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...