Med Gull Madness

 After a walk up to north end of the patch and back on Friday after work, I did a bit of an evening seawatch , until it was nearly dusk. 

It was relatively quiet, but there were a couple of close scoter flocks, numbering around 350 birds combined, so I went through them looking for a velvet or better. Three great-crested grebes and a red-throated diver were I could manage. Interestingly, the scoter flock was made up of over 95% drakes. 

Otherwise, a few terns and gannets... that is, until I noticed a couple of Mediterranean gulls flying south and then for some reason, I turned to look inland to see a small flock of Meds head south behind me, they were soon followed by another flock of 25 birds, they were all flying south, over the reserve, as far away as the shelterbelt. Several more flocks followed and they were still passing, in small numbers by the time I left. My final count was 72, there were also 15, including 5 juveniles, in the gull roost on the beach.

One of the passing Meds at dusk

I can only assume that they had been feeding in fields north and west of Druridge and headed south to roost at Lynemouth or Newbiggin. 

There were 48 sanderling on the beach, the adults molting out of breeding plumage. 

Sanderlings

On Saturday, it was a still and humid evening. Janet and I had a walk along the beach, there were plenty of Sandwich terns offshore including a few juveniles which is promising. 

Sandwich Tern

Sandwich Tern

There was big southerly passage of sand martins, we counted at least 200 passing through. 

Sand Martin

Today (Sunday), there was a northerly wind for most of the day, so I tried an afternoon seawatch but it was quiet. 15 Manx went north and there were at least 8 Roseate terns offshore. A flock of about 30 southbound redshanks were noteworthy.

Here are some photos of the stonechat family in the dunes. 

Male stonechat

Female

Juvenile

Back to VizMigging

The wind moved into the west which brought an end to exciting seawatches. It's since turned south-s'easterly which can be good for VizMigging  -visible migration - which for me means observing and counting birds on their autumn migration from a single vantage point. I'm normally in Tarifa at this time for the most spectacular VizMig in western Europe, it wasn't to be this year...

Instead, my vantage point was the 'big dune' at Druridge this morning. No flocks of Honey Buzzards, Short-toed Eagles or White Storks but a great vantage point at the innermost part of the bay which funnels coasting birds in to one point. I only had an hour or so before work from 7.30am to 8.30am. The wind was light and the skies were clear.

Typical view of a passing Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipits and Swallows were piling through as I arrived and continued to do so. House and Sand Martins came through in lower numbers with only a few Skylarks and Pied/White Wagtails. A few waders included 2 Ruff, Greenshank, Black-tailed Godwit and four Snipe. 

The final tally for one hour was:

Barn Swallow - 557

Meadow Pipit - 288

House Martin - 36

Sand Martin - 14

Skylark - 4

Pied/White Wagtail - 2

The last couple of evenings have been warm, sunny and calm and I've had a couple of brief looks on the sea. Yesterday I photographed a wader coming in-off, it flew over my head as I photographed (I nearly went-over backwards) and had me stumped at first. Any guesses what it is?

Out of context wader

The Scoter flock numbers around 350 but is always changing, last night there were two Great-crested Grebes with them, tonight two Tufted Duck. The flock is constantly changing and requires regular scrutiny if a 'Surfy' is to be found. 

Tonight I had two treats, an aerial battle between an Arctic Skua and a young Sandwich Tern and a beautiful sunset. An adult and juvenile Roseate tern were nice as it won't be long until they're gone. 

Let battle commence

 

Off they go

Sunset, that's the Simonside Hills behind the turbines. 

Weekend Surveys

I spent most of time on the patch last weekend doing surveys. 

On Saturday I did my second territory mapping visit, it was a few days late but the run of cold, wintery weather has meant that nothing much has arrived and breeding attempts are on hold. Despite it being a warmer and sunnier morning of later, there was less activity than on my first visit - certainly for the dune species like Meadow Pipits and Reed Buntings.

Stunning morning

The only 'new arrival' was a Grasshopper Warbler which was in the small isolated bush by the Blockhouse. As I watched it, it began to reel, half-heartedly at first before putting some ooomf into it. 

