On Tour - Northumberland - Part 2

We called in at a number of reserves on the coast south of Amble on the Tuesday, my favourite reserve though at Hauxley was closed because of major refurbishment works, opening again today (24th) I believe, sad to have missed it, we will have to wait until our next visit to the North East.

So we started at Druridge Pools, (Northumberland Wildlife Trust) visiting both hides and the screen, with the undoubted start being the Spoonbill,

there was plenty of other birds about of course, plenty of Shelduck with ducklings.

 A pair of Swallows had a nest in one one of the hides, we were as quiet and still as possible and they got used to us, not before giving us an angry look from just outside the door though.

 Plenty of Tufted Duck about

 as well as of course Black-headed Gulls,

 and a flock of about 8 Black-tailed Godwit.

 Not many Lapwings, but one patent with a youngster

Also seen at Druridge, Curlew, Teal, Gadwall, Kestrel,Coot, Moorhen, House Martin, Swift, Shoveler, Canada & Greylag Geese, Great Crested Grebe, Redshank and Mute Swan.

From Druridge we drove the 5 minutes down to Cresswell Pond, again NWT, the start here were 5 Little Gulls resting up on the scrape,

and a couple of Tree Sparrows sunning themselves,

There were a few Avocets along with chicks, but mainly right over the other side of the Pond, not good for a any photography. One little start was a male Reed Bunting singing his head off to the right of the hide,

there were a couple of females about, but they weren't interested.

In addition at Creswell; Shelduck, Tufted Duck, Cormorant, Little Egret, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Redshank, Sedge Warbler, plus the Hirudines, Corvids and Gulls.
We stayed a while before driving to the Ice-cream shop in Cresswell Village, purchasing said Ice-creams and sitting on a bench overlooking the sea, just in case any dolphins passed by. (Happened to us a few years ago!) But not this time.

Time to head north again, this time stopping at East Chevington (NWT) for Marsh Harriers and aq late afternoon cup of tea. No sooner had we made the tea when,

a male Marsh Harrier came through bringing something back to the nest, a great end to a quiality days birding!

A Northumbrian Odyssey - Part 3 - Here and There

So how can you follow the Farne Islands, well the answer to that will be the next blog after this........
But for now you will have to wait and put up with Tuesday to Friday.

Whilst yesterday was a real birding day (plus a boat trip!) the following days are about getting out and about and around the coast.

Cragside
The weather didn't look so great for Tuesday so we went National Trusting to Cragside near Rothbury. We did have a major disaster! Once we got there we missed the Car Park that I wanted to use and ended up on a circular drive around the estate (which is huge!) so we decided to stop at a nice scenic spot and have a coffee... This is the disaster bit. My rucksack with the three flasks wasn't there, it was still sitting nice and cosy back in the shack at Seahouses. So we got back in the car legged it around the rest of the drive straight to the Tea Rooms and ordered 2 Americanos!

Anyway enough of that, there are some fantastic walks at Cragside through the pines and so on. There are Red Squirrels there, but this was our third visit and no sign! Birdlife was pretty sparse too! We saw plenty of Finches and Corvids, Robin, Tits and Pied Wagtail, but the highlight was a Grey Wagtail. I haven't told Tina yet but having read a post on the Northumbrian Birding forum (Birds Forum) somebody saw Crossbills there the same time we were there.... ahhhhhh!

Beadnell & Long Nanny Reserve
We decided to leave the car parked up on Wednesday and take a 'little' walk from Seahouses to the Long Nanny National Trust reserve to see the Little Terns, and anything else on the way.

The bad news was the wind was up today and blowing in our faces all the way, especially when walking along the beach at Beadnell Bay. On the way we picked up the usual shoreline birds, Eider, Oystercatcher, nesting Kittiwakes on some of the 'Cliffier' (is that a word?) stretches Shelduck and some large Starling flocks:

On approaching the reserve, you could see a cloud of Terns over the dunes and Beach.

As we got closer the river revealed a host of Arctic Terns and one Little Tern. We stopped for Coffee at this point (yes had the flasks today!) and just watched, picking up some Ringed Plover.  Suitably refreshed we carried on to the Wardens Hut and using their scope managed to find one more Little Tern. Apparently numbers are well down only 15 pairs this year. The aforementioned LT was to far away for a photo, but I took one anyway, for the record!

