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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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...
...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...
