Heading for a record year?

 I could be heading for a record year on the patch...

Despite missing much of the spring due to COVID-19 restrictions  - effectively two months, I'm on track to break my year-list record total (birds) for the patch. Today's Greenfinches (an annual but increasingly scarce species) took my year-list to 170,  four behind my all-time best set in 2016 and matched in 2017. 

I put this down to home-working. Since mid-summer I've been on the patch virtually every morning before work, something I wouldn't have been able to do if I had to go into the office every day. This has meant I've picked up a lot of the passage birds only seen on vizmig - Crossbill, Grey Wagtail, Tree Pipit, Lapland Bunting and drift migrants like Spotted and Pied Flycatchers, Redstart and Treecreeper. It's also been a great year for seawatching.

With a fair-wind and a bit of luck I'm on target to at least match my best tally. I've got next week off work so should be able to spend more time on the patch and there are a few 'probables' to get - Yellowhammer, Little Auk, Fieldfare, Black-throated Diver, Merlin and Spotted Redshank as well as the chance of a scarcity or two. You know what they say...

Time in the field = birds.

A short walk this morning. The first quiet morning since the weekend, despite overnight rain. Three Chiffchaffs, four Blackcap, three Goldcrest and the highlight - three Greenfinches. 11 Skylark and five Redwing were notable overhead.

Blackcap

different Blackcap

Greenfinch

Woodpigeon gulping down Elderberries - leave some for the Barred Warbler please!

Morning walks

I've been trying to get out for a walk on the patch every morning before work and mostly succeeding. The problem is that dawn is getting visibly later each day. The sun wasn't even up over the sea when I went through Cresswell just after seven this morning. It's just a matter of a couple of weeks when I have re-configure my home-working routine and swap morning walks for lunchtime walks. 

I'm not looking forward to that...

So I'll make the most of it while I can. I've been out every morning this week,  I don't get far at this time of year - a walk is stretching it to be fair. 

Today I started at the plantation and got as far as the Budge screen - all of 400m. Three Chiffchaffs were in the bushes by the entrance and I counted eleven in total - one appeared to come in-off the dunes. Had there been an arrival? 

Freshly arrived? A Chiffchaff

What I am finding odd is the number of Willow Warblers being reported elsewhere along the coast, sometimes as many as Chiffs and even more in a couple of cases. Am I missing something? All of my phyloscs this morning were Chiffchaffs that I could see.. (apart from the Yellow-browed Warbler). Okay there is some variation in them but they were Chiffchaffs.

A Chiffchaff (not a Willow Warbler)

Another Chiffchaff

Swallows are still going south - I counted nine this morning and three House Martins. viz-mig also included 11 Skylark south and a few finches and Meadow Pipits etc. Three Redwing and six Blackcaps made the most of the berry-crop.

Pink-footed Geese are almost constant, this morning c750 went south in several skeins.

Pink-footed Geese - almost constant overhead this morning

Yesterday I walked north and had a single Yellow-browed Warbler along the bushes. The finch flock in the dunes has grown to above 200 in number, probably nearer 250. I would guess 60-65% Linnet, 30% Goldfinch with a few Lesser Redpoll and hangers-on like Reed Buntings, Chiffchaffs, Tits etc.

On Monday Janet and I did a similar walk to my route this morning - here are some comparisons:

Chiffchaff - Today 11, Monday 2

Goldcrest  - Today 6,   Monday - 45

Robin -  Today 4, Monday - 17

Blackcap -  Today 6, Monday - 4

It looks like heavy rain overnight with a frontal system crossing the north sea, it's out of the west but might drop something in?

As promised, here are some gulls from Sunday evening:

Second-winter Herring Gull

Smart first-winter Herring Gull

Probably 1W Great-black-backed Gull - with a darker, deeper bill

Another 1W Herring Gull

Second-winter Common Gull

Adult or 3rd Winter Common Gull

Top Banana

Today had promise.

A northerly moving into the east yesterday evening with heavy rain overnight and it's October - Janet and I were on the patch for first light. We thought about ringing but decided just to go birding instead. 

We started at the entrance to the reserves with the idea of doing the plantation and working our way north from there. Before we even got to the plantation, we checked the small clump of bushes by the entrance - the Elderberry is always good for a Sylvia warbler.

The sun hadn't hit the bushes when I got onto a non-descript warbler, moving low through the base of the bushes. A phylosc was soon ruled out and we stated to eliminate other species on the limited views we had and decided it was an un-streaked acro - but which one? The bird hopped up onto a branch in the first rays of sunshine and I fired off a couple of shots. One of the photos showed the bird with head and tailed held high and I remembered Punkbirders description of Blyth's Reed Warblers having this 'Banana shape'. 

