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

Back in the north...

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

A decent end to October...

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.

Bewick's Swans - videograb hence the poor quality

Crossbills

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)

The good run continues...

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.

Iceland Gull

Pec double

I mentioned to my dad as we were leaving home today that I'd like to find a Pec Sand in the area as there had been quite a few reports from other counties recently, although didn't actually have very much hope...

Our first stop was Hauxley where a few hours produced a good count of at least 108 Black-tailed Godwits, as well as 2 Ruff, a Common Sandpiper and a Knot among the more usual waders. The Estuary at Amble held 77 Black-tailed Godwits which included a lot more adults than at Hauxley, so it is possible that there are some very large numbers in the area. One was colour-ringed, and a Kingfisher and 6 Goosanders gave good views, while the injured Whooper Swan was visible towards Warkworth.

Next we headed to Druridge Pools and were pleased to see our first juvenile Curlew Sandpiper of the year when we arrived, as well as a Greenshank, 5 Ruff and 30+ Dunlin. We walked around to the south facing hide and gave it about twenty minutes. We were just getting ready to move on when I decided to have a last scan of the far edge looking back towards the screen.

I noticed a bird feeding alongside a Redshank which I thought looked interesting - it was slightly larger than a Dunlin with quite a pot-bellied look and I thought I could see a sharply defined dark chest - although the views were very distant, which combined with the heat haze to make confirming it impossible. I headed back down the path to view from the NE corner but there was no sign.

On reaching the screen again I set the scope and started scanning the Dunlin and was pleased to see a really smart juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper feeding among them. I then realised the bird stood next to it was another Pec Sand! The first time I've seen more than one together, and a very welcome set of bonus points for Patchwork Challenge!

Cresswell was quieter with 8 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Little Egrets and a Yellow Wagtail.

Pectoral Sandpipers - video should be viewed in HD at 720p/1080p

Curlew Sandpiper - video should be viewed in HD at 720p/1080p

Goosander

Stonechats

Willow Warbler

Druridge delivers... again!

After dipping it last night we were really pleased to get some good views of the Spotted Crake at Druridge Pools this morning. It takes me to within just one point of my final Patchwork Challenge score from last year...

Other birds at Druridge Pools recently have included the White-rumped Sandpiper (until a couple of days ago), Green Sandpiper, 90+ Black-tailed Godwits, a few Ruff and lots of Dunlin.

Spotted Crake

Little Stint - photographed at Cresswell and seen at Druridge Pools the same day

Juvenile Garganey

Patch Pec...

Had another trip to the patch yesterday evening, which again proved to be surprisingly successful. Druridge Pools held another nice selection of waders, the best of which was an adult Pectoral Sandpiper. Four different Wood Sandpipers were visible at the same time, while other waders included a Little Ringed Plover, Ruff and 16 Black-tailed Godwit.

Other highlights included three species of owl, a stunning adult summer Little Gull, 4 flyover Whimbrels and a couple of Arctic Skuas.

Over the past couple of nights I have also photographed some great displays of noctilucent clouds, and I've attached my best efforts below...

Pectoral Sandpiper - best viewed in HD at 720p/1080p

Noctilucent clouds

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

Recent photos...

Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwits at Cresswell.

Wood Warbler

Female Blue-headed Wagtail

Little Gull

Spoonbill

Little Owl

Garganey

Male Ruff

Broad-bodied Chaser