Wick

Nice to finally catch up with the Warkworth Bewick's swan pair this afternoon, attempt 3... and a decent herd of Whooper too.

A good species in Northumberland, hopefully they'll hang on till the new year.

Dull Day?

Headed north mid morning for a very rough circuit of Druridge Bay.

A brief stop at QEII park, Ashington was rewarding with good numbers of gulls (nothing unusual amonst them), great crested and little grebe, many coot, tufted duck, wigeon, goldeneye and a single whooper swan with the mutes.

The sight of a couple of hundred geese flying off from the West Chevington / Maiden Hall Lake area was not promising, but alas, the main target was still present just west of the "mound"... two bewick's swan. Always tough to get up here, this duo appear to be possibly birds 5 & 6 of the winter, with the Big Waters/Arcot and Ellington bird being two adults. I'd not seen a juvenile quite like this one, the pinkish toned bill was a surprise.

Druridge Bay County Park provided my first smew of the winter - three duck types - all out of camera range.

Onwards to East Chevington and "a missed by a few minutes" bittern made the cold feel ever so slightly colder. The hat and gloves remained nice and warm in the car. A single slavonian grebe frequented the northern part of the north pool, while lake fodder comprised of grey-lag geese, wigeon, tufted duck, a single drake gooseander, cormorant etc.

Pointing the car south towards Cresswell the journey was interrupted by a quick stop near Bells Farm - the pink-footed goose flock were close to the road, and a party of twite (maybe fifty birds) buzzed over the dunes.

An inspection of the goose flock ensued, and much to my surprise, and subsequent fumble into the cars boot, two tundra bean geese were effectively the closest birds to the road!

The clicking of the camera shutter wasn't favoured and the closest group moved into the centre of the field... the photograph below illustrates the darker backed bean geese and thinner white trailing tail tip nicely with the flying pink-foot.

Cresswell was well worth it's visit. Pretty much as soon as I arrived a male pheasant did the decent thing, flushing the jack snipe out of the reeds and onto the sandbank in front of the hide. All too quick for the camera though. Bizarrely the pheasant took a strong dislike to the miniature snipe, and proceeded to ruffle itself up and chase the jack snipe back into the reeds!

Waterfowl were good too... a single drake scaup fed on the pools southern edge, along with tufted duck and some very smart red-breasted merganser and goosander. Early afternoon had completed the triple sawbill fix.

Over the dunes two short-eared owl had been observed from the hide - and the return to the car was delayed as they grappled over dunes-rights. I'm pretty pleased with the "grab" shot below...

Meanwhile a pair of stonechat worked the road edge - the recent hard winters have taken their toll on this species, so it was good to see a pair.

With the 'Bay pretty much cleaned up I headed back towards home - two attempts at black redstart (Newbiggin and North Blyth) were fruitless ~ though Mediterranean gulls at the former always add value to a stop.

West Hartford was the final destination as the dull afternoon progressed to dusk. Two fox were a bonus as they chased each other round the fields - the dog stayed put long enough for a photo. It was intriguing to watch them hunt - pouncing into the grass tufts and digging down into the ground.

Three more short-eared owl put the day tally to five ~ a quick flypast gave another record shot. Bit of an odd day photographically - every shot posted was hand held!

Swansong

Just when I thought that the November blog posts were done for the month, news on the phone from both STH and MA had me diverting to Arcot Pond on my journey home from work. I'd already seen the particular birds a couple of weeks ago, but today's connection was much more important as it constituted a Cramlington patch tick! No camera equipment with me, but the trusty bins were in the car - and between goodbyes at work and lunch at home, the two bewick's swan were added to the Cramlington list. Hurrah! Also noted during the quick pit-stop ~ great spotted woodpecker, c30 teal, bhg, cg, pheasant...

In Mourning :(

A late morning potter, mourning the end of a very pleasant two weeks holiday.

Prestwick Carr felt Spring-like weather wise, and it was a distant great grey shrike that reminded of winter. Quality birds, even if not within camera range. I would like one of these at WH please!

Down the road, Big Waters still held two bewick's swan ~ good birds in Northumberland these days. I only viewed from the public end, so no pics taken. A handful of whooper remain.

West Hartford was very quiet and a check of the Horton Burn only revealed a pair of mallard!
No sign of waxwings today, we had 28 next to the house yesterday - they'll still be around though, just a case of bumping into them...

Avoided the crowds for the greaterlegs and EBR (the latter was commented on by my sister visiting Holy Island today)...

Work and a forecast of rain for tomorrow. Great!!!

Quite_Sunny_Quiet

Took the pretty much standard Saturday route up the coast with Mark this morning, calling in at Cresswell, Druridge and East Chevington prior to the main purpose of the trip north – pie, chips and curry sauce at Amble. The latter was probably the highlight today!


Mark had started the day earlier than I, picking up bewick’s swan and two green sandpiper at Whittle Dene.

Our joined effort was rewarded with a nice male stonechat, tree sparrow and peregrine at Cresswell, seven pale-bellied brent geese in fields between Cresswell and Druridge, fourteen grey heron at Druridge and not too much else. The route back included a stop at High Hauxley to check for any puffin activity on Coquet Island (none) and there was no apparent sign of the iceland gull at Blyth South Harbour.

This evening I spent a cold thirty minutes at West Hartford as dusk descended. Nothing really of note there today, with a minimum eleven oystercatcher and uncountable numbers of teal / mallard, hidden in the marsh area to the south of the main pool. One buzzard over and a couple of kestrel too.

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I’ve added a couple of more blog links to the "other voices" section – posts from Western Australia and Japan are sure to be interesting reading and viewing…

Bewick's Swan, Newsham

I took the opportunity to have another look at the two bewick's swan at Newsham near Blyth this afternoon - a decision that I should have made earlier in the day as the light was terrible!

The two birds were reasonably obliging and were prepared to stand their ground with the mute swans when the dog walkers headed down the track.

Given the distance of the swans the 2.0 extender was used with the 500mm lens, and in an efort to try and bring out some of the white plumage from the strong back-light and resultant shadows, exposure compensation was bumped up to +2/3.

However, I still could not eliminate shadow (as the sunlit parts of the swan were strongly lit and already buring out), but the results are ok as a record, all considering.

As it's a week of nightshift ahead, I'll have to hope that the flock remains in the vicinity so I can try a morning visit.