Foraging in the South West

A venture South West today in glorious conditions... Allen Banks / Morralee Wood provided all target species - Pied Flycatcher (2 males), Redstart and Wood Warbler.

Further south, a family party of Ring Ouzel at Sipton Burn - both adults and two juvs.

Ringed oh-zel!

A long anticipated Cramlington tick was provided courtesy of STH and GM mid evening on 23 May, in the horse paddocks adjacent to Beacon Lane.

Record iPhone image taken through GMs 'scope.

No immediate sign early morning today... So a hasty decision to quickly collect last night seems to have been the right move!

Northumberland Tour

Trip 3 of the planned 10 with John B, Rob and Mark was based in Northumberland - we started on late afternoon Friday 23rd (after work) and completed the journey by 12.00 on Sunday 25th. Accommodated in Allenheads and Bamburgh, we aimed to cover as much habitat as reasonably practicable over the time available. Early starts on Saturday and Sunday.

Allenheads Moor

 Friday afternoon took in West Hartford - Blyth - North Shields and Prestwick Carr. It was a mixed bag ~ jack snipe and short-eared owl at wh, dipper on the River Blyth,  no waxwing at ASDA, 1 juv iceland gull at the quay, more seo at pc and a squealing water rail.... but no great grey shrike!

The aging gang...

 In the Allenheads area we scored with singing ring ouzel, a splattering of red and black grouse and our biggest surprise of the trip - a clawback on great grey shrike!

Grindon Lough gave us a decent dose of geese, with out only barnacle of the trip, while the Kielder area let us down - forest drive closed. We salvaged the trip there with mandarin and goosander.

Hulne Park - forced inland by sea fret...

 Leaving Kielder we headed east towards the coast - and into a damning sea fret! A nasty twist to our plans saw a Druridge Bay visit scoured - though we still picked up some birds for the trip ~ pintail, stonechat etc... So back inland to Alnwicks' Hulne Park...

Confirmation from Bamburgh that the sea fret wasn't too bad saw us end the birding day at Stag Rocks/Budle bay where we managed only a few of the target species ~ but it was a return the next morning when we finally scored with the target birds, with 4 slavonian and 1 red-necked grebe. Budle Bay had produced a single greenshank but little else new for the list.

Early morning at Stag Rocks, fret lifting

 Sunday dawned warmer and the sea fret was visibly lighter - burning off as the sun rose. Red-throated diver was added with the grebes and after a hearty breakfast we headed to Holy Island. A cracking peregrine was picked up on the causeway - sat on the roadside in full sun - nice!

Brent geese were distant but still new for the list and a few grey plover noted too. No sign of any lapland or snow bunting...

Sunshine at Holy Island

Back down the coast the clock was ticking ... so it was good to squeeze in East Chevington. In complete contrast to Saturday the sun was shining and we could see the pools! The redhead" smew was easy to find and 3 scaup were the final list additions, as the return to Blyth again failed to produce waxwing. Maybe another trip will have some available.

We finished the days with a combined trip list of 115 species. The overall list for the three trips rose from 145 to 181 species.

Details of the 2 previous trips - Norfolk and Mull

Trip list: (hopefully correct!)

Mute Swan Cygnus olor AC

Whooper Swan Cygnus cygnus A

Pink-footed Goose Anser brachyrhynchus A

Greater White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons A

Greylag Goose Anser anser AC

Canada Goose Branta canadensis AC

Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis A

Brent Goose Branta bernicla A

Common Shelduck Tadorna tadorna A

Mandarin Duck Aix galericulata C

Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope A

Gadwall Anas strepera AC

Eurasian Teal Anas crecca A

Mallard Anas platyrhynchos AC

Northern Pintail Anas acuta A

Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata A

Common Pochard Aythya ferina A

Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula A

Greater Scaup Aythya marila A

Common Eider Somateria mollissima A

Long-tailed Duck Clangula hyemalis A

Common Scoter Melanitta nigra A

Common Goldeneye Bucephala clangula A

Smew Mergellus albellus A

Red-breasted Merganser Mergus serrator A

Goosander Mergus merganser A

Willow Ptarmigan (Red Grouse) Lagopus lagopus A

Black Grouse Tetrao tetrix A

Grey Partridge Perdix perdix AC

Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus C

Red-throated Diver Gavia stellata A

Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis A

Red-necked Grebe Podiceps grisegena A

Slavonian Grebe Podiceps auritus A

Northern Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis A

Northern Gannet Morus bassanus A

Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo A

European Shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis A

Grey Heron Ardea cinerea A

Eurasian Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus A

Common Buzzard Buteo buteo A

Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus A

Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus A

Water Rail Rallus aquaticus A

Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus A

Common Coot Fulica atra A

Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus A

Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula A

European Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria A

Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola A

Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus A

Purple Sandpiper Calidris maritima A

Dunlin Calidris alpina A

Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minimus A

Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago A

Eurasian Woodcock Scolopax rusticola A

Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica A

Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata A

Common Redshank Tringa totanus A

Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia A

Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres A

Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus A

Mew Gull Larus canus A

Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus A

Herring Gull Larus argentatus A

Iceland Gull Larus glaucoides A

Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus A

Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla A

Razorbill Alca torda A

Stock Pigeon Columba oenas A

Common Wood Pigeon Columba palumbus A

Eurasian Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto A

Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus A

Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major A

Sky Lark Alauda arvensis A

Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis A

Rock Pipit Anthus petrosus A

Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea A

White / Pied Wagtail Motacilla alba A

White-throated Dipper Cinclus cinclus A

Winter Wren Troglodytes troglodytes A

Hedge Accentor Prunella modularis A

European Robin Erithacus rubecula A

Stonechat Saxicola torquata A

Ring Ouzel Turdus torquatus A

Common Blackbird Turdus merula A

Fieldfare Turdus pilaris A

Song Thrush Turdus philomelos A

Redwing Turdus iliacus A

Mistle Thrush Turdus viscivorus A

Common Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita A

Goldcrest Regulus regulus A

Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus A

Coal Tit Parus ater A

Blue Tit Parus caeruleus A

Great Tit Parus major A

Wood Nuthatch Sitta europaea A

Great Grey Shrike Lanius excubitor A

Black-billed Magpie Pica pica A

Eurasian Jackdaw Corvus monedula A

Rook Corvus frugilegus A

Carrion Crow Corvus corone A

Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris A

House Sparrow Passer domesticus A

Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus A

Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs A

European Greenfinch Carduelis chloris A

European Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis A

Eurasian Siskin Carduelis spinus A

Common Linnet Carduelis cannabina A

Twite Carduelis flavirostris A

Lesser Redpoll Carduelis cabaret

Common Crossbill Loxia curvirostra A

Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella A

Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus A

One Ring, No Wing

Headed up to stringer territory late morning, and after a half hour or so had fleeting views of the apparently wintering male ring ouzel - my first encounter with this species in the winter. A nice bonus bird for the non existent year list, a species always good to see. The RO flew in from over the back of the farm buildings, perhaps it is feeding in the fields too. I could not locate any of the white-fronted geese at Low Newton so headed to more familiar territory in the southern part of the county, with stop offs at Amble - no adult iceland gull, and Cresswell - no barn owl or bittern seen during a brief stop, but thousands of pink-footed geese in the fields surrounding the pool. Final stop was Bothal Pond where the green-winged teal wasn't on show. It's almost a pity I saw the RO, could have had a clean sweep!

Much milder today, I see that a great spotted cuckoo was found in County Cork today. It must be spring!