Yesterday I finally had the chance to go on a twitch since arriving at uni! I woke up to see that my three-hour practical for the day had been cancelled so decided to get straight on the bus and head to Cley! For a change the public transport was quite simple and we arrived mid-afternoon. The Isabelline Wheatear was on view immediately and, as the afternoon went on, started to show even better. It came within metres of us on several occasions, although never seemed to stand side on!
Other highlights during the afternoon included 3 very confiding Snow Buntings, a Long-tailed Duck and a Purple Sandpiper feeding on Arnold's Marsh.
I have also got out birding on a couple of other occasions, managing some nice sightings, even if not quite as rare as the Wheatear! These have included a Pallas's Warbler at Waxham, 8 Cattle Egrets and 3 Great Egrets at Burnham Overy Marshes, and Yellow-browed Warbler, Jack Snipe and Ring Ouzels at Walsey Hills.
This weekend I'm back at home from UEA, so today me and my dad decided to have a full day's birding on the coast. We chose (perhaps wrongly!) not to start in the Druridge area, and instead head north to look for seabirds.
Stag Rocks was quiet with just a single Great Northern Diver offshore and then a Red-necked Grebe just before we left. Budle Bay and Fenham-le-Moor were both busy with birds although we couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.
We continued north, ending up at Cheswick. Here we quickly picked up the drake Black Scoter, while a single drake Long-tailed Duck and a group of six Velvet Scoters were nice to see.
On the way back home we called in at Cresswell Pond to take a look at the smart juvenile/1st-winter Long-billed Dowitcher found earlier in the day. We had decent scope views of the bird but unfortunately it didn't land on the mud in front of the hide. The pond had a good selection of other birds too including a Little Stint, 4 Long-tailed Ducks, 5 Scaup and 5 Ruff.
Tomorrow I'll be heading back to uni and I hope to round up any bird sightings I have while there on my blog soon...
Black Scoter
Distant Long-billed Dowitcher at Cresswell - please view at 1080p
We fancied some sea birding and the calm, grey conditions encouraged us to head up to the north of the county. For a change we tried Holy Island to start with, and were surprised to see 3 Red-necked Grebes scattered around just off the harbour. I can't remember ever seeing three in a day before let alone in the same place...
Looking from the Heugh, the tide was a bit high so the birds were scattered across the bay, but we did manage to pick up 6 Slavonian Grebes, 20 Long-tailed Ducks and 24 Red-breasted Merganser among others. A group of Dark-bellied Brent Geese was feeding in the harbour, with a few Pale-bellied mixed in too, and a Merlin and Peregrine were also seen.
Just as we were leaving the island, my dad noticed a pair of Long-tailed Ducks in the channel by the causeway, so I stopped the car, and was able to walk down to the water's edge while the ducks were below the surface. I was treated to some stunning views down to just a few metres before they flew off as the tide rose. We had lunch at Budle Bay, where the ever-present Spotted Redshank was feeding on the mud.
On arrival at Stag Rocks, one of the very first birds we looked at was another close in Red-necked Grebe, while our fifth of the day was further north off Budle Point. I definitely haven't seen five Red-necked Grebes in a single day in Northumbs before! A Great Northern Diver showed quite nicely if briefly, 5 Slavonian Grebes included one close bird, and 16 more Long-tailed Ducks were offshore.
Long-tailed Ducks
Pale-bellied Brent Goose with Dark-bellied Brents
Unfortunately my digiscoping eyepiece is away being fixed at the moment, so there may be some dodgy phonescoped photos on my blog in the next few weeks...
When we set off this morning we just hoped to catch up with the adult Bonaparte's Gull at Stag Rocks. We didn't think much else would happen but of course you never know with birding...
On arrival at Stag Rocks, the adult Bonaparte's Gull was the closest bird in the surf and provided some really nice views before it took of with a small flock of Black-heads, circled a couple of times and landed on the sea much further out.
We decided to start scanning the rest of the sea hoping for a grebe or Long-tailed Duck. From the parking area we could only pick up a single Great Northern Diver so we walked north to scan from the lighthouse. There were a couple of Puffins offshore as well as a Long-tailed Duck, but it certainly wasn't our most memorable visit at that point.
However, that changed when I picked up a large diver about half way out to our north-east. The view wasn't great with it slightly in silhouette but something about it demanded attention - I think it was the way it held its bill - exactly like how a White-billed Diver would. After a few seconds it turned to face a different angle and I saw what I thought was an unmarked yellowish bill.
My dad had a look through my scope and was also interested immediately. I rang SS and JWR who were looking from the top of the bank, and it turned out they also had briefly seen a large diver but left it as a Great Northern. However, on having closer views when they joined us by the lighthouse they also agreed that we had a found a White-billed Diver!
After a while, the bird made its way a bit closer and I managed to digiscope a few record shots before it drifted south and further out again. When at its closest the scope views were excellent and we were even able to easily pick out the white spotting on the back of the adult Diver. By the time we left, it was out towards the Farnes but did briefly spend some time alongside a Great Northern, providing a great comparison.
