Tin Church & Newton Pool, 31st May 2008

Started today with a bit of early morning ringing..... was hoping for an iccy or marsh warbler, but it was not to be and garden warbler was best I could manage....

This mornings ringing highlights...

Other than a few warblers I just caught a load of juvvy blackbirds which tend to shit all over you...... I had one in the top shelf of a net which managed a well targetted dump all over my face and head....... yuk !!

After ringing I had a quick walk around the Tin Church and Newton Pool to see if any scarcies were evident.... I managed 2 lesser throats and spot fly at the church, and just 1 spot fly down at the pool.......

...and then...... AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHH !!...........GREAT SNIPE ON HOLY ISLAND......

I's been up since 3.30 am and felt totally shattered but I can't ignore a bird like that... so I linked up with TC for a mad dash up to the GREAT DIP ON HOLY ISLAND......

Yep, a couple of hours of tramping round dunes and nuffin..... BOLLOX !!

I know nowt about flowers......Is this a northen marsh orchid ?

Football Hole, Newton Point & Newton Pool, 30th May 2008

FUGGIN ELL.... WHALE !!!!

Thats what I shouted when I gave Newton Point 30 minutes this evening....

I'm sat there, just had two really close manxies when this big whale breaches...... It surfaced just once, but it looked really large, it was long and had an obvious dorsal fin set back towards its tail.... I'm no expert but I think it was something like a minke whale.....

Anyway.....

Did a quick visit this evening after yesterdays report of not one..... not two...... not three......

but...... THREE PLUS HAWFINCHES !!!......Mmmmm.... Thats a bit of a gripper !!

.... but as I kind of expected, there was no sign of these when I went down there.... no rosefinch either.... shame, hawfinch on the patch would have been awesome....

So, I kicked around the pool area but no sign of any those red backed shrikes or iccys that seem to be scattered up and down the coast..... in fact it was pretty quiet all round..... only thing I saw was this fox... it was trying to catch rabbits and didn't notice me creeping up on it..... legged it off as soon as it spotted me tho...

Foxy...

With lack of success down the pool I headed off to Newton Point where I had my whale experience, also a couple of manxies.... and a common sand was lurking on the rocks here.....

Next round to Football Hole where there was a serious lack of bluethroats..... AGAIN....

There's a couple on the Farnes , so maybe tomorrow will bring one..... gotta stay positive....

Football Hole & Newton Pool, 28th May 2008

"........... BACK OF THE NET !!"

Grotfinch.....

Having looked at the weather forecast last night I managed to pursuade my boss to let me have the day off today..... result !!

It turned out to be a good move...... Not too many migrants about, but a rosefinch by Newton Pool made the day off worthwhile....

OK its not a red un, but I don't care !! It was singing its head off and its a PATCH TICK !! I was really hoping to add rosefinch or bluethroat to the patch list this year, so I'm dead chuffed with this little fella...

Today I started off with a bit of ringing and some nice birds.....

Pied fly

Spot fly

This was a ringing tick for the site, sparrows are just ace !!

In the afternoon I decided to flog the area as it seemed there was a scattering of scarcies up and down the coast....

......Football Hole had nuffin.... Newton Point had nuffin...... then down at the pool the rosefinch did the biz to liven up the day, and spur me on to cover the dunes thoroughly..... the result...... nuffin !!

Still..... can't complain..........

Tin Church & Newton Point, 27th May 2008

The weather promised a bit of drizzle this evening to go with those easterlies we've been having..... so with great hope of some migrants I headed off to Newton after work...

The first stop was my ringing site where a long-eared owl gave me a quite a surprise flying along a net ride, unfortunately it was very windy so the net wasn't there.....

This is only my second ever LEO at Newton...... It perched up and got mobbed by blackbirds and greenfinches, but by the time I'd got my camera it had moved deeper into the willows, so no pics I'm afraid......

