High Newton & Tin Church, 27th Sept 2008

I had a morning ringing today, and caught this treecreeper.....

As was extracting the creeper I was struck by its bright white underparts (with a small amount of yellow/buff on the under tail coverts), long white supercilium and contrasting rufous rump..... I thought I may be holding one of these northern jobs that I've read about....

I got back to the ringing hut and checked out the ole books... but it soon became apparent that assigning these birds to race is not in the least bit straightforward, in fact it may be virtually impossible due to plumage variations throughout its European range....

So to sum up.... this might be a northern race treecreeper, mmmmm...... or it might not !! A nice bird whatever....

On the ringing front today, it was more of the same, mainly goldcrests, robins, chiffchaffs and thrushes....

BUT........ I am pleased to announce that the tree sparrows are back ! Yep, 4 of them were floating around the ringing site today, hopefully they'll find the nest boxes this time.....

There was a steady passage of pink footed geese this morning heading south, At least 5 flocks totalling over 400 birds, also a few redpolls and meadow pipits overhead this morning....

High Newton, Tin Church & Low Newton, 26th Sept 2008

.........AREN'T WARBLERS BRILLIANT !!

I had two special warblers today that made my day......

This yellow-brow was flitting around a private garden on my ringing site....



I love yellow-brows, I reckon they're even better than pallas's, yellow brows are striking, but they've got a bit of class to em, but those pallas's are just like tarts with all of those stripes !!

This thing was all over the place, god knows how I managed to digiscope a pic.... pure luck, I reckon....

The next warbler was this....

Yeah Ok..... It's a bog standard garden warbler....

But what's this ?....... NORWAY !!

Yep, this beauty's winged it across the north sea and into my net. I've been ringing at this site for just over one year now, this is my first foreign bird.... AWESOME !!

While I was ringing I noted a steady passage of redpoll sp's flying over the site, also 3 large flocks of pinkfeet flew south.... In the ringing site itself there were plenty of goldcrests and chiffchaffs, also 1 lesser whitethroat..... the ringing was steady with quite a few robins, goldcrests and chiffchaffs..... very autumnal !

I packed up ringing at midday and headed down to the flood pool, here there were still a few waders including, 1 curlew sand, 2 dunlin, 11 redshank and 30+ lapwing.....A quick squizz around the willows near the hide produced nowt, but 5 barwits flew south....

Finally on the walk back up the hill a big female peregrine did a good job of upsetting everything !

25th Sept 2008.... UFO !!

On October 19th in the year 2000 I left Fair Isle after a 2 week stay......

My 2 weeks had been pretty uneventful, the only rare bird occurring was a red throated pipit....

As I arrived home the following day I had hardly stepped through the front door when my phone rings, it was my mate Hywel who was one of the wardens on Fair Isle...... he was just calling to let me know that they had found a brown shrike on the island...... WOT ?!...BOLLOX !!

Fast forward to September 24th 2008.... I arrived home from work in a good mood, because I had the next two days off work to go birding at Newton.... I'm sat on the sofa, eating my tea and watching The Simpsons. I casually glance at my pager and then spit my food all over my unappreciative girlfriend...... FUGGIN ELL !!!....BROWN SHRIKE AT FLAMBOROUGH !!...

So my relaxed day at Newton goes well out of the window in favour of another twitch.... below are some proper shite photos !! With I think only five previous records, and this bird being the first mainland record, this is the rarest bird to appear on my blog to date.....

Showing well, note the fine plumage detail.......... ahem....

Well, if you squint your eyes and think imaginatively you could probably make this out as a bird sp.... sort of !! It was showing at a distance of over 15 miles you know...... But who gives a shit..... IT'S A FUGGIN BROWN SHRIKE !!

Low Newton & Newton Point, 21st Sept 2008

I dropped into Low Newton today to check the flooded field....

