Dodging showers

Janet and I headed to the patch for some fresh air after work today. It was fresh n'all  - 13 degrees, it was sunny when we arrived and there were a few hovers around as we wandered up to the little hide but the sky was black all around us - rain was on the way.

An adult Water Rail was showing nicely on the muddy edge from the little hide, just too far away for photos but this Hare was in range as it scampered away. A big flock of dunlin and other waders swirled around in the distance towards the Budge screen that would need a closer look.

Brown Hare - legging it across the field

The sky darkened further as we headed back towards the road and eventually we had to make a dash for the shelter of the car as the heavens opened. From the car we could see one of the juvenile Common Cuckoos, that has been much coveted by the photographers lately, sat on the fence, before it dropped in closer onto a Ragwort plant where it gobbled up several Cinnabar moth caterpillars.

Juvenile Common Cuckoo taking Cinnabar moth caterpillars from Ragwort

The rain got heavier and the Cuckoo flew even closer to the road and our car and at one point was too close for my 400mm lens - 3.5m.

Here it is, un-cropped, on the edge of being in focus.

Cuckoo!

Once the rain eased we headed for the Budge screen to scrutinise the waders. There were five Ruff, four adult males and a juvenile bird and an amazing 45 Dunlin - all adults. One can only assume, as no juveniles are present,  that these are failed breeders heading south? There were 14 Black-tailed Godwits - at least eight of them were assignable to the icelandica race and the others were a good fit. A Little Ringed Plover and three Little Gulls were nice to see.

The Budge fields have been the best for breeding waders for as long as I can remember. Lapwing have done well, despite heavy losses to Corvids and Herons. There have been at least two successful broods of Redshank and Avocet is a new breeding species. The first brood of Avocets are nearly adult-size now and will fledge but the second brood is now only one very small chick. It looked incredibly cute tonight though, in the mud, with it's little up-turned bill. The adults seemed to be paying it little regard though - waders are crap parents.

I think a combination of a very wet winter which suppressed the marginal vegetation, followed by an incredibly dry spell (lockdown) along with the grazing by the six ponies has created the prefect sward height... maybe not for Snipe though which are pretty-much absent this spring.

Full list here

A nice selection of waders

There was nice selection of waders on the Budge Fields this evening. At this time of year I can never work out whether these birds are late migrants, failed breeders returning or non breeders just making the journey.

Wood sandpipers and green sandpipers, two of each, were the highlights and nine black-tailed godwit, 15 redshank, 7 avocet (including chicks), two dunlin and two ringed plover made up the supporting cast.

No photos of anything from tonight as it was very foggy...again.

I had a quick look offshore last night for an hour at dusk. The scoter flock on the sea had swelled to something around 700! I was working my way through them, having picked up two drake velvet scoters when I came across two smaller ducks at the edge of the flock. They were about half to two-thirds of the size of the scoters with pale underparts, they were on their sides, both having a good preen. When they finally stopped preening, I got a better look at them, but only briefly as two very loud scrambler motorbikes arrived on the beach and sped towards the tideline, flushing the entire flock. They were small-billed with pale cheek patches and darker crown. From my limited view of them I can only think that they were two non-breeding 2nd year long-tailed ducks.

If you aren't interested in hoverflies, you can stop reading this now.

Here are some hoverfly photos from Sunday as promised:

Scaeva pyrastri (male)

Eupeodes Sp.(male)

Rhingia campestris

Eupeodes Sp 

Marmalade Hover Fly - Episyrphus balteatus

Marmalade Hover Fly - Episyrphus balteatus

Platycheirus albimanus (female)

Platycheirus sp (female)

Eristalis tenax (m) - head-on. Zoom for detail!

Eristalis tenax (m)

White-rumped Sandpiper new for the patch

Well, 2017 has proved to be a great year for new birds on the patch, with three patch-ticks already this year and white-rumped sandpiper added to my patch list this evening making it four.

White-rumped sandpiper isn't new for the patch however, before my time, back in 1981 a white-rumper was found at Hauxley on 12th September which then relocated to Druridge Pool on 19th. It was only the third county record at the time. Any local birders remember this?

Today's bird was found on the Budge fields this morning by Dave Elliott seemingly who put it out on Twitter, but as he's blocked me I didn't see the tweet. It's the same bird first found at St. Mary's Island which then relocated to Cresswell Pond/beach earlier this week.

I was in my office by the time I heard about it and as no more news came out I didn't go and look for it. I was in the supermarket when I got a message from Jonathon Farooqi to say he was watching it from the Budge screen. Shopping was quickly done but I was held up by the damn self-service isle which wouldn't recognise the weight of my items, the woman who had to reset the machine was being particularly tardy which didn't help.

