Spain - Day 4

Last night one of the group leaders noticed there was an egyptian grasshopper sitting on the fence outside the hotel.

Having turned down another early hours search for Dupont's Lark in even colder conditions, I took a look this morning and it hadn't moved, very large and looking like something out of a nightmare.

Egyptian Grasshopper

Today we were on the move to our second hotel in Huesca. En route we stopped at a wee lake, where a large numbers of chiffchaffs were indulging in flycatching activities from the reed beds.  You can just about see them in this video:

Chiffchaffs

I must say I've not seen them in numbers in such a location or behaving like this.  Maybe it's a European thing?

At another brief stop I got a brief spot I got a shot of a calandra lark, which would have been great if it had been polite enough to face in the right direction.

Calandra Lark

We were heading for the reserve at El Planeron by which time we could see the changed scenery looming up like a moon landscape ahead.

The Sierra

We were now 1000 metres lower than Gallocanta and the change in temperature was noticeable, also bringing large numbers of butterflies - all of them whites.

  

Once we stopped, I got a nice view of an early season small white as well as the predominant flower common stork's bill according to Google Lens..

Small White

Common Stork's Bill

On going up a hill on the other side of the road I noticed a butterfly that I thought might be a blue.  In fact what I was seeing was the greenish underwing of the bath white, which were present in good numbers though extremely mobile.  I also spotted large white at distance as did another group member.

I was wondering about the possibility of southern small white, which are definitely possible in Northern Spain but saw none.  It makes me think how lucky my sighting north of Tübingen was a couple of years back although they have now been reported in the Southern UK. 

Further along the reserve we stopped again and someone spotted an Iberian Grey Shrike far off on the other side of the road.  I didn't see it until it moved.  

The group then concentrated on a Dupont's Lark audible to the South East of us but I reckoned it was moving more to the South and headed that way along a rough track. 

Noticing a marshy area and having heard some frogs to my right I took a look and saw the (or another) Iberian Grey Shrike perched in the branches, looking like an elongated version of the great grey shrike we sometimes see at home. I carefully got the camera ready and... the only other car we saw there that session rumbled down the dirt track and flushed the shrike!

It flew around a bit and returned briefly to its obvious favourite perching area a couple of times but was obviously spooked and didn't settle.

Huesca Emblem

Meanwhile some of the group who had followed down the track caught sight of the Dupont's lark
hovering at height near some raptors and eventually diving back down.  I took two or three looks through the binocs but couldn't see a _______ thing.

Further on again there was a short-toed lark near Belchite and I was quite concerned to see this huge aggressive-looking horned creature on the horizon entering the Huesca region.

Apparently it's quite common as we saw images of several others.

Nearing the hotel, a flying raptor was identified as red rather than a black kite and I at last got an image of a raptor in flight as well as a shot of a cerin in a tree with some others.

Griffon Vulture

Cerin

Frankly I doubt if I would have identified the cerin from the photo but the photo needed tweaking as the light was pretty dodgy and it was the first one I'd seen since visiting Austria several years ago.

More of vultures later... 

Home Sweet Home

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!

Mixed Pickings 2

Last Sunday I was out on a walk in the Durisdeer Hills with V&A.

In reasonable weather there were quite a few butterflies around, the predominant species being the green-veined white.

Green-veined White

Even more predominant were large numbers of red kite, which have clearly spread from Loch Ken and a fair few buzzards.

We were really hoping to see a pair of hen harriers that appeared to have mated in the area and merlin, which are known to be present here too.  In fact we saw neither and speculated that the large number of other birds of prey may have discouraged the harriers.

There were however numerous other birds to see, notably meadow pipits as one would expect, wheatear and a few red-legged partridge - hardly surprising as they are bred widely as a gamebird. 

Wheatear

Red-legged Partridge

The wheatear looks to me like a young female. I also noticed that the pipit appears to have some sort of head or eye stripe, so that I briefly wondered about tree pipit but discounted the possibility.

Meadow Pipit

About two thirds of the way along the trail there was some cotton grass and a large expanse of bilberry and I started to wonder what else might be seen here.  However, the bilberry was only just coming into flower.

On the way back through this area, there was a chance sighting of a small heath butterfly, which pleased me considerably.  There was also a single bird's egg on the path - probably that of a dove or pigeon - which we decided to leave alone.

Small Heath

Towards the end a couple of moths appeared.  One I couldn't identify but the other appears to be a brown silverline.

