It's noticeable that I haven't posted much recently, for the very good reason that not much has been happening. Continuing wet weather spells have made going out looking for birds on spec unattractive. Usually there are one or two winter rarities turning up in the North East and staying around, but this year not very much at all is getting reported - a couple of fleeting appearances of little auk flocks at least capturing my interest briefly.
I had hoped to see a few waxwings sometime but it's clear there hasn't been a major irruption this year and for the most only single birds have been reported. Apparently there haven't been any hawfinches either, except a good deal further South.
Anyway I participated in the Big Garden Birdwatch again this year. The scores were: Blue tit 5, long-tailed tit 5, 3 each for jackdaw, wood pigeon and collar dove, 2 for coal tit, great tit, nuthatch and bullfinch and just 1 for robin, blackbird and dunnock. There were no sparrows or starlings, which is mostly the case.
I was pleased with the five long-tailed tits, as they've only appeared sporadically this year and a bit surprised that coal tit didn't outnumber great tit, which it might have done on any other day. An odd number of collar doves was interesting, since I invariably see them in pairs.
This was probably the most successful Big Garden Birdwatch I've had here, as in the past they've produced few simultaneous sightings.
Today I got out for only the second lengthy bike ride this year, as the rainy day forecast did not materialise. As a first sign of better times, I saw my first few clumps of snowdrops this year and later a whole bank of them - as well catching a rare hour of sunshine.
The weather since New Year has discouraged excursions and cycle trips except for the most hardy.
With some reluctance and in need of exercise, I decided to take a walk in Chopwell Woods on Monday afternoon in freezing but sunny conditions. I always expect the most common form of animal to be seen in Chopwell Woods is the domesticated wolf, and fear that I won't see anything like the amount of things I would see in the garden anyway. On Monday, this comprised blue tit, great tit, coal tit, long-tailed tit, sparrow, chaffinch, bullfinch (3) and nuthatch as well as robin and blackbird.
This fear was largely fulfilled - just a few robins and tits around until I noticed an area near Victoria Garesfield where some birds were advancing from a patch of evergreens to drink in a small stream that hadn't frozen.
Some distance away using a lot of zoom, it turned out that one of the birds showing flashes of red turned out not to be a robin, but a redwing.
Redwing
Now this wasn't really a one-off as it's clear from what others have been posting that there is an influx of redwing in the area just now.
However, for me it was the first redwing I have seen since I relocated to the North East nearly eight years ago, so for me a definite landmark that made the whole walk worthwhile.
If I'd actually been looking for Redwing, Chopwell Woods isn't where I would have started.
I haven't posted for some time for the simple reason that I haven't been seeing anything I felt worth reporting.
Partly I haven't made the effort. There have been a few potential sightings at the coast. Having missed them at Seaton Sluice, an increasing number of snow buntings have appeared on the links at Whitley Bay near where I once lived, as have couple of black redstarts at Cullercoats. But I have seen both species before and the supposed 'rarities' that occasionally turn up were restricted to known occasional visitors (green-winged teal, American wigeon) and for me unexciting seabirds, though I was briefly tempted by a report of some little auk somewhere.
I was keeping an eye out for any waxwings appearing and there were a small number at North Shields last week that were not expected to linger. It seems too late and too warm to expect a major irruption.
On my travels the most interesting thing I saw was a pair of goosander on the Derwent near Swalwell.
I was however pleased to note last week the return of long-tailed tits on the suet balls I started to put out when the first minor frost appeared.
Some long-tailed tits
More long-tailed tits
It's possible to get seven or so visiting the same feeder.
Today though, they were outdone by an invasion of the more common members of the tit family, which actually continued for perhaps 15 minutes:
Blue, great and coal tits
Tits are almost always the most common visitors to the garden. This seemed to a case of taking advantage of the lull before the latest forecast storm moves in.
It'll be interesting to see if there are any more rare visitors to the garden over the coming weeks.
I don't like this time of year, when the butterflies gradually disappear and the bees become scarce.
There still is the odd butterfly around of course but the last ones I saw were a large white and a speckled wood around 8th October and nothing since. A week afterwards I thought I'd found some ivy bees next to the cycle track north of Styford but it proved they were all honey bees. It was the pale version of western honey bee that I was confusing.
