Back home

Before I update the local patches I have a final update on the last week in and around Bolton. I managed a visit to the feeders at Pennington Flash and added stock dove plus a nice great white egret. Moses gate CP had a Muscovy duck which may or may not be tickable, as well as three pairs of goosander  and Elton added a great spotted woodpecker and 5 ring-necked parakeets. I spent quite a bit of time watching feeders to try and add nuthatch and willow tit but dipped on both. It made me think about how I depend on a feeding station to add small birds quickly to a list. If the feeders at WOW are empty we are basically down 6 birds - 3 finches and 3 tits. I was aware that empty feeders at Leighton Moss, Cresswell and Druridge Bay cost me a few birds. If there are no feeders on a route, it is a bit more difficult to add the tits, finches and sparrows to a list never mind nuthatch and woodpecker. My local North Down patch would be much more difficult if I did not have garden feeders over the winter. Comments welcome on this topic.

Moses Gate CP  goosanders behind the swans

Muscovy duck

Parakeet at Elton

If the parakeets aren't there 6 finches would be feeding. They do intimidate smaller birds

While in the hide at Pennington Flash I bumped into Nigel from Backyard Aviary birds. He does a weekly YouTube video about his birding trips as he tries to get 280 birds in 2026. I quite like them and look forward to his weekly update. We had a good chat and I've added a link to his YouTube channel re his Manchester visit. 

UK’s Parrot Invasion! & the most colourful duck!

A return to WOW gave 28 species (no feeders!!) and I added starling and little egret to the list. The black-headed gulls are back in force -over 200 -  and the canes are up to try and prevent nesting on the smaller island. They don't work, but they do help to prevent predation from lesser black backs. We also noted two of our black-tailed godwits ringed in 2021.

Might put this in as an art installation for the Turner prize. 

Lime /green

Blue/yellow

I also added three species to the 2026 list this week. First a male siskin in David Miller's garden - got a tip off on that one. The photo below may or may not be the bird I saw! Next up I connected with the Portavogie black redstart at the second attempt and finally on a walk at Kearney I was watching pipits on the seaweed and trying to work out if the bird I was looking at was a rock pipit or a meadow when a water pipit landed beside it!! Totally unexpected but I had good views and decided I wasn't seeing things.  I had thought of heading for Portmore that day but Tanya wanted to go to Kearney, so right place right time. 😊

Carnalea siskin (DM)

Following a trip to Carnalea to add siskin to the list, four turned up on my feeders two days later!! I also had an amble along the coastal path and had 5 brent geese, a red-throated diver, 5 guillemots and one black guillemot plus 3 mallard on the pond at Stricklands.

Brent geese

and again

and again

I hadn't realised how beautifully camouflaged they are on a rocky coast. On grassy fields and sandy beaches they are obvious, not so here. 

2026 
108: Scaup
109: Muscovy duck
110: Great spotted woodpecker
111: Ring-necked parakeet
112: Stock dove

113: Siskin

114: Black redstart

115: Water pipit

NDCP patch
50: Rock pipit

51: Siskin

52: Mallard

53: Guillemot

Belfast RSPB patch
60: Ringed plover

61: Little egret

62: Starling

Northumberland birdathon

 

Trip birds in bold, year birds in green.  Photo credit to David Miller if it says (DM)

First light at Linton Lane

A clear frosty start with the temperature at -2 C and ice on ungritted roads as we headed for Linton Lane to watch the sunrise. As we got out of the car we had robin, blue tit, song thrush, great tit and chaffinch all singing and three pheasants clattered out of the tree above our head with their raucous calls giving us a bit of a shock. The lake itself had teal, moorhen, wigeon, mallard, shoveler, mute swan, gadwall, tufted duck,  goldeneye, grey heron, coot, moorhen, little grebe, oystercatcher  and Canada geese. As the light improved carrion crow, blackbird and woodpigeon started moving and common and black-headed gull dropped in. Unusually for Linton we did not see any owls or raptors. We gave it an hour and then moved on to Queen Elizabeth 2 Country Park. 

QE2 Country Park (DM)

Herring gull joined the list along with cormorant, rook and three tree sparrows on a feeder. The lake itself  contained mallard, coot and goldeneye but did not add any new birds. On to Woodhorn Flash and a female kestrel en route plus magpie before and emergency stop and a U turn as David spotted three grey partridge I had missed. 

