Quiet at The Coast

The forecast was for it to be mild over the festive season and, sure enough I woke up on Christmas Eve morning to witness a red admiral flying around my garden.  it did not settle but seemed to be in good health, flying around robustly.

I spent most of Christmas at Alnwick, having taken advantage of the opportunity to try again for the grey headed lapwing at East Chevington en route.  It had appeared the day before but didn't show.  

However a major consolation was the appearance of a pair of marsh harriers.  I could only get some distance shots of the (I think) female at several hundred yards range but nevertheless worth recording.  Marsh harriers have been turning up in the area for some time but it's the first time I've seen one in Northumberland.

Marsh Harrier at distance

They showed up again briefly around dusk somewhat closer and I got a good view of the wing edgings of the male.  Unfortunately their flight was a bit irregular and didn't last long.  Presumably they are breeding.

A chap who was looking for the grey-headed lapwing reckoned it might be amongst the lapwings in a field near the coastal path.  However I got a view of the 'lapwings' in the camera viewfinder.  They were clearly geese, so I wasn't tempted.

The only birds I got reasonably close to, apart from a single wren, were a couple of moorhens who had forsaken the nearby pond to go foraging in a grassy field.

Moorhens

Turnstone

A Christmas Day walk on Warkworth Beach brought totally calm conditions with virtually no wind and a flat sea nearing high tide.  Unsurprisingly a large number of dogwalkers were out so that birds were not to be found on the foreshore and the only one I saw was a single turnstone on the rocks, its bright underside undermining an otherwise effective camouflage.

It spent its time turning over the seaweed rather than the stones though.

I think I did see a seal pop its head out of the water out at sea a couple of times, but couldn't confirm.

It was the dogs who were the most active animals by far, including the Grays' Arthur who excelled himself and startled other dog owners by digging a hole in the sand big enough for him to be buried in.  This is one of his earlier trial runs:

Daft Dog

It was similarly quiet on Boxing Day when we did another beach walk at Low Newton.  What birds there were were swimming in the bay or snoozing out on the rocks and difficult to decipher.  There were some more turnstone and I think these may be dunlin, while bobbing on the sea there was what Google Lens thought was a Bonaparte's Gull.  But I suspect it was a black-headed gull and others on facebook thought so too.

Dunlin?

Black-headed Gull

As the pub and public toilets were both closed, I had a view over the fields and nearby lake and could make out curlew and greylag geese.

Greylag Goose

Wigeon

In a way the best sighting was the last.

Just before we left I got a clear view over the northern part of the bay, where a few more birds were noticeable.

Floating around on the sea was a group of wigeon, the first time I have ever seen them on salt water.

I suspect they don't do this often, preferring inland lakes - and certainly a much clearer view than the ones at Geltsdale.  It was  probably testament to how calm the conditions were all day.

Reflections and A Narrowly Failed Twitch

Christmas Cactus

It struck me recently that I don't pay much attention to flowers. I really should as recognising flowers is help in finding butterflies and bees in the summer.

The trigger for this thought was the christmas cactus on the windowsill, which is looking particularly smart this year and may even last until the 25th for once. In previous years, perhaps when the heating has been on more, it has often had it by mid-December.

On Saturday, a notably cold and rather windy day, I went to Geltsdale with Alex and Vicki to exchange presents and check for sightings.

Here it

 became apparent that I am suffering from increasing bird blindness.  Almost immediately after setting off, Alex spotted a flypast by a peregrine which Vicki even manged to get a photo of while I remained blissfully unaware and could see nothing but grey sky.

Peregrine Falcon

Similarly I could not spot the first stonechat they saw skirting the first bit of woodland.  I did see the grouse Alex spotted on the horizon once he'd pointed it out and did get a photo against the light.

I fiddled with the result to see if it might prove to be a black grouse but the only difference was a rather apocalyptic background while the bird remained a dark shadow:

Grouse

We reached the lake, where a number of wigeon were having a doze.  I got some shots but, like the rest I took on the day, the focus wasn't great.  I think the cold may have caused some condensation on the lens and the wind anyway made it different to hold the camera steady and avoid the lakeside reeds in distance shots.