The temperature does however remain mostly above seasonal norms and the birds are still gobbling up the sunflower seeds and hearts with gay abandon - particularly coal and other tits but nuthatch and bullfinch of both genders continue to visit regularly. A good trick would be to catch one of each species feeding together but they are obviously not friendly so the best I managed was male and female bullfinch together.
Bullfinches
A pleasant surprise was to find a green lacewing on my shed window and, with no frost so far, some flowers are still blooming including a very late and rather pathetic attempt at a sunflower.
With some reluctance though I decided it was time to concentrate on birds. I started out a couple of weekends ago at Newbiggin. It was a Sunday so the golf course was busy but on the coastal path I found a twitchy flock of about thirty birds I thought might be twite. They weren't settling for long and the only ones I snapped were linnets, though I cursed the hiker who walked straight toward one settled group I was trying to photograph, thinking that linnet and twite often mix.
Linnet
I suppose though that twite tend to turn up a bit later in the year.
One or two snow buntings have been turning up, some apparently on the grass at Seaton Sluice so i set off to find them the Sunday after.
It looked like they'd be easy to find but there are a lot of twisting paths through grassy areas at Seaton Sluice so I didn't find them. By way of compensation there were several stonechats, which I always like and also a solitary pair of male chaffinches, which I must say I regard almost as a rarity as they are one species that I never see in the garden.
I haven't been active much lately, the reason being that there hasn't been much ado.
The rarities that were showing up on the run-in to Christmas aren't showing up any more with the exception of gulls (which don't interest me overmuch) and an american pipit which is a long way off in North Northumberland and it seems to me not worth chasing when I probably wouldn't have been able to distinguish it from the other pipits that occur on the coast.
Nuthatch
The garden has provided the normal fare with the long-tailed tits visiting if sporadically and the nuthatch still appearing almost daily. I hear the long-tailed tits quite a lot in the Derwent Valley.
The Big Garden Birdwatch again passed with low numbers and birds that I would normally expect to see not turning up, including the pair of collar doves that have landed now and again. The overall totals (maximum seen at any one time) were:
Jackdaw 3, Woodpigeon 2, Robin 2, Blue Tit 2, Blackbird 1, Coal Tit 1. Nothing to write home about but this seems to be normal for the past few years.
Bike rides and car trips have produced vary little apart from the odd bird of prey.
I did finally get out for half an hour at Lamesley Pasture at lunchtime today. Here there was a large number of greylag geese, possibly 100, and around 20 moorhens digging around in the bankside mud, which is as many as I've counted at once. A couple of them looked like they might be males getting feisty with each other in preparation for the breeding season.
Moorhens
Otherwise the main thing with wings that could be seen in the distance was the Angel of the North.
I should have more to report in ten days after my latest nature trip in Spain, with which I hope to bridge the transition from winter to spring.
A curse upon Chopwell Woods! I keep visiting in the hope that it will produce some reasonable sightings and invariably come back disappointed.
On my last attempt about three weeks back, the main notable event was the almost total flooding of the southern path into the woods from Blackhall Mill.
I only managed to start the walk at all by scrambling through the puddles next to the bushes and the best thing I actually saw were a few clumps of snowdrops by the River Derwent after getting off the bus.
In spite of wandering around fairly extensively through the western part of the woods, it was pretty much like a desert with hardly a thing to be seen and precious little to be heard - just a couple of blackbirds, the odd pigeon and a few blue tits.
Even when I strayed into Chopwell East Field during a burst of sunlight, the only change was a slight increase in the amount of bird song. You would usually reckon to see a squirrel or two somewhere, but absolutely zero - just our canine friends and their captive humans.
A couple of bike rides - to Bolam Lake and yesterday to Corbridge produced nothing at all either.
So once again my interest has been tied to what happens in the garden and nearby.
Red kites have been active over the village and on one occasion right over the house as I drove into the front drive. Coal tits and long-tailed tits have been doing well, the latter being the second most-spotted tit visitor and interestingly both are more prevalent than great tit, which seems to have dropped down the rankings for some reason. A pair of blue tits inspected the nesting box, but as in previous years, did not pursue their interest.
Robins have visited frequently and I noted that two of them were untypically tolerant of each others' presence. Then it became apparent that some mating behaviour was starting and one day I suddenly spotted THREE robins on the gravel within an area just one metre square - but of course it only lasted a couple of seconds or so.
As well as the regular dunnocks, a wren has been seen twice.
