Castle Island an hour ago – Bonaparte’s Gull & Black-tailed Godwits. Nice to see waders coming through now.

Steve Holliday

 

28^th June 2016
Beacon Point, Newbiggin.  This morning with Alan P – migrant juv Wheatear, Whimbrel, Knot 2 & Common Sandpiper. Here comes autumn!

27^th June 2016
East Cramlington NWT – interesting to see 2 Willow Tits at the feeders this morning.

Steve Holliday

A surprisingly quiet beach in the late afternoon and early evening so tried my luck and laid down in the sand and hoped for a group of Sanderling (7 in total, of which 6 in breeding plumage) to approach while the tide was coming in. After an hour or so they came closer and were happily feeding around me within 15-20 foot.

Somewhat unexpected there was a noticeable increase of sea birds (gulls, gannets) flying north around 7pm. Not sure if this is part of a daily pattern or related to the changing weather which did worsen soon after. Whatever the reason was it gave me the opportunity to photograph a Bar-tailed Godwit (7:12pm), a Great Skua (7:16pm) and 17 Manx Shearwater (about half a mile offshore at 7:18pm), all passing within 6 minutes and flying north.

Heiko Peters

The Bonaparte’s Gull  was still on the Wansbeck estuary this morning.

Rob Stonehouse

After a rainy visit to the Wansbeck Estuary, I finally caught up with the Bonaparte’s Gull, which was close to the A189 Bridge, over the River Wansbeck. After only ten minutes, it was disturbed by someone passing in the mud, wearing waders, and it flew off, landing closer to the coast.

Next, I drove up to Druridge Bay, and the shelter of the bird hides. Druridge was alive with the chorus of Warblers this Saturday, with Chiffchaffs, Whitethroats and Willow, Sedge and Reed Warblers. All were showing extremely well.  They were very friendly today, at times coming very close.

There was also several pairs of Stonechats.  No sign of the reported Great White Egret at Druridge Pools, but this is still in the area and had been recorded earlier in the day.

Paul Buskin 

The Bonaparte’s Gull looking dapper at the mouth of the Wansbeck this afternoon.

Rob Stonehouse

Have just finished leading the Naturetrek tour around Northumberland. Clients were exceptionally lucky to have six days with no rain , no wind & mostly sunny. Started on 5th after collecting people from Newcastle with visits to Cresswell Pond & Druridge Pools. Excellent views of the Great White Egret at Druridge plus breeding plumage Ruff. Monday was a wander around Holy Island followed by a look at Budle Bay, Bamburgh & Spindlestone woods. Quiet unsurprisingly. Tuesday had Long Nanny estuary & Low Newton with Coquet Island in afternoon. Boat trip was dead calm & managed to get quite close to the Roseate Terns. Wednesday was a whole day on Farne Islands. Very lucky to be able to land on Staple Island as first boat to do so in 11 days due to tide swell & low tides. Inner Farne was at its very best with Arctic Terns having just hatched and all the normal seabird species easily accessible.

The last whole day Thursday had a change away from coast with a visit to Harthope Valley, Ingram (cafe superb!), Branton GP & Rothbury. Beautiful sunny day & a real delight in Cheviots. No real surprises bird wise but a good range of upland species.  Finally on return to Newcastle we visited all the Druridge Bay sites with 4 Manx Shearwaters off Snab Pt a welcome highlight. Then with best left to last the Bonaparte’s Gull performed admirably E of the A189 flyover on the Wansbeck estuary.  Delighted clients returned home well pleased with all the main specialities seen except some of the harder upland birds. 119 species equaled last years total.

Tim Dean 

A Great White Egret at Druridge yesterday.

Alan Curry

Decided to try for the Bonaparte’s Gull which has been settling to an area E of the A189 flyover on the Wansbeck estuary. Parking at North Seaton Colliery & coming in from N end worked out well.  Found the Bonaparte’s immediately just E of the flyover as distinctly smaller than the Black-headed’s accompanying it. In fact at first though it small enough to be a Little Gull but plumage features became apparent whilst scoping & flight views showed it to be very different. Behaved admirably as later came much closer on to N bank of estuary. Really dainty gull & always much more jizz of Little Gull than a Black-headed.  Well pleased & after a pub lunch at Plough Inn at Ellington (also recommended!)  on to Druridge Pools. This gave us a prime opportunity to compare Little Gull with Bonaparte’s as three first-summer Little Gulls from N hide flying close to hide.  Hence flight picture here is the close-up rather than the distant flight pics of the Bonaparte’s.  Also at Druridge were 5  Ruff , some males in immaculate plumage. No sign of Broad-billed Sandpiper though seen here by lucky people on 31st May.