One phot was slightly different and puzzled me briefly but I think it is just an unclear rear view of a mallard. 

Wigeon

Mallard

After that it was quiet for a while.  There was nothing but a few tits and chaffinches near the feeders at the Information Centre.

It's often the case withe birdwatching that you see nothing for a longish period, and then several things in quick succession.  It was probably a full twenty minutes before I (for a change) saw a few birds landing in a tree, which turned out to be bullfinches.

Bullfinch

Then  Alex noticed a barn owl hunting early and eventually landing some distance away, and another stonechat showed up on the moorland.

We walked back past the quarry through some attractive countryside but only saw another - or perhaps the same - barn owl, again at some distance.

Barn Owl

While this was going on, a mega rarity was again being sighted at East Chevington Reserve in the shape of a grey headed lapwing, so I decided to try my luck the day after.

I arrived about 11.20  and parked where a lot of other cars were standing.  This proved to be next to the field where the bird had been sighted while I was at Geltsdale, but it had flown to a distant ploughed field near which the shapes of standing people could just be made out.

I walked up there, which took longer than expected by a roundabout route, only to be told that the bird had not been seen since 10.20 am. The story was that a marsh harrier had appeared and frightened off the lapwings while the grey-headed version had circled a few times and then resettled not to be seen since.

So I hung around for about an hour, peering into the distance across many furrows of mud and seeing nothing.  One of the twitchers, some of whom had come considerable distances, however said he'd managed to spot 64 lapwings in the area I had been surveying!

Eventually, at 1.30 pm with only an hour of decent light left, I decided to look elsewhere.  On the walk back it was apparent that all the twitchers were following me, the latest news being that the lapwings including the suspect bird had left en groupe and headed for Cresswell Pond/Druridge Pools depending who you talked to.

So all I got for my efforts was some unusable shots of pheasants and half-hidden curlews, a single female reed bunting and a group of greater twitchers.

Reed Bunting

Twitchers

One of them asked me if I'd seen the birds move on.  Well I did briefly see a distant flock on the skyline, impossible to distinguish, but my reaction was that they were too small for lapwings.  

It's a bird that has kept returning to the area for over a week now, so who knows...

Staying Close to Home

Finally following a resolution made some time ago, I got out to a couple of locations nearby recently.

Last Wednesday I did a double trip to Thornley Woods and the Far Pastures Reserve.

After wandering around a bit in search of some reported redwing, the hide at Thornley Woods was fairly quiet.

A few tits visited the feeders and I caught sight of a nuthatch and a treecreeper as well as this woodpecker, which was deemed worth a photograph since they don't come to the caged feeders I now use.

Female Woodpecker

At Far Pastures there was a bit more action and I was quite pleased to see a few teal and a family of gadwall, though I think teal is pretty much resident here.

Teal

Gadwall

The first bird I saw puzzled me a little as I took it to be a juvenile little grebe but could not see any parent birds. However it seems to be an adult in winter plumage.

Little Grebe

There was also a good deal of activity around the feeders at the car park.  I hung on for a while in fading light. just in case something memorable turned up.

Today I took a look at Stargate Pond and Beweshill Reserve which was pretty much a total failure as a bird watching trip but interesting in other ways.

I knew that Ryton Angling Club had a location in this area and sure enough there were four or five anglers trying their luck and with some success with the roach, quite impressive in temperatures of only 5C.

On talking to one of them it seems there is a good range of species present including tench and carp. If and when I start fishing again, this may well be where I go. 

It's also not a bad size and, as a former quarry, quite deep.

The positive view was endorsed by this cormorant, the only bird I saw apart from swans and a magpie. 

Cormorant

Sure enough a roach was being landed as I moved away.

My verdict on the venue was that it might be one for the summer.  

In particular the notice boards suggest that a good range of butterflies can be found there including dingy skipper.  Small copper would not surprise me either as they are certainly present at Ryton Meadows a mile or so away.  However I've never seen Stargate Pond mentioned in local reports on butterfly sightings.

