Pink-foots herald the arrival of winter

It was a chilly six degrees when I arrived on the patch this morning, the brisk westerly wind made it feel colder despite the sunshine. A flock of about 70 Pink-footed Geese arrived on the Budge fields, freshly arrived from their Arctic breeding rounds to spend the winter here. My first of the winter on the patch - we heard some last night nearer home when we were ringing a late brood of Barn Owls.

For me the sound of Pink-footed Geese coming ans going over the patch as they fly from roosts to feeding areas is the sound of winter. It just feels a bit early! (this is my earliest autumn County record by six days).

The cold start meant that birds were making the most of the sunny side of the bushes to warm up and catch insects. Plenty of Chiffchaffs still, I counted 21 and at least six of them were singing - young males trying to sort their chiffs and their chaffs I fancy. 

Smart Chiffchaff among the Whitebeam berries

More of a scruffy moulting bird

A single Spotted Flycatcher and Lesser Whitethroat also being noteworthy. In the big Elderberry bush, the berries are just ripening and it had attracted three Blackcaps and a Song Thrush. I hope they leave some for the Barred Warbler!

Spotted Flycatcher

Same bird - different perch

and fly-catching as Flycathcers do

Overhead there was a moderate passage of Meadow Pipits and two flocks of Siskin -  30 and nine. A Grey Wagtail went north - my second of the Autumn. Still no Collared Dove though!

Hirrundine passage was light with just a handful of Sand and House Martins and few Swallows.

In the 'Front Field' at Druridge Farm there are some enormous Giant Puffballs - they grow here every year and 34 Pheasants! 

Football-sized Puffball

Mystery bird - everyday is a schoolday

Everyday is a schoolday, well today was certainly a schoolday for me. 

Picture the scene...

I arrive early at Druridge, the sun has just come up over the sea, so it's not over the dunes yet and it's gloomy still. I step out of the car and hear a bird singing from the bushes - I think I recognise it, but I'm not sure and certainly can't put a species to it. I go and investigate,  I can't record it because the voice recorder app on my phone hasn't updated or something - typical.  the song was almost Sylvia warbler like, but 'jangly' and metallic like a corn bunting. The bird is still deep in cover. 

Something flies out of the willow and lands close by,  I fire off a few shots but it's not properly light - ISO 3200 so not great. I'm still stumped. Looks like a dumpy warbler with thick pink legs, Cetti's have thick pink legs...but it wan't right for Cetti's. I was still stumped, so I sent a very poor BoC shot to a couple of people. It never showed again and stopped singing a soon as the sun came out. I continued on.

I downloaded the photos this evening and lightened them up a bit. Not a Cetti's - that's for sure. Was it a Locustella warbler? It looked un-streaked and the pink legs and song threw me off the trail. Was it a warbler at all, could it be a Sprosser? Some of it looked right for Sprosser, some didn't. I sent the photos to Mike Carr and Neil Osbourne to see if they could help. 

Mystery Bird

A different angle

We chewed over the possibility of Sprosser but something didn't look right but what was it? Neil went back to Locustella, on closer examination of the photo, some of the coverts appear to have dark centers and Grasshopper Warblers can have pink rather than orange-pink legs. Did the gloom just make it look dark and what about that song?

Neil eventually nailed it with a song from Xeno Canto - which is exactly what I heard - a sub-song of a juvenile Grasshopper Warbler, I've never heard this before. Here is a link to the song https://www.xeno-canto.org/579804 - it's worth a listen.

As they say, you live and learn, especially in birding. Big thanks to Mike and Neil for their help.

There were a lot of Chiffchaffs this morning on the sunny edge of the bushes, I counted at least 12 between the path and the Dunbar Burn. There was also Reed Warbler, Whitethroat and Blackcap and two Spotted Flycatchers

One the many Chiffchaffs

And another looking at a fly

Reed Warbler

One of two Spotted Flycatchers

There was less viz-mig than previous mornings but the Meadow Pipit passage increased as the morning went on (I left at 08.30 with a count of 58) and a single Tree Pipit went over. Hardly any hirrundines though and most of the Swallows were local birds. 

