Greater Sand Plover

Yesterday evening we headed a short way north of the Scottish border to Tyninghame Bay in Lothian. A first-summer Greater Sand Plover had been found there about a week ago, and had done the decent thing and stuck around until travel restrictions were lifted. 

It was a nice easy twitch, with the Plover quickly picked up on the estuary. It gave some nice scope views as the tide receded, and eventually headed off to its favoured west end once enough of the mud was exposed. My photos aren't great but hopefully show that, despite not being in summer plumage, it was still an attractive bird. Several Whimbrels were at Tyninghame Bay too.

Druridge Pools has also been good recently, with highlights including a group of four Spoonbills, a nice selection of male Ruff and a striking leucistic Black-tailed Godwit.

Greater Sand Plover - please view video in HD at 1080p

Spoonbills

Leucistic Black-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed Godwits

Black-tailed Godwits

Lockdown update...

Just realised it's nearly two months since my last post on here so here's a little update on my limited birding since the lockdown started a few weeks ago...

We are lucky to live within walking distance of Bothal Pond, so a two or three times a week we are heading there on our daily walk to see what's going on. Two female Scaup have been present throughout and other highlights have included a flyover Marsh Harrier, Egyptian Goose, Black-tailed Godwit and Wheatears.

Otherwise, we have also been having a few walks around the woodland and farmland close to home. Probably my favourite find so far has been Willow Tits in what I think is a new site for the declining species. We've also seen variety of other common species, and in a way it's been nice to take the chance to appreciate these.

Spending more time at home has led to three firsts for the garden so far: nocmig Common Scoter, flyover Goosanders and, most excitingly, a Red Kite yesterday afternoon - just my third in Northumberland.

Here's a few of my photos taken during lockdown so far, and I'll try to post any more I take over the coming weeks...

Willow Tits

Scaup

Male and female Grey Wagtails

Willow Warbler

Chiffchaff

Common Buzzard

Red Kite - a panicked record shot through my bedroom window!

Comma

Garganey

Last night I finally found my first Garganey of the year with a drake at Druridge Pools. The Cattle Egret was still present along with 25 Black-tailed Godwits and a Whimbrel. At Hemscott Hill, two Yellow Wagtails and 5 Wheatear were in the field to the north.

I also managed to get a short sound recording of the Garganey calling...

Buston Links

After a failed attempt at seeing the North Seaton Rosy Starling this morning, we headed north to the saltmarsh at Buston Links, just south of Alnmouth.

For the first hour or two there was no sign of our target, but on our final check the group of 4 Shore Lark had reappeared. We really enjoyed being able to watch these smart birds feeding on the saltmarsh, and they were our first of the year. After a while they took off and headed off south.

We headed back towards the car park, and bumped into a few birders making their way down the track. We were stood around talking when GB looked into the ditch beside us and saw a Red-necked Grebe just a couple of metres away. The grebe gave incredible views as it hunted for fish in the small ditch.

On the way back, a quick look at Warkworth again produced the 2 Bewick's Swans again with 6 Whoopers, as well as 10 Black-tailed Godwits.

Shore Larks

Red-necked Grebe

Bewick's Swans

A weekend away...

Last weekend we visited a UEA open day, and stayed overnight in Kings Lynn. This allowed us to do a bit of birding the evening after at Titchwell as well as stopping at Frampton on the way home...

Titchwell held a great selection on Saturday evening, including 10 Spoonbills, Great White Egret, Little Stint, 2 Curlew Sandpipers, Bearded Tits, and best of all, 4 adult Turtle Doves sat together...

Turtle Doves

Bearded Tits - adult female and juvenile male (bottom).

Yellow-legged Gull

Curlew Sandpiper

A stop at RSPB Frampton on the way back on Sunday morning was also very enjoyable with highlights including the Long-billed Dowitcher, 16 Spotted Redshanks, Curlew Sandpiper, Spoonbill, Black-necked Grebe and an impressive 1500+ Black-tailed Godwits. 3 Willow Emerald Damselfly were an odonata tick for me.

Black-tailed Godwit

Spotted Redshank

Black-necked Grebe

Willow Emerald Damselfly

Hobby saves the day... again!

We were back on the patch again this morning for a few hours birding, and Druridge Pools definitely felt quieter than our other visits recently. There were still some common wader species on the coal road pools, but other than a Garganey and 16 Black-tailed Godwits, there wasn't much going on.

Thankfully, just as we were leaving my dad spotted a Hobby flying very low and quickly over the entrance, and it looped around once before heading south.  

Moving on, Chevington and Cresswell were also quiet with a Greenshank flying over Chevington being the best we could manage. 

Hobby

Another confiding scarcity!

After still being on a bit of a high from the Little Bittern, it was great to get some more amazing views of an unusual waterbird, with the Glossy Ibis showing superbly by the old coal road at Druridge this morning until it was flushed by the farmer on his quadbike... 

Other birds around Druridge Pools included a Wood Sandpiper, drake Garganey, 4 Black-tailed Godwits and a Roseate Tern and Puffin offshore...

East Chevington produced a Black-necked Grebe, while the Channel Wagtail still at Bell's Farm rounded off another good day.

Glossy Ibis

More patch birding...

Back to the patch again this morning, and there were a few more new summer migrants for us...

The first was Swift with 8 over Chevington, while a Wheatear at Hemscott Hill was a patch year tick. The male Channel Wagtail was also showing well here with a single Yellow.

At Druridge Pools, the 2CY Spoonbill was behaving typically lazily, though did have a bit of a fly around as we were leaving. A pair of Garganey also remained here as well as 3 Ruff, 13 Black-tailed Godwits and a couple of Lesser Whitethroats by the track.

At Cresswell, 7 Wheatears were north of the causeway, with a couple of them showing really well. Another Yellow Wagtail was also here and 2 White Wagtails. 2 more Wheatears were at Snab Point too.

Channel Wagtail

Wheatears - very smart birds!

Second calendar-year Spoonbill (with attached weeds)