Winter birding

The last of the Blackbirds from the huge invasion earlier in the month are hanging on, making their way through the remaining Hawthorn berries are the last remnant of Autumn. Otherwise it feels like winter. 

Wintering duck numbers have started to build up on the Budge fields, with Wigeon numbering about 160 but there's fewer Teal. The big pools is virtually bereft of life, I've not seen one, but I fancy there's an Otter about which will deter wildfowl from settling.

Elsewhere on the patch the 'front field' at Druridge Farm is attracting big flocks of Lapwing and Golden Plover with a maximum of 560 and 320 respectively this week. Scanning through plover flocks - proper winter birding. 

Some of the Golden Plover flock this morning

I took Thursday off work on the strength of a strengthening northerly wind which ended up as a bit of a damp squib - it came from the right place, just not for long enough. Me decision paid-off though as my flexi-day-off meant I could go to Amble to see the (American) Buff-bellied Pipit that was found the previous day. Janet and I joined a few hardy-souls at first light and after an hour or so of searching, the bird was re-found on the beach giving the assembled (socially-distant) twitchers good views. A new bird for Northumberland and the Western Palearctic for me.

Heavily-cropped shot of the Buff-bellied Pipit

Female-type Stonechat at Amble

Rock Pipit

I did go seawatching in the afternoon from 1pm to dusk. A Black-throated Diver headed north was new for the year (176), other highlights were two Velvet Scoter north and a lovely Sooty Shearwater, really close in nice light, through the breakers, before heading off north. There was decent auk passage, a few Gannets and Kittiwakes including a single flock of 37 of the latter. Full list here.

Seawatching was quiet so I was distracted by these horses

Janet and I walked the length of the patch and back on both Saturday and Sunday morning. Highlights include a Snow Bunting over, 110 Twite in the dunes (they were on the beach on Friday when it was quieter), Great-spotted Woodpecker and a late Chiffchaff which was calling like mad in the bushes - a nice reminder of Autumn.

Black-headed Gull on the sea today

Guillemot on the sea

Red-throated Loon on the sea

I'm changing my work regime from tomorrow to make better us of the daylight hours so my weekday patch visits will be at lunchtime until February. 

Some more winter birds from this week...

male Stonechat

Wren

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

Some seawatching

 The latter part of the week was dominated by very strong northerly winds - and that  means seawatching.

The wind really picked up on Thursday and into Friday morning but with my diary being full, I only had a brief window on Friday morning, I was in position for 07.25, hunkered down in the dunes as the wind was very strong, it was really busy with Auks, Gannets and Kittiwakes streaming north, a lot of them very close in, too close for some which would be under my scope. Just as I got settled I got onto a group of kittis very close-in and among them was something different - a juvenile Sabine's Gull. If I'd been settled in and concentrating on a single spot it would have been under my scope and I'd of missed it. 

I've never seen a Sabine's gull this close at Druridge before (I have at Church Point when I used to go there) and it was great to see it amongst adult and juvenile kittis for contrast. My first Sabine's since 2014 and my fourth for the patch - all September records in 2007, 2009 and 14. What a great bird!

It remained really busy, with hundreds of birds coming through but I only had an hour or so. Other highlights of my hour were:

Arctic Skua 1

Sooty Shearwater 9

Manx Shearwater 7

Red-throated Diver 1

and two Slavonian Grebes being tossed about on the sea.

Full list here

I had planned a sea watch on Saturday but the wind had strengthened and it was raining and reports from nearby spots weren't tempting me out - I think it was just too windy.

Janet and I had walk around the patch on Saturday evening seeing very little in the still-stormy northerly. 18 Pale-bellied Brents struggled north along the beach, just above the waves and 28 Barnacles went over, high. 

By this morning, the wind had really dropped. We'd opened some hooch that we brought back from Taiwan on Saturday night so I didn't get up early and only made it to the patch at 11am for another seawatch. It seemed quiet, nothing like Friday with few Auks, not Kittis and the Gannets well out. I gave it an hour :-

Sooty Shearwater 2

Manx Shearwater 4

Great Northern Diver 1

Bonxie 1

Barnacle Goose 19 (5N 14S)

Wigeon 27

Bar-tailed Godwit 2

Full list here

I also had ten Swallows, mostly going north! I headed for the bushes. It seemed quite quiet with nothing really calling - a single Chiffchaff was my highlight until I found a tit flock.

