Two more Ticks

Our base in Northumberland was at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park, on the outskirts of Amble and Ashington.

The lake is a great place, especially in winter, but, whilst there last week, we had a great time looking at the breeding birds, and the summering Black-headed Gulls. Most birds appeared to be 1st summer birds, with a few adults. Many of the 1st summer birds have a full brown hood, but still retain the juvenile feathers.

Black-headed Gull

Another great bird for me was the Whooper Swan (177). This bird appears to be a resident bird, who I first saw here in January 2024 (see here). He/she was present around the site, and was quite tame, allowing some great views from the car park.

Whooper Swan

Other birds seen here were: Greylag and Canada Geese (with goslings), Mallards, Pied Wagtails (juveniles), Mute Swans (13 in total, with at least 6 metal ringed), Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls and, perhaps the most surprising, for me at least, Tree Sparrows (adults and juveniles).

Tree Sparrow

Our last stop was in Whitley Bay. We started off at St Mary's Island, where we saw the Grey Seals, along with  a few Terns (possibly Sandwich), which were flying past, and finally, a single Fulmar (178). We then had a few hours on the beach at Tynemouth, where we were lucky enough to watch a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins (including at least 1 juvenile), swimming, feeding and jumping out of the water!!!! The final highlight was a singing Whitethroat, that posed beautifully.

Whitethroat

Donna Nook - 1st December 2024

 It's been five years, since Jayne and I were last at the Atlantic Grey Seal breeding reserve at Donna Nook, in Lincolnshire (see post here). Today, we drove across, and had amazing views of bulls, cows and pups (1,400 at the moment!).

Pups

Cow and Pup feeding

Bull

Seal's flipper

There were a few birds flying about, the most numerous being Great Black-backed Gull, with several adults and juveniles feeding around the colony. Other birds seen were: Shelduck, Herring and Black-headed Gulls, Skylark (over) and Curlew.

Great Black-backed Gull (and cow seal)

Pied Wheatear!!

 A first winter male Pied Wheatear turned up in a skate park in Whitley Bay last week, so, after a week of umming and ahhing (!) Jayne and I drove up there today to have a look at this new species.

Pied Wheatear!!

When we arrived, the bird wasn't in the Skate Park, but was, instead, hopping about along the seawall opposite The Spanish City. At times, it hopped to within 2m!!! Luckily, the weather was decent, still and sunny, so we managed to get some decent shots.

Whilst there, we also had a walk up to St Mary's Island. The tide was out, so we spotted a few waders on the way up (Redshank, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Lapwing and Ringed Plover) as well as several Pied Wagtails and Rock Pipits. On the Island there were a dozen or so Grey Seals enjoying the sun, and two flocks of Pink-footed Geese flew overhead. A couple of Red-throated Divers also flew past, and Black-headed and Herring Gulls were seen.

Year List update: 

160 - Lesser Whitethroat (1 seen whilst ringing back in September) 

161 - Pied Wheatear

Northumberland Birding - December 2019

I've just returned from a few days in Northumberland where I managed to get out and about seeing a few nice birds to end the year.

Whilst there, we visited Embelton Bay, Seahouses, Alnmouth, Stag Rock at Bamburgh, St Mary's Island and the Fish Quay at North Shields. Birds seen included; Purple Sandpiper (20+) at Stag Rocks, Turnstones (everywhere), Eider Ducks, Stonechat, Red-throated Diver and Sanderling (Alnmouth beach).

As always, I kept my eyes peeled for Black-headed Gulls, and managed to see a Polish ringed bird at Stag Rocks and a Lithuanian-ringed bird at North Shields Fish Quay.

Polish bird T86W

Lithuanian gull HA02829

I'll update the blog when I get the ringing details back.

Whilst at St Mary's Island, we saw some Grey Seals (adults and juveniles), which the first time for us at this site.

UPDATE: The Lithuanian gull was ringed 1423km away, as a pullus, on 23/06/06, making it over 13 years old.

The Polish gull as ringed, as an adult (2+ years old), 1320km away on 20/05/17, and has been recorded at Stag Rocks every winter since.

Pomarine Skua!!

We had a trip over to the Grey Seal colony at Donna Nook in Lincolnshire today. We had super views of the seals, including males, females and pups.

Whilst looking at the seals, however, we were amazed to see an adult Pomarine Skua flying over our heads! It landed amongst the seals, about 20m away, and began to eat the afterbirths from the 800+ pups.

Pomarine Skua

Year List update:
194 - Pomarine Skua

Year List Update - a Lifer!!

On Tuesday, Jayne and I spent 4 hours on a wildlife watching boat trip with AK Wildlife Cruises in Falmouth Bay. The trip was aimed mainly at cetaceans, but obviously, birds were also seen, including, as the title suggests, a lifer for me!

The first wildlife seen was Grey Mullet, with dozens of these fish feeding in the shallow water around the marina. As we set out on the water, we saw Herring and Black-headed Gulls. Mediterranean Gulls were also seen, including several juvenile birds. Other birds seen during the trip were: Fulmar (1), Razorbill (2; 1 adult and a juvenile), Peregrine Falcon (1 juvenile), Little Egret (1), Gannet, Whimbrel (1), Manx Shearwater ( 50+) and Storm Petrel (2) - a LIFER1!!

Manx Shearwater

The marine mammals were playing a little harder to get, but we did manage to get great views of several Grey Seals that were hauled out on the rocks. We also saw several Harbour Porpoises (perhaps up to 10 individuals), including adults and juveniles. They were very difficult to photograph, but I did manage a few shots.

Harbour Porpoises

Year List update:
176 – Manx Shearwater
177 - Whimbrel
178 – Storm Petrel

Northumberland News

After our holiday in Suffolk at the start of the summer (see here and here), Jayne and I went up to Northumberland for a break last week. Although not a birding trip, we did visit a few regular spots, and also managed to add 3 birds to the "Year List".

The first new bird was an adult Caspian Gull (see here), which had been present in the harbour at Amble for a couple of weeks.

Caspian Gull

As you can see, this bird was colour-ringed, which showed that it had been ringed at a Caspian Gull colony in Poland. Nice and easy to identify!! Other birds seen around the harbour included Black-headed, Lesser Black-backed , Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls, Eider Ducks, Cormorants, Common Terns, Shags, Goosander, Mute Swan, Mallard, Redshank, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Knot , Shelduck and Starling.

On the Tuesday, we went to Bamburgh and Seahouses. Whilst there, we took a "sunset cruise" around the Farne Islands with Serenity Tours. Unfortunately, all the auks had left, but we did see lots of Kittiwakes and Shags, along with several Fulmars one Purple Sandpiper and a couple of Gannets. The Atlantic Grey Seals have also returned to the islands to breed, so we got some pretty good views of them too.

Grey Seals

The final new bird of the week was a Pectoral Sandpiper, that was found on a flash at North Charlton. It was feeding along with 10 Ruff, 2 Snipe, 1 Little Ringed Plover and several Moorhens. Here's a link to a much better photo than I got.

Year List update:
170 - Caspian Gull
171 - Gannet
172 - Pectoral Sandpiper