A GREAT morning on the patch

Working at home is the 'new normal' for me.

I was doing just that when I got a call from Alan Priest to say that Dave Elliott had found a Great Reed Warbler on my patch and had been trying to get hold of me. The benefits of flexible and home working and a clear diary meant that I could just go - and I did.

The bird was at he western end of the big pool. As I walked beyond the two hides towards the stile, I could hear the great reed singing and I was 130m or more from where it was. I got to the area and Dave was still there and great reed was still singing, drowning out the Eurasian reed warblers.

After a quick chat Dave left, shortly after the bird did exactly what Dave had already seen it do, it came down into the close-by willows, pursued by reed warblers, stopped a while and then off back into the reeds wit the reed warbler in pursuit - they didn't appreciate it's company. And then it all went quiet - both the great reed and Eurasian reeds went silent. Birders started to arrive and I told them about it's behaviour before heading off myself to leave some room and to go back to work.

It was great that everyone I saw was sensible, nobody went where they shouldn't and everyone socially distanced.

I didn't get any photos as it was chucking it down when I left but Dave Elliot has a great shot on his blog. Well done to Dave for finding it  - he has a great track record with this species

A GREAT new bird for the patch taking my list to 251 (if the Baikal teal gets accepted).

Un-bee-lievable!

I thought about calling in to the patch this morning on my way to work, but I decided against it and went straight to the office. I'm at my desk and check my phone to find a message 'Bee-eater, Druridge Pools, 0820-0920 per RBA'

Bugger, I thought, if only I'd gone...

Then another message 'Bee-eater still at Druridge'

Bugger it! I've got plenty of flexi-time in the bank and I've got evening meetings until 8.30pm, my seat was still spinning as I headed down the stairs. Despite being held up by old duffers doing 30mph I got to Druridge in good time, but had just missed a fly-by by a few minutes...Would that be it?

A good crowd was gathered on the path to the hides where the bird was last seen - the tension was unbelievable! Then ADMc appeared with news that the bird was heading our way. Peering over the top of the bund, distant views were had of a bee-eater hawking over the fields beyond the big pool, until it disappeared towards the bushes by the turning circle. 

Alan Jack and I decided to head that way and this is what greeted us in the single ash tree by the turning circle...

a bloody bee-eater

It was like being back in Spain! 

A good crowd had gathered to watch it, it sat for ages in the top of the ash tree before flying off and hawking for insects over the dunes, picking prey off the tops of bushes before landing out of site and I had to reluctantly leave it and head back to work.  It is a juvenile, told from the pale colour of the mantle and the amount of chestnut brown in the wing being limited.Surely this is one of the 'Chevington two' from the weekend?

heavily cropped shot

 What an amazing bird, a first for the patch and a first for me in Northumberland. I've seen the breeding birds in the UK and thousands in Europe, I've even ringed them in Malta, but this is still probably the best bird I've seen on the patch.

And what an amazing year I'm having on the patch. With no more effort than usual, I've seen eight new species this year already - it is tricky to see two or three new species a year usually.

European Bee-eater takes my patch list to 248 species.

Twitching and patch oddities.

The undoubted ornithological highlight this week, possibly the year, was off-patch. A black-winged pratincole was found yesterday afternoon by Dave and Bob Dack at Bothal Pond.

black-winged pratincole at Bothal Pond

A new bird for me, anywhere in the world, it showed terrifically well, flying regularly back and forth over the pond. It didn't come too close to the southern shore so this is the best photo I managed. A cracking bird though, so cracking I spent over two hours watching it.

Back on the patch, on Wednesday morning two mandarin ducks and a barnacle goose were reported on the Budge fields. I had to drive past Druridge, so took my lunch-break on the patch, catching up with both species. Since my first patch mandarin in June 2012, I've recorded the species in three out four years. Odd timing for a barnacle goose, maybe it had decided not to make the trip back north?

There was also two garganey and a little ringed plover of note.

On Thursday a male ruff was present and it was joined by a second today along with a black-tailed godwit and the two drake mandarins.

mandarin

mandarins

Woodchat believe it - A Patch Tick!

I was woken from an afternoon snooze by Tom Cadwallender on the phone, telling me there was a woodchat shrike at Druridge, before I could wipe the drool from my cheek I was in the car and on my way.

