Essential child care gave the opportunity for a long weekend in Northumberland and our now traditional dawn to dusk birdathon. Then on via the scenic route to Bolton and we were able to squeeze a bit of birding in between playgrounds, Burger king and Minecraft.
Red kites over the road at Gatehouse of Fleet was a good start on the way across. A trip to St Mary's Island at high tide gave purple sandpiper, grey plover and sanderling. Saturday dawned bright and sunny but the forecast rain and cloud arrived around 11.00 and made for a damp cold finish to the day. With my pal David - he of the good camera and the rustic bunting in his garden - we followed our traditional route starting at Linton Lane and going via QE2 Country Park to Woodhorn, Lynemouth, Snab Point, Cresswell and Cresswell Pond. Linton Lane had two marsh harriers and very good views of grey partridge sitting under a hedge. We usually see them disappearing quickly into cover. The highlight at Cresswell was an early avocet. Apparently they usually arrive late March. We have never seen one on our February visits before. We also had a good selection of ducks and waders including 2 ruff and 6 snipe out in the open as well as large flocks of pink-footed geese. We then went via Widdrington (red-legged partridge) to the Druridge Bay Country Park for lunch (and bird feeders) before checking the sea for red-throated divers and common scoter. Then north to Hadston Scarrs, Hauxley and Amble. We spent 15/20 minutes ambling round Amble harbour as we realised we had not yet seen a pied wagtail. In rain and gathering gloom we gave up, walked back to the car and there was a pied wagtail on the footpath beside the car!! Other highlights included at least 6 albino pheasants, in fact there were pheasants everywhere. We reckoned they must have all been newly released. I also added a kestrel to the year list - it is at least 6 months since I saw one at home as well as Canada goose which always needs a trip to England. We ended up with 70 species which is what we hope for before we set out. Bearing in mind the deteriorating weather we were happy enough. All in all a good day with cracking views, good birds and good company.
The attached photographs are mainly David's, I have noted the ones I took in case it isn't patently obvious. I ended up phone scoping the waxwing as I omitted to lift the camera - apologies for the dodgy shots.
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| St Mary's Island (Derek) |
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| Pink-footed geese |
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| Cresswell Pond |
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| Mixed waders |
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| Avocet |
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| Snipe |
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| Lapwing (Derek) |
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| Derek's snipe! |
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| Derek's avocet, dunlin & curlew |
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| Grey partridge |
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| Long-tailed tit |
The scenic route to Bolton goes via Langdon Beck and a black grouse lekking area so it became 115 for the year. Bolton added nuthatch on the feeder, tawny owl calling around the house and a single waxwing 5 minutes from the house. Known locally as the Bolton one (or Bolton Wanderer) it has been around for about 10 days and has two berried trees all to itself in a housing estate so it might be around for a while. I took the grand-children to see it and they were mildly impressed by its cool Mohican.The new dormer gives a good view of the garden and the feeders. I have tried several times to put a wee arrow to show where the feeders are but Blogger has defeated me. If any readers know how to do this please let me know. The feeders are hanging above the wee green bush just to the left of the poplar tree at the end of the fence. The nuthatch uses the tree to approach the feeders and I have seen woodpecker, jay and treecreeper on the tree as well. This time I managed a few shots of birds at the feeder. The tawnies call from the wood behind, heard but never seen.
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| Overview |
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| Collared dove at the niger feeder |
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| Magpie |
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| A very fast nuthatch flying right!! |
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| Great tit |
A few Bolton wanderer shots to close and then it is back to WOW and the coastal path for 6 weeks.
2023102: Wren - should have been added on January 17th!
103: Red kite
104: Grey plover
105: Sanderling
106: Pink-footed goose
107: Canada goose
108: Marsh harrier
109: Kestrel
110: Red-legged partridge
111: Grey partridge
112: Pheasant
113: Avocet
114: Ruff
115: Black grouse
116: Waxwing
117: Tawny owl
118: Nuthatch
WOW
64: Cormorant
