Shorts

Late afternoon observations of a static Short-eared Owl... a tad too distant really, perhaps as a result of the noisy "togger" crew.

Morning and evening ventures

Sunday morning, 03 February 2019 was spent in the north of the county - half a rivers width south of Scotland.

A very snowy journey north, then immediately after Wooler - no snow!

Target was the wintering Common Crane - and my arrival was timed well, with the bird feeding in the narrow roadside field.

The previous evening was spent more local, and after 5 owls (three short-eared and two barn) it was time to defrost. The first barn came as a bit of a surprise, as it flew right up to me as it hunted in the demising afternoon light...  (ISO 1600, not quite in focus)

Resuming

All of a sudden, 2018 ends and the first month of 2019 is almost over... some highlights and some images...

Snow Bunting, St Mary's Promenade December 2018. A chance to try an alternative camera body - 5D mark IV. Full frame, so some magnification lost ... but pleasing detail. 

Little Owl

Black Redstart

Glaucous Gull, Norfolk

January was busy with a good variety of species picked up in Northumberland... highlights including Firecrest, four species of Owl, Smew, Marsh Tit, Black Redstart, Snow Bunting, Chiffchaff and local Little Egrets. The final weekend was spent in Norfolk - a great place to boost the earliest and an abundance of good quality species. Highlights included Bewick's swan, Red-necked Grebe, Cattle/Great Egret, 11 species of BOP (inc Owl sp number 5, Hen Harrier, Rough-legged Buzzard), Water Pipits, Dartford Warbler, Brambling, Hawfinch and Arctic Redpoll

Rough-legged Buzzard... distant...

Short Stories

Its' not been a very SEO winter, so news of returning birds up the coast enabled a post nightshift wander. Up to three in the air at once, parading in front of a steady stream of owlers'... Peregrine stationed on the usual spot too.

Other fodder on ofter - Pacific Diver (awake, contrary to recent reports), Slavonian Grebe, plenty of Great-crested Grebe in their finery, Scaups a many, and a couple of Avocet. 

Little Egret continue nearer home, with 4 on 5th March and 2 on 10th March.

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.

1 to 2

Despite a lack of blog updates since January, local birding has continued into the first week of February, with essentially local ventures to atypical places.

Waxwing made an appearance on the estate on 22nd - a single on the Horton Burn. Very scarce so far this winter, so  a good patch year tick

February has started with signs of Spring - skylark back at West Hartford, Linnets too. The marsh has at least one jack snipe and water rail, along with another winter 13/14 scarcity a day or two ago - short-eard owl. Reports of a bittern are interesting but so far no connection.

Today saw a loop round Seghill for the european white-fronted goose that Gordon found this morning - associating with a large flock of grey-lags, some of which were wearing neck collars, of which I took no note of any details. At the links south of Blyth I again scanned the large pink-footed goose flock, and today, like Sunday, it was bean-less...

European White-fronted Goose - pink toned bill, large white band on tail tip

Yesterday gone

Finally caught up with a West Hartford tree sparrow yesterday - a chirpy chap singing from the east side of the entrance plantation. Accompanied with the first yellowhammer of the "spring", and 2 short-eared owl.

Later, the drive to work produced a lone woodcock, flushed from the copse near Shaw by a dog walker.

A gull inside the mouth

Headed down to Tynemouth / North Shields on the bike this morning - third trip to the area in the past few weeks in hope for a white winger.

Success came in the form of the immature Glaucous, pointed out on the middens. A good result for the bike list. A hundred or so pink footed geese flew over too.

The return journey resulted in the feral barnacle goose on the boating lake, the whooper swan and 3 great crested grebe at Killingworth lake, two goosander on Arcot, and a winter high of three short-eared owl at West Hartford.

Round the doors

12 waxwing over the house justified the energy spent washing the car this morning.

Afternoon was spent on the bike - West Hartford providing 1 stonechat, 1 short-eared owl and a brute of a female sparrowhawk - first bringing 8 waxwing to my attention, then later lifting a snipe and mobbing the SEO! Raptor numbers were increased with 2+ kestrel and a distant buzzard.

At the Horton Burn 1grey wagtail and a single kingfisher ended the avian and cycling activities.

Same old

Stuff as yesterday, pretty much. Reversed the cycle route, with kingfisher and grey wagtail early on. Later at West Hartford, two short-eared owl, five+ snipe, 1 lbbg and not a sniff of the hoped for water rail!

The darkness

West Hartford had a wintry feel this evening - despite huge numbers of barn swallow ~ the appearance of 2 short-eared owl was a pleasant surprise. 30 mallard, six teal and a grey lag goose was about all that was available to fill the note book tonight.

Assumptions

A nice bright morning so off on the bike to West Hartford for some early morning migrant collection. Alas, nothing new, Chiffchaff, blackcap, and willow warbler were the only spring arrivals, with none of the hoped for grasshopper warbler, lesser throat etc. 2 short eared owl were the first for a couple of weeks, while the pool held a pair of gadwall, 2 sparring shelduck and 4 mallard.

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

Repeat

Pre-last nightshift splodge at West Hartford revealed 1 jack snipe, c20 snipe, 3 short-eared owl, 3 grey heron, 3 mallard, c20 teal and several pairs of reed bunting. Meadow pipit have suddenly become more conspicious and skylark are singing more regularly.

