The great little tawny finch

The last few days have been spent local.

Sunday saw an afternoon visit to the River Blyth to see the Great Northern Diver at the confluence of the Sleekburn.

Weekday birding has been round the doors, with a cracking Tawny Owl perched on the roadside at the delightful industrial estate near home, worth the 05:20 departure for earlyshift...

After work, mild excitement in the form of a male chaffinch in the garden - possibly the fourth "in garden" record... not sure why this species is so unusual here - less than 100m from the door I see them regularly on the Horton Burn... the next destination in this rambling post - with todays potter along revealing the Little Egret as close to the house as it could get, a kingfisher too.

West Hartford still has teal - I feel a green-winged will appear soon... and 4 wigeon, an infrequent visitor to the flash pool.

Horton Burn - The Little Egret is on this picture (the white dot on the far bank to the left of the photo... honest)

Little & Lesser

Little Owl - very easy to overlook!

 Headed out on the bike for a quick circuit of Cramlington, after Gordon's reports of Golden Plover and Goosander. Only successful on the later - a drake on Arcot. The Little Owl remains faithful to a favoured tree - and very easy to overlook as it lurks in a deep fork!

Later I head south to a certain residence in Tynemouth - a mis-timed visit to be honest, as the anticipated sun lit garden was almost entirely in shade. Nevertheless, the target was present, feeding on the closest feeders to the very much appreciated make-shift observation platform. An interesting bird indeed...

Lesser Whitethroat Sp.

Continuing Cramlington

After the hardship of a single nightshift, I was back out round the northern delights of Cramlington on Friday 3rd, and today, 4th, a more extensive pedal driven route throughout the hamlet that Northumberland's finest new town is.

Some decent birds, Cramlington-wise over the two days, with the little egret remaining on the first trip (though not yet seen today), jack snipe, 6 grey partridge, lesser redpoll, little owl, willow tit, more great back backed gulls, the resident lesser black backed gull, kingfisher.

So... 55 patch species so far with not too much effort - and some nice easy ones still to collect.

Little to report

Woken by the phone this morning - and always nice to find a message regarding a patch bird - Gordon had picked up the Horton Burn little egret - and while not a Cramlington tick as such, its the first on the burn that runs through our housing estate. Add kingfisher, grey wagtail, a couple of moorhen and fly over great black backed gull and redshank (a species that eluded me in Cramlington in 2013!) and the birding atmosphere was electric.

Mega!!

Later I headed north to Stag Rocks - the grey phalarope was a doddle, feeding in the surf below the car park - mixing with the black-headed gulls.

Iphoned...

No slav grebe on view (1 great crested), but 1 black throated diver in amongst the red throats, plenty of long tailed duck, common scoter etc... and some distant gannet.

From 13 to 31.

Despite having some time off work, and the availability of 2 significant UK "ticks" in, er, the UK ... I haven't ventured far at all - in fact it's all been done on the bike round the doors. 

Waxwing were a bonus on Christmas Day - with six on Horton Drive in the morning, then later outside the house in what seems to be a favoured tree. 

Greater black backed gull have been more numerous than other times (and can actually be tricky in Cramlington), while the resident lesser black back is still at the other end of town.

Today's venture took me to he usual sites, with kingfisher and 2 grey wagtail on the burn (no little egret - good reports of one yesterday morning), a jack snipe, two coveys of grey partridge and, almost as darkness closed in, a short-eared owl and fox combo - quality on the door step.

Onwards to 14 - 13 provided two UK ticks (both in county too - bridled tern and ivory gulls!), plus approx 8 new for the county list, including a long awaited catch up with purple heron and the unprecedented male collared flycatcher. I think it goes without saying that Northumberland has been quality in 2013... (Not forgetting Cramlington - a blissful year if ever there was one - refer to Gordon's blog for more of that - great to see a team effort with Phil, Steve, Dee and Lindsay producing a record parish haul).

Trips away have been limited, with Speyside featuring strongly in the great weekend category - together with Mark, John B, Rob and Ian we had a clean sweep from beginning to end - surf scoter, king eider and white billed diver en route to the "starting point" of the trip was superb - I look forward to our next weekend, not to long to wait for that ...