There were a lot of birds around the new-ish ditch by the Dunbar Burn, using the fence as a perch. Meadow Pipits were stopping to drink and bathe and they were joined by a single juvenile Whinchat, Linnets, Goldfinches, Skylark, Reed Buntings and Stonechats. Worth watching this ditch I reckon, it could get a Bluethroat.

This Robin was enjoying the early sunshine - I've read that they do this rid themselves of parasites. 

Robin - enjoying the sun

Full list here

More photos...

Small White

Speckled Wood

Kestrel over

Vizmig and the two bird theory

I've tried a bit of viz-migging this week, but probably missed the vizmig highlight of the year today - a huge southerly movement of swifts, with thousands of birds logged at east coast hot-spots including 28,0000 at Hummanby Gap. I hadn't anticipated it so didn't get down to the patch until lunchtime, by the time I did there were still lots of swift headed south but nothing like the numbers reported earlier.

After reports of crossbill movements, I positioned myself on the big dune at 5.30am on Wednesday morning. When I arrived on site, there were 11 siskins feeding on the alders before moving north. I estimated about another 100+ siskins, all moving south in small groups of 15-25 until 7.30am. Nothing like the 6500 Tom Tams had at Tynemouth and no crossbills - my target for the morning.

I tried for crossbills on another two mornings but no joy.The meadow pipits kept me entertained though and fly-through little egrets on two mornings were welcome sightings of scarce bird this year. The big dune is a good place to scan the budge fields and I picked up both wood and green sandpipers from there.

Meadow pipit song-flighting from the big dune

In the bay, the common scoter flock reached a peak of about 1400 birds midweek. On Friday, I abandoned viz-mig and had walk north and south. A family group of pied wags entertained me at the Dunbar burn and a new moth...

New moth - Pammene aurana (there were at least eight of them)

One of the pied wag youths

New hoverfly for the patch Cheilosia illustrata - one of the bumblebee mimics (iPhone photo)

As is typical, the weather deteriorated just in time for the weekend. I manged a wander between showers on Saturday morning and it was nice to catch up with Bob Biggs and ADMc. Waders from the Budge included  four, maybe five ruff including gingery, black and white/cream coloured birds, 19 black-tailed godwits (most or all Greenland race birds), two knot, two ringed plover and two dunlin. A female marsh harrier was my first since lockdown and an adult cuckoo shot through the dunes - northbound.

Today, Janet and I had a walk to the hides, mostly looking for hoverflies but we found the four spoonbills, that have commuted between Cresswell Pond and the Budge fields, feeding on the doughnut pool from the little hide.

Four spoonbills- an they were all awake!

mating common blue damselflies

This evening, news came through of a female pied flycatcher near the Budge screen. Pied Fly is a scarce bird in any year at Druridge, unheard of in June, so worth a look before the footy I thought.

Graham Sorrie reported north of the path to the screen-hide. The first bird I got my bins on was a spotted flycatcher.

Spotted Flycatcher

I knew Graham wouldn't have mistaken spotted fly for pied, but for two flycatchers of any species to be at Druridge in June would be mega rare, but I couldn't rule out the two-bird theory and I was right not to as shortly after that a female pied flycatcher appeared on the same edge. My first pied fly since 2014!

Pied flycatcher

I'm not sure what is going on here. Is this early returning birds or very late northerly migrants? Someone on Twitter sent me a link to a wind map and a report of high temperatures and forest fires in Arctic Siberia - which is worrying in itself but might explain these birds?

Fog Blog

This weekend has been dominated by fog. Saturday started wet but the fog never really lifted all day, Sunday was brighter, it was grey and wet at first but it brightened up at times. The wind was light from the North East.

Why don't we get weekends like this in September?

