With the weather looking 'good' from early in the week, and a free Saturday, I plotted a day trip up to Boulmer for some seawatching. Monitoring Twitter on Friday evening to see just how bad the Storm was, I got up at 4am and set off from a fairly tranquil Lincoln. Just over 3 hrs later, and after a dodgey 5 miles around Leeds where the A1 turned to slush, I started the climb up towards Alnwick. It was here, about 20 mins from Boulmer, that I started seeing my first downed trees: things then escalated exponentially as I turned off the A1, with scenes reminiscent of those after a Hurricane. It took me half an hour to get to an apolocalyptic Seaton Pt, with 2 roads completely blocked and numerous flooded patches and downed trees.
On arrival, I was met with horizontal sleet, the strongest winds I've ever experienced and flying debris from the caravan site. Nevertheless, I knew there would be some shelter to be found, so donned the waterproofs and headed out with my gear for the day. 3 completely disintegrated caravans made for a scary scene, and the waves were considerably bigger than anything I've ever seen. After trying a few spots, I settled on the very Eastern tip of the point, on the sheltered side of the mound there - 'shelter' perhaps pushing it.
During one of the more palettable spells
Anyway, onto the birds. Viewing conditions were truly difficult, so I undoubtedly missed tonnes, but Long-tailed Ducks were both frequent and easy to pick up: more than I've ever seen and some great views of 49N, including flocks of 7 and 13. Ducks on a whole were the main group braving the conditions, with 236 Eider and 126 C Scoter the most numerous. Hiding in groups and passing in smaller numbers, I managed to pick up 11 Pintail, 15 Teal, 150 Wigeon, 2 RB Merg, 5 Velvets, a Shoveler and 4 Gadwall which were nice to see.
Maybe my favourite pick from the day
One of the 4 Gadwall
Pintail
With the weather system and increased records, Brunnich's Guillemot was on my mind, but despite grilling every Auk, none of them even remotely looked good, just one sum plum Guillie initially caught my eye. That being said, 15 Little Auk and a couple of Puffin, some fairly close in, were really nice and especially impressive given the conditions.
Strange combination...
Mark arrived mid-morning, and whilst catching up I picked up a nice Black Guillemot, not too far out and only my 2nd on the patch. I managed to get some record shots, and tried to photograph as much as possible, mainly as practice for when the big one went past. When conditions momentarily improved and vis got better, I managed to pickup a couple of Sooties and a Manx going N - frustrating really as there was obviously more stuff moving out there, I just couldn't see it for the spray and showers.
Bigger stuff moving included 5 GND, 63 LB Brent and 21 Barnacles - the Geese seemingly displaced from Lindersfarne alongside the impressive numbers of waders heading N along the tideline. Mark had picked up a Slav Grebe in the bay, which I had a quick look at, as they're pretty to catch up with on the patch.
An impression of the sea state
All sorts of stuff moving back N
Though it lacked the real bit of 'rare' I was looking for, the event in itself was definately worth the effort, and I drove back south through the snow in awe of nature. As expected, Sunday looks to have been the better day, with some great birds picked up in the area: Brunnich's is still missing from the Boulmer list though, but perhaps an opportunity for one on the next blow with so many around?
Almost a year to the day since my last post, and it's fair to say that a lot's happened in the last year; getting married, moving, 4 months in the Falklands and general 'busyness' has meant that a regular birding pattern hasn't been possible. That said, I've seen some great birds in that time, and I'll try and do a Falklands recap at some point. For now, I'm still living in Lincs, although hopefully I'll be back in Northumberland permanently in the near future.
A Leopard Seal wouldn't look too out of place on a Northumberland beach right now
A morning visit to the patch on the 5th of November was my first in around 5 months, but provided my 2nd tick of the year after five Scaup in May: a Red-legged Partridge. I'd tried all autumn last year to find one in the fields around Seaton Point to no avail as I pushed for 200, and here was one just sat right out on my first visit in months! In terms of actual quality however, the Grey Phalarope I picked up going N along the breakers, before heading out and landing on the sea was a much nicer find. It was nice that Ben who I was just catching up with could get onto it too, and a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins even went through our scope views as we strained our eyes to the speck sat on the surface. 5 Great Northern Divers N were a good passage, and 16 Whoopers S over our heads were a reminder I was in for my 3rd straight winter. Oh, and I stopped in for the Wilson's Phalarope which made for a nice double.
In-off, my first of the autumn
Stunning
One of my 3 weeks of leave was spent in Tenerife on the NW coast at Puerto de le Cruz: definately not a birding holiday, more a chilled few days catching up on some vitamin D, but there were some bits to see. The specialities like Canary, Canary Islands Chiffchaff and African Blue Tit were common around the town, with Barbar Falcon seen on a few occassions too. Having a balcony close to the sea, I spent a few early mornings and evenings looking that way, and despite not seeing the hoped for Bulwer's Petrel or Barolo Shear (did see a distant possible), the hundreds of Cory's were nice, and two 2w Audouin's Gulls were probably decent for the Island. Other bits seen included Sardinian Warbler, Blackcap, YLG and LBB, some distant Tern sp, Little Egret, Whimbrel, a very large Whale and Common and Bottlenose Dolphins. A nice break.