At the Tin Church there are now 2 spotted flycatchers and a pied fly..... Pied flys always get me excited... They're cracking little birds and I always think that if there's pied fly there could be other scarcer migrants....

Little cracker !!

Optimism fuelled by the pied fly I flogged the patch, Football Hole, Newton Point and Newton Pool....

Football Hole - 3 curlews....... NO BLUETHROAT !!
Newton Point - 2 manxies
Newton Pool - 1 grasshopper warbler and a spot fly

Unfortunately nothing scarcer....

......... then I found out the Farnes has got red backed shrike and rosefinch..... ARSE !!

High Newton & Newton Pool, 26th May 2008

A quick morning visit to Newton today...

I stopped in High Newton at a couple of places to check the cereals for singing quail..... no joy but once again I was delighted to discover a common bird........Tree sparrows !!

Just last year I saw my first tree sparrows at Newton, they were regular by the church for a few months but they vanished around January time, we put some nest boxes up but it was a little too late......

I stopped this morning at High Newton to check an area I tend not to bother with unless its full on autumn fall conditions..... and there they were ! At least 2 pairs feeding young and I found a nest in a tree cavity.... even more encouraging is that these birds are only 2 fields away (a few hundred metres as the sparrow flies) from the nest boxes and the wildbird seed crop thats just been sown...

Tree spug.... todays highlight....

Tree Sparrows are doing well in this part of the world with population increases reported from many areas in the North East... we hope that with the nest boxes, seed crop and the new ponds providing lots of summer insect food, we'll soon have our own little "Newton colony"......

This looks boring but its actually dead exciting.... Honest !!

The wildbird crop is growing !!

......Its a really diverse mix and should be perfect for that rustic bunting in the autumn

The newly dug ponds are already starting to attract wildlife, they're full of tadpoles and the swallows and house martins are using them for gathering mud....

Glorious mud !!

After my tree sparrow excitement the rest of the morning was pretty quiet, the lesser throat was still singing at the ringing site and a spot fly was still showing well by the church....Down at the pool it was all quiet, the swans have newly hatched cygnets and a sparrowhawk batted through.... but that was about it... no willow tit and of course no red backed shrike, rosefinch, iccy, bluethroat etc.....

Football Hole BLUETHROAT !!!

Just after writing my last post I quickly checked my e-mails to find that IF had kindly sent me a couple of pictures from his days at Newton....... and the first one I opened was this !!

Bluethroat at Football Hole....

GRIPPED !!!

Newton Pool to Long Nanny, 25th May 2008

I couldn't sleep last night........ So up at dawn this morning.....

I decided to take advantage of the situation by covering the patch from south to north before all those "normal" people descended to the shores.... you know.......cloggin up the place by parking their spotless personal plate clad 4x4s all over the narrow roads just to avoid paying the £2 car park fee..... habitually shouting at their kids..... habitually yelling at their labradors and letting them shit everywhere.....The usual bank holiday chaos...... MARVELLOUS !!

Sunrise at about 4.30.... ish

A quick tramp around the ringing site to start with produced a singing lesser whitethroat, and the barn owl was hunting the area again, flying within a few feet of me at one point.... if only I had one of those lumix cameras !!

Barney......

At the Low Newton car park a yellowhammer was "showing well"...

Always a favourite.....

The great thing about local patching is that a bird considered regular or common in the UK can take on a different status..... my bird of the day today came from Newton Pool and got me REALLY excited...... a willow tit !!

I've seen willow tit at Newton a few times in the autumn/winter, but never in the summer... could they be breeding somewhere here ? Gonna keep my eyes well peeled now.....

At the pool it was just the usual stuff again..... but a feature of today was fledged young.... blackbirds, song thrushes, robins and stonechats all with newly fledged young.....

I flogged the scrub down to Embleton golf course, at 6 in the morning it was alive with singing birds, sedgies, reed buntings, linnets and willow warblers mainly.... no sign of that rosefinch or red backed shrike tho.....

