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

Update from England - Part 1 Northumberland

Two weeks in England did wonders for the year list, so much so that I plan to split it in two, hence the title. The ferry to Cairnryan passed at least 1600 eider in two large rafts in Belfast Lough as well as the usual gulls and auks and a red-throated diver. The route East passed through the Galloway kite trail and joy of joy we saw 4 red kites west of Castle Douglas along the main road. Blue sky, good light and stunning views. The dawn to dusk birdathon in Northumberland was as good as usual and racked up a respectable 69 species. Yes we missed out on birds we should have got but we also saw birds we do not normally see. The goodies on the trip included a long staying scaup at Cresswell and a redhead smew at Widdrington Lake. Add to this the first fulmars of the year at Snab Point, large numbers of pink-footed geese and a covey of grey partridges near Cresswell and we were off to a good start.  The day also added canada goose, water rail, grey plover, sanderling, stonechat and willow tit. There were also good views of purple sandpiper, tree sparrows, whooper swans, gadwall, pochard, sparrowhawk,kestrel and pintail. Bird of the day for me was the willow tit at the feeders from the Skua Hide in Hauxley. All photos courtesy of David Miller and his trusty camera.

Reed bunting

Sanderling

Dunlin, sanderling and purple sandpiper

Hauxley feeders

Tree sparrow and willow tit at Hauxley

Hauxley

...... and again

Amble harbour for eider

Too rough and choppy at sea, sensible birds were in the harbour!

We dipped on goosander but were in Morpeth the next day and bingo, with mallard at the park.

River Coquet

Birding made easy!!

Bird of the day

Lists will be updated after part two (or maybe even part three) such was the joy of birding in foreign parts where there was always the possibility of something we do not get here.