Still going...

 It's been over a month since my last blog post and, while still largely limited in where I can go, it's been another decent month for local birding. Here are some of the best bits since mid-February, the first two taken with my DSLR...

Woodcock during the cold spell in mid-February

Tawny Owl

And some phonescoped pics of varying quality...

The really smart drake Bufflehead at Cresswell Pond 

Bothal Pond's first Red-necked Grebe

Tundra Bean Goose with the Pink-feet at Longhirst Flash...

...later joined by a group of 7 Russian White-fronted Geese

Lockdown images

Here are a few of my highlights from the current lockdown (some taken with my DSLR and some phonescoped). It has been surprisingly productive despite having not been outside the five mile radius of my house!

Todd's Canada Goose with Pink-feet in the fields near Longhirst Flash on the 29th of January - likely the same bird that I found at Hadston in December. I didn't expect to come across it again!

A nice juvenile Iceland Gull along with the returning Hooded Crow near the entrance to Linton Pond this morning. 

One of at least six Twite with the Linnets at West Shield Hill.

Dipper

Female Goosander

Recent images

Shore Larks at Buston Links

Eurasian White-fronted Goose at Hesmcott Hill

Pink-footed Geese at Cresswell

Hooded Crow at Linton

A day on Teesside...

Yesterday me and my dad fancied a change of scene. A few visits to the patch recently have proved rather quiet so we decided to have a day down on Teesside.

Our main aim was to get better views of the Bean Geese, so we headed there first. We were the first there so the 6 Taiga Bean Geese were close to the road and we were able to get some really good views from the car. They had been joined by a Pink-footed Goose but there was no sign of the Tundras.

While the weather was still good, we drove round to Dorman's Pool. We gave it a while in the top car park but there was no sign of the Bearded Tits. Down at the hide, the drake Green-winged Teal was showing well on the grass in front, even if the light was a bit difficult.

Saltholme also provided a nice selection of birds. One Long-eared Owl was visible from the viewing platform, and the ringtail Hen Harrier showed nicely from the Haverton Viewpoint along with a Short-eared Owl. 3 Pintail and several Little Egret were also around the reserve.

Back at Seaton Common, the 6 Taiga Bean Geese had been joined by the 2 Tundra Bean Geese but unfortunately they were now staying at the back of the field, so photos were impossible with the poor light.

Taiga Bean Geese - with a Pink-footed Goose in the last photo.

Green-winged Teal

Greenfinch - it was good to see these in decent numbers around the RSPB reserve. 

Patch awesomeness!

With a sunny, relatively warm morning we decided to have our fourth attempt at seeing or at least hearing the Cetti's Warbler which had been singing at Chevingtonfor the last few days...

We arrived at the hide in the SE corner of the north pool and sure enough the Cetti's Warbler was singing from the reeds. My dad picked up a Bittern flying above the reeds which I managed to get onto just as a gull forced it to land in the reeds. Our first of two juvenile Marsh Harriers of the morning also appeared over the reeds and a Grey Plover flew over our heads calling.

We were all stood listening to the Cetti's when a rolling 'kwip' came from above us. In my head I thought to myself that that sounded a lot like a Bee-eater but this was October in Northumberland. I looked up just in case and got a bit of a shock when I saw the distinctive undulating flight and spiky shape of a Bee-eater overhead. My dad also got onto the bird at this point and we called it to get the other birders onto it.

Thankfully everyone was quickly onto the Bee-eater when I suddenly realised there was another a short way behind it. Wow.

I got them in my scope and watched them for perhaps four or five minutes as they made their way north. They were just silhouettes for the most of the time, but every now and again the sun caught their plumage as they banked, revealing the black-bordered orange underwing, yellow throat and bright green upperparts of the two juvenile Bee-eaters.

All eight birders were left feeling a bit incredulous that we'd just seen two Bee-eaters fly over East Chevington in the middle of October!

* Check out Stewart Sexton's blog for his great account of the days events, complete with sketches here. The nine birders who saw the Bee-eaters were JF, TF, ADMc, SS, JWR, AC, BB, GW, CB.

Everything else was slightly forgotten about although a juvenile Black Tern gave a brief flyby and Peregrine was over Druridge.

PWC 2017
Species: 180
Points: 271

It's already a record year for me doing Patchwork Challenge, could it get any better..?

Pink-footed Geese heading south

The juvenile Red-necked Phalarope also remains at Druridge Pools.

Goose-fest 300...

We headed out the house this morning with the intention of seeing my 300th species for the county. Our target was the Richardson's Cackling Goose in Budle Bay although we weren't too hopeful on the way as we'd only heard negative news so far...

When we arrived the difficulty of the task was apparent immediately. There were a minimum of 5000 Barnacle Geese and 2000 Pink-footed Geese and they were all very distant from the Harper's Heugh viewpoint. Eventually though a Canada-type was picked up asleep on the estuary. 

Once it finally woke up it was hard to tell whether it was the Cackling or Todd's due to the extreme distance. However, this was made much easier when another birder picked up the Richardson's Cackling Goose in a much closer flock of Barnacles in one if the fields. It was quite distinctive when views were reasonable. Also at this point the Todd's Canada Goose woke up and walked around a bit.

