Newton Pool & Newton Point, 28th Oct 2007

OLIVE BACKED PIPIT !!!!!

Yes you heard me right….. OLIVE BACKED PIPIT !!!

This is what TC (No, not Top Cat….) and I were left babbling to each other in the hide this afternoon…..

Now before you get over excited…. let me explain.......

No we didn’t actually see an olive-backed pipit, but we did hear what was either a tree pipit or olive-backed pipit flying south calling…

We were sat in the hide this afternoon enjoying the usual snipe action, when we heard the “speeez” call of a tree pipit…. We looked at each other in disbelief and started craning our necks to peer skywards, but we couldn’t see it…. It called again (moving southwards) and we both agreed it was either a tree pipit or olive-backed pipit….

The question is how many tree pipits do you get in the last days of October… the answer… well….not very many I’m guessing !! So, there is a chance that this might have been an olive-backed pipit……but we’ll never know now…….. BOLLOX !!

We managed to console ourselves with that long predicted jack snipe… AT LAST !! Unfortunately this was on the far side of the pool so no pictures, but the water rails were more showy and treated us to a great territorial display and a proper punch up !!

Oi… are you lookin at my pint ?…

After a bit of noisy gesturing, one bird then spent about thirty seconds trying to drown the other, until it eventually escaped and ran away…. Then the victor puffed out its chest and started calling…

I am the champion !!!

I’ve never actually seen a water rail calling before… ACE !!

More rail pics…

Also from the hide were the usual selection of dabbling ducks and 1 scaup was still present…. A good number (12+) snipe were plodding around the pool and 2 redshank….

This isn't the jack snipe.....

From the pool we headed towards Newton Point. On the way we had a group of siskins flying in off the sea, the beach had a large gathering of waders and black-headed gulls again, and plenty of redshank, turnstone and sanderling here…..

At Newton Point we had 4 red-throated divers, and bonxie was flying purposefully northwards….. but that was about all…

The view from Newton Point

The evening was drawing in, so we decided to head home and torture ourselves by listening to the OBP calls on the Siberian Vagrants CD…

High Newton, Low Newton & Newton Pool, 27th Oct 2007

WOODCOCK !!

Yep… first bird I saw today was a woodcock, well 2 woodcocks actually…. They were flying around my ringing site at dawn while I was putting some nets up…. Did I catch em ? …… errrr…. Nope, of course not !!

Pretty quiet on the ringing front today, a blackcap was probably my best bird, not exactly that late barred warbler I was hoping for but nice anyway…..

Not a barred warbler.....

A couple of great spotted woodpeckers gave a good opportunity to compare sexes…

Male (above) and female (below)

While I was ringing today there was a steady passage of siskins heading south, by the end of the morning I’d seen 500+ siskins heading over, I also noted a lot of bullfinches including a couple of high flying flocks that dropped in to the site… one or two thrushes still on the move too, seem to be more fieldfares than redwings today…

Funky thrush....

After ringing I headed down to Low Newton. On the beach a high tide feeding frenzy was going on, with 600 odd black-headed gulls, a few common gulls and one adult Mediterranean gull (which was the best bird of the day). Amongst the gulls were good numbers of waders including 1 knot, 1 grey plover, 5 barwits, 13 sanderling and a load of turnstone and redshank.

Frenzy.....

Next I moved on towards the hide. I checked out the walled garden for that pallas’s warbler that I keep hoping for, but all I could see was a ringed blue tit. Sure it is probably the same ringed blue tit I see there every time I look in that flippin garden, has it got nothing better to do than hang around there fluttering about in the sycamores every day !!

In the scrub by the wardens house I saw a male great spotted woodpecker (unringed), there seems to be lot of great spots on the coast this autumn… or is it just me ?

At the hide the water rail did a quick circuit before I could get a decent pic… All the usual suspects were there and I couldn’t resist another pic of a teal, they’re stunning things when you see them close up….

Stunning duck....

The peace and quiet of the hide was soon shattered when a family (including some spoilt brats from hell) turned up, they came clattering into the hide, kids screaming and shouting, stuck their arms out of the window and promptly flushed EVERYTHING !! The whole pool area was a swirl of ducks and waders flying about…. Meanwhile the hide was swirl of screaming uncontrolled kids….

LITTLE FUCKERS !!

OK, now I know I should get annoyed and they are only kids after all…. But what the hell I don’t care…. they were LITTLE FUCKERS !! Its worth pointing out that their parents thought it was really funny too, so therefore they are….. STUPID FUCKERS !!

I left the STUPID FUCKERS and LITTLE FUCKERS behind and wandered back to the car muttering under my breath….

I’m pleased to say my mood was soon lifted tho, this time by another flock of sanderling on the beach… great birds, they’re like little clockwork toys !!

VERY COOOOOL !!!

My back yard, 23rd Oct 2007

Have you ever looked at the moon through your scope ? …. ITS AWESOME !!!

Click on this image to enlarge it....