The reality of dark winter afternoons

After the madness of the Seahouses Ivory Gull fest, it's been a week of nightshift for me. Birding has been restricted to a daylight journey home from work today - with a female Merlin near Northumberlandia (Cramlington year tick) and a cycle later as dusk fell - West Hartford producing c20 teal, c30 lapwing and a smattering of pre roost gulls - bh, h and c.

The Horton Burn was traversed east to west on the way back and prove to be worthwhile with my first kingfisher of the winter near the middle bridge. 

The next day

"Number 1" started at the north end of the flooded golf course, and after a while, started a casual wander closer... Looked and behaved like a greedy wood pigeon!

Yesterday afternoon was surreal... I think there will be much recollection over the next few years of the "there's two!" moment...

Today I was at work in the morning, as was disappointed to hear that there (to date) not been any further sightings. There is no doubt that they could reappear (I think the Ayrshire bird went AWOL a few years back, reappearing on farmland a few days later).

Flew round to check us out...

Landed closer, had a sneaky worm snack...

Flew round a bit more

Landed closer again (rock hard these fellas')

Had enough ... and off to meet "number 2"



Judging by the face pattern and wing markings, I've photographed the same bird throughout... the second bird appeared with the former as the gulls started to drift back to the beach

Ivory Gull... Gulls!

I ended the last post with a prediction of sorts. Bizarrely it came true...

12:16 on a quiet Saturday, lunch consumed and a casual glance at the phone. Message from Gary. 

Head-less chicken mode ensued.

An hour later and I'm there... a UK/world tick for me, and weirdly, not quite as expected... a second 1st winter appeared as the bird flew over our heads off out to the beach!

First UK multiple record?

The last Northumberland bird was December 1979, so a catch up for many in the county. 2013 has been a belter year in Northumberland.

Feeding on worms...

Doubtless more images to follow in a day or two... I need a moment or two to take this all in!

Seconds... both birds far off on the rocks south of Seahouses

In addition to the Ivory Gulls - peregrine and woodcock

Cold and Quiet

Not too much to see in Druridge Bay this morning - the blue skies were brief as cloud covered by midday. Black-necked grebe still floats about Cresswell, and red-throated diver aplenty off Druridge Dunes. News of a northward ivory gull in Durham raised pulses slightly, hopefully a pinned down individual will be subject of the next blog entry...

Newtons Second Law

....Newton's second law of motion pertains to the behaviour of objects for which all existing forces are not balanced. 

A week off work and glorious sunny late November day - too good to start any decorating, my "forces" were clearly not balanced today, so a wander (ah, motion) up the coast back to the Newton area for a walk, a bit of birding and a delicious crab cake or two at The Ship. All hardships...

No "proper" camera today, just the trusty iPhone for scenary  and for the lingering Lesser Grey Shrike, a scope too.

Lesser Grey Shrike - iPhone and Swarovski 'scope, just after 15:00...

Beadnell Bay - Looking north from Newton Links

Battling with the crowds

Newton Haven, post The Ship refreshments

Late shrike

A busy weekend prevented a trip to the Newton area until today - thankfully the lesser grey shrike remains, albeit helped with mealworms. Temperatures are forecast to drop over the next few days, so it will be interesting see if the shrike moves on.

Always on view near the car park, but with a habit of sitting on the "wrong" side of the hedge between feeding forays, I had a bit of luck as the sun came out and foe once the shrike wasn't obscured by branches...

A little later, the shrike headed to a cattle feeder, so an atmospheric image to end:

Dusk

A mid afternoon vigil at West Hartford did not produce anything out of the ordinary, with a single stonechat being the highlight. Thrushes were represented by redwing, fieldfare and blackbird, while decent numbers of common, black-headed and herring gull frequented the hydrated flash. Most impressive were stock dove numbers with a couple of 10+ groups descending into the River Blyth bank side trees as darkness descended.

Owl-less tonight.

Dark nights / little time

Little time for birding this past fortnight with nightshift and late shift at work - a week of earlies may grant some afternoon trips this coming week. Odd highlights have been 2 garden rares - don't get too excited, they consist of "in garden" song thrush and common gull! Collared dove have peaked 10 "in the garden at once" so needless to say the expense if seeds is increasing as the temperatures drop.

Of non-bird interest, but of digi-scoping maybe, here's an iPhone pic of tonight's moon - iPhone / 95mm Swarovski at 70x zoom. Not bad all considering.