Spotted

Nice White-spotted Bluethroat on the shore at Newbiggin this morning. Can't beat a bit of rubbish to enliven a distant record shot.

The weekend that was...

Busy, busy, busy... a county tick (327) - it's taken a third county bird to catch up, but what a belter. Thanks to CB for use of the 600/1.4...  The first day of "Winter" - I'll take more like this.

Not forgetting the Saturday shrike... a few more from yesterday evening...

It's great when you're

Finishing the washing up at 1820, reading news about a great shearwaters progress North past St Mary's ... At Newbiggins' Church point 15 minutes later and watching it a few minutes later. Then it decides to veer from north to South for a few minutes coming increasingly closer.... "Boom" is what the kids say. I think.

Then this happened...

Crane takes the strain

A morning outing to Newbiggin failed to connect me with a county tick - the western bonellis warbler had stopped singing and showing some 15 minutes before my arrival - just over 2 hours vigil was rewarded with a common crane flying low south over the ash lagoon. 

Maybe more later?

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.

From the archive: October 2004

A very wet October 20th 2004 saw a good fall of migrants at Newbiggin late in the afternoon... my notebook reads "loads of brambling, goldcrest, 2+ black redstart, woodcock, chiffchaff, northern wheatear".... and 1 star prize - pied wheatear. I recall having to step over brambling on the track around the church, birds were literally dropping to the first land that they saw, exhausted and wet through.

The pied wheatear was in a damp and sorry state, but fortunately was strong enough to survive, spending a few days on the beach north of the point. A large number of birders paid a visit and the wheatear was very obliging at times!

The image above was from midday on 22nd October, my second of 4 trips to see the bird. Photography-wise the bird would be a dream for me now with a few more years experience - and better equipment - back in 2004 I had no real understanding of exposure either - so the above images' RAW file is very over exposed... photoshop has provided some much need first aid!

Barred on Saturday, Sprite on Sunday

A text from IF early morning saw me heading down to St Mary's rather than sit at the computer editing some of yesterdays barred warbler images. The target species this morning was only seen briefly twice during a two hour watch - pallas's warbler still alludes the camera! They're a beautiful species ~ I look forward to the day that I manage an image of a seven-striped-sprite worthy of presentation.

There was a good number of birders out, and the pallas's was enough to lure a certain stringer from northern territories.

Also of note were six tree sparrow over, plus redpoll sp in flight (mealy had been present on Saturday), siskin and a great spotted woodpecker.

Back home for coffee and lunch (I maintain the correct priorities in life), then a spot of photo editing. The barred warbler image above is a rework of an attempt from yesterday - I had not got the colour balance right after incorrectly exposing the shot in bright sunshine. Note the under-tail coverts...

Barred Warbler, Newbiggin

I spent a very pleasant sunny autumn morning watching and photographing this rather bold immature barred warbler. Having taken temporary residence in a small car park just south of Newbiggin-by-the-sea, this bird gave some incredible (by normally elusive barred warbler standards) views... Barred warblers are the "shrikes" of the warblers - big, clumpy old things, this bird even pushed some blackbirds off its favorite feeding bush!

Feeding in an elder bush the warbler was tricky - however it would break from feeds and occasionally sit out in the open, sunning itself.

I was joined by Stef, Jimmy, Roger and Alan, so some good chat was to be had. Stef and I probably have virtually the same set of images too!

A single redpoll sp. flew over and briefly joined the large greenfinch flock that was in the area, otherwise there was little evidence of any newly arrived passerines.

From the archive: September 2007

Blyth's reed warbler at Woodhorn, Northumberland: a great end to a relatively quiet days birding on 29th September 2008. Mark had just dropped me off back home when the pager message came through - so after a quick "turn around!" phone call we headed back north to join the crowd for fleeting glimpses of this desirable species...

From the archive: September 2006

The excesses of overtime have again prevented me from getting out this weekend, so here is another image from the catalogue of images I took with the 10D camera body. It's surprising how much more improved the new camera bodies are with increased resolution ~ a six megapixel image from the 10D is much less robust than that of the 11 megapixel mark III (which is already out-"pixeled" by newer models).

Pictured above is the popular near summer plumaged adult bonapartes gull that frequented Newbiggin, Northumberland during September 2006. Having first been seen at East Chevington on 4th it was relocated at Newbiggin on the 7th, remaining until the 29th October, moulting into winter plumage. (Birds in Northumbria, report for 2006). This was my first in Northumberland, and for the county it was the third record.

Photo-wise it was obliging, joining the other gulls in the bread-fest that was handed out by visiting birders.

Gull.goose.duck

Saturday morning dawned reasonably bright, so Mark and I headed up the coast for a casual potter.

First stop was Newbiggin, where four adult and one 2nd Winter Mediterranean gull were readily available. It was cold and cloudy, so I did not venture onto the beach for any photographs - I'll save that for when the adults are developing their black hoods.


At Woodhorn Flash the goose flock was smaller and distinctly white-frontedless, we later found a larger and Greenland white-fronted inclusive flock (the four birds that have been present a week or so now) just north of Woodhorn Church.

Note in the photograph how much smaller than grey-lag geese the white-fronts are, along with the overall darker plumage, orangey bill and thin white trailing edge to the tail. These first winter birds don’t have much in terms of barring on the belly yet and the "white-front" is restricted. Click the image for a bigger and sharper version!

Druridge held three then four smew, including the 1st winter drake – I think this may be the first I’ve seen in this plumage. All four smew kept to the nothern side of the pool, which is a pity. The pools also held wigeon, mallard, teal, goldenye, red-breasted merganser, while overhead the predominantly pink-footed geese flock passed over a couple of times. It transpired later that the tundra bean geese (3) were also in the area today, so it’s feasible that we could have seen these had we looked!

At Blyth we had no luck with the droopy winged 2nd winter Iceland gull, it was reported later in the afternoon, so I’ll try again some other time.

And that was that, bacon and eggs were calling at Birdingsometimes HQ.

Nice to see Northumberland waxwing reports increasing and taiga & tundra bean geese reported in unusually high numbers today. This is proving to be an interesting time…

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!

Red-breasted Flycatcher: September 2008

Another photograph from Newbiggin: this stunning male was on the "mound", just west of the golf course. A tricky subject to photograph, always on the move.