At last, a day out birding. After a month of inactivity, it was nice to be out and about today!
The first stop today was in the far distant reaches of northern Northumberland, at Fenham le Moor. We arrived to a falling tide, with plenty of Grey Seals “bottling” in the water, approximately two hundred over the expanse of the flats.
The birds of note were 48 Brent Geese and then an Osprey perched on one of the poles of the Pilgrims Causeway and then five Little Egrets together in flight. Then the Osprey flew towards us carrying a fish. By this time, the tide had dropped, and waders were starting to fly past, mostly Dunlin, but also a Curlew Sandpiper and three Whimbrel.
We left here and started back south, stopping at Budle Bay. Lots of birds here, mostly gulls, but also 17 Greenshank (that were all Greenshank, not a Greater or Lesser Yellowlegs or Marsh Sandpiper here) and another Little Egret.
Monkshouse was given five minutes, but it was very quiet, so we headed onto Low Newton. Three Ruff on the flooded fields, two Little Stint and a Curlew Sandpiper on the beach were the pick here.
A quick stop a Boulmer gave us two Yellow Wagtail and a distant skua that was probably Arctic.
Foxton had the usual; 2 Goosander and 3 Greenshank (funnily enough, these were Greenshank as well).
Chevington was heaving with birds, lots of geese, including two Pink-feet, loads of Teal, with at least seven Pintail in with them. A Sparrowhawk flew through and flushed the Lapwing flock and when they came back they had 12 Ruff with them, and another seven Ruff were on one of the islands. Nothing of note on the south pool until a Marsh Harrier passed through.
Cresswell is brim full, in fact it might be more than brim full as some of the pond is on the road. Can you remember when they used to take sand from the beach, and the Wildlife Trust bods whinged and whined that they were destroying habitat by removing the sand, so that particular practice was put an end to. Now the its the Wildlife Trusts turn at destroying a habitat; by doing no management at all when it comes to water levels. We all appreciate the fancy hides and the cut grass and the lovely new fences and all the huge numbers of feral geese we can see at the star reserve, but it’s about time they got their bloody fingers out and pulled the plug that lets the water out; c’mon fix that problem!
A quick look at the sea at Newbiggin gave us a few Mediterranean Gulls and loads of Gannets, but that was about it.
It was good to be out and about