A Cold Snap

I returned to Prestwick Carr a few days later, hoping to pick up some more sightings towards dusk. Unfortunately it was already very dark an hour before sunset and visibility was poor. The hen harriers didn’t turn up but had been about and a willow tit appeared a couple of times, as did a sparrow hawk, stonechat and kestrel.

On the way back it was just possible to pick out a flock of redwings in the trees and this time they were accompanied by a fair few fieldfare.

Earlier on I saw a large brown bird taking refuge behind a clump of bushes. It might have been the woodcock reported by others but I really couldn’t say.

A trip to Low Newton as the weather deteriorated didn’t produce very much but it was fun to see hundreds of sanderling running up and down the beach and the waves came and went.

Sanderling

In the garden, a burst of snow a week ago heightened interest in the feeders. Repeated volleys of long-tailed tits has visited twice a day and all three other tit family members have been particularly voracious.

Long-tailed tits

What interests me is the fact that robins have been coming to the feeders over the past year. I don’t think this is particularly rare but I also can’t remember them doing that beforehand.

Robin

The occasional kestrel has been seen during the bad weather,looking out for prey in the cold.

The End Of Summer

It has been an ambition of mine for some while to coax the buddleia bushes into retaining enough blossoms past the end of September to attract a few last butterflies.  This year has to go down as a near miss.

A red admiral managed an appearance on the 29th September and there was a large white on the 30th but by today there are so few flowers left that it looks like there is no realistic chance of further visitors.

The last Red Admiral

Frustratingly I can't know if anything turned up in the good weather yesterday as Malcolm and I decided to go to Holy Island, where there had been a couple of sightings of a rustic bunting..

There it was still pretty much summer weather all day but we didn't see anything of great note - let alone the rustic bunting - and neither did anyone else we spoke to.  In fact we didn't see many birds at all in our wanderings.

There were a few sanderling and turnstone plodging in the mud near the pier, the latter seeming to be between their summer and winter suits.

Turnstones

Further along the bay there was a pair of eiders and a heron, but nothing in the Vicar's garden apart from one cockerel lying on a flower bed.

Male Eider Duck

We paused at a pub for liquid refreshment and shared a picnic bench with a number of crumb-stealing sparrows, the one species we did see a lot of, more in fact than I see anywhere nearer home. It was nice to see them close up.

Sparrows

Walking further around the island produced even more sparse results - mainly a stonechat posing nicely and this oversized owl.

Stonechat

Owl

We stopped at the bird hide where there were a large number of ducks on the shallow lake. However identification was difficult against the light and because they all had their heads tucked firmly down. In fact some of them looked like they were completely stuck in the mud. Definitely present were mallard, mute swan, coot, little grebe and probably teal.

It was pleasing not to see any dead birds but we did see this partly exposed human skeleton on the archaeological dig at the sight of a possible mediaeval monastery.

Skull

Presumably it belonged to a mediaeval monk rather than a twitcher who waited around too long for the rustic bunting.

Late Summer Sightings

Long-tailed Tits

The long-tailed tits are still very keen on the suet ball feeder. Typically they arrive in good numbers but are clearly nervy and make off at the least disturbance so visits don't last long.  I notice too that they won't come much if the feeder is well-filled, perhaps fearsome of something bigger than them, but prefer to wait for the other tits to whittle the supplies down somewhat.

Up until about a week ago, large numbers of small tortoiseshells were continuing to visit the buddleia, often eight or nine at a time.  As the buddleia blooms gradually died back, it was possible to see as many as four or five clinging to the same sprig, occasionally landing on the shed or elsewhere to warm up a bit when the sun weakened.  In one case elsewhere proved to be my foot.  This was pleasing as about a month ago a red admiral landed on my shoulder.  I got the photo but accidently deleted it and so had no proof. 

Small Tortoiseshell on large foot

On the 20th,  the buddleia also attracted an early bumblebee queen.  I gather there have been a few on the wing and probably saw one a few days before as well.  On the same day I had been on a bike ride in mediocre weather not seeing much at all and certainly no butterflies.  Having also thought I'd already seen my only painted lady for the year it was bit of a surprise when one turned up on the route past Ryton Golf Club, and kindly posed on the track for a few seconds.

Painted Lady

Alex and Vicki visited at the weekend.  On Saturday we spent a good deal of time in the hide at Clara Vale, hoping that a kingfisher would turn up.  It didn't.  We just saw a little grebe and a couple of moorhens and nothing more to add on a tour of the small Nature Reserve.