Marsh tits have been past occasional visitors - meaning literally once or twice a year - but last week one actually turned up on three days out of four. After several attempts when it proved nervy, |I finally managed to get a reasonable photo of it on its last visit.
Marsh Tit
It hasn't been seen since, but of course that doesn't mean it hasn't been back.
Overall though, my campaign to up the level of bird sightings this winter hasn't been a great success and I'm now looking forward to the return of butterflies and bees over the coming weeks.
Which reminds me that at by this time last year, I had already seen my first red admiral. What a difference a year makes!
The last few days have been a series of near misses.
Last week I went looking for waxwings on a track near Killingworth and, for the second time this winter, found that I had arrived a day too late and the main flock and all the berries had disappeared. So I decided to make a call at Gosforth Park where a bittern has been appearing.
I managed to guess which hide it would be near and there were four of us waiting for it to poke its nose pout from the reeds. Unfortunately it had decided not to do so until we had all disappeared, which one by one we duly did. The only other noteworthy thing I saw was a little egret on the scrape
On Monday I took a trio to venue I hadn't previously heard of - Pow Hill Country Park near Derwent Water as there had been some crossbills sighted. In fact there wasn't much doing apart from one female according to a twitcher, so I contented myself with some experimental photography of some mallards on the lake a couple of hundred yards away to compare different modes on the new camera. This was the declared winner:
Mallards
It was taken in bird mode. The runner up in automatic mode was also perfectly acceptable, unlike the P mode which seems to over expose considerably. I must be doing something wrong.
There was an area near the car park where woodland birds seemed to gather so I decided to check it out. Prospects were initially dimmed by a bloke in a high vis jacket and leading two dogs plus wife, who decided to walk straight through the area I was surveying.
When I went back a bit later something interesting happened. Another family man turned up and starting stretching his hand out and the wee birds clearly knew he was offering bird food. Sure enough he soon had coal tits and chaffinches eating from his hand. I know this can take place but had never seen it before. It also became obvious that there was bird food on some of the old tree trunks in the same clearing and all the birds seemed to have little fear of people.
In terms of sightings, it was another period where my own garden produced more than my trips out. Having not been seen for some time, both nuthatch and woodpecker turned up in the space of the couple of days.
I mentioned last time that a blue tit was feeding on the mahonia bush. This has continued and early one morning I noticed a bird that wasn't a blue tit doing the same, though often in the depths of the bush. I eventually caught a glimpse of a reddish head and thought it must be a redpoll. On closer inspection though it proved to be an overwintering female blackcap, as had happened to or three years back. I wonder if it was the same bird...
One consistent star performer on the stage of my garden bird table is the coal tit. He/she, since there appears to be no difference, loves to harvest the numerous black sunflower seeds, always exiting backstage into the trees to consume them.
Recently, one bird made at least a dozen successive visits and you can only wonder if it isn't rather energy-sapping to perform in this energetic fashion. Here's a brief sample:
Coal Tit feeding
Last week I at last achieved an objective when I visited Newbiggin and managed to catch up with some twites towards Beacon Point.
Twite
In fact there was a massive flock of about 50 to 100 birds visiting the seaside as they often do at this time of year. Apparently there were a few shore larks around too but a jackdaw came down and flushed them shortly before I arrived. There have been records of snow buntings at Newbiggin, but I think that was a little further down the coast.
Also in evidence on the day were a couple of meadow pipis and, as so often on the coast in Northumberland, stonechats:
Meadow Pipit
Stonechat
Down on the beach, there were a large number of birds dozing by the rock pools near the shoreline. I took them to be golden plover. However I was a bit stiff and and didn't fancy going down from the path and took photos at considerable distance. On comparing them with images in my bird book I thought they looked more like dunlin or knot. But it seems that golden plover they are.
Sometimes I'm too much the pessimist. Although we did not get the summer-like temperatures experienced in the South of England, we did get a warmer than usual murk with occasional bursts of sunshine into the high teens. The upshot was that I called time too early on the buddleia, the largest bush suddenly producing a decent sprig of flower in its very centre over the last few days. This managed to briefly attract a fine red admiral on the 8th October, thereby achieving a personal mini-ambition and establishing a record that may not last long in the face of climate change.
Red Admiral
Meanwhile i have a new toy, a Nikon Coolpix camera, bought especially with the idea in mind of boosting my birdwatching efforts. The wee Panasonic Lumix I have been using is brilliant in many respects but the zoom can be slow and the focus imprecise.