Chiffchaff

Here it is calling

It's always worth checking roaming tit flocks as migrant birds often join them like the Yellow-browed Warbler I found with them, a dullish looking bird, then a brighter individual which moved off north, I turned around and saw it or another bright bird - I think there was three but I'll only record two as the second bird could've done a U turn.

From the path by the midget screen, I counted 21 Swallows feeding above the bushes and 17 Barnacle Geese went south. Some waders have returned to the Budge fields at last, six Dunlin and three Redshank - it's a start.

What a difference a day makes

Two days couldn't have been more contrasting. Yesterday morning I was walking on the beach in a T shirt at 8am, today it was so cold, the winter coat came out!

The wind switched into the north overnight and the temperature dropped like a stone. A northerly at this time of year normally means seawatching and mid afternoon reports were coming in of Sabine's Gulls and Leach's Petrels from coastal watchpoints  - I was stuck in the office until 17.45. I eventually made it to my dune look-out by 18.05 - the light was poor and the birds were distant. It was getting dark after an hour and I was freezing cold so I quit then.

Highlights -2 Sooty Shearwaters, 1 Bonxie, 4 Manx, 4 Pale-bellied Brent, 27 Teal, 3 Red-throated Divers, 1 Shoveler and 25 Sandwich Terns. An Arctic Skua was harassing Kittiwakes offshore, it even had a go at a large juvenile gull, chasing it very high into the sky before giving up. Three Mediterranean Gulls went South.

There were flocks of Kittiwakes, moving north but stopping to feed, but they were way-out. Not good for Sabine's spotting. There were about 400 Common Scoter still on the sea.

Tonight's full list here

Monday and Tuesday mornings I've had a walk around the patch, both mornings were quite good for vizmig, with Meadow Pipits still dominating. 

In an hour on Monday I counted 328 Meadow Pipits headed south, some stopped to feed, rest and drink. I heard two Tree Pipits amongst them as well as 23 Swallows, 11 Skylarks and 1 Grey Wagtail.

Resting Meadow Pipit

In the dunes beyond the Dunbar Burn, a big finch flock has built up numbering around 180 birds. I estimated 65% Goldfinch and 35% Linnet but it could be 60/40. Yesterday, they were spooked and all got up and six birds flew out from the flock calling - Lesser Redpolls. It was almost as if they'd been roosting with flock overnight.

Young Stonechat

My usual route these mornings takes me north along the road/coal road to the edge of the patch and back along the beach, returning to the car by the road. There's usually not much to see on the beach or sea with just bins, other than the Sanderlings feeding busily along the tideline. The noise of the sea drowns out any vizmig.

I promise this is a colour image - Sanderling feeding on the shore

Red-throated Diver offshore

Mondays list

Tuesdays List

Seawatching and some thoughts on it.

With strong northerlies forecast overnight and early morning I suspected I might be seawatching today especially as I had the day off work. When I woke at 6am it was lashing it down with rain, I turned over and went back to sleep, If I'd had to go to work, I would've got up and gone anyway but I had the luxury of more time.

I eventually arrived at my dune watchpoint at 9am, it was too windy to stand on the dune ridge so I hunkered down in the dunes on a useful perch as I could be sometime.

The first bird I saw was a Bonxie, close in too. There wasn't a lot of action until pretty much the second notable bird I got onto was a skua,  a bit further out than the Bonxie, quite distant. A grey bird against the sea with a more languid tern-like flight - Juvenile Long-tailed Skua! My fifth of the year incredibly. 

It was steady after that, Manx Shearwaters coming through in little groups or singles and a few Sooty Shearwaters including a single group of six together about half-way out. There were a few distant Skuas that went unidentified - that's one of the problems with Druridge but a couple Arctic skuas were closer and one came into the bay to harass terns and a couple more Bonxies came through. A drake Velvet Scoter came in very close, north,  on its own and a group of ten Pale-Bellied Brent were also really close.