The water levels are dropping.... I'm hoping this will make the site more attractive to waders, it would be good to nail a crippling wader on here this autumn......... maybe I'm just daydreaming, but it did have a pec last year tho.....

Must think positive.... Must think BIG.... Must think HUGE....... Must think.........

........LONG TOED STINT !!!

Mmmmm.... reality check time I think !! .....Although the water is dropping, wader numbers seem to be tailing off from the last couple of weeks, birds seem to drop in and then move on fairly quickly. I'm wondering if this is due to food availability, or lack of it.....

This pool is seasonal, it probably looks good to an overflying wader, but as it is not an established permanent wet feature I'm wondering whether the rich food sources associated with permanent muddy edged pools is present here ? I suspect it's just wet grass and drowning soil invertebrates !!......... Who knows ?

But...... what I do know is....... curlew sandpiper !!

A nice scaly mantled juv....

Ok.... so it is not quite a long toed stint, but it's still a great patch bird, the first one I've seen here a for a few years....

More flood pool waders... from left right.... knot, ruff and redshank....

On the flood pool there were good numbers of redshank, also a few lapwing and golden plovers, 2 ruff, 1 common sand, 1 knot and 1 curlew sand.

Next I took a walk to Newton Point, the sea was flat calm like a mirror, a scan produced 2 red throated divers, 2 guillemots, and hundreds (...probably thousands) of black headed gulls.... Really odd that there seemed to be no birds on the sea except for groups of black headed gulls as far as the eye could see !!

Finally on the walk back to the Tim Church there was one token whinchat, probably hanging on from last week's migrant fall.....

High Newton, 20th Sept 2008

I kicked off some early morning ringing today.....

Most of the common migrants from the last two weeks have cleared out, and the ringing definitely had an autumnal feel to it with plenty of robins, goldcrests and song thrushes..... just one each of sedgie, garden warbler and chiffchaff....

While I was ringing 70 plus pinkfeet flew south " wink wink"ing, and two yellow wagtails flew south calling....

At around 9.30 my ringing activity ceased abruptly when I got news of a GREATER SAND PLOVER just over the Scottish border in Lothian......

A quick dash up the A1, and then.........BACK OF THE NET !!

Nice collar...

Big conk....

Top bird...

I've seen hundreds of sand plovers both greaters and lessers in various parts of the world, but this is my first UK sand plover, a proper UK rarity.....

Tin Church, Newton Point & Low Newton, 16th Sept 2008

I managed a drop in to Newton this lunchtime for a quick squizz to see if any migrants were still about...... the first bird I clapped eyes on at the Tin Church was the greenish warbler, a fairly brief view........... but I didn't see a ring on it ?!

I returned after work and managed better views, sure enough it was wearing shiny jewellery.... still calling quite a bit too.....

Also here were 2 redstarts, 3 pied flys, 4 spotted flys and a couple of garden warblers...

Out at Newton Point there were 8 whinchats and 2 wheatears...... At sea 3 sandwich terns and a common tern flew south.......Then I headed down to the flood pool where wader numbers seemed to be tailing off a bit, 6 dunlin, 6 ruff, 5 snipe, 1 greenshank....... still large numbers of redshank, oystercatcher and golden plover tho.

Greenshank on the flood...

A quick scan of the gulls produced a 1st winter med gull...

Med...

I made my way towards the hide, but I had to abort the mission when the water stated lapping around the top of my wellies !! A pied fly and garden warbler still in these bushes....

The path to the hide...... canoe advisable !

On the walk back up the hill a yellow wagtail flew south calling...

Weekend phylloscs.....

Chiffchaff (top), Willow Warbler (middle), Greenish Warbler (bottom)

Tin church, Football Hole & Long Nanny, 14th Sept 2008

".....I CAN HEAR IT........ITS CALLING !!!"