Over the next hour or two the Cackling Goose returned to the bay before once again flying into the fields. My dad also picked up another Todd's Canada Goose in the bay feeding alongside a Greylag.

All photos and videos below were taken by S. Clifton and used here with permission. The videos should be viewed in HD...

Richardson's Cackling Goose - note how it is a similar size to the Barnacles, with a short neck, compact shape, square-looking head and a short bill.

The first Todd's Canada Goose - very distant on the mudflats, this was the smaller of the two Todd's though still noticebly bigger than the Barnacle. It's rear end was quite long, while it's neck appeared shorter than our 'native' Canadas. The breast also appeared quite dark. 

Todd's Canada Goose number two - the larger of the two birds, its shape looked more similar to our normal Canada Geese, although it was visibly smaller than the nearby Greylag. British Canadas are almost always larger than Greylags. 

And a video of each bird...

On the way home the Red-necked Phalarope at Druridge while a Slavonian Grebe and Velvet Scoter were off Chevington burn mouth. 

A return to the patch...

Headed back to the patch this morning, and it wasn't as big a reality shock as we were expecting, with a nice selection of spring birds around. First up were the 2 Crane at Longhirst Flash, which provided me with my best views of this species yet. A really nice start!

Up to Chevington where it was apparent that there was quite a few more summer migrants than when were last here three weeks ago. 3+ Grasshopper Warblers and 2 Sedge Warblers were singing from the usual areas, Sandwich Terns were in abundance offshore, 8 Common Terns were on the north pool, and a Wheatear and a White Wagtail were at the burn mouth. 

We called in at the coastal path at Hauxley to look for the recent Green-winged Teal, but unfortunately there was no sign, although a group of 26 Whimbrel provided some compensation. A lone Pink-footed Goose was visible on the reserve.

Heading back south, just my second ever Northumbs Hooded Crow was showing nicely in the field opposite the entrance to Druridge Pools, while a Grasshopper Warbler was singing from the fence line. 3 Ruff, 8 Black-tailed Godwits, the Eurasian White-fronted Goose and 3 Pintail were on the Budge fields.

Cranes

Whimbrel

Hooded Crow

White Wagtail

American double...

With news of a Baird's Sandpiper turning up at Boulmer last night, we headed straight there this morning, at least once we'd taken delivery of  a new wardrobe!

On the way there we were disappointed to hear that it had been flushed by a Peregrine however on arrival in the car park we were told that it was back. We started walking along the path towards its favoured stretch of beach when a microlite came over, flushing all the birds again.

Thankfully it wasn't long until the Dunlin starting coming back in, and soon the juvenile Baird's Sandpiper had joined them. We enjoyed some great scope views of before the Peregrine returned scaring off all the birds again and the Baird's didn't return while we were there. I was really pleased to add this species to my British list after spending a whole day one step behind a Baird's Sand on Teesside in 2012. Other birds seen in the area included 4 Pale-bellied Brent Geese flying north and 3 Mediterranean Gulls.

We still had some time to spare so headed south to the patch in Druridge Bay for a few hours. The Spotted Redshank which we had missed last weekend was back on the Budge Fields along with 3 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Ruff, a Greenshank, Little Egret and at least 500 Pink-footed Geese.

Finally we called in at the north pool at Chevington. Initially I was most interested in the number of Pintail, with at least 22 present today, but then I picked up a wader feeding on small patch of mud on the west side and realised it was a juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper - our second american wader of the day. A Wood Sandpiper then appeared feeding alongside it and a Scaup was on the water.

The batteries in my digiscoping camera were all dead when I took it out of the bag this morning, so I had to resort to phonescoping to get any photos.

PWC 2016
Species: 160
Points: 216

Baird's Sandpiper

Video best viewed in HD at 1080p

Pectoral Sandpiper - the worst photo I've ever put on my blog?? Although I think with the help of the video you can just about see what it is!?

Peregrine hunting waders (taken with the DSLR)

Spring is underway...

Another trip to the bay this afternoon where the birding was finally starting to feel a bit like spring...

At Druridge Pools one of the first birds I looked at from the Budge Screen was a stunning adult Little Gull in full summer plumage. The waders present included 3 Ruff, 4 Black-tailed Godwit and a Dunlin. Also from the screen were 2 Pintail, 2 Mediterranean Gulls and a Wheatear while a flock of c. 65 Pink-footed Geese flew over several times.

A look from the north end of Cresswell Pond failed to produce any wagtails but a look towards the west spit revealed 8 Avocets and a surprise Green Sandpiper feeding in the south-west corner. I don't think I've ever seen one on the coast at this time of the year before...

After parking in Druridge Bay Country Park we walked down to the south end of East Chevington where a Sedge Warbler was singing in the reeds and 3 Marsh Harriers (2 males) were flying about. The north pool held the female Scaup again along with a smart White Wagtail and 5 Common Terns.

While driving through the Country Park on our way out my dad saw 8 Common Crossbills land in the trees which were very confiding at times. A Blackcap was singing nearby.

Bothal Pond on the way home failed to produce anything more unusual than another White Wagtail.

Crossbills

Little Gull

Also today Willow Warblers and/or Chiffchaffs seemed to be singing from every patch of trees and a steady northwards passage of Swallows was obvious...