By 9.45am I was regretting not getting up earlier, the sky brightened and the sun even threatened to come out and the sea went 'silvery' - not good, anything more than half way out was unidentifiable. I was temped to pack up but visibility improved a bit as a cloud came over so I hung on. I was pleased that I did as the bird of the day, and one of my best seawatching experiences at Druridge happened soon after. 

A bird flew north, close-in and therefore low in my scope-view, so it passed through quickly, but it looked interesting and I tried tracking it through the troughs in the breakers, a shearwater, pale on the undersides but 'dumpy looking'. It was flying really slowly, moving back and forth, passing over and through the scoter flock, looking like it was feeding amongst them. It wasn't a Sooty, it had a pale belly anyway but the jizz was altogether wrong and it didn't have the contrast dark/white of a Manx and it just didn't look right.I was sure it was Balearic Shearwater. It landed among the Scoters briefly, before making a short flight and landing again, it did this three or four times, only landing for a few seconds before taking another short flight.These short flights gave good views when it wasn't in a trough and the dusky underwing, darker 'armpits' and dumpy appearance confirmed my initial ID. Eventually it moved off north, slowly again, feeding as it went. In hindsight I probably could have had a record shot of it, but I was too busy 'enjoying the bird'. This was my fifth Balearic at Druridge but by far the best views I've had of one here and my first since I saw two on 5th September 2013.

By 10:40, the light had really gone. I kept going until 11:05 to get the two-hours in and saw a few more birds including some Teal and a Golden Plover picked up on call just over the breakers, but it was high-tide. 

It was interesting to compare my figures with  headland watchpoints to the north and south of me. Obviously being in the middle of a bay I miss out on birds but I seem to miss out on some species more than others, Bonxies are a good example. I saw five in two hours today, Mark Eaton had 13 at Boulmer, Jack Bucknall had 13 (3 1/2 hours) at St. Mary's and Ben Steel had 19 in two and a half hours at Howick. 

I think powerful birds like Bonxies and to some degree Poms (I didn't see one today) don't drift into the Bay, they just take a straight line from Snab Point to Coquet Island so are too distant for me. I do better for Arctics than some headlands because the terns feeding in the bay draw them in and largely comparable for Long-tailed Skuas which seem to hug the coast more, or even curt off headlands (I've seen them do this at Church Point). Likewise, I do okay for Manx (and today for Balearic) shearwaters but struggle with the bigger Shears, with only one Cory's (in 2005) and no Great Shears ever. 

Despite the disadvantages of being in a bay, I'd swap a dozen of any of those species at Church Point for jut one on the patch. Above all, I love a good seawatch!

Highlights 09:05-11:05 (all N) (Full list here)

Pale-bellied Brent 12 (10N 2S)

Teal 56

Velvet Scoter 1 (drake)

Bonxie 5

Arctic Skua 4

Skua sp 6

Long-tailed Skua 1 (juv)

Golden Plover 1

Sooty Shearwater 11 

Manx Shearwater 24+

Balearic Shearwater 1

Two photos taken as I was packing up.

Adult Lesser Black-backed Gull

and juvenile

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

This week it has been mostly foggy

It's felt more like October than August this week, the cloud, got or mizzle has hardly lifted and neither has the temperature. Sadly, despite the murk and the wind having easterly in it, we didn't have the birds of October. 

It's been mostly misty this week - keeps the crowds away though

I've been down to the patch most days this week, some seawatching, looking for migrants, a bit of ringing and culminating in two 3 hour seawatches today.

I had a bit of lie-in this morning, but when I got up the Whatsapp group had news of Long-tailed Skuas heading north along the coast. About time there was some good seawatching as it's been a damp squib so far this week. I headed for the patch, arriving just after 9am. More messages of Long-tailed Skuas  - failed to connect with any of them, had they gone too far out for me? Lots of Manx Shearwaters, a single Bonxie and Arctic Skua and then at 10:40 a closer Skua, almost coming out of the Bay rather than heading north, a Pomarine Skua, no 'spoons' but a superb bird and close, it headed out into the bay.

I called it a day at 11.30 and headed home for coffee, worried I had missed the Long-tails but happy with my Pom. In the dunes I came across my first Wheatear of the autumn, a moulting juvenile.