At around 6.30 this morning I was having a look around the Tin Church for the greenish...... A group of "early bird" birders were out too and stood by the willows, so I opted to walk the other way and check the scrub from the car park.... but about halfway up the road I heard the greenish calling back where the other birders were...... I legged it back down the hill through the gate towards them..... as I got closer I noticed they weren't in the least bit alert to the call...... then as I took my last few steps, a bit out of breath....... it dawned on me.....

.....they were playing a tape !!

What a prat I am !! I felt a bit put out and when I arrived I asked "....was that it... or are you playing a tape ?"....... the response..... "Oh, its a tape, sorry".......

BASTARDS !! Not only did they make me leg it, but I also don't like people tape luring birds just to get views..... especially not on the patch !! I wondered if they were apologising for making me run, or for playing a tape, then I wondered why they were here so early... perhaps a good time to get away with it without getting shouted at eh.... I scowled, muttered something under my breath and walked away....I think they got my angry vibes !!

I was here all day Monday and put many many hours in to get just 3 or 4 short views, it annoys me that people think that its acceptable to pull up, jump out of the car and play a tape......

While I am on the topic...... there's a very well known bloke on shetland who tape lures anything that moves just to get a photo.... no fieldcraft, no skill, just rudeness.... I got well pissed off one year when we were coincidentally watching a cracking greenish warbler that was showing well, and this nobhead pulls up, jumps out, slaps a tape on and starts snapping pics..... a year later I found a rustic bunting, he did exactly the same... he just wants to make money and doesn't give a shit about the birds or anyone else.....

Anyway, I think I just went off on one a bit there.... it happens when you're writing a blog after a few beers !!!....... rant over....

Ringing this morning was steady with new birds, common migrants included, pied fly, redstart, spot fly and garden warbler again.... around the ringing site were 5 redstarts, 3 pied flys, 5 spotted flys, 2 tree pipits, a whitethroat and a few of the other ususal warblers.... while I was ringing 2 more tree pipits and a yellow wagtail flew south.

I packed up ringing and went birding this afternoon...... It felt like a chat day.... or "small turds" as I like to call em.....amazing numbers of these at the Long Nanny with 18 whinchats and 15 wheatears !! No bluethroat tho......

Small turds inhabiting fencelines at the Long Nanny....

I get the feeling some birds are new in.... the tiny bushes in the dunes harboured, 3 whitethroats, 2 willow warblers and a pied flycatcher, on to Football hole where there was a whitethroat, 6 wheatears and 2 whinchats, finally at High Newton there were 3 spotted flys, a pied fly and a few of the usual warblers.

Still feels like something could be lurking out there.....

Tin Church, Low Newton & Football Hole, 13th Sept 2008

GREENISH WARBLER SHOWING WELL !!!

Showing well........... errrrr......... in my hand !!

An early start this morning and while I was putting the nets up I heard the greenish calling again.... then about 10 minutes later I had some stunning views of it feeding in the hedge alongside the track opposite the church.....Then on the second net round there it was..... "nice" !!

Ringing was steady this morning with a few nice common migrants still about, redstarts, pied flys, spotted flys and various warblers...

Around the site were at least 3 pied flys, 6 spotted flys, 5 redstarts, 1 lesser whitethroat and a few garden warblers.... during the morning 3 tree pipits, 1 yellow wagtail and 1 ruff flew over the site.

In the afternoon I headed down to Low Newton... by the car park there were 3 whinchats and a redstart... down at the flood pool it was liftin with waders, 19 ruff, 15 blackwits, 2 barwits, 5 dunlin, and plenty of redshank, lapwing and golden plover.... also a goosander and pintail amongst the many ducks...

Waders on the flood pool.....

Goosander juv....

While I was stood chatting to my mate Bazza, the entire pool lifted, gulls and all..... we started scanning around for a peregrine, but then I swore out loud when I locked on to 2 HONEY BUZZARDS floating towards us, flying rather low !!... A pale adult type and a darker bird.... They just cruised right past us with their elastic wingbeats.... cracking views......TOTALLY AWESOME !!!

