Late February update

There hasn't been a blog update for a while for two reasons; firstly, I've not managed to get down to the patch very much and secondly, there hasn't bee much to report when I have been there. As storm after storm have chased each other across the Atlantic bringing bands of heavy rain and gale force winds it hasn't been conducive to birding.

Recent highlights have included three, sometimes four Eurasian white-fronted geese, which seem to be hanging around with the Canada geese or the feral greylags. 

The week before last a drake (American) green-winged teal was reported from the Budge fields, I tried a couple of times to see it but without luck, it may well have been there but Storm Dennis was lashing the reserve and the teal were all cowering behind rushes for shelter. ADMc also found a female Garganey - seemingly only the second winter record for the County!

Last Sunday I was down on the patch for dusk. An impressive arrival of (mainly) common gulls came in from the west and settled on the sea, the tide was well in. By the time I left, I (conservatively) estimated 2500 had gathered on the sea or on the beach.

On Thursday afternoon I went up to Chibburn Mouth to see if the beach is going to be suitable for fencing for terns this year - it has potential. On my way north I counted about 82 twite in the dunes amongst the cattle to the north of the turning circle.

Some of the 82 twite in the dunes

I returned by the beach as the sun dipped behind the dunes. Black-headed gulls and passing red-breasted mergansers entertained me on my way. 

Drake red-breasted merganser headed north

At the mouth of the Dunbar Burn, the water has taken a northerly route, cutting away at the face of the dune and making progress along the beach impossible without wellies or a diversion to the cycleway bridge. I opted to use the concrete blocks as giant stepping stones, which could have been disastrous with a tonne of camera around my neck.

Giant stepping stones

On the 'other side' a passerine was scouring the edge of the water for food - bins on it - a snow bunting! I sat on a bit of concrete and waited for the bird to make it's way along the shore from the shadows into the late evening sunshine and it duly obliged.

In the shadows

Beautiful 'golden-hour' light on the snow bunt

My presence didn't phase the snow bunting and I took dozens of shots and could've taken more but frostbite had set in. Back into the dunes, the sun had dropped as had the temperature, 2 degrees, feeling colder in the stiffening wind. I was freezing after spending half an hour with the snow bunting but the cold didn't deter two brave girls who were in the sea  - in bikinis! Nutters.

Nutters!

Things got stranger as I headed for the Budge fields, with what appeared to be a scantily-clad girl in some kind of glamour shoot... It's a strange place Druridge. 

Wigeon in flight as dusk

Storm Ciara lashes WeBS counters

Two WeBS counters who were stupid enough to go out on Sunday found themselves lashed by Storm Ciara at a nature reserve in Druridge Bay, Northumberland.

Actually , it wasn't that bad...

Okay it was a bit blowy, especially counting hundreds of ducks with precious-little shelter provided by the Budge screen.

I started counting the grazing wigeon which were the most numerous duck, I got to 294 when they shot up in the air - a reaction to a creamy-crowned marsh harrier headed their way. All of the waterfowl had relocated to the middle of the widest part of the pool. Back to counting 1,2,3.... 348 - not a bad count for Druridge but nearly one hundred less than last months count.

A second marsh harrier came through  - this time an adult male.

Other notable counts included 13 grey heron which were seeking shelter behind the trees, nest-building on hold until the storm died down (whenever that will be), 42 shoveler, 168 teal and 57 curlew. Other notable waders included singles of  black-tailed godwit, ruff and dunlin.

A third marsh harrier came through - this time a sub-adult male.

Off to the Oddie hide. There were waves on the big pool and all of the birdlife was seeking shelter at the western end. In the field north of the coal haul road, there was a group of whooper swans, obscured by the hedge, they would require a closer look from the turning circle.

I estimated 44 whooper swans, they were difficult to count as they were also hunkered down out of the wind. They were loosely associated with a flock of 140 Canada geese and 60 pinks.

On our way home we stopped to scan a flock of pinks - over 400 - in the front field and picked up 4 Eurasian white-fronted geese at the back of the flock. There seems to be a few more white-fronts in the county this week.

Full list on eBird

Sharing the patch

On Saturday I had the opportunity to share my local patch with a group from the Natural History Society of Northumbria. This is the second guided tour of the patch I've given recently after the North Northumberland Bird Club visited in October.

