It's April

 We are only home  six weeks from exotic foreign adventures (Northumberland and Bolton) and we are off again to the same places!! Easter in Geordie land and then a bit of child care in Bolton. Thought it a good idea post an update on what has been happening in the meantime.

The local patch has added a couple of expected visitors in sandwich tern and lesser black-backed gull, while the garden finches had a post all of their own. Other than that it's been a slow transition into spring with  the occasional cold wintry day. It looks like the classic spring migrants will be seen in England rather than Northern Ireland. 

WOW is also mired in winter with all seven winter ducks still present and very few migrants to quicken the pulse so far. We have added a few species . A male pintail spent a lot of time with its rear end up in the air and we finally added Mediterranean gull to the list in mid March. This week I finally found a dunnock -  it only took three months - and three sandwich terns flew in. Hopefully they will breed again this year rather than going to Cockle Island where high spring tides and predatory rats seem to have pushed them out. We might even get some of the arctic terns as well as they haven't bred successfully since 2022.

Godwit at rest

Poor shot of an uncooperative Med gull

Uncooperative pintail

That's better

Class of 2021 back again

Med gull standing up

As you know, the two patches don't provide all the birds I see, so there have been a few wee excursions elsewhere. A trip through the north quarries at Scrabo added raven and chiffchaff. JBirds - Birding by boat arranged an excursion through Lough Beg on a fine warm sunny afternoon and this was an excellent trip through an area I have viewed from land, so the chance to see it from the water was too good to pass up. I clocked up 37 species including an unexpected fieldfare in a tree at Toome, a green sandpiper along the Bann, sand martins overhead and the piece de resistance -11 glossy ibis in flight. As usual I have some nice scenic views but here is a link to the JBirds Facebook page where people with good cameras who know how to use them have posted their shots. 

JBirds - Birding by Boat | Facebook

This is the main page, you will have to scroll down to reach the Lough Beg trip on March 21st. there are lots of good shots of a wide variety of birds well worth looking at.  There are at least a dozen posts from different people on the trip, so keep on going and don't miss the sparrowhawk pretending it is an osprey which was seen on the morning trip. Kingfisher was also seen by a few people but didn't pose for a picture. I also added dipper on the Inver River at Larne as the 2026 list moves ahead ready for the migrant bonanza that is April and May. 

Primroses at Scrabo

Chiffchaff tree at Scrabo

Our boat on the Bann

Bridge at Toomebridge

Church Island from Lough Beg

New LIFER for me, can I add it to all my lists?

 

2026 

115: Water pipit

116: Mediterranean gull

117: Chiffchaff

118: Raven

119: Sand martin

120: Fieldfare

121: Green sandpiper

122: Glossy ibis

123: Sandwich tern

124: Dipper

NDCP patch

53: Guillemot

54: Sandwich tern

55: Lesser black-backed gull

Belfast RSPB patch

62: Starling

63: Pintail

64: Mediterranean gull

65: Sandwich tern

66: Dunnock (DOH!!)

Finch fest

The feeders have been buzzing of late, particularly the sunflower hearts, and I have had a wide variety of birds coming and going. The following pictures illustrate the interesting combinations observed. I have also had blackbird and magpie on, but when they appear everything else clears off! The odd slightly blurry image is caused by the feeders swaying in the wind or when a bird lands, and my simple digi-scoping kit does not cope well with this. 

Bullfinch

Blackcap & Linnet

Siskin (M)

Chaffinch, house sparrow & Siskin (F)

Linnets (F)

House sparrow

Greenfinch pair

Blackcap & Goldfinch

Goldfinch and a pair of siskins

No patch updates, but things are looking up as winter visitors are still around and summer visitors are on their way north - watch this space!

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