Next I headed to the point..... a ten minute seawatch produced 2 manxies and all the usual terns, auks, kitts etc.....

Round at Football Hole there were 12 curlews on the beach, and once again the bushes yielded NAFF ALL !! I spoke to RL this evening tho and he gave me tales of his own finds of subalpine warbler, rosefinch and of course bluethroat in these bushes...... just gotta keep floggin it I guess..... one day eh......

The walk between Football Hole and the Long Nanny held all the usual mipits, skylarks, linnets and reed buntings. Between Newton Pool and the Long Nanny I counted 6 pairs of stonechats all feeding fledged young.....

Cute.......

I finished off the morning at the Long Nanny, the 2 wheatears were still present and as usual little terns were giving great views feeding in the burn by the bridge....

At the tern site the usual arctics were joined by 2 commons and 2 sandwich terns..... during the week a little gull was reported here too....

While I was there the terns did a large dread and a quick look around located a large falcon bombing along the beach.... I figured it would be a peregrine, but as it came closer and flew past it was obviously something different..... it looked a bit like a juv saker, but not quite !! To be honest I'm not sure what it was.... an escaped falconers bird of some sort I guess......

Newton Pool, Newton Point & Tin Church, 23rd May 2008

My mate Phil from Wales was visiting today, so we spent the day flogging the Low Newton area .....

Started with a bit of ringing, 2 house martins were the highlights....

House martins are so cool.....

......I like their feathered feet ! This one had mud on its bill from nest building...... its great to see house martins and swallows using the newly dug ponds for gathering mud this spring.....

At the ringing site a spotted flycatcher was a new arrival....

Spot fly....

In the afternoon we headed to the pool area.... the immense flood of the winter months has now reduced to a small patch in the centre of the field.... Today this held a common sandpiper and a lapwing....

Small flood......

Down at the pool all the usual suspects were present, and grey heron was showing well !

Showing well.....

In the dunes by the golf course another "white arsed" stonechat was present.....

....ARSE !!!

The dunes here were full of the usual sedgies, reed bunts, mipits and linnets...... but no sign of that red backed shrike, common rosefinch or wryneck I keep hoping for.....

A white wagtail and yellow wagtail were amongst the pieds on the beach tho....

White wag.....

Further along towards the point 2 wheatears gave a bit of hope for some migrants.... So a dash round to the bushes at Football Hole was in order....... the result...... no bluethroats !

.....This isn't a bluethroat !!

4 sanderling were on the beach here but otherwise it was all quiet along this stretch of coast...

...So..... back to Newton via the Tin Church where we finished with another spotted flycatcher......

Long Nanny & Football Hole, 22nd May 2008

There's a fuggin bluethroat on the Farnes !!

....You can see the Farnes from Football Hole so of course I had to go and check the old "bluethroat bushes" again today..... was there a bluethroat ?.... was there bollox !!

Did a quick visit to Long Nanny this afternoon, a couple of wheatears on the saltmarsh are always welcome.... round at the tern site the resident arctic and little terns were joined by three common terns and three sandwich terns...... Most seasons the site gets the odd record of roseate tern or little gull.... but not today....

Common tern with a couple of arctics.... a nice comparison....

Next a visit to Football Hole produced just 6 curlew, 2 turnstones and a handful of ringed plovers.... the bushes here held the usual reed bunting, linnet and meadow pipits..... NO BLUETHROATS !!

Nearby an unusual site was a crop nesting ringed plover..... an area that flooded in the spring was bare while the crop grew all around.... a bit like a natural skylark plot....

Ringie in the crop...

Newton Point, 20th May 2008

A quick visit to the point this evening....

Not a lot to report other than the usual mipits and skylarks here....

Smelly rape field at Football Hole....

10 minutes checking the sea and the place was lifting with seabirds..... terns and kitts feeding everywhere and plenty of auks offshore including good numbers of puffins.... Gannets steaming northwards.......The best bird was a bonxie lingering in Football Hole....

