Autumn

As the build up for Autumn commences, Arcot scores its first Avocet - an immature to boot (a first record of both autumn and immature for Cramlington).

Still a rare in Cramlington, with all other records from West Hartford in Spring.

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.

"L"easter Sunday

With the moderate success of Saturday I headed out round the doors early again today. Noticeably cooler early on, and stops at both West Hartford and Arcot were devoid of any interest.

Up the coast, Druridge was apparently garganey-less though there were plenty of shoveler...

East Chevington eventually yielded the summer plumage black-necked grebe, one of three species available, with little and perhaps six great-crested too. An immature male marsh harrier drifted through, but hoped for sandwich tern etc were elsewhere.

Cresswell pitstop on the way home enabled two avocet to be added to the Northumberland year-list.

Reports of 2 common crane flying north got me back out at 1230, and an optimistic attempt to pick them up over West Hartford was soon kicked out of me, though the temperature had increased a bit.

Late afternoon provided another opportunity to confirm that there wasn't a great deal to see or hear at both West Hartford and Arcot, with highlights being 10+ sand martin, ever increasing numbers of willow warbler and the prospect of booze back at home this evening...

On the cards

A decent couple of days bird wise, with Gordon's avocet collected late afternoon on Monday - West Hartford's third record, and second of 2013 - maybe a bird that will no longer be unexpected on the patch.

This afternoon after a brief visit to West Hartford I fell prey of the "twitch" urge and headed north for the cracking male red-backed shrike at East Chevington and then the not so great roosting spoonbill nearby at Hauxley.

On the cards? not exactly, although the camera travelled with me, the memory cards did not. So no pictures!

Pah!

How the mighty fall

Back in April 2004 West Hartford struck patch-gold, with a single Avocet on what was, the new flash.

Fast forward to 2013 and the lone record is something of a distant memory as West Hartford's apparently resident Liverbirder picks up not one but two.

A great patch record - and not the news that I wanted whilst in Newcastle procuring vinyl.

Three hours later and I'm there, somewhat short of breath as the cycle ride (had to take the bike for the list!) into the wind was an effort.

The 2 elegant waders spent their time in the middle / far side of the pool - so record shots with the mighty compact will suffice.

The cycle ride back home was easier, with the wind assisting the journey somewhat... stops at East Hartford produced 4 wheatear, and at the delightful place that is Boghouses, another - 5 is a good Cramlington total.

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

Down the coast

With a bright morning ahead I opted to try for another go at the drake black scoter, this time armed with a digital compact and scope ~ as can be seen below, I've lost any ability to digiscope - couldn't see the bird on the camera screen and the pictures were awful!...

Lots' of swallow moving north and two long-tailed duck lingered.

Further south I popped in to have a look at marsh harrier - 1 male noted, along with sedge warbler, grasshopper warbler, and further south again, 2 avocet on Cresswell.

West Hartford was quiet on Sunday - my first swallow and house martin were appreciated...

Pratincole on the list...

It was an early start today - departed at 04:20 and by 08:20 was pulling up to a windswept field in north-west Norfolk... just as the pager confirmed that the target bird was present.... black-winged pratincole.

Phew!

I'd sweated for a week (again working nightshift) hoping that this would stick... and it did. Always a relief when the journey is a bit longer than normal.

I've experienced bad dips before - the red-necked stint at in Cambridgshire stands out; as negative news was posted as we pulled into the car park - the journey back was painful... especially as pallas's grasshopper warbler was evidently available on Blakeney Point when we reached Doncaster! Anyhoo... I'd not seen BWP before, so it constitutes my second new UK bird of 2009.

The initial views of the bird were below average - the bird was distant and not doing much, pretty much just sitting on the ground, and the weather was dull, cold and windy. Chat was good with fellow birders - meeting old acquaintances met previously on Scilly, and more familiar faces from the North-east.

By 11:00 hunger had set in, so a trip to Titchwell RSPB was called for. A Cheese and ham toastie showed much better than the pratincole, although it did not linger... On the reserve itself a bittern was booming, 3+ marsh harrier patrolled the reedbeds, avocet and black-tailed godwit were plentiful and there were tonnes of swift!

Refreshed(ish) I headed in the direction of home (not holme!), with another stop at the pratincole site. The first person I saw was Adrian Allen, another Northumberland birder... who more sensibly was taking in the pratincole as part of a holiday in East Anglia rather than a day trip from Northumberland!

By now the sun was shining - and what a difference this made to the bird - now more active, running short lengths across the ploughed field, stopping and standing "to attention", bobbing it's head frantically, and better still - flying! What a cracking family pratincoles are - like over sized swallows! We were treated to one very close fly-over, with the pratincole calling to make sure we knew it was there! Many photographs were taken, one of which is presented here...

The journey back was tedious - part of the A1 was closed south of Retford - 2 hours were spent in a traffic jam - boo!

The downside of twitching - journey back + traffic jam...

Avosetta

Avocet, Greatham Greek, May 2009.

Purple haze

It was another glorious sunny day in the North-east, and after a late breakfast I headed south to the new RSPB reserve at Saltholme to try and see the immature purple heron that had arrived on the previous Friday.


Upon arrival I was pointed in the direction of the Haverton viewpoint - a raised mound south of Haverton Hole pools. (This part of the reserve isn't complete yet, hence a delay in releasing news of the heron).

Purple heron can be tricky, spending long periods in reed beds out of sight - luckily for me I only had to wait for about 40 minutes before it made the first of several reedbed edge visits - good viewing but not very close for photographs (200m?) - record shots were the best on offer today - heat haze was also an issue!. The bird was watched by a good crowd, maybe up to fifty at any one time - purple heron is a very rare species north of the Humber.

Perhaps one disadvantage of the reserve at Saltholme is is proximity to some rather unsavory characters, and sure enough by mid afternoon the cast of "Shameless" arrived to spoil the birding. A "flock" of about thirty arrived, including both juveniles and sub-adults and some hybrids of sorts, led by Frank Gallagher himself, complete with plastic chairs... "this is our pool* (*er, it's not, I think the RSPB will disagree...) so sorry like.." and they proceeded to wade out into the pool for some water based activity (they did have a dinghy too, so were well prepared).






So the birders dispersed back into the main reserve, and the purple heron was flushed, heading into the deeper part of the reedbed to the east of the pool (So we all got a flight view at least!)

As the police arrived to move the riff-raff, I headed to the sanctuary of the reserve visitor centre where coffee and cake was much enjoyed - I'll be back for sure. Need a morning visit as the birders breakfast sounds very nice indeed!

Next stop was Greatham Creek, where avocet have had a good year - from the roadside I could see at least 10 adults and three juvs'... Northumberland next?

Avocet Anniversary

It's five years to the day that I found an avocet at West Hartford on 1st April 2004 - a great "inland" county record and probably my favourite bird on my WH list.

I found this bird on what was scheduled to be a quick visit after work, in fact I almost talked myself out of a visit, as a cup of coffee was high on my list of after work requirements - just shows how anything can turn up at anytime, and how a well watched patch can reap rewards after many hours survey.

The avocet was frequently harassed by the gulls on the pool. A pre-work check of the pool the next morning was avocet-less. I'd like to say that the photograph was taken at WH, but it wasn't...

WH has provided many hours of fruitless observation. There have also been some goodies - green-winged teal, marsh harrier, "inland" knot, "inland" bar-tailed godwit, med gull spring to mind, with species that are taken for granted at other pools - eg little grebe (once), tufted duck (scarce), goosander and cormorant (one "on pool" record each). In fact passage waders such as LRP, green sand, wood sand and black-tailed godwit are more regular!