Canary Islands Chiffchaff: They have a wide range of calls that really don't sound like Chiffs
African Blue Tit
Returning up to Boulmer for a couple of days on 15th/16th, I was hoping for some left over migrants after hints of easterlies on the weekend. It was evident from early on that other than the odd thrush, little had arrived, so I got on the mound at Seaton Point and started a vismig/seawatch. A few groups of Siskin were heading south, a Little Auk went the same way just beyond the breakers, and a rather late Sooty quite bizarrely headed N in fairly mundane conditions. A few raptors were terrorizing the finches and waders, first a Merlin zipping across the fields and then a pair of Peregrines working high over the village: whilst watching them, I picked up a fairly high Hirundine, always worth a look this late on. I was fairly certain it was a Sand Martin from early on, but as it was effectively over the village, I headed closer to be sure, losing it in the process. Thankfully it zipped past me around half an hour later, as it's probably the latest ever in the county.
With reports of the Bonaparte's Gull still being present at Stag Rocks, I decided to head up that way for the afternoon, more to get an idea for how hard I need to be grillilng Black-headed Gulls on seawatches to find one. On arrival a few birders were present and hadn't seen it, so I set about scanning the gulls present distantly offshore. Three Little Gulls were picked up, as were three of Long-tailed Ducks and a nice close Black Guillemot, but it took a good 20 minutes before I picked up a very distant gull with a striking pale underwing feeding towards the Farnes. Getting some of the others on it, it was nice to get a feel for the flight style (lighter, and quicker wingbeats) and the key plumage features, even at extreme range. Eventually it came a little closer and the greyish hindneck could be made out fairly easily, although unfortunately it never came onto the rocks. I picked up a distant Little Auk which pitched onto the sea, and then continued watching the gull in the fading light: it definately gave me confidence that I probably wouldn't be missing one on seawatches etc.
Very distinctive, even at range
Tuesday morning was even stiller, and starting at Seaton Point again, I noted a large number of Herring and Great-Black Backed Gulls heading south. I'd seen there had been lots moving the day before too, but had wanted to check for migrants, however with little promise on land, I headed straight for a seaside vantage point. A fishing boat was present not too far offshore, and some gulls were taking an interest on their was past: after a few scans of the sea, I turned to see a large group had formed, so started to look through them, quickly picking up a striking tail band amongst the throng. I've found a fair few Casps now offshore, and the neat black tail-band is often is the first thing I pickup amongst a large group of mixed Gulls: Herring are quick generally duller and more diffuse in that department, the white not as pure and the black not as dark, whilst GBBs have a less deep and more broken band, often with black sparse black spots creating a double band effect.
1w Caspian in the two above and the below, note the deep, black tail band
Anyway, the good-looking tail band indeed did belong to a Caspian Gull, a 1w which bore a striking resemblance to the one from last November which was a big male. It had an equally striking pale underwing and head, and was generally just a really textbook bird. Incredibly, whilst trying to get some phonescoped video of that bird, another tail and underwing combination caught my eye: on getting it in the scope, I was met with the greyer mantle and brilliant white underwing and head of a classic 2w Caspian Gull! I watched this bird in flight for a couple of minutes to make sure I was aging it correctly but the amount of grey in the mantle was always going to belong to a 2w bird. I never saw it land, and it left with a group of Herring into the bay with the other still sat on the sea. My 4th and 5th Casps around Boulmer, and with another juv that I should have nailed, it might already be the best site in the county for them in terms of records? It's not often I've had large numbers of gulls offshore, and they seem to be present fairly regularly among these flocks and they're always increasing on the continent - I'll be trying for double figures next year if I can get to the patch enough.
Spot the 2w Casp! (Top Left)
The Gull movement continued, with an adult Iceland Gull south on it's own, mid-distance. It was a fairly plump looking individual, and it had discernably quicker wingbeats to the 100s of Herring I'd had past that morning. Also past were a Little Auk S, 4 Velvet Scoter N, 5 Whoopers S and a Little Egret N, whilst a couple of Med Gulls brought me to 8 gull species for the day, and 13 in the last week!
147 Siskin flew S, with 3 Redpoll in tow
I'm never sure when I'll next be up at Boulmer, but I'm on 197 for the patch - who knows, a visit coinciding with a big arctic blow and I might reach 200 as there seems to be good birds on every visit at the moment. A Brunnich's sat next to the Little Grebes would do nicely!
