Swift!

The first swift of the year is a notable date in any patch-workers notebook, as the last of the migrant breeders to arrive it marks a bit of a milestone in the ornitholigcal year. I saw my first swift of the year today and it was at Druridge.

It's arrival was overshadowed by another migrant this morning, a much scarcer spring bird on the coast - whinchat.

whinchat - record shot

Whinchats are hard to come by in the spring on the coast, much more obvious in the autumn, so this one was nice to see. In 2009, I failed to see whinchat at all at Druridge. A single white wag was the other notable passage visitor.

Two male blackcaps were vying for territory by the Budge screen and whitethroats were still singing strongly. I recorded 48 species at Druridge in three hours this morning, without a seawatch. I reckon with a seawatch I could have easily seen 55 species, over a third of the average yearly total!

The warmer conditions this morning may have been responsible for a hatch of cinnabar moths - they were everywhere!

Cinnabar moths - at it!

On the big pool, these two were making a racket.

little grebe

redshank in summer plumage

117 whinchat
118 swift

Fret

I love living on the Northumberland Coast.....most of the time.

The only problem is, sea frets! All it takes is one or two sunny days and a light easterly and we get banks of fog rolling in of the North Sea. Five miles inland it can be a beautiful sunny day, I get home or down to Druridge and it is a proper pea-souper and a temperature difference of ten degrees C!

We've had sea frets (or the Ha') since Wednesday evening now, yesterday and today in hardly budged at all from the coast.

So, this morning I set out to do my territory mapping visit in less than ideal conditions, relying on my ears rather than my eyes more than usual. Two of the more recently arrived breeding species were giving it some! Grasshopper warbler (at least eight reeling birds on the patch) and willow warblers. The residents breeders like reed bunting, chaffinch and dunnock have gone a lot quieter and the poor wrens haven't even started.

Two new arrivals today, single sedge warbler and whitethroat singing. On the passage front, any hirrundine movement was obscured by the fret, wheatears were numerous with at least 15 counted along with five white wagtails.

Tomorrow we are doing a ringing demo at Ellington Pond, so if you're in the vicinity call in, we'll be there from 10am until 2pm.

103 sedge warbler
104 whitethroat