Broad-bill and Red-spots...

With such a quiet spring, we were pretty looking forward to Saturday and the promising weather charts. There's really only one place we go when the conditions look like they did - Holy Island.

We arrived on the island for around 7am, and started at Chare Ends. It was immediately apparent that the fall of common migrants we'd hoped for had not taken place, and in fact, we didn't see a single migrant for our first hour and a half on the island!

Things picked up when we got word of a Bluethroat at the Excavations. We were nearby so headed straight there. When we reached the area, the bird had gone to ground, but after a bit of searching, the male Red-spotted Bluethroat reappeared and showed nicely if briefly.

We continued on and made our way towards the Lough, picking up a Cuckoo and Spotted Flycatcher on the way. On reaching the bushes, a smart male Pied Flycatcher was sat on the fence along with a Redstart. Two showy Lesser Whitethroats were in the bushes by the hide.

The Crooked and Straight Lonnens provided a further Redstart, Pied Flycatcher and a couple of male Whinchats. It felt like there was more to be found so (unusually for us) we decided to stay on the island over the high tide and this proved to be a good decision!

Next, we decided to head to Snipe Point where another male Red-spotted Bluethroat had been found. This bird proved much more cooperative, giving superb views as it sang from a dead log on the beach and nearby dunes.

Just after we left this bird, we saw a message from RA about a Broad-billed Sandpiper he'd found on the north shore near the Snook. This is a bit of bogey bird for me having missed them at Druridge, Teesside and North Yorkshire so I got there as quickly as possible.

Having survived the 800 metre run across the sand, we arrived just in time to look through the finder's scope at the Broad-billed Sandpiper before all the waders started to move around with the incoming tide, and the Sandpiper disappeared. Over the next two and a half hours, it was looking unlikely that we would get any better views, but out of nowhere it appeared right in front of the three of us still scanning. We were treated to excellent and prolonged views down to just 15 metres at times  (it was so close we could identify it by the naked eye!!) before it took off and flew north, and it is yet to be seen again. A stunning end to an excellent day!

Broad-billed Sandpiper - video should be viewed in HD at 1080p

Red-spotted Bluethroat - stunning male at Snipe Point

Red-spotted Bluethroat - the other male at the Excavations. Notice the white streaking behind its left eye and much more intense orange breast band compared to the Excavations bird. 

Pied Flycatcher

Lesser Whitethroat

Whinchat - male.

Sanderling

Just a quick note, my A-levels are rapidly approaching so my blog updates may be a bit sparse over the next month or so. I do have plenty of photos from this spring to go through over the summer, which will appear on here at some point. These include more from Fuerteventura, Black-necked Grebes and butterflies from Yorkshire...

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 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

Finally feels like spring!

With a much improved weather forecast yesterday morning we decided to have a family trip to the Harthope Valley, one of my favourite locations to combine birding and a family picnic!

We only stayed around the Hawsen Burn but still saw a nice selection of birds. Here's the highlights...

1 Cuckoo
10+ Whinchat
1 Wheatear
3+ Grey Wagtail
1 Redstart
2 Ring Ouzel
2+  Raven

We were also told about a couple of male Adders which gave great views in among some rocks.

After getting home we headed to Big Waters to try and catch up with a few of the influx of Black Terns. Sure enough a group of 10 stunning adult Black Terns we feeding over the lake and showed well in the afternoon sun. These were my first Black Terns which weren't autumn juveniles. I had to make do with record shots of the Terns as they were slightly too far away for the DSLR and I had to resort to digiscoping...

Adder

Whinchats - the males never cam close!

Singing male Ring Ouzel

Chaffinch

Black Terns - digiscoping terns isn't easy!

Patching

Cuckoo was our target species this morning, and on our first stop of the morning at Druridge Pools 2 Cuckoos were seen, one giving super views from the south-facing hide. 7 Black-tailed Godwits were also present here, and a Yellow Wagtail dropped in.

We decided to have a seawatch off Druridge Pools which resulted in 5 Manx Shearwaters and a Little Gull passing north.

Chevington was quiet with a couple of Spoonbills again on the North Pool along with a pair of Little Gulls. At least 20 Lesser Butterfly Orchids were also on the reserve with plenty of Northern Marsh Orchids as well.

PWC 15
Species: 152
Points: 200

Cuckoo

Meadow Pipit

Lesser Butterfly Orchid

Coral Root Orchid in Newcastle

Dissapointing...

With plenty of scarce migrants down south and in Durham we arrived at Holy Island hoping that we might be able to find one. Despite some thorough searching we could turn up nothing more interesting than 3 Pied Flycatchers and a smart juvenile Cuckoo. Here's the counts...

3 Robin
10 Willow Warbler
1 Cuckoo
3 Pied Flycatchers
1 Chiffchaff
3 Little Egret
11 Whimbrel
1 Peregrine

On the way home we had a quick look at North Charlton Flash where the adult Pectoral Sandpiper showed nicely along with 17 Ruff and a juvenile Little Ringed Plover.

Pectoral Sandpiper

Cuckoo

Recent sightings

On Monday we decided to have a look at East Cramlington Pond for dragonflies. There were plenty on the wing with at least 10 Ruddy Darters being the highlight. Plenty of Azure, Emerald and Blue-tailed Damselflies were also there.

Later in the day I had a cricket match in Corbridge, so we took the opportunity to have a look in Slaley Forest for Nightjars. Sure enough we heard and saw a couple of Nightjars, as well as Woodcocks and a Cuckoo. Barn and Long-eared Owls were also in the area.

At Cresswell on Tuesday there was: a Ruff, a Greenshank, 2 Common Sandpipers, 2 Little Egrets, 3 Knot, 6 Avocet, a Whimbrel and 10 Black-tailed Godwits. A Wood Sandpiper was on my patch, Bothal Pond.

Ruddy Darters

Emerald Damselfly

Azure Damselfly

Suffolk - Days 1 & 2

We started our week in Suffolk with a walk out to North Warren yesterday evening. At first glance 3 Marsh Harriers were visible along with a Harris Hawk! It wasn't long before we picked up our first Hobby of the trip. A bit more walking resulted in a singing Cetti's Warbler, a Cuckoo and a 'booming' Bittern. Later on there was at least 9 Hobbies, some of which showed really well. Unfortunately it was just a bit to dark for photos.

After an early start we headed out to one of the heaths hoping that we might get lucky and see a Woodlark. We weren't expecting it to be easy, as they don't normally sing at this time of year, but we were surprised to find it quite easy. At first 2 birds flew over song flighting, and then another two Woodlarks flying across the heath, which landed in a tree very close by. It was nice to finally add Woodlark to my British list. A Cuckoo was also there as well as a couple of calling Green Woodpeckers.

Next we decided to have a quick look at Minsmere, which provided us with nice views of 3 Bitterns, a Cetti's Warbler (plus others singing), 2 Hobby and a couple of Marsh Harriers.

Woodlarks

Hobbies