Wet Wet Wet

There is probably no eighties band that I detest more than Wet Wet Wet but those three words are a good description of what it was like on the patch today after, yet more, overnight rain. It was also windy and cold.

Once the rain stopped, we headed out and headed north - from the car with a plan to cut through the dunes onto the beach at the top of the patch. As we crossed the Dunbar Burn we got a blast of icy air from the sea and changed our minds, heading inland instead along the 'Coal Road'  towards Chibburn Preceptory. 

Looking North-east from High Chibburn with water everywhere

The farmland was very wet, the track to the farm was flowing like a stream and the Dunbar Burn was at full bore. We didn't see a lot of birds. 69 Curlew were on winter cereals and a small flock of 26 Chaffinch were feeding by the wood. Three Red-legged Partridges were new for the year (NFY).

Great and Coal Tits were on the feeders at the Druridge Farm Cottages and also 'NFY' as was Mark Eaton and Sam the dog who we 'year-ticked' on our return to the car. 

There was no sign of the Water Pipits in the hinterland or on the Budge fields but I guess there's plenty of Water Pipit habitat everywhere at the moment. The four Ruff that have been flitting between the Budge Fields and Widdrington Moor Lake were back, hanging out with some redshanks on one of the few dry bits.

Today's full list

Unlocked

Well, the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted a couple of weeks ago (not a wise move in my opinion). You would have thought I would have headed straight for the patch as soon as I could - but this wasn't the case. I was reluctant to go and waited a few days, until Monday 18th, before my first tentative visit.

When I did go, it felt odd - almost like I was doing something wrong. I've quite enjoyed exploring my new (very) local patch, rediscovering places I used to knock around as kid and probably first developed a love of the outdoors and wildlife, abandoning my re-found patch for Druridge felt like cheating. So after my first visit I returned to the local haunts for a few days.

Obviously there was a lot of new birds for the year - chiffchaff was the only warbler I saw before lockdown, now they are all back and the hirrundines, swifts and seabirds. 

I didn't take my camera on my first few visits - again it felt as if I should be exercising, not taking photos. I missed a lovely Greenland wheatear posing nicely on a post and a yellow wag on the budge fields. 

The Budge fields are looking great at the moment, but are drying up quickly in this dry weather (the driest May since the 50's seemingly) and have attracted a good selection of waders, on 19th I had greenshank, avocet, little stint, ruff, knot and black-tailed godwit. On Friday the wader list also included three curlew sandpiper, two little-ringed plover and a bar-tailed godwit. A drake garganey was also on the Budge fields.

I normally avoid Bank Holidays at Druridge. I headed out early on Bank Holiday Monday and left before the masses descended. A red-legged partridge, a scarce visitor to the patch, was on the Budge fields - I hope they remain scarce otherwise we'll lose our greys.

red-legged partridge - an unwelcome year-tick

30-40 swifts were feeding just over the bushes along with black-headed gulls, taking advantage of the St. Mark's Flies. 

Swifts - difficult to photograph

Black-headed gull -  hawking insects amongst the bushes

On Thursday and Friday I took two days off work to set up the ringing the site. I only put three nets up on each day but still caught 48 new birds, a few retraps and single control blue tit. We didn't ring at all last year because of family circumstances, so any retraps were at least two years old.

Warblers dominated, mostly adults showing signs of breeding but I did catch a recently fledged juvenile chiffchaff. A couple of grasshopper warblers and a lesser-whitethroat were nice to catch - the latter, a female with a brood patch, are not a common breeding species here. 

Lesser whitethroat  - a rare breeding species at Druridge

On Friday, a spoonbill was on the Budge fields first-thing and, weirdly, 22 barnacle geese. There had been lots of fly-over feral goose flocks, mostly Canadas. I can only presume these barnacles were feral rather than 'wild' migratory birds?

 A flock of greylags over - lots of flocks of feral geese passing through

When things were quieter in the nets, I had a chance between checks to photograph some critters. I found my first red and black froghopper at Druridge a couple of years ago - there were dozens of them on Thursday and Friday. A coloniser from the south, like speckled wood butterflies. 

Red and black froghopper- Cercopsis vulnerata

I also photographed this beetle:

Red-headed Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis) 

Red-headed Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis)  - a new one for me. It looks like another southern species establishing here. I saw three or four over the two days whilst checking nets. According to the NBN atlas the most northerly record St. Mary's Island and iNaturalist has couple of sightings locally but nothing as far north as Druridge. 

There were a few butterflies on the wing including large skipper and small heath. There were also dozens of blue-tailed damselfy.

Small Heath

Blue-tailed damselfly (female)

Blue-tailed damselfly

I left at about 1.30pm on Thursday and the road was jammed with cars - Friday was worse. I was using our southern nets so it was more obvious but as I drive home, it was gridlock - a single track road with cars parked on both sides and wazzocks not giving way. Cars were parked almost continuously from Druridge to Cresswell - I've not seen this before, even on August Bank Holiday Monday. I can only presume these people are usually in the Metro Centre or the pub... 