First views just as the sun hit the bushes (ISO 3200!) - Classic Blyth’s Reed posture. You could stick a Fyfe’s sticker on it and sell it for 39p.

We working on the other features when ADMc and Ashington Gary turned up, another opinion was welcome and we agreed that the bird look good for Blyth's Reed Warbler. I got a couple more record shots in better light as it skulked about the low vegetation, never more than a meter from the ground. The bird was 'colder' than Eurasian reed , sandy white underparts and olivey-brown, but not warm, upperparts and the tertials were plain. 

This record-shot shows the shape and colour better as well as short primary-projection, supercillium extending behind the eye and 'grey' leg colour

This photo shows the two-toned bill colour and supercillium as well as the colour of the breast and flanks

Whilst I was birding the plantation, Janet saw the Blyth's Reed come right out onto a umbellifer stem and gave the 'tcheck' call. It wasn't heard to call before that.

What a bird! And it finally puts to rest the bird Janet and I saw back on the 5th October 2013which we were convinced was Blyth's Reed but we never got enough to clinch it.  A new bird for the patch then taking my total to 251 and the second addition this year after another rare acro - Great Reed Warbler.

We headed north checking all of the bushes from the Plantation to the Dunbar Burn. Goldcrests (110+) and Robins (45+) were the most numerous species. We also noted

Yellow-browed Warbler  - 7 (conservative estimate allowing for double-counting)

Chiffchaff - 2

Garden Warbler - 1

Blackcap -8

(Eurasian) Reed Warbler- 1

Siskin - 5

Dunnock - 12

Redwing -1

Song Thrush - 8

One of over 100 Goldcrests 

One of seven Yellow-browed Warblers

And another Yellow-browed Warbler

This photo shows the central crown-strip which some Yellow-brows show

One of five Siskins

Record-shot of the Eurasian Reed Warbler

Also of note was the almost constant calls of Skylark overhead and several skeins of Barnacle Geese with an under-count of 107 over and a single Swallow.

Barnies over

Plenty of these feckers this autumn...

Yesterday,  Janet and I braved the rain and birded the patch in rough conditions. We did from the Plantation to the Dunbar Burn. Top bird was Treecreeper in the Plantation  - only my sixth for the patch and my fist not from a net! Also of note were:

Long-eared Owl - sat on the fence opposite the Little Hide in the rain

Swallow -2

Pink-footed Geese - 1550

Yellow-Browed Warbler - 1

This evening I headed back to the patch, for high-tide to check out the Scoter flock for a possible sub-adult male Surf Scoter reported yesterday. It was impossible with a massive sea and the Scoters being well beyond the breakers. Some gull photos will follow later this week, but here is one to whet the appetite. Three Swallows were feeding in the lee of the dunes. 

Just a tempter for later in the week

This week on the patch

Internet problems have prevented any blog updates this week, back online now so here goes:

Monday

Monday morning was cold, but bright and sunny. There was some notable vizmig;

Pink footed goose - 954 south in several skeins

Skylark 23 (s)

Swallow 24 (s) including a group of 17

Tree Sparrow 4 (S)

Meadow Pipit 34 (S)

Linnet 15 (S)

Siskin 9 (S)

A couple of Chiffchaffs and the first Goldcrests of the Autumn were noteworthy

Some of the 953 Pinks that flew south

Tuesday - Ringing

Tuesday looked the best day of the week so I took a flexi-day from work and set some nets. The day started cold and I didn't get much early on as the birds stuck to the sunny edge of the bushes. A Lesser Whitethroat, three Yellow-browed Warblers and couple of Chiffs were with a tit flock. 

As it warmed up, the birds used more of the bushes and I caught a few Goldfinches then some of the Long-tailed Tits with two of the Yellow-brows and a Chiffchaff. A few birders were loitering around my car and watched me extract the first Yellow-browed Warbler from the bag and promptly let it go - how embarrassing. All ringers occasionally let a bird go, but not with an audience. Luckily there was a second bird.

I caught 40 birds, no photos though as I was ringing on my own.

Two Grey Wagtails flew south and a Great-spotted Woodpecker was about. 

Wednesday 

Patch-gold at the end of the rainbow?

Would there be 'patch gold' at the end of the rainbow?

Wednesday started bright but light rain set in. I walked north and back by the beach and got very wet. It was quiet, s couple of Chiffchaffs were singing and two Swallows went south.  The highlight was a Rock Pipit feeding amongst weed and detritus on the edge of a pool at the Dunbar burn formed by the big tides. My first Rock pipit since 2013 - a difficult bird on the patch that needs a build up of weed. Not quite patch gold - bronze mebbes?