Other stuff offshore included 7 Long-tailed Ducks, at least 2 Great Northern Divers and 3 Red-breasted Mergansers while 145+ Purple Sandpipers were on the rocks. Just as we were leaving a group of 7 Snow Bunting flew south quite high.
Before heading home we made a detour to Newbiggin where a first-winter Red-backed Shrike had been found earlier in the day. We arrived to find it showing nicely around the tank blocks at Church Point, though it did look a bit bedraggled in the rain! This December record is unheard of in the county previously, and looking at birdguides it seems to be just the fourth December Red-backed Shrike since 2001.
Some videograbs along with the videos below...
White-billed and Great Northern Divers - videos should be watched in HD at 1080p
With a couple of reports of Black Guillemot at Cheswick last week, we decided that we would target catching up with one today as it was easily the commonest bird missing from our county list.
While the light wasn't great first thing, we gave it an hour or two on Holy Island. There was no sign of yesterday's Shore Larks but a Snow Bunting flew over and we did see 18 Twite and a Short-eared Owl.
Next we did head to Cheswick and parked by the railway bridge. We walked through the dunes and started scanning the sea, and it wasn't long before my dad did pick up a first-winter Black Guillemot about half way out. We watched it for a while, but once it started diving it was really difficult to get onto again.
Having not seen one (it?) for seven years, we also hoped to see the drake Black Scoter while we were here. As we walked north, we noticed a small group scoter just off Cheswick Black Rocks. Setting up the scope revealed the Black Scoter with some female Commons. We enjoyed some really good views of this bird - much better than we were expecting.
Other birds off Cheswick included a Great Northern Diver, Long-tailed Duck, Red-breasted Mergansers and a Goosander.
It felt like quite a while since we'd last been on the patch, and when we set out there this morning we didn't have huge expectations. In the end we did have a decent day...
With good numbers of Crossbills being reported around the county, we decided to start at Druridge Bay Country Park, and it wasn't long before we got onto a group of Crossbills. The group numbered at least 35, although there was probably more and they were as mobile as usual.
We checked the dunes at Hadston for redpolls but with no sign we had a look at the sea. My dad picked up a Little Auk moving north, and 3 female Velvet Scoters were in with the Commons.
Chevington was our final call and I was pleased to pick up a couple of Bewick's Swans among the minimum of 27 Whoopers. These were our first in the county for over three and a half years so we were pretty happy! A Long-tailed Duck had also arrived on the pool with 2 Ruff and 4 Pintail.
Yesterday we spent around seven hours at Church Point, Newbiggin. My target for the day was Pomarine Skuas and we sat through thunderstorms and hail without success. We did manage a nice selection of birds including a Little Auk, Red-necked Grebe and Sooty Shearwater, as well as 4 Scaup among large numbers of wildfowl. Birds in off included a Short-eared Owl and Woodcock.
Feeling a little bit frustrated about the lack of Poms, we decided to head back out this morning, and almost immediately we realised we were in for a better day. 3 superb Pomarine Skuas flew north inside the first ten minutes along with several Little Auks.
Over the next five hours or so, we had another 2 Pomarine Skuas including one superb adult very close in, and at 11:10 I picked up a Leach's Petrel going north about half way out. This was a lifer for me and a bird I've been wanting to see for a long time! Great stuff!
Here's some selected counts 07:15-11:40...
1 Leach's Petrel
5 Pomarine Skuas
37 Little Auk
24 Velvet Scoter
11 Manx Shearwater
1 Sooty Shearwater
6 Great Northern Diver
1 Black-throated Diver
25 Long-tailed Duck
1 Great Skua
This morning we had another decent day in the bay, there's always just enough to keep us going back. And, for some reason, there seemed to be two of all the highlights today...
Our first stop this morning was Chevington, which was very quiet for us, with the only bird of note being the long-staying Long-tailed Duck. We decided not to bother with the south pool today, and headed south towards Druridge Pools, via Widdrington Moor Lake.
At the latter, one of the Great Northern Divers was still diving in the south-west corner and the many gulls included 2 smart Mediterranean Gulls - a first-winter and a second-winter and our first of the year.
On arrival at the Budge Screen it was initially quite quiet, but a scan of the ducks revealed the hybrid American x Eurasian Wigeon feeding on the far bank, as well as 4 Black-tailed Godwits. All of a sudden 2 Water Pipits took flight and flew off west, and we thought that would be the last we'd see of them, but it was nice when they both returned, and one even showed really well.
We moved on but not very far as it seemed as though the fields around Hemscott Hill were full of Pink-footed Geese; in fact we estimated over 4000. Pulling over to scan them, the first birds I got onto, and in the closest group were 2 nice adult Greenland White-fronted Geese. A short while later I picked up 2 Eurasian White-fronts in another field, and it was good to be able to compare these.
Water Pipit
Curlew
And our final paired highlight were these 2 Tawny Owls, my first proper views on the ground...
We were expecting a slightly quieter look at the patch on Saturday morning. However, once again the birding was better than expected...
