Viewings

Potter out this morning provides further viewings / Great white egret, garganey, little egret, Bonaparte's Gull...

The collector

Courtesy of LiverB, garganey today, again at Arcot. No sign of the scoter but that perhaps was not expected. A water rail made a brief appearance though...

Legs and Co

Headed north mid morning after the heavy rain took a break, with Beadnell Bay being the first port of call. 

The Lesser Yellowlegs, albeit distant, was  readily available on the flash north of the Long Nanny burn, with Little and Arctic Tern flying over the dunes too.

Further north at the flooded fields near Hoppen Kiln the Pectoral Sandpiper was added to the day list, along with a Wood Sandpiper and four Garganey (1 drake). On the roadside a Tree Sparrow was nesting.

West Hartford was enroute home, and a flyover Yellow Wagtail was a bonus. On the flash were two Shelduck and a single Moorhen, while the reeds continue to hold many Reed Bunting. Swift were in their tens over the River Blyth.

Local chat

With the realisation that the coast would be chocca with charvas, I opted to cycle around Cramlingtons finer sights this afternoon - having missed the mornings marsh harrier at West Hartford it made sense to start there - no harrier nor sanderling / little stint, but compensation in the form of 4 whinchat and a single wheatear.

Onwards to Arcot and the belated addition of garganey to the bike list. Lots of teal, some mallard and a stack of coot too.

With the sun shingles it was then back home for ice cream. More later?

Return to work..

The penalty for two weeks off work is the return, and it was with great dismay when the 04:30 alarm call went off today. More on today later.

The weekend consisted of light birding - Saturday was spent with Mark, visiting Arcot (Garganey still present) and then up the coast - no sign of any whinchat at Hadston, but a decent 3 spoonbill at Hauxley along with a wood sandpiper, common sandpiper and two greenshank. At Newbiggin, a minimum of 7 mediterranean gull mixed with the bhs'.

Sunday was meant to be spent out on the bike, but the cycle to a barren West Hartford was suffice to curtail efforts. 3 buzzard at Boghouses poor conciliation.

Monday morning and I'm back at work, and news of the delivery of a new Swarovski scope was sufficient to keep motivation levels up...

First trip out was to Arcot - again the garganey was present, along with water rail and common sandpiper. I didn't have any joy with shoveler, nor digi-scoping.

In the house, garden birds were a doddle with a compact camera hand-held against the scope... out in the field? nightmare! Perhaps the target was a little ambitious? Drap duck, distant, dull and windy (the weather, not me)... and uncertainties of camera settings to use. I eventually opted for manual focussing, and the first image is appended here... "could do better" perhaps is the comment to mark this shot!

Anyhoo, I'm not intending to digiscope with any real interest...

...but the option to do so would be nice

... any practical tips?

Digi-scoping aside, the scope is great - I've been scope-less since May and I dare say I've missed it...

Sunny on the patch...

It's been a beautiful sunny weekend in the north-east of England and birding has been rather restricted.

Saturday morning started early, with the final Mauritius blog images posted. By 07:00 I was at West Hartford enjoying the song of grasshopper warbler, lesser whitethroat, garden warbler, willow warbler, whitethroat and blackcap. Two canada geese were on the pool edge and a single shelduck stood amongst the gulls. A single greenshank scooted along the mud.

At Arcot the warbler activity was simlar, with sedge dominating the proceedings. Great-spotted woodpecker were clearly feeding young and a pair of canada geese has 4 young. One common tern was feeding over the pond.

Mid-morning saw me head north to Stewarts stomping ground, where good banter was shared with Stewart and Alan. No sign of the rosefinch though, as Stewart has already written, the arrival of lawnmowers into the gardens may have forced retreat...

It was a lazy afternnon, I spent most of it getting burnt in the garden!

Sunday dawned just as bright and warm as Saturday, and it was pleasing to have to dash out to West Hartford to "tick off" my first garganey on the site. A nice addition, though not unexpected, to the patch list.

Early afternoon was spent sprucing up a new header image for the blog - predominated by the June 2008 lesser grey shrike that was present on the Long Nanny, a stunning bird indeed.

While the rest of the UK is enjoying a flurry of decent birds... broad-billed sandpipers north and south, iberian chiffies continuing and bee-eaters in many locations, I wonder when the north-east will score for a spring overshoot? Soon...?

Gripping Gropper

Prior to the arrival and brief stay of the great white egret I had been treated to some fantastic views of "reeling" grasshopper warbler in the scrub that surrounds Arcot Pond.

This particular bird was "reeling" (singing - it's song is very much like the sound of a fishing reel being wound) out in the open, sitting on brambles.

As the bird sang it would flutter its wings and bob its' tail - cracking!

Today was perfect - warm, sunny and still. Four birds were heard along with two lesser whitethroat, one common whitethroat, two sedge warbler, blackcap, willow warbler and chiffchaff.

Summer has finally arrived in Northumberland.

After the GWE had departed we stuck around for a bit chat with several local birders who had arrived a few minutes late - luckily for us the drake garganey flew out of the reeds and onto the pool - only my second in Cramlington, so a great record and a magic end to an amazing morning at the pond!

PM birding

Tuesday 7th April saw me heading up the coast late afternoon. First stop was at Lynemouth where Tim Cleeves and ST were already watching the very smart water pipit, feeding on the western shore of the flash. It's been a good run of late for water pipit in Northumberland, an it's nice to see some in their summer finery. The northern shores of Cresswell Pond were yellow wagtail-less, nor were there any northern wheatear.

From the Budge screen at Druridge Pool the drake garganey was on show, although the duck was not to be seen. A single black-tailed godwit was feeding in the shallows among redshank and lapwing. I didn't have time the venture to the main pool or hides, which probably is the reason why the little egret was not seen, nor Brians' little ringed plover - hopefully I'll catch up with another soon.

Later in the evening I spent an hour at West Hartford; Two SEO were on show along with one common buzzard. The SEO and CB had a bit of interaction, with the CB coming out on top - both owls drifted east, returning only as dusk turned to dark. No sign of the barn owl, I may have left to early, but there was a steady stream of LBBGs/HGs dropping into the pool for refreshment prior to roost.

Couple of Waters

This afternoon saw me head back to St Mary's - cast was similar to yesterday, with the un-photogenic drake garganey still present, the flighty water pipit on the northern part of the wetland and added bonus birds - one showy water rail in the south west corner of the pool and three sandwich tern north. A marsh harrier had flown north earlier in the afternoon.

West Hartford was quiet - thirteen oystercatcher, thirtyish lapwing and teal, two shelduck and the usual array of gulls.

Garganey and Wheatear

A nice bright morning got me out of the house and down to St Mary's for a look at the freshly arrived drake garganey.

St Mary's is proving to be a reliable spot for this enigmatic duck, with sightings on the wetland becoming regular over the past few years.

Today's drake was hanging out with gadwall and teal, but was a little distant for photographs loitering on the west side of the pool and on the island - so today's photograph is from April 2007 (when a pair arrived on the wetland).

Annoyingly I did not take opportunity to take a photograph of the water pipit that dropped into the wetland for a few minutes - it's now transforming into cracking fresh plumage.

In the north bay a bright male northern wheatear was flighty, but was a nice spring compliment to the garganey. A walk through the "gut" revealed little else, with a couple of linnet, reed bunting, goldcrest and dunnock being about the lot.