Shopping dumped at home, I headed for the patch and the Budge screen. It was empty, so I started scanning through the waders. It was all very frustrating with small groups of dunlin spread out, mostly hidden by the juncus. I couldn't find the bird amongst them and was getting worried, the light was awful which didn't help.

Something disturbed the waders and they all got up and resettled and I was joined by some other birders. Eventually I picked out a paler, greyer bird amongst the dunlin, it was asleep and partially obscured. I stuck with it and eventually got better views - it showed a broad off-white supercillium and the upper-parts were greyer than the juvenile dunlins it was with, but it was still head on. I was convinced I had the bird and then it wandered behind the juncus...

When the birds took flight again, we picked up a white-rump in the flock and were able to watch it back. It landed and gave us much better views, it was preening and showed the white rumped when it turned and spread it's tail. We watched it for another half hour or more in better light.

White-rumped sandpiper takes my patch list to 244.

Also on the fields tonight were 60-70 dunlin, 60+ black-tailed godwit, 2 ruff, juvenile spotted redshank and 30+ snipe.

Off work but off patch

I've been off work since 23rd for the festivities, but have hardly managed any time on the patch. A walk on the beach in a howling gale on Christmas day and a quick look through the geese yesterday. The look through the geese brought what will be my last addition to the patch list before we head off for New Year - bean goose, my first on the patch since 2010.

I've spent my free time on a project to track turnstones, we have been colour-ringing and radio-tagging them. Working on the birds meant I had no time for photos, but Dave Elliott has some good shots on his blog.

Here are some photos I managed today from the catching site.

Sanderling

Sanderlings in flight 

colour-ringed and tagged turnstone

Turnstone in flight 

Feeding waders

So, my bean goose meant I finished the year on the 174 species for the patch two ahead of any previous year. Omissions from the year list include bullfinch (again), pomarine skua, little auk, grey plover, hobby (seen for last six years) and spoonbill (seen every year bar-one since 2006). I added two new species to the patch list - broad-billed sandpiper in May and Leach's petrel in July. The patch list now stands at 240.

I've been doing the Patchwork Challenge thing again this year - a bit of harmless fun. I am doing okay but can't compete with the Spurn/Easington boys. Here is the latest report from the Coastal North . I've already signed up for the 2017 competition.

It will probably be January 7th before I am back on the patch, so I will take this opportunity to wish you a happy, healthy and bird-filled new year.

Knot a stilt

It looks as though the stilt sandpiper has relocated back to Cresswell Pond... for the time being. Here it is in all of it's glory - taken by Ian Fisher

Stilt Sandpiper (c) Ian Fisher

The Budge fields were pretty much bereft of waders tonight with the wader-highlights coming elsewhere. A common sand was in front of the Oddie hide, 13 oystercatcher flew overhead and on the shore, four knot flew south and 12 sanderling pottered about.

Passage migrants seem to be on the move, there was much willowchiff activity in the bushes and blackcaps were calling.

willow warbler

The only butterflies showing on the bunds tonight were peacock, meadow brown and a comma.

comma 

peacock

146 knot

Waders

If I was a migrant wader, I would like the look of the Budge fields at the moment, the vegetation is a bit high, but they'll do.

They were certainly popular with lapwings this morning, there was at least 300 of them. There was also about eight dunlin, one common sandpiper, two ringed plover, one little ringed plover and at least 30 snipe.

On the big pool, there were snipe, three common sandpipers and three whimbrel in front of the hide. Also on the big pool, a pair of great-crested grebes have set up nest, it seems very late, maybe they have failed elsewhere. There were also four pochard, my first of the year.

whimbrel

common sandpipers

snipe

 I caught up with Paul Stewart on the big dune, we saw three little egrets on the Budge fields and very little offshore, an Arctic skua being all of note. Whilst we were chatting, I got a call to say that Bob Dack was watching a curlew sandpiper from the Budge screen. We headed down there and were soon watching a spanking curlew sandpiper, moulting out of summer plumage, still showing plenty of red on the underside.

weird fog this weekend at Druridge

I had a quick look offshore this evening but the light wasn't good as a light fog came and went. The sunset was nice though.

nice sunset over the Cheviot Hills

140 pochard

141 curlew sandpiper

PWC score 185

Waders

Autumn is here, at least in the ornithological calender, as return wader passage has begun. The mud on the Budge fields is looking really good, although frustratingly obscured by tall vegetation,  it is attracting birds.