Brown Silverline

A couple of days ago on the way to the doctor's, I did a reccy of Chopwell East Field, a recently declared reserve to see if it is suitable for a Naturewatch Walk.  

It actually proved quite promising.  Quite a lot of flora is springing up.  At one point there are signs of bird's foot trefoil establishing itself, though I suspect it may get overwhelmed by surrounding grasses.  A shetland pony staring at me from a neighbouring horses' field possibly was showing some interest in addressing this issue.

In an area described as wetland, which was actually pretty dry, I was lucky enough to come across one or two small copper butterflies.  Turning to retrace my steps a pair of linnets started singing from nearby trees and bushes.  It looks like they are both male.

Small Copper

Linnets

Meanwhile back in the garden, I've twice been visited by a pair of bullfinches, anxious to hoover up some seeds from the now over-abundant forget-me-nots.

Mr Bullfinch

Mrs Bullfinch

A bit rude of Mr Bullfinch to have his back turned on us.

There's no more news on the mystery black bee, but I did manage to capture this early bumblebee worker.

Early Bumblebee

No more signs of red mason or nomad bees, perhaps down to poorish weather.

On the "Is it a fly or is it a bee" debate, I think I may have missed out when I found a very small item wondering along the kitchen windowsill while cooking.  I didn't take it too seriously thinking it was probably a fly and only got a couple of poor images.

A pity as I think now that it may have been a wee furrow bee and it hung around for ages!

Onshore and Inland

Having survived a cold snap over the past week, I decided on a trip to the coast on Thursday after dropping my ebike off for a service.  I'd thought about concentrating on birdwatching but decided to meet a friend instead, and actually saw a couple of things anyway.

Walking into Cullercoats there was a stonechat on the promenade railing and a woman drew my attention to a kestrel hovering for long periods over the foreshore.

Kestrel

I've never had the chance to capture a hovering kestrel with my wee camera before so it was a pleasing result.

Having collected my bike again, I saw what I initially thought was a woodpecker of some kind crossing my path at the top of the Byker Link track, where there is a bit of a flytipper's paradise.  It had a stripey appearance that put me in mind of illustrations I had seen of a three-toed woodpecker.  Knowing it couldn't really be that I stopped and approached with camera in hand.  The bird took fright at my high vis jacket and made itself scarce but I saw it long enough to note that it was a leucistic blackbird.

The day after I was on a Naturewatch walk to Letah Wood near Hexham.  The main idea was to see the wild daffodils that grow there, which should have been showing well.  However the cold weather over the previous few days has held them back and it was hard to find a decent batch.

Wild Daffodils

There were plenty of birds singing but high up in the canopy and I only actually saw a robin and some woodpigeons.  

However, there was a very healthy tree fungus, probably a shelf fungus and a healthy colony of wood ants.

Shelf Fungus

Wood Ants

The day after I was out again after visiting my son's new house in Crawford when we went along a nice track near Leadhills.  Before we got soaked in a sudden downpour we had managed to see all of curlew, lapwing, buzzard, red kite, meadow pipit, pied wagtail, and raven.

However most sightings were at distance above the horizon.  At one point a lapwing was mobbing a buzzard.  It must be because nesting time is near.

Today I briefly saw the first bumble bee of the year in the garden and at the tennis courts there were several honey bees struggling across the surface. They must have come out too early.

Hairstreaks Record Broken

Because of the uncertainty about the nomad bee (see last post) I decided to capture another the day after to study it more closely.  Typically it became evident that I had trapped a different species of nomad altogether, so I had the job of making a separate identification.  I think this one might be Marsham's Nomad Bee though it was smaller than I expected and so I wasn't altogether certain.

Marsham's Nomad Bee?

The main event of this week was an outing to Dipton Woods on the e-bike to check for green hairstreaks on the first available day that promised consistent sunshine.  For a while I thought I'd misjudged badly as there was little sun to speak of when I finally got to the area around 11.30.  I was also considerably hampered by the fact that the rough and wet track I was trying to cycle up was blocked by a couple of fallen tree trunks.

Discouraged, I considered giving the whole thing up but checked a few bilberry bushes for remaining flowers and quite by chance came across a single green hairstreak on one of them in spite of the murky light.