Grey partridge (DM)

Grey partridge (DM)

We drove on round to Snab Point where the tide was coming in. This little car park gives beach, rocky coast and a good view out to sea so is well worth a stop. In no particular order we added eider duck, red-throated diver and a raft of 20+ guillemot drifting north on the sea. A nice bonus was up to five fulmar coming in to their nesting sites below the cliff. The shore added ringed plover, redshank, sanderling, purple sandpiper, turnstone and curlew while the gorse behind us had a pair of stonechat and a flock of 25 linnets. A brief stop at Cresswell village gave us starling, jackdaw and house sparrow plus an awful lot of curlew and dunlin out on the rocks. 

Snab Point looking north (DM)

Snab Point seawatching point (DM)

So to Cresswell Pond where we had been given a heads up about pink-footed geese in a field behind the Drift Cafe which contained some Russian white-fronted geese. We were happy to find two, and David also noticed a barn owl in a hedge which I managed to miss! Hard to find something different when looking through around 1000 pinkies  for 10 white fronts which were then spooked by a micro-lite. That's my excuse anyway.

Large pinkfeet flock (DM)

Barn owl in the hedge!! (DM)

Magnificent!! (DM)

There was also a buzzard sitting in a nearer hedge. The pond itself was very quiet (for Cresswell) Again in no particular order we saw mallard, wigeon, teal, gadwall, goldeneye, little grebe, curlew, lapwing, one bar-tailed godwit, three little egrets and some cormorants. Everything was lifted by a female sparrowhawk at one stage. The hedgerow turned up a tree sparrow and little else as there were no feeders around or they were empty. 

Cresswell Pond with the snow covered Cheviot Hills in the distance

                                                                                 (DM)

We moved north to Bell's Farm and picked up skylark in the cattle fields as well as a large flock of pinkfeet and at least 150 white -fronted geese. The camera revealed a couple of barnacle geese which I again managed to miss. 

Pinkies and white fronts at Bell's Farm (DM)

Close ups

(DM)

(DM)

Then on to a very wet Druridge Pools with more water than we have ever seen. I was there in August when it was bone dry.

Druridge Pools in August 2025

Golden plover and lapwing and a lot of water

There were an awful lot of ducks and waders in view from the hide and we added snipe, pintail, shelduck, golden plover and three ruff. This is the first time we have ever seen ruff in February in Northumberland. The icing on the cake here was a splendid marsh harrier which came over and lifted everything. We gave the other hides a miss as the path was flooded and parked up to walk to East Chevington. Again in no particular order we had grey partridge again, a flock of 100+ twite, stonechat, lapwing, red-breasted merganser and great crested grebe off the coast. We reached a nice new hide in the SE corner of the reserve  where a group of birders were looking at a kingfisher perched up and giving good views and we then scoped a distant red-necked grebe, greylag geese and another selection of ducks and waders. The return walk added wren and amazingly a singing cetti's warbler in the reeds. This is the first time I have heard this species in Northumberland but of course we didn't see it! Widdrington Moor Lake added great black-backed gull, reed bunting and lunch at 1530! 

Kingfisher at East Chevington

With time pressing we then headed into Druridge Bay Country Park and connected with two birds we knew were there  - redhead smew and a male scaup as well as pochard. At this stage with the light starting to go we thought we should check the feeders to add a few missing tits and finches but when we reached the turning circle in the car park there were no feeders!! Decision time, so we went to Hauxley to check their feeders and added bullfinch, coal tit and dunnock, but not goldfinch which was still missing from the list! By this time it was past 4.30 so a last hurrah at Hadston Scaurs for the odd wader only added a dead puffin in the sand dunes. Apparently it has been a bad winter for seabirds and dead birds are washing up all along the east coast. We finished with 80 and no goldfinch and I added 15 birds to the 2026 list.  Thanks to the Northumberland WhatsApp group and the many friendly and helpful birders we met along the way. We had a wonderful day and finished off with a shower and out to Puccinis in Cramlington for a celebratory meal. 

2026
93: Slavonian grebe

94: Tree sparrow
95: Grey partridge
96: Fulmar
97: Sanderling
98: Pink-footed goose
99: White-fronted goose
100:Kestrel
101: Skylark
102: Golden plover
103: Ruff
104: Kingfisher
105: Red-necked grebe
106: Cetti's warbler
107: Smew
108: Scaup

First "Overseas" trip of 2026

We haven't been across the water since October  2025 so it was nice to get a chance to add a few English birds to the list. Interesting to see the reactions of a local when I get excited about Canada goose:

"I got Canada goose, we don't get them at home"

"I wish we we didn't get them here either"

First stop was Leighton Moss RSPB on the way north to Tyneside from Liverpool. Always a pleasure and I clocked up 27 species and added 4 to the list - carrion crow, Canada goose, great white egret and marsh harrier. The latter was seen on four occasions and gave excellent views of  both male and female. The main lake had over 60 gadwall but unfortunately the feeders were empty so I didn't get much in the way of small birds. We were ambushed frequently by robins which are clearly being hand fed despite the notices!! I also had Merlin on occasionally and it was telling me nuthatch, firecrest and marsh tit  were about but I couldn't find any of them!!

