I had a well-deserved day off work today. Rather than the just thrash the patch again I decided to walk the full length of Druridge Bay to see how many species I could log.
My plan was to catch the bus to Amble and walk home, calling at all of the reserves on the way. So at 8.45 this morning I jumped off the bus at Fourways and headed south, well north-east at first, to visit Amble Harbour where there were good numbers of eiders but no white-winged gulls. I left Amble with 20 species on the list, not a bad start.
A few more species were added along Amble links including my first pair of stonechats of the day. I arrived at Hauxley NR with 39 species on the list, increasing to 58 when I left. At Hauxley I saw my only grey plover, bar-tailed godwit and white-fronted geese of the day.
At Druridge Bay Country Park, there is a new feeding station which has attracted a good range of species including an unexpected male brambling. A kestrel at DBCP was the first raptor of the day.
By the time I reached East Chevington, the wind had strengthened and so had my list - to 63 species. The wind was making birding tricky. There were 21 whooper swans at Chev but not much else. Onwards to to my patch.
Lunch was taken in the salubrious surroundings of the Oddie hide. The highlight of lunch was watching three little grebes - two of them were males, trilling like mad! On the Budge fields shoveler and pintail were added to the list and a male goldcrest (with a ring on its leg) was a welcome addition.
I bumped into Tom Cadwallender at Cresswell Pond, we picked up a peregrine in pursuit of unidentified waders. My second and last raptor of the day.
A pair of stonechats were nest building nearby. I am always interested in the stonechat population on the bay, today there were a pair at Amble Links, Druridge Links, 2 males at Cresswell Pond and this pair.
I continued beyond Cresswell Village and Snab Point adding nothing. I returned home by Cresswell Home Farm and Chugdon Woods, great-spotted woodpecker, treecreeper, yellowhammer and finally long-tailed tit were added to the list. A total of 11 miles and 78 species!
Given that there were no spring migrants yet, I think that is a respectable total. Nothing scarce or even unusual was noted but it was just nice to be out for a long walk along the bay!
Friday, 16 March 2012
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Patch tick conundrum
I saw a Ross's Goose on the patch today. Can I add it to my Druridge patch list?
The goose in question was first picked up lifting off from near East Chevington by Alan Gilbertson and myself as a white goose amongst about 1000 pinkfeets. From a long-way off, it looked like quite big and we guessed it was a snow goose. A better view was required, the geese had landed one field north of the patch boundary, how frustrating.
Alan left and Janet arrived, we went for a better look. Closer inspection proved it to be an adult Ross's goose, but it was still outside the patch.
We spent the rest of the afternoon chainsawing, reducing the height of some alders and ash trees around our net-rides and doing some much-needed coppicing. As we worked, the geese flock got up a again and circled over the northern edge of the patch. The 'white one' was easily picked out.
Now the conundrum. Ross's goose still isn't on the official British list, residing in category D. Identification isn't in question, it's the origin of these birds that hasn't been confirmed. There have been a few Ross's in the UK over the past decade that look for genuine vagrants (timing and arrival with possible carrier species). Alongside this, the world population of Ross's has massively increased from an estimated 3000 individuals in the 1930's to 188,000 in the 1980's making genuine vagrancy more likely.
So what do I do?
Add Ross's Goose to the Druridge List? (I see from BUBO Listing that some Northumbrian birders have added the 2004 Hauxley Ross's goose to their county lists)
Create a 'pending' category and add it as an 'armchair' tick when the BOURC add it to the British list?
or
Forget all about it
Time to ponder. Despite spending the whole afternoon chainsawing, as well as Ross's Geese I managed to add oystercatcher and whooper swan to the year-list and watch two fantastic short-eared owls in the dunes.
79 oystercatcher
80 whooper swan
81 Ross's goose??? (Pending)
The goose in question was first picked up lifting off from near East Chevington by Alan Gilbertson and myself as a white goose amongst about 1000 pinkfeets. From a long-way off, it looked like quite big and we guessed it was a snow goose. A better view was required, the geese had landed one field north of the patch boundary, how frustrating.
Alan left and Janet arrived, we went for a better look. Closer inspection proved it to be an adult Ross's goose, but it was still outside the patch.
We spent the rest of the afternoon chainsawing, reducing the height of some alders and ash trees around our net-rides and doing some much-needed coppicing. As we worked, the geese flock got up a again and circled over the northern edge of the patch. The 'white one' was easily picked out.
Now the conundrum. Ross's goose still isn't on the official British list, residing in category D. Identification isn't in question, it's the origin of these birds that hasn't been confirmed. There have been a few Ross's in the UK over the past decade that look for genuine vagrants (timing and arrival with possible carrier species). Alongside this, the world population of Ross's has massively increased from an estimated 3000 individuals in the 1930's to 188,000 in the 1980's making genuine vagrancy more likely.
