Driving, showers, pedalling and observing

A busy day with lots to do, so some restricted birding ensued, primarily catching up with birds found during the week.

3 cormorants at Arcot were reasonable for January- but little else there.

Green-winged teal at Backworth came with bonus short-eared owl and geese of the barnacle and white-fronted variety.

Up the coast with the crowds... No sign of the Iceland gull at QEII and an apparant miss with the great northern diver at Widdrington (drake scaup) but an seemingly eventual catch up with the water pipit at Druridge. No luck with the LBD

On the sea off Cresswell little of note, red throated diver and common scoter, but later, off Blyth there was a compensatory little auk close in shore.

As the "daylight" faded 2 long-eared owl and a few woodcock bought proceedings to a local end.

The Magnificent Seven!... Nine?

A surprisingly productive afternoon birding after an early shift at work...

Thoughts of where to start were put to one side when Gordon texted through news of a tricky Cramlington year-tick - a single Whooper Swan on Arcot provided a good start.

Further north, a brief stop provided nice views of a drake Mandarin at Sheepish - a couple of picture taken with the bridge camera and then I was off...

The good fortune continued further north - Widdrington Moor Lake provided a large herd of Pink-feet, but still no Ross's for me, preventing a double plastic wildfowl trip. Compensation came in much the preferred form of a scarce birdie the region this winter - Short-eared Owl.

Not untypical there was more than one bird - I happily texted out the news of two birds, to find the next scan revealing four. Then five, then six and finally, seven!

East Chevington north pool provided black-necked, great created and little grebe but no beardies...

Cresswell is clearly popular in the evenings, with a "crowd" watching the Barn Owl late afternoon.

Heading back it was apparent that I could have a final pit stop near home - and rewarding it was too, with 2 Curlew, 2 Dunlin, a Fox, a Hare and the final owl of the day (and ninth owl at that!), with grand views of a Long-eared perched on a fence line.

That'll do nicely.

Cattled

It was an early start this morning, picking up Phil at half seven and then heading north. Our destination, Holy Island, was almost an hour away. The journey up was quiet - a fox just north of Morpeth and a dare devil red-legged partridge were the highlights.

Parked up a Chare Ends, just as Stewart arrived - it's been a while since we last met. He was playing it cool, with time for a coffee before the walk up to the crooked lonnen. Phil and I headed straight off, with song thrush at the main car park making a belated addition to the year list.

Our target bird was jammed on the walk towards the assembled crowd - the cattle egret, a blocker for all but three of Northumberlands birding community, was in flight. Almost barn owl like in impression, the egret flew round the back if a cottage and onto a large area of flooded field where it fed for a short while. Possibly better than that was the long-eared owl that had also ventured out, landing on the fence in front for a few minutes!

The egret was distant to say the least, and when it took flight later it was only to go back into the confines of a secluded garden to feed on the lawn. Viewing was restricted to distant glimpses...

The journey back took in a few northern sites, but little was on offer - very blustery conditions meant sea watching was limited. And by golly it was cold!

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! 

Chesty

A late morning - early afternoon potter up the coast with Mark produced a fair selection, given the time of year. First stop was Cresswell - a Pectoral Sandpiper had been found the day previously, and was still showing today, albeit on the northern edge of the north pool. Record shots only today, but I can't complain as I've had better Pecs' in the past.

Avocet still present at Cresswell along with yellow wagtail, and a bit further north, long-eared owl was only heard today. Marsh harrier were noted in a couple of localities,with both a male and female seen.

No sign of the apparently still present red backed shrike at East Chevington in "early spring" rather than "mid summer" conditions...

Distant Pec Sand

& another

 Not got out today, so a final long eared owl to pass the time.

Another

Another picture of the LEO from this morning.

A bike ride this afternoon produced a little owl too... but no camera was to had. Still, a good day all round!

Been back, now listen up.

Second stop of the morning produced some nice prolonged views of long-eared owl, along with the sounds of hungary youngsters in a nearby plantation. A few images were obtained as the adult hovered near by, heres' a quick one off the camera card...

Ring-necked and Long-eared, but no Arctic...

Headed out for my belated first UK birding trip this morning. Picked up Mark at 0800 and by 0845 we were parking up at a cold and wet Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park. In the car park there was a familiar face ~ GM aka The Liver Birder was scoping the bird feeders having already been up to and back from the main site target.

At the pool we met up with John B and James. They had arrived earlier and had the drake ring-necked duck lined up for us nicely. Presumably its the returning drake from last year. Today's views were not as close as last time - the pool is ice free, so the ducks are out towards the back. The rnd was feeding with some tufties, gadwall and coot. The weather deteriorated somewhat so we moved on...

Seal Sands was very quiet, so we quickly retired to the cafe at Saltholme. Suitably refreshed we headed off to see the long-eared owl roost. Only one bird was visible this morning, as can be clearly seen from the photograph below.



Easy, eh?


The remainder of the reserve was quiet - one little egret appeared to be having a chomp at some apples, while the feeding station outside the visitor centre was busy with greenfinch, goldfinch, fieldfare and starling.

The journey north was pit-stopped with my first visit to Rainton Meadow. Today it was possibly the most windswept part of Durham! Sure, we found the redpoll flock, plenty of lesser and mealies... but no clear coue's arctic types. Granted, the flock was mobile, and when feeding many of the birds chose the deck rather than the feeders... may be I'll try again. Siskin and goldfinch spiced up the finch flock on the hillside, while at the visitor centre, chaffinch and bullfinch mixed with great and blue tit.

West Hartford remains bleak (1 grey heron) and the Horton Burn was low on the avian activity front too...