Gulls and shearwaters...July

Again, I've left it too long to write up my patch update, but this one should cover July at least: always an exciting month as Autumn gets rolling, and thankfully the summer gulling was decent, alongside good seawatching with some large Shears in the North Sea.

After the excitement of the Surf Scoter on 04 Jul, a seawatch on the 8th produced a Minke Whale and probably Cory's Shearwater north at Howick, also seen by Mark at Cullernose, but just too distant in the haze to confirm. More searching for local Long-eared Owls failed throughout the month unfortunately, but I did stumble on a few Quail. including two on the 12th and three on 13th, with a single still singing on the 29th ivo Dunstan. Four White-beaked Dolphins initially close in off Longoughton Steel on the 12th evaded the camera, but were nice to catch up with again, far 'busier' than the local Bottlenose.

Also on the 13th was my first juv Yellow-legged Gull of the year at Boulmer, resting on the field in the centre of the village (180). Not a classic brute of an individual, but the features observed alongside the early date for anything else meant that feedback from London gullers was all positive, alleviating any fears I had. The tertials, small but noticeable primary window, tail pattern and pale belly shown below are all perfect for juv YLG, with the only real confusion species of Lesser-black Backed Gull also not yet as advanced.

A chance seawatch from Cullernose with Mark on the 21st proved a great decision, as he picked up a Cory's Shear going N, anout 2/3s out. My first confirmed in Northumberland and a good one to get so early on in the year (181), it showed far better than the distant possible we'd had, and gave the impression of a particularly large individual. 

The next decent bird was another Yellow-legged Gull, this time an adult on the Steel with a pretty sizeable flock of large Gulls. It stuck around for an hour or so, and after Tom and Muriel managed to connect, I plucked up the courage to walk out and get some better shots - I'm glad I did, as the flight pics show the wing formula nicely, and as the bird was in moult it looked a little strange on the deck.

Photobombed by the local Dolphins - it's not a bad coastline!

Nice mantle shade comparison with all common confusion species

p10 and p9 mirrors, more advanced moult, perfect underside of p10, and erm, yellow legs

The first Pom Skua and Sooty Shearwater went north early morning at Howick on the 23rd (182, 183), but were trumped by my own Cory's north there on the morning of the 26th. This bird was just before I was about to leave for work, with the extra height provided by Howick allowing me to get some ropey video on my phone...

Not close, but they're pretty easy in good conditions

That evening, I joined Stewart and a few other locals watching from Cullernose, and I picked up another Cory's going N, Stewart's first for his patch which was nice. A similar sort of distance, we watched it for about 12 minutes slowly shearing it's way past, being overtaken by everything. Other seawwatching bits in this period included the odd Sooty, plenty of Manx, a nice northerly passage of juv Med Gulls and an Avocet N at Howick.

A really nice juv Yellow-legged Gull I found on Longhoughton Steel on the 27th was the next decent bird, and stuck around for a few allowing a few people to connect. This one was a classim: almost GBB sized, warm, big billed, with spot on greater coverts and tertials and all necessary features there in flight. 

Neat, tapering black tail band contrasting with the fairly clean white uppertail

Distinct but reduced pale primary window compared to Herring

Pretty much textbook...note the lengthy bubblegum pink legs too

Another Gull to close the month out on the 30th, though much trickier. I picked it up whilst watching the above juv, and straight away noted the mantle and clean head, with a peculiar facial expression evident. In retrospect, I think it's a 1st summer YLG, but at the time I called a Casp, probably influenced too heavily by that strange bill / forehead combo. Equally, it could be a weird Herring...

On stilts and with a very snouty look at times

The tertials looked decent for a YLG / Casp

Anyway, a good month overall (not quite Sooty Tern in 2020 levels): 3 Cory's, at least 3 YLG, 3 Quail, and the already mentioned Surf Scoter being the highlight. Up to 183 for my local big year, so a little slower there, but to be expected in midsummer.                                                                                                                                                                         

End of April update...

Two and a half months since my last post, mostly because with the longer daylight hours, I'm trying to bird when I can.

Instead of going through everything, I'll pick out the highlights:

White-wingers

During awful conditions on 08 Mar on a post-work seawatch, a brute of a 1w Glauc flew N, a patch tick at the time and a real reward for heading out in the conditions.