So what do I do?
Add Ross's Goose to the Druridge List? (I see from BUBO Listing that some Northumbrian birders have added the 2004 Hauxley Ross's goose to their county lists)
Create a 'pending' category and add it as an 'armchair' tick when the BOURC add it to the British list?
or
Forget all about it
Time to ponder. Despite spending the whole afternoon chainsawing, as well as Ross's Geese I managed to add oystercatcher and whooper swan to the year-list and watch two fantastic short-eared owls in the dunes.
79 oystercatcher
80 whooper swan
81 Ross's goose??? (Pending)
Sunday, 19 February 2012
Owls and Raptors
An abandoned point-to-point meeting at Alnwick meant that I got to spend the afternoon at Druridge rather than spending my money with the bookies!
I was treated to a fantastic short-eared owl display. At least three SEO's were in the vicinity of Druridge this afternoon. It was great to watch, especially when two of them came across one another...they would have a bit of a set-to before heading off to hunt. This happened a few times over the Budge fields.There seems to be a lot of SEO's wintering in Northumberland this year, I hope a few stay to breed. It must be ten years since I saw them in the Cheviots.
Whilst I was watching owl-fest, I also saw a merlin flying over the big pool and Budge Fields and later, a peregrine, which was high at first, over the farm. It then headed north towards Hemscotthill scattering various flocks of waders, corvids and starlings as it went.
Offshore, I saw my first gannets of the year, four of them on the horizon, flying north. There was also a harbour porpoise in the Bay among the red-throated divers, mergansers and shags.There was also a red-breasted merganser on the Budge fields briefly.
I walked through the dunes for a while. I came across at least six 'thrushes anvils' - this was the most impressive.
On Friday night, I drove home via the patch and scored a barn owl at High Chibburn Farm.
74 barn owl
76 merlin
77 gannet
78 peregrine
I was treated to a fantastic short-eared owl display. At least three SEO's were in the vicinity of Druridge this afternoon. It was great to watch, especially when two of them came across one another...they would have a bit of a set-to before heading off to hunt. This happened a few times over the Budge fields.There seems to be a lot of SEO's wintering in Northumberland this year, I hope a few stay to breed. It must be ten years since I saw them in the Cheviots.
 |
| various short-eared owl views |
Whilst I was watching owl-fest, I also saw a merlin flying over the big pool and Budge Fields and later, a peregrine, which was high at first, over the farm. It then headed north towards Hemscotthill scattering various flocks of waders, corvids and starlings as it went.
Offshore, I saw my first gannets of the year, four of them on the horizon, flying north. There was also a harbour porpoise in the Bay among the red-throated divers, mergansers and shags.There was also a red-breasted merganser on the Budge fields briefly.
 |
| red-breasted merganser on the Budge field pools |
 |
| and it was gone..... |
I walked through the dunes for a while. I came across at least six 'thrushes anvils' - this was the most impressive.
 |
| 'thrushes anvil' in the dunes at Druridge |
74 barn owl
76 merlin
77 gannet
78 peregrine
Sunday, 12 February 2012
No Pecker
Well, since hearing about the Druridge green woodpecker ( a patch mega) from Dave Elliott, I have put in about 7 hours in search of the illusive creature to no avail. I've tried staking out the feeders at the cottages and the Budge Screen where Dave heard it calling and saw it flying south with no success.
I wonder if it's moved on?
I have managed a few year-ticks in my woodpecker search though. A male bullfinch at the feeders was nice and a flock of siskin moving through the alders was new for the year. A male goldcrest, sporting a metal ring (one of ours?) was interesting. I don't normally see winter/spring goldcrests at Druridge, they normally get added to the year-list in the autumn.
On Friday, the national influx of woodcock was mirrored at Druridge with five lifting out of the bushes as I walked through. I wonder what they would've thought today when we started the chainsaw to do some net-ride maintenance and coppicing?
Today was also WeBS day. I did my count before we started the chainsaw work for obvious reasons. duck numbers weren't high with only 133 teal and 75 wigeon. three drake pintail on the Budge fields were the highlight. 53 curlew on the field next to the big pool was a good count for that species.
Whilst we were working on the rides, a short-eared owl was quartering the Budge fields, it, or another, had moved on to the dunes by the time we were packing up. I headed up there for a better view and was very impressed by the way the sun made the sea silvery, turning pinker as it set.
I've a busy week ahead so little chance of getting down to the patch before Sunday.....bring on March for some after work birding!
71 bullfinch
72 goldcrest
73 siskin
74 woodcock
I wonder if it's moved on?
