Snow Buntings

A run over to North Blyth/ Cambois area which is only yards across the river but about 15-20 mins drive,  primarily to check the beach for any Little Auks  or perhaps a Black Redstart ,  failed to find either but I did come upon a flock of at first 22 Snow Buntings  which I had  just behind Alcans loading facility , they relocated to the start of the pier area where there was also a flock of Linnets and a flock of Starlings . The Snow Buntings where rather restless so I just sat on the edge of the breakwater and eventually they came nearer , just had my SX50  which was difficult to pick the birds up amongst the grass  but it does have some reach , and with a bit of sun for a change it was great to just sit and watch them in the hunt for seed , till they would lift and then quickly re-settle always giving that tinkling little call .   Wishing I had taken the scope as a flock of 100+ Common Scoter with some Divers amongst them would have been good to check out , actually the bay seemed to hold lots of birds scattered far and wide , with 3 Mergansers coming out from the Wansbeck. Oddly Blyth Bay never seems to attract more than the odd RTD  and a few Eider  off the Sluice 

 One of these days I will get down and have a look  for some seed myself

 Snow Buntings one of the delights of Winter , and even more so when you find your own !

 The concentration is evident  !!

  It's easy this balancing on one leg lark   !!!!

Wind Farm Turbines , love them or hate them (I'm the latter) they are here to stay , this one the largest in the area on the River Blyth

GND-Blyth River

Not having much time on Tuesday I just headed along to the River Blyth but I had timed the rising tide wrong and it was already quiet high but the first bird I saw was the Great Northern Diver that's been around for a few days it was just offshore from the path taking advantage of the incoming tide bringing fish in to feed so that was as far as I got for the next 45 mins it had no trouble catching fish I saw it catch at least three but getting them down seemed more of a problem where as Cormorants flip there catch and its down in one this bird played around with it losing them on more than one occasion and I never did see it actually swallow any ,although it could have used the water to help it get them down?. Divers are common enough off our shores but not often you get a view like this so I made the most of it till it moved off to the far side . By this time  the tide was well up  most of the waders where on the far side including 84 Curlew with 8 Bar Tailed Godwits in with them no sign of the Black Tail's from the previous visit ,good numbers of Teal with 36 Shellduck a few Gadwall and Mallard . Thought I would call along the harbour before going home still some light left and perhaps the Iceland or Snow Buntings still around , 2 Med Gulls at the links car park gave me the opportunity to try some flight shots but this Canon camera is not much good for fast moving birds, plenty of gulls in the harbour the majority GBB with the light fading fast time for home and see what I had captured. 

 I took lots of video as it tried to wrestle with the fish but could still not work out what was going on

 Now time for a preen taking no notice of me

 GND has a great profile with that steep forehead and flat top

 3-4 Red Breasted Mergansers around also, I did not get to far up river

 2nd Winter Med Gull where else but the chip shop !!!

 I thought this was an fell adult ,but you can just see a trace of black on the primary

 me looking up as it sat on the lamp post

Blyth River

I forgot about this visit along the River Blyth last month where I had 17 Goosanders mostly Juveniles in two groups of 10 & 7 and my first Sandwich Tern Juvenile for Blyth Valley (although they are numerous now) about 30 Sandwich Terns had taken to sitting on the tyres now covered in seaweed and just like a rock thus keeping them up off the surrounding mud ,Redshank by far the most numerous wader with a few Dunlin and the far bank held a few Knot 4 Black Tailed Godwits and 2 Bar Tailed the incoming tide pushed off the Terns and the waders all went over the far bank to an area they roost unless a big tides moves them from here also .

Goosanders this from a short video they where so busy bathing and preening they had drifted towards the old Bates Pit jetty and briefly the two groups merged how they knew which group they where in as they separated ?