T R Dean / J Dean

A return visit to a site I had discovered previously, near Stonehaugh, on the edge of Wark Forest in north west Northumberland where two pairs of Swallows were seen entering a rocky cave on a small hillside, revealed two nests, in one of which the birds appeared to be incubating eggs. The other unfinished.

This represents only the second recorded instance of the species using a natural site for nesting in the county, following a pair raising young from a sandy, cliff-side nest on Holy Island two years ago(IK.). Close by, other pairs are nesting at a farm in more traditional man-made sites where perhaps nest sites are at a premium, prompting these birds to use the cave. Nationally also, this behaviour is extremely rare, with very few recorded cases.

I will  return to determine what breeding success, hopefully occurs.

Alan S. Jack

Broad-billed Sandpiper at Druridge Pools becomes my 300th species for Northumberland. It was present at 11:15 am from the South facing hide.

Paul Massey

A  first summer Bonaparte’s Gull that is currently present at Wansbeck river and estuary.  The photo is a distant record short but shows some of the species’ characteristic features.  The picture was taken yesterday (30.05.2016) at 3pm just east of the A189 bridge crossing Wansbeck river.

Heiko Peters

A Bonaparte’s Gull was at Castle Island  at 7.30am this morning.

Steve Holliday

Busy couple of days at Druridge Bay ! Yesterday we managed to re-find the Little Stint on the flash 150 metres N of Druridge Pools with a few Dunlin & Ringed Plover. Also the Wood Sandpiper behaved admirably at Lynemouth Flash giving close views by the road. Then a sea watch at Snab Pt gave us our first Manx Shearwaters of the year with 9 N in 15 minutes. Cresswell Pond was quiet with just 1 Black-tailed Godwit of note.

Then today saw us back at the bay looking for the Icterine Warbler at Druridge Pools. Astonishingly it behaved well and gave excellent views in the new coppiced area at the start of the walk to the two hides. Even my first digital pic of one. Then tried for the Common Rosefinch seen earlier by Dave Elliott (He found the ‘icky’ as well !). Lo & behold a bird performs after some wait & a brief wolf whistle song gave us brief views of this first-summer male. It flew into bushes nearer the Budge Screen and was still being seen later in the afternoon. Also present was the Great White Egret from the Budge screen with two Little Egrets for company.

Happy with our day, we adjourned for a meal at the Drift Cafe at Cresswell (always recommended). On to Castle Island in afternoon and no sign of the Bonaparte’s Gull seen earlier again this morning. However a smart drake Garganey was noted on the S side of the main island. Just to confirm that movement was still ongoing two Glossy Ibis were found late afternoon at Newton scrape N of Newton Pool. What will the weekend bring with more pairs of eyes and easterlies still ongoing!

T.R.Dean/J.Dean

The two pairs of Great Crested Grebes a Killingworth performed well today with one pair incubating two eggs and the second feeding two young ( reduced from four, sadly).

A. S.Jack

2 Glossy Ibis at Newton scrape still at 17.20.

Rob Stonehouse

Adult Arctic Skua past Church point along with 37 Manx in the last hour.

Gary Storey

A Red-necked Phalarope from earlier this morning at 07:35.

It  flew off SW from Grindon Lough at 0800 hours.

Paul Massey

A couple of migrants from Holy Island, last weekend.

J Farooqi

A Western Subalpine Warbler

A Bluethroat

One of the two pairs of Great Crested Grebes here with four young.

A.S.Jack

This sadly declining County summer visitor, can in some years, prove quite tricky to see. Once reasonably abundant in the right mature woodland habitat, with 11 singing males one year back in the eighties at Beacon Hill, near Morpeth for example, Allenbanks is perhaps the stronghold these days, with five or six males usually found singing. However, restricted access this year due to landslips and fallen trees destroying parts of the footpath, not to mention the loss, for the second recent time, of the suspension footbridge destroyed in floods, has dented the chances of success at this site. A walk in last week, from the southern end at Plankey Mill, revealed no birds singing with the same result today. Another site, Langley Castle also drew a blank. However, undaunted I pushed on to Hareshaw Linn at Bellingham, where one male was gladly seen and heard well.  Sidwood next and better luck at this another traditional site, with a showy male singing for most of the two hours I was in the area.

