Viz Mig - it's just a hobby!

Firstly, apologies for the lack of blog updates. There just aren't enough hours in the day and when it is still light in the evenings I would rather be out birding than sorting photos or writing blog posts, especially as most of my time these days is spent in front of the computer in my office.

Since my last post we had a holiday to Wales - a week in the Llyn AONB with an excursion to Anglesey for the Elegant Tern at Cemlyn Bay and two new damselflies. All in all, a great trip!

Back to Druridge, I've managed a few visits before and after work and the patch year-list is now on 146, a couple of decent seawatches and a few early migrants, like Cuckoo and Green Sandpiper, have pushed it up in July.

Common Tern feeding offshore in 'Golden Hour' light in July

Barn Owl - un-ringed second year female

Back to the here and now, on Friday I took a day off work and spent the morning on the patch. I did a bit of viz-migging from the high dune, it was reasonably quiet but I did scope the Little Owl at the preceptory. I had a wander down to the hides with the macro camera to look for bugs and beasts, where, bizarrely,  I bumped into a chap from Oxford whom I'd met at Icklesham back in 2011, where I'd spent a week ringing with him as a trainee. As we were chatting a small falcon flew fast, over the bund, spooked by seeing us, it banked around over the Budge fields and headed off in the direction from which it had come - Hobby! An adult. My first on the patch since 2015.

I scrambled up the bank to look out over the big pool but I had gone. Shortly after I was sat in the little hide with a chap called Harry and we saw the same bird come back over the Budge fields before again heading our over the big pool. I think it must've been hunting hunting dragonflies. Both views were brief but the grey upperparts, lighter plain tail, paler underparts and heavily streaked under-carriage with reddish buff 'trousers' all visible, but it was it's jizz that made us all call hobby before detail as noted. 

Common Field Grasshopper - pink form

New for the patch - Denticulate Leatherbug (Coriomeris denticulatus)

Comma Butterfly - not common on the patch

Roe Buck headed south across the Budge Fields

Yesterday, on arriving at the patch, just before 8am, I saw a few Swifts overhead, Janet sent me a message to say she had seen Swifts moving over the marina in Amble. Another viz-mig session I thought... The wind was stronger from west, which is good for viz-mig at Druridge as birds are 'pinched-in' to the middle of the bay, but also tough-going so I chose a lower spot, rather than the big dune.

Swift passage continued and by 9am I'd counted 109 going south with strong passage of hirrundines, mostly House Martins. This continued until after 10 am when it seemed to ease, in total I counted 245 Swifts south in two and a half hours.

One of over 245 Swifts that went south

A Hobby, presumably yesterday's bird, soared high on two occasions, between Druridge and East Chev and over towards Low Chibburn before drifting south. Scope-views was I all I had, but they were prolonged as it soared on the thermals. Two Merlins and two Sparrowhawks came through as did a juvenile Marsh Harrier  - it was almost like being in Tarifa (maybe not). Green Sandpiper (with a Snipe), Little Egret, four Black-tailed Godwits and 17 Meadow Pipits went south.

One of two Sparrowhawks

And it was gone... one of two Merlins

I went looking for Harebell Bee in the dunes afterwards with no joy but did see some other interesting critters. 

Dune Robberfly (Philonicus albiceps)

Small Copper Butterfly in the Dunes

Hoverfly Scaeva pyrastri

Ringing or twitching?

I had a difficult decision to make yesterday morning - do as I had planned to do, and go to Druridge and ring some birds or go and twitch the (probable, as it was then) Broon Shrike on Holy Island?

I like seeing rare birds, especially in Northumberland but I hate twitching and I hate twitches - they usually end up disappointing, I either don't see the bird (usually because of I've put going to see it off for too long) or I do see it but the experience is disappointing. Twitching does attract the worst kind of birdwatcher, and occasionally, twitches bring out the worst in otherwise perfectly normal birdwatchers. Ethically, driving 100 miles to see a bird doesn't stack-up either.

We went ringing.

It was worthwhile, we caught 42 birds (38 new, 4 retraps). Amongst the usual autumnal species we caught two Lesser Whitethroats, both were carefully examined to eliminate rarer eastern races but nothing pointed towards to that. Lesser Whitethroats are scarce anyway but arriving with Yellow-browed Warblers (we caught one of these) in mid-October, they need to be carefully scrutinised. We caught a few Long-tailed Tits, Goldcrests, Lesser Redpolls and probably the rarest bird for the patch  - Treecreeper.

Again this was scrutinised for 'northern' race but it was a 'brittanica'.

Treecreeper

Yellow-browed Warbler

Lesser Whitethroat

Other than ringing, a Woodcock was flushed as we set the nets up, first of the autumn, and a Short-eared Owl arrived in-off the sea. It was immediately mobbed by crows that pushed it higher and higher until it disappeared off west. A female bullfinch was interesting as was a flock of 17 Greenfinch heading north over the bushes - a really notable record for the patch. 

Short-eared Owl - in-off.

I had a quick look offshore in the evening. There was strong Gannet and Kittiwake passage, a Slavonian Grebe and a handful of Red-throated Divers were on the Sea.

Juvenile Great Black-backed Gull

Friday was forecast to have lighter winds and generally settled and was time to hatch our much procrastinated plan to try and catch the finch flock in the dunes north of the turning circle, Holy Island and the Broon Shrike would have to wait.

