Birding home and away

The day got off to a really good start when 9 Grey Partridge appeared in our garden, they ran and jumped about in typical gamebird manner but stayed still long enough for a few photos through the kitchen window. After breakfast we headed off to Stag Rock to look for a Bonepartes Gull reported yesterday, after a scan around the lighthouse we headed off towards Budle Point. Just offshore from the sandy spit were a group of Black Headed Gulls feeding, one bird was smaller and showed an all grey nape and head. On getting the scope onto this bird we realised it was the Bonepartes Gull, a dainty little bird with a black bill, a grey mantle,a dark cheek patch,limited black on the primaries and pale pink legs. What a delicate looking bird to have flown all the way from North America.

 

Nature laid bare

Autumn not only is a bright,colourful time of year but it also reveals things which have been hidden during the summer months. A good example was this wasps nest found around Branton Ponds today,at the height of summer invisible as it is cloaked in the seasons leaves, but after a strong wind and cooler weather it is exposed to all.

A walk in the woods

With autumn in full swing and a week's holiday we felt it was just the right kind of day to go to Holystone Woods. On the way across we noted 3 Bramblings on a hedge near Biddlestone, once into the woods themselves we soon heard the chatter of Jays as they forage around for the huge numbers of acorns lying on the ground. The Oak trees were just starting to change colour and the spring sounds of warblers were replaced by Blue Tits, Nuthatches and crunching leaves. As we headed on a bewildering array of Fungi were there to be photographed including Russula's, and many kinds of bracket fungi, some of which looked remarkably like streaky bacon, if anyone can identify some of the photos it would be much appreciated.

 

And now for something a bit different...

Hello all,

Just a quick note to say this smashing Siberian Stonechat has been frequenting the cliff top about 50 -100mtrs south of the Howick Burn footbridge for the last few days. Found by a visiting birder from Wales on Sunday, his first day up here on holiday, it has been showing very well, feeding around the tops of scrub and umbellifers. It can be seen flycatching quite easily, I have even seen it from my patch by looking from the north end of the bridge!

It is a lot paler than our own Stonechats, looking more like a Whinchat but without the white eyestripes. These birds breed way out to the east of Asia and are rare visitors to the UK. Its about 12 years since I last saw one in Northumberland, but they were reasonably common in China when I was there in 2008...

At the time of writing I haven't heard if it has been seen today but it was still around yesterday. Its well worth a try to see if it is still there...

Stewart. ( Photo courtesy of Ian Fisher)

24th October

Most of the day was spent vegetation surveying in the College Valley.  Birds of interest included a female hen harrier drifting south, 7 twite and a good selection of thrushes.  Ring ouzels had been seen in the Valley until the middle of last week!  There was one swallow (adult) flying around Hethpool in the late afternoon.

There was a good selection of waxcaps on the west side of Coldburn Hill.  These include meadow, crimson, heath, parrot and snowy.  There were also good numbers of yellow fairy clubs and a patch of earth clubs.

Our first sample point produced heath grass (illustrated in the las AWG newsletter).  Other plant highlights include heath groundsel, thyme, mouse-eared hawkweed and thyme-leaved speedwell.

A peacock butterfly was seen close to the entrance ot the Valley.

Golden & grey

A quick walk around Whinney Hill, Longhorsley produced a flock of 40+ golden plover, 2+ male grey partridge, 20+ tree sparrows, 30+ yellowhammers and 10 reed buntings.

Snowy, meadow and parrot waxcaps as well as good numbers of fairy clubs

Garden visitor

I was sitting at the computer this morning with a feather in hand looking at a bird book and mulling over emarginations, luckily at this point my attention was drawn to a commotion outside and a thump as a large bird hit the window. As I looked at the powder impression left on the glass I noticed a juvenile Sparrowhawk perched in a tree just outside, it was quite recently fledged and still had a number of white feathers on it's mantle and wings. After a short rest it flew off, later in the morning my attention was drawn to Wrens and a Robins making a real racket down the garden, I was expecting a cat but there on the hedge was the juvenile Sparrowhawk looking very subdued, it must have flown into another window as it remained there some time, long enough for me to get one or two photos before it flew off. Many people would not be pleased to see such a bird in their garden, but as the top avian predator I think it is a privilege and shows a healthy population of small birds.