I have managed a few year-ticks in my woodpecker search though. A male bullfinch at the feeders was nice and a flock of siskin moving through the alders was new for the year. A male goldcrest, sporting a metal ring (one of ours?) was interesting. I don't normally see winter/spring goldcrests at Druridge, they normally get added to the year-list in the autumn.
On Friday, the national influx of woodcock was mirrored at Druridge with five lifting out of the bushes as I walked through. I wonder what they would've thought today when we started the chainsaw to do some net-ride maintenance and coppicing?
Today was also WeBS day. I did my count before we started the chainsaw work for obvious reasons. duck numbers weren't high with only 133 teal and 75 wigeon. three drake pintail on the Budge fields were the highlight. 53 curlew on the field next to the big pool was a good count for that species.
 |
| drake goldeneye, one of two on the WeBS count |
 |
| Pink, silvery sea at Druridge tonight |
I've a busy week ahead so little chance of getting down to the patch before Sunday.....bring on March for some after work birding!
71 bullfinch
72 goldcrest
73 siskin
74 woodcock
Monday, 30 January 2012
Potential patch tick requires stakeout
Football and rain have prevented visits to the patch lately. Working 10 hours a day doesn't help matters.
I'm going to have to put some effort in though, on a stakeout for a patch tick....
So what's the species?
Dave Elliott texted me today, his friend who lives in the cottages, with a huge array of feeders in his garden has had a GREEN WOODPECKER coming to his feeders!!
Guess were I'm going to before work tomorrow...
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Caad but sunny for the WeBS count
A cold and frosty morning at Druridge, it was bright and sunny though. I quite like cold and sunny winter days.
As I predicted, when chatting to Dave Elliott counting twite near Hemscotthill Hill, the Budge fields were completely frozen, this didn't stop 41 curlew looking for tasty pickings ans as a result, the wildfowl were all on the big poool.
Wigeon were the most numerous (204) folowed predictably by teal (106). A smattering of tufted duck, mallard, goldeneye, coot and moorhen rounded things off for the WeBS count.
The, now regular, over-wintering chiffchaff is still hanging about. Today it was near the road by the path to the hides, seemingly, despite my tip-off, it wasn't seen by any of last weeekends bird-race teams!
Interestingly, there were a few song thrush in the dunes. I counted at least six....recent arrivals? Offshore, a great-northern diver was the highlight of the day. It wasn only about a third of the way out so worth having a look for if you're passing. Also offshore was my first shags of the year (fnarr fnarr), a handful of red-throated divers and common scoters.
No photo's again I'm afraid
63 robin
64 shag
65 great-northern diver
As I predicted, when chatting to Dave Elliott counting twite near Hemscotthill Hill, the Budge fields were completely frozen, this didn't stop 41 curlew looking for tasty pickings ans as a result, the wildfowl were all on the big poool.
Wigeon were the most numerous (204) folowed predictably by teal (106). A smattering of tufted duck, mallard, goldeneye, coot and moorhen rounded things off for the WeBS count.
The, now regular, over-wintering chiffchaff is still hanging about. Today it was near the road by the path to the hides, seemingly, despite my tip-off, it wasn't seen by any of last weeekends bird-race teams!
Interestingly, there were a few song thrush in the dunes. I counted at least six....recent arrivals? Offshore, a great-northern diver was the highlight of the day. It wasn only about a third of the way out so worth having a look for if you're passing. Also offshore was my first shags of the year (fnarr fnarr), a handful of red-throated divers and common scoters.
No photo's again I'm afraid
63 robin
64 shag
65 great-northern diver
Sunday, 8 January 2012
Mammals year-list under way
No photo's today, I forgot to take my camera with me. I was a bit out-of-sorts this morning, I'm blaming the Abbot Ale!
So an afternoon visit to Druridge was all I could muster. All very quiet indeed bird-wise, a few common species added to the year-list, otherwise quite dull. The highlights were a huge skein of pink-footed geese lifting off the fields by Hemscothill and flying north over the patch, there was maybe 1500-1800 of them, quite an impressive sight. A count of 38 sanderling was good, considering the number of dog walkers there were.
My mammal year-list finally got under-way and is now already up to three species, harbour porpoise, grey seal and rabbit.
59 dunnock
60 canada goose
61 long-tailed tit
62blackbird
So an afternoon visit to Druridge was all I could muster. All very quiet indeed bird-wise, a few common species added to the year-list, otherwise quite dull. The highlights were a huge skein of pink-footed geese lifting off the fields by Hemscothill and flying north over the patch, there was maybe 1500-1800 of them, quite an impressive sight. A count of 38 sanderling was good, considering the number of dog walkers there were.
My mammal year-list finally got under-way and is now already up to three species, harbour porpoise, grey seal and rabbit.
59 dunnock
60 canada goose
61 long-tailed tit
62blackbird
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