I also spent some time on the other side of the main road trying in vain to find further ponds but did spot another marked wildlife area, which may well also be worth investigating.

An Even Quieter Period

I'm afraid it's gone from not seeing much while out to not being able or wanting to go out because of the weather. I've been keeping an eye open for reports of waxwings and hawfinches but the former have only just started to turn up in small numbers in the last few days and the latter have been restricted to locations further South.

So the focus has again been on the restricted action in the garden.

Last weekend brought some severe frosts and a heavy snowfall followed by an overnight surge in temperature  to 15C!  But the cold weather has at least brought some bird interest and a jay has ventured into the garden a couple of times, very nervily and constantly hopping around the trees at the back fence.

Jay

It was quite lucky to catch it staying still for a couple of instants.

The nuthatch on the other hand has become more confident and quite frequent on the seed feeder.  In fact I should say nuthatches plural, as it one day became apparent that more than one was joining in the fun.

Nuthatches

I wondered about a pair but it looks like they are both males.

I also put out some fat balls for the long-tailed tits but so far no sign of any takers beyond a great tit but something has taken some fair chunks out of them.

One result of the long mild spell has been I suspect an increase in the local mouse population. A somewhat gruesome consequence was that half a dozen have managed to drown themselves in the buckets I use to catch water dropping from the summer house roof.

Not a great way to go...

A Quiet Period

Not much to report at the moment in spite of, or perhaps because of the recent unseasonably mild weather bringing neither sun nor wind.  More significantly, I was ill with a virus so for a couple of days, I couldn't see much more than the trees out the back and the jackdaws reeling around in the sky.

Before that I did get out for one Sunday bike ride and, while the bird life was scarce, I was surprised to catch sight of a red admiral skirting a hedgerow north of Ovington.  It didn't hang around but I stopped to notice some ivy still in flower and took a quick look to see if there were any ivy bees.  There weren't but I did spot a couple of honey bees amongst a number of imitators.  This was on 27th October in a temperature of no more than 11C and is probably as late as I've seen a butterfly that wasn't disturbed from hibernation.  It wouldn't totally surprise me though if one or two turn up later this week if the sun gets out.

The purpose of this trip was actually a visit to Whittle Dene Reservoirs in pursuit of the little owl,  a bird I've still never seen, and a possible chance viewing of an osprey.  It wasn't to be as the conditions at the reservoirs were much windier so it wasn't a day to be hanging around long.  I did have a bit of a look at the ducks etc. on the water and thought I might have spotted a great northern diver at distance.  But when it came nearer it was quite clearly a great crested grebe already pretty much in its winter outfit.

One piece of success was that I finally managed to catch the nuthatch that has been making coy visits to the caged grain feeder.

Nuthatch

I'm a bit surprised to see it there so often as I'm more used to seeing them on peanut feeders.  I thought some of the earlier sightings I had were of a female, but this seems to be a male.

Incidentally I cleaned the peanut feeder last week, since when it has been largely shunned by all birds.

On a darker note five mice have recently managed to commit suicide in the buckets etc. I put out to catch the rainwater from the summerhouse roof.

Much ado about Sparrows

Since being mislead by the pale starlings last week, I've experienced a good bit more uncertainty - this time about sparrows.

It struck me that there was something slightly odd about a bird I thought was a sparrow. It spent a good long time sitting in the plum tree before finally feeding for a long while at the bird table - not too sparrow-like in itself.

Dunnock

It's the head pattern that troubled me, the rather dark head and white neck band and bib. Anyway google lens thinks it's a dunnock, which surprises me as there's not much flecking on the breast.  I wouldn't normally have much trouble spotting a dunnock.

I'm please to say that a female nuthatch has visited my new caged bird feeder several times over the past few days.  However it makes sure it lands so it's mainly obscured and flies off as soon as I point the camera at it.

Also still at it is the grey squirrel, so there must be more nuts buried somewhere under the lawn.

Where are my nuts?

The sparrow fixation continued when I finally got to Holy Island yesterday, on a day when people generally agreed not much was going on.

