November northerlies and an American

 Just coming off working nights on the 18th, I woke up to a few messages on the Rare and Scarce chat, one of which relating to a probable Water Pipit Clive Saunders had seen near Amble that morning. Immediately something felt wrong, so I went straight to Clive's Twitter to see if he had posted more shots. Indeed, just minutes before he had, and although seeming to show darkish lores and legs, features that are better for Water I reckoned, the bird had an overall jizz of Buff-bellied. I messaged a couple of people asking what they thought, and that just on the quite dark colouration reckoned the initial shots could be better for Japonicus. It came up on Birdguides minutes later as American Buff-bellied Pipit, so obviously others had had similar thoughts, and yeah, after some actual research was a much better fit for Rubescens. I certainly didn't have chance to get down that afternoon so waited to see if it would stick.

Conditions on the 19th looked ideal for a seawatch - northerlies blowing from quite a way into the arctic, albeit not for long and not all that strongly along the coastline. Nevertheless, after missing a couple of alarms I was out by 0815 and joined Mark for a socially distanced watch, with few highlights. Quite a surprise was the lack of any Little Auks, and although numbers of seabirds moving had evidently increased, it was nothing to stop me from scheduling in an afternoon visit for the ABBP. Before that though, I did get a patch tick in the form of 2 female Long-tailed Ducks which flew north mid-distance (190), and Whooper flocks totalling 62 south alongside probably 3 GND, 1N 2S, were decent fill-ins late morning.

One of the features of the watch that really kept me interested were the numbers of gulls feeding along the breakers, mostly small (Black-headed and Common) but with a few large ones thrown in, and several Mediterranean and a single 1w Little. I couldn't pick out anything better though, Bonaparte's being the main one I was checking for, and so around 1ish headed off to look for the pipit at Amble. It didn't take long for me to arrive and get on the bird, which was feeding at close range amongst the seaweed displaced high up the beach by the recent tides. It was a really nice bird, the plumage tones combining to produce something quite unlike any Rock, Water or Meadow. It fed quite happily along the strandline, the buffness coming out much more in reality than the initial photos suggested. Just as I was about to leave, it flew up and over the dunes, returning later I believe, but it did allow me to hear and record it's very distinctive call - will hopefully come in useful at Boulmer one day!

I may or may not have slept in again on the 20th, so scrambled down to Boulmer to see what was around at 10am. There were even more gulls than previous, feeding along the entire coastline amongst the crashing breakers. It was also much colder in the breezy southerlies than the northerlies of the day before, something I was feeling having expected rain instead of cold. Over feeling sorry for myself, I walked along the beach below the pub, trying to find the weird wagtail in order to get a recording, whilst scanning the gulls. Fairly quickly on one of my scans, an off-white gull, appearing slightly larger than the Commons rose up over a breaker briefly - obviously not the in-your-face white off a Med, I was happy it was an Iceland, but waited for better views. Sure enough it continued to show intermittently whilst dodging waves, with the black bill and paleness continuing down into the secondaries noted - Glaucous never really came into mind it was so textbook. 

One of the best gulls for sure, and the best age

After a while I lost it, noted a couple of Fieldfare come in-off, got a look and recording of the weird Wagtail and continued along to the Steel where I could see even more gulls. I picked up the Iceland again on the north side of the Steel, amongst a large flock of probably 4-500 Herring and GBB, a real spectacle. I knew Mark was on his way down for a look, so found myself a sheltered spot and began checking the other gulls: just as he arrived, I picked out a monster 1w Caspian Gull, initially hesitating to check is wasn't a GBB, I got him on both that and the Iceland fairly quickly. I'd thought about trekking across the Steel to get closer views, but was put off by quite liking having functioning ankles: after a bit of encouragement from Mark however, we both headed out all our kit in hand.

It was a good decision, with nice, albeit brief (due to the towering waves breaking every 5 or so seconds) views had of both the Casp and Iceland, and with maybe the same 1w Little as yesterday, as well as Kittiwake and at least 6 Med Gull, I realised we were on 9 gull species! Despite a fair bit of trying, mostly for LBB, we couldn't find a tenth. A quick check of Seaton Point was as expected, quiet, with the Red-legged Partridge there still eluding my patch list, so I returned to the Steel for a check of the gulls, with nothing of interest seen.