Weed and detritus at the mouth of the burn - Rock Pipit habitat

Thursday

Thursday - the first day of October. It started cloudy but brightened up later, the brisk SW wind made it feel colder. A Ruff was in the Front Field with two dozen curlew.  A single Yellow-browed Warbler called from the 'Little Wood' and a couple of Chiffchaffs 'wheeted' from the bushes. A bit of vizmig was going on:

Pink-footed Goose 230 (S)

Wigeon 8 (In-off)

Skylark 22 (SW)

Tree Sparrow 4(S)

Meadow Pipit 35 (S)

Crossbill 12 (Over - seemed to be generally heading north)

Goldfinch 44 (S)

Siskin 9 (S)

Today (Friday)

A proper frost this morning - a crusty grass frost. A little arrival of Song Thrush and Goldcrest maybe? One Blackcap was the only warbler noted. There were 38 Curlew in the front field and depressingly 26 Pheasants - all but three of which were cock birds. 4 Lesser Redpoll and five Siskin flew south and more unusually, three Little Egrets went north. 

Whilst Openreach replaced the cable to our house (we could do no work) we headed north to Bamburgh Golf Course to twitch the Two-barred Greenish Warbler that has been there since Monday. As usual when I twitch anything, I dipped - it hadn't been seen since first-thing. As Unlucky Alf would say - Bugger!

Bugger!

Some seawatching

 The latter part of the week was dominated by very strong northerly winds - and that  means seawatching.

The wind really picked up on Thursday and into Friday morning but with my diary being full, I only had a brief window on Friday morning, I was in position for 07.25, hunkered down in the dunes as the wind was very strong, it was really busy with Auks, Gannets and Kittiwakes streaming north, a lot of them very close in, too close for some which would be under my scope. Just as I got settled I got onto a group of kittis very close-in and among them was something different - a juvenile Sabine's Gull. If I'd been settled in and concentrating on a single spot it would have been under my scope and I'd of missed it. 

I've never seen a Sabine's gull this close at Druridge before (I have at Church Point when I used to go there) and it was great to see it amongst adult and juvenile kittis for contrast. My first Sabine's since 2014 and my fourth for the patch - all September records in 2007, 2009 and 14. What a great bird!

It remained really busy, with hundreds of birds coming through but I only had an hour or so. Other highlights of my hour were:

Arctic Skua 1

Sooty Shearwater 9

Manx Shearwater 7

Red-throated Diver 1

and two Slavonian Grebes being tossed about on the sea.

Full list here

I had planned a sea watch on Saturday but the wind had strengthened and it was raining and reports from nearby spots weren't tempting me out - I think it was just too windy.

Janet and I had walk around the patch on Saturday evening seeing very little in the still-stormy northerly. 18 Pale-bellied Brents struggled north along the beach, just above the waves and 28 Barnacles went over, high. 

By this morning, the wind had really dropped. We'd opened some hooch that we brought back from Taiwan on Saturday night so I didn't get up early and only made it to the patch at 11am for another seawatch. It seemed quiet, nothing like Friday with few Auks, not Kittis and the Gannets well out. I gave it an hour :-

Sooty Shearwater 2

Manx Shearwater 4

Great Northern Diver 1

Bonxie 1

Barnacle Goose 19 (5N 14S)

Wigeon 27

Bar-tailed Godwit 2

Full list here

I also had ten Swallows, mostly going north! I headed for the bushes. It seemed quite quiet with nothing really calling - a single Chiffchaff was my highlight until I found a tit flock.

Chiffchaff

Here it is calling

It's always worth checking roaming tit flocks as migrant birds often join them like the Yellow-browed Warbler I found with them, a dullish looking bird, then a brighter individual which moved off north, I turned around and saw it or another bright bird - I think there was three but I'll only record two as the second bird could've done a U turn.

From the path by the midget screen, I counted 21 Swallows feeding above the bushes and 17 Barnacle Geese went south. Some waders have returned to the Budge fields at last, six Dunlin and three Redshank - it's a start.

Busy but quiet on the patch

The forecast suggested easterly winds and dry conditions on both Saturday and Sunday and we planned to get some nets up and ring birds on both days. A light mizzly, sometimes drizzly rain overnight and into Sunday morning prevented us doing anything on Sunday but we managed some ringing on Saturday.

It was a bit quiet though,  the wind was out of the east but it was bright and breezy and we only had four nets up so we only caught 19 new birds. A light passage of Meadow Pipits continued and we managed to catch four of them. A single Chiffchaff was the only warbler.

Meadow pipit - all four were juvenile birds

We went birding on Sunday morning as we couldn't put any nets up. Despite the wind being out of the east and overnight drizzle it didn't drop any birds in and was as quiet as Saturday had been. The WeBS count didn't take much doing - for some reason, despite the mud on the Budge fields, it's not attracting waders. There was decent Meadow Pipit and Skylark passage and when we got to the beach, there were 25 Meadow Pipits feeding on the seaweed around the Dunbar Burn - and a Wheatear.