The first bird I saw was again motionless in a tree, as if resting, and appeared at first sight to have a yellowish sheen, suggesting perhaps a female yellowhammer or even an exotic warbler...  So I took more photos and tried to get closer.

Sparrow?

Sparrow

Yes, it's actually the same bird.  The yellowish tinge on the first bird is a trick of the low sunlight, the erect posture somewhat untypical and the apparently large beak an illusion.

After a quiet spell, I got another shot of a bird in a tree, largely facing away from me, wasn't sure what it was but thought "Probably sparrow."

Linnet

So google lens thought linnet - entirely possible.

There was however no mistaking the sparrows that decided to assault the remains of my coffee break.  Not many species learn to be so cheeky.

Definitely Sparrows

After the lunch/coffee break - I wasn't sure which - I got what were some quite pleasing results with the camera.

Heading towards the harbour, a call of nature diverted me to the nearby cliffs where a kestrel was hovering.  I tried to video it but it kept moving and then started hovering at more or less head height no more than five yards or so to my left.

Kestrel

So, if you like, I got a bird's eye view of a bird.

In the harbour area I caught up with another ring-necked plover and was particularly satisfied to pick out one of a pair of rock pipits from a well-camouflaged background.

Ring-necked Plover

Rock Pipit

Google lens however thinks the rock pipit is a corn bunting - oh dear, I don't think so!

But probably the best was this pale-bellied brent goose, because of how far away it was:

Brent Goose

You can't see much of the neck stripe because of its head position.  Incidentally that isn't blood in the water but the reflection of the paintwork from a nearby boat moored at the water's edge.

There was just the one.  However the chap at the crab sandwich stall (I was still hungry) reckoned there had been as many as 6,000 but most had gone inland.  Sure enough, when I ventured further towards the causeway, there were 20 or 30 more, including I think some of the dark-bellied variety.

Brent Geese

Getting Back into Birds

As the summer has faded into autumn, I've started to think more about birds.  In past years I've had some really good luck with birdwatching, which more recently has drained away.  I've increasingly suffered from bird blindness through looking down for butterflies and bees rather than scanning the skies and trees.

A week ago on Saturday, I was in Scotland to see my son and daughter in law, when we fitted in a brief trip to Baron's Haugh RSPB Reserve near Motherwell.  It was actually quite disappointing as not too much was showing - until I looked a bit more closely.

I got a quick early video of a kestrel deciding not to hover but the loch itself was pretty quiet apart from a few standards such as shoveler and lapwing.

Shoveler

Lapwing

There were a small number of waders that I reckoned at first sight to be insignificant but on closer inspection they turned out to be snipe.

Snipe

I was quite pleased about this as I've usually seen them furtively prowling through the reeds rather than in the open.

It was actually quite warm later in the afternoon and I counted four speckled wood flying around the trees.

Overall I haven't been too satisfied with the bird photographs I've taken on my new camera to date, so i asked my daughter in law for some ideas and she's adjusted some of the settings.

The first opportunity to try them out should have been last Tuesday, when I planned a trip to Holy Island to check for migrants but the weather was so appalling that I chickened out.

Instead I decided to visit Newbiggin this Tuesday, as one or two of the more rare buntings had been reported there.

As I wasn't heading for Norway, I skipped the pub and made my way instead onto Newbiggin Moor.

Last Pub before Norway

Working my way up the coastal path, I took opportunities to try out some distance shots of redshank with reasonable success, when I got a slight surprise.

Surprise Plover

Now I reckon on balance this was ring-necked rather than a lesser ring-necked plover, as these should now all have departed and there was no sign of a yellow ring around the eye. It was also the only one I spotted running around the beach. 

There were a few curlew around. one politely posing well on the golf course:

Curlew

I continued along to the point where people sometimes put bird food down and caught up with a numerous flock of linnets, but nothing more special.  Starting back however, I came across a chap lying in wait for a snow bunting  he'd seen briefly.  He also mentioned that a lapland bunting sometimes mingles with the linnets.  This eventually had me scouring the photos to see if I could transform a linnet into a lapland bunting - but it didn't work.

Linnets

Some of the males still had the last vestiges of their summer plumage.