 Digi shot as they paused from preening great to see so many on the river

 Digishot of  Juv Sandwich Tern occasionally it would land in the mud and not on the seaweed only recently fledged

 Took the camera off the scope as this Tortoiseshell landed nearby

and this bee on a sweet pea which is why I like to still carry a digiscoping camera around

Blyth estuary - Leucistic Herring Gull

Another visit to Blyth Estuary this time I got the tide right and it was heaving with birds , Teal I roughly counted out at 300 , with Mallard ,Gadwall, Shellduck , c10 Goldeneye a single Long Tailed Duck , Dunlin , Bar Tailed Godwit, Redshank these all in good numbers and this was just east of the bridge , in between the bridges where about 15 Moorhens and about 30 Mallard , the Mallard look so much more impressive feeding in the river amongst the flow of small torrents , a bird caught my eye as it flitted through the trees behind the new workshops it looked like a Chiff but it was gone before I could confirm . walking further downstream both sides of the river where alive with waders the Dunlin and Golden Plover  feeding on the far bank in an area I see them often it must collect  food between tides consequently they are a bit far away should anything turn up amongst them ,in the field a large flock of Fieldfare dropped down to feed , c8 Grey plover which mostly stayed on the far side  of the spit but one fed beside the outfall. Bar Tailed Godwits where well spaced out making counting harder but there had to be c30 . I picked out  the Leucistic Herring Gull again on the far side its been around for awhile  it is mostly white but does have faint brown on the wings tips and a smudgy mark on the tail although I did not see it in flight , the bill appears all dark so it should be a first year bird . I thought it would be an Albinistic bird being mostly white  but apparently  the presence of Melanin which in this case is being blocked from most of the feathers but not the eye ,bill or tail. But in Albinism the Melanin is blocked from bare parts as well hence a  true Albino  has pink eyes because the only colour present is the blood vessels behind the eye showing through . I have over simplified it so it's worth reading up on 

 Goldeneye another one that is hard to digiscope

 Herring Gulls pair bonding

 I tried taking so much video of the LTD that I ran out of batteries and  trying to get this bird side on took ages , I put one of the dead batteries in my pocket and the warmth revived it enough to get a few more shots

Short video of the Long Tailed Duck ,if you have ever tried to even view them while they feed you can forgive the jerky video trying to keep it in view was a nightmare.You can just hear it calling faintly towards the end which is why I left the sound on

Blyth River waders

Yesterday the 12th September I cycled along the River Blyth and around to the area we used to call Monkey's Island just to the east of the boatyard , the tide already pushing in and most of the waders had left apart from a number of Redshank and 6 Knot with a Goosander  in the open water ,headed further upstream looking for any colour ringed birds be they gulls or waders , 30 or so Black headed's feeding from the outfall pipe not sure what this is from, Redshank by far the most common wader here , they have the annoying habit of giving there alarm call chasing everything off but then they settle not far away , so trying to approach waders with Redshank  in front is a waste of time. Thought I picked out a Little Stint  but by the time the scope was up the lot had moved over to the other side and I could not find one. Went as far as the two bridges four Goosanders here and about 20-30 Mallard  which seem to feed at this area. Kingfisher calling between the bridges but could not locate it , two pure white Doves under the road bridge looked odd, back down the river too view across to where the waders gather sometimes to roost  but most fly off to the staithes over at Cambois. Set the scope up to check over the other side it's a fair way off so a scope is essential , in the rain picked out a wader with the Dunlin  couldn't make it out for some time till it brightened up slightly and I could see it was a Wood Sandpiper, also here a Black tailed Godwit and Spotted Redshank , about a dozen Swallows hawking the river which was although rising very still , a Whimbrel was heard but not seen and a Skein of about c100 Pinkfeet headed South  a very good couple of hours despite getting soaked.

