amount of chestnut brown in the wing being limited.Surely this is one of the 'Chevington two' from the weekend?

heavily cropped shot

 What an amazing bird, a first for the patch and a first for me in Northumberland. I've seen the breeding birds in the UK and thousands in Europe, I've even ringed them in Malta, but this is still probably the best bird I've seen on the patch.

And what an amazing year I'm having on the patch. With no more effort than usual, I've seen eight new species this year already - it is tricky to see two or three new species a year usually.

European Bee-eater takes my patch list to 248 species.

New year, new list

Another new year, another year list begins on the patch. I sometimes wonder what is the point of a 'year list' - a date in the calendar by which the list is reset, it could be any date I suppose, but most people stick to the calendar year.

What having a year list does do is give the patch birder some motivation to get our onto the patch in those dark January days. It gives a bit of focus to patch-birding, something to aim for when you know you that you are likely to see one or two new species in a year - if you are lucky!

My 2017 year list got off to a slow start. A trip to Islay for Hogmanay meant it was Saturday 7th before I hit the patch. Islay was great trip, it is a great place with lots of interest for the visiting birder and of course it is famous for its whisky...

So Saturday morning it was and I didn't have much time so I concentrated on the bushes, pools and up onto the haul road - I usually like a walk to out the farm in early January but there wasn't time.

In the plantation I was surprised to see a small flock of goldcrests - I am seeing them more in the winter now, once-upon-a-time they were strictly an autumn species at Druridge. There were also blackbirds, song thrush and mistle thrush in the plantation.

Robin

The Budge fields still held plenty of wildfowl including two drake pintail, waders were limited to redshank, curlew and lapwing. A sparrowhawk was perched out on the edge of shelterbelt - my only raptor of the morning and five whooper swan flew south.

Plenty of wigeon on the Budge fields

A siskin was with goldfinches on the path to the Oddie hide and then,ahead of me on the path, I could hardly believe my eyes, three bullfinches! This species is now a patch mega, these were the first partch bullies I Have seen since November 2014.

Bullies!

Out on the haul road, a huge flock of goldfinches, maybe 250, were coming down to bathe in puddles on the road and in the ditch - with them were a few twite, linnet, reed buntings, dunnocks and chaffinches.

Goldfinches bathing in the puddles

One of the chaffinches

In the dunes, a covey of 12 grey partridges were put up by the only other birder I saw (it was birdrace day).

Offshore, the sea was flat calm. There were a couple of shag, ten red-breasted mergansers, a few common scoters and red-throated divers and most excitingly a slavonian grebe - a good January species.

My 2017 year-list now stands at 60 species - not a bad start. Exactly half of the winning tally in the county winter birdrace.

I am doing the Patchwork Challenge again this year and will update my totals as and when.

LBD

Another very windy day, but at least it was dry.

I didn't have high-hopes for my visit to the patch today, the weather wasn't good and it is February, my least favourite month alongside December.

After an uneventful look on the sea, I headed for the Budge screen, it was really windy, even inside the screen. I had a quick scan through the bins first and to be honest, if it had looked quiet I was just going to go home, but it wasn't. There were lots of waders. About a dozen redshank in front of the hide, with more over the back, 30 or more curlew and over 100 lapwing - more waders than usual. I picked out a squat, grey bird among the lapwing so got the scope out - the wind was making viewing difficult though.

The grey wader was a knot - a scarce bird on the patch, usually only picked up as fly-over or in a group offshore during autumn passage. The next bird I got in the scope was even more unexpected - the long-billed dowitcher had left it's usual haunt at Cresswell and come back to the Budge fields. The first time I saw it, on New Year's Eve it was flying off, so it was really nice to get some good views of it as it fed just beyond the water in front of the hide. 

A really strong gust of wind sent all of the waders into the air and the wigeon, that had been grazing, back onto the water. I scanned through the lapwings, curlews and redshank when they resettled but couldn't pick up the dowitcher again, the knot had gone too. I add three black-tailed godwits, two ruff and three dunlin to the tally though, but in the end the wind got the better of me and I headed home.

The dowitcher and knot take the year list to 90 species. As for the Patchwork Challenge, it depends on whether the dowitcher counts as self-found. When I re-found the Cresswell stilt sandpiper on the patch it counted, so I am presuming the same rules apply here.

There were no other birders at Druridge today, I presume the long diversion from Cresswell pond because of the road closure at Hemscotthill is putting them off.

Just outside the patch boundary there are still a couple of hundred fieldfare with lesser numbers of redwing and mistle thrush just of Druridge Lane. I had a scan through them but picked nothing unusual up.

Pura Vida

I was back on the patch today after a three-week birding trip to Costa Rica.

Not the most colourful of species, but clay-coloured thrush is the national bird of Costa Rica 

We had a fantastic time, seeing lots of great birds in brilliant, friendly and very beautiful country. As they would say in Costa Rica  - Pura Vida!

Some photo's might appear on Ipin's Birding Trips at some stage..if I ever catch up.

