Baird's revisited

After a disappointing morning on Holy Island today we stopped at Low Newton on the way home for some more views of Baird's Sandpiper on the scrapes. The bird was showing really well, especially when walking around the grass on the close shore. Unfortunately we were looking into the sun, which made photos difficult. 15 Whooper Swans also flew over calling.

Baird's Sandpiper - best viewed in HD at 1080p

Also, here's a few photos from Holy Island last Saturday (15th)...

Siberian Chiffchaff

Ring Ouzel

Lesser Whitethroat

Goldcrest

Redwing

Song Thrush

Great Grey Shrike - best viewed in HD at 1080p

Catch up...

On Wednesday we spent the morning on Holy Island hoping that the easterlies and drizzle might have brought some migrants to the island. Sure enough it had, with impressive numbers of thrushes and Bramblings, but unfortunately the day just lacked something rare...

1645 Redwing
504 Fieldfare
648 Blackbird
8 Song Thrush
1 Ring Ouzel
120 Brambling
5 Woodcock
9 Goldcrest
2 Black Redstart - around the Lindisfarne Hotel.
15 Long-tailed Tit
2 Blackcap
1 Short-eared Owl

Later in the day another Black Redstart was mobile around the compound on Newton Point, while the day before a Jack Snipe had been sleeping in front of the south hide on the north pool at Chevington.

Down in North Yorkshire on Thursday the gull roost at Lingham Lake held 2 Caspian Gulls (distinctive first and third-winters), an adult Yellow-legged Gull and a leucistic Black-headed Gull among the thousands of other gulls.

This morning we managed good views of a male Bearded Tit in front of the north hide on the north pool at Chevington (only my second on patch and a much better view than the first) along with 2 Otters there and a Short-eared Owl at Druridge Pools.

PWC 15
Species: 169
Points: 229 

All my photos recently have been pretty poor and my excuse is that the weather hasn't been great!

Bearded Tit

Caspian Gulls - at maximum ISO and one second shutter speeds!

Sleeping Jack Snipe

Eclipse & Garganey

Yesterday morning we were back on patch where there were a few migrants about. Perhaps the most obvious were the Pink-footed Geese with a flock of 500+ on the north pool at Chevington, which they shared with a Garganey, Black-tailed Godwit and Pintail.

3 Redwings flew over and a Great Spotted Woodpecker appeared to fly 'in off'. Along with a Treecreeper these were additions to the PWC year list.

A very early start this morning resulted in an impressive show from the lunar eclipse, with completely clear skies.

PWC 15
Species: 165
Points: 220

163. Great Spotted Woodpecker
164. Treecreeper
165. Redwing 

Composite image of the lunar eclipse

Garganey record shot

Fall!

A couple of hours of easterlies last night was enough persuasion for me and my Dad to go to Holy Island today.

Before we even stopped the car we saw bushes full of thrushes. Sure enough there were hundreds of thrushes flying over and feeding on berries. It was an impressive spectacle with flocks of over a hundred Redwings and Fieldfares frequently heading west. Among these we managed to find 4 Ring Ouzels.

In the village my Dad spotted a Black Redstart in the back of the Captain's Garden, which disappeared not long after it appeared. In the afternoon we had another look in the village and there were 2 Yellow-browed Warblers and a Siberian Chiffchaff. Here's the counts...

3000+ Redwing
1500+ Fieldfare
250+ Blackbird
50+ Song Thrush
4 Ring Ouzel
5 Woodcock
11 Brambling
4 Blackcap
3 Chiffchaff
1 Siberian Chiffchaff
1 Black Redstart
1 Merlin
40 Twite
2 Yellow-browed Warbler
5 Little Egret
3 Black-tailed Godwit

Siberian Chiffchaff

Fieldfares

Brambling

OBP

After the Torness Booted Warbler disappeared, we decided instead to go and have a look for the Olive-backed Pipit in Sunderland. It turned out this was a great decision, as the Olive-backed Pipit showed brilliantly while we were there, at times down to just 5 metres away. It was a great looking bird as well, and one I've always hoped to see.

A sandy Siberian Lesser Whitethroat was also just across the road, which my Dad heard call like a Great Tit. I didn't spend very long with this bird so my photos of it aren't great. Quite a few Redwings flew over throughout the day.

Olive-backed Pipit

Siberian Lesser Whitethroat record shot

This weekend's birding

After great seabird counts on Friday we headed up to Snab Point for two and a half hours on Saturday afternoon. The highlight was ticking the commonest bird I hadn't seen; Pomarine Skua. One juvenile flew north close in with two Arctic Skuas. The totals were:

1 Pomarine Skua - north
145 Common Scoters
3 Teal
2 Manx Shearwaters
2 Brent Geese - north
4 Arctic Skua-all north
13 Great Skua
2 Velvet Scoter - north
1 Great Northern Diver - north


The weather forecast looked like it might bring down some migrants so this morning we went to Holy Island. There were a few birds moving, but we failed to spot anything rare. The highlights were a Great Grey Shrike which sat on a bush near the harbour for a few minutes and a couple of Mealy Redpolls which showed extremely well on the Crooked Lonnen. The full totals at Holy Islands were:

30+ Goldcrest
45+ Redwing
2 Woodcock
10+ Song Thrush
20+ Chiffchaff
2 Mistle Thrush
2 Fieldfare
6+ Great Spotted Woodpecker
2 Mealy Redpoll
4 Brambling
3 Siskin
1 Great Grey Shrike
2 Grey Plover
2 Black-tailed Godwit

Mealy Redpoll

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Great Grey Shrike record shot