 A couple of digi scoped shots the waders where rather far off

 Wood Sandpiper

 Black Tailed Godwit and Spotted Redshank(left )

Rant, Rant, and Fungi

Busy at the moment so not much time to get out other than regular checks of the local flashes as I run back and forth to the local recycling site  and an occasional look along the river , you see all sorts at the recycling centre while there earlier in the year someone pulled up in the newest registration car which could only have been picked up the day before so there first trip out was taking a load of old rubbish like branches etc to the tip , a guy in a large 4x4 squeezed in next to me having reversed in to "offload" he opens the boot to reveal two small carrier bags of garden waste,its a funny old world some (actually many) drive to the tip with very small amounts of rubbish in the mistaken believe they are recycling and hence saving the planet , but not taking into account they may have driven miles to get there. A large container is where you deposit the  now defunct TV, weather it's because its actually not working or simply because its silver and you now want a black one , it was full of portables to 46" flat screens  I have no idea what happens to them, next to this is a huge skip for electrical s of all kinds , it's mind boggling the amount of stuff we throw away . On the other hand there are those tossers that can't even drive to the tip to dispose of rubbish but choose to dump it out in the sticks, a huge TV dumped near the Elsdon Gibbet earlier in the year , do these tossers just drive around for miles and miles looking for a "nice" spot to dump their stuff ......as I say funny old World !! 

I have wood chippings in the garden and every Autumn some unusual Fungi comes through ,this type seems to rot from the top down showing the gills .  

Blyth River near Alcan ,I went down to watch the lifting of the blades for this wind turbine , but it was to windy , I presume someone climbs up the inside to connect it.

and next day they had already lifted them into place ,I don't know the size of this one  but it seems to dominate the area , now the ones on the pier look very small in comparison , how many more to come I wonder not just here but in the County.

Blyth River

Not been out much of late a couple of recent sea watch's didn't produce the goods so it can be several hours spent with little reward, a message of two Spotted Redshanks and several Greenshank  saw me along theriver Blyth the next day could only find one of each although I did not have time to check the high tide roost , some Knot where the closest birds to me as the tide came in and it does very quickly , so tried a few digi shots also a Bar Tailed Godwit  before everything moved over to the other side where I had three Ruff  last week, I counted well over two hundred Curlew most just by the west jetty ,an Adult Herring Gull with a white colour ring was to far away for a shot and had gone by the time I got nearer. It's well worth a look along  I prefer the bike as you can easily go right along to the bridges and back with ease.

 I missed the tide at Monkey's Island having come along from the west first

 Spotted Redshank too far and moving too fast for a pic

 Jet black oily looking mud birds always seem to feed in the same areas here

 only the one feeding here but several on the spit.

Seaton Sluice/ St Mary's

15th March I took the bus and got off at the top end of Seaton Sluice to check wha'ts locally called the Donkey Field just near the football field you can see this concrete wall which is part of the Roberts Battery this is actually a fortified latrine and the square holes are for putting your rifle through, the low wall to the left must have had some heavy barbed wire all the way along , now it just has some nice Lichen, the compound and Officers Bungalow are now a private dwelling but it does have open days in i believe September well worth a visit.

No Donkeys or Wheatear's in the field but the Alpacas seem at home, single Fulmar along the cliffs single Meadow Pipit and single Reed Bunting and the theme continued down at St Mary's in the Willows a single Goldcrest and then a single Goldfinch topped off with on the newly scraped pond a Moorhen I did have two Wood Pigeon though.

Headed down to the harbour at Blyth and the highlight here was a Single Whooper swimming down the river past the piers and away out to sea   !!!!!

 The fortified latrine of Robert's Battery (actually the gun only fired once and broke every window along the front !!)

 You can see where the wire would have went at an angle 7-8' tall

 And the metal slot to put your rifle through

 There is a Bungalow through the trees which used to be for the Officers but it is a private house now

Lichen nows inhabits the wall

 Alpaccas seem at home in the steep valleys of Seaton Sluice

 St Mary's wetland and what look like feeding platforms have been erected ,the one in the background is for Sparrowhawks  complete with Wood Pigeons

 Apparantly the weed has been scraped out and the pond looks much better but I only had a single Moorhen here (views from the screen)

Whooper swan coming down the river at Blyth