Juvenile Wheatear

After lunch I was about to head for the allotment when Dave Dack kindly called me to tell me that more Long-tailed Skuas were heading north. I re-parked the wheelbarrow and jumped in the car and back to the dunes. Another report of five!! yes five Long-tailed Skuas past Snab Point - I didn't see them. I was about to hoy me scope into the sea and take up metal detecting. Then at 4pm I got onto a skua heading north, more bouncy and tern like in flight, it was looking good as it came north, about 2/3rds of the way out. As it drew level with me ID was clinched - Long-tailed Skua, the steely grey of the bird against the sea tied in with the jizz as it flew past, it didn't get very far before landing on the sea off Chibburn Links. After that another L-T Skua was reported with two Arctics from Newbiggin. 24 minutes later I got onto three terns - they were distant mind. It was good to compare 'jizz' though  - the first bird much more buoyant and 'aerobatic' than the two that followed, the cold-steely grey could be picked up at that distance -honest!

Two more Long-tails were reported past Newbiggin Church Point at 17.15. Thirteen minutes later I was watching them, closer than the previous skuas, amongst the pot flags this time. Amazing  - four Long-tailed Skuas. 

At 17.34 a Pomarine Skua went north at Church Point and amazingly exactly ten minutes later I picked it up, powering north. It got here quicker than the Long-tails and Arctics which is surprising when you watch them fly!

Manx Shearwater passage was heavier in the morning than the afternoon and even Gannets were thinner on the ground after lunch. A couple more Bonxies came through and an Arctic Skua was 'resident' in the Bay, harrying terns. 

Black-headed Gull headed north

Six hours well spent!

On Monday my walk produced a flock of 14 Goosander headed north and a pair of juvenile Buzzards over the dunes and perched in the bushes. This Grasshopper Warbler was by the Dunbar Burn.

Grasshopper Warbler skulking as they do

Goosanders headed north

I tried a ringing session on Tuesday morning before work but it was very quiet, I only caught 14 birds and 5 of them were retraps. It was almost as if the resident warblers had mostly cleared out, leaving a few willow warblers behind. Wednesday was very quiet too so I walked back by the beach and saw my first Turnstone of the year when three flew north and Whimbrel called overhead. 

Carrion Crow on the beach

One of 14 Cormorants over

Juvenile Blue Tit in the dune bushes

Seawatching on Friday evening produced a single Sooty Shearwater among a handful of Manx. About 250-300 Common Scoter are hanging around offshore with a few guillemots and couple of  Great-crested Grebes in amongst them. 

The week definitely ended on a high. It looks like the northerly will switch south on Tuesday, I hope we get another one before the winter. 

The easterly winds have deposited huge numbers of Jellyfish on the beach. This is a Lion's Mane Jelly. 

Seawatching gold

On the back of recentl northerlies I've managed a couple of post-work evening seawatches in the last two days but did I find a crock of gold at the end of the rainbow?

Yesterday evening (17.40 - 18:15) the visibility was better than had been on Sunday evening but the sea was quite quiet. It wasn't a waste of time however, as there was a huge movement of barnacle geese. I counted 307 in different groups - the most impressive was a group of about 85 that I watched coming in-off. Picked up on the horizon, they zig-zagged north and south until they reached land just to the south of me, disappearing behind the dunes. 

The other highlight was a purple sandpiper. Being a bird of the rocky shore they are a very rare bird at Druridge, but conditions were perfect - the top of a high tide when they are pushed off Snab Point or Newbiggin and they head north, probably to the safety of  Coquet Island to sit-out the tide. This was my first patch-record of a 'purp' since 2014.

Tonight (17:20-18.40) was much more productive for seabirds. I thought it was going to be when the first bird I got onto was a bonxie, followed by two groups of manx shearwater with three sooty shears for company.

The kittiwakes, lots of them, were quite far out and the lack of gannets suggested they were even further out again. Other birds were a bit closer, especially some of the arctic skuas and bonxies. Other than the odd manx or two the shearwaters dried-up after the initial flurry. 

A grey plover flew north - another scarce wader for the patch. 

It went a bit quiet after 6pm and a horrible squally shower came through - I hunkered down in the dunes and watched the rainbow until it passed. I had though about heading home, but I'm pleased I didn't. Another heavy shower offshore seemed to push birds in a bit as a couple of bonxies and arctic skuas passed close-by. 