Perhaps understandably the additional camera has brought some technical issues. There was a good opportunity to try it out yesterday on a Naturewatch visit to Hauxley Nature Reserve. As on recent visits to Hauxley nothing spectacular was sighted, which didn't trouble me as I was mainly using it to practice my camera skills.
It was therefore disturbing to note that I had difficulty in seeing much through the viewfinder and when focussing on distant birds. I started to wonder if I was going to get any usable shots at all. Anyway I persevered and managed to solve the focussing issue after a bit.
Here is a gallery of the results:
Coal Tit
Bullfinches with Goldfinch
Chaffinch
Shoveler
Goldeneye
Grey Heron
Mallard
Mallow
Obviously the coal tit was taken in the garden and added as my first ever attempt.
It wasn't until I got home before I solved how to resolve the dim viewfinder. Easy enough when you know how but with 308 pages of user manual as well as a very intricate looking piece of photo processing software, it could be a long learning curve!
I'm not too sure why but I've seen remarkably little of note recently. Perhaps the mild weather has meant that local birds are still finding plenty of food without visiting my garden. Also I'm maybe just not so tuned in to looking out for birds above as more in the habit of looking down for bees and butterflies. That's not to say there aren't plenty of interesting visitors stopping off on the Northumberland coast and makes me think that I must time my visit to Holy Island a little later next year.
Having failed in an attempt to see the subalpine warbler at Tynemouth on a bike ride two weeks ago, I thought things would change in the garden when I started putting out suet balls again but there was virtually no response when I hung them in the same location as last year. Even yesterday I noted there were still a couple of bees around but various attempts to find an ivy bee have failed and only produced wasps.
One more promising note is that, for the first time in a while, I have seen an occasional coal tit coming to the feeders, and a robin has started to investigate the suet balls. Otherwise it's been hedge-to-hedge jackdaws with the occasional blue tit, great tit or dunnock.
A brief walk at Chopwell Woods two days ago produced the usual - i.e. virtually nothing heard or seen apart from three grey squirrels.
I had been lined up to go on a U3A visit to St Mary's Island today but had to cancel because of a domestic issue.
Slightly better was a bike ride yesterday. Having got to Hexham without finding in the countryside except a rabbit and a big roost of chaffinches near the Tyne, I decided on a detour via Whittle Dene Lakes on the way home. Here, alarmingly, two waters were closed because of blue algae, which seems remarkably late in the year. However, there were a few cormorants, a single lapwing in flight and a kestrel hunting as well as a few canada geese and tufted ducks.
Unfortunately none of these resulted in a successful photo.
Which reminds me that I did very nearly get a good picture of a young kestrel perching in a nearby tree last Tuesday - until it saw me!
When I experimented by offering a nyger seed feeder to the local birds a couple of years or so ago, I was a bit surprised that it was all gobbled up by jackdaws and none of the fancy species I had hoped for got anywhere near it. So when I was offered a bag of nyger seed surplus to requirements in Moffat, I had little doubt that it would quickly go the same way.
In fact the heavy sprinklings I put down on the bird table were totally shunned for weeks and interest could only be aroused by adding other titbits amongst the glut of uneaten tiny black seeds.
Eventually a pair of dunnocks and the odd blackbird have latched on to the permanent free lunch and at least some of the pile is getting shifted. I would have expected the coal tits to love it and at least the odd goldfinch to take a look, but not even the jackdaws have shown much enthusiasm. Perhaps the birds just have other things to do at this time of year. The feeders haven't produced much either.
Finally emerging from Covid confinement, I took a trip to Edinburgh last week for cultural purposes. I did manage to slot in an hour's walk in Princes Street Gardens but there was nothing around apart from a couple of magpies and pigeons in spite of a nice, sunny day. The only other animals I saw were the stuffed ones in the National Museum.
On returning home, there was a little more on offer. On Friday, I briefly saw a small tortoiseshell from the summer house as well as a bumblebee and a female woodpecker paid a rare visit to the peanut feeder.
Greater-spotted Woodpecker
On a bike ride yesterday there was another bumblebee and any number of skylarks singing, giving a strong sense of Spring. Then today, single small tortoiseshell was resting on the laurel in the front garden.