Morale suitably bolstered, I evaded the fallen trees by walking the bike through some rough stuff and headed for the known 'hot spot' at the other end of the track, a south-facing slope that is sheltered from the wind by a wall.  I quickly spotted a couple more hairstreaks, then the sun finally did emerge for around 40 minutes stimulating a good deal more activity.  In the end I counted a total of 25 sightings, narrowly beating the 24 I saw on my first visit three three years ago.

Green Hairstreak

In the same area a large butterfly that looked unfamiliar flew straight past me without landing, a large flying bug landed in my hair and there was a small moth I couldn't identify.

Moth

On the way to Dipton Woods I saw my first swallows of the summer near Hedley and on the way back a red kite being pursued by crows between Bywell and Wylam, the furthest West I've seen one so far.

I'm getting a bit fed up with feeding the birds at the moment as all I seem to be achieving is enabling the jackdaws and magpies to have a blowout.  So it was good to have a couple of visits in between times from this lady woodpecker.

Woodpecker

Yesterday one particular bee spent a lot of time flying low over the lawn, as if looking for something.  I suspected a chocolate mining bee but narrowly failed to trap it in the bug box.  There have been one or two honey bees too, but not as many as last year.

After a slight delay..

Unfortunately nature activities have been suspended over the past month due to a bereavement followed by a loss of broadband connection, broken boiler and lengthy powercut in the wake of Storm Arwen.

As a result I've seen very little beyond what has turned up around the garden.  I only got out on one trip, a bike ride to Corbridge when, after seeing a single low-hovering kite early on, I spent some time peering into someone else's garden.  Apart from trying to transform a chaffinch into a brambling as someone once amusingly put it, there was nothing of any significance.  

There hasn't been that much in my garden anyway.  A couple of weeks back I glimpsed a queen wasp

Long-tailed tits

passing by the mahonia but no early bumblebees, which might have been a possibility.

I've spent some time thinking about the long-tailed tits and how gregarious and shy they are.  I moved the suet balls they obviously like onto the plum tree to see if they would come closer.  Apart from one occasion they didn't so I put them back near the fence and about six visited shortly afterwards.  It's a case of feast or famine though.

For a while a dunnock with no tail visited the bird table, moving uptypically slowly. The first time it even stayed there motionless for about an hour.  Presumably it had been attacked.

A wren has also visited on a couple of occasions.

My occasional visitors have sometimes noticed tawny owls calling from the trees by the stream.  I don't usually but there was one evening, quite early, when there was one calling from fairly close by.

A sighting of a furtive jay in the same area had me wondering if one would visit the garden again, but nothing so far.

The return of my bike after a wheel replacement has led to an increase in cycling activity.

On the 12th June, I took a brief trip up the Waskerley Way, hoping to see some butterfly species that haven't been showing up so far.  The only result in that direction was a couple of passing red admirals and a speckled wood.  Once up on the moorland, I did find a bank of bilberry not in flower, a good bit of uncut fern and some advanced bird's foot trefoil but no resulting pollinators. Lapwing, curlew and skylark were around but otherwise the most noticeable feature was the impressive view.

Waskerley Way

The most exciting thing was a momentary sighting of a redstart on the path on the way back down, just after I'd had a close up rear view of a red kite.

On Wednesday I set out from Newbiggin to head for East Chevington Pond, where one or two rarities have been spotted.

Going slowly, I again kept a careful eye on the bird's foot trefoil between Lynemouth and Cresswell but again no common blue were seen.  What I did see was a collection of what I was fairly confident were linnets around a house just South of the first caravan site.  A few turned up later coming back along the dunes but in both cases they didn't hang around.  Linnets are nervous birds.

Stopping at the north end of Cresswell Pond, I didn't really expect to see the spoonbill that had been reported a few days earlier. After returning from inspecting the undergrowth and stumbling upon a red admiral, I spoke to a chap who thought he had seen a little egret.  However another chap with a telescope confirmed it was indeed the spoonbill and I could pick it out in a field on the other side, snoozing with its beak tucked in.  There were some avocets around but I didn't spot them, just a lot of gulls including a little gull.

It was only on the way back in the afternoon that the spoonbill was active and I got a good view of it.  Apart from my visit to Minsmere several years ago I hadn't seen them in this country before.

Spoonbill

Little Gull

Compared to that East Chevington pond was a bit of an anticlimax as all I saw beside more gulls was several cormorants.  At least I got the chance to check out where the hides and approaches to them are.

On the way back more individual red admirals were around, none of them settling.  I counted five by the end of the day.  Again there were a lot of skylarks and several meadow pipits around, on a couple of occasions perching quite close.

