Ringing related

Janet and I set some nets up at Druridge this morning to catch and ring birds. An early start at this time of year is required as the birds tend to go quieter mid morning when it warms up. It was already T shirt temperatures at 5am!

We caught steadily until 10am when it tailed off and we were packed up shortly after 11. We caught 46 'new birds', re-trapped eight birds and controlled one bird. 

We mostly caught warblers and they were mostly this years young and were mostly Willow Warblers. The first bird that we caught was a juvenile Lesser Whitethroat, I caught a female with a brood patch back in June so I presume this juvenile was one of hers. Willow Warblers were still singing and that was reflected in the fact that we caught 14 in total including this bird which was already ringed but with a French ring. It was an adult, but really fresh having almost completed its main moult. We'll wait with interest to hear back from the French ringing scheme.

French-ringed Willow Warbler

 Interestingly we didn't catch any Sedge Warblers but they are still around. A single Reed Warbler was carrying a lot of fat indicating it was on migration.  We caught a few of Robins and Wrens which we were sure were all local birds.  A sign that autumn is here was a Redstart - a lovely adult male that was just completing his main moult. 

Male Redstart

Male Restart showing tail

A Cuckoo was seen in flight when I arrived and  I noted a lot of Swifts heading south at first light.   

We've heard back from BTO recently with some news of birds ringed or re-trapped elsewhere. A Whitethroat and Reed Warbler that I ringed at Druridge were later caught at by Ian Fisher at East Chevington and I caught one of 'his' Blue Tits. More interesting was a Reed Warbler that I caught on 9th June that had been ringed at Titchfield Haven Nature Reserve in August last year, it was ringed as an adult  so had already crossed the Sahara at least four times by the time I caught it at Druridge. 

I've had a walk on the patch every morning this week. Willow warblers have been evident all week and I am sure some of these are passage birds. yesterday, particularly, was good for butterflies with eleven species noted before 9am!

Looking south on Thursday morning

And North - zoom in and you will see the flying ant swarm

Fly-by adult Magpie in 'main moult'

Juvenile Stonechat on the Coal Road

Small White butterfly

Small Copper butterfly

End of September...

The last day of September, Autumn is slipping away into winter and my year-list for the patch is well down on what it should be.

On Wednesday I did pre and post-work visits to the patch. On Wednesday morning, there had been an obvious overnight arrival of common migrants, song thrush were the most numerous with 50-60 passing through. There were ten+ redstart, lesser and common whitethroats, garden warbler  15+ blackcap, ten+ chiffchaff, two willow warbler and eight or more goldcrest. Also newly arrived were a party of eight lesser redpolls and six siskin.

lesser whitethroat

Most frustrating though was the one that got away. A bunting, facing me, with a pale, almost white belly but with strong streaking on the flanks, it turned it's head to show orangey-brown cheeks then promptly flew off, never to be seen again. I would bet my mortgage it was a little bunting but I didn't get enough on it to be sure. I didn't catch up with the little bunting that Janet caught in 2005.

Also of note was another bonxie, flying east from the land towards the sea, my second of the week and a steady passage of skylarks still passing overhead and this roe deer which was not shy at all.

roe deer

By Wednesday afternoon there had been a clear-out. Only two or three song thrush remained and no redstarts, everything had moved on. Bob Biggs had a knot on the flooded fields in front of the cottages which was year-tick.

Today was quiet as I dodged the showers. There were still six redpolls hanging about and a few chiffchaffs. Two grey plover flying west, calling, were also of note. There were hundreds of dragonflies on the wing today, especially in sheltered areas of tall vegetation.

It rained again so I thought I would call at Cresswell Pond to have a look at the Long-billed Dowitcher that had been reported but when I got there and saw 15 cars at the end of the track I kept going.

Am I getting old and grumpy? I used to enjoy the 'craic' in the Cresswell Pond Hide on a Sunday morning, now the thought of a hide full of other birders makes me run the other way. Has birding (and birders) changed or it just me?

136 lesser whitethroat
137 redstart
138 lesser redpoll
139 knot

Blue Tits not Bluetails

Eleven and a half hours! That's how long I spent at Druridge today - unhealthy obsession? - probably!

No bluetails for us, we had a few blue tits though, still we're not complaining, our ringing session netted us 62 birds - not bad considering we only had four nets up.

The morning started quite damp, with a ESE wind, we were at Druridge before first light (not bad considering we were at chez Biggs til midnight - there were redwings going overhead then!), being so damp we only put the most northerly nets up which are the best for catching stuff after a fall.

We caught nothing amazingly rare, not even scarce, just good numbers of some common migrants. Robins were by far and away the most numerous. goldfinches, long-tailed tits, blackbirds, song thrushes and goldcrests also featured heavily.

We also controlled a blue tit, a first calendar year bird, sporting a newish looking ring, so it's probably just come from Hauxley.

Not many pictures of ringed birds - it was a bit gloomy, but here is a nice chiffy and a rather drab looking siskin, but it was our first of the year.

drab siskin

nice chiffy

We packed in ringing around half past two, when the wind picked up. Time for some real birding!

As we had been ringing at the north end, I checked the bushes and plantation by the entrance (whilst Janet got me a tremendous bacon, potato and onion pasty from the Widdrington Farm Shop), then the Budge Screen before walking along the Channel to the path. Picking up blackcap, redstart, pied flycatcher and whinchat along the way, with lots more robins, song thrushes, blackbirds, chaffinches and goldcrests.

In one tiny alder, all out on it's own by the edge of the pool, I had three chiffchaffs and a garden warbler, then this other warbler flew in, chiffchaff sized, but very dark, then it promptly flew out again, back into the thick bushes.....gone!