On the way out two grey partridge lifted, first for a while...

Busy weekend approaches.

Not so quickie

Prompted by Gordons' successes, I headed back to trusty West Hartford for a mid afternoon splodge in the marsh. The reward was provided in the form of fresh air and a  relative wad of good WH birds - 2 jack snipe lifted with the c24 snipe, reed bunting were aplenty, while on the pool, a pair of gadwall were the first of the year (scarce visitor here), plus 2 shelduck, 2 mallard, c10 teal, bhg, cg, hg, lbbg, c10 oystercatcher and 38 lapwing.

Owl-wise short-ears numbered an impressive 5, with typically three in the air together on most scans around the fields. 1 buzzard, 2 sparrowhawk and a kestrel rounded up the BOPs nicely.

Loose Goose

A quick scout around the Druridge area was good for geese with grey lag, canada, pink footed, European white fronted, 3 tundra bean and the wayward (?) ross's goose all picked with relative ease. The latter was distant at East Chevington with the large pink footed flock, while nearby at at Maiden Hall three tundra bean were on the edge of the impressive European white fronted and pink footed gathering.

Three short eared owl noted, with 2 at East Chevington and a single at Druridge.

2, 6, 42, 2, 28...

West Hartford was steady late afternoon.

Initial excitement was had with the distant view of two long white necks sticking out of the pools near side vegetation - two mute swan. Bewicks or whooper would have been better!

Up to six short- eared owl patrolled the fields, with a couple sitting it out on the western fence. The occasional snipe was lifted as the owls skimmed the marsh edges.

Among the forty two lapwing, two early oystercatcher were present - numbers should start to increase over the next few weeks. Fowl-wise, 28 teal were on the pool.

As with most afternoons gull activity was good, with c, h and bhs' dropping in prior to heading off to the coast to roost.

Dull Day?

Headed north mid morning for a very rough circuit of Druridge Bay.

A brief stop at QEII park, Ashington was rewarding with good numbers of gulls (nothing unusual amonst them), great crested and little grebe, many coot, tufted duck, wigeon, goldeneye and a single whooper swan with the mutes.

The sight of a couple of hundred geese flying off from the West Chevington / Maiden Hall Lake area was not promising, but alas, the main target was still present just west of the "mound"... two bewick's swan. Always tough to get up here, this duo appear to be possibly birds 5 & 6 of the winter, with the Big Waters/Arcot and Ellington bird being two adults. I'd not seen a juvenile quite like this one, the pinkish toned bill was a surprise.

Druridge Bay County Park provided my first smew of the winter - three duck types - all out of camera range.

Onwards to East Chevington and "a missed by a few minutes" bittern made the cold feel ever so slightly colder. The hat and gloves remained nice and warm in the car. A single slavonian grebe frequented the northern part of the north pool, while lake fodder comprised of grey-lag geese, wigeon, tufted duck, a single drake gooseander, cormorant etc.

Pointing the car south towards Cresswell the journey was interrupted by a quick stop near Bells Farm - the pink-footed goose flock were close to the road, and a party of twite (maybe fifty birds) buzzed over the dunes.

An inspection of the goose flock ensued, and much to my surprise, and subsequent fumble into the cars boot, two tundra bean geese were effectively the closest birds to the road!

The clicking of the camera shutter wasn't favoured and the closest group moved into the centre of the field... the photograph below illustrates the darker backed bean geese and thinner white trailing tail tip nicely with the flying pink-foot.

Cresswell was well worth it's visit. Pretty much as soon as I arrived a male pheasant did the decent thing, flushing the jack snipe out of the reeds and onto the sandbank in front of the hide. All too quick for the camera though. Bizarrely the pheasant took a strong dislike to the miniature snipe, and proceeded to ruffle itself up and chase the jack snipe back into the reeds!

Waterfowl were good too... a single drake scaup fed on the pools southern edge, along with tufted duck and some very smart red-breasted merganser and goosander. Early afternoon had completed the triple sawbill fix.

Over the dunes two short-eared owl had been observed from the hide - and the return to the car was delayed as they grappled over dunes-rights. I'm pretty pleased with the "grab" shot below...

Meanwhile a pair of stonechat worked the road edge - the recent hard winters have taken their toll on this species, so it was good to see a pair.

With the 'Bay pretty much cleaned up I headed back towards home - two attempts at black redstart (Newbiggin and North Blyth) were fruitless ~ though Mediterranean gulls at the former always add value to a stop.

West Hartford was the final destination as the dull afternoon progressed to dusk. Two fox were a bonus as they chased each other round the fields - the dog stayed put long enough for a photo. It was intriguing to watch them hunt - pouncing into the grass tufts and digging down into the ground.

Three more short-eared owl put the day tally to five ~ a quick flypast gave another record shot. Bit of an odd day photographically - every shot posted was hand held!

Five plus?

After an unsuccessful attempt at the Bassington green woodpecker a cycle ride late afternoon was more rewarding with a minimum of five short-eared owl up together, including some close fly pasts and some sparring. No slr camera due to icy conditions so picture appended is from my phone - an "arty" short-eared gliding through the sunset...

Also seen - couple of snipe, great spotted woodpecker, reed bunting, and on the way back, another short-eared owl towards East Hartford. Number six?