Unusually I only saw one stonechat but a nice surprise was a whitethroat on a lone bush in the dunes.

Whitethroat

... Or at least I think it's a whitethroat as I'm still not sure when a whitethroat is a lesser whitethroat.  

On a fitness ride on Friday, I think I may have seen a meadow brown or two, but very much in the passing.

Return to Dumfries - Day 2

The search for birds continued, similar weather to Day 1 with slightly less wind again largely ruling out the possibility of butterflies and bees.

I did an old trick and drove the bike to Ken Dee marshes enabling me to forage further West.  The first target was the Laurieston area where I have heard cuckoos a couple of times before.  However my progress was quickly interrupted on the road over when I could clearly hear a cuckoo calling from  a conifer spread in the middle distance.

Annoyingly again, I couldn't catch sight of it but stopped at the very next field where about three red kites were performing acrobatics.  By the time I got off the bike, removed two layers of gloves and got the camera out they had moved on.

I was just about to do the same when the cuckoo flew right by the road, hotly pursued by two smaller birds - an impressive view.  It settled in a small tree along the road but soon retired some distance away.  I did not know that cuckoos get mobbed but I suppose it makes sense if the pipits etc have worked out what they are up to.

I rode on amongst a chorus of willow warblers and chaffinches and spent time in a certain area where a golden eagle is reported to pass by.  Needless to say there was no sign, nor indeed of any other bird of prey which was a little surprising.  There were just plenty of pipits and the odd skylark singing.

Things remained quiet until heading towards Girthon I heard exactly the same insistent chattering from a hawthorn bush as I encountered yesterday.  This bird was even more invisible.  I wondered about lesser whitethroat but it was only when I replayed the video I attempted that I realised it was a sedge warbler.

Must be a sedge warbler in there somewhere!

This was rather annoying as I have heard sedge warblers before and should have recognised it.  Perhaps I eliminated it on the basis that there was no marshland nearby though on reflection there was a small stream as was the case the day before.

At this point I realised I was quite a way behind schedule and pedalled on at some speed for a late lunch at Kirkcudbright.  This was a bit of a pity as I passed through some interesting territory and someone told me the day after he had seen grayling at Carrick.  I wish I had known that in advance.

The idea was to cycle back slowly to Laurieston from Ringford but a sudden shower sapped the enthusiasm and I did not pay much attention to the cuckoo calling north of Ringford, nor the one south of Laurieston.

After Laurieston I had warmed up a bit and was considering a quick run round the reserve at Ken Dee Marshes to check for peid flycatchers and wood warblers.  But just past the spot where I saw the cuckoo that morning I stopped to inspect the undergrowth and spotted a cuckoo in a tree further along.  I just managed to get a mediocre shot of it before it flew on further to a telegraph pole and started singing.

Before I could get a better shot peering through the trees it bolted up the valley, singing all the time, and made itself scarce.  It was probably the same bird as earlier.

Cuckoo

Thus was a minor ambition achieved in the very last mile or so of the expedition. By the time I reached the car, it was too late for further escapades and I headed back to the B&B.

Tuesday 23rd March

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.

Saturday 20th February

We went into a prolonged cold snap that produced heavy snow, the last of which lingered until the middle of this week.  For around ten days, I only managed short walks around the village or in the woods. 

This wasn't much good for birdwatching beyond enticing the red kites to show themselves closer to the village than normal.  When I finally did manage a bike ride (which was almost ended by encountering a car stuck on a side road) a couple of buzzards were seen hanging around close to farms as well as a bullfinch in a hedgerow.

Since the snow cleared it has felt distinctly like the run-in to Spring and I did manage to achieve one minor target.

For a while I've been trying to get a photo of the group long-tailed tits that occasionally make a quick raid on the feeders in the garden without success.  The other day I tried video with better results:

On a first garden tidy up of the year I noticed the first flowers of the season - a small bunch of crocuses.

Sunday 7th February

Quite an interesting last ten days in a phase where continuing harsh weather has restricted activities to a large extent.

The last walk I undertook in Chopwell Woods revealed only a red kite en route and a sole buzzard on the way out.  Since then the paths have become so muddy that I've restricted myself to walks around the village, seeing just a few goldfinches and sparrows.