Smaller, but I know who'd win in a fight

Love the intricate patterning on the tail

Star of the show? Maybe not this time

Snouty

Overall, a great feeding spectacle, with numbers of gulls far exceeding anything I've had at Boulmer before. The Iceland was a patch tick (191), and the 5th I've had this year, whilst the Caspian was the 3rd and best looking I've had on the patch, a real classic. Obviously gulls aren't everyone's cup of tea, Caspians and Yellow-legged even more so, but I do wonder how many Casps are getting missed further north than Boulmer and even the county as a whole. 

Two of my gettable targets down for the patch list in 2 days, it means that on 191, my realistic target of 195 is very much achievable, with 200 still being possible in theory. Treecreeper, Nuthatch and Red-legged Partridge (if they play ball) should be relative bankers if I spend some time around Howick Burn and the Seaton Point layby, and either of Scaup or Glauc would put me on 195. Reaching 200 is going to require a beast from the east style winter I feel, with Waxwing and a few geese/swans up for grabs - maybe there's 1 more rarity still to be had? All to play for either way...

October flashback - twitches and AGP

 Another backdated post for October, meaning it's now all up to date...

With a couple of days off work, I headed back up on the 2nd of October with the weather looking half-decent for the next day at least. A morning around the Steel and Seaton Point produced and ad Curlew Sandpiper going into winter plumage, a variety of ducks moving north and a Yellow-browed Warbler by the car park at Seaton Point. I had planned if it was pretty quiet to head up the coast to Budle for the Two-barred Greenish, so set off that way late morning. It hadn't been seen for several hours on arrival, and despite up to 3 YBW showing well, it wasn't seen again that day or ever again for that matter - dip!

However, early afternoon a message came through that a Bluethroat had been found at Boulmer, though there weren't any details initially. Myself and Mark who had been waiting for the Two-barred Greenish set off pretty much straight away, and were soon watching the bird popping in and out of the marram grass bordering the beach just north of the car park. I'd failed to walk along there in the morning, instead opting to drive the car across to the Seaton Point car park - very lazy and costly it seems! It was a really nice bird though, a 1st-winter male with some nice blue coming through, and another new bird for the area in an already fantastic year. 8 Velvets, a Pom and a Sooty were nice on an evening seawatch whilst I checked the weather for the next day.

Very nice

Called from further down the coast, only took a few mins

The 3rd starting off with easterlies and fairly heavy rain, which stuck about for mosr of the day. There were evidently some birds new in from the off, with a new YBW by the bench near the village and 3 Blackcap, several Chiffs and a few Blackbird and Song Thrush. Sites in Yorkshire were getting an arrival of crests and thrushes that just wasn't apparent in Northumberland it seemed. Mark had started at Seaton Point, myself at the Steel, and with little really to show, we passed each other in front of the pub at around 11. On reaching the bushes by the mound towards Seaton Point, having had only a couple of Goldcrest on the Steel, Mark the same, they were suddenly everywhere. Groups of 3 were turning into flocks of 10 in front of my eyes, so I messaged Mark to see if he was having the same thing - he was, 25+ on the Steel alone. 

The wave of Goldcrest brought with it more Blackbird, Song Thrush, Robin and Blackcap, and suddenly it felt like there were birds to be found. Unfortunately I only had till the early afternoon, so was in a race against time to get something. A couple more YBW, more Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps were evident but that was all from Seaton Point. Heading back north past the pub, the a couple of  patch tick Redstarts were new in where I had passed Mark earlier, as was a Wheatear and more common migrants. A few Redwing were seen coming in-off, but by 2 I really had to be off, so headed back down the A1, hearing of some really good stuff arriving elsewhere - very annoying! After the 2 day stay I was still creeping forward, reaching 165.

