One

It was a later than anticipated start to the 2012 birding. Left the house at a little after 10:30 and headed north to East Chevington.

First up was the dapper drake green-winged teal on the South Pool, while on the North Pool I could not locate the reported smew ~ a female scaup was good, as was a single Eurasian white fronted goose and a fly thru short-eared owl.

Heading south to Cresswell I connected with the large pink-footed goose flock - a scope thru produced one tundra bean and one Eurasian white-front. No sign of any snow bunting at Bells Farm, and Cresswell itself was pretty quiet.

Onwards to Newbiggin - where med gull is a doddle these days, while a few hundred meters up the beach, the desert wheatear remains. Didn't carry the camera up with me today (given yesterday's session), yet I could not resist a couple of iPhone pictures ~

So with the wheatear in the bag I scuttled back to the car and headed south to Marden, where the wintering lesser scaup was eventually found roosting. So far so good!

A quick stop at Killingworth Lake did not produce anything of note, so a little later I arrived at Prestwick Carr. Superb showing of short-eared owl here, with a modest count of 12 ~ eight of which were in one field! Peter got me onto the great grey shrike just be it flew off into the distance - the quality just kept coming....

Back to the car for a nip up to West Hartford, not before a willow tit gave itself up. A mere 4 short-eared owl were on show by dusk (17 for the trip out!) - while the final, nearing dark, pitstop at Horton Burn was also rewarding - 1 kingfisher flew downstream, with 2 moorhen and 4 mallard. A day of quality!

Dull Desert.

Met up with cousin Rob at Newbiggin on this final dull morning of 2011. With no reports of the desert wheater for a couple of days we were still mildly confident that it would still be there. And it was... easy as pie at the north end of the beach.

Only took the 100-400 today and it was ample as the wheatear maintained it's confident self, feeding within a few meters of us on the shore.

At Church Point we could only pick up three mediterrean gull - an adult and 2 1w.

Down the road, and still in winter gloom, West Hartford was quiet - 120+ lapwing and a few bhg, hg loafed on the pool. A single gbbg flew up the Blyth valley.

That could be it for 2011...

Grim!

A cold, sleety day in the north-east. Saved by a couple of good birds though, with the desert wheatear still present just north of Beacon Point, and the drake green- winged teal at East Chevington. Didn't bump into the 'legs or connect with any geese, but can't complain.

DW2

A few more images from yesterdays session with the desert wheatear...

Desert Wheatear, Newbiggin

I spent a pleasant hour or so with the 1w desert wheatear this morning. The bird was rather obliging, feeding on the muddy banks and beach south of Beacon Point. At one point the wheatear landed within 50cm... (a tad too close for the auto focus).

A moderate selection of photographs were taken, some of which should appear here later in the week, as nightshift beckons.

A single snow bunting fed on the path north of Beacon Point.

Chevies Cetti

No sight or sound this afternoon during a pleasant sunny hour at East Chevington... will need to try again.

A single slavonian grebe was noted on the north pool, while 1 barn owl hunted the south pool at dusk

Northumberland is having a great November - birds on offer today have included the long-staying squacco heron, a dodgy ross's goose, waxwing a-plenty, the cetti's warbler at East Chevington, 2 common crane south over Newbiggin and (too far for me to get on a winter afternoon) a cracking male desert wheatear at Seahouses!

...I need more daylight after work!!!

Another Desert Wheatear

After the disappointment of not locating the male desert wheatear on 10th November (and seeing a pager message an hour after I had left informing that the bird was still present) I took the opportunity to have a second attempt today.

A scan of the favoured area was unsuccessful at first, but luckily a shout and wave from Bob Gadjus alerted me to the birds new location just south of Beacon Point. I was greeted with the news that the bird had been showing well on the coastal track... but the bird was currently not on view.

After a couple of tense moments the bird was relocated on the cliff side and provided superb views prior to flying further down the beach. This was my first male and first in Northumberland - so a good result!

Desert Wheatear

Conveniently near to the SGS at Saltfleet. Feeding activley in front of a small admiring crowd on 9th November.