Can’t get over all those serious craters and shock waves…. Imagine what must have hit it….. the mind boggles…… well my mind regularly boggles, but that’s a different story altogether…..

High Newton & Long Nanny, 21st Oct 2007

Aren’t robins nutcases !! Today I watched at least 4 different robins giving serious agro to other robins, they’re real hard bastards with attitude !! Seems to be a lot of em about this weekend too, guessing they’ve come in with all the thrushes.

I watched two great robin battles today, a couple of birds having a mid air scrap which ended up with them landing on an exposed beach. Then a couple which chased each other out of the bushes and ended up sat in the middle of a ploughed field before realising how exposed they were and dashing back to the scrub… BRILLIANT !!

Anyway…. Today I did a couple of hours ringing in the morning and caught a few more thrushes....

A big thrush !!

......and a shed load of bullfinches…. Well when I say a shed load I mean… 8 bullfinches… not everyday you catch 8 bullfinches tho so it seemed like a shed load… maybe a very small shed…. a micro shed…

This escaped from the shed....

The kingfisher was still avoiding my camera and a female brambling was lurking around the site managing to avoid my mist nets… AGAIN !!

After ringing I headed to High Newton to check the walled garden, a few goldcrests and redwings were the only birds here, so I decided to check out the Long Nanny instead.

On the way down to the car park I was treated to an amazing spectacle… a flock of over 1000 golden plover appeared and tried to land on one of the fields at Newton links. This area was just too disturbed tho, and after five minutes they gave up and moved south, but not before giving me stunning views as they flew right over my head, the sound was amazing too…. Hundreds of wingbeats and goldie calls…. TOTALLY STUNNING !!

Back to the Nanny, and along the back of the dunes there seemed to be good numbers of stonechats, which were entertaining as usual…

Very entertaining....

At the burn a wheatear was nice, but unfortunately this was also camera shy…. Luckily three twite on the saltmarsh lingered long enough for me to get a pic tho…

No I wasn't pissed there were three...honest.....

A large gull roost on the beach was thoroughly scanned and produced… NAFF ALL !! Not even a med gull… that’s pants !!

On my way back to the car things got worse… The spring was taken out of my step, and my mood seriously blackened, when I trod in a huge dog turd…. BOLLOX !!

People who let there dogs shit everywhere and don’t clean it up are TOTAL BASTARDS !! HOW FUCKIN SELFISH IS THAT ?? If I had my way I’d seriously beat the owner with a big bat, rub their own dogs shit in their face and then hang them upside down off the Tyne bridge for a bit.

If that didn’t bring on a serious heartfelt apology, then I’d shoot the dog……….. and then I’d shoot them …..

So…… Anyway….. I spent my walk back to the car dragging my foot along the ground and trying to find puddles to wash it in… I then spent my journey home driving with the windows down, muttering under my breath, and sniffing every few seconds like some sort of deranged cokehead….....

High Newton, Newton Pool & Newton Point, 20th Oct 2007

What a great day !! I started off ringing in the morning and had a real blackbird day at the ringing site catching 30 odd blackbirds …

1st winter male blackbird

Adult male blackbird

1st winter male blackbird

Adult male blackbird

Note the contrasting brown unmoulted wing feathers and greater coverts of the first winter bird compared to the uniform black wing feathers and greater coverts of the adult. So there you go... a simple lesson in ageing blackbirds... its easy !! Next time you are watching a blackbird in your garden check it out for contrast in the wings and greater coverts to see if its a 1st year...

The thrush theme continued through the morning with small flocks of redwing overhead (and a couple in the nets), a couple of fieldfare, 2 large groups of mistle thrushes and then a ring ouzel in the gorse bank by the tin church.

Also caught this...... which was nice...

I love migration, this is what really flicks my switch ! It was one of those days that wasn’t frantic migration, but it felt like stuff was steadily trickling through. A brambling narrowly avoided my nets “DOH” ! A couple of large groups of siskin dropped in to feed on the alders and a couple of large skeins of pinkfeet drifted over, all very nice…. Then a lone swallow flew south, which wasn't really expected.... I've not seen any others here for a few weeks now...

The kingfisher is still present today too, and still refusing to have its photo taken !

In the afternoon I headed down to Newton Pool, that jack snipe still hasn’t arrived yet but I’m sure it’ll be there soon… Again good numbers of dabbling ducks, many of which are moulting out of eclipse plumage and starting to look quite good again…

Lookin good !

A couple of ruff plodded about in front of the hide, but I’d missed the water rails by about 20 minutes according to a couple I was chatting to in the hide.

The scrub at the back of the wardens cottage was lifting with blackbirds, seemed like every step I took flushed another… then another !! One or two redwings and a fieldfare were also lurking here…

Onwards.... and I decided to head up to Newton Point. On reaching the point I watched a single redwing fly in low off the sea and land on the rocks at the point. It immediately went to a pool of water and had a long drink, then hopped up onto the open grass at the point and started feeding… must have been knackered !

Redwing on the rocks....

