Memories of 2017.

Well, as yet nothing has arrived on the mat to suggest I have been named in the New Years honours list.  It could be an oversight, a loss in the post or some other technical hitch, so I haven’t given up hope just yet.  In any event I’m over joyed to note that Richard Starkey, better known to legions of admirers as Ringo, has been awarded a Knighthood.  Nothing less would have been enough to pay tribute to his classic musical renditions, such as the great Yellow Submarine, sung by us all when we take a bath I’m sure, and his equally great acting skills, surely warranting an Oscar, in the brilliant film of the twentieth century, A Hard Day’s Night.  Yes, these were gifts to humanity that should forever be treasured.

Shoveler on Killy Lake (Jan)

Mute Swan on Killy Lake (Jan)

Now then, time restraints have prevented me from completing the end of year blog that I had planned, so I have decided to include a few images that bring back very good memories to me of time spent during 2017 and I’ll also add a few short comments.

Long stay LBB Gull at North Shields Fish Quay (Jan) whilst watching Iceland and Glaucous Gulls

Wagtail at Druridge (Feb) whilst watching Shore Larks and Twite

Ferruginous Duck on Killy Lake (Mar)

Little Owl at Druridge (Jul)

Out for lunch with a friend (early summer)

I have begun with some images of local sightings, a couple that show Killingworth Lake can look good when caught in perfect light.  Sightings in Northumberland this year have also included species such as Pacific Diver (a lifer), a pity it came to a sad end, Bee Eater, White winged Black Tern, and of course the Hawfinches.  I have a keen interest in the history of ornithology and had looked forward to attending a talk at the NHSN concerning Northumbria born Canon Henry Baker Tristram.  Unfortunately, the talk was cancelled but I more than made up for this by reading the book by WG Hale called Sacred Ibis which coverers the life, travels and collecting of the Canon.  A great read especially for local birders.  I have on occasions heard the term hard core birder/s used, on occasions by some who think they show toughness.  I personally think it a rather silly term, but I think if anyone thinks of themselves as a hard-core birder, then they need to read this book and other like it to find out what tough birding really was in the past!

Ural Owl, Sweden (Jun)

Dotterel, Sweden (Jun)

Slavonian Grebes, Sweden (Jun)

Siberian Jay, Sweden (Jun)

A Room With a View, Sweden (Jun)

Sam, Sweden (Jun)

Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to have been able to travel a fair bit, in recent years along with Sam, and the past couple of years have seen us in Finland, Norway and Sweden.  This year was the turn of Sweden and some great adventures and many laughs were had along the way.  I think if I had to choose one area outside of the UK to concentrate my birding and travel on I would pick Scandinavia as it offers so much without the need for tiresome long-haul travel.  I’ve included a selection of images from the many taken.  An account of the trip is to be found in my blog, so I won’t start to recount details again.

Common Blue Butterfy at Mull of Galloway (Jul)

Evening at Threave Castle (Jul)

Osprey at Loch Ken (Jul)

Barnacle Geese, Dumfries (Oct)

Solway Sunset, Dumfries (Oct)

Closer to home, but across the border in Dumfries and Galloway, provided me with some of my best moments of the year.  Sam kindly invited me to stay as he has been working in that area.  I was up there in early summer and early autumn and on both occasions had some great days of watching wildlife, whilst also learning a great deal more about the history and culture of the area.  Difficult to say what the highlights were as there where many, but watching Golden Ringed Dragonflies on a red-hot day in July, an Osprey close by   catching a fish at Loch Ken, Peregrine Falcons and Ospreys seen and heard calling at the same time at Threave and of course thousands of geese in the autumn where up there with the best moments.

I have found that bird watching can take you along many different routes and I have developed many interests.  Whatever your interest, however far along the route you are and what ever time of life you begun, I hope that you have a very rewarding and interesting 2018.

