Back for a stint

There has been no blog updates for a while as I have been in Spain for a week. We started in Valencia and headed down in to Castilla-La Mancha to the La Mancha wetlands where we saw lots of these:

Flamingoes at Laguna Larga

Next we headed to Sierra de Andujar in search of lynx, it was unseasonably hot which meant we didn't see lynx or many birds. We did see lots of these:

Azure-winged magpie at Sierra de Andujar

We finished the trip checking out saline lagoons and salt pans on the Murcia/Alicante coasts. it was interesting to see the breeding little terns there, making their scrapes on the banks between the salt pans.

Little tern at Las Salina de San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia

It was also interesting to see some passage waders coming through including a lot of curlew sandpipers, little stints and even turnstone.

It wasn't long until I would see little stint again..

Back to reality on Sunday morning, back to Druridge to the WeBS count in the freezing wind. There was crowd of folk in the Budge screen when I got there, I thought it was a twitch! A drake garganey and two wood sandpipers were soon pointed out and four little egrets were out on the fields - canny start to the count!

Soon after ADMc had left to look for a little stint at Cresswell, Bob Biggs picked up three small waders in flight, over the fields, which appeared to head off over the big pool. They hadn't, as I soon picked them up on the mud, two dunlin and a little stint. Little stint is a bit of rarity at Druridge, I've only seen them in three of the last eight years.

I had a quick visit to the Budge fields tonight. One of the wood sandpipers was still there and a little ringed plover was out on the mud.

115 little stint
116 little ringed plover

PWC Score 141

Nightjar - PATCH TICK!!

My first visit back to the patch on Sunday morning after ten days in Spain and I scored with a full PATCH TICK - a Nightjar.

This rounded off a superb trip and a Northumberland and British tick at Chevington the same morning - Great Reed Warbler.

After wandering up to Chibburn Mouth to see the great reed, we set about doing the WeBS count at Druridge, after checking the Budge fields from the screen-hide, I walked through he bushes and virtually immediately flushed a large bird from the path. It flew off low, like a sparrowhawk, generally brown, but showing lots of white in the wing. It wasn't a sparrowhawk and with the white in the wing, nightjar immediately sprung to mind, but I didn't have good enough views to be sure. It caused much consternation with the nesting whitethroats as it flew off.

I continued along the bushes where a willow warbler and whitethroat were scolding something - below them was a nightjar, sat out on a low branch, looking straight at me. I could hardly believe it. I called on Janet who was on the road and called Dave Elliott, who was up at Hadston. Whilst on the 'phone, the bird flew off, low again, but kept going. We searched for it but couldn't find it. Seemingly the Dack boys saw it later that afternoon, still being scolded by warblers.

Nightjar is a species that was never on my radar for Druridge, so it was nice to literally stumble across one. Shame it's only worth two measly points in Patchwork Challenge.

This is my first patch-tick since last August's honey buzzard and takes my patch list to 228. 

I'm on a bit of a run, having found Catalunya's first-ever shore lark whilst we were in Spain http://www.rarebirdspain.net/arbsr000.htm#Erealp

I missed a few good birds on the patch whilst I was away. ADMc re-found the great egret on the Budge fields which also hosted ruff and wood sandpiper in my absence.

118 nightjar

119 reed warbler