Small Tortoiseshell
There seemed to be some staining on the left lower wing that looked a bit like bird lime. As the temperature was around 9C I was surprised to see it at all and hope it has managed to take cover. It's forecast to freeze tonight.
The day after I last posted Mr Nuthatch was again paying fleeting visits to the bird table and I managed to provide the proof.
Nuthatch
With the weather brightening I decided to take a bike ride to Prestwick Carr the following Friday, braving a strong westerly wind in the hope of seeing the short-eared owl again. When I arrived, the feeders by the viweing platform had been filled (apparently someone called Albert fills them) and so it was a cinch to catch up with the willow tits that use it. Long-tailed tit and reed bunting were also about as well as the more common tits.
Willow Tit
Long-tailed Tit and Willow Tit
I rode up and down the track looking about and tried to stick it out on the platform for a while but it was very exposed to the breeze so I gave in after an hour and rode back home.
This weekend I did a slow walk around the bridle path towards Rowlands Gill, when it was again apparent that there is more birdsong there than in Chopwell Woods. Seeing them was another thing as they were mostly high in the the treetops. In the end I saw pretty much what you'd expect to see - coal tit, blue tit, long-tailed tit and red kite. Low flying red kites over the various villages have been a pretty much daily occurence locally.
More of a surprise came yesterday as I rode to Gateshead to buy fishing tackle. Just past the Swalwell roundabout in a temperature of about 10C a butterfly flew up. From the brief view of its underside I thought it was a peacock. As I was half thinking I wouldnt see a butterfly before the end of March this year, I was duly pleased.
Several times I thought I had heard a greenfinch at the back of the garden and elsewhere but I haven't managed to see one.
Another lockdown and some snowy weather have restricted activities more than somewhat.
I have managed another couple of pleasant but eventless walks in Chopwell Woods, as ever distinguished by the lack of birdsong. The second in distinctly wintery conditions on New Year's Eve was slightly better, producing five robins and one blackbird but I cut it short as it was quite strenuous negotiating the ice packs on the main trails. I'm at a loss as to why such a large area of woodland isn't more productive.
Snowy Weather
By contrast a walk down the bridlepath towards Rowlands Gill produced a good deal of song. There was nothing spectacular, mainly tits and more robins but it gave a more postive feel, as if some birds are already thinking of asserting their territories before mating. There are less walkers here than in the Woods.
Long-tailed Tit
I ended up on the Derwent River Walk and got a good view of a red kite but it quickly soared off and settled in some trees to make mewing noises. Things were quieter on the way back.
The normal visitors have been turning up and long-tailed tits have been quite frequent. They often arrive at the feeders in groups of four or five. I'd like to photogrpah a group of them but, like the coal tits, they never hang around for long. Nothing special here either and no sign so far of the blackcap that turned up last year. No woodpeckers for some while either.
There were at least a couple of rematches between robin and nuthatch on the birdtable. On the first occasion, the nuthatch arrived second and the robin gave way a bit but didn't fly off, which I adjudged to be a draw. The second time, the nuthatch was there first but flew straight off leaving the robin victorious. In this case maybe the redder bird rather than the larger bird has the upper hand.
The robin behaves as if s/he personally owns the bird table, which may also be a factor.
It continues to be a period when I'm seeing more activity in the garden than on my trips out.
A trip to Holywell Dene only revealed a few tits and a walk at Wallington Hall some more tits and a single nuthatch.
Long-tailed tit
However my garden nuthatch still visits the bird table often, and several long-tailed tits often appear though generally just for short raids. Coal tits are still the most frequent visitors, ahead of blue and great tit and the larger birds. Wren, dunnock and blackbird have all turned up plus the 'not quite right' greenfinch (see previous two posts). The long-tailed tits have started feeding a good deal on the fatballs, which have been neglected right through the autumn period for whatever reason unless I had removed them from the feeder and put them somewhere else.
There has also been a surprising first - a goldfinch. Although common locally, I've never seen one in the garden before. Overall, it seems the shorter days and the need to feed intensively around the middle of the day is the main cause of the increased traffic.
The walk around Swinsty Loch is advertised as a gentle stroll on a gravel path. Unfortunately the youngsters had decided instead on a hike through the moors to Badger Dyke Loch, which unbenown to them proved to be a tour of the local swamp grounds and quite hard on both lungs and legs.
However we did happen on this couple of peacocks on the way.