Back to reality today though, back on the patch, hoping for one more addition to he patch year-list. I tramped around the whole patch and of note were;

a small flock of goldcrest in the bushes (good winter record)

a dog otter, showing really well on the big pool

a woodcock in the plantation

and, a pair of pintail on the Budge fields

So nothing new added to the year list leaving me on 171 species, the same total as last year. As ever, some species that I would have expected were missed, notably:

garden warbler
merlin
scaup
cuckoo
grey plover

I did see five new species in 2014, which is way more than I would have predicted:

Egyptian goose in April

Woodchat Shrike in May

Stilt Sandpiper in August

Stilt Sandpiper - Image (c) Ian Fisher

Wood Warbler in August

Fea's Petrel in September

These 2014 additions take my patch list to a respectable 236 species.

I've enjoyed the Patchwork Challenge again this year, a good bit of harmless fun.

So all in all, a very good year on the patch. I would love to see another five new species in 2015...surely a red kite at least?

I wish all of my readers a very happy, prosperous and bird-filled 2015!

Happy New Year!

Patch year listing

So, I'm now now on 171 species for the patch this year, matching last years total and there are still some species that I have a reasonable chance of seeing, namely:

Scaup - seen in six out of the last six years (6/6)
Merlin (5/6)
Grey plover (5/6)
Goosander (4/6)
Little owl (3/6)

With some outsiders including smew, rock pipit, treecreeper, kingfisher and the two white-wingers - Iceland and glaucous gulls.

I've missed some species I've no chance of seeing now including cuckoo (6/6), garden warbler (6/6), redstart (4/6), little tern (4/6) and barnacle goose (3/6).

It has been the best year for patch-ticks for ages, with five in total, which I would never have predicted;

Egyptian goose
Woodchat shrike
Wood warbler
Stilt sandpiper and
Fea's petrel

I have got records going back to beyond 2001 other than for two months in 2007 due to misplaced notebook. One of these winter nights I will add them to my spreadsheet.

I am out of action for much of December so have only four weeks left on the patch this year. 175 would be nice....

Some good birds for January

Well my 2014 patch list got to off to a a start today with some good species for January amongst the common stuff.

We did some coppicing, which was going well until the chainsaw died (old fuel we think). I had to resort to more traditional methods to finish the job and then got half an hours birding in.

hard work after the festivities

The first species on the list was predictably magpie. There was lots of waders and ducks on the Budge fields including 4 black-tailed godwits. Blackwits are normally very rare here in winter, there were two on my December WeBS count, so this winter is proving to be exceptional for this species.

later this afternoon, I had a look on the sea. Not arriving until half-three, dusk was setting in but the light was nice. Scanning the sea, I picked up a black-throated diver, presumably the same bird as last week. Near it and close in was a slavonian grebe. Also of note offshore were two gannets heading north and a couple of fulmars, both good species for January.

So the 2014 patch list stands at 31 earning me 36 points in the 2014 Patch Work Challenge.

1 magpie
2 goldfinch
3 linnet
4 wren
5 carrion crow
6 starling
7 lapwing
8 curlew
9 black-tailed godwit
10 redshank
11 wigeon
12 teal
13 shoveler
14 mallard
15 black-headed gull
16 red-throated diver
17 goldeneye
18 black-throated diver
19 common gull
20 common scoter
21 gannet
22 slavonian grebe
23 fulmar
24 herring gull
25 great black-backed gull
26 oystercatcher
27 kestrel
28 pink-footed goose
29 barn owl
30 blackbird
31 Guillemot

PWC 36 points

The end is nigh

The end of another year on the patch approaches. I don't know why we birders concentrate on our 'year lists' as much as we do. It is just another date in the calendar after all and doesn't really relate to natural seasons at all.

For me, a patch year list gives me a new challenge, an impetus to get off my arse in January and February and go bird watching on the patch. So regularly starting a 'new list' to keep giving me something to aim for needs a start and end date, so I guess January 1st makes sense.

Another way to keep interest fresh would be to change patches every few years. This would be interesting, but I think for it to work, I would have to move house, so that my new patch was closer home. I have mulled over the thought of a on-foot-from-home patch, a triangle between Ellington, the Lyne Burn and Cresswell. It would certainly have the potential to turn up new birds but I think the people and the activities they get up to on this patch puts me off, it would be even be worse than Druridge.

What a new patch might look like

So for 2014 at least, I will stick with what I've got. I've signed up for next years patchwork challenge now, so I may as well.

So back to this year, even with likelihood of adding anything to my year list diminishing, so had yesterday's storm, so I had a mooch around the patch. Nothing stirred in the bushes other than the goldfinch flock and a small roving tick flock and there was nothing new on the Budge fields On the big pool, there were still two long-tailed ducks and a 'female type' common scoter.

Offshore, there were lots of red-throated divers again, easily 45 in the bay. As I scanned through them, a bigger diver was its own and it wasn't a great northern, it was a black-throated. Not a common bird at all at Druridge, but there has been a few around this autumn, there was even one on East Chevington this morning. This is my first patch black-throat since 2010 and a welcome, if late, addition to the year list. A further scan also turned up a great northern further south and a harbour porpoise.

