An exciting couple of weeks...

So, having complained a lot about how poor this spring has been for birding, the last few weeks (basically since our day on Holy Island on the 18th) have been much better. Here's a few of the best bits, excluding the Baillon's Crake I posted about previously...

On the 2nd of June we had a day down on Teesside. The highlight was getting a brief view of the singing Great Reed Warbler, although this was proving difficult in the wind. There were also impressive number of Avocets in the area and we had our first Little Terns of the year.

The next day, the roaming Baikal Teal turned up at East Chevington. We headed up to see it for insurance as much as anything! I'm not overly keen on its credentials so will be keeping it off my list for now. If it gets accepted in the end then I may well put it on however! I have also seen the Teal at Druridge Pools where my first Little Gull of the year was present.

On Saturday, we got up ready for a day on Holy Island, but on seeing the weather outside, decided to go out in the evening instead. However, word came through of a White-billed Diver passing Whitburn so I made the short journey to Newbiggin. A short wait ensued before I picked up the White-billed Diver flying north, and while a bit distant, it was still distinctive.

We did head up to Holy Island mid-afternoon but failed to find a single migrant. A Spoonbill from the causeway was some consolation. On the way home we called into Cresswell Pond where we got some decent views of the Marsh Warbler in the north end willows. Another Spoonbill was here too.

Finally, yesterday I made an evening trip to Druridge Pools after IR relocated the male Red-backed Shrike seen there earlier in the day. It gave stunning views as it sang from the bushes just north of the turning circle and providing me with my best ever views of a male bird.

Red-backed Shrike at Druridge Pools

Marsh Warbler at Cresswell Pond

Baikal Teal

Spoonbill at Cresswell

Little Gull at Druridge

Druridge on form...

We've had a couple of visits to Druridge recently with the new pools by the coal road providing some good birds, especially the summer plumage waders. Peak counts on the flash have been...

3 Curlew Sandpiper
2 Little Stint
1 Wood Sandpiper
1 Avocet
110 Ringed Plover
25 Dunlin
2 Sanderling
7 Turnstone

While other things there have included the long-staying Glossy Ibis, 4 Garganey, 2 Little Gull, 4 Yellow Wagtail and 2 Whooper Swans.

Little Stint

Curlew Sandpipers (phonescoped at Cresswell before they moved to Druridge)

Garganey

Sabine's Gull in North Yorkshire...

A visit to relatives in Yorkshire yesterday afternoon also gave us the chance to catch up with the first-summer Sabine's Gull at the nearby Nosterfield reserve. For most of the time it was giving very close views on Kiln Lake, although the light was very poor, and it did occasionally fly around...

Other wildlife seen around the reserve included a Scaup, Avocets, Black-tailed Skimmers, an Emperor Dragonfly and both Purple and White-letter Hairstreaks...

First-summer Sabine's Gull

Purple Hairstreak

Wood Sandpiper at Druridge Pools on Tuesday evening - video best viewed in HD at 720p/1080p

Great start to July...

I have to say we didn't really have great expectations for today when we first set off, but it turned out to be a really good day of summer birding...

First up was Druridge Pools (via Bell's Farm where there was a couple of Little Gulls). A Green Sandpiper was showing well in front of the screen and the number of Black-tailed Godwits had increased to 19. The three Spoonbills also flew off heading west. We then heard news of a possible Pacific Golden Plover, so, given it would be a lifer for both of us and presented a bit of an ID challenge, we decided to go for a look. My dad may also be able to catch up with the Corn Bunting...

Unfortunately it was quickly apparent when we arrived that our target was no longer in the Golden Plover flock, but the lingering second-summer Glaucous Gull was snoozing on the rocks and the Corn Bunting was still around.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, news came on of a White-winged Black Tern at Chevington so we headed back that way. By the time we got to the bay, the stunning adult summer White-winged Black Tern had moved to Druridge Pools where it showed nicely on and off for the next hour or so. Such good birds! Two Greenshank and a Ruff also appeared here.

Finally we had a look for orchids in the dunes at Chevington, which resulted in 5 different types being seen, and we also got onto a Red Kite moving inland which had been spotted just to the north by other observers, providing me with a very welcome patch tick!

Other good birds seen today included Avocets, Little Ringed Plovers, Common Sandpipers and a Little Owl.

PWC 2017
Species: 156
Points: 218

White-winged Black Tern

Red Kite

Spring underway...

Despite the cold, drizzly and dark weather yesterday morning, there were a few signs that spring is finally getting underway...

On arrival at Chevington the rain had forced 8 Sand Martins low over the pool. The Slavonian Grebe was still present on the pool along with 8 Scaup, but it seemed the Pacific Diver had finally moved off. A female Goosander had joined the 7 Red-breasted Mergansers and was my first of the year on the patch.

Whooper Swans were around in good numbers with 128 in the south pool and another 70 in a field just to the south-west. A walk down to the burn mouth produced 4 Shore Larks and a flyover Twite and Snow Bunting, while 3 Velvet Scoters were showing pretty well quite close offshore.