It was windier and brighter than we would've liked but we set up two two-shelf nets through the weedy dunes where the finch-flock congregate. Whilst we were setting up, a Lapland Bunting went north, calling. 

Despite the 'nice' weather (not nice for ringing) it was quite successful, for catching Reed Buntings at least, ten of them, we also caught two Chaffinch, two Linnet and a Dunnock. This operation had potential but the window is narrow before the cows arrive.

One of ten Reed Buntings

It was quite mild in the sunshine and out of the nor'easter wind, which brought out a few insects.

Small Copper butterfly

Eupeodes sp Hoverlfy

After ringing, I had a wander around the bushes. By the turning-circle there was a Chiffchaff, Yellow-browed Warbler (the one we ringed yesterday probably) and a Lesser Whitethroat that was only seen briefly but the head looked good for an eastern-race bird. 

Wren

Goldcrest - a male, doing an impression of a squash ball

Inquisitive or miserable-looking?

I finished with a look on the sea. As I was staring out into the horizon, I was startled by a voice from below " Excuse me, are you the chap who writes the blog?"

Me - "Druridge Diary? yes that's me"

Him - " I follow it and read it regularly, I thought it must be you, so I though I'd say hello"

What a really nice thing to do. I'm pleased someone reads this. I forgot to ask his name, but whoever you are, do leave a comment below if you read this, it was really nice of you to stop and say hello!

I might go to Holy Island tomorrow...

A walk to the extremities

I set out to explore the less-frequented extremities of my patch today with a walk out to High Chibburn Farm, Low Chibburn Preceptory and the northern dunes. I included the farm and the Preceptory in the patch boundary for some variety but I rarely get out that far. Today I was in search of Collared Doves and Yellowhammers. I failed on both counts. 

Low Chibburn Preceptory

The right of way back to the Reserve

The farm is good for House Sparrows and the countryside around it can be good for Red-legged Partridge and today was no exception, otherwise I didn't see much. Walking back along the path to the hides, it was quite warm in the sunshine and out of the northerly wind and it brought out some late insects. 

Male Common Darter

Male Small Copper on Ragwort

Migrant Hawker

A single Whooper Swan was on the big pool and a Kestrel hunted along the road.

Kestrel hunting

The Kestrel successfully caught a small mammal and flew off into the bushes with it

In the weedy dunes there was a flock of at least 27 Reed Bunting - probably an undercount. I grilled them for any rarer buntings and the finch flock (about 120) didn't contain any Twite. Given that I walked 6km, I didn't come away with a huge list an the year list remains on 170.

One of the Reed Bunting flock

Male Blackcap in the Elder

Last night I had an hour grilling  the scoter flock for the potential Surf Scoter, no luck but there were 22 Red-throated Divers and a handful of Razorbills with the Scoters. 

Six Whooper Swans came in-off and another five went south and landed on the sea opposite the Drift Cafe. Here are a couple of arty-shots as the first six flew west. My first Whoopers of the Autumn

Whooper Swans headed west

Into the clouds...

Unseasonable

The weather this week can best be described as 'unseasonable'. Monday dawned nicely with some sunshine (remember that?) but it didn't last and Tuesday was a complete write-off with torrential rain and gale force winds from the north, which of course at this time of year could produce some good seawatching. Today, the wind was still out of the north and it felt more like November than August. It had dropped a bit by this evening but was still cold.

I was lucky to catch the sunshine on Monday morning before it disappeared (for good?). The sun brought migrant birds and some locals to the sunny edge of the bushes and I counted 12 Willow Warblers and nine Whitehroats including some family parties, Wrens were  also obvious. By the turning-circle there were Reed Buntings, Stonechats, Linnets, Meadow Pipits, a Robin and a Dunnock.

Male Stonechat - all fluffed-up after a good preen

Young Goldfinch on the fence

In the dunes, there were still plenty of the weekends freshly-emerged butterflies. I wonder how many are still alive now? 

Red Admiral - maybe that Stonechat has taken a chunk out of its wing?

Small Tortoiseshell on Mugwort

Less common - a Small Copper

I walked back along the beach and already the clouds intimated what was in store. 

Looking north...

and south

Mondays list

After being stuck at my desk all day in video meetings, I headed out for a seawatch this evening, The wind had dropped and it looked like seabird activity had too going off others' reports from earlier in the day. It wasn't bad for a Druridge seawatch though - I've had worse! Some birds were quite distant. I got onto a Sooty Shearwater almost straight away, flying through the distant pot flags, it was followed by a small group of Manx Shearwaters and then a spoonless Pomarine Skua powered through on the same line as the Sooty.

Another highlight of the afternoon was groups of Brent Geese headed north. The ones I saw I against the sea were all Pale-bellied Brent, I presume the silhouetted birds against the sky were also this race - 67 in total. A couple of Arctic Skuas went north and one hung around to harry passing terns. There was quite a bit if tern activity, I gave up counting them but noted two Roseate amongst the numerous 'commics' and Sandwich terns. 

A nice sight was a bit of a fluke which I could've easily missed. I happened to glance up at the sky from my scope and saw three birds higher in the sky and they weren't gulls - I got the scope onto them, the first two were Bonxies and the third, just behind them was another Pomarine Skua  - an amazing sight to see these three powerful skuas flying together up the Bay. 

Just as I was about to leave, a summer-plumaged Great Northern Diver flew north close in. On the sea, the Scoter flock numbered about 110 and there were three Great-crested Grebes, an Eider and a Red-throated Diver with them.

Full list here

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