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

Following tradition (sort of...)

Tradition dictates that on the 1st January each year (or my first visit to the patch) I see a species that I didn't see in the previous year. It probably doesn't happen that often but it feels as though it does. 

I nearly followed tradition this year - it was the 2nd of January rather than the 1st. 

I saw a respectable 52 species yesterday in two visits on New Years Day, but nothing I hadn't seen in the previous year. Some good January species included Mistle Thrush (13 still in the fields), Bullfinch and Goldcrest on our morning walk and  Mediterranean Gull, Black-throated Diver and Kittiwake on an evening seawatch. The other New Year tradition at Druridge was upheld with near-naked people thinking it a good idea to go into the sea...

No gold at the end of this rainbow but some good species for the year

This morning dawned a colder, greyer day with sleety-snow falling. We didn't have an early start, checking the farm first and adding a flock of nine Redwing and 12 Fieldfare to the list and then setting out on our walk at11.15am, north, into the bitingly-cold wind. We found the finch flock in the dunes, Twite (120), Goldfinch, Linnet, Chaffinch and a few Reed Buntings and Skylarks in the dunes. We headed back along the beach, seeing nothing of note.

Cold and grey with snow clouds on the horizon

As we approached the car, news came through of a Shorelark north of Hemscotthill Farm. Worth a look I thought...

Birdguides reported it in the field immediately south of the patch boundary, which is in a fodder crop and is being stripped-grazed by beast. I got onto a handful of skylark in the fodder-stubble, but the light was against me so I headed south a bit - off-patch, for better light. I soon found the Shorelark feeding in among the Skylarks, but of course, I had to go back onto the patch to see it from there. 

This was my first Shorelark since 2014 when one was on the dunes north of the Dunbar Burn, pursued by photographers. 

Later, an Egyptian Goose was reported from the pool nearer to the farm, but it had gone when I returned in the afternoon.

I had another short seawatch as the wind was in the north. Black-throated Diver was still on the sea and a single Great Northern Diver flew north as did a single Gannet. Auks passage was steady and one with an all-black head stood out from the others, I photographed it  - a Guillemot in breeding plumage already, Stewart Sexton reported that he'd seen a few today.

The highlight of evening seawatches either side of Christmas has been the gull roost. From dusk, no earlier than 3.30pm, gulls arrive in flocks from the fields to the west to roost on the sea - thousands of them! It's a steady passage until dark when there are over 4000 gulls on the sea, about 150m offshore. They're all Black-headed and Common Gulls (about 65-70% BHG, 35-30% CG) with the odd Herring and I've seen up to ten Med Gulls - there could be dozens more as it's impossible to go through them before the light fades - an amazing spectacle. 

I could see the Starling murmuration at Chevington from my dune-top perch, another great spectacle. 

A good start to 2021 with 68 species over two days.  Effort will ease-off when I go back to work next week but it looks as though home-working will be the norm for some time, which gives me more opportunities.

A lark on the shore

I was at work today, which is a thing that less and less birders appear to be doing, when I saw some tweets, from those without jobs, about a shore lark at Druridge.

Luckily, I wasn't far away from Druridge and had eaten my lunch on the hoof, so could afford a quick dash to the patch.

When I arrived, some more birders without jobs were walking along the road "You'd better be quick, it's on the beach but the tide is coming into the base of the dunes"....

I had the forethought to put my wellies on, and legged it to the beach, when I got to the top of the dune, the tide was well and truly in - I feared the worst. 

Further north, at the Dunbar burn, I spotted some photographers, lenses pointed down the dune front, they kept moving and I presumed the bird was too. At this rate they'd chase it to Chevington. 

I staggered along the beach, wading the burn (thank god for the wellies), the incoming waves lapping at my feet as I set up my scope. And there it was, the shore lark on the front of the dune, about level with the Druridge bushes.

Shore lark on the dune front - iPhone scoped shot

I watched it for a while, it was going down onto the beach to feed between waves, flying back up to the dune when a breaker rolled in. I managed to get some video of it, just hand-held the iPhone up to my scope.

Shorelark druridge from Iain Robson on Vimeo.

This is my first shore lark since the spring bird on 5th April 2011

The tide was huge (5.2m at Amble), with a big swell. Quite impressive - could be good for grey phalarope somewhere tomorrow.

Big seas  - looking south

And looking north

On my way back to the car, I popped into the bushes (as you do) and flushed a woodcock, my first of the Autumn.

163 Shore lark

PWC Score = 250

Larkin aboot

A shore lark was found at Duridge this afternoon, on the short grass, just north of the plantation. It was there from lunchtime, seemingly found by Winnie Banks, a very nice find indeed!

To me, it looks like a female, smaller horns, yellow on the face not as bright as the male and more streaky. I found a shore lark a few springs ago which was  certainly a male, big horns and bright yellow on the face. I could well be wrong though....

Shore lark at Druridge (c) Alan Gilbertson

Shore lark isn't a new bird for me at Druridge, I can't find it in the database (still 10 notebooks to go into it!) but it was in the autumn and a good few years ago. Great bird though, especially in the spring.

There were seven twite on the grass with it which gave excellent close views until they were scattered by a dog walker.

Thanks to Alan for the piccie and letting me know about it.


94 shore lark