Other birds seen recently include 5 Avocets at Cresswell, several Chiffchaffs, 3 Scaup at Bothal Pond and a Short-eared Owl and 61 Whooper Swans at Longhirst Flash last weekend. My dad had a male Wheatear here this afternoon.

Shore Lark

Goosander with 3 Red-breasted Mergansers

Goosander

Velvet Scoter record shot!

Waders still on the up..

3 Curlew Sandpipers at Cresswell Pond this morning were our first in Northumberland since September 2014 and we beat our record county Little Egret again with 16 at Cresswell this morning along with 25+ Black-tailed Godwit (several flocks flew over without stopping), 2 Knot, 4 Greenshank, 3 Common Sandpiper, 2 Avocet, a Water Rail and a Mediterranean Gulls also at the pond. A large flock of Black-headed Gulls visible in the distance from the car parking area held at least 30 more Mediterranean Gulls.

One of the first birds I looked at from the Budge Screen was a Wood Sandpiper in the north-east corner of the Budge Fields and it disappeared into the grass after a few seconds. We later walked along the path to the two hides and saw the Wood Sand again from here While we were stood here a Sparrowhawk flew over flushing the waders, most of which landed back on the fields, so we headed back to the screen. There were now 4 juvenile Little Stints walking around together (although quickly split up again), at least 22 Ruff, 25 Dunlin, 4 Black-tailed Godwits and a fly over Greenshank. It's amazing how many waders can stay invisible in the tussocks. We were also quite surprised to see a female Goosander land in front of the Budge Screen. They occasionally visit the big pool but we've never seen one actually on the Budge Fields before! 3 Common Sandpipers on the north pool were our first on the ground on the patch this year.

Our final stop was Castle Island where the water levels were unfortunately back to normal, though there was still good numbers of waders including a Curlew Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Green Sandpiper, 29+ Black-tailed Godwit and 6 Common Sandpipers along with 6 Little Egret.

PWC 2016
Species: 152
Points: 199

Two of the Curlew Sandpipers at Cresswell

Goosander - unusual habitat!

Waders on the move...

Our first stop was Chevington this morning to look for terns at the burn mouth but unfortunately the beach was tern-free and the north pool. Sadly the water level looks to high here to attract any rarities this autumn.

Druridge Pools is looking much better and today there were 6+ Ruff (there had been 10 yesterday evening), 8 Black-tailed Godwit, flyover Greenshank and Yellow Wagtail as well as a Goldeneye on the big pool. We were also a bit surprised to see a flock of 7 Pintail drop onto the big pool. They had a short bathe before flying off north - fresh in?

Cresswell Pond once gain held 7 Little Egrets however today this included a colour-ringed bird (photo below) as well as 2 Greenshank and 9 Avocets. 5 juvenile Black-tailed Godwits dropped in and a flock of 5 Whimbrel appeared to come in off the sea before flying south over the hide.

The day's highlight as Castle Island where the water levels were the lowest we've ever seen them. With the low water levels came the waders with a minimum of 46 Black-tailed Godwits, 6+ Ruff, 4 Common Sandpipers, a Knot (which we were told was the first here for twenty years!), a Green Sandpiper, a Little Ringed Plover and 2 Avocets among the commoner species. Little Egrets were also out in force with a total of 14 birds being my highest ever count in Northumberland.

Pintail

Juvenile Cuckoo

Colour-ringed Little Egret

A couple more days...

Yesterday evening we headed to Cresswell Pond for the evening. The highlight was three Little Stints, which comprised of two juveniles and a colour-ringed adult from Norway. Other waders included 2 Ruff, 4 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Common Sandpipers and 3 Avocet as well as Mediterranean Gulls (one juvenile), 3 Yellow Wagtails and 9 Little Egret. The field to the north of Bell's Farm held 14 Mediterranean Gulls with the usual gulls.

This morning we decided to have a seawatch at Newbiggin which produced the following birds over two hours...

1 Sooty Shearwater
35 Manx Shearwater
1 Velvet Scoter - drake north.
1 Common Scoter
3+ Roseate Tern

The bay at Newbiggin held a minimum of 46 Mediterranean Gulls. Unfortunately the water level at Castle Island had risen so there wasn't many waders. Finally 2 Green Sandpipers were at Bothal Pond.

Egret influx...

Here's a late blog post about our trip out birding on Tuesday and we were surprised how many Little Egrets were around...

We started at Castle Island where there were 7 Little Egrets and waders included a Ruff, Little Ringed Plover, 3 Avocets, 5 Common Sandpipers and 19 Black-tailed Godwits.

Cresswell Pond was still looking good and when we looked out of the hide there were 8 Little Egrets sat in the mud in front of the hide. However they soon split up as a juvenile Peregrine flew low over the pond. Other highlights here included a Greenshank, Ruff, Whimbrel, 4 Black-tailed Godwits and 2 Common Sandpipers.