The day after we made a trip to Holy Island on what was palpably the last day of the September mild spell.  Although a little too early for spectacular sightings we did manage to see a raven, redshanks, rock pipits, sanderling, ringed plovers, razorbill, cormorant, guillemot as well as a school of seals.

Bar-tailed Godwit

Ringed Plovers

Seals

There was also a little brown job that was in the same area as a flock of pipits but I didn't think it was one.  Awaiting identification on that one...

Lastly, on a quick visit to the Gertrude Jekyll Garden near the castle, we stumbled on my third painted lady of the season.  They all looked pretty fresh.  Perhaps there are more around than I thought.

Another Painted Lady

It's getting to the time of year when I wonder what will be the last butterfly I see.  The latest contender on the buddleia anyhow was this red admiral, found clinging to the last decent sprig of flower in the wind yesterday.

Red Admiral

Wednesday 30th December

After much uncertainty over the new Covid restrictions, I worked out that being in a support bubble meant I could visit Dumfries over the Christmas period. 

This wasn't really a nature trip but I did get good sightings of a pair of goosanders in the afternoon light at the caul on the Nith.  The male's head showed hardly any sign of its normal green colour.

Female Goosander

Male Goosander

An extra bonus was the bright reflections on the water around the female, which give quite a surreal effect.

After returning home ahead of the stormy weather, we managed another beach dog walk at Cresswell yesterday.  The tide was coming in and the surf hitting the beach with some force, with some rather unusual results.  The first was a live sprat that had been thrown up on the beach.  Later we encountered a small flounder, a jelly fish and another sprat which had met the same fate but were dead.  All were returned to the sea except the dead sprat which the dog ate.

We got as far as the Chevington Burn without seeing any bird life apart from a single goldfinch and a stonechat.  But we did encounter a rather good rainbow en route.

Rainbow

On the way back there were a few birds including oydtercatchers on the move and I got a nice photo of this sanderling, which came up quite close while we stood still.

Sanderling

At home the garden is still quite busy and the latest not-so-rarity was a female chaffinch.

Wednesday 11th March

Not being that keen on seabirds and waders, I was unsure about whether to go on the latest Naturewatch trip to Blyth, but reports of avocets in the estuary and improving weather finally persuaded me.

After taking a rather long time to spot some isolated sanderling and black headed gulls on the beach, where the main life forms were canine, we got a nice view of several pairs of eider duck in the harbour, where they were clearly begging for scraps as they bobbed around.

I was actually hoping to capture their cooing call which one member of the group aptly described as a Frankie Howerd imitation.

Things got even better when we walked along the estuary as a wide variety of species appeared, notably shelduck, teal, curlew, oystercatcher and goldfinch, as well as a grey seal that popped its head out a couple of times.

Having missed it on the Tyne at Hexham last winter, I was particularly pleased to get a reasonable sighting of a red-breasted merganser once it moved over into the river.

Red-breasted Merganser

This one appears to be imitating Boris Johnson.  

Of the avocets however, there was no sign.

Wednesday 11th January

A rather windy bike ride to Castle Douglas a week ago did not produce much.  The most interesting sighting was two red kites playing around right above the town garden centre just as all the cyclists arrived.  Otherwise, the predominant bird was the robin.  Also wrens, a few goldfinches, and a couple of young buzzards sitting close to the road.

Redshank Steps Out

Malcolm in Northumberland is getting more interested in birdwatching, so there were more interesting results on my latest visit last weekend.  A dog walking trip to Alnmouth Beach on Sunday soon produced redshank, turnstone, sanderling, pied wagtail and rock pipit.  A visit to Warkworth a couple of days later also provided a brief sighting of a seal.

Later on Sunday we visited the pond at Low Newton in somewhat fading light and quickly managed to sight a pair of tufted ducks away from the coots and mallard.  A number of ducks on the far side looked like wigeon to me but an experienced bird watcher from Yorkshire thought they were teal. The photographic evidence isn't conclusive.  Just before the onset of dusk there was a single litle grebe (a first sighting for me) and some whooper swans feeding on the farmland opposite.

The Monday found us trying new pastures at Stag Rock just North of Bamburgh.  This time it was the

Purple Sandpipers - I hope!

brightness that caused some confusion and we spent some time trying to identify a group of birds that we eventually decided were just some unusually quiet and rather plump oystercatchers.

