Spring in to Birding with a Quality Day

25^th April.  Spurred on perhaps by noticing some good records of late on the records board at the Rising Sun Country Park, Sam and I decided to begin our day in North Tyneside before moving north along the coast to Druridge.  The evening before, Sam’s presentation at the country park concerning conservation success stories had been well received.  Our presentations are to be repeated, but not before we have re-worked them over the winter months.

We soon picked up the calls of numerous Chiffchaff and Willow Warblers and eventually had sightings of singing Blackcaps and Common Whitethroats, although the hedge renowned for warblers was today very quiet.  A surprise was the large number of Greenfinch seen and heard in the area, hopefully a species o the rise again.  A flock of Goldfinch was also seen.  Three species of grebe were soon added to our day list Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe and good sightings of a pair of their rarer cousin which had been on our target list.  Also seen well lit by the sunlight were both Red Crested Pochard and a very unexpected Ruddy Duck.  With the sunshine, birdsong and decent sightings we stayed in North Tyneside a little longer than expected.  Swallows and a couple of House Martins flew over the water and Long tailed Tits were seen.  We eventually left for Druridge Bay, more specifically the café at Cresswell for lunch before visiting Cresswell Pond.  Hopefully some areas for wildlife will remain in North Tyneside in the long term despite the Council’s steely determination to cover the whole area in brick, concrete and tarmac!

Spoonbill

As we approached the pond, passing Tree Sparrows along the way, it was good to see the water low and the sun still above us, and even better to see such a good selection of species which led to one of our better days at this site.  Red breasted Mergansers were on the pond, but what caught the eye were the waders in eye catching plumage.  The list here was Oystercatcher, Avocets mainly at the north end of the pond and numbering twenty-two, Lapwing, a single Knot, Dunlin perhaps twenty-thirty, a single Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Black tailed Godwit six, Curlew, Ruff six and best of all a flock of Whimbrel which flew in as we watched.  I got my eye on a Whimbrel and we soon realised that the whole flock of thirty-two were in fact all Whimbrel.  The most either of us have seen at one time.  It was good to hear the occasional call from them, one of those calls that to my mind spells true wilderness.  The call of an Arctic Tern was also heard overhead, but the bird wasn’t seen.

A Common Buzzard was seen in the far distance to the north of the pond and from the hide Sam counted twenty plus Wheatears, Pied and White Wagtail in the fields at the far end of the pond.  At least some of Wheatears were seen more clearly by us as we moved north, as were the Avocets.

Spoonbill

Our next stop was Druridge Pools where before we entered the hide we heard Sedge Warblers and briefly saw Stonechat.  Reed Bunting was seen at some point.  The first birds seen from the hide were two Little Egrets and a Spoonbill.  On this occasion we were watching a very active Spoonbill!  We were reminded of one of our best ever birding days which we had spent on the Little Hortobagy in Hungary where we had watched Spoonbills.  The Spoonbill grabbed our attention so much it was a while before we saw the Garganey!  Other birds on the pools included a pair of Pintail, Shelduck, Mallard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal and Tufted Duck.  A single Whimbrel was seen here too.  Sand Martins were seen as we moved between hides.

Channel Yellow Wagtail

We had looked at the area near Bell’s Pond hoping for Yellow Wagtail.  This is usually a good area for this species, but we found none today.  It wasn’t long before we found two at Druridge Pools.  As the sun shone on these birds I was once again reminded just how stunning this species is and we were pleased to point them out to a fellow birder for which this species was a lifer.  I got my eye on a third Yellow Wagtail on the edge of the pool and Sam instantly recognised it as a Channel Yellow Wagtail.  We watched this bird at length as it bathed in the pool.  A Meadow Pipit was seen nearby.  A pair of Great Crested Grebe was seen on the northerly pool, but there was nothing else of note there.

Channel Yellow Wagtail

Having spoken to some birders who had come down via Hauxley Reserve and told us they had seen little in that area, which didn’t all together surprise me, we decided not to bother going any further north but instead to take a quick look over the sea as our time had passed very quickly.  Eider Ducks were seen, and we also picked up Sandwich, Arctic and Common Terns.  We made off for home soon after.

In the evening when I wrote up our species day list I was surprised but pleased to find the list totalled eighty-one species.  It had seemed to me one of those special days that occur from time to time and it made up for the fact that I haven’t been very active on the birding front in recent weeks.  It had been a relaxed day and a quality day and so difficult to pick out a ‘sighting of the day’ but on reflection I think for me it has to be that flock of Whimbrel.

Small White and Tortoiseshell Butterflies added to the day.