Waders, Wryneck and a Duck

More easterly winds and a bit of rain over Friday night made us think that it might be worth a look at Low Newton for migrants. It soon became apparent that there weren't many there, so we went to have a look at the scrapes. The number of waders there was impressive, best of all were the Ruff. Here's the highlights...

104 Ruff !
9 Curlew Sandpipers
2 Little Stints
16 Black-tailed Godwits

Also in the area were...

1 Peregrine
1 Willow Tit
4 Wheatear
2 Blackcap
4 Yellow Wagtail
1 Whimbrel

On the way home we stopped in at Castle Island to have a look at the reported Blue-winged Teal. It was still present and showed nicely on the ground and in flight. A hybrid hasn't been completely eliminated yet. There were a few more wader at Castle Island...

1 Spotted Redshank
3 Greenshank
1 Little Egret
5 Ruff
5 Black-tailed Godwit

1 Kingfisher

Note there is no white trailing edge, it's only a highlight in the last photo.

On Sunday I had a cricket match in Alnmouth, so we stopped for an hour at Hadston to try and see the Wryneck. At first it was quite skulking in the long grass, but it then flew up into a nearby bush and gave some great views. Wrynecks are surely one of my favourite birds!

Wryneck

Showy Little Stints...

We set off to Cresswell this morning hoping to catch up with the Little Stints which have been there recently. We arrived to hear that they had both been flushed. A juvenile Curlew Sandpiper was however feeding on the mud infront of the hide.

1 Curlew Sandpiper
2 Little Egret
1 Ruff
3 Black-tailed Godwit
1 Common Sandpiper
1 Turnstone

After we had looked around some of the sites (where the highlights were 10 Ruff at Druridge Pools and a Pintail at Chevington) we drove past Cresswell again and saw some photographers on the causeway. We went and joined them and sure enough there was the 2 Little Stints walking around the mud less than four metres away.

Little Stints

Dunlin

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

Water Vole...

A few photos of a Water Vole at Slimbridge over the weekend...

Water Vole

A Great seawatch!

We arrived at Newbiggin at 11:30, in the hopes of a good seawatch. It started off well with a steady passage of Manx Shearwaters. I was gradually scanning south and then out of nowhere a Great Shearwater flew into view. My Dad was soon onto the bird, which steadily moved north at really close range, closer than all the Manx Shearwaters!

We had fantastic views and it was surely one of my best birding moments! We put the news out soon and were pleased to hear that it was also seen from Snab Point, Beadnell and The Farne Islands as it made its way north.

Totals over the four and a half hours we were there:

1 Great Shearwater

2 Sooty Shearwater - one gave very nice views.

205 Manx Shearwater

2 Great Skua

5 Arctic Skua

7 Teal

9 Common Scoter

2 Red-throated Diver

1 Whimbrel

3 Golden Plover

A Wheatear was also on the cliffs and a Grey Seal and Harbour Porpoise was offshore.

A bit quiet...

We started off this morning with an hour and a half sea watch off Snab Point this morning where the highlight was a Black Tern flying north, and 10 Manx Shearwaters and an Arctic Skua also flew past, and a Ruff over the car park.

Cresswell was the quietest it's been for us in the past few weeks with no more than a Ruff, 2 Little Egrets and 2 Common Sandpipers. 2 Greenshanks, 7+ Ruff and a Little Egret was at Druridge Pools, as was a Stoat.

There was nothing to report from Hauxley, and 3 Mediterranean Gulls were at Bothal Pond; my highest count from there. Another Greenshank and 6 more Ruff were also at Bothal.

Ruff

Greenshank

Caspian Gull

So after a failed attempt at seeing the Amble Caspian Gull yesterday, we set off this morning to have another look. It had already been reported so things were looking up. That was until we got there. There was hardly any big gulls in sight around the harbour.

Next to Warkworth Gut, where it was the same there. Through the scope we could see a few big gulls around the harbour again, so back we went. This time almost as soon as we got there we were waved over by another birder, and sure enough there was the striking adult Caspian Gull (I can't see any reason why it isn't one, but I'm not an expert! For now at least it's on my Northumberland list).

It performed well for the hour or so, coming to bread we threw in occasionally, and landing very close by at one point.

At Cresswell the adult Stilt Sandpiper was still on the west shore, and a juvenile Spotted Redshank put in a brief appearance before flying north. Also at Cresswell there was a couple of Mediterranean Gulls, a juvenile Little Ringed Plover, adult Ruff, 3 Common Sandpipers, 2 juvenile Black-tailed Godwits.

Caspian Gull

Stilt Sandpiper

Mediterranean Gulls

Ruff at Hauxley, 11th