My identification skills with ducks and waders are still somewhat uncertain but I'm fairly confident I managed further first sightings of common scoter and purple sandpiper.  Also apparent were turnstone, sanderling, curlew, herring gull and a couple of stonechat on the edge of the beach.

There wasn't much more swimming further out in the sea apart from a small number of eider and one slight disappointment was the non-appearance of any long-tailed duck. Nevertheless, a rewarding visit to the area for both of us.

Later we briefly went to Fenham Flats opposite Lindisfarne around twilight, just as the geese moved off en masse to roost. They were probably pink-footed geese but far to far off to allow any identification.  So the only new thing we saw was several groups of shelduck, but always a favourite of mine

Monday 21st November

Rather slim pickings over the past few weeks, but here's a summary of what has happened.

Last Wednesday, did a windy bike ride to Crocketford and back through the Glenkilns. Three long-tailed tits passed through a tree on the cycle track and a red kite was sailing around just South of Crocketford. On the way back there were good sightings of three more kites and a buzzard.

Squirrel on Guard

Stopped on the hill where red squirrels and tits often come down to feed, but few did.  The one squirrel that did turn up seemed more intent on guarding the feeders than eating itself, though it did take a couple of bits of apple.

The following day, I followed up news that waxwings are in the Dumfries area, but didn't see any in the obvious areas of Dock Park and St Michael's Churchyard though the latter already contained plenty of yewberries and the blackbirds and thrushes were making merry.

On Friday I travelled to Alnwick and paused briefly at Bolam Lake where a couple of male goldeneye were visible.

Unidentified

At the coast over the weekend there was not a whole lot to see.  However the rocks at Alnmouth contained some sanderling and redshank, plus these waders (right) which I haven't been able to identify. I'm wondering if they were juvenile plovers.

Also unidenitifiable were some large brown-looking diving birds that we at first mistook for seals, but they were too far off to even hazard a guess at.

At home my favourite coal tit is still busy and was picking minute grubs out of the pear tree today.

Saturday 16th January

Spent a few days in Northumberland, which resulted in a lengthy walk at Low Newton.  Part of the idea was to check out the nature reserve that we discovered exists behind the Ship Inn - which was probably the source of the yellow-browed warbler reported in an earlier post.

In fact the beach was the main source of action.  Spent some time watching a cormorant sitting on a pile of rocks in the first bay, wondering if it might be a shag - interesting to find on researching more today that, according to bird-x.com 'There is no clear distinction between the term "cormorant" and "shag". ' Now that I didn't know!

Some usual suspects started turning up, i.e. greenshank, redshank and sanderling.  Further out some tufted ducks were fishing and once we passed a large outcrop of rocks, I was able to identify a pair of eider ducks even further out, messing around in the surface swell - so a first sighting.

On the way back to the pub, a large number of smaller birds were messing around by the kelp brought up by storms and I figured out they were rock pipits - another first sighting! By this time I was glad I had brought the bird book along, even though my fingers got pretty cold every time I got it out.  Just heading off the beach there were a few stonechats in the dunes.  I didn't need the bird book for them, but it was nice to see them again.

Stonechat

Rock Pipit - honest!

In fact the nature reserve, which was heavily flooded so the full path couldn't be covered, didn't have much to add to this.  Apart from more 'shanks, there were some greylag geese on the far side of the pond, too far away to see if other species were among them - plus a few wigeon and a single lapwing.

By now it was getting cold and we made it to the pub.

Sunday 8th and 9th February

The Wetland at Warkworth Beach

Away for a couple of days in Alnwick.  The high spot was a dog walk on Warkworth beach on Sunday, where a width of wetland lies behind the extensive beach.  Immediately on arrival a couple of male kestrels appeared, repeatedly flying close and low over the grasses and bushes.  At first I thought they might be sparrowhawks, as I haven't seen kestrels do this for any length of time before.

On the beach the sand is very thick but at the water's edge a number of sanderling could be seen scurrying about, which was a minor birdwatching first for me, though I'm sure I must have seen them on the Northumberland coast in younger days.

On the way back from the beach, a lady pointed out that a kingfisher was active above the main channel of wetland, and sure enough, you could make it out in the distance hovering above the treeline, then diving down into the water. Again, it was behaviour I hadn't seen before.

Then the kestrels returned and one hovered nearby before they resumed the previous low flying activity as other birds sought cover.

On the Sunday there were redshanks at Alnmouth beach and another kestrel plus a dead red-legged partridge at Hulne Abbey.