We both did a little dance.....this was a patch tick, my 200th species at Newton, not that radde's warbler but I'm certainly not complaining...

Then a couple of minutes later we met a poor bloke who was in the shitter when they flew over and had just missed them... to rub salt into the wound they had flown right over the public lavs where he was squatting at the time.... what a bastard eh !!

Next I decided to head along the coast to the point..... a mixed group of the usual waders on the rocks included 2 knot...

Knot

As I walked towards the point an adult male merlin dashed over.....

.... The wind was a brisk south easterly and quite a swell was building on the sea.....

At the point there were migrants in the compound.... 2 spot flys, 2 whinchats and 2 willow warblers... these must be new in, there's no cover here and most migrants don't stop here at all....

Migrants in the compound....

These migrants spurred me on to check out those bluethroat bushes in Football Hole, surely a wryneck or barred warbler would be waiting for me......... errrrr.......... NOPE !!..... but there were 2 whitethroats and a redstart, and on the walk back up to the church there were 2 whinchats, a redstart and 7 wheatears....

Another blindin day !!

Tin Church & Low Newton, 10th Sept 2008

I managed a flying visit to the patch late pm...

The greenish warbler was still in the trees behind the tin church, it called a couple of times to alert me to its presence, then I saw it three times in about an hour, and it showed really well for about 5 minutes at one stage... a proper little belter !!

Behind the church there were still plenty of willow warblers, and at least 2 redstarts, 3 pied flys and 6 spotted flycatchers....

A quick dash down to Low Newton revealed 3 redstarts in the walled garden and a couple of willow warblers feeding along fencelines....

The flood pool is now lookin BIG !! On this field there were large numbers of lapwing redshank and curlew..... also 12 black-tailed godwits, 2 bar-tailed godwits, 2 ruff and a common sandpiper....

A couple of blackwits.....

Down at the pool an attempt walk to the hide was aborted due to lack of waders (not birds... boots !)..... the place was a bit flooded.....

The path to the hide was a bit damp.....

.... and around the willows by the pool there were 3 pied flys, 1 spotted fly and a redstart....

High Newton & Tin Church, 8th Sept 2008

PATCH TICK !!!!.... AND WHAT A BELTER !!!!

After yesterday's migrant action, I managed to sweet talk my boss into letting me take the day off work..... my mission was to get the nets up again.... and who knows, maybe yesterday's wryneck would still be lurking in the ringing site......

On my second net round I nearly had a heart attack !!.....I noticed a phyllosc flit past that appeared clean looking with and a wing bar !! JEEZUSS !!.... but after spending 30 minutes searching I didn't see it again...... so dismissed it as a figment of my often random imagination....

About an hour later, I was at the net extracting a bird when a spanking GREENISH WARBLER appeared in the willows right in front of me !!!..... I only managed a short view before the bird vanished again... luckily tho it was an excellent view which left me doing somersaults and texting all my mates !!

I saw the greenish 3 times in total, and I last saw it at around 2.30 when it showed really well in the willows and was calling.... a real "stop you in your tracks" bird !! Couldn't take my eyes off that wing bar !!

2 or 3 other people were lucky enough to see it in the morning, but during the afternoon it went to ground..... No pics unfortunately.... ever tried digiscoping an elusive phyllosc ?!

While I was excited about the greenish I carried on ringing and had another good migrant day, A few redstarts, spotted flys and a pied fly. Of note were good numbers of garden warblers, I ringed 8 !

Redstart

What a cracker !!

In the afternoon I birded around the Tin Church, still good numbers of common migrants present here, including plenty of willow warblers to sift through.....and a tree pipit and yellow wagtail both flew south.

My patch list is on 199 now, I wonder whats gonna be 200 then ? I hope its a radde's warbler....... Mmmmmmmm.... RADDE'S !!

High Newton, Football Hole & Long Nanny, 7th Sept 2008

WHAT AN AWESOME DAY !!!

