8th Jan. I
ate my cornflakes whilst temperatures remained at -5C outside and I thought to
myself ‘it’ll warm up a bit before we leave
for the coast’. The temperature did
rise ever so slightly, but I’m pleased we took so many layers of clothing when
we headed north to Fenham Flats, having first ensured that the garden birds
were fed. I should have guessed we were
going to face low temperatures when we stepped from the car, having passed the
sign which had warned ‘brass monkeys enter this area at their own risk’. So hard was the frost in places that areas to
the sides of the AI looked as though they were scenes from a Christmas card. Common
Buzzard, Kestrel and a large flock of Lapwings
were seen before we turned off onto icy side roads and headed to the hide at
Fenham Flats.
The hide at Fenham Flats offered some protection from the
biting cold and offered a splendid view of a tranquil area where skies were
blue, and the windless atmosphere was very much in contrast to our visit to
Lindisfarne two days before. It was only
a pity that Lindisfarne Castle remains under scaffold, as it and the reflection
on the water below would have offered a near perfect photographic
opportunity. Once again we had good
sightings of many Brent Geese, some
close by the hide and others far more distant as were many of the waders. Flocks of Dunlin were amongst waders that showed well and flew across our
field of view. We looked for Little
Stint but were unable to find one. Shelduck were here in large numbers as
were Grey Plover. We chatted to a young lady who was on holiday
and traveling up the coast towards St Abbs.
She appeared to be a keen photographer and could not have picked a
better day and had chosen well to view the area from this point.
After spending some time at Fenham Flats we made off to
Budle Bay, but not before finding Redwing
and Song Thrush in the hedge. Stonechat was seen but for the life of me I
don’t remember where. This time we had a
little better luck with some birds being a bit closer to shore although many
were not and despite our best efforts we were unable to locate the Spotted
Redshank although Redshank were
numerous along with Curlews and Bar Tailed Godwits. Shelduck
were again there in numbers and the field held a large flock of Greylag Geese with a few Canada Geese and Brent Geese among the flock.
A skein of Pink footed Geese
flew overhead.
After a break for lunch we returned to Stagg Rock where
today the sea was much calmer and there was just enough wind to make for a
biting cold atmosphere. I don’t remember
feeling so cold for a long time. We took
shelter behind a wall and that seemed to fend off the worst of the cold. It wasn’t long before we had sighting of
rafts of Common Scoter, Velvet Scoter,
Long tailed Duck, numbers of Red
Throated Diver, a Great Northern
Diver, Shag and Eider Duck. These birds were quite close to shore so were
seen very well. Purple
Sandpipers were also seen north of the Stagg.
With the days being still short we next made off to East Chevington
and after checking out North Pool amongst other birds we found another Long-Tailed Duck, Red breasted Merganser,
Little Grebes and Goldeneyes. Instead of walking to the mouth of the burn
we decided to get down to Druridge Pools before the light disappeared. I had thought it couldn’t get any colder,
but it did. We looked from the budge
screen to find the ponds frozen solid and only one solitary bird present, which
was a Shelduck that finally gave up
and flew off. We too gave up at this
point and made for home after a last quick stop at Cresswell Pond were a large
flock of Lapwing had gathered in the
centre of the frozen pond.
As we headed for home threatening cloud began to approach
from the south. In the west the sky reddened,
and the sun formed a huge red ball of flame as it reached the horizon. A bitterly cold but very rewarding day. Give me a cold bright winter’s day over a
damp squib of a summer’s day anytime!
No comments:
Post a Comment