A sense of the conditions from the pic quality

Fast-forward to Sunday 24 Apr where I had most of the day to spend on the patch. Tonnes of Gulls of all sizes were moving N, in tricky backlit conditions. I picked up a really pale immature Glauc coming N off Seaton Point before it settled on the sea to my N in-line with the sun. I had to head off, and was soon gripped by Mark who ended up having 2 different Glaucs N and an 2cy Iceland milling around. 

Glauc #1 for the day

I headed back in the afternoon, and with the tide out found it tricky to grill the northbound gulls in the haze, but did pickup a dark, heavily moulted 2cy Glauc sat on Longhoughton Steel, which promptly flew N - another new bird! I returned late evening and incredibly found 2 immature Icelands and another Glauc, this a much darker 2cy without the heavy moult.

Glauc #2...

...notice the extensive moult

Distant Iceland Gull #2, the smaller one

Pretty unprecidented stuff, and not reflected anywhere else to the north or south! Overall me and Mark think there were at least 4 Glaucs (probably 5) and 3 Icelands seen after comparing notes and pictures.

Ring Ouzel

The Boulmer area is great, but something it doesn't have a lot of is decent cover, so the chances of passerines dropping in and sticking are slim: this was demonstrated perfectly by the stunning male Ring Ouzel I had on 16 Apr. I'd done one round of Seaton Pt with nothing but a few Wheatears and Chiffs to show, and was heading back towards the carpark when a distinctive call alerted me to a Ring Ouzel dropping onto the top of the seaside hedge just north of the 'point'. I was straight away hounded by a couple of Mipits, and readjusted itself closer to me, allowing for some nice views, before shooting low across the field inland onto another hedge, before the same happened and it disappeared westwards.

Male Ring Ouzel...

...and gone

In total, this patch tick was present for no longer than a couple of minutes, so it definately shows how much must head straight inland for more cover and is missed.

Slav Grebe

I'd never seen a summer plumaged Slavonian Grebe before, and it wasn't really on my radar on the afternoon of 19 Mar: I picked up a grebe close in, and on initial views I thought Black-necked, but as it came closer I changed my mind. A nice bird to get, especially in full summer plumage, and it came on a day with my first Velvet Scoter, GN Diver and Chiffchaffs. 

Great Northern Diver

Distant Velvet speeding north

Ropey phonescope but you get the idea

Other bits and pieces (in no order):

• Snow Bunting - several singles seen over the past couple of months, possibly all the same bird and never stopping long enough to see on the deck.

Different days, the same bird?

• Avocet - again several records, with a pair even dropping onto the village mere before it dried up.
• Black Redstart - I'd put plenty of miles into looking for one of these during a national influx, all for a 10 second view of a female on top of one of the cottages that I never saw again. Worth it.

Female-type Black Redstart

• Egyptian Goose - Spending a few hours around the Aln looking for Herons and Crakes, I picked up an Egyptian Goose flying north one evening, dropping down around Foxton Bends. A real hard one to get this far north.

They all count.

• Blue-Headed Wagtail - a bit of a letdown of a vismig on 20 Apr (given what Ross had at Budle) was highlighted by a superb male Blue-headed Wagtail south, picked up in the scope low of oil seed rape.
• Hooded Crow - One high N on the morning of 30 Apr was nice to get out of the way.

Pretty distant, and tricky to pickup in the scope nevermind the camera

• 'Limosa' Black-tailed Godwit? - Three Godwits on the pool by the cricket pitch on the Aln contained one much bigger, striking bird. I took some pics and sent it to some experts, but unfortunately despite looking the part grey females are just too tricky without a summer feather to be sure.

• Owls - Thanks to some gen, I'm now just left needing Long-eared, which I'll have a search for around June.

A fly through Short-eared Owl on the Aln got lots of attention

There's been loads of other good stuff that I've either forgotten to put here or would just make the post too long. As of 30 Apr I sit on 157 for the 5km radius '#LocalBigYear' list, which is pretty good going I reckon, currently topping the Northumberland charts, though I'm sure I'll slip back as rarities get found at other sites. 

The area, vast majority of time spent around Boulmer

It's been great fun, and adding in the Aln Estuary area has opened lots of windows for species I would otherwise struggle with. Given I got to 197 in 2020 in 8 months just at Boulmer, I'm optimistly now changing my target to 215 for the 5km radius.

Here's all the extra pics I like:

White Wag

The semi-resident PB Brent Goose

Wheatears

Some of over 1300 Common Gulls N one evening

Whimbrel, Redshank and Greenshank in the Aln

A fairly late Fieldfare enjoying the Sun