Then, from out of nowhere, two steely-grey juvenile long-tailed skuas appeared above the freshly-arrived raft of gulls on the sea. They swooped and towered above the skyline, quite close in, for a few minutes before heading off south down the bay. My first long-tailed skuas on the patch since 2013. It's often the case that long-tailed skuas will venture much closer to shore than their relatives, I've seen this at Druridge before and at Newbiggin where I've seen them fly behind seawatchers, cutting Church point. 

The light faded quickly soon after and I headed home, cold and wet, but having struck seawatching gold at the end of the rainbow. 

Full list here

The barnies are back

Today saw a huge influx of barnacle geese into the area and that was reflected in my evening seawatch at Druridge.

These barnacle geese have just arrived from their breeding grounds and most of them are just passing through our area before heading west to the Solway, Scotland or Ireland.

Barnacle geese overhead

I had an early finish from work and was seawatching from 15:40 until 17:40, the wind was variable, out of the South-east when I arrived, moving to ENE before coming back round to S'easterly when I left because we are sat in the middle of a pressure system.

Skeins of barnacle geese from 11 to over a hundred came through, going both north and south. I picked up the biggest flock, of over a hundred birds, right out to sea and watched them come in towards me before veering off north towards the Country park. There was single white bird among them - a leucistic individual, There were two leucistic barnacle geese at Lindisfarne last winter.

The in-coming flock of barnacle geese with the leucistic bird out-front

The light was fantastic and away from the geese, the seawatch started well with a distant sooty shearwater headed north. I had to wait for over an hour for another and a third, much closer bird followed it. Two arctic skuas flew south close-in, followed by a bonxie, looking gingery in the evening sunshine. Another arctic skua was harrying a kittiwake just offshore.

Manx shearwaters drifted through, mostly singles and not numerous. A black-throated diver went north and there were a few red-throated divers both heading north and on the sea. A few ducks were noted with small groups of common scoter, wigeon and two tufties.

First-winter Herring Gull

Seawatching totals (15:40-17:40)

Barnacle Geese c157 N and c185 S
Sooty Shearwater 3 N
Arctic Skua 3 (2 South and 1 lurking)
Bonxie 1 S
Red-throated Diver 6N and 6 on the sea
Black-throated diver 1N
Manx Shearwater 8N
Wigeon 9N
Sandwich Tern 16 (all S)
Commom Tern 4N
Common Scoter 20N
Fulmar 1 S

A surprise catch

We were ringing birds at Druridge this morning.  It was the same day as the North-East Skinny Dip at the Country Park and we had the dippers 'on call' as we put our nets up and they went into to the sea - It must have been cold as the calls were all high-pitched!

On a day dominated by tits, we were very surprised to catch this in one of our mist nets.

Adult female barn owl

Janet and I were extracting a robin when we heard a bird, which sounded like a woodpigeon, crashing through the bushes behind us. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a bird hit the net a bit further along from where we stood, expecting it to be a woodpigeon, I was very surprised to see a barn owl in the net! It was quickly extracted and taken back to the car to be ringed.

Sasha the trainee with the barn owl

It was an adult (probably in it's third calendar year) and a female - you can tell this from the dark spots on the breast and flanks (this one is very spotty - they are variable). We've caught a few long-eared owls in mist nets at Druridge but never a barn owl.

Between 0630 and midday, we caught 33 birds, mostly tits, including a blue tit which we ringed as juvenile in September 2014, canny for a blue tit. We also controlled (caught a bird that had been ringed elsewhere) a robin and a blue tit. The blue tit will probably be local, but it will be interesting to see where the robin has come from.

Controlled Robin

We also caught our first goldcrest of the autumn, chiffchaff, whitethroat, blackcap, dunnock, and reed bunting.

Common Whitethroat

Between about 8 and 10 am there was steady stream of skylarks headed south but only single figures of meadow pipits. This kestrel was feeding nearby but I only managed to get 'arse-on' shots of it.

