Broken Windows

First, an apology for the lack of blog activity. I decided, as Microsoft had stopped supporting Windows XP, that I should upgrade to Windows 7. Can't be that tricky can it?

It was.

I am back online now and my data has been restored, I hope....

So, since my last post, I have managed to ringing sessions. There aren't many photos I'm afraid as i was ringing on my own.

On Sunday 22nd I had a good session and caught 35 birds, 30 of them were new and the rest re-traps and a controlled reed bunting. It was nice to finally catch some juvenile warblers (blackcaps, willow warbler and whitethroat). I caught eight willow warblers, three of them were juveniles, the rest adults, which makes me think there has been second wave of arrivals. An adult swallow was something we don't catch at often at Druridge.

There were six spoonbills on the Budge fields on Sunday morning, which was amazing to see and certainly my site record count.

During the last week, other highlights have been the steady build up of the scoter flock offshore, which now numbers circa 500 birds. On Tuesday night there was at least one drake velvet scoter among them. Another amazing sight was on Thursday evening when a flock of over 7000 starlings were feeding around the Budge field and the adjacent recently cut silage field - there's gotta be a pink one among them, surely?

A funny moment was when a roe deer walked across the field and lifted a group of 500 or so starling, it got such a shock, making it jump backwards, it then looked up and watched the birds fly off before proceeding, with caution.

I had another ringing session on Friday morning, catching 34 birds. Another swallow, this time a juvenile, was different. Strangely, I caught three juvenile coal tits, which is odd because I've not seen any adult coal tits at Druridge this year and these were very recently fledged. All I can assume is that they have come from the shelterbelt where the herons live?

juvenile coal tit  - but where has it come from?

Today's highlights were four spoonbill, 18+ black-tailed godwits and ten snipe on the Budge mud and a distant female marsh harrier. 

I tried a seawatch this evening, I only gave it an hour or so because it was really cold in a force 4-5 northerly. About 19 manx shearwaters went north and there were either three or five arctic skuas (two might have doubled back and been counted twice). It was good for close gulls again...

black headed gull

herring gull

There were two juvenile reed buntings on the boardwalk tonight.

juvenile reed buntings

I'll end with this little sequence from Seahouses harbour on Wednesday, when I watched a cormorant wrestle with and eventually swallow a large flatfish.

136 bonxie
137 coal tit

PWC Score 180

Turned out all white

At lunchtime today , I was sat in the Oddie hide with Graeme Bowman and Les Robson contemplating heading home to watch the Newcastle match and eat last nights cold pizza when Graeme got a muffled call about an ivory gull at Seahouses.

We were soon on our way and this is what greeted us when we arrived at the golf course.

A stunning juvenile ivory gull, which showed incredibly well, thankfully the course was too flooded for it to be bothered by golfers.

The assembled crowd watched as it took off and headed south and almost in unison shouted 'there's two of them' with various expletives rightly added. They called to each other and continued south together. Amazing. Congratulations to Gary Woodburn on another great find.

As regular readers of this tosh will know, I rarely twitch, because when I do I don't see the bird, so it nice to twitch a bird and see two!

The 'Seahouses-two' were relocated on the beach at Annstead and everyone enjoyed further views of them on the rocks before the tide pushed them off and they flew off north.

A new bird for me and a lot of the Northumbrian birders there, the last being in Seahouses in 1979. This takes my county list to 311.

There was little doing at Druridge before I left. There wasn't a bird on the sea, all the divers from last week have gone (tell a lie, there was a single shag). On the big pool there were two long-tailed ducks.

Outside of the patch at Hemscotthill links the finch flock had about 40 twite among it. I scanned them for colour-rings without success. There were tree sparrows, reed buntings and strangely a rock pipit amongst the linnets, goldfinches, chaffinches and twite.

I would love get access to the Hemscothill Links to woosh that finch flock.

coppicing

The National Trust had a group of volunteer in coppicing the trees at Druridge recently. Well I say coppicing, to be honest its more like a cross between coppicing and pollarding - a hybrid technique.

Recently coppiced/pollarded alders

The reason we do this semi-pollard/coppice thing is two-fold. Firstly, it stops the rabbits eating the regrowth, secondly, it provides safe nesting 'cups' for birds amongst the new stems, clear of the ground.

It looks brutal at first, all of the trees hacked down, but this is essential work. My territory mapping exercise last breeding season proved this. The number of species and number of territories was higher in the recently coppiced areas. The strip of trees and bushes at Druridge is primarily alder and hawthorn, with ash, willow and some whitebeam with other oddities.

If left, the alders would get quite high, the only birds that would nest would be magpies and crows, the height would further limit the area of the Budge fields for breeding waders. I'm off tomorrow, so were going down to Druridge to a bit more coppicing, it grows so quickly once it is cut, we can't get round it all quick enough!

Alder is quite pale colour straight after it is cut, but it soon turns this lovely orange colour.

Bright orange brightens a grey day at Druridge

 Today wasn't so grey, by far the warmest day of the year so far. My work took me to Seahouses where the drake eiders are looking rather resplendent in their breeding plumage!

drake eider looking rather dapper