With a bit of a north-easterly we decided to do a bit of seawatching from Hadston Carrs. We stayed about an hour but it proved very quiet. Moving south, Chevington was similar, although the Long-tailed Duck remained on the north pool. It had been joined by 7 Red-breasted Mergansers and another 5 Mergansers were on Ladyburn Lake. A short while later we had just been checking the geese when word came through of a White-billed Diver passing Whitburn.
With another sighting coming from Tynemouth shortly after, we rushed back to Hadston. When we arrived word had just come through of it passing Newbiggin and it had taken just 25 minutes to get between the two sites. So, when forty minutes went by and we still hadn't seen the bird, we thought we had missed out. However, we were really pleased when at 11:58 the White-billed Diver flew past nice and close inshore. A nice patch tick and our first Patchwork rarity of the year.
Other birds past Hadston on our second visit included 3 Velvet Scoters and 2 Ruff which were a bit unexpected. At Druridge, the number of Black-tailed Godwits had increased to 15, and a Water Pipit was giving good views even if it was a bit distant.
We finished the day at North Blyth, where 2 first-winter Iceland Gulls and a first-winter Glaucous Gull were showing across the river.
We're four days into 2018 and me and my dad have already spent a couple of days out on the coast. On the first we spent the day on the patch, managing to see 77 species. The main highlight was a Waxwing which flew south past us in the dunes before spending a bit of time around the burn mouth. Other sightings included a Long-tailed Duck, Merlin and 31 Whooper Swans.
This morning we fancied a bit of a change so headed north towards Bamburgh. When we arrived at Stag Rocks the sea conditions looked perfect - flat light and flat water. The birds were very visible including:
1 Red-necked Grebe
7 Slavonian Grebe
79 Long-tailed Duck
3 Great Northern Diver
3 Red-throated Diver
c. 30 Common Scoter
108 Purple Sandpipers were also on the rocks. The usual Spotted Redshank was also in Budle Bay. At Fenham Flats the usual great numbers were out on the mudflats, and 215 Pintail was our highest ever count. A pale redpoll outside the hide with 3 Lessers eventually turned out to be a Mealy Redpoll.
We've had a good run of seawatching this year with highlights up to today including Cory's Shearwater, Sabine's Gull, Storm Petrel and two White-billed Divers. We weren't as hopeful about today when we set off this morning, but were pleased to be proved wrong in the end!
We decided to start at Hadston Carrs and it wasn't long before we had our first Little Auk of the morning heading north. We stayed for two hours but it was pretty quiet with the highlight perhaps being a single Snow Bunting flying north past below the small cliff. Here's the totals for Hadston (09:30-11:30)...
2 Little Auk
10 Goldeneye
1 Long-tailed Duck
1 Little Egret
1 Snow Bunting
1 Great Northern Diver
3 Red-throated Diver
2 Great Crested Grebe
We then took a break for lunch and checked a quiet Druridge Pools before deciding to have another look at the sea from Snab Point. With rougher seas and the wind coming more from the north, our two and a half hours here were much more productive.
There were a few more Little Auks passing now and I got onto a distant Grey Phalarope which kept on disappearing behind waves. A second-winter Glaucous Gull suddenly appeared over the rocks and was close enough to make out the pale iris through binoculars. The Grey Phalarope reappeared much closer feeding in the surf and a second more distant bird flew north at speed shortly afterwards. After one had been seen earlier I was pleased to now be able add it to my finds list. Another finds tick for me came shortly afterwards when I picked up a lark flying straight towards us at distance. Despite the long range, its pale face was visible and as it got closer we could see that it lacked a white-trailing edge to the wings, confirming it as a Shore Lark.
It quietened down shortly after this but just as we were about to leave a Little Auk appeared flying over the rocks before landing in a rock pool, and I was able to get within a couple of metres of it, providing easily my best ever views! The totals from Snab Point 12:45-15:20 were as follows...
2 Grey Phalarope
16 Little Auk
1 Glaucous Gull
1 Slavonian Grebe
1 Great Skua
1 Manx Shearwater
3 Goldeneye
1 Goosander
1 Grey Plover
1 Shore Lark
Little Auk - second photo taken on my phone without any zoom!
We set out to Newbiggin this morning with quite high hopes as the pressure charts for the previous night looked quite good. However, when we arrived it was a bit quiet with just a couple of Manx Shearwaters and Great Skuas going past. An hour and a half later we were even contemplating going somewhere else when we saw that a White-billed Diver had been seen passing Whitburn.
Over the next twenty minutes or so reports filtered in of a bird passing a number of sites in Tyneside. It was at around 10:57 that my dad picked up a diver coming north.
The bird was more distant than we were expecting, although the sun caught it and revealed the ivory yellow bill of my first ever White-billed Diver, and with its head and neck appearing all black, this bird was still in its summer plumage. We were really pleased to see it despite it being a lot further out than we had hoped for.
However, twenty minutes later I got onto two more divers going north and realised that alongside a Great Northern Diver was another White-billed Diver. This WBD was in winter plumage and was incredibly close in providing some awesome scope views and a great comparison to the Great Northern next to it.
It quietened down again after this although at 12:45 I picked up a European Storm Petrel about half way out, which was my first on a seawatch. The sea was relatively calm so some more good scope views were had.