Best wishes to everyone for the year ahead

All Weather Birders Return to Holywell

It's a long time since we completed the walk from Holywell to St Mary’s Island, so to keep our reputation as all weather birders Sam and I decided to ‘walk the walk’ today.  Temperatures down to zero weren’t going to keep us at home.  As we headed for Holywell I noted a long band of heavy cloud along the coastline, otherwise conditions were perfect for a winter walk, bright crisp and perfect light.

A frozen pond at Holywell

We arrived at Holywell Pond’s members hide to find that the shutters were frozen, swollen and impossible to open, although with effort we managed to prise the centre shutter open.  We need not have bothered as there was little to see apart from an almost deserted, but picturesque frozen pond.  The ice was reflecting steel like hues.  The feeding station at the entrance was attracting numbers of Tree Sparrow and Chaffinch and a few other garden species.  Unsurprisingly we found the public hide empty, although because there was little wind it didn’t feel as cold as I have known it to be at times.  A small break in the ice had attracted Mallards, two Tufted Duck and gulls, but nothing else.  We did hang around long enough to have a very good sighting of a male Sparrowhawk which initially flew into the reed-bed before taking off again and flying up the pond and over the ducks and gulls before finally perching in a tree at the other end of the pond.  It was no doubt finding prey difficult to come by, just as we were finding sightings difficult to come by.

We eventually headed off towards the open fields finding very little in this deserted area.  We did find two Golden Plover attempting to feed in the field to the right of us and a loan Grey Heron standing by the hedge in the distance obviously it too was finding conditions hard.  We’d seen two Pink-footed Geese fly over on our arrival but found no more in the fields.  Greylag Geese were heard in the distance towards the coast, but they weren’t seen.  We were enjoying the walk and by now could even feel a little warmth from the sun.  Out in these open fields is usually the coldest part of this walk but as there was barely a breath of wind it felt almost mild today!  The ground however was solid and almost give a feeling of walking on pavement.  Just before we reached the dene we heard and then saw a pair of Grey Wagtails feeding on the frozen mud area.  One of the pair was seen really well and its plumage showed brilliantly in the clear bright light.  Our first of three, possibly four, Kestrels seen today had been noted as we walked down to the dene edge.

The walk through the dene was unusually quiet for the time of year although feeding stations along the way were attracting numbers of Great, Coal and Blue Tits and a few other of the woodland birds including Nuthatch which were quite vocal at times.  Great Spotted Woodpecker was seen along the way as was a Common Buzzard which lifted from the floor of the woodland and flew off over the burn.  One of the birds of the day was the Bullfinch we found.  It looked in perfect condition and again the light appeared to show this bird off perfectly.  A very under-rated species in my opinion and just like the Grey Wagtail having a stunning plumage.  Long-tailed Tits were heard.

We put on a bit of a spurt as we neared the end of the dene to ensure we arrived for fish and chips on time.  It was obvious from the number of Redshank we passed that the tide was high.  We hadn’t been to Seaton Sluice for our meal for ages and this was even noted by a member of staff!  The quality of the food here has happily remained high.

The tide was very high today, so we made off towards St Mary’s Island right away without looking from the headland.  The line of cloud seen on our departure this morning appeared to have moved eastward so wasn’t threatening.  We found Kestrel, Golden Plover, Lapwing and Curlew in the fields before reaching the wetland where the only bird of any note was a lone Grey Heron.

I love the atmosphere of winter days such as we were experiencing so the lack of sightings was of no problem to me.  I was enjoying the open spaces and winter skies and the clear view down to Marsden Rock and Souter Lighthouse.  Just before we made for home we looked across to the lighthouse which was lit by the setting sun and which had drawn quite a few photographers.  This must be one of the most photographed sites in the area and it is such a shame that the view now takes in wind turbines at sea.  I wonder who had the idea to plant them in that position?  The island held Oystercatcher, Sanderling, Turnstone, Dunlin and Redshank all standing at the tides edge.