Gropper - New in

Chiffchaffs were still vocal as was a Song Thrush that sung all morning. An interesting breeding record is a pair of Long-tailed Tits nest-building along the path to the hides, near to the timber screen. Lotti's are a very scarce breeder on the patch and it might be ten years or more since they last bred. 

One of many Chiffs

One of the breeding Lotti's

Wintering birds are still present however with 45 Twite flying over in three groups. Of note on the Budge fields were 9 Avocet, two Ruff and two Black-tailed Godwits. 

Swallow passage was light but noticeable and there were plenty of feeding Sand Martins over the Big Pool where a pair of Great-crested Grebes were displaying.

Fly-over Shelduck

On Sunday morning I awoke to a light covering of snow (11th April!!). Janet and I set off to do the WeBS count, it was bright but cold, feeling like -5 degrees not 5 degrees. There was plenty to count on the Budge fields with 66 Wigeon and 62 Teal still present. As I scanned, counting Wigeon,  a gull with yellow-legs caught my eye, not a Lesser Black-backed Gull (there were three of them further over playing with a goose egg) - this was a Herring-type gull but with strikingly yellow legs, not just a slight creaminess about them - yellow! The mantle was one or two shades darker than the adjacent Herring Gulls, it moved into deeper water and was head-on so no more detail on shape was to be had. Whilst I assembled my digi-scoping kit, Janet watched it until an incoming Canada Goose flushed it and it flew off, strongly in the direction of Warkworth Lane - we'll never know. Interestingly Dave Dack had a 'possible' adult Yellow-legged Gull later that day at Bell's Pond. 

Waders included a single Little Ringed Plover, four Black-tailed Godwit, four Ruff and two Avocet. Snipe numbers were up to 11. A single White Wagtail was also present. 

On the way home, we stopped to admire the Lapland Bunting and Shorelark at Hemscotthill. 

Digi-scoped Lapland Bunting

Digi-scoped Shorelark

In the evening I had an hours seawatch. It was cold and quiet. Three Sandwich terns feeding offshore were my first for the patch this year. 

A pair of passing Red-breasted Mergansers

Adult Herring Gull 

Common Gull with a knackered leg

Rained-off

The forecast today was for rain from about 9am. For once it was bang-on. 

Janet and I walked the length of the patch and got back tot he car 09.22  - just as the heavens opened. About 750 Pink-footed Geese took off from the Budge Field just before we got to the hide, presumably they'd roosted there overnight? Otherwise there wasn't much of note on our walk, three Chiffchaffs were calling and there were two male Greenfinches by the turning circle - so different to three greenies I had last week. 

The finch flock was mostly in flight and easily exceeded 250 birds, including at least 12 Lesser Redpolls and a handful of Reed Buntings (Yes I know - they're not finches).

We also had interesting bird overhead. We heard it from some way off giving a pipit/wagtail type call but loud and explosive. The calls were all single calls, well-spaced, apart from once where it gave a double 'duit-tcheck' type call, then continued south giving single 'duit' calls. I've had a listen to Xeno-canto this morning and the nearest match is Richard's Pipit - a species I've no recent (and no UK) experience of. Nothing to submit but interesting... When I hear it again, I'll know what it is .

Yesterday morning I tried a two-hour seawatch over the high tide (0950-1150), after a short spell of northerly winds it could be good (I thought). 

Gannets and Auks dominated, I estimated about 30-40/minute of each. The Auks were probably 90%+ Guillemot with the remainder Razorbills, no little'uns yet.

A typical sight for most of the morning, strings of Gannets headed north, some of them very close to the shore

Other highlights were:

Sooty Shearwater 2N

Velvet Scoter 2 Drakes N (together with a teal in tow)

Sandwich Tern 1N

Shag 2

Red-throated Diver 22 on the sea and 8N

Wigeon 13N

Purple Sandpiper 1N

Turnstone 5N

Slavonian Grebe 1 (with Scoter Flock)

Common Scoter 115 (c90 on the sea with 25 past)

Full list here

Gannets headed north  - I've had a go at ageing them below.

Gannets are long-lived birds with an average life-expectancy of 17 years, the oldest record Gannet was 37 year old. Gannets can be aged by their plumaged up to about their 6th year when they are 'adults'   -but it isn't always clear-cut.