My hands were getting cold so I didn't wait for the snow bunting.

On the way back I remembered a tip on holding the camera and got the best shot of a redshank, later running into a bird that puzzled me and clearly wasn't a redshank.  It turned out it was a turnstone, just didn't quite have the neck pattern I'm familiar with.

Redshank

Turnstone

The tide was just starting to go down and there was a typically large flock of golden plover winging around, landing and relanding.

Golden Plover

My last sighting was of a group of birds that were on the wet rocks near the cliff.  At first I thought there were starlings, which is the general opinion on facebook but on looking at the photo, I'm not so sure.

Starlings?

Some of these birds seem to have brown supercilia and a light colouration I don't see in shots of starlings.  A trick of the light? However there is certainly one added bonus as the one in the bottom right hand area has been identified as a rock pipit.  there's also a small warbler right at the front, partly obscured.

You have to admire the tenacity of some bird watchers - these two have been holding continuous watch over Newbiggin Bay ever since I first visited years ago.

Birdwatchers

Overall I was partly but not fully satisfied with the improved results from the camera.  However it was very windy, as you can hear in the video.

Just for the record I saw three more speckled wood at the Tennis Club on 14th October - maybe the last this year.

No Place Like Home

I haven't been out much lately and not at all to observe wildlife.

The weather at home was typically good while I was away and there were a few butterflies around for a few days on my return, although nothing out of the ordinary.  

It's funny how you suddenly notice something you hadn't registered before, in this case the white marking on the lower underwing of the red admiral.

Red Admiral

Peacocks and large whites continued to predominate until wet weather took over, plus one speckled wood that landed on the mahonia.

A couple of individual stories though:

This squirrel has turned up a few times, burrowing here and there, clearly in search of acorns he buried earlier.

Squirrel

Just after I turned the camera off, he found one and scoffed it all right on the path beneath the kitchen window.  No wonder I find so many oak saplings in the garden!

A few days ago, in not particularly bright weather and a temperature of 11C, it was a pleasant surprise to see a small butterfly land on one of my T-shirts on the washing line. 

Speckled Wood T-shirt

I thought it might be a small tortoiseshell but photos revealed it to be a speckled wood - perhaps unsurprisingly,
I've already noted how small some of them have been this year.

The strange thing was that, when I went out again after two or three hours to get the washing in, it was still there.

I disturbed it and you could tell it was having difficulty flying in the cold air, so I captured it and took it into the house to warm up a bit.

I've done this before with a red admiral that emerged one December, deceived by a mild spell.

Generally it's recommended to leave them for about 40 minutes before attempting to release them, but this one was up and away in about 15 minutes, so a pleasing result.

It's now at the stage where each year I wonder if one more last butterfly will appear on the buddleia now October is here.  With still a couple of sprigs remaining, I had hopes for today but the forecast bright weather only obliged in brief spells.

I'm out tomorrow and most of Friday, so I suspect that's it - unless of course we get a prolonged spell of Mediterranean weather before Bonfire Night...

Danube Disaster

My other ploy to extend the summer was a cycle ride along the Danube from Passau to Vienna, of which the first half was a partial success and the second half a major failure.

It started with a couple of days in Munich, during which it was good to see that some areas of the English Garden (e.g. the Werneckwiese) have been preserved as flower meadows.  After a warm day on arrival it had however clouded over and hopes of late butterfly sightings were restricted to numerous small whites, and a fleeting sighting of a possible brown argus.

There were any number of common darters and following the stream southwards, I also encountered a few beautiful demoiselle damselflies and, momentarily re-awakening my fishing instinct, a number of chub, some of which were of a nice size.

Common Darter

Beautiful Demoiselle

Chub

Amusingly, elsewhere in the Garden, a game of coarse cricket was underway.

I also visited the Isarinselfest where there were some mammals behaving in an inappropriate manner.

Mammals behaving badly

Having made it to Passau the next day and sorted out a couple of 'technical difficulties', I set off to the first overnight stay at Schlögen.  The scenery was pleasant but conditions remained overcast I wasn't optimistic about seeing much at all apart some fawns that were in a pen next to the track.

