As expected, the start of July provided little real interest. Wader numbers were gradually building up and most time was spent scanning through them, to no avail for the most part. Numbers of Gulls started to rise, and I was particularly keen to try and pick out either juv Yellow-legged or Caspian, species that I was sure must have been overlooked this far up north.
The first patch ticks for the month came in the form of two cracking adult Pomarine Skuas N on the 8th, albeit at some distance after being tracked through the county fairly close in. It was then largely dead, and I was having trouble finding motivation even with my list target, until the 18th when a fairly short morning visit seemed to indicate some migration was on: quite where from though I'm not sure, given that the species involved were a family party of Whinchats and a male Channel Wagtail. The wagtail was a complete surprise and a new hybrid for me, feeding with a large loose flock of wagtails, pipits and chats in the corner of the 2nd field N from the village where some digging was taking place.
It stayed for at least a week, on one evening catching me out when backlit and appearing a much darker blue on the head. Manx numbers were growing everyday, with Velvet Scoter and Blue Fulmar N on the 22nd and 24th new, and a juv Great-crested Grebe in Howick bay on the latter still my only one so far. A non-avian highlight on the 22nd came in the form of 3 White-beaked Dolphin, initially very distant and picked out as different mainly on their very jumpy behaviour and Orca-looking dorsal fin. They eventually came fairly close in, and being new for me I spent quite some time watching them. Being a huge fan of seawatching, the first Sooty Shearwater north on the 27th was a landmark moment of the summer, and came in strong SWerlies funnily enough.
And then the purple patch for the area began...
Following initial reports of a dark-backed Tern that flew out to see from Dunstanburgh on the 28th, I had 30 mins before I had to be in work, so rushed to the coast to see if it might pass the village. There was of course no sign, though 2 Little Egrets south were nice: the bird was then picked up further north than originally found, before again the trail went cold. Some reports then came out overnight, and without going into detail, the Sooty Tern was found again on the afternoon of the 29th at Cullernose Point, a couple of miles north at most from Longhouton Steel (you can see most of the cliffs fairly well.) Diverting post work straight there and getting some great views, I then headed straight to the Steel to see if I could add it to the Boulmer list, Ben having similar ideas.
On scanning the sea from the village, one of the first birds I picked up was a Balearic Shearwater going N at mid distance: I was initially cautious given it was a paler morph, but Manx seen quickly after in the same conditions put me at ease (totol for Manx just in the evening were 294!). The Tern was nowhere to be seen and had headed off back north from Cullernose too. That morning a juv Red Kite had come in-off at 7am towards Howick, where it was picked up by Mark - still a very decent bird in Northumberland seemingly, although I've now had at least 5 from the Boulmer area. By the end of July I was on 133.
August then...
The morning of the 1st was great: Kingfisher, Reed Warbler and a Green Sandpiper south were all patch ticks, and new-in migrants included 2 Sedge and 2 Willow Warbler, 3 Wheatear and a Whinchat. My scanning through gulls finally paid dividends on the 3rd, when I picked out a juv Yellow-legged Gull flying in-off before dropping onto Longhouton Steel. I could see Ben approaching from the village so gave him a call, but it had moved further out towards the tideline by the time he got to the Steel and wasn't giving great views. Still, a 2nd site record, and following a big arrival much further south. A Short-eared Owl south offshore was probably from much closer, but was also new for the patch list.
The 8th again brought an interesting Gull, this one I probably messed up though. Picked up offshore around a fishing boats with GBBs, after prolonged views at distance and in poor light I plumped for another, albeit pale juv Yellow-legged (the commoner between it and Caspian back home.) I'd clocked that it had a pale underwing and was generally long-winged, and was obviously either a juv YLG or Casp, but I hadn't seen anything to suggest it wasn't a YL. Anyway, suspicions arose from myself when watching some phonescoped footage back, and sure enough was echoed by other gullers when I stuck some shots on Twitter. Things I obviously missed in the field given conditions and for paying enough attention, were the slenderness of the bird on the water, length of the bill, and how deep the black tail band stretches in. I'm now fairly certain it was a Caspian, but it would have to be one that got away for now. One thing to note for anyone trying to find YL or Caspian Gulls, both the rare in Northumberland, was that they both birds above hung around GBBs and not Herring Gulls for the most part, and as shown in probably the next post, was also the case for the confirmed Caspian I found in September.
I'll end this post here, otherwise I would get too long, but just over a month covered, with some great birds breaking up the otherwise slowness of midsummer, leaving me on 138 for the patch (plus Grey-headed and Channel Wagtails and Ruddy Shelduck.)
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