About 18 participants came along and my colleague Ellie made sure that we didn't lose anyone along the way. I think I was allowed to lose up to 10 per cent of them.

We had three hours and I took them on what would be a normal walk around the patch for me. We had to be done by midday so I could get to the football on time so we didn't have time for a seawatch.

And in the round window...

We started at the entrance to the reserve after some confusion about the meeting point had been resolved and everyone enjoyed good views of the local celebrity - the little owl was in his favoured spot of the round window.

Five whooper swans were in the front field.

Four of the five whooper swans

Passerines were thin-on-the-ground but everyone enjoyed the spectacle of hundreds of waders and ducks on the Budge fields, notably curlew, lapwing, wigeon and teal. We had a huge count of 19 grey herons and watched them carrying nesting material into the shelterbelt. They'll be on eggs soon.

Onward to the Oddie hide. There wasn't much to see on the big pool, a couple of goldeneye and little grebes were nice, so we made our way north to the dunes along the coal road. before we got there a huge flock of pink-footed geese came south, well over 1000. A lot kept going bu hundreds landed in the fields west of the road.

Some of the pink-feet heading south

A flock of 40 or so twite flitted back and forth, settling close-by at time affording great views through the scope. There were linnets, reed buntings and chaffinches in with them. Tariq Farooqi kindly put the group on to a huge female peregrine that he had found perched on a fencepost beyond the geese and everyone enjoyed good views of it.

The group enjoying the peregrine on a post

We managed to see 38 species by my reckoning, which isn't bad given the size of the group and the time of year.

I made it to the match on time. Maybe I should've just stayed at Druridge?

Our list on eBird

Two things are guaranteed...

Two things are usually guaranteed on New Years Day on the patch:

1) I will see a species that I didn't see in the previous year. Over the years this list has included merlin, peregrine and slavonian grebe amongst others. This year it was pochard.

Two drake pochards heading south

I half-expected it to be long-tailed duck as one was reported on New Years Eve and it was LTD I was looking for when I saw the two drake pochards on the big pool.

2) Some mentalists will be in the sea

Brrrrr

At least this girl kept her bikini top on, the two in 2018 didn't!

New Years Day was beautiful day and Janet and I had a good wander around the patch, taking in the big pool, Budge fields, bushes, sea and dunes to the north and saw 56 species - not a bad start to the year list. Other than the two pochards, other highlights were two velvet scoters flying south offshore, 60 twite in the dunes, a goldcrest (very rare in winter), a pair of pintail, a kestrel (first since July!), 250 golden plover and two of the four ruff from last week. We scanned through the pink-footed geese in the front field but couldn't find the white-fronts.

Busier than a summer day

By the time we headed home just before 2pm, the place was rammed, everyone and their dog(s) had descended on Druridge Bay. When we left, we had to queue to get out because people had parked on both sides of the road, leaving no room for cars to pass. It was like August Bank Holiday Monday!

Link to eBird list for NYD

Today was colder with a stiff breeze from the SW. I quickly checked through the geese (still no white-fronts) and the Budge fields where the four ruff had returned and had been joined by a dunlin. I also added blue tit and shelduck to the year list

List from today

End of the year, end of the decade

The sun sets on the last day of the decade at Druridge Pools

The end of the year, the end of the decade...

Despite being out of action for pretty-much all of May and June this year and having done no ringing at all, it's been a reasonable year on the patch.

One, hopefully two, new species were added to the patch list. The first was Cattle Egret on 6th May , the second is a bit more dodgy - Baikal Teal.

It first showed up at East Chevington on 3rd June and overnight moved to Druridge Pools where it remained until at least 7th July. Rare wildfowl are always treated with some caution by the rarities panels, given the number that are kept in captivity and that 'jump the fence'.  If it does get accepted, it will be my 250th species for the patch.

I finished the year on 162 species - the worst year since 2015 but very much related the lack of observer effort. Notable missing species include (last seen and number of years in last ten in brackets ):

Garganey (2018 - 9/10)
Pochard (2018 - 9/10)
Long-trailed Duck (2018 - 6/10)
Slavonian Grebe (2018 - 8/10)
Hobby (2015 -6/10)
Little Stint (2018 5/10)
Turnstone (2018 9/10)
Little Gull (2018 6/10)
Little Auk (2018 5/10)
Long-eared Owl (2018 7/10)
Short-eared Owl (2018 8/10)
Spotted Flycatcher (2018 5/10)
Whinchat (2016 7/10)

Other highlights included  - Bewick's Swan (fist since 2002), Long-tailed Skua (first since 2013), Marsh Warbler (first since 2013), Red-backed shrike (male) - first since 2008 and Willow Tit (first since 2000),

If I had time, I could've done some jazzy stats for the last ten years but I haven't.