I wasn't planning to be up for a while, but the finding of a Great Grey Shrike, another first confirmed record for the area, saw me back up the A1 on some days off from the 8th. A great day for passage, I started out on the Steel, clocking over 2800 Pinks S, 10 Whoopers (patch tick), 33 Little Gull N, as well as the odd crest and Wheatear about. Heading towards Seaton Point, a Redpoll calling overhead dropped onto a distant hedge: I got my scope on it and was met by a nice pale Mealy, a patch tick and pretty scarce at Boulmer. I found the Shrike fairly easily by the farmhouse, and showed well giving good scope views. After I'd had my fill of that, I jammed in on a Great-spotted Woodpecker in the village (patch tick), and possibly further afield before grabbing some lunch.

Loyal to it's chosen hedge

I decided to spend the late afternoon and evening on the Steel checking the Goldies and seawatching. On reaching the Steel, around 1/2 way through my scan of the Plovers I picked up the semi-resident pale bird, always striking ay first, but just a weird Euro. Towards the end of my scan, on the far edge as the flock was thinning out a bird with weird jizz caught my attention - smaller, slimmer and greyer than anything previously in the flock, I watched it running around and feeding in an almost hunched over manner. It was fairly close to a standard Euro, and the much more prominent super which diffusely reached further to the rear of the head was also a big feature, as were the proportionately much longer legs. I studied the bird for a minute, noting the long tapered look to the rear end and primary projection past the tertials - it was a juvenile American Golden Plover, it had to be!

                   

              

I put the news out as a probable initially whilst I waited to see if I could see it's underwing, which it duly showed in a brief sortie. It was very active, and spent a lot of time imposing itself on the bulkier Euros. Quite a while was spent videoing the bird on my phone, trying to capture the underwing and other features. As the tide came in the entire flock nudged closer and closer, albeit with the light fading (it actually stood out much more in the poorer light than being lit by the sunset.) Being able to view it for about an hour, I got plenty of chance to compare the two species, at one point the flock flew and I had to refind it, which wasn't very hard. Unfortunately no-one was able to make it down that night, and despite extensive looking over the next few days, it wasn't seen again (more decent passage plus patch ticks Twite and Goldeneye were added the next day whilst looking though!). Another patch tick and first for the area. It was also the first American bird I've found, bit of a landmark and hopefully the first of many. You'll need to be on the full web version to see the vids below.

1080p otherwise it's probably not worth it

Ditto

Conditions for seawatching looked decent from the 13th, when 3 Poms, 7 Sooties, 5 Manx and 30 Little Gull went north, with 225 PB Brents south. The 14th was better for variety though. A morning watch with Mark from the Steel produced patch tick 2xBT Divers and Slavonian Grebes, 8 Arctic, 3 Pom and 3 Great Skua as well an assortment of ducks north. Frustratingly though, with birds arriving elsewhere (Holy Island with some great bits), there seemed to be very little tangibly in at Boulmer. A similar story in the bushes on the 15th, 15 Goldcrest, a Chiffchaff being the highlights, though a Little Auk N was nice (patch tick), and a mid distance Diver threatened to be White-billed, but remained too distant.

BTD (left) with RTD

I eventually broke on the 16th, spending the morning on Holy Island totting up some nice species, but failing to find anything myself. None were lifers, but Brown Shrike, Pallas' and Dusky Warblers were good, although the Bluetail was only found after I had left back down the A1 home. One of these weird looking late autumn Willow Warblers and a SE Owl were the only real bits of interest I bumped into alone.

Back at work a few days later, I was left stunned when I checked my phone to see Stewart's picture of his and John's newly found Desert Wheatear at Seaton Point! A cracking bird and great find, I was left to just hope it would stick till I could next make it up. Thankfully, it did just that, and on the 22nd I was able to come up for the day - a proper dirty twitch but worth it. It was never really close, but gave decent scope views, bringing a steady flow of admirers through the day feeding mostly in the ploughed field opposite the layby. 