A couple of these sailboats were offshore too....

Long Nanny, 18th May 2008

A flying visit to the Nanny this morning...

Nowt too amazing to report, but the stonechats never fail to entertain do they... the pair near the bridge were carrying food....

Entertaining.....

At the bridge a wheatear was lingering and whimbrel was on the saltmarsh.....

... but of course the real stars of the show were the terns ! They're back in force and they always blow me away..... probably over a 2000 birds here at the mo, its seriously impressive when they dread as a group and wheel about over the site as one large group..... also about 30 odd little terns on my brief visit....

They're back !! .... and they're just flippin AWESOME !!

If you get the chance you should definitely drop by the Long Nanny tern site and witness it for yourself.... The viewing platform is smack bang in the middle of the action so you'll get great views (...I nearly had one land on me !!), and the National Trust have resident wardens here to tell you all about the birds..... quite a few pairs of nesting ringed plovers here too.....

Not a lot to report on the way back......

.........I spent the rest of the afternoon out with the lads on our bikes again.....A run up and down the coast and over to Rothbury...... luverly !

The love of my life.....

My mum doesn't like the number plate tho..... sorry mum...

Football Hole & Newton Pool, 17th May 2008

I started off today with a bit of ringing....

Fairly slow and spent most of the morning catching birds I've ringed in the last couple of weeks !! This is quite usual at this time of year tho..... I'm just waiting for that thrush nightingale to liven things up a bit........ Mmmmm........ yes I am a dreamer !!

Of the new stuff 6 swallows were welcome... they showed some variation in underpart colour too.....

Pink/orangey lookin female

Paler male....

I also caught a swallow I ringed here last summer, a nice returning record.....

....and a wood pigeon flapping along a mist net is always impressive, powerful birds these....

Impressive...

After ringing I headed to Football Hole to look for that long awaited bluethroat...... No joy of course but the resident reed bunting was hanging about trying to look rare....

At Football Hole a couple of whimbrel flew north and a group of 8 turnstones were still present.... tern activity was more obvious this week with arctic, little and sandwich all fishing in the bay here....

From Football Hole I headed down to Low Newton..... Nothing too special to report from this area, but a striking looking white wagtail was on the beach at Low Newton.....

The rape fields inland of the castle had turned bright yellow within the space of a week....

The usual suspects were down at the pool again, best of the bunch was a grasshopper warbler in the scrub in the dunes by the hide....

Finally, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit I had my first swifts of the year at Newton today ! 2 at Football Hole and 8 Newton Pool...... better late than never I guess....

Newton Pool, 16th May 2008

Mammals !!

A quick visit to the pool this evening hoping to catch up with a female marsh harrier that was about in the week...... No luck....

I saw zero birds of great interest, but a fox was hanging around with 4 cubs.... spent half an hour watching them playing, jumping all over mum, mum washing them and then they had a feed.... looked like they were munching a rabbit.... views were distant but managed a couple of record shots....

Funky fox family.....

On the way to the pool there was a couple of wheatears... so there's still hope for the odd migrant coming through.....

Still hope....

On the pool itself was just the same old + 6 tufted ducks...... bout time this place got a decent rare I reckon.....

Football Hole & Newton Pool, 10th May 2008

I started off today with a bit of early morning ringing........... up at 4am..... URGHHHH...... I love ringing but I do really struggle with the early mornings !! ...... Its usually worth it tho.....

A nice spread of species, with the highlights being 3 swallows and a returning blackcap that I ringed last summer...... of interest I also caught a returning sedge warbler last weekend too....

I find it fascinating that these little birds have made such an amazing journey and returned to exactly the same spot a year later to breed.......

Highlight......

After ringing I did my usual stroll along the coast..... the weather was nice and as a result I found myself trying to avoid people !!..... just a bit of sun and Newton gets packed, and its often with the second home, spotless shiny urban 4x4 lot.... mmmmmm........don't get me started !!