The one flower in bloom that was at all frequent was european goldenrod, which eventually proved productive on closer inspection.  I think the main bee that I was seeing was a furrow bee, though I wouldn't like to speculate as to which kind.

Furrow Bee?

In view of the overcast conditions I was quite pleased to find a common blue nearby, even if slightly tatty.

It rained briefly, but then even then more goldenrod proved a home to a stoical small white waiting for better weather.

Small White

Further along the track, I saw something on another patch that mystified me, having never seen the like before.  Research suggests that it may be form of potter wasp.

Potter Wasp?

As far as I can find out, potter wasps only occur in the south of Britain.

The Danube at the Schlögener Schlinge looked extremely calm as I set out the next day in reasonable weather.  Progress was however halted by a Forestry official who asked me to stop.  The reason for this was soon clear as a medium sized pine tree was felled, partially blocking the road. 

Here she is clearing up the debris:

Försterin

European goldenrod was again productive.  I think this one may be one of the colletes bees, although aware there are other things it could be.

Colletes Bee?

This turned out to be the only sunny day of the whole tour and, after crossing the river at Aschach, I quickly encountered a lovely butterfly meadow with much still in flower.  Here, as well as the small whites that were everywhere (and I don't think I saw any other white species during the whole trip), there were common blues and a number of clouded yellow males, although they never settled.

Most significantly for me was getting some sort of photo of a small blue, having missed out on one in Slovenia in June.

Flower Meadow

Small Blue

There was then a long stretch on the left bank which was bordered by a narrow area of grassland down a bank from the raised cycle track.  Bird's foot trefoil started to crop up and for some while I enjoyed numerous sightings of the same species (though only one more small blue) and a good few appearances by peacock and red admiral, elsewhere infrequent.

Common Blue

It was interesting that all the common blues I saw were males.

European goldenrod managed to throw up another surprise before we hit the outskirts of Linz in the form of (presumably) another obscure wasp and, while taking a break, I thought I had a mini-miner on my knee.  Perhaps more likely it was a flying ant.

Wasp

Ant

So far, so good but by the time I left Linz the next day, it was already raining and it only stopped briefly around the area of Enns, where there was some nice woodland that might have promising.  After that it just got worse and any prospect of nature watching was abandoned as I cycled on determinedly to Tiefenbach.  

The next day (Tiefenbach to Melk) it rained consistently and the temperatures, which had been in the thirties the week before dropped to 9C in some locations.  While I had plenty of waterproofs, it became impossible to dry things overnight.  I had reckoned with the rain but not the low temperatures and frequent coffee stops were essential just to keep my hands warm.

By this time I had decided, by way of a diversion really to see if I could identify at least one bird or butterfly of any kind.  Before Melk I managed one bird - a goosander.

The fifth day was one of increasingly rain and flood barriers had started to appear.  Others gave up the ride altogether and headed for the train stations. I however continued and was amazed to see that there will still swallows flying low over the swollen Danube, which was lapping at some points no more than a foot below the cycle track.  At one point a sculpture I thought I saw above a directional sign transformed into a sparrowhawk and flew off when I was five yards away. 

I eventually reached the destination of Traismauer in a storm, disorientated and struggling to find a poorly signposted guesthouse.  I was so cold I couldn't sign the hotel registration forms before having a shower.  In the evening, my phone received an emergency alert from the Austrian fire brigade warning that the River Krems, which I had fortunately passed, was about to burst its banks. 

What should have been a pleasant ride through attractive scenery had turned into an extreme weather event and survival exercise.  On the last day the cycle route was closed on both sides of the Danube for the final stage to Vienna and it became apparent that no trains were running. It was largely down to the incredibly helpful lady hosting the appropriately named Gasthof zum Schwan,who contacted all the tour organisers, that we managed to hitch a lift via detours to Vienna with the bike rental van.

I think this will be the last long distance cycling tour I do.  As well as this incident, increasing signs of climate change (e.g. also the forest fire that threatened my arrival in Carcasonne in 2019 and the major anticyclone on my trip to Bulgaria) show you cannot rely on predictable weather any more.