Surprisingly tricky to pickup in it's field

A Black Redstart found in the week by Ben was my next stop, and sure enough I picked it up relatively quickly on houses at the north end of the village, another patch tick. It was a female type thing and very brief, but nice nonetheless. I then headed over to the Steel for a spot of vismig as I'd had a few finches going south whilst watching the Wheatear. I was fairly quiet for the most part, until I heard a Crossbill type call from out to sea. I picked up the bird coming in low from the north-east, a big male with a call unlike a Crossbill I had heard before. I always try and set my recorder up when vismigging, but having been walking around I had to grab it out of my pocket, meaning the first few and loudest calls were missed. Thinking the calls I had heard and the bulk of the bird indicated it could have been a Parrot, I stuck it out as such, hoping my recordings would shed some light later...

Certainly chunky, alas

...they did. Common Crossbill, of the British/Norwegian form giving N6 calls (at least the 2 I managed to record). A bit disappointing, but listening to these calls back I still reckon it's not the call I'm familiar with Crossbill making when I've had them moving south most of the Autumn. A bit of a weird one, and probably best to put it down to a lack of experience and naivety of seeing a bulky Crossbill coming in-off.  When I first head it, it had a Chaffinch-like quality, but who knows.

That takes me up to the end of October, the patch list sitting on 178. Bit of a weird order to the last couple of posts but wanted to go over the recent spell whilst it was still fresh. So head back two posts to continue the read...

Early November second half...Caspian and Dusky

The second half of my stay stay started fairly quietly, with the 6th producing a Velvet N, 17 Crossbill S, 21 Whoopers and a Marsh Harrier. 

Don't get Twite back home - cracking things

The 7th was better, with 84 Eider N, 3 Lapland Bunting S and a few more thrushes in. Best though was a 2w Caspian I picked up fairly distantly offshore amongst gulls around a fishing boat. Initially unsure whether it was a 1w or 2w, I picked it up on the clean rump contrasting with the black tail band, pale underwing and overall long-winged jizz. It eventually came closer and landed on the Steel a way off, allowing the age to be confirmed and other features secured such as covert and tertial patterns, long legs and slopping head/parallel sides bill with negligible gonies angle. It flew south and Mark caught up with it loafing off Seaton Point. The 2nd confirmed one I've had, definitely different to the one in September on structure.

Won't find any Herrings with a tail and underwing like that...

...nice shawl and bill too...

...and very long-winged! 

(Plus look at the window and greater covert pattern)

The conditions for the 8th looked the best of my stay. Fog, maybe rain and SE winds all pointed to an arrival. From first thing an arrival of sorts was apparent with thrushes, mainly Blackbirds passing over unseen in the fog at Seaton Point. More Woodcock were new in, I had 3 throughout the day, but Mark had 5 on the Steel alone and I joined him for a while waiting for things to come in. There were quite a few ducks moving N, but lots were probably missed in the fog. Although more thrushes were arriving throughout the morning, there seemed be a lack of anything else until I a found a 1w male Black Redstart on the undercliff halfway between the Steel and Boulmer.

Smart bird in typical setting

Dodging me, runners and dogs

It showed well, but I wanted to press on back to Seaton Point to see if anything else had arrived. A pale redpoll, probably Mealy dropped in briefly along the coast but soon carried on inland. The first few bushes at Seaton Point revealed nothing new from the morning, but at the south end of the mound I found a distinctly pale Chiffchaff, which after initially a bit of a run around showed well and proved to be a rather smart Siberian, albeit silent. Only my 2nd ever, and first at Boulmer, it was a really nice bird, very pale underparts, all black bill and legs, rather pale diffuse super and green-grey upper parts. It remained silent but showed down to a few feet in the fog, often feeding on the ground - a real treat. 

First views - paaaaale

Probably the closest of any Chiffchaff I've ever had

Mark's comment on this pic - "the most spherical bird I've ever seen"

A Lap Bunt flew over, probably in-off as I was watching the Chiffchaff, and whilst walking around the point trying to find a Dusky Warbler (there'd been an arrival of 6 at Spurn alone) I flushed a silent Jack Snipe from the path, a patch tick (number 187). Otherwise there didn't seem to be too much in other than Blackbirds, so I went back for seconds of the Chiffchaff, where I was joined late on by Mark.

