Other birds included a Waxwing, Short-eared Owl and a couple of Yellowhammers.
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| Barred Warbler |
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| Short-eared Owl |
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| Unusual Redwing |
Monday, 29 October 2018
Showy Barred Warbler!
Today we were up on Holy Island, and on the whole it was a bit quiet, but an incredibly showy Barred Warbler at Chare Ends made our effort worth it.
Other birds included a Waxwing, Short-eared Owl and a couple of Yellowhammers.
Other birds included a Waxwing, Short-eared Owl and a couple of Yellowhammers.
Sunday, 28 October 2018
An exciting seawatch...
Yesterday we spent around seven hours at Church Point, Newbiggin. My target for the day was Pomarine Skuas and we sat through thunderstorms and hail without success. We did manage a nice selection of birds including a Little Auk, Red-necked Grebe and Sooty Shearwater, as well as 4 Scaup among large numbers of wildfowl. Birds in off included a Short-eared Owl and Woodcock.
Feeling a little bit frustrated about the lack of Poms, we decided to head back out this morning, and almost immediately we realised we were in for a better day. 3 superb Pomarine Skuas flew north inside the first ten minutes along with several Little Auks.
Over the next five hours or so, we had another 2 Pomarine Skuas including one superb adult very close in, and at 11:10 I picked up a Leach's Petrel going north about half way out. This was a lifer for me and a bird I've been wanting to see for a long time! Great stuff!
Here's some selected counts 07:15-11:40...
1 Leach's Petrel
5 Pomarine Skuas
37 Little Auk
24 Velvet Scoter
11 Manx Shearwater
1 Sooty Shearwater
6 Great Northern Diver
1 Black-throated Diver
25 Long-tailed Duck
1 Great Skua
Feeling a little bit frustrated about the lack of Poms, we decided to head back out this morning, and almost immediately we realised we were in for a better day. 3 superb Pomarine Skuas flew north inside the first ten minutes along with several Little Auks.
Over the next five hours or so, we had another 2 Pomarine Skuas including one superb adult very close in, and at 11:10 I picked up a Leach's Petrel going north about half way out. This was a lifer for me and a bird I've been wanting to see for a long time! Great stuff!
Here's some selected counts 07:15-11:40...
1 Leach's Petrel
5 Pomarine Skuas
37 Little Auk
24 Velvet Scoter
11 Manx Shearwater
1 Sooty Shearwater
6 Great Northern Diver
1 Black-throated Diver
25 Long-tailed Duck
1 Great Skua
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| Pomarine Skua |
Sunday, 21 October 2018
Across the Tyne...
We headed (just!) south of the Tyne this morning to Jarrow where we hoped to see the juvenile Spotted Sandpiper which has been there for the past few days.
On arrival the bird was showing nicely on the muddy banks of the River Don just below the car park, and over the next couple of hours it showed really nicely, walking past us just five metres away...
On arrival the bird was showing nicely on the muddy banks of the River Don just below the car park, and over the next couple of hours it showed really nicely, walking past us just five metres away...
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| Spotted Sandpiper |
Friday, 19 October 2018
On the list at last!
After some near misses in the past, me and my dad headed straight to Haughton Strother Gravel Pits this evening hoping to catch up with the two Gull-billed Terns and add them to our British and county lists.
On arrival they were sat on the rocky island with the gulls and lapwings, and after a while took off and started feeding over the nearby fields. The light was fading by this point and combined with the distance to make my attempts at photos pretty poor!
Tuesday, 16 October 2018
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
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
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| Yellow-browed Warblers in Holy Island village |
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| Yellow-browed Warbler at Druridge Pools |
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| Snow Bunting |
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| Lesser Whitethroat |
Friday, 12 October 2018
Holy Island
With the morning free, I decided to head up to Holy Island today with the hope of seeing the Woodlark along with its supporting cast.
In the end there was no sign of the lark but it was still an enjoyable few hours before I had to head to school. The best bits included...
3+ Yellow-browed Warbler
1 Ring Ouzel
3 Chiffchaff
1 Mealy Redpoll
1 Yellowhammer
1 Snow Bunting
1 Treecreeper
1 Long-eared Owl
In the end there was no sign of the lark but it was still an enjoyable few hours before I had to head to school. The best bits included...
3+ Yellow-browed Warbler
1 Ring Ouzel
3 Chiffchaff
1 Mealy Redpoll
1 Yellowhammer
1 Snow Bunting
1 Treecreeper
1 Long-eared Owl
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| Very confiding Snow Bunting on the Crooked Lonnen |
Sunday, 23 September 2018
More open day birding...
Yesterday we were at another university open day - this time in Edinburgh - and the fact we drove there meant that we could do some birding afterwards...
Musselburgh was our first port of call as we hoped to improve on our views of the White-winged Scoter from the spring. When we first arrived it wasn't looking great as no one on site had seen it, despite good conditions, though I did pick up a Red-necked Grebe in one of the Velvet flocks. We walked further east along the sea wall and eventually my dad located the drake American White-winged Scoter among some more Velvets. We watched the bird for quite a while, and it came closer and closer as time went on. By the time we left we had had some really good scope views.
We also estimated that there were 100+ Velvet Scoters offshore, as well as similar numbers of Red-breasted Mergansers including one very large group, and a single Arctic Skua flew west.
After finishing at Musselburgh we drove a short distance south down the A1 and arrived at Barns Ness. As we were driving down the approach road we saw a couple of birders scoping White Sands Quarry from the north side so joined them and were soon were onto the Buff-breasted Sandpiper on the south shore. The views were very distant but still distinctive.
The light was starting to go now, but we continued down towards the lighthouse and joined a small crowd admiring the first-winter Woodchat Shrike. It wasn't doing much this late on in the day, but at one point it did fly round and land right in front of me and my dad. A nice way to round off an excellent afternoon!
Musselburgh was our first port of call as we hoped to improve on our views of the White-winged Scoter from the spring. When we first arrived it wasn't looking great as no one on site had seen it, despite good conditions, though I did pick up a Red-necked Grebe in one of the Velvet flocks. We walked further east along the sea wall and eventually my dad located the drake American White-winged Scoter among some more Velvets. We watched the bird for quite a while, and it came closer and closer as time went on. By the time we left we had had some really good scope views.
We also estimated that there were 100+ Velvet Scoters offshore, as well as similar numbers of Red-breasted Mergansers including one very large group, and a single Arctic Skua flew west.
After finishing at Musselburgh we drove a short distance south down the A1 and arrived at Barns Ness. As we were driving down the approach road we saw a couple of birders scoping White Sands Quarry from the north side so joined them and were soon were onto the Buff-breasted Sandpiper on the south shore. The views were very distant but still distinctive.
The light was starting to go now, but we continued down towards the lighthouse and joined a small crowd admiring the first-winter Woodchat Shrike. It wasn't doing much this late on in the day, but at one point it did fly round and land right in front of me and my dad. A nice way to round off an excellent afternoon!
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| Woodchat Shrike |
American White-winged Scoter with Velvet Scoters - video should be viewed at 1080p
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