Chaos

(not so common) Crane - Patch tick

I popped down to the patch this evening after a full day on the allotment and thought I would try a bit of viz-migging for an hour. Common crane and spoonbill had been fly-overs further north or I might even fluke something rarer like an Alpine swift.

What was obvious was a big influx of hirundines, adding my first swallow of the year to my year list. Not seeing much else and thinking of packing up when I was approached by a birder called Graham who said he had been watching a common crane from the Budge screen. We both hurried back there but couldn't see it, despite scanning the fields several times. A blackcap was singing behind the hide which was new for the year.

Graham headed off north and I decided to scan the surrounding fields from the top of the big dune. I re-scanned the Budge fields first - and there it was, a common crane standing in the middle of the field. A full patch tick!

It must've been behind some of the taller rushes when we checked from the hide.

I've dipped two cranes before that have been reported as fly throughs from nearby so it was nice to finally nail one. A handful of birders came for a look whilst I was there, including Hector who managed to pick me out a red-legged partridge perched on a fence by the cottages. A brucey-bonus indeed! Red-legs are very scarce on the patch and this was my first since 2014 - they are a species I usually associate with harsher weather.

The great white egret appears to have gone.

The crane takes the patch list to 241 species. Hopefully it's not the last addition of the year.

Too busy to blog

I've been really busy lately, leaving little time to blog.

Barn owls have kept me busy, checking boxes and ringing pullus. It's been a good year for owls, with broods of four the norm. I've ringed 34 owlets in a week.

There's been a lot of barn owl activity at Druridge too, with the resident pair hunting in the mornings and in the evenings in broad daylight. My camera is totally dead, so will need to buy another one, so I couldn't photograph one of the owls hunting in front of the Budge screen this morning.

Other highlights since my last post:

Sun 25th - wood sand and garganey on the Budge fields

Mon 26th - Red-legged partridge!! A unexpected addition to the year-list of  a species only previously seen during hard winters of 2010 and 2011.

Thurs 29th - Away from the patch at work, saw a hobby at Wooden Farm near Alnmouth

Friday 30th  -Ringing at Druridge - Caught 21 birds. 7 sedge warblers including a retrap first ringed as a fledgling last June, 4 juvenile chaffinches and two willow warblers. Also noted were reeling grasshopper warbler and 'chipping' snipe.

Today I had an early start. The wandering Egyptian goose was back on the Budge fields, other than that, it was just the usual.

Now, here's a thing. In East Yorks, Lincolnshire, Durham and Teesside there were some good birds today (according to Birdguides) including, Blyth's reed warbler, woodchat and red-backed shrikes, golden orioles, icterine warbler, corncrake etc...... What could Northumberland muster? A wood sandpiper at Hoppen Kiln Ponds!

Now, is this because there are no scarce birds in Northumberland or because there is nobody out looking for them?

Answers on a postcard.

128 wood sandpiper
129 arctic tern
130 red-legged partridge

PWC Score 169

I'm off to look at second-hand Canon 7D's

Fresh Meat

At last some fresh meat at Druridge.

Four new cows have arrived on the Budge Fields, just in the nick of time. They have joined the ponies who haven't left for East Chev yet, so between them they should make an impact, but there's plenty to go at and they'll need to be joined by more of their friends in July.

Keep on grazing, there's plenty to go at

I did an evening territory mapping visit tonight, only because I am too busy to get a morning visit in.

It was funny seeing red-legged partridges at High Chibburn Farm, a year tick, but already dull after the excitement of last years 'Patch ticks'. Lots of birds were carrying food, I wish I had more time to spend to watching them and do some more nest finding.

Offshore a single roseate tern was year-tick, a nice close bird too. One the beach were 3 dunlin and 6 sanderling, all in stunning summer plumage. We were watching sanderling and dunlin last week in Spain so there is still more to come!

120 red-legged partridge
121 roseate tern

Christmas presents don't get better than this - A FULL PATCH TICK!

Christmas comes but once a year.Nowadays patch ticks don't come much more frequently.

We had our traditional Christmas Day walk at Druridge this morning,the first bird was a barn owl hunting by the road -  a year tick. The other highlights were an ermine stoat, it's aeons since I last saw a winter stoat - this one still had some brown along the ridge of its back, otherwise white, and a merlin.

As the road between Cresswell Village and Cresswell Pond is now pretty much impassable, we headed home via Widdrington and thank god we did!

Just as we rounded the double bends, I spotted a bird crouched by the roadside. Bins on it, it was a partridge, but not a grey partridge, common at Druridge, especially lately  - this one was a red-legged partridge!

Then there were two, then three, then a whole covey of at least 18 birds! Amazing! What better Christmas present could a patch worker want than a full patch tick?

I see red-legs all over Northumberland, often within two miles of Druridge, but I've never actually seen one on the patch - until today

It has to be said though, only a patch watcher could get excited about seeing red-legged partridges!

PATCH LIST 221

Merry Christmas to one and all!