I've been on the patch every day over day over Christmas but I failed to add anything new to the list. I'm off out now curry but will be back on the patch tomorrow to kick of the 2020's and year list.

Thanks for reading this drivel over the last year and sorry it's been a bit patchy.

All the best for 2020!

Days off

I've taken a couple of days off work to coincide with a trip to Sheffield Utd last night to watch the Toon win.

I've also managed a couple of short visits to the patch. Yesterday was a bit gloomy with a strong SW wind. I stopped to look at the geese in the fields to the south of Druridge Farm, there were a good number pink-feet in the second field from the road and after a few scans through them, I finally picked out two Eurasian white-fronted geese.

By the gate opposite, at least 50 twite were feeding and there were 10 grey partridge.

twite in very gloomy light

The little owl was in the 'round window' (and again today) and there were lots of wildfowl on the Budge fields which are still brim-full of water.

Full list here

Today was brighter with some sunny spells and quite mild for the time of year.

I headed north from the turning circle and the first bird I go onto was a juvenile merlin in pursuit of a finch. It was so fast, twisting and turning, the camera just couldn't lock onto it - I did manage a couple of shots though - great bird.

first-winter merlin

Heading north along the haul road, there were ten whooper swans and over 1000 pink-feet just off the patch behind Chibburn Links. There didn't appear to many finches in the dunes compared to recent days.

distant whoopers at Chibburn Links

Coquet Island with a 400mm lens from Druridge

There was very little on the sea, a few sanderlings and couple of pied wagtails on the beach.

Pied wagtail on the beach

 The pheasant shooters were out in force towards the Preceptory which was spooking the wildfowl and waders on the Budge so I gave it a dodge and headed home.

Full list here

First day of winter

Today was the (meteorological) first day of winter and it felt like it. Mind, I think it's felt like winter for weeks.

A cold and frosty start, even when I got down to the patch at 11 o'clock, the grass was white. It was pleasant in the sunshine but a light NW wind gave it an edge. Autumn is over and hopefully we've seen the back of the rain that has dominated things recently.

I had a wander through the dunes to the north of the turning circle. Beyond the haul road in the recently-sown field, a peregrine sat, perched on a divot, probably full up with lapwing or some other unfortunate wader.

The dunes were alive with a feeding flock of mixed finches. They wouldn't settle and swirled back and forth behind the dune ridge, making counting them very tricky. I finally guessed at 250 Goldfinch, 50 linnet, 30 twite and a handful of chaffinch and reed buntings. No tree sparrows though - a much scarcer bird now the feeding has stopped in the bushes. Four grey partridge flushed - I wonder if the nearby release of red-legs will do for them, I hope not.

Some of the twite flock

Reed Bunting in the weeds

On to the Budge fields. From the midget-screen (being vertically challenged myself I can say that) not much could be seen on the fields. In the willows along the path a very late (or wintering maybe) chiffchaff flitted about, calling as it went. A very vocal water rail was in the bushes at the other side of the path but it didn't show itself.

Blue tit feeding on Alder cones

Down to the Budge hide. The fields were mostly frozen with a little bit of open water concentrating the fowl. Waders -  lapwings and curlews stood on the still-white ridges until they were flushed by a huge female sparrowhawk. She put up a snipe and an aerial battle commenced, the snipe was the victor as the large sprawk flew off to the fence without its prey.

Passing Mute Swan

I've been checking the fields for the Cresswell dowitcher. As it hasn't been seen at Cresswell for a couple of days I had high hopes... The last long-staying Long-billed Dowitcher stayed at Cresswell until New Years Eve when it relocated to Druridge so I could get it on two year-lists. Maybe history will repeat itself.

From the dune, the spring tides of the new moon meant that the sea was on the horizon. A flock of 120 wigeon and some scoters all of note.

Female stonechat in the dunes

Full list here