Working from left to right:

Bird 1 - An adult (so more than five years old) - the secondaries are all white

Bird 2 - Probably 4th year - Quite a few black secondaries (like piano keys) and tail feathers

Bird 3 - Good contrast with Bird 2 - hardly any black secondaries so I would say 5th year

Bird 4 - All Dark with a lighter tailed band and some white 'sprinkles'  - Juvenile bird

Bird 5 - Many more black secondaries but with a yellowish head and more white on the neck and back - probably a 3rd year. 

Birds 6 and 7 are both juveniles

Early warblers and a late skua

With a band of rain passing through overnight and a brisk south-easterly I thought that this morning had potential for a few migrant passerines to be dropped in and I was partially right. So an early-ish start was required and I was down on the patch just before the sun came over dunes. It started quietly, I checked the plantation and the bushes around the entrance and their was little life - three Swifts flew south, could they be the last of the year? There was a strong southerly movement of Barn Swallows too.

I wandered up the road and when the sun hit the bushes, things livened up. The sheltered spot by the path the path to the hides was alive with warbler, mostly Willow Warblers with the odd Chiffhcaff and Whitethroat. These weren't all local birds although some were as the adult feeding two freshly-fledged young proved.  A few of the Willow Warblers were attempting a song, as was a Chiffchaff or two, I fancy these are males of the year, testing out their singing abilities.

A moulting chiffchaff

Willow Warbler

male Goldfinch

I estimated 52 Willow and about 20 Chiffchaff and a few Whitethroat and Blackcap - no Sedge again though. A lot of warblers but no scarcities. A Grey Wagtail flew south, a scarce patch bird normally only seen on viz-mig in the autumn. On the Budge fields, there were two Ruff still and a handful of Dunlin and Redshank. These two Mute Swans made a splash-landing scattering the waders. 

Splash landing

I popped back to the patch this evening, the light was awful for the Budge fields so, as the wind had swung easterly again, I had a look on the sea. It was fairly quiet to sea until I picked up an Arctic Skua, way out, it came closer until it was just over the beach, harrying a group of Sandwich Terns and allowing a few pics.

Spot the odd-one-out

 

 

Despite a few folk being around there were 45 Sanderling and 18 Ringed Plover on the beach. 

The post that doesn't stop giving

Thought I would mix things up on Thursday evening.

I started at 'The Post'  - and had frustratingly brief views of both Coelioxys elongata and Megachile versicolor but not long enough to photograph them, the latter is going into the back of the post and there is a collection of 'leaf bits' to signify this.

I also had a new wasp on the same post which I think is Ancistrocerus scoticus, intriguingly I also had a ruby-tailed wasp species on the same post which I also failed to capture. The ruby-tailed wasp species Chrysis ignita parasitises on A. scoticus - the plot deepens!. The Fork-tailed Flower Bees were still going about their business. The post that never stops giving.

Ancistrocerus scoticus?

I had a wander up the path to the hides and found some hoverflies and an interesting cranefly, spider and ladybird.

Syrphus ribesii (female)

Platycheirus albimanus (female)

Melanostoma mellinum (male)

Melanostoma mellinum (male)

Spotted Cranefly Nephrotoma appendiculata -  I think

Spider - ID tbc

14-Spot Ladybird  - Propylea quatuordecimpunctata

I had a wander through the bushes and disturbed a family of roe deer. The 'youths' were funny - making a sneezing, yet squeaky noise to the female who was close by, I made some squeaking noses back and one of the youngsters came a bit closer before scampering off. I also disturbed a roosting Asio owl species, presumably on of the short-eared owls that have been seen regularly recently?

Young Roe deer

The clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped so I dropped the macro lens -  for the 400mm and scope and headed for the dunes (still fantasising about that albatross) . Offshore there were a few hundred common scoter - they seemed disturbed and were constantly on the move, a single drake velvet was among them. I was just about to go home for tea when the clouds parted and the light was superb. Terns were feeding close to the shore so I went for a closer look...

Sandwich  tern

Arctic Tern

Arctic Tern

Common Tern 

Passing eiders

Sanderling - still showing some breeding plumage

Thousands of jellyfish on the beach