Anyway I know its a very selfish attitude but I wish they'd all piss off !!

So......I headed to football hole first.... here there were 4 whimbrel, 3 purple sandpipers and the turnstones that I always take for granted.... however the turnstone are all coming into summer plumage and looking absolutely stunning.... awesome birds !!

Of course I checked the bluethroat bushes....... and of course there was nuffin there........ AGAIN !! Same old story...... a nice pair of reed bunts tho and snipe was booted up from the stream there....

Next I went the pool......... Yesterdays wheatear was still present along the track, but the pool was dead quiet again, same old teal and tufties... where is that black tern or little gull tho ?

In the scrub around the pool 2 lesser whitethroats were singing, and a grasshopper warbler was reeling away.....

On the track back to Newton I stopped to look at this stonechat.... It looked like a UK race bird with the usual orange breast extending over much of its underparts (just a bit of a white belly), but it had a very obvious white rump and a fairly broad white neck patch too...... Assume its just a UK race bird at the extreme end of the "white bits" range..... ??

White bits......

Newton Pool, 9th May 2008

A flying visit to Newton Pool this evening....

Not a Huge amount to report, but a grey heron was showing off in front of the hide...

Show off....

On the pool were the usual suspects with the 2 regular teal (male & female) and 4 tufted ducks (2 males & 2 females)....

On the walk back to the car a large flock of hirundines were gathering and perching on the ground and low thistle stalks in the flood field.... these were mainly swallows, but a couple of sand martins and a house martin too.... they looked a bit strange sat in a field !

A bit strange......

Along the track to the hide a big northern wheatear was kickin about, assume it was a Greenland job...

Greenland job....

In the hills...., 6th May 2008

I was working on a site up in the hills today.....

A cracking day and lots of the typical upland stuff.... all the usual waders (checked the golden plover areas for dotterel, but no luck) , black grouse, wheatears and ring ouzel feeding young......

Rouzel....

What a great day for soaring raptors too...... however, I saw zero raptors, just a couple of pairs of buzzards and some kestrels in the lower areas.... Some reasonable habitat and plenty of food, so where are the harriers, peregrines etc.... ?

Long Nanny, 5th May 2007

Life is sweeeet !!

I spent this morning blatting up the coast on my bike..... the weather was fine, the roads smooth, the corners sweeping and the speed.... well I don't want to incriminate myself too much..... suffice to say I love watching the cars shrink rapidly in my mirrors !! I did a swift flyby of both Ipins and Boulmer Birders patch and ended up at Newton.....

Then I took a long walk along the beach with a beautiful woman !! A beautiful woman who let me go birding whilst on our walk !!

...... I didn't really see too much but that doesn't matter.....

It was high tide and the saltmarsh was more flooded than I've seen it for a long time....

A bit soggy......

On the saltmarsh were 4 wheatears, a stunning male white wagtail and a good count of 19 shelducks..... My first arctic tern of the season was on the beach, and a scan of the sea here produced a nice sum plum female long tailed duck hanging out with eiders...... Finally, on the walk back to Newton Links 3 whimbrel flew north calling......

A fast bike...... a beautiful woman....... and a long tailed duck......... What a great day !!

Football Hole, Newton Point and Newton Pool, 4th May 2008

Had a kick around Newton this afternoon after deciding to chill in bed and give the morning downpours a miss.....

Mmmmmm.......that sounded convincing !!...... The truth.... the alcohol consumption of last night caught up we me a bit this morning and as a result I couldn't be arsed to get up early for anything or anyone.....

I started today by heading to football hole, the bluethroat bushes here held a couple of reed buntings, and as usual no bluethroats..... or anything else vaguely interesting for that matter !!

I've heard so many tales of bluethroats and other rares from here, and I flog it religiously and never see anything..... EVER !! These legendary bushes have had scores of bluethroats, subalpine warbler, rosefinch, red backed shrike, barred warbler, yellow brow.... to name but a few...... and the best thing I've ever seen here is a whinchat.

