The winds had looked decent for a seawatch on the August 9th, and an early doors Great Shear N past Newbiggin had me looking out for several hours at high tide, with little to show other than a Velvet, a Sooty and 2 Bonxies. I headed off for Seaton Point in search of migrants, and had just reached the farmhouse when I realised I had a missed call from Stewart and John, and checking messages revealed they reckoned they had a good candidate for a lesser goldie just north of the village, on the receding tide where I had been seawatching earlier!
A 'boc' appeared in our Boulmer group chat, and my reply was "PGP!", then "nailed on get it out". Obviously easier to form a coherent opinion when it's not sitting in front of you, and Stewart and John had already come to the same conclusion. I set off back in a half jog with all my kit, and probably 10 minutes later was scoping the bird on the mud - an absolute cracker, barely a feather out of place and showing very well. An excellent find and a new bird for the area, it gave me a lesson in being more thorough with checking the open areas of the Steel and not just the flock of Golden Plovers and other waders, as it came out it had been photographed a couple of days before. The Plover caused quite a stir, and with it showing well lots came to twitch it. Sooties started becoming daily, even in the wrong winds, something I've never experienced when seawatching at other sites, whilst Velvet Scoter also increased, starting with 4 N on the 9th.
The 13th was a great day, a real showcase for the site: I arrived early at the Steel, picking up the PGP quickly with it showing very well in foggy conditions, and with the wind in the east the conditions screamed Black Terns so I set up to do a watch. A GN Diver went south, a trickle of Shearwaters north, and then at 1235 I picked up a marsh tern flying slowly north around 200m offshore. I told a birder sat next to me who was watching the Plover (Adrian Pitches I believe) that I had a moulting adult marsh tern, and that it looked interesting. The most notable feature at the distance I first picked up the at was the striking white area around the leading edge to the upperwing, and although the bird was heavily moulting, overall the blacks seemed blacker and the whites whiter than on any adult Black Tern I'd seen. In case there were other birders in the area on the Northumberland Whatsapp group, I put it out as a probable moulting ad WWBT off the Steel. It was going nowhere fast, so I managed some phonescoped video, below, which all the diagnostic features can be seen in.
Thankfully, the bird came closer as it moved north, and must have clocked the small groups of mixed Terns sat on the Steel, as it came in-off and plonked itself in the flock. Because of it's size, it was initially mostly obscured by a rock, with only it's head showing, but after a brief sortie it landed in a more prominent position, offering good albeit distant views. Another birder arrived on scene, but after around 35 minutes most of the birds on the Steel got up, and we all failed to locate the Tern again. A few birders arrived shortly after, but unfortunately that was the last that was seen of it at Boulmer (it appeared the next day in the Druridge area.) Another first for the area, I believe this addition put the area list on 241. 4 Pomarine and increasing Skua numbers generally, tideline Sooties and juv Black Terns and Little Gulls were noted that afternoon and the next day.
And then came the Long-taileds...
The Plover stuck around long enough for Mark to catch up with it after being away thankfully, and the 16th brought the first highly anticipated Long-tailed Skuas of the year, after a great year for records on the Norther Isles. I managed 8, all juvs north in the afternoon, alongside a Pom, 5 Bonxie and 9 Arctics and a distant large shear S. I won't go into every seawatch, but LTS were had fairly regularly into September, with Juv Black Tern being a feature of most evening watches from the Steel. I had my first Pied Fly at Seaton Point found by Ben, and a juv Curlew Sand on the 22nd, joined by another on the 23rd, and more interestingly a very good (to my eye) juv Fuscus candidate with mostly GBBs in the 2nd field north from the village.
I've no experience with the species in this plumage but have been fairly well exposed to the fundamentals of their ID through being into gulls generally. The Common Gull like jizz immediately struck me, as the the very pale front and head, delicate beak, long primaries and dark centred scaps, with little notching on any feathers. It really did scream Fuscus to me, and I put it out as a probable - alas without a ring these things never get far. Very interesting none the less, and I even picked it up flying north the next morning after presumably roosting on the sea where it flew to the night before. If nothing else, it was tiny!
The 26th brought 177 PB Brent north (new) alongside a cracking close (and dark this time) Balearic alongside a Manx heading south: 2 juv LTS, 21 Sooty, Black Tern, Little Gull and Roseates made for a nice watch. Sooty numbers were increasing, with routine daily counts of 20, LTS still almost daily as reflected elsewhere and migrant numbers, although low, were enough to keep interest going.
I ended August on 145 for the area, and with around 3 weeks left before I knew I'd be moving to Lincolnshire, reaching the target of 160 by the end of September was going to be close!
No comments:
Post a Comment