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

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.