3 Greenshank remained at Druridge Pools along with a first-summer Mediterranean Gull. 

Little Egrets and two Black-tailed Godwits

Peregrine record shots - too fast and too close for me!

Stoat

Local birding...

Spent the morning on the patch where there is signs of autumn migration getting underway...

The vegetation at Druridge Pools is starting to get quite tall and it was difficult to determine just how many Greenshank were present. Eventually we confirmed five different birds. These were new for the patch year list, as was a flyover Common Sandpiper.Other waders here included 2 Ruff (adult and juvenile) and a Black-tailed Godwit. 2 Little Egrets were also on the Budge Fields and 2 Goosanders were on the north pool, it seems to have been a good year for these on the patch. An adult Mediterranean Gull was with the Black-headed Gulls in the field to the west.

East Chevington was quieter with a singing Grasshopper Warbler and an Arctic Skua offshore along with 4 Little Terns.

The water levels at Cresswell Pond were looking great today and were proving very attractive to waders: 12 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Ruff, 1 Knot, 3 Common Sandpiper, 2 Avocets (including a colour-ringed immature) and lots of Dunlin and Curlew. 2 adult Mediterranean Gulls were sat on the west spit along with 3 Little Egrets and 2 Yellow Wagtail were near the causeway.

PWC 2016
Species: 148
Points: 193

A trip to East Anglia...

Recently me and my Dad had a trip down to Norfolk, stopping on the way and way back at RSPB Frampton Marsh on the way down and way back and spending a day at RSPB Lakenheath Fen. The weather was poor on all four days yet we still had a great time and saw some good birds...

The highlight of our first stop at Frampton was a brief but good view of my first Turtle Dove for five years. Other birds included a Corn Bunting singing from a fence, 3 Little Gulls, 6 Egyptian Geese, 10+ Dark-bellied Brent Geese and a Mediterranean Gull while wader highlights were 5 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Ruff, 6 Black-tailed Godwit, a Whimbrel and 15+ Grey Plover.

On day two we tried Burnham Overy Dunes for migrants and the best we could find were 2 Spotted Flycatchers. However we did see our first Bittern and Cuckoo of the trip and our only Hobby. A Greenshank was the best we could find at Cley while Holkham produced at least one Green Woodpecker. A Little Gull and Cuckoo were at RSPB Titchwell.

Our third day was the most productive with the first good bird being a pair of Stone Curlew showing well at Weeting Heath. At RSPB Lakenheath Fen a pair of Cranes were giving great views from the Joist Fen Viewpoint providing me with my best ever views of the species. Some of the other many highlights from the reserve included 2 self-found Spoonbills flying north, great views of 2+ Bitterns, lots of Cuckoos all over the place, Cetti's Warbler, Bearded Tits, Kingfisher and plenty of Marsh Harriers (8 alone in one scan).

On the way home Flitcham Farm produced a Little Owl and at Frampton Marsh a drake Garganey and a Cuckoo were the best birds.

In the end we saw a total of 112 species over four days with Avocets and Little Egrets all over the place and Red Kites seen on several occasions.

Avocet in the rain at RSPB Frampton Marsh

Cranes - I should have digiscoped them!

Self-found Spoonbills at Lakenheath

Marsh Harrier food pass

Corn Bunting

Teesside Twitching...

With a host of birds being reported from Teesside we decided that would be our destination on Saturday...

Our first stop was the outer bowling green on Hartlepool Headland where the stunning male Red-spotted Bluethroat was giving superb views down to just a few metres at times. Only my second in Britain and first view on the ground after one in song flight at Welney in 2011.

Before the reserve at Saltholme opened we had a look at the flooded fields on Seaton Common north of the east of the Zinc Works Road where a male Grey-headed Wagtail had been present for a view days. The very smart Wagtail was still present and showed well through the scope before flying off south with a White Wagtail.

Next was the RSPB reserve at Saltholme. We were quickly onto one of the adult Whiskered Terns sat on a tern raft in front of the visitor centre. We walked around the edge of the lake and the two Whiskered Terns were giving some very close fly-bys. I was surprised how inconspicuous they were sat in among the Common Terns yet they really stood out in flight.

Also on the reserve were 5 Spoonbills (including a bird with German colour-rings), 2 first-summer Little Gulls, my first Common Sandpiper of the year and at least a dozen Avocets.

Once we reached Danby Beacon on the North York Moors it took a while for the trip of 10 Dotterels to be found but once they were the birds were very confiding if you sat still.

Back in Northumberland Druridge Pools felt very quiet apart from a drake Garganey from the south facing hide.

We had a brilliant day on Teesside with my second-ever Bluethroat, Whiskered Terns and Dotterel along with my first ever Grey-headed Wagtail being the highlights.

Male Red-spotted Bluethroat

Whiskered Terns

Dotterel

Grey-headed Wagtail - record shots!

Spoonbills

Common Sandpiper