Spring Ice

The Iceland Gull remains at QEII, and was perhaps more apt given the cold conditions today. Otherwise, new birds for the year included Blackcap, House Martin, Swift (including an aberrant bird at DBCP - white bellied and white streaked on upper parts). 

The now dapper Long-billed Dowitcher continues at Cresswell, albeit a tad too far for the camera this  morning.

Fowls, Un-seasonals and a Yank

Started the day at Killingworth where the showy female Smew continues to perform on the smaller lake.

Willow Tit at Hackworth then onto Holywell to check out the geese - the two Eurasian White-fronts were flying around the fields upon our arrival, while the Tundra Bean Goose resided on the pond with the Grey-lags. No sign of the Mandarin. Soon after our arrival in the public hide, the two airborne White-fronts circled the pool and managed to attract the attention of the other geese, taking them off to the western fields, permitting a couple of iPhone/scope images...

Blyth didn't provide a Black Redstart (Chips at South Beach did show briefly).

Up the road to QEII lake for another Slavonian Grebe (no sign of the Iceland Gull), then onto Cresswell, where a Ruff and female Marsh Harrier complimented the long staying (and long distance) Long-billed Dowitcher.

Completed the coastal visit with a look out from Druridge's Budge screen - no Water Pipit, but three more Eurasian White Fronted Geese over the back.

Closer to home, 4 Little Egret on the burn along with a single Grey Wagtail

Up & Down

Migrated north late morning to check out the low tide across Fenham Flats... thousands of waders on view and a hundred or so Pale-bellied Brent Geese, a single Little Egret and outside the hide, a flock containing Tree Sparrow and Twite. No sign of the Hooded Crow, it appears to have been around Holy Island.

Budle Bay was also busy, with an equal number of Brent Geese also present. Single Peregrine on fence posts to the north.

Stag Rocks produced two Great Northern Diver and several Shags, Long-tailed Duck etc.... and the delightful view to the south...

Monks House Pool, increased in size from the wet weather, provided nice views of the Red-necked Grebe that was picked up a week ago - no Water Pipit in the quick soiree, but not a concern given the Druridge bird last week.

No sign of the Black-necked Grebe at Drudge Bay CP (Little only noted), while Cresswell provided, at last, the Long-billed Dowitcher, along with Barn Owl, plenty of Wigeon and Teal.

Closedown

So another year closes and another is about to begin. It's been an unusual year...

2012 started well with a second trip to South Africa - a beautiful country with amazing bird life. Ornithology-wise the highlight was a two day venture into the wilds with Birding Africa - we amassed a good number of species on the full-on days (163 species - declared a record by our guide), with personal highlights being Cape Rock-jumper (above), Secretarybird and some decent views of Victorin's Warbler.

Back in the UK January had started well with Desert Wheatear, Lesser Scaup, Great Grey Shrike and hods of Short-eared Owl available on the 1st - a pace that seemed to lessen for me as the year progressed!

February was dominated with decent geese selections, with great showings of white-fronted and bean... and a wandering Egyptian.  A Green Woodpecker in Cramlington was a local highlight.

By March I was assembled with Mark, John B and  cousin Rob for our annual birding weekend - this year Northumberland was the host county, and we enjoyed some great birding, with our "own" Great Grey Shrike in Allendale, Red and Black Grouse, Jack Snipe, Smew, Greenshank, Iceland Gull, Ring Ouzel etc

April brought summer migrants and a few padders - Common Crane, Hooded Crow and Marsh Harrier. Grasshopper Warbler arrived late at West Hartford and were notable in their absence for much of the wet summer... Little Grebe was good for West Hartford on 30th

May brightened up with two Red-rumped Swallow at Lynemouth and a splendid but distant Red-backed Shrike at Hauxley. Two Cuckoo at West Hartford were notable, while dipping Kentish Plover on Holy Island was extremely frustrating. The end of may was good in Cramlington (not often said!) with Little Owl and Ring Ouzel being picked up late in the month. Lack of twitching instinct cost me dearly on 29th - opting to go the next morning was bad judgement, as the Hartlepool Orphean Warbler was a 1 dayer...

Birding in June was limited by work commitments, but locally was able to enjoy singing Marsh Warbler, Corncrake, and another Cramlington Green Woodpecker.

July gave an unusually good opportunity to see Long-eared Owl at Druridge - with daylight hunting birds in front of the Budge Screen.

A walking holiday in Switzerland ended July and began August, limited bird species seen, though Snow Finch, Alpine Accentor and Honey Buzzard were pleasing.

The return to the UK was timed well with the appearance of the Newton Stilt Sandpiper - my third county tick of the year. A quality bird for the county, and with Quail on the route home, a decent morning out.

September was still limited by overtime, so I was pleased to get nice views of Yellow-browed Warbler at St Mary's and enjoyed the mini-fall of common migrants late in the month. A Long-billed Dowitcher at Cresswell was a nice bonus (along with the Great Skua that took up residence on the pond!)

October saw the return of Kingfisher to the Horton Burn and an interesting day at St Mary's when an interesting warbler was on intermittent show - the Blyth's Reed was no easy picking but was an interesting lesson to be part of. Rarity-wise October was a no-goer for me... A Slavonian Grebe on Druridge Bay CP was nice though.

November was a "big" month for me - reaching a milestone of sorts early on...
Weirdly, bird of the month was a Bee-eater! Really bizarre, especially in an urban location. Great views were had by many.

The dreary November weather was left behind for a week while I travelled to the warmer climes of St Lucia. A relaxing trip with birding restricted to a luscious resort nestled between the Pitons. A few new birds were inevitable, and along with the beautiful St Lucia Warbler, Antillean Crested Hummingbird were star attractions (an a source of great frustration trying to get decent images!).

The year has concluded quietly (as much the rest of the year) with Great Northern Diver land-locked on Bothal Pond, the immature Glaucous Gull at North Shields and many cycle rides along the Horton Burn in search of Gordons' Dipper (Eventually seen with Gordons help on 29th)...

So, 2012 - NO UK TICKS (or National twitches)!!!! / 3 County Ticks / a pitiful UK year list/county list (many dumb omissions) and a world year list of approximately 390

... maybe "13" will bring better luck! 

Doh!witcher

Early afternoon was spent at Cresswell - reports of a long-billed dowitcher were suffice to make up for the miscalculated weekend. Friday night was a late one, so Saturday morning on Holy Island was abandoned, while Sunday morning reports from Phil revealed that the arctic warbler was no more. Saved some petrol I guess...

The dowitcher was readily available from the hide, roosting with snipe.  It didn't do much... until the seemingly resident great skua decided to pop over for a visit. Up and off...

Forgive the picture quality - I'm test driving some new image processing software.

Hard Lad

Also present - 1 merlin (caught a dunlin), marsh harrier, greenshank, ruff and a single great-crested grebe.

Armchair Sometimes

Even with the pressures of overtime and home improvement, the rares keep dropping in and today I added another species to my BOU UK list. Sounds great, but boringly it was a bird from 2005 that makes an uneventful addition to the list - siberian stonechat...

This bird was seen and photographed in the south-west at Porthgwarra, Cornwall on 7th October 2005, en route to Scilly. We'd had a second look at the long staying long-billed dowitcher residing nearby at Drift Reservoir (keeping company with a dapper spotted redshank) prior to our visit, and by mid afternoon had connected with a blackpoll warbler on the Garrison, St Marys IOS. Great days!!!