Jayne and I have just had a few days in Northumberland (with family). We were based in Alnmouth, and, as always, we spent the days visiting some of our favourite spots, up and down the coast, adding 41 species of bird to the Year List.
The first new species were recorded on the way up (40 to 42) , and on the beach at Alnmouth (43 to 50) : 40) Pheasant 41) Red Kite 42) Grey Partridge 43) Pied Wagtail 44) Curlew 45) Grey Heron 46) Great Black-backed Gull 47) Oystercatcher 48) Redshank 49) Linnet and 50) Stonechat.
On our second day, I had an early morning trip up to Holy Island, and managed a couple of hours, before the tide changed, managing to add 8 new species: 51) Light-bellied Brent Goose 52) Ringed Plover 53) Bar-tailed Godwit 54) Dunlin 55) Teal 56) Lapwing 57) Shoveler and 58) Song Thrush. Later on, on the same day, we drove down to Blyth, hoping to see Thor, the Walrus. Unfortunately, he had moved on, but we added a few more species: 59) Wigeon 60) Eider Duck 61) Red-breasted Merganser 62) Turnstone 63) Sanderling and 64) Pink-footed Goose.
Next day, we spent the morning walking around the National Trust's Cragside, where we saw two new species: 65) Goldcrest and 66) Siskin.
Our last day started with a drive down to Craster, and a cliff top walk to Dunstanburgh Castle. On the drive we saw 67) Yellowhammer 68) Redwing and 69) Bullfinch. Whilst walking to the castle, we added 70) Shag 71) Fulmar (several pairs around the cliffs by the castle),72) Rock Pipit and 73) Purple Sandpiper. We then drove up to Seahouses, where we were very lucky to spot a female Long-tailed Duck (74) from the harbour wall several Feral Pigeons (75)and 200+ Golden Plover (76) in the fields on the drive up to Bamburgh. Stag Rocks was very quiet, with just 10 Turnstones!!
On the drive home, we stopped off at Big Waters NR (hoping to see an American Wigeon - no luck!!), but we did add 77) Gadwall and 78) Goldeneye. The final two "ticks" of the trip were Pochard (79) and the male Scaup (80) at Thrybergh CP.
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