So, they year list rockets to 170, my best total in at least the last seven years. Not much chance of another new bird this year....

This evening I went to East Chevington for the starling murmuration. It was nearly 3.34pm before things got going with a small group of a couple of hundred birds. Small flocks seemed to arrive to join them from all directions and by 4pm there were thousands. It was very windy but the display was still excellent.

count them! some of the murmuration.

Word is out about the murmuration and there was quite a crowd tonight. I took this video, which is just some of the birds. Might try some video on the SLR if the wind drops.

Nightjar - PATCH TICK!!

My first visit back to the patch on Sunday morning after ten days in Spain and I scored with a full PATCH TICK - a Nightjar.

This rounded off a superb trip and a Northumberland and British tick at Chevington the same morning - Great Reed Warbler.

After wandering up to Chibburn Mouth to see the great reed, we set about doing the WeBS count at Druridge, after checking the Budge fields from the screen-hide, I walked through he bushes and virtually immediately flushed a large bird from the path. It flew off low, like a sparrowhawk, generally brown, but showing lots of white in the wing. It wasn't a sparrowhawk and with the white in the wing, nightjar immediately sprung to mind, but I didn't have good enough views to be sure. It caused much consternation with the nesting whitethroats as it flew off.

I continued along the bushes where a willow warbler and whitethroat were scolding something - below them was a nightjar, sat out on a low branch, looking straight at me. I could hardly believe it. I called on Janet who was on the road and called Dave Elliott, who was up at Hadston. Whilst on the 'phone, the bird flew off, low again, but kept going. We searched for it but couldn't find it. Seemingly the Dack boys saw it later that afternoon, still being scolded by warblers.

Nightjar is a species that was never on my radar for Druridge, so it was nice to literally stumble across one. Shame it's only worth two measly points in Patchwork Challenge.

This is my first patch-tick since last August's honey buzzard and takes my patch list to 228. 

I'm on a bit of a run, having found Catalunya's first-ever shore lark whilst we were in Spain http://www.rarebirdspain.net/arbsr000.htm#Erealp

I missed a few good birds on the patch whilst I was away. ADMc re-found the great egret on the Budge fields which also hosted ruff and wood sandpiper in my absence.

118 nightjar

119 reed warbler

End of March

So, March is over.

It still feels more like January and spring migration hasn't really started. 

I had a quick wander about the patch this evening, now that the clocks have changed this will be a more regular occurrence. I started with a look on the sea, actually it was more of glance, the south-easterly wind was cold enough to freeze your eyelids shut, so I beat a hasty retreat to the shelter of the dunes. 

The Budge fields still hold plenty of wildfowl and smattering of lapwing, redshank and snipe. The fields look really good for when the garganeys arrive. Two stock doves pottered about the western edge. 

I wandered towards the edge of the big pool and clocked a stunning male marsh harrier, hunting along the northern edge of the pool. The local crows were giving it some stick and it moved off west and then south. A second marsh harrier (female?) was towards East Chevington.

The Haul Road Flash (as I have now christened it) held seven dunlin, redshank and a couple of shelducks.

So for the Patchwork Challenge, I finish March on a pretty disappointing 88 species and 101 points. I will again be miles behind my local rivals.

88 marsh harrier

New Year, New Look, New List, New Challenge

It's nearly the end of January, but for me, a new year started on the patch today. I've been to Thailand on birding holiday since December 28th. I will put some photo's on the other blog soon but here is something to whet the appetite.

male blue whistling thrush (eugeni) at Doi Inthanon, Thailand

With the new year, I thought the blog needed a new look. I've gone for a warm feel to dispel thoughts of winter as I write it.

It certainly wasn't warm for my first patch visit of 2013, it was bloody freezing!. I had less than an hour before having to go to work so I concentrated on the hamlet and the north end. I managed to add 23 species  to the list in 45 minutes. The highlight was undoubtedly the number of fieldfare, with small flocks in most of the paddocks, there must have been over 200 on the patch, obviously part of cold-weather movement. There were also small parties of skylark moving through and meadow pipits were also noted.

A couple of hundred pink-feet moved south and there were over 1000 north of the haul road, I didn't have time to grill them though, maybe tomorrow. Dave Elliott had long-tailed ducks and seven pintail on the pool  - another target for tomorrow.

Tomorrows first target is somewhat further away however. I'm off twitching. A cattle egret has apparently been on Holy Island for the last couple of days, only the second county record and  the first twitchable one. A nice edition to both my county and British lists if I catch up with it.

My new challenge is the patchwork competition. I've got some catching up to do though, my 'local rivals' have already topped a hundred species for the year.

1. goldfinch
2. fieldfare
3. skylark
4. magpie
5. carrion crow
6. rook
7. jackdaw
8. feral pigeon
9. wren
10. robin
11. dunnock
12. grey heron
13. lapwing
14. pink-footed goose
15. meadow pipit
16. curlew
17. common gull
18. black-headed gull
19. kestrel
20. woodpigeon
21. starling
22. blackbird
23. mistle thrush