By now it was bitter cold, and I reckon zero degrees at least.  We made for home as the sunset lit up the western horizon as if on fire.  There were patches of black ice on the ground when we arrived back in Killingworth.  A great day had been had as always.

Hawfinches

3^rd Dec.  Anyone who has taken even a cursory glance at this blog will realise I’m not in the habit of making wild dashes to see birds, no matter how rare they may be.  Nevertheless, it surely would have been remiss of me if I had ended 2017 not having seen some local Hawfinches, there being so many of them in the UK at present.  So, it was off to Mitford today with Sam, and this time to the correct site!  The area was so very different from my visit a few weeks ago when autumnal colour was at its peak of brightness.  Today, the duller hues of winter were to be seen but it was quite a lot warmer.

Through the binoculars I caught sight of what was a Hawfinch at mid height in the trees to the left but a couple of blokes with telescopes had a look of doubt on there faces.  Anyway, I lost sight of the bird.  After a while Sam got his eye on Hawfinches, three or four, near to where I’d seen one on our arrival.  We had arrived kinda expecting easy and close sightings so had left the telescope in the boot, so Sam went off to fetch it.  We eventually had some very good telescope sightings as the birds fed although at no time did they come down to the Hornbeams directly in front of us which might have allowed photographs, so there are none.  The over all colour of the birds seemed to reflect the hues of winter.   I never had the camera out of the bag all day and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing in my opinion.  Sometimes best to watch nature and not feel you must capture an image of it.  At least one Hawfinch appeared in the hedge behind us and no one was sure where it, and possibly one or two others, had appeared from.

So once again we prove that you don’t have to be an early worm to catch the birds.  This was only my second sighting of Hawfinch in Northumberland, the other sighting being some years ago at the entrance to Hulne Park, which used to be quite a regular spot to find them.

There were lots of thrushes in the area today, in the main Redwings, but Mistle Thrushes and Blackbirds too, and Siskin were flying over.

The Hawfinches seem to have captured the imagination of the locals, quite a few of them out walking dogs.  From our experience I can only say watch where you put your feet!  We give one guy a chance to see a Hawfinch through the telescope and he seemed quite chuffed about his sighting.  We talked about the size of the bill and its strength and I wish I had remembered that according to Collin’s Birdguide it has a force of 50kg.  A lifer for him I reckon.  It’s good to share sightings with interested folk.

After a good while with the Hawfinches we left for Druridge and Cresswell, which we found extremely quiet, but we did enjoy watching the growing numbers of Twite at the burn entrance at East Chevington.  They were at their best flying in two or three separate flocks in the sunlight.  There were Sanderling, Dunlin, Redshank and Oystercatchers on the shore, but we didn’t find the reported Snow Bunting.  Later, we did watch a pair of Kingfishers at Cresswell Pond.

With my mind now on Hawfinch I checked out the Collin’s New Naturalist Monograph written by Guy Mountfort  issued in the 1957.  I saw the price on Amazon and decided I didn’t want it that desperately and that I ought to simply stick with the memories of good sightings of which I have several.  Unfortunately, time dulls the memory and until I looked back on my notes I had clean forgotten that I had sightings of Hawfinch in Poland and Romania.  I do have clear memories of the three Hawfinch seen in Sweden this year as they came down to a feeding station and those seen in Extremadura a few years ago when I clearly remember a walk across a bridge up to an old dilapidated building where we saw several Hawfinch in bushes near to the building.  My best sighting of all however was when Sam and I watched a family of Hawfinches early morning in the garden of our accommodation in Hungary two or three years ago.

The scientific name for Hawfinch is Coccothraustes coccothraustes which is derived from the Greek kokkos meaning seed or kernel, and thrauo which means to break or shatter.  The ornithologist Francis Willughby was first to use the common English name Hawfinch in 1676.  Haw referring to the red berries of Hawthorn.