Any food?

Robin sitting on a "Do not feed the birds" sign.

Another scavenging robin

We took the scenic route north via Langdon Beck for the black grouse lek but the field they are usually seen in was empty. The weather was deteriorating - snow showers and the temperature dropping below freezing so I decided to go on a lower road rather than over the moors. Within five minutes 6 black grouse flew across the road in a snowstorm!!

I had been added to the local Northumberland WhatsApp group so I was able to go to Killingworth Lake and see a Slavonian grebe which has been there all winter. A bonus for me was three goosanders, 2 female and one male and more Canada geese.

Canada geese

Killingworth Lake

Saturday promised to be a clear dry day, possibly the best day of the year so far we were told by the locals, so we were looking forward to the annual dawn to dusk birdathon. It is going to be a long and picture filled piece of work so I am going to run it on a post of its own. No patch updates obviously, but the 2026 list is up to 92

2026
87: Carrion crow
88: Marsh harrier
89: Canada goose
90: Great white egret

91: Black grouse
92: Slavonian grebe
93: Goosander

Keep on keeping on

This will update both patches before a planned trip to Northumberland and Bolton to add all sorts of goodies I can't get locally.

I have added eight to the North Down list - garden goldcrest, Carnalea black guillemot and Ballyholme brent geese, but a visit to the Long Hole to look for rock pipit turned up a most unexpected addition to the patch list in the form of a single twite. I noticed a small bird feeding on the small weedy, stony beach between the Long Hole and the back of the North Pier - not rock pipit as it had a stubby finch bill so having ruled out redpoll I was left with linnet (expected) and twite (a long shot). I got good close views and bingo, it's a twite. 

A female sparrowhawk also had the decency to land in the garden and do a bit of preening - it didn't get a meal. I finally added rock pipit and also picked up an offshore red-throated diver on one of my many visits to look for the kingfisher which has graced the Long Hole for three years but I fear it has finally gone. Stricklands produced the expected grey wagtail on the lower pond so I have now seen most of the species I expect to see at the start of the year. 

Twite at the Long Hole

WOW continues to have high water levels despite the sluice being open. Apparently the sluice drains into a storm drain which takes the water towards the channel. However in times of heavy rain (like 2026) the run-off from the road pushes back up the sluice and pushes the water into the reserve. The key is to anticipate a period of heavy rainfall and close the sluice. Clearly it is not as simple as open the sluice and let the water out, plus the sluice needs frequently dredged, cleaned and raked to remove all the detritus trying to get out and gumming up the works. The resulting high water levels means that the reserve is not as favourable for small waders. I did manage jackdaw and ringed plover at Kinnegar so it is not all bad.

Old friend from April 2021

New Stena ferry

Swan pair, we hope they don't stay

Male gadwall

As well as goldcrest and twite (see above) I finally saw a treecreeper in a friend's garden close to Castle Park in Bangor, Having not seen one in all of 2025 it was a bit unexpected  to see one in a suburban garden. What was even more bizarre was to see one land in a tree in front of me in Antrim Castle Gardens the very next day  while I was using it for cover to watch a small flock of lesser redpoll bathing in a puddle!!  I finally added pheasant by nearly running over a splendid male near Ardmillan whilst out looking for fieldfares which are still off the list. 

