Friday 20th November

An interesting few days have elapsed recently.

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.

Elusive Hawfinch

Hawfinch at dusk

Overall though a much better session than my earlier visit to Sizergh Castle. 

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.

Bullfinch

Sunday 2nd October

Another trip to Northumberland at the end of last week, which resulted in a pleasant walk along the coast between Craster and Dunstanburgh Castle.

I was a little surprised to sight a number of wheatears, all male, moving around the rocks on the shoreline. I've seen wheatears in coastal areas before but not on the shoreline, plus I would have expected them to be on their way back to Africa by now. Maybe they were getting ready for the effort. There were also a couple of rock pipits darting around in similar fashion.

Nearer the castle, a seal pooped its head out of the water now and again and a couple of eider duck were spotted amongst the floating seagulls.  In the fields next to the castle, quite a large number of swallows were flying around at speed and I was told they are usually there.  The entrance castle itself was guarded by some young cows who seem to like small dogs.

On the way back the smaller birds had been replaced by a number of calling turnstone.

Meanwhile I am hoping that my stray sunflower might attract a goldfinch or two.  So far the only visitor has been a hyperactive coal tit.

Wheatear

Eider duck

Cows and castle

Seals On The Nith

Following the discussion about the possibility or otherwise of a seal being sighted in the Nith after my most recent post, there is now conclusive proof in the form of a photo taken by a chap called Keith Gallie. This clearly shows a seal and the bottom of the caul in the centre of Dumfries in the background.

Thanks to Rohan Kleem, wicketkeeper-batsman of Sydney Australia, for finding this conclusive evidence!

Skunk Cabbage

Meanwhile I have been slow to update my latest activities, which anyway have been restricted to one bike ride to Crocketford last Wednesday, when not much was noticed. In fact the most remarkable nature sighting was a display of skunk cabbage a mile or so north of Crocketford. I must have cycled and driven past this spot many times without ever noticing it before. Apparently it is an import which doesn't grow naturally.

Otherwise there were a couple of great-crested grebes on Lochrutton.  For a time I thought they were going to go into display mode, but in the end they contented themselves with whingeing at each other as lovers do.  But there weren't even any goldfinches at Lochfoot and every virtually woodland bird sighted turned out to be a chaffinch.  Did get a couple of good close-up views of pipits over the Glenkilns, but there wasn no black swan on the reservoir.

Other notable non-sightings were wheatear, swallow and stonechat. And of course skylark.

Meanwhile white wagtails have been spotted on the coast, so must keep an eye out for them.  I did wonder about a rather pale-looking wagtail I saw a couple of weeks ago but thought no more of it.