Northumberland 27.12.2022 - 02.01.2023 New Year in Northumberland

Great to be back on the home turf for a week or so. As usual mostly family stuff but managed an hour out and about most days. I didn't bother taking my "real" camera but my latest "point and pray" superzoom proved useful in the field again as well as for the standard holiday snaps:)

A visit to Low Hedgley near Wooler to get my Dad out for a breath of fresh air gave a bunch of Northumberland regulars - many of which would have caused some excitement back home - good numbers of Gadwall snadderand and Little Grebe dvergdykker to name a couple.

Gadwall snadderand

Gadwall snadderand with Coot sothøne

Little Grebe dvergdykker with big Perch abbor

Little Grebe dvergdykker with Mute Swan knoppsvane.

Any of the species in the above photographs would have made a days birding in Øygarden!

I managed wader counts over the same stretch of beach that I covered during my formative birding years. The number of people present at times defied belief - and on 01 January I don't think I have ever seen so many people on the beach even in summer. The poor waders have nowhere to go....

How the beach should be (and was) on 28 December

A truly terrific stretch of coast which is in essence the very cause of its own demise.

Purple Sandpipers fjæreplytt and Sanderling sandløper taking a nap at high tide

Where I grew up....

Turnstone steinvender

Bamburgh Castle

Inner Farne

Pied Wagtail svartryggerle feeding on the shore - a common sight even in winter

Plenty of Stonechat svartstrupe along the shore and in the dunes

Numbers of Purple Sandpiper fjæreplytt were just under 100 birds - quite normal for the numbers of this species to vary a lot year on year at Stag Rocks. Oystercatcher tjeld, Redshank rødstilk and Turnstone steinvender numbers were, however, all rather low compared to previous levels.

Nice to see several hundred Common Scoter svartand offshore.

A few thousand Pinkfeet kortnebbgås, a small flock of Brent Geese ringgås, 60+ Shoveler skjeand and hundreds of other wildfowl and waders were seen during a short stop at Budle Bay. To think there was a point in my life when I thought there wasn't much going on in the area. 

Northumberland 16-20 October 2021 - Not birding Northumberland

 Back "home" doing family stuff.

It is too easy to forget what a fantastic place Northumberland is for birding. Although not birding per  se a few minutes here and there produced a lot more birds than I often see back in Øygarden.

A few examples:

A five minute scan of Budle Bay at high tide gave a flock of 50 Shoveler skjeand, 670 Shelduck gravand, 4 Little Egret silkehegre along with hundreds of geese and other wildfowl and a nice selection of waders.

Twenty minutes in a hide at Creswell produced two Little Egrets silkehege, a Spotted Redshank sotsnipe, two Scaup bergand, 150 Lapwing vipe, 40 Golden Plover heilo and a few hundred duck of various species. 

Med Gulls svartehavsmåke along the prom at Newbiggin, actually seen from a bar:)

My local patches at Stag Rocks and Newbiggin have produced a seemingly endless string of rarities throughout the autumn including Bonarparte's Gull kanadahettemåke and Great Shearwater storlire to name just two of them.

A nice selection of waders in Seahouses harbour. Dunlin myrsnipe, Redshank rødstilk and Turnstone steivender

Just a few of the many hundred Sheldcuck gravand in Budle Bay. Lindisfarne castle in the background

Even in Budle it is not often I have seen 50 Shoveler skjeand, here just some of them

Northumberland 13-19 December - Back on the home patch

A pre-Christmas family visit back in Northumberland gave me the chance to visit Holy Island causeway for an hour, a couple of short strolls on the beach at Newbiggin and half an hour in the hide at Cresswell ponds.

Bar-tailed Godwit lappspove

Curlew storspove

On 15 December we joined the WeBS count on Holy Island causeway. This was a magical experience as always with hundreds of waders and wildfowl including 450 Shelduck gravand, 72 Pale-bellied Brents ringgås and plenty of Grey Plover tundralo, Bar-tailed Godwit lappspove etc etc etc. Best bird in a Holy Island context was a Little Grebe dvergdykker - an unusual bird to see along the causeway.