Yes its on top of the crate! The Little Tern nests have been raised as a spring tide is expected towards the end of the month.

So off to find another perch for lunch and then trek back. We didn't go along the beach this time but cut behind the dunes back to Beadnell and on to Seahouses. Got some interesting Linnet shots on the way:

We stopped for a rest at Beadnell and did a bit of Sea Watching, was surprised to see a Greylag fly past and some Gannetts a distance out. We then walked through the NWT Annstead Dunes Reserve heading back to Seahouses Golf Club before dropping back down to the beach, Plenty of Linnet and Pipit about, then to our surprise a Canada Goose flew by! Back on the beach we saw our first Dunlin of the trip:

So there ends Wednesday.

Hauxley & Cresswell NR
After a lateish start we drove down to Hauxley as we didn't want to do much walking today and fancied the idea of sitting on our backsides a bit.
We have been to Hauxley before and like it, some of the local birders though seem to be put off by all the Geese (Canada & Greylags - There are a lot it has to be said) But at this time of year its a bit of a Gosling fest, which is alright with us.

There was a flotilla of gosling, sailing by!

There is much more to Hauxley than that though, the Wardens were very friendly and there was a good range of other birds with chicks:

The Oystercatcher had a thing going with the female Mallard, every where they went she went too! Very strange.

Other highlights, were the Herons, Tree Sparrow, Willow Warbler, Lapwings, Dunlin, Redshank, Shelduck, Goldfinch, Reed Bunting, Coal Tit, Pheasant and a Knot:

So after an enjoyable few hours here we missed out Druridge and East Chevington and drove through to one of our favourite spots, Creswell, but what a shock! The water levels were really high and it appears they have lost all the Avocet nests (3), good job we are on the ball at Upton! There was nothing for waders. What a difference to our visit here last year. We did pick up some other ducks for the visit (Wigeon and Pochard) plus some Shelduck with chicks

Craster to Howick
So our last day and another walk, shorter this time. Just from Craster to Howick and back, last time we did this a couple of years ago we saw some Yellowhammer, but our hopes were dashed. We did however pick up a life first, one of those not rare birds that has eluded us a Lesser Whitethroat, so we were well chuffed. Sadly it was hopping about so much the two shots I manged were just a blur! We also picked up some 'common' Whitethroat, which I did get a decent photo of:

The walk also provide a great view of some Sand Martins nesting in a shoreline sandy cliff, we sat and watched for quite a while:

A Kestrel came to watch as well:

On the way back a Linnet showed quite well:

So that's Northumberland until next year, as Arnie would say, "We'll be back!"

What next....
Well the trip wasn't finished, we headed up to Edinburgh for the rest of the weekend to see our daughter with the bonus that she could spoil me for Fathers Day, then drive back Monday. But Fathers day is worth another post to the blog, so read the next one!

More Part 3 Photos

A Weekend at Cresswell

We were invited up to Cresswell in Northumberland to join Tina's Sister over the weekend, staying in a caravan only 5 minutes drive from Cresswell Pond NWT. We had the pleasure of sleeping in the smallest beds ever invented,  but we coped.  As a reward we added 5 species to the year list of which 3 were firsts! This was totally unexpected but very welcome.

We visited 4 NWT sites whilst up there, Druridge Pools, East Chevington, Hauxley and Cresswell Pools. Cresswell though was by far the most productive and accounted for the 3 lifers. The nice thing was that they are all pretty close to Cresswell, so driving was kept to a minimum.

Druridge Pools
We paid 2 shortish visits here on Friday and Sunday, visiting a couple of hides. Wellies were essential as some of the paths were flooded. There was very little activity though, saw very few species, Mallard, Wigeon, Teal, a Heron and a couple of Snipe flying around.

East Chevington
Just one visit here on the Saturday, a lovely reserve, with quite a bit going on. However the hides are terrible!  They seem to be converted containers, opening the doors and windows makes a hell of a noise, its a wonder we saw anything with all the racket. They are also the most uncomfortable hides, the windows seem to be at the wrong height, just terrible. We were much better off leaving the hides and going up to the platforms on the track. It did mean though that you needed a scope to see anything. The best sightings here were Goldeneye, the briefest glimpse of a Merlin and a wonderful Short-eared Owl.

