The grand tour

 A bit like Victorian nobility jaunting round Europe, Tanya and I jaunted round Northern England. Not a lot of bird pictures, some scenic shots but lots of year ticks. 

We will just go chronologically starting with a red kite along the A69 near Castle Douglas. Northumberland was very family orientated but I was still following the local WhatsApp group and the spotted redshank was still at Bothal Pond. Nice little spot which also added two early swallows (April 4th). Following family stuff we had an afternoon at Washington WWT. I have not been there for a long time so it was basically a new adventure and we did the circuit of the wild bit away from the captive birds. Spring was in the air and Merlin was greatly in use as there was a lot of birdsong. We saw over 40 species including multiple chiffchaffs, 3 goosander, a self found spotted redshank, singing blackcaps, 5 stock doves at the feeders, 12 avocet on the wader lake and a nice comma butterfly. 

Cowslips were rampant at Brockholes LWT reserve

Comma

Visits to Hadrian's Wall and Alnwick Castle were basically bird free apart from a falconry display at Alnwick where Harris hawks and a Lanner falcon were the main attraction. I am ambivalent about captive birds of prey but the Lanner falcon could seriously shift!

Wall at Housesteads

Inner Bailey at Alnwick

The next stop was south to Bawtry to catch up with friends and we had a morning in the Idle Valley Country Park. I had not been there since 2019 but it was a warm sunny morning, birdsong was rampant and we listed 35 species including 5 cattle egrets, multiple chiffchaffs and blackcaps, first willow warblers of the year, a singing whitethroat which popped up nicely for a view  and a singing garden warbler which I actually picked up myself from the song, saw briefly and had  confirmed by Merlin. Oh happy day! Then on to Bolton via a birdless M62 and finally heard the local tawny owl from the bedroom window. Next day we had a frustrating walk with the dog as we heard three calling nuthatches but failed to get a good view of any of them. I next spent over an hour at the Elton Reservoir feeders with a brief walk between showers. This gave all the usual suspects at the feeders  including parakeets plus 2 jays hanging on to the suet feeder AND a heard and seen nuthatch. I have never seen jays at any feeders before and their feeding method seemed to be to hammer the suet as much as possible before they fell off and hopefully knock some suet to the ground for eating. A second visit to Elton for an evening walk gave sand martins, swallow and a nice reed bunting but not the hoped for swifts seen there earlier in the day. That was that, as family duties meant there were no more bird trips and no more year firsts.

Now guaranteed at Elton

Lurking jay

Awful photo on the phone through the windscreen but it is a jay trying to eat suet!

Back home  and a morning at WOW added wheatear, common sandpiper, willow warbler and blackcap to the lists. There were also at least ten Mediterranean gulls around and a recent count produced around 400 black-headed gulls and 30+ lesser black backs who are already predating mallard chicks. Surprisingly we found all of our seven wintering ducks including a couple of teal, but it is getting to the stage of finding something that is not a BHG. Finally a swallow over Bangor and a church walk round Ballymacormick Point added a singing sedge warbler in the gorse and a couple of house martins over Groomsport. 

Moorhen

Black-headed gull

Passing shoveler

Spot the Med gull

Spot the kestrel in Lancashire

Ballymacormick Point - somewhere in there was a sedge warbler.

2026 

124: Dipper

125: Red kite

126: Spotted redshank

127: Swallow

128: Avocet

129: Garden warbler

130: Whitethroat

131: Willow warbler

132: Cattle egret

133: Tawny owl

134: Nuthatch

135: Common sandpiper

136: Wheatear

137: Sedge warbler

138: House martin

NDCP patch

55: Lesser black-backed gull

56: Swallow

Belfast RSPB patch

66: Dunnock 

67: Willow warbler

68: Blackcap

69: Common sandpiper

70: Wheatear