Peacocks
They were wise to shelter in the little hollow as a full-scale pheasant shoot was underway at Badger Dyke Loch. Apart from dead pheasants we managed to see several score of wigeon at the peaceful end of the water and a handful of tufted duck on the way back down the other side. In the fields a few fieldfare and redwing were around without showing too well.
To be honest I was slightly disapponted by the wigeon as I had thought I had spotted some pochard in the group. At least I felt well-exercised and wholly justified in not doing any exercises at home the day after.
Some slightly strange if not exactly world-shattering happenings this week...
I'd just finished discussing the 'not quite right' greenfinch mentioned in my last post with someone by email when what was obviously a female greenfinch turned up on the peanut feeder, to be succeeded by the 'not quite right' one which fed off the decking for a few minutes with me thinking it was a chaffinch, then visiting the feeder and revealing the same plumage features I photographed last time. I haven't seen it since.
Nuthatch
A very frequent visitor to the feeders has been this male nuthatch, which has to my pleasure also started visiting the bird table and fighting off the coal tits and others. I wondered if he would also scare off the rather aggressive robin who clearly regards the bird table as his personal possession. On the one occasion they did meet up, the robin won somewhat against my perception that in such confrontations, the larger bird will prevail. Maybe in this situation the redder bird prevailed but I look forward to seeing if the same result occurs the next time.
Shortly after a session watching the nuthatch and more coal tit aerial acrobatics, I was amazed to see a grey wagtail land on the bird table. It didn't stay long but I couldn't help wondering what it was after as they don't eat seeds. Maybe it got a whiff of the rather smelly soldier beetle larvae I've been adding to the birdfeed lately. One awaits developments. There was another grey wagtail around near Swalwell today so perhaps they get a bit more adventurous in winter.
The next minor shock came when I went to close the bathroom window yesterday and a queen wasp crawled in. Apparently they can live for a year, but a wasp active in December?? I should probably have taken a photo but decided to usher it out as soon as possible as I don't want a wasp's nest in the bathroom for Christmas.
I did do an ettempted twitch on Friday as a whimbrel had been reported in the Cambois area and I've never seen one. On returning home with so to speak empty binoculars I had to recognise that I'd been looking in the wrong area in spite of having seen a fairly clear map! The whimbrel hasn't been reported
Young Deer
since so probably had moved on anyway.
What was slightly strange about that trip was that on driving out of Greenside several deer ran across the road in front of and behind. I was lucky not to hit one. Then at Cambois the only thing I did see (apart from one hovering kestrel) was a young deer happliy grazing away on what was blatantly a brownfield site.
Today I have enjoyed watching a squad of half a dozen long-tailed tits invade the garden. Nothing strange about that though...
The coal tits continue to raid the bird table in numbers and the robin tries in vain to chase them off. They are very agile and quick and flight and have become a bit of a favourite.
On Wednesday I followed the twitchers again to see if I could get a decent view of the crossbills at Rising Sun Country Park Not knowing where they were, I followed the Brown Trail and looked out for conifers,
A slight diversion to a small pond just South of the car park revealed four or five gadwall at closer range than the ones I saw at Holywell but shortly after I met a couple of birdwatchers who said they had found the twitchers but the crossbills had disappeared. I thought they meant permanently.
Gadwall
However I continued with Plan A, figuring that there seemed to be a good deal of conifers around so that the crossbills may just have been displaced to a slightly different area of the park.
So I walked on not seeing anything of note apart from a couple of suspected fieldfare/redwing until near the end of the path I encountered the twitchers who told me that the crossbills had been there until about three hours ago when a sparrowhawk flushed them and they hadn't been back since.
I decided to come back another day and was heading dor the car park when I saw a chap with binoculars peering into some deciduous trees at the edge of a farm field. Sure enough it was the crossbills warily edging along the woodland border.
Crossbill
It was a typical lucky encounter - the right bird on the wrong kind of tree in the wrong location. Having a last minute success when I had effectively given up looking is however something that has happened to me quite a number of times now.
Yesterday we did another joint bike ride in the Mitford area. I was just relating the story of having spotted a heron at the top of a tree and failing to photograph it when we saw a heron at the top of a tree in exactly the same place. Once again it made off when the camera came out.
Averaging 10.3 mph we didn't notice much more until a lot of honking near Dinnington revealed the presence of a large number of geese in a field. I took a couple of photos to check for pink-footed geese but it seems they were all greylags.
