Weeks Activities...

From now on please could all regular readers bear in mind that all the pics that appear on this blog are mine unless otherwise specified, just saves me having to add text all the time under each picture. Call me lazy if you want!

A busy weeks birding, Friday and Saturday were spent mainly in the Obs watching the passage. Personal highlights included Black Tern, Pomarine Skua, Velvet Scoter, Balearic Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters, and a juv Long-tailed Skua. It was also brilliant to watch the first Brents of the year passing the Obs.

Sauturday was superb, I managed to catch up with the trapped and ringed Common Rosefinch, I then headed on down to Teesside for the wader spectacle at Seaton Snook. I also called into see the Wryneck at at Headland, and also managed to connect with 3 Little Stints and several Curlew Sandpipers over both Saturday and Sunday.

Sunday saw me up in Northumberland mid afternoon to see the White-rumped Sandpiper again, it was pretty close this time and I had absolutely fantastic views of these stunning birds. I even managed some half decent pics, which can be seen below. A call into the Snook on the evening produced nothing but a single Curlew Sandpiper.

Lambton Pond remains generally quiet, I am also beginning to doubt I am going to get the hoped for Pectoral Sandpiper this year. But you really don't know, it may happen just yet.

Remainder of August...

After the TBC in Lancashire I had a bit of a gull week, with Caspian Gull in South Tyneside and the Bonaparte’s Gull in the same field just days later. This year I went to the BirdFair, I was mightily impressed with it this year and will no doubt go back down net year, if finance allows! The good thing about the BirdFair is I was able to connect with at least one of the juvenile Two-barred Crossbills at Broomhead Reservoir, I had what was almost certainly the male but it was a distant bins view only. A night time visit to Old Moor RSPB gave me views of my second Night Heron of the year, this made up for a particularly memorable BirdFair this year.

(Caspian Gull - copyright Andrew Kinghorn) 

The weather took a turn for the best and I was able to finally connect with a Booted Warbler, a flog of the Headland and a brief seawatch had yielded nothing that morning, so it was great to catch up with this bird. It showed surprisingly well, I’ve always liked Booted, Skyes’s and Eastern Olly. I managed to add Black Tern to my Durham year list, I was getting a little concerned about it! Then all the fun started, I had my first Greenish Warbler of the year in Marsden Quarry, then went onto Whitburn Coastal Park to see the juvenile Red-backed Shrike and then went onto find a Greenish (oops I mean Arctic Warbler), more on that later (perhaps). Not one of my finest moments in birding, just goes to show the danger of complacency! Later on in the afternoon I headed down to catch up with the Wryneck at Seaton Carew, a check of Lambton Pond didn’t reveal the hoped for yank wader sadly. I went to Whitburn every day last week and managed to see a second and third Greenish Warbler at Whitburn Coastal Park on the 28^th, and a Barred Warbler the next day.

(Greenish Warbler - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

With September dawning it was time for yank waders, and I took young Harry over to see the Stilt Sandpiper in Cheshire. He got my sympathy vote…and I got to see it as well of course! The next day I was watching a White-rumped Sandpiper at East Chevington NWT, purely with the thought that it isn’t going to turn up on the estuary, but there is time yet. Finally yesterday evening was a dash down to Castle Lake DBC to connect with a fine eclipse drake Ring-necked Duck.

 (Stilt Sandpiper - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

(Stilt Sandpiper - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

(Ring-necked Duck - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

A brilliant August and fantastic start to September!

More Updates

Had a lot of different stuff going on in my life since my last proper blog post, so this post will be fairly cram packed but informative. As always I've been doing a lot of twitching, but only because there has been lots of fantastic birds I needed for the UK turning up.

May

An incredibly eventful month for me in terms of birds, I managed to see my first Thrush Nightingale and then on the next day my fist ever Lesser Grey Shrike. The rest of the month was generally packed full of superb Red-backed Shrikes, 2 Great White Egrets, and a spring Red-breasted Flycatcher. The latter bird being quite a surprise indeed.

(Thrush Nightingale - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

(Lesser Grey Shrike - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

June

This month kicked off with more stunning Red-backed Shrikes followed by a Pacific Swift in Suffolk. The slim and tapering wings of this scaly beauty were enough to make the species exciting and thrilling. Watching it dart backward and forward over the Suffolk marsh was incredibly exciting. Only days later saw me back down south to Notts to connect with the singing Melodious Warbler which generally showed well, hours later I was watching my first ever Rose-coloured Starling in Norfolk, on the way home I popped into a pond in North Yorkshire to look at an eclipse drake Ring-necked Duck. Not the most exciting bird I had ever seen I must confess. The end of June and a dream came true, I finally saw the greatest bird in the world; White-throated Needletail. Although the bird came to a very sorry end it performed well whilst alive for those of us who make the trek north and west to see it. The month ended for me with a drake Surf Scoter from Filey Brigg in North Yorkshire.

July

This month is usually either very exciting or very boring (in my personal experience), it was generally boring for birds apart from the fact that on the 1^st I was watching a stunning adult Bridled Tern on the Farnes. I saw this bird three times, including once at Saltholme. In the middle of the month I had an afternoon dodge down to Rutland Water where I connected with a superb summer plumage Pacific Golden Plover. The month ended with a Pectoral Sandpiper at Saltholme followed by a Spotted Sandpiper the next day at Alnmouth in Northumberland. Spotted Sandpiper was a species I had always wanted to see in the summer time; thankfully this one was spotty enough to satisfy my keenness to see the species in a spotty condition.

(Bridled Tern - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

(Bridled Tern - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

(Pacific Golden Plover - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

(Pacific Golden Plover - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

(Spotted Sandpiper - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

August

So far August has been most kind; I started it off with a Spotted Crake in Northumberland one fine evening. The very next day I was watching a Night Heron in Leicestershire then thanks to a mate (who looks out for me all the time) I was alerted to the presence of a Two-barred Crossbill in Lancashire and so called in on the way home. The crossbill played ball and I had excellent views. On Friday gone I was fortunate enough to see the 2^nd summer Caspian Gull (one of my favourite birds) and then the very next day I managed to re-find the Bonaparte’s Gull in the same field after it had left the steel. So all in all I would say I’ve had a pretty fantastic few birding months.

(Night Heron - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

(Night Heron - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

(Two-barred Crossbill - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)

(Two-barred Crossbill - copyright Andrew Kinghorn)
 

Mediterranean Gulls and Update

Its been over 2 months since my last blog post, so much has happened bird wise since my last post. I will have to catch up on all the excitement in one fairly hefty blog post over the next few days. 

But until then here are some pics of Mediterranean Gulls from Newbiggin today, I was out with parents on the Farnes for the day, no I didn't see the Bridled Tern, but I have already seen it a few times (more on that later). So lets all enjoy these stunning birds...