After yesterdays fall in torrential rain, this morning was still blowy and overcast, but it was dry... time to get those nets up !!

Unfortunately my ringing activity was restricted due to the strong winds, and half of the site looking like Lake Baikal !! Yep my best net rides in the willows were well and truly flooded.... I couldn't get anywhere near them without a wet suit and a snorkel !!

So just 3 nets up and ringing was steady, but some good quality migrants...

Redstart female

Redstart male

Pied flycatcher

Spotted flycatcher

Garden warbler

By midday I was getting restless, reports coming from all down the coast of scarce and rare stuff... I needed to flog the patch..... so I packed up ringing and did my duty as a local patcher !!

I didn't have to go far before I realised that this was going to be a special day !! The fenceline along the edge of the ringing site held 10 redstarts, 8 pied flys, 3 spotted flys, a tree pipit and a variety of warblers...... Seeing all this on one fenceline blew me away !!

Some common migrants on the patch today....

Tree Pipit

Redstart male

Redstart male

Pied Flycatcher

While I was enjoying this spectacle a wryneck put in a brief appearance too...... BLINDIN !!

Wryneck, including a very shite blury pic taken when I first saw it and was a bit over excited !

The wryneck only showed for a minute or two, before flitting over the fence straight into the ringing site....... the ringing site that I had just packed up !! ARSE !! Still..... can't complain too much I guess....

It seemed that the Low Newton area had been fairly well covered by a couple of birders during the morning, so I opted to head towards High Newton, Newton Links and Football Hole... Again there seemed to be plenty of migrants...

In the dunes many of the bushes harboured willow warblers and other stuff including garden warblers, redstarts, 3 whinchats, a lesser whitethroat, a whitethroat and a reed warbler....

Newton Links Farm... well flooded !!

Whinchat in the Long Nanny dunes

For once the bushes at Football Hole had migrants !! I sat down quietly hoping for that barred warbler to hop out.... No such luck, but there were 2 willow warblers, a garden warbler and a whitethroat... I think this is the most migrants I've ever seen at one time in these bushes !!

Whitethroat at Football Hole

My totals for the afternoon.....

12 pied flycatchers

21 redstarts

2 tree pipits

7 spotted flycatchers

5 whinchats

6 garden warblers

3 lesser whitethroats

1 reed Warbler

1 whitethroat

....plus many willow warblers, blackcaps, robins & goldcrests etc.....

The conditions were still windy, and I'm sure there are many more migrants lurking out there, probably an iccy or a barred warbler on the patch somewhere I suspect......

What a great day tho.... I have seen falls of birds at Newton before, But I've never seen a fall involving so many redstarts and pied flycatchers.... truly memorable !!

Low Newton & Newton Pool, 6th Sept 2008

BLEEDIN ELL I SHOULD HAVE WORN MY WELLIES TODAY !!

A river flowing out of the hide !!

Some serious flooding up here today... torrential rain all day. I had to spend the morning with the missus, but in the afternoon I hot-footed it to Newton to nail some migrants....

Despite the downpour I headed out and once again got piss wet through...... but it was worth it....

At the tin church 3 spotted flycatchers, a redstart and 6 wheatears got me all excited... I flogged it along towards Football Hole, more wheatears, a redstart flitting along a drystone wall and a couple of willow warblers hopping about on a patch of thistles (the only cover in the dunes)... this reminded me of birding shetland !!

So did the famous football hole bushes deliver that bluethroat or barred warbler I've been waiting for ?........ did they bollox !! Just a willow warbler....

I rounded Newton Point and checked the compound but there was nothing.... Off down to Low Newton to some cover and shelter at the walled garden....

Here the were 3 pied flys, 2 redstarts, 2 spot flys, 2 garden warblers, plenty of willow warblers, robins and goldcrests too...... feels good !! Gotta be a scarcie here somewhere....... surely ?