It took us until after 3pm to get down to Druridge on Saturday, the wet start delaying our departure. Janet joined me and we had a wander around the patch looking for migrants - we didn't see many migrant birds but we did see lots of migrant hoverflies. All of a sudden, the cow parsley and buttercups were lifting with hovers  - a huge arrival. Spurn reported thousands and an observer on a North Sea oil rig had hundreds on his rig.

I'll do a separate hover blog later in the week when they've been identified.

It was a damp fog on Saturday and the light was awful so I left the SLR behind, which I regret as the there were so many hovers as well as this nice fresh ringlet butterfly which sat out well.

Ringlet

On the Budge fields, an little-ringed plover and a ringed-plover were on the mud and a whimbrel flew over with curlew - that was the highlights.

The avocet pair on the Budge fields still have their three chicks - a new breeding record for the reserves. It's been a funny year for breeding birds on the patch and I'm not sure why:

Avocet - new breeding record for the reserves

Bullfinch -  female with a brood patch caught last week and a pair present today - my first records outside of the October-February period other than a single August record

Coal Tit - normally a autumn and winter species only. I watched a pair taking food into the plantation today  - my first breeding record on the reserves

Lesser whitethroat - used to breed on the wider patch around High Chibburn but never in the bushes on the reserve - female caught with brood patch

and today a spotted flycatcher fly-catching by the entrance - either a very late migrant or maybe a breeding bird?

This morning I spent five and a half hours on the patch form 7am.  I was birding first thing then looking at insects and bugs. I've already mentioned the spotted flycatcher, coal tits and bullfinches. One, maybe two barn owls were hunting and lots of warblers had fledged youths with them including family parties of blackcap, whitethroat (x2) and sedge warbler.

Offshore a flock of 400-500 common scoter was out in the bay, I grilled them for surf scoter without any joy but did turn up at least two drake velvet scoters. Roseate terns were feeding amongst them.

I took the macro lens for a walk along the track to the hides - I only got about half-way, there was so much to see.

Tree Bumble Bee - Bombus hypnorum 

Odynerus spinipes - Shiny Mason Wasp

Not sure what this nest-like construction is

Early Bumble Bee - Bombus pratorum

Common Blue butterfly from above 

and the underside

Blue-tailed damselfly - Ischnura elegans 

This is Picromerus bidens Spiked Shieldbug (final instar nymph) with a caterpillar for consumption later. I think the  caterpillar is that of Autumnal rustic Eugnorisma glareosa

Common Scorpion Fly  - Panorpa communis

An unidentified spider dismantles an unidentified prey item

Not sure about this wasp yet. 

Stay tuned for some hover action later in the week!

Bit of ringing, bit of birding

Friday off work meant a long weekend for me, I put my day off to good use and put some nets up.

It was really calm and a thick sea-fret was in, although it was a 'hanging' fret rather than a 'wetting' one, which was good for ringing.

I only had three nets up and caught and 45 birds, seven of which were retraps. We caught a few passage migrant warblers, mostly chiffchaffs and blackcaps with lesser whitethroat, sedge warbler and willow warbler adding to the diversity. We also caught seven goldcrests, the first of the autumn.

Meadow pipit passage was evident on Friday and for the rest of the weekend along with a few skylarks. A great-spotted woodpecker was noted flying through as were a whimbrel and 4 ruff with some lapwings.

The weather forecasts for Friday night to Saturday morning were all over the place. They all predicted rain, but differed in how long it would last. It was clear by dawn, so I was out looking for migrants. I started in the plantation, with a spotted flycatcher and a 'hippo' type warbler, which I had the briefest of views of and was never seen again despite and hour and a half spent in the pines searching for it. It appeared to be a compact warbler, slightly larger than willowchiff, warm buffy brown above and on the flanks, off-white-grey on the underside. That is all I got on it.

