Sunday sunshine

Today's  sunny spells, although brief, were very welcome after four days of dreichness. And in the sunshine, it felt quite warm.

I took advantage and had a quick roam about the patch. In the bushes, there were still a lot of blackbirds, unless there has been another influx this week? Single fieldfare and song thrush were also noted. Wrens are still everywhere, they seem to have had an amazing breeding season, we ringed 47 new wrens at Druridge this year, more than ever before.

Dunnock

Two male bullfinches were standing out like sore thumbs against the bare hawthorns  and mixed flocks of chaffinch and goldfinch were moving about.

Stonechat

I walked up to the top bushes, where one of four stonechats was sat on the fence.

I walked back along the beach, no sign of snow buntings, but there were lots of people out emptying their dogs.

These McDonalds balloons were on the beach, a sight we will no doubt see more of on the Northumberland coast when the new store opens in Alnwick.

Dangerous to wildlife, but seemingly McDonalds could give a shit.

Add caption

No new species to add to the year list on what could be my last chance of the year to visit the patch....

Sibe Chiff

An afternoon visit to the patch, catching what was probably the best weather of the weekend, hardly any wind, cold but bright.After a quick look around the plantation, which held the a few goldcrests, robins, wrens and the like, I set off for the bushes, hoping for a Hume's or Pallas' warbler. 

goldcrest

Just north of the second clump of trees at Druridge, there are few sparse willow and alder bushes, which are always worth checking, which I did today. I was almost past them when I spotted a warbler out the corner of my eye. I retraced my steps for better light and got onto a chiffchaff, a very grey looking bird, almost off-white on the underparts, with only some buff in the flanks. It looked every inch a classic tristis chiff. It was showing well in the afternoon sunshine and gave a few calls - tristis it was. I gave DE a call and a few other birders called into see it, although it was much more skulking later on.

I think this is only my third Siberian chiff for the patch. It scores me some extra points for the PWC comp as well.

Elsewhere, there was collybita chiff nearby and a few groups of feeding finches in the bushes, making the most of the good alder crop.

Twelve whooper swans flew south and there were at least a dozen pied wags on the beach.

Whooper swans headed south

Last ringing session

Today was the last ringing session for the year at Druridge, with no leaves left on the trees, it was time to pack up and close down the site for the winter.

To be honest, I thought last week might have been the last week and it would've been if I'd had more time to take in the poles last Sunday. I am pleased as I didn't though, as today was very worthwhile, with variety being the name of the game, catching 59 birds of 15 different species.

We ringed six species of finch including three bullfinch, which are scarce at Druridge, nine siskin and six lesser redpolls.

You can't beat a bit of bully on a Sunday!

One of six lesser redpolls 

 We also caught a very late chiffchaff.

chiffchaff

All packed up and ready to go

There were lots of pink-feet moving south this morning and this afternoon a well-marked barn owl was hunting the dunes.

Yesterday, I did my WeBS count, a week late, but better late than never I suppose. Wigeon numbers are picking up with 55 present along with 61 teal. Also of note was a single black-tailed godwit on the Budge fields and on the big pool, a great-crested grebe and a drake red-breasted merganser.

Patch year listing

So, I'm now now on 171 species for the patch this year, matching last years total and there are still some species that I have a reasonable chance of seeing, namely:

Scaup - seen in six out of the last six years (6/6)
Merlin (5/6)
Grey plover (5/6)
Goosander (4/6)
Little owl (3/6)

With some outsiders including smew, rock pipit, treecreeper, kingfisher and the two white-wingers - Iceland and glaucous gulls.

I've missed some species I've no chance of seeing now including cuckoo (6/6), garden warbler (6/6), redstart (4/6), little tern (4/6) and barnacle goose (3/6).

It has been the best year for patch-ticks for ages, with five in total, which I would never have predicted;

Egyptian goose
Woodchat shrike
Wood warbler
Stilt sandpiper and
Fea's petrel

I have got records going back to beyond 2001 other than for two months in 2007 due to misplaced notebook. One of these winter nights I will add them to my spreadsheet.

I am out of action for much of December so have only four weeks left on the patch this year. 175 would be nice....

Little Auks and Long-tailed Tits

The northerly blow during the middle of last week brought some seabird action. I was at work on the Wednesday, so missed the main action, but I managed a 30 minute seawatch before work on Thursday. Between 0830 and 0905 I counted at least 68 little auks headed north, most quite distant in poor light, but some little flocks came in a  bit closer.

I also saw two great northern divers, one headed not and one south. The other highlight was two small groups of fieldfare coming in-off the sea, 23 in total. I love to see thrushes, or any migrants, coming 'in-off'. Vizmig at its best.

There was evidence of a small fall of birds on Friday afternoon. I only walked a short section of the bushes and counted 40+ blackbirds, a few song thrushes and great-spotted woodpeckers.

By Saturday morning, most of the blackbirds had moved out. There were four black-tailed godwits on the Budge fields and the water rails were very vocal.

In the dunes to the north of the bushes, there were hundreds of finches feeding on thistle, ragwort and burdock seeds, over 350 goldfinches and at least 60 greenfiches with a few chaffinches, linnets and a handful of reed bunting among them.

The only flying thing I managed to photograph all weekend

On Sunday morning we put some nets up to ring some birds, probably for the last time this year. We caught an amazing 75 birds,  25 of them being long-tailed tits, 14 goldfinches, our first two siskins of the year and a great-spotted woodpecker amongst others.

The addition great northern diver puts my patch year-list onto 171, the same as last year and my equal best in eight years. There's still time yet....

170 little auk
171 great northern diver

October ends, November begins

So that was October.... It flew by - and now we're into November. Autumn is running out.

I've been scanning the pressure charts all week, things were changing, but by Wednesday afternoon I had decided to take Thursday off work. A good decision as the easterly wind and overnight rain brought a lot of migrants in. It wasn't a classic fall, or even a fall, but it was exciting.

A bright start gave way to a short spell of rain. Once that cleared, I got out for a proper wander. By now, thrushes were piling overhead, in flocks of about 70-100, mainly redwings with a few fieldfares. They were mostly high and just kept going west. Some of the later arrivals rested on top of the bushes for a while but were soon off, inland.There were a handful of woodcock in the bushes, exploding out as  walked through.

The forecast had been for strong winds, but they didn't materialise, so I could have had some nets up, but it was too late. It was unseasonably mild, 18 degrees C according to the car. There had been an influx of blackbirds, but no song thrushes and there were plenty of wrens, robins and dunnocks.

I saw my first bullfinch of the year, just a fly-through,a male, piping as it went. Bullfinch is a scarce bird at Druridge, not annual by any means.

On the pool, there had been a inundation of goldeneye, I counted at least 26 and six black-tailed godwits flew over calling.

No birding on Saturday due to the Toon being at home with an early kick-off which all led to a later start this morning.

There was still a couple of woodcock about and three song thrushes in the plantation were indicative of an over-night arrival. There were one or two redwings still and a handful of blackbirds, but they've mainly headed out west.

The water rails have been very vocal the last few days, on the edge of the big pool by the phragmites bed. I spooked one, a juvenile, which flew off without calling.

169 bullfinch

PWC Score 261