The 9th again looked like there might be some arrivals, and in fact, starting out at the Steel there were more thrushes, again mostly Blackbirds coming in off, some dropping in. The rain early on in the morning gave the most pronounced movement, but it was clear birds were coming in all day, my ability to see and hear them dependant on the density of fog at the time. Ducks were also moving in good numbers, with counts of 340 Wigeon, 83 Eider, 9 Shoveler, 50 Teal, 6 DB Brents all N, plus a BT Diver that way too. I also picked up 3 Slavonian Grebes fairly close offshore sat on the sea, and eventually joined by a group of up to 8 Goldeneye, were only my 2nd patch record. Pom Skuas, 2N 1S were my first for a while, one juv showing quite well chasing Herring Gulls.

Straight from the phone

I headed down to Seaton Point to look for the anything new in there and the Chiffchaff again. There was no sign of the latter so I began a more concerted check of the caravan site than the day before, as there were very few people around. Blackbirds were everywhere still, as were Song Thrush, but there were seemingly no new in crests or warblers.

At about 1pm, I was walking up the central track on the south side of the caravan side when a small bird flew into a hawthorn briefly, before zipping across behind a caravan. For the split second I got on it, it looked like a small Phyllosc, and did I hear a tack or was I imaging it? I scrambled up the hill to see if I could locate the bird, and waited for 5 minutes. There was no sign, so I put it behind me, probably a Wren, and continued up the path. 30 seconds later, another couple of tacks? I turned and listened intently, only Wrens could be seen and heard, was I going mad? I continued along to the eastern end of Seaton Point, before routing back west along the beach. I then had the choice of whether to continue along the sand or go back along the already beaten path and look again for the possible Dusky...

Nearing where I thought I heard tacks last, a small dark bird flushed across the path in a small hawthorn - on raising my bins I was met with a dark bird flicking around to reveal a striking super...Dusky Warbler! It flicked along into some bracken where it began 'tutting' away, so I decided to grab my recorder out of my pocket in order to have something to go back to. It wasn't still for long and I had to run across the bracken/hawthorn covered mounds to keep up with it. After being sure I'd recorded some calls, I put the news out, locally first to gauge opinion on whether it would be appropriate given the current situation to put it out wider. After being reassured, I stuck it on the the Northumberland group with a pin, by which time I had completely lost the bird.

I knew Mark was on his way, so set back about trying to find it again. Luckily I did so when it flushed from the side of the path seconds before Mark arrived, after some waiting the bird again flitted from bracken sea to hawthorn, mostly just giving flight views and calls. John joined myself and Mark later in the evening and also managed a short view, but it really was a tricky bird to pin down, the only pic I managed being an awful flight shot. I've joint found one before at Spurn, but it was nice to find one on my patch and add to the Boulmer area list again - now 248 we believe!

Poor quality, but you get the idea

Still present the next morning, I finally managed to get a shot when it flew into the bottom of a hawthorn for a couple of seconds after I had followed it for around 30 mins through the bracken. Stewart Sexton said he was going to come down for it during his lunch break, so I headed off to check other areas with the intention of helping him look later. A couple of Lapland Bunting seemed fairly settled around the field near the mound, flushing out a few times but always returning. Thrushes had definitely thinned out though, so I went back a bit earlier than expected to look for the Dusky with some other birders. When Stewart arrived we again found it fairly quickly, but for the most part it only showed in flight, once however flicking around nicely for probably 5 seconds in a hawthorn, allowing me to get some better shots and Stewart to get a view good enough to produce the amazing sketch/painting seen below.

The typical panicky bin-raising view - would my camera make it?

Finally!

Mid flick 

Stunning from Stewart

http://boulmerbirder.blogspot.com/

The day also brought a couple of Velvets N and 2 Bonxie south, plus a rather cheeky patch tick Hooded Crow which I picked up in flight over Howick from the clifftops south of the burn, before it landed on the TV aerial of Seahouses Farm. The bird has been around since the Summer, so I was glad to catch up with it, albeit it extreme distance. 