On Tuesday a friend and I agreed to make the best of limited time by combining a coastal bike ride with a checkup on some birdwatching spots. The first spot was Seaton Sluice where astonishingly a swift has been sighted. I arrived with the news that it had supposedly moved on to St Mary's Island and that I hadn't seen anything noticeable while checking the proposed locations en route.
We decided therefore to give Seaton Sluice a miss and head straight for St Mary's, where we didn't see much of note on looking into the nature reserve apart from a few teal and possibly a couple of tufted ducks - albeit more than I saw on the way up.
We rode slowly along the causeway as I was hoping to possibly see some snow buntings but no sign. There didn't look to be much on the rocks either but when we dismounted to cross over to the island, what should fly straight over our heads but the aforementioned swift! Heaven knows what it is doing here when it should have flown to Africa two months ago.
Preparing to feed seal pup
As soon as we started to move, some walkers pointed out that the Seal Rescue Service van was trying to get past us and we arrived at the lighthouse in time to see the seal being fed so it could be released back into the sea. This didn''t look too pleasant as it involved one guy sitting on it while it was effectively force fed by the other.
Meanwhile the story amongst the spectators was that someone had reported it as having been abandoned and injured although the Rescue Service had found nothing wrong with it.
Eventually it was able to flap over the rocks into the water, where we think its mother may have been waiting for it Difficult to say though as seals were popping their heads out all over the place.
After this unexpected excitement we cycled on to Tynemouth but got there too late to see the black redstart that regularly visits as the tide had come in and covered the pierside rocks. However two out of three ain't bad...
On Thursday I decided on and out an out twitch and made my way again to Morpeth, where, contrary to my last post, hawfinches have been turning up again.
At the time this seemed a frustrating experience. The birds were definitely there and I could see them moving about with the naked eye but it was obvious that the other twitchers there were much better at picking them out and were getting close-ups in their big telescopes and photographing them.
I ended up taking photos on the off chance, so it was quite fortuitous when I managed to get four of them in the same shot.
Spot the Hawfinches!
They are of course pretty elusive and my attempts to get shots of individual birds fared little better. As darkness moved in and people started to pack up the large telescopes, I got a clear sighting of one bird in a separate tree but the light was by now too tricky to show up much detail.
Things have been happening in the garden too. The coal tits have been visiting the bird table in numbers again, much to the anooyance of the resident robin.
And today there was a visit from a bullfinch to the neighbours' garden in search of berries - the first since early this year.
A variety of bits and bobs have caught my attention over the past week or so.
A bike trip to Stamfordham didn't reveal much except for a few long-tailed tits and a fleeting sighting of a reed bunting.
A considerable surprise this week was to see a couple of pigeons getting fruity with each other in the birches behind the garden. Surely they didn't think Spring had already arrived? It's been pretty mild.
I often wonder where all the food on the bird table goes to. Usually it disappears when as soon as I turn my back and I tend to blame the jackdaws. The other day I got a pleasant surprise when I witnessed eight or ten coal tits visiting in quick succession and departing each time with a few seeds. At one point there was half a dozen strung out between the clothes on the washing line. Usually it's just the odd one or two. Maybe I'm too hasty in blaming the jackdaws.
Last weekend I was in Dumfries and went with the family to RSPB Mersehead. The weather was questionable and sightings limited as a result. My son wanted to see the barnacle geese, which was as ever not a problem to arrange.
Barnacle Geese
From Bruaich Hide we could see a few teal and wigeon and one of the former was preening itself to reveal the green underwing patch. Unfortunately we had to wear masks which steamed up my glasses and when the young ones went outside for a clearer view, everything took flight.
We moved on to Meida Hide where there was just a few greylags but in time for the starling murmuration, which was pretty impressive and lasted for a good half hour.
Murmuration
I knew there was a murmuration at Mersehead but I thought it was considerably smaller. Comparing it to the one at Gretna/Rockcliffe, I noticed that the birds flew in a broader formation. It was almost as if they were hoovering up smaller groups of starlings. At Gretna, the formation was higher and did not cover such a wide area.
On the Monday I checked out St Michael's Churchyard for waxwings. As suspected, there weren't any yet though the yewberries have started to ripen and blackbirds were eating them. I was interested to see an unexpected nuthatch climbing up one of the walls, and later a song thrush.