Talking of whinchats.........

Belter !!

So.... nothing to report from Football Hole.... AGAIN !!

Newton Point was a bit better.... 2 Whinchats (male & female) were the stars of the show, they were feeding in the tussocky grassland at the point...... and a flyover yellow wagtail heading north gave me some hope too....

At the point itself a whimbrel did a good job of hiding amongst the roosting oycs.....

Invisible....... ish

With not a lot else to keep me at the point I decided to head down to the pool.... The flood was devoid of birds except for one lonely looking female teal. When I opened the flaps in the hide and grilled Newton Pool I came up with a grand total of 2 mute swans !!

After 20 minutes of watching I managed to increase the count by 1 moorhen, 2 coots and 3 black-headed gulls !! Totally dead today....... Where are those little gulls and black terns I was hoping for ?

I kept myself amused by grilling the big flock of hirundines in vain hope that I might jam in on a red rump or something even better..... My mind wondered off and I started thinking about alpine swifts...... then pacific swifts........ then needletails.....

.......FUGGIN ELL !! WHAT PLANET AM I FROM ?!!

The boredom was broken by a group of 5 kittewakes that dropped in to bathe......

NOT little gulls.......

I left the hide having seen naff all, next I grilled the dunes behind the hide where I also saw naff all..... Then it started pissing down again, MARVELOUS !!

I went home....... and drank lots..... and now I'm writing this.......

Long Nanny & Newton Pool, 3rd May 2008

FUGGIN MENTAL !!!

I had a bizarre experience today, just walking down the track to the pool and I see this dear old lady walking her dog, as I approach I can see she's bending over picking up a big turd.... I say "good morning" and "thank you" for cleaning up after her dog, I wish others would follow this example.... Her response was.... "oh its not my dogs, but it gives us all a bad name doesn't it, I thought I'd better clean it up....."

This lady was cleaning up someone elses dog shit !! Now either she is a pillar of society or mentalist, or both !! Whatever I was dead impressed, her actions restored my faith in doggy people... Well done Mrs turd collector and thank you !!

I started today with a bit of ringing... The warblers are here !!

Lesserthroat

Sedgie

wilwa

1st summer male blackcap.... This bird still showed some brown fringes to the black crown feathers, also an obvious worn brown alula feather and very worn tail feathers indicating 1st summer

Adult male male blackcap, by contrast has a jet black cap and more uniform wing feathers, also rounder fresher tail feathers

Female blackcap

While ringing a greenshank flew over the site calling....

I packed up ringing about lunchtime and took a walk to the Long Nanny.... pretty quiet here, well apart from the summer knobheads at Beadnell with their speedboats and jetskis, I wish they'd fuck off down to Druridge bay with all the other dickheads.... No offence Ipin !!.......

..... just 1 wheatear, 3 whimbrel and little tern is back...... A few waders on the shore comprised of the usual ringies, 16 sanderling (2 in rusty sum plum) and 4 dunlin all in sum plum......offshore a lone common scoter was bobbin about....

They're back !!!..... well this one bird is back anyway....

I decided to finish off by dropping into Newton Pool, all the usual stuff here...

2 teal
6 tufted ducks
2 little grebes

etc, etc.....

In the scrub behind the hide a grasshopper warbler was reeling, a lesser whitethroat was singing from the wardens garden, and 3 whimbrel flew over calling....

I stopped to scan the flooded field on the way back to the car, it was empty when I arrived so I thought I'd give it a scan again... it was still empty, but I caught a large bird out of the corner of my eye to the left, I turned and locked on to a stunning male marsh harrier !! This appeared to have come over dunes, then over the wardens house towards the pool, it floated around over the pool for 2 or 3 minutes getting mobbed by everything before heading off inland.....

RESULT !! I've seen a few marsh harriers here before but not for a couple of years now....