Directions from Birdguides were vague and I was frantic. '400m in front of farm buildings', I checked all of the farm buildings, nobody about. As I drove into the pools to meet Janet, a chap comes up to me with a with a Yorkshire accent and says "are you looking for't shrike?"...."yes"...." I found it, I'll show you, follow me". We drove down towards Hemscotthill Farm and there it was, perched on the fence, the fence which forms the patch boundary.

Poor iPhone-scoped record shot

Patch tick - in the bag. This takes the patch list to 233. I don't think it is a patch bird though, according to old reports there was a woodchat at 'Druridge' on 31st August 1966.

The chap was called Nigel Jones, from Leeds. Seemingly his local bird club booted him out, accusing of him of being a stringer (so he told me), he certainly hadn't strung this one!

It looked like a female bird (having ringed a few in Malta last week) and was of the nominate race. Seemingly Woodchat was a blocker for some of the County 'big listers' so there was soon a sizable twitch (by Northumberland standards). I saw the last one in the County, in 1997 at Hadston Scars Boat Club, I was working at the Country Park at the time and didn't even need to leave the park van.

Decent twitch for a good county bird

One elderly birder was having trouble with is 'new-fangled' iPhone adaptor thingy, Alan Tillmouth had to turn away, laughing, "I can't believe he fell for it"

I was ringing this morning at Druridge (hence the afternoon snooze). It was quite slow-going, I only managed to ring six new birds with only four nets up. Highlight of the session was this long-eared owl though, an adult female. This is the second long-eared owl we have caught at Druridge. I also caught four whitethroats, so it seems that last years big increase in breeding pairs wasn't a one-off. lets hope so.

long-eared owl

Also of note, the great white egret is still present and there were at least 25 whimbrel on the fields. Five dunlin dropped into the Budge fields, a greenshank flew over calling, common tern and house martin were both seen and the first lapwing chicks are out and about.

Yesterday, I added grasshopper warbler to my year-list with two reeling males and had a very impressive count of 49 whimbrel on the Budge fields.

119 grasshopper warbler
120 common tern
121 long-eared owl
122 greenshank
123 house martin
124 woodchat shrike

PWC Score = 159

Turned out all white

At lunchtime today , I was sat in the Oddie hide with Graeme Bowman and Les Robson contemplating heading home to watch the Newcastle match and eat last nights cold pizza when Graeme got a muffled call about an ivory gull at Seahouses.

We were soon on our way and this is what greeted us when we arrived at the golf course.

A stunning juvenile ivory gull, which showed incredibly well, thankfully the course was too flooded for it to be bothered by golfers.

The assembled crowd watched as it took off and headed south and almost in unison shouted 'there's two of them' with various expletives rightly added. They called to each other and continued south together. Amazing. Congratulations to Gary Woodburn on another great find.

As regular readers of this tosh will know, I rarely twitch, because when I do I don't see the bird, so it nice to twitch a bird and see two!

The 'Seahouses-two' were relocated on the beach at Annstead and everyone enjoyed further views of them on the rocks before the tide pushed them off and they flew off north.

A new bird for me and a lot of the Northumbrian birders there, the last being in Seahouses in 1979. This takes my county list to 311.

There was little doing at Druridge before I left. There wasn't a bird on the sea, all the divers from last week have gone (tell a lie, there was a single shag). On the big pool there were two long-tailed ducks.

Outside of the patch at Hemscotthill links the finch flock had about 40 twite among it. I scanned them for colour-rings without success. There were tree sparrows, reed buntings and strangely a rock pipit amongst the linnets, goldfinches, chaffinches and twite.

I would love get access to the Hemscothill Links to woosh that finch flock.

Weekend round-up

I should have spent this weekend at a wedding do in London, so all three visits to the patch and a 'County-tick' at Alnmouth were all a bonus.

Saturday started with a ringing session at Druridge. With only half of the usual nets up, we didn't catch many birds. Warblers dominated the catch again with whitethroat, reed warbler, sedge warbler, chiffchaff and a family party of blackcaps, the amount of whitethroats we've caught this year is unprecedented and we are doing well for reed warblers to.

juvenile reed warbler

The female mandarin duck is still on the big pools and two drake pochard were unusual.

