Author: martin

The one day of the week when we try to avoid leading tours. That gives me time to get up-to-date with all my office stuff, do any housework that needs doing and focus on any other business matters that may be about to arise.

Today I had our Landrover in the garage, getting an annoying whine from the idler pulley sorted out, That fixed, I was able to concentrate on office work; sending e-mails, making ‘phone calls and looking at our tour itinerary for 2010…and putting the fine detail to the plans for a group visit that we’re leading in May 2011. Domestic duties included hanging the washing on the line and that was when I noticed something very interesting; the flight calls of Skylarks. It took a few seconds to locate them but there they were, high overhead and flying south. At least 20 passed over in 2 minutes. Visible migration right over our garden. Now, can I justify sitting on the patio, beer in hand, for the rest of the day…all in the name of research?

It had to happen; after the promising weather of the last couple of days, there must surely be a mega rarity somewhere in NorthEast England. I spent yesterday on two tours. First, Druridge Bay where there were a lot of Goldcrests (contrasting with the species almost complete absence from the coast in recent weeks), Robins and Blackbirds. Clearly there had been a ‘fall’ of sorts; as the day wore on messages came through from Holy Island – Barred, Pallas’, Yellow-browed and Raddes Warblers had all arrived on the island. An exceptional day for warblers…but, for a couple of lucky photographers in South Shields, and a sharp-eyed internet surfer, it was about to get a whole lot better.

Imagine the scenario – you see a bird that you identify as a Chiffchaff, the photographer with you re-identifies it as a Yellow-browed Warbler and gets an excellent shot of the bird. He goes home and posts the images of his day on the internet. Then, and the following is an example of a growing trend, another birder looks at the image…and re-identifies the bird as an Eastern Crowned Warbler – a first for Britain and Ireland!! When the pager stated to mega-alert at 10pm last night I read the message in stunned silence and then suggested to Sarah a scenario similar to the one above, as an explanation for the late hour of the news. It’s a bird that wouldn’t be ‘on the radar’ of a huge number of birders (although it has been a topic of discussion on some cold days out on Church Point). Congratulations to Derek, Dougie Holden and Mark Newsome for a team effort that is going to have a lot of birders flocking (there’s a cliche that the press are going to be trotting out again shortly) to Trow Quarry.

With a hospital appointment early this morning, I won’t be with the crowd. Maybe later in the day? or, if the bird has departed, it’s encouragement to all birders to get out onto the coast and see what else the winds from the east have brought us.

After two days of southeasterly winds and dismal, drizzly ‘grot’ the prospects for something special turning up today look good.

I spent yesterday in a series of meetings; first as Chair of Governors at our local First School, then a lunchtime networking event as Chair of the South East Northumberland Tourism Association and finally a meeting with Northumberland Tourism about the 2010 Outdoor Activities campaign. Through all of these meetings I could see the rain steadily flowing down the window panes, understanding what this could mean for local birders once the rain stops, bushes dripping with migrants and maybe the odd scarce or rare that that will set birders pulses racing. For the birds themselves it can’t be much fun; for every bird that struggles through the weather and makes landfall, hopefully surviving until the rain clears and it can feed before continuing it’s journey, how many fail to reach our shores, perishing in the brutal cold and swell of the North Sea?

A few birders were out though; as I drove from Newbiggin to Longhirst a car behind me was flashing it’s headlights. Who’s this clown? I thought, but I stopped anyway. It was none other than AT, fresh from a good soaking on Newbiggin Golf Course where he’d found a Firecrest and a Lapland Bunting. Both good birds, but what’s going to be there today as the day dawns and the cessation of poor weather brings those grounded migrants out into the open?

Birdwatching in Northumberland in mid-late October usually means praying for southeasterlies and rain, and staying on or close to the coast.

Yesterday I did something very different…

I met up with my guide for the day at an anonymous rendezvous location and we set off on a mystery tour. It was a mystery to me anyway, as all I knew was that we were going to visit a number of confidential sites in search of Hen Harriers, the heavily persecuted, much maligned ‘grey hawk’ of the upland areas of northern Britain. For nearly seven hours we walked across heather moorland, banks of bracken, swathes of rush, up hills and down narrow gullies. The topic of conversation rarely departed from raptors; where are the blatant ‘holes’ in Buzzard distribution in the county? where are Hobbies present during the breeding season? what really happened with the failed Hen Harrier breeding attempts in Northumberland this year?

Undaunted by the cold wind, occasional stinging raindrops and the rough terrain that induced a strangely satisfying burning sensation in my thigh muscles, we continued combing the moorland. Raptor workers throughout Britain are doing this regularly, monitoring populations and distribution and unearthing evidence of wrongdoing. Eventually we arrived at a regular roost site. As the wind strengthened and the rain began lashing our faces, the highlights of the day happened; first a male Merlin raced up a gully next to us and then, our prime objective for the day, an adult male Hen Harrier closely hugging the heather-clad slopes below our watchpoint before plunging into the bracken on an adjacent hillside. It was a real busman’s holiday, as I regularly check a couple of roost sites myself during the winter months, but educational to spend time on someone else’s patch.

As I headed up the A1 yesterday morning, the rain and mist cloaked the landscape around me with an increasing amount of murk. Cause for optimism; mid-October, poor weather. Can there be any other other group of people who would be inspired by this more than birdwatchers are? Or anyone else who’s birthday wish is always for low cloud and drizzle?

I met Jackie and Stephen, who had won a prize draw for a 3-night break in Northumberland, including two days birdwatching with Northern Experience and had travelled all the way from Caithness, at the Beal road end carpark. The rain stopped, making me even more confident that we would find something good. We drove over onto Holy Island, started walking from the carpark towards the village centre…and I found a Red-breasted Flycatcher. I’d predicted a good bird – and there it was. As it flipped backwards and forwards across the road, it came close enough to confirm it’s age as a 1st-winter bird; just a matter of months old and beginning to gather admirers. My mobile was playing up so I went back to the carpark and told the National Trust chap who was busy trying to encourage people to join. He’s always keen to hear what birds are on the island as he can let other birders know. Eventually my mobile decided that it could pick up a signal, and we put the news out. After a good walk around the island, enjoying lots and lots of Robins, Blackbirds and Redwings, as well as a Merlin and at least 3 Peregrine Falcons, we passed by the R-b Fly again, with an increasing crowd on the path below it as it hawked insects high in the canopy.

Today is Jackie and Stephen’s second day out with us, we’re going to be birding southeast Northumberland…and, as I clean and prepare the Landrover for the day ahead, the trees and bushes around our house are dripping with newly-arrived Goldcrests 🙂