I gave up on it and went to check the bushes elsewhere. Lots of goldcrests, robins, chiffchaffs and whitethroats were flitting about. On the fence by the entrance there were two wheatears, they were later joined by a whinchat, which was my second of the morning. I was beginning to think I might miss whinchat this year then two come along at once (I saw two more at Snab Point later in the day).

wheatears on return passage

Skylarks and meadow pipits were going south all morning.

This morning, I went to ring a brood of barn owls. This is a second brood from a pair that has already fledged a brood of four. There were five of them, with quite a size difference, this one being the largest.

young female barn owl (you can see how spotty she is), the biggest of five from a second brood.

Today was also WeBS count day. Highlights were a good count of moorhen (17) and little grebe (16). This evening there were 16 red-throated divers in the bay, many in breeding plumage still. there are still red admiral and lots of speckled wood butterflies on the wing, the latter being the commonest butterfly at Druridge which was not even noted here until 2006. Migrant hawkers and common darters were about too.

red admiral

common darter on a bramble leaf

153 spotted flycatcher
154 whinchat

PWC Score 217

Ringing, WeBS and Darters

We put some nets up on Saturday morning but ringing was very slow and by midday we hadn't reached double figures. We caught our first goldcrest of the autumn and a couple of warblers, goldfinches, a blackbird and blue tit.


There seemed to be a few birds int he bushes, but maybe it looked as though there were more than there actually was when the birds gathered on the eastern edge to make the most of the warm sunshine?

This spotted flycatcher was the star amongst the whitethroats, blackcaps, chiffchaffs and willow warblers. A great-spotted woodpeckers was heard but not seen and a pair of kestrels and a sparrowhawk were the raptor highlights.

spotted flycatcher

I had a quick look on the sea in the evening, there were lots of red-throated divers in the bay in varying plumages.

Today was WeBS count day. The Budge fields didn't take much counting, 12 teal, one mallard, two curlew and grey heron.

There was little more life on the big pool, although a great-crested grebe was nice to see - a bit of a scarcity at Druridge in recent years.

This little grebe was amusing, it seemed determined to be sat on a rock, trying three before it finally settled on one it liked.Quite odd to a little grebe perched out like this.

Second choice of rock

Maybe this one will do?


A bit more company here...

The 'Indian summer' the newspapers are heralding hadn't brought many butterflies out bu there were lots of common darters. A good chance to practice my dragonfly photography.

I wasn't down at Druridge in time to see, or take part in, the mass skinnydip, but you can read all about it here 

 148 spotted flycatcher

A Pile O' Shite

A very large pile of shite has appeared on the patch

A large pile of shite

Closer inspection revealed it not to be shite but a pile of the compost the Council produce from garden waste, still, it might bring a few birds in. The farmer used to leave piles of chicken muck lying around and it was good for all sorts of birds.

Anyhoo, there were no birds on it tonight, and not many elsewhere on the patch, the bushes were pretty quiet. I checked out the beach for snow buntings, there weren't any, but a wheatear and a rock pipit were nice finds. 

There was also this dead seal pup, not very old (less than four weeks?) It looked a little different and I was thinking it might be too early for grey seal pups, especially this far from the Farnes, unless they are pupping on Coquet Island this year. Might it be a common (harbour) seal pup? They are tricky and head shape and nostril pattern are good indicators - I didn't photograph the nostrils but the head/nose area was pretty mangled anyhoo. Maybe Steely offuv the Farnes can help?

Dead Seal Pup - common or grey?

Its heed

To be honest, when I first saw it, I thought it was a small white dog.

This spotted flycatcher was on the fence at dusk, it looked really orangey at time sin the setting sun.

Spotted Flycatcher

small flocks of birds flew in, or over, at dusk, including a small group of redpoll and some linnets.

And a nice sunset to round of the evening.

Sunset through the dunes

The wind will be coming out of the east over the weekend, SE to begin with, then swinging more northerly, with good, clear conditions on the other side. All we need is some murk and mizzle to drop birds in, but it is looking unlikely, though XCweather is predicting some mist tomorrow evening. We'll have the nets up whatever.