......then feeding at the point

I remember last year watching exactly the same thing happen with a flock of 12 blackbirds and a fieldfare…. They all landed on the rocks and started drinking from the pools, then moved up onto the exposed grassland and fed for an hour or so before moving on towards the cover further inland.

The sea was flat calm and a quick scan produced my first little auk of the year, AWESOME !!

High Newton & Newton Pool, 14th Oct 2007

I very nearly got mowed down by some STUPID BITCH in one of those big posh BMW 4x4 things today!!

I’m walking down the hill towards Low Newton minding my own business, and next thing I know this stupid great BMW thing has mounted the kerb and heading straight towards me !! I have to jump out the way to avoid head-butting her bonnet… by the time I’ve got over the shock she’s up over the hill and gone… leaving me stood there shaking my fists and swearing at nobody… the people who were coming out of their house at that point must have thought I was some sort of serious loony…

WHAT THE FUCK WAS SHE DOING ??? I can only imagine she wasn’t used to driving outside the town, it must be so confusing having to deal with open roads when you’re only used to crawling along at 5mph, and blocking up the roads taking the kids to school… STUPID COW !!

Anyway… apologies but its always good to get things off your chest... especially when you’ve had a near death experience !!!

So…… a deep breath…… and…….calm……

Right…

I spent the first couple of hours this morning ringing and was delighted to spot tree sparrows on my site again… AWESOME !!! I saw six here a few weeks ago (my first ever tree sparrows at Newton), and now a flock of six had appeared again, I’m assuming they’re the same birds….

I tried really hard to get a photo of them, but they’re surprisingly skulky little devils once you’ve got the camera out ! I spent 15 minutes trying to get close enough for a photo, but they just kept skulking in the hawthorns or flying further away……… no joy at all………. and then…….

Bingo !!

Also caught a bullfinch this morning, what a great bill….. I think if it was yellow it would look a bit like Homer Simpson !!

Homer....

Other than this, the ringing was pretty quiet today so I packed up early and headed down to the pool to see what I could see…

A quick scout around by the Tin Church produced a couple of bramblings and plenty of thrushes again...

The hide is really good at the moment, I think National Trust may have dropped the water levels ? Anyway there’s lots of mud and some great stuff right in front of the hide, its well worth a visit.

Again some nice waders in front of the hide, but no sign of the water rail today except for a bird skulking around on the far shore…

Some great views of snipe tho… quite a few people visited the hide while I was there today, most people don’t notice them straight away, but when you show them a close view in the scope they are real crowd pleasers… top birds !

Top birds !

Nothing else new in front of the hide today, but the views of waders were superb…. Sure there’ll be a Jack snipe there very soon….

High Newton & Newton Pool, 13th Oct 2007

Well I’m back at Newton after my stressful Shetland expedition…. and its great !!

I don’t know what it’s been like here recently but it definitely felt autumnal today. It seemed to be a thrush day with birds everywhere, and a steady stream of redwings heading over through the day…. A few fieldfares, a large group of mistle thrushes and masses of blackbirds.

One of my favourite species

I meant to go birding today but the ringing was so good I spent the morning and early afternoon busy ringing thrushes and robins, but I did manage a long awaited patch tick too……. KINGFISHER !!

This bird spent the whole day fishing in the pool next to my site, so provided some entertainment between net rounds… Unfortunately my camera seems to have a kingfisher repelling device fitted to it, every time I got it out the kingfisher vanished ! I saw one on the rocks at Beadnell years ago, but it was great to get one properly nailed on the patch today…

Mid afternoon I popped down to Newton Pool, this area was also busy, more thrushes, and some nice waders in front of the hide… 6 ruff, 2 redshank and 11 snipe.

I was fannying about trying to get some pictures of the snipe when the battery started going on my camera.. once this happens you may as well give up, the camera just won’t have any of it anymore… it fails to focus and keeps doing weird stuff just to annoy you…

Nice waders

I was just about to give up when a water rail runs out in front of the hide….. a bit of frantic fiddling, lots of flashing warning lights…. and the camera refuses to do anything ! I eventually manage to get 3 very bad out of focus shots and then it dies on me… ARSE !! Just to rub salt into the wound the water rail then plods about in front of the hide for the next 10 minutes !! Awesome views… crap photo !

Fuggin camera !!

Also on the pool wildfowl numbers are seriously building, some good numbers of wigeon and teal, at least 3 gadwall, couple of shoveler and 3 scaup. I met a nice couple in the hide who were telling me about there birding day and were really excited that they had seen a "velvet scooter" up the coast !!

This is not a scooter....

Unst, Shetland, 22nd Sept - 6th Oct 2007

Ever wondered what it would feel like to be frustrated, stressed, depressed and borderline suicidal all in one go ? Go birding in Shetland and you'll find out.... you'll probably fall out with a few of your best mates too !!

Yep I'm just back from my annual outing to the northern isles, here's a few pics from my recent visit.... Click on them to enlarge...

For a full account of our disastrous trip, lots more pictures, and some tips for surviving the Shetland experience click the link below….

Unst 2007 - desperation & despair....