Monday 31st December

Up to now I've mainly used my twitter account to pursue career and voluntary interests but lately I've started following a few nature feeds.  And I pulled off a bit of a twitch yesterday, thanks largely to @NTBirdClub and a bit of help from Malcolm, my friend in Alnwick.

It was apparent that there were a few scarcities turning up on the Northumberland coast in the recent mild weather, including snow bunting, taiga bean goose and hawfinch as well as winter visitors like brambling and waxwing.

Noting that there were some recent sightings near Alnmouth, we decided to give the shore lark a try.  The first location we visited was Buston Links where we drew a blank after just seeing a few waders on the beach.  It was also tricky to get to over a very stony bridle path that would really have been better tackled in a four by four.  I'd have thought it was dangerous to horses.  However the area to the south of Church Hill and behind the dunes had its strange charms - a sort of green lunar landscape around the channel cut out along the path of the River Aln in bygone days.

Stonechat

We then headed up the coastal route to High Newton and set off along St Oswald's Way to the next target area at Long Nanny.  Apart from a field full of black cattle, it seemed like we weren't going to see anything until I spotted a dark shape in a clump of grass that proved to be a stonechat.  When we reached the estuary of the burn there were a few more but it was at this point that we got lucky.

I was going to head over the bridge but a couple of blokes turned up with a large telescope and headed down towards the shore on the South side.  Thinking they were looking for the larks, I suggested we follow them.  Eventually they set up the telescope and appeared to be scanning the mass of gulls at the estuary mouth for something more interesting.  Not wishing to queer their patch we diverted to another green, mossy, oval-shaped area behind the dunes.  Malcolm took the seaward side
with Arthur the retriever and I skirted the bank at the landward edge.

When we met at the end, Malcolm said that he had seen some brownish birds running around.  We retraced the last few yards he had covered and they were still there.  In the failing light it took a few squints through the binoculars to verify it as they scurried about but they were indeed the desired shore larks.

Shore larks

Not a great rarity these days, but they only occur on the East coast and it was very pleasing to find them when we didn't have a precise idea where to look and were basically ambling around in hope with a dog.  It was also the first time I've ever seen them.

We decide to leave the taiga bean goose for another day.

Sunday 28th December

I have often said that Boxing Day and New Year's Day are good opportunities to get out and about.
So on Wednesday it was good to revisit Carsington Water in Derbyshure while staying over briefly with my daughter and her fiance.

Lapwings and others

Apart from gulls it looked quiet at first with a lot of walkers about but tufted duck, coot and great crested grebe were also soon apparent.  When we got round to the main viewing point, there were a good head of lapwing on the edge of the lake, which was considerably lower than normal for the time of the year following the summer drought.  There were also a number of tree sparrows on the feeders next to the large observation hut.

As the sun started to fade we made our way back to a key feeder, spotting a little grebe on the way.  On the way out there had been nothing but a few great tits, so we were pleased to see a couple of marsh tits and Joe managed to get a good shot of one of them in a nearby tree.

Marsh tit

Later we had the obligatory marsh tit versus willow tit discussion but we reckoned the evidence over several photos was conclusive.

Joe was also responsible for spotting an example of the Robin's Pincushion gall on a piece of dog rose.  Apparently it is caused by the larvae of the gall wasp. Probably not a lot of people know about this so you may wish to consult the relevant wikipedia article for more detail.

Robin's Pincushion

After the event Joe also mentioned that he thought he might have seen a merlin one evening.  Strangely, I'm pretty sure I saw one today one my way back from the supermarket.  It flew across the road by the old Hookergate School at some speed but right in front of my windscreen so I got a pretty good view of it.

Wednesday 19th December

A bit like the difference between extensive and intensive farming. nature spotting in winter requires more time for less results than in the summer but there are always a few interesting things to see.

Singing woodpecker

On Monday afternoon I discovered that the official red kite trail runs very near to where I live when I decided to investigate a bridleway just to the East of here. Overall it was quiet but I think it could be an interesting route to check next year.  Apart from a lot of oak trees there were a fair number of mature scots pine and I wondered if they attract any crossbills.

To order there was a sighting of a patrolling red kite down the track but I was more interested in the woodpecker I spotted at the very top of one of the pines.  Nothing unusual in seeing a woodpecker of course but what interested me was the fact that it was clearly singing, or perhaps more accurately chuntering to itself.  I don't think I've heard a woodpecker sing before.

Over the weekend I saw for the first time a jay working its way through the trees at the back of the garden.  One bird I haven't seen here is the goldfinch and while someone suggested that they like conifers, I suspect it's more to do with the extra height here.  Starlings are a rarity too.

Today the weather was fine so I finally rose to the challenge of cycling up the long hill to Burnopfield on my way to cycle route 7.  Just past the path to Tanfield Comprehensive School, a large volley of bullfinches flew over the track.  I reckoned there were eight or so, more than I would usually expect to see together.

Coming back along the Derwent Valley, there were a few more bullfinches between Consett and Shotley Bridge and a few redwing just past Shotley Bridge too. Then six grey squirrels appeared on the same short stretch of track going towards Hamsterley, all within a distance of about half a mile and the only ones I saw the whole day.

You can't always predict these things.

Monday 10th December

I seem to have been more preoccupied with fitness than nature over the past few weeks.

My attempts to tempt smaller birds into the garden and discourage jackdaws have pretty much failed.  The one thing that has clearly been established is that jackdaws will eat niger seed.  I'm surprised they bother.  Anyway I'm playing more with the idea that the lack of cover since I cut down the larger pear tree (the smaller one is of course entirely bare now) favours the jackdaws more than the woodland birds.  The lack of frost so far might also mean less pressure for them to find food.

Today the Naturewatch group today visited the Washington Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve.  It was fine from the point of view of getting some close up views of domesticated exotics such as the black-headed

Buff-headed goose

swan, buff-headed geese and chilean flamingoes but when we got to the main Wader Pond it was covered in ice and we didn't see much apart from a few moorhens and a couple of snipe skulking in the reeds.

We had lunch in the Lagoon Hide by the Wear where a bit more was visible, notably a number of teal and a redshank until everything was disturbed by a spooked roe dear that was bolting along the bankside.

In the end we probably saw more woodland birds - some redwing on the walkway, a volley of long-tailed tits and a good selection of 'usual suspects' on the very extensive display of feeders in front of the last hide. 

Bullfinch and coal tit

A couple of pleasant extras were treecreeper and a few bullfinches though I never saw anything in the way of a greenfinch, tree sparrow or marsh tit.

Right at the end I did enjoy a good view of a pair of eurasian cranes from the tearoom window.  They were

Eurasian crane

probably domesticated too but as they have started to recolonise East Anglia, they represented in my head a more genuine sighting.

It was quite apparent that there are many more fascinating visitors to the reserve than were around today.