Fogged up, a Lap Bunt nonetheless

There ended my early November stay, 11 patch ticks which was way more than I thought, plus several nice finds. 189 in just under 7 months for me at Boulmer is it seems a new year record for anyone on any patch in the county - I'm fairly pleased with that! (Thanks to Stewart for doing some digging)

The target now has to be 195, I think 200 will be too much of a stretch, but who knows! I still have a few 'easy' things: LT Duck, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, and then when you tally in white-winged Gulls, a couple more geese/swans, scarcities or rarities and maybe a cold snap, you never know I guess. Will be nice to get past 190, I never thought that would be on the cards back in September when I was eeking out birds trying to reach 160.

Early November stay - first half

With my current work schedule (complicated) and Covid, I had a period of just over a week where I'd be able to spend a lot of time on the patch birding. I had a few patch ticks in mind to target - things like Long-tailed Duck, Water Pipit, Woodcock, Jack Snipe and Snow Bunting, plus Fieldfare which I reckoned would be a banker.

Locked on to a Twite, too quick for me...

...and rest.

My first day out, the 2nd, was fairly quiet, though did bring my first Fieldfare as well as Chiffchaff, 13 Twite, GND and 82 Whoopers south. The 3rd was much better, again decent Whooper passage with 79 south, plus a late Greenland type Wheatear new in on the beach, another GND and patch ticks in the form of Snow Bunting in-off, a very late Garden Warbler and a heard only Moorhen from the layby at Seaton Point. 

Couldn't squeeze out a Bewick's

Small bird in a blue sky

Big, buff and bullish - Greenland material

The Garden Warbler was particularly interesting, having a very weird jizz, different looking bill, being quite a bit paler than normal, and seeming bigger too. The eastern race Woodwardi seems a decent bet given the date and features noted above, but it only showed twice despite further looking by myself and Mark -  glad I got some shots which reflect the slight weirdness of the bird. The 3 patch ticks added on the 3rd put me on 182 for the area.

Those tertials...

There had been huge numbers of Pinkfeet moving both north and south during the first few days, and with a bit of scanning the odd Barnacle could be picked out in the flocks. 8 Tundra Beans north early doors on the 4th at Whitburn caught my attention, but there's not a great track record for picking stuff up from further down the coast at Boulmer. The morning produced a couple more GND, Snow Bunt and more geese before I picked up 8 Goose sp going N just inland at 1055 from my position at the Steel. 

They immediately appeared darker and lacked the typical pale grey inner forewing of Pinkfoot, despite the light being good. They were slightly bigger and bulkier I felt, all fairly uniform in size and with fairly large heads on long, but substantial necks. They were already heading away N up the coast, so I rattled off some record shots, and watched for a while longer to get a look at the tails.

3rd bird from the right a Taiga imposter?

They banked briefly, showing a nice dark outer tail band and no white visible beyond, the back of the birds being the same dark brown of the as the flanks, again no hint of the grey expected on Pinkfoot. I then gave Stewart a call at Howick to see if he could pick them up, but unfortunately I think they had probably passed over him by the time he got out. I tracked them over Howick where they seemed to head slightly more inland. 

Having never had good flight views of Bean, I stuck them out as probables initially incase anyone else could get on them, and then continued birding hoping to do some research later. From my views, pics and subsequent trawling online I'm happy that at least 7 were Tundra Bean, although one particular bird in the photos seems to have a slimmer neck and head profile - maybe a Taiga, but probably within variation. A Little Egret south and Lapland Bunting at Seaton Point rounded off the day's birding.

A higher pressure system building up to the south and east on the 5th caught my eye, with the hope for some arrivals. It was a great day - 3400 Pinks S, a trickle of Thrushes and Starling in-off, 18 Whoopers, 4 Crossbill, 2 Snow Bunts, and best of all 3 patch ticks: a winter plumage Black Guillemot N mid distance, 2 Woodcock in-off and a very brief Water Pipit at Seaton Point which then flew N. The Woodcock were great, one coming past feet above my head in an evening watch on the Steel, whilst the Water Pipit (possibly a returning bird) flushed from rocks when I luckily got some shots. I never saw the Pipit again, expecting it to settle down with the fairly large Rock Pipit flock.

Distinctly un-Siberian, nice nonetheless

Redwing x Rockit

Nice white wedge in T5

The 2nd half of this stay requires another, bigger post, but certainly a very good first few days with a fair bit of quality given the conditions and how later in the autumn it was.