Back in the bushes I got onto my second barred warbler of the year, this one was lumbering about in the alders.

barred warbler

Other highlights of the day included  a water rail flying out from under my feet, two lapland buntings over, south, c10 swallows and 50 redwings (how come we didn't catch any?)

We'll be back ringing again in the morning and will be putting a net up where the 'dark phyllosc' disappeared to.

Ringing totals for today:

robin 18
goldfinch 7
dunnock 2 + 1 retrap
coal tit 1 + 1 retrap
blue tit 2 + 1 control
long-tailed tit 6
chiffchaff 3
blackbird 6
song thrush 5
chaffinch 2
goldcrest 4
siskin 1
reed bunting 2

150 Siskin

You're Barred!

After yesterdays fall of birds, I was itching to get back down to Druridge, so at first light I was on the patch, only for a couple of hours though - I had to be in Bamburgh for 10am.

I started at the north end, after checking the bushes and 'mugwort valley of death' I worked the whitebeam/blackthorn scrub. There were still an awful lot of birds about, in the narrow strip there were robins, dunnocks, song thrushes, blackbirds, chiffchaffs and a few reed buntings. As I worked my way along, I got onto a barred warbler moving through the low whitebeams, a first year bird,  I got good views, but no photos, wading through waist high, soaking wet,  reed canary grass had fogged up my camera lens.

Once the barred warbler disappeared into the thicker hawthorn and I had put it out on RBA, I headed south, picking up more redstarts and a couple of spotted flycatchers with more thrushes, a roving tit flock (without my predicted yellow-browed warbler in it) and good numbers of robins, wrens and dunnocks.

Last birds before heading to work were four wheatears in the southern paddock.

Not a bad morning, if I could've had another three or fours hours, there would of been more birds to find. This work nonsense doesn't half get in the way of birding, but I suppose I have to pay Kenya off somehow.

149 barred warbler

Back to reality.....NOT!

I finally managed to pick up my bins and get back to Druridge tonight, three days after arriving back from a fantastic trip to Kenya. After a foreign birding trip, especially to sunnier climes, I struggle to find the motivation to get back down to the patch to look at wrens and dunnocks in the pouring rain and lashing winds.

Tonight though, a flyer from work and it was great to be back on the patch, cos it was alive with birds! A mini-fall no-less.

I thought it might have been better, when I first arrived, there were two redstarts and three spotted flycatchers on the plantation fence - canny start, I thought to myself, this bodes well!

More redstarts and spotflys in the plantation, I was joined by Dave Elliott, we got caught in a torrential downpour near the entrance, once it passed we worked the bushes, heading north. A couple more redstarts and some chiffchaffs as well as redwings and song thrushes before the bird of the afternoon came through.

A small group of swallows flew south alarm calling, we looked up to see a juvenile hobby after them, superb! It banked around a bit then flew off towards the hamlet, tailing the swallows. My first patch hobby for about 5 years, discounting my 'probable' four weeks ago. It's very late for hobby, I thought the one I had four weeks ago was late!

We continued up to north end, seeing not much more as birds started to roost, four bramblings and a few more thrushes in the whitebeams behind the pond. A 'different' warbler gave brief views of bits of it, before disappearing into the bushes for good - time to head back.

Back at the car, getting me wellies off, just about dark, about 1000 pink-footed geese flew north, my first of the autumn.

Not exactly Kenya standards of birding and no megas, but the hobby and witnessing migration was good enough for me, it was good to be back on the patch.

Here's a few photo's of Kenya....

Missus Lion

Top Mammal - Porcupine

Not all Mammals - check out the oxpecker!

Rosy-patched Bush-Shrike

Secretary Bird

Birds of the trip - Sokoke Scops Owl

Not quite as good as it could have been

When the rain and very strong SE winds that lashed the Northumberland Coast overnight suddenly abated at lunch time and the sun came out, an impromptu half-day flexi-leave was taken.

With hope in my heart that the weather would have dropped a rare or two into Druridge, I set about working through the bushes at 12.55. It was soon obvious that the weather had indeed dropped some birds in, four redstarts, three blackcaps and a graden warbler were in the plantation - canny start!

In the willows by the entrance there were more blackcaps, another redstart and some willowchiffs. On the fence along the dunes there were four whinchats and three wheatears. After checking the area by the Budge screen, I steadily worked the sunny, sheltered edge and found a handful of both spotted and flycatchers.

willow warbler

willow warbler

spotted flycatcher

spotted flycatcher

The mix of species was very similar to the haul that came from the weather that caused the Morpeth floods two years ago, we had wryneck, barred warbler and greenish warbler at Druridge during that week. See this post for a memory jogger from that time.

At the small reedbed on the big pool there were both reed and sedge warblers, as I walked away from the reeds, I heard the birds in it alarm calling, I caught sight of small falcon disappearing over the trees, not enough to nail it but it looked good for a hobby, albeit a late one!

Other than the un-nailed falcon there were no rares or even scarcities today, but it certainly had potential and I was pleased that I took the time off work. It's raining again as I type this and the wind is still in the SE. Guess I'll be going to Druridge before work tomorrow!

Totals of key migrants 12:55 - 18:55

redstart 6
dunnock 8
blackcap 10
garden warbler 5
wheatear 4
whinchat 7
chiffchaff 2
willow warbler 11
pied flycatcher 6
whitethroat 1
spotted flycatcher 5
sedge warbler 2
reed warbler 2

142 redstart
143 spotted flycatcher
144 pied flycatcher