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...

Back again...

On Sunday we planned to spend the morning on the patch. We were at Druridge Pools just long enough to find a Yellow-browed Warbler in the pine plantation before some good birds were reported from Beal and Holy Island.

We decided to head up there and the first couple of hours proved frustrating with no sign of the scarcities at Beal. We moved onto the island where things did pick up, with the best birds including 7 Yellow-browed Warblers and the incredibly confiding Snow Bunting still on the Crooked Lonnen. The counts included the following...

7 Yellow-browed Warbler
1 Ring Ouzel
1 Pied Flycatcher
1 Redstart
5 Chiffchaff
2 Willow Warbler
1 Lesser Whitethroat
1 Wheatear
40+ Brambling
1 Snow Bunting
1 Swallow 
1 Short-eared Owl

Yellow-browed Warblers in Holy Island village

Yellow-browed Warbler at Druridge Pools

Snow Bunting

Lesser Whitethroat

Triple flycatchers...

Holy Island was our destination this morning, and the highlight was managing my first-ever self found Red-breasted Flycatcher on the Snook - a bird which proved a bit elusive, but did show well with patience.

At Snook House the Icterine Warbler appeared again for us, first in the plantation and then singing in the house's garden. A Pied Flycatcher was also in the Snook plantation, while a Spotted Flycatcher in the pines was our third flycatcher species of the day.

The rest of the island was quiet, and sadly we had to leave due to other commitments in the afternoon, so we did miss out on a couple of things seen later on, but we were still really pleased with our morning.

Red-breasted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Icterine Warbler - possibly the worst ever photo on my blog!?

Little Bittern!

We had awesome views of the Little Bittern at Waren Mill this evening! After quite a wait, a big thanks to Eric Barnes for relocating it on the river bank just upstream from the bridge at the caravan park. It was a huge relief to see after so much frustration with the Gosforth bird back in 2014.

Earlier in the day we had been at Allen Banks, and saw the usual Pied Flycatchers and Redstarts, even if we didn't manage a Wood Warbler. A brief stop at a surprisingly windy Grindon Lough saw the Long-billed Dowitcher feeding on the close shore. A pretty good day in the end!

Little Bittern

Long-billed Dowitcher record shot!

Mallorca - Birding around Albufereta...

On the morning of day four we decided to have a short look at Albufereta, stopping at the pull in to C'an Cuarrassa on the way.

From the pull in, we were able to look back towards a large hotel and managed to pick up 5+ Spotless Starlings on the roof. Other birds around the small reserve here included a couple of Whinchats and iberiae Yellow Wagtails and our only Meadow Pipit of the trip.

At Albufereta itself a really nice selection of birds included 4 Stone Curlews sat on an island, a Redstart, Pied Flycatcher, Purple Swamphen and 2 more Spotless Starlings sat right alongside a Common Starling. We also got our best views of Booted Eagle of the trip and also had three more flyover Audouin's Gulls.

Spotless Starling - sat with a Common in the second photo.

Booted Eagle being mobbed by a Yellow-legged Gull!

Stone Curlew

Iberian Yellow Wagtail

The view from the watchtower at Albufereta

More Curlew Sands...

Holy Island was our first stop this morning though it was very quiet with just a single Pied Flycatcher and 8 Willow Warblers, so we headed to Druridge Pools.

As soon as we arrived in the Budge Screen it started pouring down although the birds more than made up for the miserable weather. There were 9 Curlew Sandpipers which included an adult in mostly winter plumage as well as 2 Little Stints, 20+ Ruff, 8 Black-tailed Godwit, a Common Sandpiper and a Yellow Wagtail. 6 Knot also made a brief appearance. We're really enjoying having so many waders here.

Pied Flycatcher

Cresswell

A quick trip to Cresswell this afternoon where there was a nice selection of birds behind the hide including a Firecrest, Yellow-browed Warbler, 2 Pied Flycatchers and Chiffchaffs.

Firecrest

Yellow-browed Warbler

Young Stoat at Hadston yesterday

What a day!!

An arrival of migrants on Sunday afternoon meant we were keen to get back up to Holy Island on Monday. Thankfully it did not disappoint!

After an early start, we arrived on the island at half seven. The sun was out and without any wind it was feeling pretty warm already. We started at Chare Ends and our very first bird of the day was a brilliant Wood Warbler in the sycamores, the first time I'd seen one on passage. We had a good feeling about the day at that point!

The rest of the bushes there held good numbers of common migrants. When we reached the willow in between Chare Ends and The Excavations my dad whistled me around to his side of the tree. He'd found an Icterine Warbler! The bird showed well as it made the most of the morning heat. It also shared the willow with 2 Spotted Flycatchers, a Pied Flycatcher, a Garden Warbler and some Willow Warblers.

In a willow near the Excavations I managed my third self-found Wryneck in five days. It was interesting to see it being mobbed by a Willow Warbler. Shortly after my dad found a different Wryneck at Chare Ends. Both birds were quite flighty and failed to provide a good photo opportunity. There was no scarcities at the Straight Lonnen or in the village, but more common migrants kept our spirits up.

By now the number of tourists had built, so we decided to head down to the Snook. At the plantation I got a very brief view of a bird that I was sure was a Barred Warbler. After another hour it didn't show again, but was confirmed later by other observers. There was also 3 Pied Flycatchers, 2 Spotted Flycatchers and 4 Garden Warblers in here.

In the Snook House garden I spotted another Icterine Warbler in the sycamores. A few brief views only of this bird. Just to the west the juvenile Red-backed Shrike was showing. After some fieldcraft and a coating of Pirri-Pirri Birs I got a photo of the Shrike which I'm quite pleased with.

Also on the Snook we missed yet another Icterine Warbler and Wryneck which had been seen by others. 5 Whinchats were perched on a dune slack here. When we came back to the plantation to try and get another view of the Barred Warbler, three birders told us about a Greenish Warbler that they'd found at the Excavations, and showed us a good photo of it. Having only seen about a second of a Greenish Warbler before I successfully persuaded my dad to drive us back into the village.

Once we had legged it through the dunes and reached the Excavations we started searching. Forty minutes later we could only find a single Reed and Willow Warbler, so started to head back to the car. On the way back we noticed a movement in the last willow in the Excavations. Then out popped the Greenish Warbler! This brilliant little bird gave us some great views as it actively moved about in the bushes, and I enjoyed hearing it call once. It took a while to get a photo of it in the open as it never stayed still for very long. By the time I managed the light was starting to fade.

After 11 hours we were completely exhausted but very happy with our day on Holy Island. Here's the full migrant counts...

1 Greenish Warbler
2 Icterine Warbler
1 Barred Warbler
2 Wryneck
1 Red-backed Shrike
1 Wood Warbler
20 Garden Warbler
20 Pied Flycatcher
8 Spotted Flycatcher
4 Redstart
10 Whinchat
39 Willow Warbler
12 Chiffchaff
1 Whitethroat
1 Blackcap
2 Reed Warbler

Greenish Warbler

Red-backed Shrike

Icterine Warbler and Willow Warbler in the willow between Chare Ends and the Excavations.
 

 Icterine Warbler in the garden at Snook House.

Wood Warbler

Spot the Wryneck!

Pied Flycatchers

Redstart

Garden Warbler

Whinchats

Willow Warbler