Quiet Days

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.

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.

Friday 16th November

This is the slightly delayed report on the visit to Low Hauxley WWT reserve on Monday.

Driving by a rather more direct route than planned following my argument with Sally Satnav, we were treated

Tree Sparrows

to a good view of a kestrel hovering on the approach to Hauxley Village.  We duly assembled in the cafe observation area.  Conditions were slightly tricky looking directly into the sun but secerla ducks including little grebe, wigeon and tufted duck were soon spotted.

I sidled off to watch the feeders, which were soon being plundered by a number of tree sparrows, two of whom performed an 'eyes left' routine for the camera.

There was also the first sighting of a red-breasted merganser.  It popped up again later when we were half way round the reserve but, annoyingly for me, it managed to sneak behind an island both times before I could catch it in the binoculars properly.

Female Shoveler

After that we split to visit two hides.  I chose the one facing seawards where there were a few female eider near the shoreline.  Several woodland birds visited the feeders there as well as a moorhen on the ground and a large volley of long-tailed tits passed through, one perching in the twigs right in front of the hide window.

From the other hide there were also reports of a bar-tailed godwit.

Further round past Ponteland Hide, we encountered some gadwall, a shelduck, teal and a pair of female shovelers that seemed to have particularly large beaks - even for them.

Hebridean Sheep

As there had been no substantial frost, there were still numerous plants and trees in flowers.  The ones I noticed most were sea buckthorn, red campion and viper's bugloss.

On the way to the last hide on the western side of the lagoon, there was a group of hebridean sheep, one of which managed to look strangely like a baboon.

Perhaps due to the incoming tide, this was arguably the most productive location and produced amongst others excellent sail past views of a teal and a male goldeneye, while numerous curlew, greylag geese and wigeon could be spotted on the grass upland opposite.

Teal

Goldeneye

All in all a good visit to a well-maintained reserve that had me wondering what rarities might turn up there over time.

Thanks to Ruth of the Prudhoe U3A Naturewatch group for the photos in the absence of my snapper.

Monday 29th October

The day after I finished writing about the apparent lack of interest in my fatball feeders, two or three long-tailed tits visited them briefly but haven't returned, though the weather has now certainly turned cold.  Today a grey squirrel was nosing around the garden but it was after peanuts.

Arguably more interesting was the appearance of a female pheasant on the back fence.  It sat there for quite a while, doing nothing.  It struck me that I never mention seeing a pheasant but of course I have been seeing them all the time, specially when I was out cycling in Dumfries.

Pheasant

Last Wednesday I went on a bike ride to Segedunum in Wallsend and encountered an urban fox trotting towards me on the cycle track in Walker.  I'm not sure who was the more surprised.

On Friday I deided to try out some of the local bird hides to see if winter visitors had started to arrive.

I started out at Shibdon Pond and quickly caught a duck I didn't recognise in the binoculars.  A quick google after a check in the hide log confirmed it was a ruddy shelduck, so something of a rarity although it's obviously featured regularly at Shibdon Pond and another couple of birdwatchers I talked to afterwards didn't seem to regard it as at all notable.  It isn't quite clear whether ruddy shelducks that appear in the UK are errant migrants or feral birds.  However, there are some at Washington WWT that eat out of your hand.

Ruddy shelduck (centre) and others

Unfortunately, I had forgotten my camera and had to make do with a poor shot on my phone.
The other main species at Shibdon were moorhen, shoveler and over 20 canada geese that probably had just arrived.

I then moved on to a hide at Lamesley where things were quiet but for some teal and a pair of gadwall.  Teal also featured closer at a hide near the Derwent at Thornley Woods, along with a heron hunting in slow motion and a diving cormorant that then settled to dry off its wings.