On Thursday I took a bike ride from Kirkley to Abbey Mill near Morpeth, where hawfinches had been sighted several days in succession. I was very conscious of the sod's law of binoculars, which postulates that if you don't take binoculars, you will see something of interest in the distance. Sure enough approaching Saltwick, I reckoned I could see some visiting throstles feeding in the fields at about 300m range. Depending only on my camera, I took a few shots to see if I could identify them later - only to then find I'd picked out a group of starlings! From what I could make out from views in flight, I reckoned that the winter visitors were pretty much entirely fieldfares. Probably most redwings are still feasting on berries.
As to the hawfinches, my main aim was to establish precisely where they had been seen. After a bit of a wander I managed to find the twitchers who were looking for them. They reported that there had been no sightings so far. My immediate instinct was that the hawfinches had moved on and, sure enough, no further sightings have resulted. I hope it wasn't my high-vis cycling jacket that scared them... or maybe it was the high-vis leggings of the lady joggers who also passed through.
On Friday I did a walk at East Cramlington Nature Reserve with a friend in the hope of finding some crossbills. In the event it turned out to be more of a survival exercise as we ended up on a muddy track next to a drain. Afterwards we took a look at the well-stocked bird feeders nearing dusk, when I was surprised to see an unexpected bird coyly visiting the feeders. At first I thought it was a linnet but expert advice suggests it is a female reed bunting.
Reed Bunting
I've never seen either species on a feeder before.
Lady Blackcap put in a couple more appearances over the past week, oscillating between the feeders and the mahonia. The latter is now sadly depleted, which may be the end of her visits. Luckily I did manage to snap this fairly typical and somewhat charming pose. Still rather unclear though, as she tends not to stay in the same place for long.
Blackcap
I also finally managed to get to Wallington Hall, if by a rather roundabout route. The common crane that has been sighted in Northumberland over the past few weeks is actually in the immediate area so I went up for a bit of a scout around. This proved unsuccessful, though I did with another birdwatcher managed to pick up a few tips about access from a local lady out with her dog.
So I went round to Wallington as a reserve, with the notion that bramblings might be a possibility. There was quite a bit stirring at the heavily laden feeders over a period of time, including most notably loads of coal tits, a nuthatch and a couple of glimpses of a marsh tit. Initially there was also plenty of chaffinches but I couldn't find a brambling among them. I noticed that, every now and again, all the birds suddenly dispersed and suspected a bird of prey in the area. Sure enough, a male sparrowhawk parachuted in right below one of the feeders and started looking around for easy prey.
After he flew off and birds slowly returned, a treeecreeper turned up and, as on my last visit, started to become more of a groundcreeper, picking up sunflower seeds that were lying about beneath the tree.
I went to Holy Island last Friday in the hope of seeing some of the passage birds that had been turning up over the previous few days. In fact there wasn't much about. The first and the commonest bird I saw on the island was the starling.
Turnstone
In pleasantly bright weather but a strong wind, I did manage to identify a couple of rock pipits on the stoney beach as well as some oystercatchers and turnstone. On the pond near the wildlife centre, all the birds were sheltering under their wings but one may have been a whooper swan.
Two whites sighted during the day remain my latest butterfly sightings to date.
I spent quite a lot of time foraging in the dunes at the North of the island, which proved completely unproductive though I did see this rather large caterpillar. Referring to a suggested expert indicates it will one day become a fox moth.
Fox Moth Caterpillar
On the way back to the castle, there were some teal visible, sheltering against the weeds on the far side of the other pond.
Wheatear
It's strange how the most interesting sighting often occurs when you have given up looking. I had decided to visit the priory when I spotted an interesting little bird feeding by the wall on the main road. At first I thought it was a water pipit in summer plumage but the general consensus is that it is a wheatear. All I can say is that the wheatears I have seen were much more strongly marked but there are photographs of them online that look similar. It certainly wasn't shy as a water pipit is supposed to be.
Yesterday the Naturewatch Group visited Belsay Gardens, where again the birdlife was a little furtive. Over time I did manage to identify three nuthatch, several coal tits and blue tits and a song thrush. The best sighting was a couple of goldcrests working their way through a hazel bush that so fascinated me that I left my waterproof trousers behind. I also got a glimpse of a disappearing red squirrel.
Obviously it was a cultivated rather than wild environment but I was rather impressed with this particular variety of rhodedendron barbarus, which apparently comes from Northern Asia.