2026
80: Goldcrest
81: Twite
82: Treecreeper
83: Lesser redpoll
84: Pheasant

85: Red-throated diver

86: Grey wagtail

NDCP

43: Black guillemot

44: Goldcrest

45: Brent goose

46: Twite

47: Sparrowhawk

48: Grey wagtail

49: Red-throated diver

50: Rock pipit

WOW

58: Knot

59: Jackdaw

60: Ringed plover

First visit to WOW

The first shift in WOW was a cold but calm Thursday morning (8th) with a rising tide. The reserve had been completely frozen on Monday but was now only frozen round the edges. As per usual most of the interesting birds were over on the far side so photographs are more scenic. We hit 34 species on the reserve itself, and I added a further 17 around Kinnegar. The count was similar to what we had been recording before Christmas. We had shelduck, gadwall, teal, mallard and shoveler. There was a small wigeon flock but it flew out before I saw it. Waders included curlew, black-tailed godwit, redshank, lapwing and three snipe. Gulls were restricted to common, black-headed and herring gull. The feeders gave all four tits - blue, coal, great & long-tailed and three finches - goldfinch, chaffinch and greenfinch. There were all the usual residents in varying number including coot, moorhen, hooded crow, magpie, woodpigeon, greylag goose, pied wagtail, cormorant, robin and blackbird. The local buzzard put in an appearance and diligent work with the scopes turned up three song thrush, a stonechat and a redwing feeding on the bank below the fence on the far side. 34 species is above par for winter if the feeders are operational so we can't really complain.

Iced up WOW

Mallard

Moorhen

Shelduck Island

A look over the Lough on a reasonably calm sea added eider duck, great-crested grebe, goldeneye, guillemot and black guillemot. The usual 12 brent geese were grazing on the grass.

 Kinnegar  itself had an almost full tide and a few dog walkers, so the beach only added meadow pipit and  turnstone. The lagoon had a lot of waders, ducks and gulls- but not wigeon! I added mute swan, little grebe, tufted duck, bar-tailed godwit, oystercatcher, grey heron and lesser black-backed gull. There were a couple of rooks in the area but the icing on the cake was a jay feeding in the grass at the far end of the lagoon. 

What was also good was the fact that we had quite a few visitors including a gentleman from Gloucestershire who had never seen a hooded crow and was delighted to get good views. I thought it was worth a picture. 

Must pose for the English visitor

Blue tit near a feeder

The last couple of visits have added wigeon, great black-backed gull, red-breasted merganser, dunlin, linnet, sparrowhawk and knot.

2026
78: Razorbill

79: Knot

NDCP

42: Razorbill

WOW

51: Meadow pipit

52: Wigeon
53: Great black-backed gull
54: Red-breasted merganser
55: Dunlin

56: Linnet

57: Sparrowhawk

58: Knot

The North Down patch

Oh you lucky people, instead of once a month you get two in a week as I try to update the local patch which also includes a few 2026 birds I didn't see on New Years day. That includes this little beauty which pitched into the garden two days in a row.

Jay on the bird table

I didn't get jay on the local patch last year and it is a couple of years since I had one in the garden. A few days later three greenfinches turned up at the feeders. It is at least two years since I've had a garden greenfinch and the last one was a single male only seen once. It seems the cold spell has some benefits for the garden birder. The cold spell also encouraged a song thrush to feed in the garden and I then realised I had two of these, one in the apple tree and one on the grass.  These along with three blackcaps (2 female and a male) and three bullfinches (2 male and a female) were the standout birds in early 2026. The supporting cast were much as last year - chaffinch, goldfinch, linnet, robin, dunnock, blackbird, woodpigeon, collared dove, magpie, hooded crow, starling, herring gull, blue, coal, great and long-tailed tits. All obviously feature in the Birdwatch Ireland garden bird survey which is now in its sixth week - that means we are almost half way through the winter as it runs for 13 weeks. To date I have not seen jackdaw in the garden and my house sparrows have disappeared as well. Hopefully they will drop in during the next seven weeks. 

Greenfinch via the phone waved at the scope - the camera was on charge!

Camera shot

Blackcap (F)

Blackcap (M)

Song thrush

Coal tit

Linnet

Blue tit

Goldfinch & Chaffinch

Bullfinch

The coastal path and a walk towards Ballyholme  has added a few of the usual suspects - cormorant, turnstone, eider duck, common gull, black-headed gull, jackdaw, pied wagtail, oystercatcher, redshank, dunlin, ringed plover, purple sandpiper, shag, house sparrow, rook and a wren on the top pond in Stricklands Glen.  A walk to Carnalea added moorhen, great black-backed gull, lapwing, grey heron and a razorbill in Smelt Mill Bay. All expected apart from the razorbill. Currently puts me on 42 for the patch. I will wrap that up for now and do another post on the WOW patch which got off to a solid start with 51 species.

2026

65: Tufted duck

66: Blackcap

67: Bullfinch

68: Coal tit

69: Jay

70: Linnet

71:Rock pipit

72: Ringed plover
73: Purple sandpiper
74: Coot
75: Moorhen
76: Snipe
77: Black guillemot
78: Razorbill

North Down patch

42: Razorbill