An amazing picture with a normal mobile phone - easy to pick up the Med gulls even here....

The prom at Newbiggin produced plenty of birds with the highlight being good numbers (20+) of Mediterranean Gulls svartehavsmåke. A good selection of the usual waders also fed along the shore there whilst Pinkfeet kortnebbgås flew overhead.

A random visit to Cresswell ponds at Druridge on 18 December (with half an hour of daylight to play with) really produced the goods with a Long-billed Dowitcher langnebbekkasinsnipe, several Ruff brushane, 100s of Lapwing vipe and a good selection of other waders and wildfowl. Nice!! 

Northumberland 05-12 October 2018 - Still not birding....

The autumn half term was spent in the UK visiting family.

Although I didn't actually go birding as such coastal Northumberland is such that it is almost impossible not to see plenty of birds.  I only took my point and pray camera as I knew the chances of birding were slim at best.

From  over1000 Pinkfeet kortnebbgås flying over a beer garden in Bamburgh to Stonechats svartstrupe in the dunes at Druridge Bay there was something to see as long as we got outside.

One of several Med Gulls svartehavsmåke on the beach at Newbiggin

The "hide" at Church Point now has this  very fitting plaque.

I spent many happy hours seawatching in this cramped brick construction with Jimmy. I couldn't think of a better way to be remembered. 

A walk along the promenade at Newbiggin produced the inevitable Mediterranean Gulls svartehavsmåke. We paused for a couple of minutes at Church point - seeing plenty of auks, Gannets havsule, terns, Common Scoter svartand and Red-throated Diver smålom. Could easily have spent a few more minutes (or even hours) there....

Polish ringed Black-headed Gull hettemåke at Stag Rocks, Bamburgh

Stag Rocks at Bamburgh produced one of the most interesting sightings in the form of a colour ringed Black-headed Gull hettemåke all the way from Poland! I've submitted the sighting and will hopefully hear more about this bird soon. Waders here on this short stretch of shore were 45 Oystercatcher tjeld, 40 Purple Sandpiper fjæreplytt, 25 Turnstone steinvender, a Dunlin myrsnipe, a Sanderling sandløper, a Curlew storspove and 6 Redshank rødstilk.

Black-tailed Godwit svarthalespove at Monkshouse

A couple of the Black-tailed Godwits svarthaespove at Monkshouse

Three Spotted Reds sotsnipe at Monkshouse.

A 10 minute stop at Monkshouse Pool on our way home produced 10 Black-tailed Godwit svarthalespove, three Spotted Redshank sotsnipe and plenty of the usual suspects.

Throughout the week flocks of Redwing rødvingetrost, Brambling bjørkefink and other migrants were seen flying in off the sea - brilliant to see what may well be Norwegian birds having made a successful crossing of the North Sea to their wintering grounds.

20 March - 20 April Birding Exile

I don't think I've not been birding for as long as this in my life.

I left Øygarden and spend several days in Engerdal, Hedmark (eastern Norway) in late March where I did just about get out of the house. Here spring was not terribly obvious but it produced the usual highlights in the form of Siberian Jays lavskrike, Golden Eagles kongeørn (inlcuding three together at one point).

Dipper fossekall in Engerdal

Golden Eagles kongeørn, Engerdal

A week with the family in Northumberland at the end of March with no birding time resulted in the first Sandwich Terns splitterne of the year along with a bunch of other migrants and a few Med Gulls svartehavsmåke - but all just incidental stuff really.

A selection of Med Gulls svartehavsmåke at Newbiggin-by-the-sea, Northumberland

Things went very downhill from there......

To make matters worse I missed a Great Egret egretthegre at Tjeldstø whilst I was away. Gutted.