Over the least three days there has been up to three wood sandpipers, three little ringed  plovers, 35 black-tailed godwits, 33 snipe, three ringed plovers, 15 dunlin, eight redshank and two common sandpipers. It will certainly be worth checking over the next few weeks.

Two spoonbills and a little egret continue to hang around on the Budge fields.

Hare on the Budge fields

Elsewhere on the patch, swallows are fledging from the hides and concrete blockhouses and second brood are underway. Stonechats have fledged second broods of young, they will probably triple-brood this year if the weather holds.

Stonechats - having a good year!

Heavy rain for much of last night and this morning must have kept one of the local barn owls indoors overnight, so it was making up for lost time, hunting the dunes at lunchtime today.

Barn owl hunting at 1.30pm

Offshore, the scoter flock remains at about 700. A pair of velvet scoter was with them on Thursday, but they are frustratingly far-out at the moment to pick anything else out.

Lots of butterflies are on the wing now including small skipper, ringlet, dark green fritillary, meadow browns and small tortoiseshells.

Tatty ringlet

Dark green fritillary

small tortoiseshell

Burnet moths are also abundant in the dunes with about five to each thistle head.

narrow-bordered five-spot burnet moths

138 little ringed plover
139 common sandpiper

PWC score 182

A trio of waders

A brief visited to the patch tonight after work netted me a trio of waders. A tip-off about two little stints from Scotland Gate's second best wildlife tour leader* had me heading for the Oddie hide. Straight from work in shirt and smart(ish) strides and only carrying my bins was not the best approach, especially as martin was leaving, with his scoped I hoped to borrow, as I walked towards the hide.

I soon picked up four waders on the far bank, two were dunlins, two were smaller, presumably the little stints. I couldn't year-tick them on these views, they could have been anything... Luckily they were spooked and one of them, along with the two dunlins landed on the shore in front of the hide, but not for long, before they all flew back tot he far side. As I was closing the shutters to leave, I spied a wader still on the shore, something new though, a juv curlew sandpiper, which must've just pitched in. It was 2009 the last time I saw either of these species on the patch, 2009 was a golden year for waders at Druridge as the Budge fields had been well grazed and there was mud for much of the year.

The third wader species was added to the year list I walked through the weedy dunes at the north end looking for ground dwelling species. I saw three waders fly onto the fields where the flash pond used to be, further inspection showed them to be grey plovers. They didn't hang around though, flying off north towards East Chev. Not an annual species at Druridge so another nice addition to the year list.

There were no passerines of note tonight, despite me giving the weedy dunes a good thrashing.

155 little stint
156 curlew sandpiper
157 grey plover

157 is the average year-list total for Druridge so, October going to plan, this could be a record-breaking year (that's jinxed it).

* Scotland Gate's best wildlife tour leader is of course Martin's wife, Sarah!

Not quite a silent spring

Not a quite a silent spring, but it has been a bloody quiet one! Typical of the last few years, there has been no falls of spring migrants and very little to get excited about it, and it's nearly getting too late for anything now.

I hoped for a finale, a nice rarity to end the spring when I set out at 5.30 this morning to do another territory mapping visit before work......

It has certainly quietened down a lot, most of the birds are getting on with the business of bringing up young. This male reed bunting was one exception!

singing male reed bunting

I did get a year tick this morning, a grasshopper warbler reeled briefly near the Budge screen....and then promptly shut up!

My lumix camera decided to play up this morning, it decided to move between settings on it's own, like it moved from auto to review and then the auto-focus wouldn't work and the shutter button wouldn't press - off course, all this happened whilst a female marsh harrier was hunting in front of me over the Budge fields.

I am fated with camera's, as soon as I get mine ready for action, whatever I want to photograph disappears. The camera seemed OK later, I managed to get a photo of this lapwing outside the Oddie hide.

lapwing

A new species for the 'Douglas Island' list - mute swan

mute swans on Douglas Island

Walking back through the dunes, they were quiet too, but this fine display of cowslips made up for the lack of birds....nearly

cowslips

stubble field

The farmers at High Chibburn Farm have left this stubble field over winter and haven't cultivated it yet, amazingly it has more lapwing pairs than the reserve designed for breeding lowland waders! It just goes to show, all you need is a bit of uncultivated land, free from deep vegetation and within a short distance of water and bingo! Breeding waders. I hear that the Druridge Bay Partnership (aka NWT) have managed to get stage 1 funding for an HLF project that could bring upwards of a million pounds to manage the Bay. Hopefully some of it can go to leaving some stubble fields with marshy corners!

121 grasshopper warbler