With howling gales and horizontal rain, the only place I was picking up birds was well sheltered areas.... so I headed to Newton Pool and the garden of the cottage..... 2 pied flys, 2 redstarts and garden warbler here.... a fleeting glimse... a black and white flitter in some dense coppice... I thought may have been a red-breasted fly, I stuck with it for an hour but never saw it again.... BOLLOX !!

Next I headed headed to the pool where I had to negotiate a raging torrent to get into the hide ! Just a common sandpiper here.....

All in all a good afternoon considering the horrendous weather conditions... There's certainly a lot of stuff here, just need the rain to stop and the birds to emerge....

Newton Point, Football Hole & Long Nanny, 5th Sept 2008

Mmmmm...... I think I got a bit over excited and peaked too early today !!

I looked at the weather forecast yesterday, easterlies with rain for this afternoon looked promising, so I took the afternoon off work and headed to Newton to nail that long awaited barred warbler....

I arrived at around 2 oclock as the easterlies were getting stronger, I decided to have a bit of a seawatch before floggin the patch for all those scarcies that were gonna arrive in the big fall.....

The highlight of the seawatch turned out to be the highlight of the day...... A balearic shearwater flew north, it was tagged on the end of a long line of manxies...

1 hour seawatch total... 1 balearic shearwater, 92 manxies, 6 arctic skuas, 4 common terns and 5 sandwich terns... oh... and a small passerine over the sea..... I reckon it was probably a barred warbler actually.... can I stick it on my Newton list then ?

So as the rain got heavier..... and HEAVIER, I flogged every bush and patch of cover from Newton Point right up to the Long Nanny and back....

The fact that I'd seen an unidentified migrant over the sea spurred me on.... by the end of the afternoon the sum total of my migrant passerine haul was...... 3 wheatears !!

Yep thats right I got piss wet through for 3 wheatears..... I was so wet it looked like I'd been jumping in the sea or summat.....

This heavy rain has created 2 new flood pools at Newton tho... 1 at Football Hole and the other at High Newton.....

Football Hole flood... here today were 11 snipe, 1 redshank and 1 curlew...

High Newton flood.... here today were 40 odd redshank and a dunlin....

Apart from the 3 wheatears there was 1 greenshank, 1 knot and a common sand at the Long Nanny... and that was it !!

Oh well.... weather still looks promising for the weekend... lets see what tomorrow brings eh.....

High Newton & Low Newton, 1st Sept 2008

WHAT A BASTARD !!!!

.......... I REALLY REALLY HATE DECORATING !!!

I've spent the last two weeks out of circulation......... Instead of birding I've been stripping wallpaper, knocking chunks out of walls, plastering, sanding, painting, choking on dust, getting globs of paint in my hair, hammering my fingers etc etc......

This was a deliberate move to try and get what needed doing finished before we got some good autumn migrant weather.... and having looked at the weather forecast for the last two weekends (which looked a bit shite for birds......) I decided to use my time wisely and crack on with it.

So....I was almost done last night..... just putting the final coat of paint on when I took a break and glanced at my pager.......

When I read the first message I nearly spat my cider out on the newly painted walls...

RED BACKED SHRIKE AT HIGH NEWTON !!

WTF !!! BOLLOX !!

I was halfway through painting a wall and I'd promised someone that I'd get this poxy decorating finished by the end of the weekend..... so reluctantly I picked up the roller and carried on painting.....

This morning was "clawback" time tho.... I had a work meeting scheduled for 10am in Rothbury, so I left early and spent a couple of hours at Newton early am....

Shrikey !!

This bird was a little belter, thank you to whoever found it for putting the news out.... Rick and I found a similar juv bird at Newton Pool in 2001, but this is my only other RBS on the patch.....

Also in the area was a wheatear, and bizarrely and kingfisher flew through the dunes too....

A quick scan down at Low Newton before I left for work produced an adult med gull on the rocks...

Med....