During the ringing session, news broke of a spotted sandpiper at Foxton. So as soon as we packed the nets away we headed up there for a look. A fine 'spotted' adult gave the assembled twitch good views as it pottered about on the banks of the River Aln. A 'county-tick' for, taking my county (low) list to 309.

An brief evening visit to Druridge didn't produce much, the highlight was a dark-phase arctic skua pursuing a common tern well inland over the big pool.

Sunday was a day of two-halves. The day began with strong winds and heavy rain, by tea-time it was warm and sunny but a bit breezy. So an afternoon visit to the patch. At long-last, I found a common sandpiper on the edge of the big pool a very belated year-tick. There were still two little gulls on the big pool and a family of yellow wagtails were in front of the hide.

two little gulls

For scale - little gull and black-headed gull

juvenile black-headed gull passes in front of the hide

common tern on their favourite spot

yellow wagtail

I'm struggling for waders this year. What mud there is at Druridge has either vegetated over or is hidden behind massive clumps of rush. I am relying on the regular passage of marsh harriers to flush something up.

I think a lot of the warblers are second-brooding at the moment, hence our low ringing catch and general lack of activity. These sedge warblers are certainly feeding a second brood.

Sedge warbler feeding young

same bird

137 knot

138 common sandpiper

I can't keep up.

I am struggling to keep up with blog posts at the moment and with a knackered lens I've got no nice photos to put on the blog either (I might go and photograph butterflies, bugs and beasties this weekend)

Yesterday was spent mostly on Inner Farne. At 6.30 am I was enjoying fantastic views of Bridled Tern at 6.30pm I wasn't, I was back on Inner Farne, soaked through and miserable, not seeing the tern.

Don't ask why.

It was much warmer at Druridge this evening, but dull by comparison on the bird front. I ringed a brood of swallows and then had a look on the sea. A few Manx shearwaters flew north  - 25 in 1 hour - and an arctic skua was my first of the year.

'Over the road' Two marsh harriers were passing through.

DIY and gardening have taken a bit of  a priority this week, hence the lack of birding and blog activity. Hopefully will be ringing this weekend so things should improve on both counts.

130 Arctic skua

Twitch before patch

A twitch took priority over my patch this morning, as I headed north, with what seemed like most of the other birders in the County to Holy Island, to see Northumberland's second ever (and first twitchable) cattle egret.

The bird had roosted in the garden of the bungalow on the Crooked Lonnen overnight and was still in the garden, barely visible, when we arrived. It vacated the garden and flew around for a while, before landing in the adjacent field giving the assembled twitchers good views.

Sizeable twitch (Tom Cadwallenders luminous green hat could be spotted from the mainland!)

As regular readers of the blog will know, I am a reluctant twitcher and rarely travel beyond the County line and I have to admit today's experience isn't high on my list of memorable birding experiences. It was good to catch up with a few folk I've not seen for a while. The addition of cattle egret took my Northumberland list to 306, it was also a British tick for me, but I haven't a clue what that list stands at.

After a quick brew and bacon buttie at home, I was down on the patch. First job was my overdue WeBS count, which took a while as there was lot of birds on the Budge fields, not helped by them being flight for some reason.

Teal numbered 139, wigeon 127, shoveler 9, greylag 112, dunlin 22 and gadwall 10. On the big pool, the long-tailed duck reported yesterday was still present - a good patch bird indeed! This is my first patch 'oldsquaw' since 2007.

Oldsquaw - drake long tailed duck on the big pool

It may be because I have been in Thailand for three weeks, but the strong SW wind made it freezing cold, I retreated to the shelter of the dunes for a quick look at the sea. There wasn't much on it, one red-throated diver and some gulls, I picked up a great northern diver flying north, close in, and a flock of about 60 curlew with a single bar-tailed godwit amongst them.

So today's efforts saw my patch list reach 48 species (52 points in the patch competition). This could well be my last visit of January unless I can sneak in a quick dawn-raid before work.

24 teal
25 coot
26 gadwall
27 wigeon
28 shoveler
29 mallard
30 greylag goose
31 canada goose
32 stock dove
33 dunlin
34 redshank
35 pheasant
36 goldeneye
37 long-tailed duck
38 tufted duck
39 sanderling
40 red-throated diver
41 great-northern diver
42 herring gull
43 great black-backed gull
44 bar-tailed godwit
45 redwing
46 chaffinch
47 house sparrow
48 collared dove