Kestrel - arse-on

I went back down to the patch in the evening, prompted by some seawatching reports from elsewhere in the county. I arrived at 6pm and stayed until just before 7, leaving in time to catch The Archers on Radio 4. Seawatching totals from 1800-1850 were (all north)

Manx Shearwater 41
Pomarine Skua 1 adult
Velvet scoter 1 drake
Sooty Shearwater 3
Red-breasted Merganser 5 (south)
Sandwich tern 3
Wigeon 3
Gannet 200+
Shag 1
Cormorant 3
Guillemot 3

and 7 red-throated diver on the sea

By the time I left there were upwards of 3000 gulls on the beach between Druridge and Chibburn Mouth, mostly common and black-headed.

Just waiting for some easterlies now...

Sea-watching and Stormies

With reports of a movement of seabirds from coastal watchpoints, I headed to Druridge for a sea-watch on Saturday afternoon.

I arrived at quarter to five and it was quite quiet a first with a few distant manx shearwaters beyond the pot flags. There were a lot of fulmars and a few roseate terns were flying by and feeding. I had my first of two sooty shearwaters, which was about two-thirds out, at about half five, the second one was later and closer. 

The manx shearwaters kept coming, some very close and a couple of arctic skuas went through together in line with the flags. Just after 6.15 I got onto a pale skua about half-way out - a very pale adult pomarine skua 'with spoons'  - bonus! It was interesting that this bird hadn't been seen at Newbiggin so presumable had been sat on the sea somewhere before flying past Druridge?

Just after the 'Pom' a Fea's petrel was reported past Whitburn. It would take it at least and hour and a half to get to Druridge and the light would be fading but I thought I would hang on. I had lots more manx, another arctic skua but not much else. When the Fea's hadn't been seen at St. Mary's or Newbiggin it was time to head home  - It was a chilly night and I was freezing!

The evening forecast was light winds and no rain so we decided to have a last try for storm petrels. We've never tried to catch any this late in the year before, our previous latest session was 8th August, but worth a try.

When we arrived on the beach and got the nets set up, there was big, bright full moon - it was almost like daylight! Not good for catching birds as they would see the net. The forecast predicted increasing amounts of cloud as the night went on. 

We were joined by Laura Shearer, Paul Stewart, Irene Ajo and the Farooqi's and to our amazement we caught a storm petrel just before half-past ten, the earliest we've caught one by a whole hour - and in what we thought were impossible conditions. We had the nets up until 12.30 and didn't catch anything else so we packed up and went home.

Storm Petrel (Photo: Laura Shearer)

That will be our last session for this year. We've had two sessions this year and caught four storm petrels and one Leach's petrel.

Start of migration

For normal people, this is summer and will be until at least the August Bank Holiday. For Birdwatchers - it's Autumn.

Migration has begun...

Waders are on the move, at Druridge this was evident by large numbers (up to 76) dunlin on the beach midweek as well as the first returning sanderling. On the Budge fields this weekend there has been up to two green sandpiper, three wood sandpipers and five common sandpipers. Pectoral and curlew sandpipers have also been reported but not seen by yours truly.

Elsewhere, migrants like pied flycatchers and black restarts have been seen at coastal places.

Tonight, as I was watching the sandpipers on the Budge field, as well as a water rail out in the open, a great egret appeared on the fields, scattering the waders on it's arrival. 

Great Egret feeding on the Budge fields

and in flight

Short video of Great Egret - click to enlarge.

Once a mega rarity for the patch, the first being recorded in April 2010 (read about it here), great egret has been recorded in our four out of the last five years on the patch, which mirrors the northern expansion in the species' range.

I left the egret feeding on the Budle fields, but as I walked back to my car, it flew south overhead and continued to circle about before heading back over the Budge hide. 

Circling above the Budge hide

Since my last post, I've been away to Dumfries and Galloway for a long weekend of birds, butterflies, bikers and lighthouses. 

One of many Tysties nesting in the harbour wall at Poertpatrick - our base for two nights.

I've also done a couple of short seawatches, the highlight of which was a single sooty shearwater south on Thursday evening. Janet and I had a quick look around the patch on Friday evening and were amazed by the number of feral greylags - Druridge Pools had become like Hauxley, or a goose farm. The numbers of these and feral canada geese breeding in the area must be having some ecological impact on native species. 

Greylag Goose

Lots of Greylag Geese

It was nice to see great-crested grebes with young on the big pool as well as the increasingly scarce pochard. 

One of the remaining adult Great-crested Grebes