Hauxley
Again just one visit here on the Saturday, but it's a great reserve, with good hides and access down to the beach. We asked the warden as we arrived what was about and apart from what you'd expect he told us amongst all the Greylag was a single White-fronted Goose this would be a first for the year if we could find it.

We worked the hides on the northern side of the reserve, the south side was closed due to flooding. Here's a couple of pics from the hide looking at to sea.

Really love Tree Sparrows!

Rats! No you can't have any!

We then moved on to the last hide closest to all the geese. But they were all very inactive, with heads tucked away chilling out, so there was no way we were going to find a white front! That is until a noisy model aircraft being flown down on the beach came a bit close and got them all up, even then we didnt think we'd find it as they were all settling down pretty quickly. But after scanning hundreds of geese we found it!
I couldn't get a good photo before he tucked up again but for the record:

The top of it's white face can just be seen if you look closely!

Just a few others from Hauxley

Greylags on finals

Curlew touchdown

Coquet Island, went there in 2010 to see Roseate Tern

Cresswell Pond
The star of the weekend. We visited 5 times there was just so much going on. On the Friday we kicked off with lifers 1 and 2. The first was easy a Jack Snipe in front of the hide, he stayed in the same place the whole three days, only venturing out once when it was to dark to take a pic, so here's the best I could do:

The second was much more difficult, a Long-tailed Duck, unfortunately this was a scope job, so no photo, but made up none the less, he appeared on most visits, but was difficult to find amongst all the other waterfowl.

Apart from the Jack Snipe, I have never seen so many Snipe, I counted at least 30 at one time, but the board in the hide said 54! We spotted our 3rd lifer on Sunday; Golden Plover in the morning we found just the one, but on our second visit there were four.

We had some pretty mixed conditions ranging from glorious sunshine to mist and fog, both of which at times made photography tricky! But here's a few anyway! (There's some more in the gallery)

GSW!

Lapwing

Little Grebe with Lunch

Red Breasted Mergansers

Spot the Snipe

Golden Plover

Great Crested Grebe showing a paddle!

Curlew

Short Eared Owl fly-by

The mist rolling in

Heron in the fog!

Teal

Goldcrest on the path to the hide

Pink-footed in a field near Cresswell......

........ along with some Swans

Other than the reserves, we popped into Newbiggins on Sea for Tea and added Ringed Plover to the list, (until the fog rolled in  and we couldn't see a thing), Druridge Country Park for a Cuppa (Found out that a Slavonian Grebe was there, but after we'd left and didn't get chance to go back) and Cresswell Foreshore for an Ice Cream and Dolphins!

So the lists:
Druridge Pools:

Black-headed Gull, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Coot, Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe, Grey Heron, Lapwing,  Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Snipe, Wigeon & Wren.

East Chevington:

Black-headed Gull, Blue Tit, Coot, Cormorant, Gadwall, Goldeneye, Great Black-backed Gull,
Great Crested Grebe, Kestrel, Long-tailed Tit, Mallard, Merlin, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pochard,
Short-eared Owl, Shoveler, Teal, Tufted Duck & Wigeon.

Hauxley:

Bar-tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Coot.
Cormorant, Curlew, Eider, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, House Sparrow,
Lapwing, Little Grebe, Mallard, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Redshank,
Tree Sparrow, Tufted Duck, White-fronted Goose & Wigeon.

Cresswell Pond:

Barn Owl, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-headed Gull, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch,
Common Sandpiper, Coot, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Gadwall, Golden Plover, Goldeneye,
Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Grey Heron, Grey Partridge, Greylag Goose,
Herring Gull, Jack Snipe, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lapwing, Little Grebe, Long-tailed Duck, Magpie, Mallard,
Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pheasant, Pink-footed Goose (in nearby field), Pochard, Red-breasted Merganser,
Redshank, Robin, Rock Dove, Rook, Scaup, Short-eared Owl, Snipe, Starling, Stonechat, Teal,
Tree Sparrow, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Wigeon & Woodpigeon.

Newbiggins:
Carrion Crow, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Ringed Plover, Starling, Turnstone & Woodpigeon.

Cresswell Foreshore:
Dolphins, Cormorant, Eider, Grey Heron, Oystercatcher & Redshank.