Stonechat in the mizzle

Meadow Pipit on the beach

In the dunes to the north there is still a decent flock of Linnets and Goldfinches. It's not always the same flock as some days there are Linnets than Goldfinches and other days it's the opposite. As we walked along the cycle path, I got onto a bunting on the track, briefly, before it flew. There were a few reed buntings about but this was different - in the second or two I had it in my bins, the rufous cheeks stood out. 

The bunting bugged me all afternoon, at least it took my mind off the awful football game I was watching. I headed back after the footie for a mooch. Nothing on the fenclines or track so I headed into the dunes, there were a lot of finches still and a few Pipits and Reed Buntings. I put a bird up as I walked which gave off the distinctive call of a Lapland Bunting when it flew. It landed in a bare area and I got reasonable views of it before it flew it again I lost it behind a dune-hump. My first on the patch since 2010!

Wheatears were on the fence and on the beach still, but it was nearly dark when I took this.

Wheatear on the beach in the gloom of late evening

My pre-morning walk today was much busier and at times I didn't know where to concentrate on. I stepped out of the car to see a tit flock moving through the whitebeams, there was a few Chiffchaff amongst them and Yellow-browed Warbler - my first of the year and my earliest ever by one day! It was really active, chasing the Chiffs and Blue Tits. It and the tits moved off south as did I.

There were more Chiffs, at least 18,  in the bushes as well as four Blackcap, Lesser Whitethroat and Whitethroat. Overhead small groups of Siskin, Meadow Pipit, Lesser Redpoll and Skylark flew over - eight Skylark appeared to come in-off the sea as did 38 Pink-footed Geese.

One of 18 Chifchaffs

Another Meadow Pipit

Young Stonechat

Chaffinch - not common this year

Save for six Curlew there were no waders or duck on the virtually dry Budge fields, maybe because a juvenile Marsh harrier was sat on the big post? It took off and had a go at one of the many Pheasants and I managed a couple of shots. It appeared to have a metal ring on its right leg.

Juvenile Marsh Harrier over the Budge field

With an eye on a pheasant

No waders here

This evening I had a look on the sea after work, It was high tide and a big spring tide so I hoped for displaced waders passing, none of those but I did have a trio of grebes.

There's been two Great-crested Grebes, an adult and a juvenile for a few weeks, they hang about with the Scoter flock and I've watched the adult moult into winter garb and the juvenile loose a bit of its stripy look in that time.  Just beyond the Scoters, I picked up another, smaller grebe - a Slavonian Grebe in winter plumage - a regular in the Bay but nice to see. As I counted the Red-throated Divers (28 in total), I found another grebe, close to the Slavonian grebe - a Red-necked Grebe, also in winter plumage. 

At times the two grebes were together giving a great opportunity to compare these two similar looking grebes. The red-neck, slightly bigger than the Slav and not as clean, crisp looking, much darker around the face and neck with a more sloping forehead.  

So it's been a busy few days even though the birding has been quiet at times, but some nice birds made up for it. 

All my lists are on eBird

Aborted Seawatch

After yesterday's northerly winds I though I would try a seawatch this morning -early reports from coastal watchpoints looked favourable. I arrived just after sunrise and headed for my spot in the dunes.

It was a beautiful morning - too beautiful for seawatching. 

Stunning morning but no good for seawatching

The bright early sun was low in the eastern sky, already lighting up the sea and there was a slight haziness. All the birds, even those close-in were just silhouettes, it was hopeless, my notes would've read Skua sp, Shearwater sp, even Gull sp. I did manage to ID three Red-throated Divers on their silhouettes before packing in and heading for the bushes. 

I headed south, picking up a couple of Chiffs, but not much else. A few Meadow Pipits headed south including a flock of about 20, 77 Pink-footed Geese went south in two groups and 11 Skylark went North!. This glakey Pheasant nearly flew into me before crash landing into a Swedish Whitebeam tree.

Glake

There are so many Pheasant around at the moment - 34 is my top count this week. A Chiffchaff was chiff-chaffing in the tree at the farmhouse. In the plantation, I picked up on a calling Pied Flycatcher  - my first of the Autumn but not a year-tick after the very unseasonable bird in late June. 

By the entrance,  a couple of Blackcaps and a Whitethroat fed on Elderberries and Goldcrest - a true Autumn bird at Druridge - flitted around. 

Heading north back to the car, I found a second Pied Flycatcher in the small wood. 

Pied Flycatcher - one of two

Pied Flycatchers aren't even annual birds at Druridge, averaging about every third year, so to see two made up for the lack of a seawatch. Full list here

I did try a brief seawatch this evening, but the wind had switched SE and it was quiet. About 120 Kittiwake fed distantly offshore and a handful of Manx Shearwaters went north with a similar number of Red-throated Divers headed South. 

Full list here