Back in business...

After restrictions were loosened earlier in the week I was keen to get back out to Druridge. I visited both Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, with the latter being especially enjoyable with a nice selection of migrants around...

My first stop on Tuesday was at the north end of Cresswell Pond. A couple of smart male Wheatears were immediately on view, and a group of 6 Barnacle Geese were among the Pink-feet in the field north-west of the causeway. A scan of the rest of the pond from the north end provided a nice surprise in the form a pair of Garganey snoozing in the south-west corner, although, despite eventually going for a swim, remained out of view from the hide. 

Heading north to Druridge Pools, a look from the south-facing hide provided some nice views of the Water Pipit seen earlier in the day. A smart individual, starting to show some pink and blue tones to its plumage. Some of the 23 Black-tailed Godwits present were also starting to show some summer plumage, and my first Little Ringed Plover of the year was nice to see. 

Continuing to East Chevington, the number of Sand Martins feeding over the North Pool was impressive, perhaps numbering as many as 200, and I eventually managed to pick out a Swallow. A female Scaup was on the pool, while a lone Whooper Swan dropped into roost. I noticed that the sea was extremely calm so decided to have a scan from the dunes. This proved to be a good decision as a Black-throated Diver was offshore, and as many as 54 Red-throated Divers and 16 Red-breasted Mergansers were visible on the glassy water. Three more Wheatears were a nice way to round Tuesday off. 

On Wednesday a sea fret had arrived, giving a much more wintery feel to the weather. The highlight was a group of 44 Whooper Swans on Cresswell Pond, as well as a couple of Sandwich Terns flying over.

Water Pipit

Whooper Swan coming into land at East Chevington

Sand Martins

Swallow

Whooper Swans on Cresswell Pond

A few phonescoped photos...

Wheatear

Scaup

Distant Garganey!

Lockdown update...

Just realised it's nearly two months since my last post on here so here's a little update on my limited birding since the lockdown started a few weeks ago...

We are lucky to live within walking distance of Bothal Pond, so a two or three times a week we are heading there on our daily walk to see what's going on. Two female Scaup have been present throughout and other highlights have included a flyover Marsh Harrier, Egyptian Goose, Black-tailed Godwit and Wheatears.

Otherwise, we have also been having a few walks around the woodland and farmland close to home. Probably my favourite find so far has been Willow Tits in what I think is a new site for the declining species. We've also seen variety of other common species, and in a way it's been nice to take the chance to appreciate these.

Spending more time at home has led to three firsts for the garden so far: nocmig Common Scoter, flyover Goosanders and, most excitingly, a Red Kite yesterday afternoon - just my third in Northumberland.

Here's a few of my photos taken during lockdown so far, and I'll try to post any more I take over the coming weeks...

Willow Tits

Scaup

Male and female Grey Wagtails

Willow Warbler

Chiffchaff

Common Buzzard

Red Kite - a panicked record shot through my bedroom window!

Comma

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

Another catch up...

Not much time for words again, so here's a selection of videos and images from the last few weeks...

Videograbs of one of two Honey Buzzards at Wykeham Forest. Also seen were Goshawks, Kestrels, Common Buzzards and a juvenile Marsh Harrier. See the video here. 

Marsh Tit near Scarborough

Videograb of an Osprey at Rutland Water. Other Birdfair birding highlights included Red-necked Phalarope and Great White Egret. 

Wood and Common Sandpipers from Druridge Pools

Phonescoped shot of one of two Scaup back at Chevington today (29th). 2 Spotted Redshank were here on the 27th. 

Sabine's Gull in North Yorkshire...

A visit to relatives in Yorkshire yesterday afternoon also gave us the chance to catch up with the first-summer Sabine's Gull at the nearby Nosterfield reserve. For most of the time it was giving very close views on Kiln Lake, although the light was very poor, and it did occasionally fly around...

Other wildlife seen around the reserve included a Scaup, Avocets, Black-tailed Skimmers, an Emperor Dragonfly and both Purple and White-letter Hairstreaks...

First-summer Sabine's Gull

Purple Hairstreak

Wood Sandpiper at Druridge Pools on Tuesday evening - video best viewed in HD at 720p/1080p

Patch Ring-neck!

After hearing that was no sign of the Ring-necked Duck at Hauxley this morning we decided to head to Chevington instead as there was perhaps a chance the bird would have relocated there instead of back to the USA...

A few minutes later I was scanning the Tufties and there was a really smart drake Ring-necked Duck! Not only a patch tick but a county tick for me as well! Other birds around this morning included 20 Whooper Swans, 12 Scaup (5 on south pool), 7 Red-breasted Mergansers, the Slavonian Grebe and a few more Pochards and Tufted Ducks than usual.

Ring-necked Duck - with the Slav Grebe in photo 3!

Spring underway...

Despite the cold, drizzly and dark weather yesterday morning, there were a few signs that spring is finally getting underway...

On arrival at Chevington the rain had forced 8 Sand Martins low over the pool. The Slavonian Grebe was still present on the pool along with 8 Scaup, but it seemed the Pacific Diver had finally moved off. A female Goosander had joined the 7 Red-breasted Mergansers and was my first of the year on the patch.

Whooper Swans were around in good numbers with 128 in the south pool and another 70 in a field just to the south-west. A walk down to the burn mouth produced 4 Shore Larks and a flyover Twite and Snow Bunting, while 3 Velvet Scoters were showing pretty well quite close offshore.

Other birds seen recently include 5 Avocets at Cresswell, several Chiffchaffs, 3 Scaup at Bothal Pond and a Short-eared Owl and 61 Whooper Swans at Longhirst Flash last weekend. My dad had a male Wheatear here this afternoon.

Shore Lark

Goosander with 3 Red-breasted Mergansers

Goosander

Velvet Scoter record shot!

Catch up...

A catch up blog post today as increasing amounts of school work recently and a fractured wrist have left me with less time for editing photos and writing blog posts...

Greenland White-fronted Goose with the PFG south of Cresswell Pond yesterday afternoon, along with 8 Eurasians. 4 more Greenlands were at Longhirst as well as another 8 Eurasian White-fronts.

Iceland Gull in poor light at North Shields on the 12th.

Two juvenile Glaucous Gulls also at NSFQ...

Along with the impressive escaped falcon.

One of three Scaup at Linton Pond this afternoon.

'Continental' (sinensis) Cormorant phonescoped at Linton Pond.

Waxwings!