With his mate, he was inspecting possible nest-sites in the grass, in-between bursts of song and feeding. A rival male also sang from within the wood here with a third 3/4 of a mile down the road. Here too Spotted Flycatchers do well, with four pairs noted. Siskins and Redpolls were common and a Cuckoo called along the Tarset Burn.

Near Stonehaugh, two pairs of Swallows have completed nests in a hill-side cave, unusual  to find. Two Green Woodpeckers seen and heard in stream-side trees and a few Redstarts, Dipper, Willow Warblers, Grey Wagtail (feeding Young) and another Cuckoo noted. At Bellingham, a Raven sparred with a pair of Buzzards, before landing in a conifer wood. Three male and a female Wheatear seen near Stonehaugh and perhaps more unusually, a singing Sedge Warbler. A flock of 15 Crossbills alighted in pines, a male singing and 4 Jays together on the ground, feeding.

Heading past Whittle Dene, a total of 13 pairs of Common Terns were here and a Yellow Wagtail. Yellowhammers were singing along the lanes around this area, with 11 seen on hedge tops. Whitethroats too were in good numbers, and a few Sedge Warblers displaying.

A.S.Jack

13th May
Covered several sites whilst delivering record cards to the bulletin authors. Best find of day was a fine Great White Egret at Druridge Pools plus a summer plumaged Great Northern Diver past Snab Pt, Cresswell which landed on sea.  Also caught up with a few migrants for year with 2 Greenshank on flash north of bells Farm, Cresswell, a Little Gull at Cresswell Pond and Lesser Whitethroat at West Hartford plus 3 Whimbrel at St Marys Island. First Willow tits of year at Prestwick Carr, always a reliable site.

14th May
All day on Holy Island and managed to see the Dotterel on Crooked Lonnen opposite the cottage at seaward end. First for me for county after almost annual in Norfolk. On to Straight Lonnen and found a lost Lapwing chick on the path which looked like it had been dropped by a predator so managed to put it at side of track. Then after some wait views were obtained of the male Bluethroat in the Willows at N end of Straight Lonnen. A very skulking bird well picked up by Chris Knox. On to the Vicar’s Garden and the male Red-backed Shrike showed well. Rung by Mike Carr to advise me to get to Chare Ends but no sign of the Subalpine Warbler seen mid afternoon. However better views of a female Bluethroat which behaved well for a change. What is termed a good day on the island !

Tim Dean

My 20 minute seawatch paid off this afternoon. Summer plumage Great Northern Diver past Church Point.

Gary Storey

One of the ten Big Waters Black Terns today.

M.P.Frankis

The picturesque village of Juniper in Hexhamshire, with it’s riverside trees and bushes provided a good selection of birdlife with Spotted Flycatcher (3) and Pied Flycatcher and Garden Warbler being the highlights. Two of the former constantly chasing each other in the tree-tops. Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Siskins (bathing in the river), Mistle and Song Thrushes, Treecreeper , Bullfinch and Grey Wagtail and Swallows here too. On to Letah Wood where another Spotted Flycatcher called and 3 male Pied Flycatchers sang, one moving  in and out of a nest-box. A male Redstart sang from a tree top. Several Swifts overhead. On to Allenbanks and access from the southern end showed Goldcrest, Siskin, 3 Pied Flycatchers, 2 singing Redstarts, Common Sandpiper, Grey Wagtail, Nuthatch and Swallows. Willow Warblers but no sign of any Wood Warblers today.

Next, heading higher into moorland habitat in Allendale, where good numbers of Lapwings, Curlew, Snipe and Redshanks were displaying, with some Lapwing pairs with small young now. Sipton Burn revealed 10 pairs . Here too were male Wheatear, Ring Ousel and a male Stonechat. Then two more Cuckoos flew towards me chasing each other, calling. A third bird called from distant wires. On Acton Fell another Cuckoo was calling, making four in the area. At Ropehaugh, 5 male Black Grouse seen, with 3 displaying and calling in a mini lek. Red Grouse were common here. Good numbers of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits noted and another Grey Wagtail.

A.S.Jack