What particularly enlivened things was the appearance of eight or ten new little brown jobs at the back of the garden while I was getting dressed on Friday 29th, some venturing into the garden itself.  Having quickly dismissed sparrow and chaffinch as possibilities, I thought I caught a flash of red and wondered about redpoll.  

Once downstairs I could see some flecked breasts and yellow beaks through the binoculars and loosely considered twite.  As numbers decreased I managed to get a few hurried shots with the camera which conclusively proved they were indeed redpoll.

Redpolls

The last couple of years the Big Garden Bird Watch has brought disappointing results so it was pleasing that a couple of redpolls turned up in the trees at the appropriate time and the session was further enhanced by the appearance of a nuthatch and a better selection of tits than normal. 

Then on the Monday of this week, there were at least twenty redpolls systematically working their way through the birches behind the fence, but annoyingly a bit too distant and obscured to get a decent shot of them.  There were a few more on the Tuesday and then no more, the supply of birch seeds having presumably been exhausted.

During this time my attention turned to wondering whether they were lesser or common redpolls.  It appears that some commentators argue that the lesser redpoll is no longer recognised as a separate species, but this has been gainsayed by most authorities somewhat to my disappointment as I don't feel competent to distinguish between the two.  However, various other members of our Naturewatch group have had redpolls in their gardens and the consensus seems to be that there are at least some common redpolls amongst them.  So my guess is that the influx is partly down to an irruption of common redpolls from Scandinavia.

Later on on the Monday I managed an exercise bike ride, avoiding the parlous and overcrowded state of the cycle tracks and saw what I thought was a sparrowhawk but turned out to be a kestrel behaving like a sparrowhawk.  I assume the apparent white wing barring is a trick of the light.  Shortly afterwards a deer bolted across the road a few yards ahead in a state of some panic.

Kestrel

Friday 15th January 2021

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.

Tuesday 22nd December

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.  

On Saturday I did take a trip to Swinsty Loch in North Yorkshire for a socially-distanced walk with daughter and fiancé with slightly better results, starting with a good view of a red kite over the village as I set off.

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.

Saturday 24th October

Lambley Viaduct

The period over the last fortnight has been pretty flat. A couple of low flying kites near the house served to emphasize that poorer weather is on the way. In the garden the only item of note was the appearance of a male woodpecker, rather than the female and juvenile that were visiting in summer.

A promising walk around Featherstone and Lambley Viaduct only produced a heron and a chaffinch or two plus some large funghi and the most impressive sight was probably the viaduct itself.

Similarly little happened on two exercise bike rides to Belsay and on the Tyne Derwent Circular.  Well they do say October can be a quiet time for birds that can readily find lots of berries to eat.

Not so however on the Northumberland coast where various rarities have turned up as documented at @NTBirdClub particularly on Holy Island and I finally managed a trip up there on Thursday despite an unpromising weather forecast.

Lapwing

After a much-needed visit to the facilities, I spotted a promising path heading North just after eleven.  Rain duly arrived so I turned back as planned and had lunch in one of the village hostelries.

Nosing around the village I happened on a couple of twitchers who told me where to find the brown shrike - further along the path I had been on before, so I duly retraced my steps into the marshland areas.

Here there were a few lapwing, the odd curlew and a single kestrel resting on a fencepost, but I also found another lone twitcher, who told me the shrike and just flown off somewhere.  So I continued on the path until just before the dunes, checking every likely spot.

On turning back some frantic waving from the twitcher showed that it had reappeared and about half a dozen of us got a view of it on the other end of a wall from an unconcerned stonechat.

A considerable distance was involved and I certainly couldn't have identified it without assistance, though it did have a fairly characteristic 'jizz'.

Stonechat

Brown Shrike

It's over a hundred miles to Holy Island and back, but considering the shrike had come from Siberia, well worth the trip for only the third occasion I have seen any sort of shrike, let alone a rare one.

There were no further sensations after this but it was nice to see some early redwings and fieldfares on the way back.  

Fieldfare

I checked out some noted hotspots around the village without success.  A particular one is the Vicar's Garden, so much so that there is a birders' box for contributions to church funds on the outside wall. 

I didn't see anything worth noting there either so did not contribute, though I did get a nice view of the Vicar's Cockerel.

Vicar's Cockerel

None of the other birders I spoke to had more to report either. On consideration it may be that some migrant birds were pushed onto the coast by several days of east wind, which have now ceased and so they have mostly departed.  Shrikes however, having established a territory will tend to stay for a while.