herring99
Well-known member
Big thanks to Michael Frankis for his ideas for birding near Wooler. Cheers! I'll try and keep the report brief and try not to bore you all, but i have a tendancy to ramble! Hopefully soon i'll have my website going so i can post reports and photos there.
Arrived late on the 20th Dec after 8.5hrs in a car from Portsmouth after rain, heavy traffic, accidents etc. Knackered, ate, drank and fell asleep in that order.
21st. Promising as heavy storms last night. nipped to Stags Rock, Bamburgh, grid ref: 177358. Still blowing a gale! No ducks, divers, grebes or auks as they had more sense than me to be out in this. About 15 purple sandpipers and a few turnstone and oystercatchers present. Heavy rain set in so went home to watch the garden birds and start parents DIY list!
22nd. Still blowy and cold, no rain. Nipped to the Long Nanny burn mouth grid ref: 229275 (park at Newton Links house and walk north along the beach). Instant dividends with a flock of about 40 twite on the near side of the first area of water and two goldeneye on the water. Dog walkers scared them off! No sign of snow buntings and shore larks. Went over the bridge to scan dunes where i saw the larks last year and got good views of duck and a few waders including a nice flock of golden plover on the marsh area. A scan back along the shoreline towards the burn mouth from the bridge and bingo, 5 shore larks and 3 snow buntings on the salt traps. Upped scope and ran for it (an exagerration as the bridge was covered in ice and i didn't want to lose scope, bins, camera et al by skating onto my arse and into the water). Great close up views, also stonechat, skylark and rock pipit. Walkers scared them off this time :C By the time they resettled i was so cold i couldn't take any unshaky pics even with a camera release cable. A good birding day. Home to thaw out southernified skin.
23rd. Mrs' birthday. 4 hour shopping trip to Newcastle. Enough said. No waxwings at Leazes park or around the RVI hospital. Went out to Black Bull Inn at Bowsden in the evening for a meal. Got lost on the way and saw Barn and Tawny owls somewhere in the back roads between Bowsden and Haggerston (grid ref: 030420 ish). A bit of a bonus really. Nice food at the pub and good north eastern hospitality, highly recommended.
24th. Only morning available for birding due to more DIY tasks! Tried Stag Rocks again. Long Tailed Duck (10+), Common Scoter (200ish), Eider. Too choppy to see divers or grebes. Nipped to Fenham le Moor hide grid ref: 097399. Good Linnet flock containing a few Twite, a pair of Yellowhammers and a pair of Reed buntings plus at last, a very close up view of Slavonian Grebe. Pintail and Pale Bellied Brent Geese by Fenham. Back home for DIY aaarrrgghhh.
25th. Had to pick up dad's cousin for Xmas Lunch. Nipped out to Doddington to look at geese flock i never knew existed! Thanks Michael. Grid ref:993322. This is the bridleway down the bottom of the road to the church. Not suitable for cars really which is why mine is in the garage now with a bust fuel line! From the bridleway look around to locate pink footed geese flock. This was about 2000 strong and contained a couple of hundred greylags and to my delight a couple of white fronted geese and a single bean goose. I didn't get really close views as they upped and went before i could get to a better view point. I think the whitefronts were greenlands with an orangish bill and white face and the bean goose looked like a Taiga from the bill marks. These three tended to hang on the outside of the flock if anyone fancies a go. A quick trip to the Ingram Valley grid ref:018164 netted more greylags in the first valley (about 300 with a few pink feet and i assume feral canadas) and a few dippers on the streams by the roads. No red grouse as i was too cold to go find them. Good views of treecreeper and goldcrests in one of the roving tit flocks. Had lunch, end of day!
26th. Another shopping trip, for the parents this time. Managed to wangle going back via Widdrington flash grid ref: 240965. Saw great flight views of the Whooper and Bewicks swans, highlighting very graphically the size difference between the two straightnecks. A few mute swans were also present. Dipped on Goosander on the River Coquet in Warkworth grid ref: 249058, usually a good site down the road from the bridge. End of trip.
Not bad in all. Missed seeing divers, red necked grebe and doing a trip to Holy Island (picked up hen harrier from the loch hide, merlin at Chares End and 2 short eared owls from the Snook as well as sooty shearwater and red necked grebe from the lime kilns last year, what a day that was!) Still i did well given the limited opportunities. Total count over 70 species without trying too hard. The grid refs are there for guidance only and knowing my map reading skills are probably wrong. Just because i saw a bird doesn't mean you will so don't be disappointed! (you'll probably see more than me anyway).
Hope i didn't bore you too much.
Herring
Arrived late on the 20th Dec after 8.5hrs in a car from Portsmouth after rain, heavy traffic, accidents etc. Knackered, ate, drank and fell asleep in that order.
21st. Promising as heavy storms last night. nipped to Stags Rock, Bamburgh, grid ref: 177358. Still blowing a gale! No ducks, divers, grebes or auks as they had more sense than me to be out in this. About 15 purple sandpipers and a few turnstone and oystercatchers present. Heavy rain set in so went home to watch the garden birds and start parents DIY list!
22nd. Still blowy and cold, no rain. Nipped to the Long Nanny burn mouth grid ref: 229275 (park at Newton Links house and walk north along the beach). Instant dividends with a flock of about 40 twite on the near side of the first area of water and two goldeneye on the water. Dog walkers scared them off! No sign of snow buntings and shore larks. Went over the bridge to scan dunes where i saw the larks last year and got good views of duck and a few waders including a nice flock of golden plover on the marsh area. A scan back along the shoreline towards the burn mouth from the bridge and bingo, 5 shore larks and 3 snow buntings on the salt traps. Upped scope and ran for it (an exagerration as the bridge was covered in ice and i didn't want to lose scope, bins, camera et al by skating onto my arse and into the water). Great close up views, also stonechat, skylark and rock pipit. Walkers scared them off this time :C By the time they resettled i was so cold i couldn't take any unshaky pics even with a camera release cable. A good birding day. Home to thaw out southernified skin.
23rd. Mrs' birthday. 4 hour shopping trip to Newcastle. Enough said. No waxwings at Leazes park or around the RVI hospital. Went out to Black Bull Inn at Bowsden in the evening for a meal. Got lost on the way and saw Barn and Tawny owls somewhere in the back roads between Bowsden and Haggerston (grid ref: 030420 ish). A bit of a bonus really. Nice food at the pub and good north eastern hospitality, highly recommended.
24th. Only morning available for birding due to more DIY tasks! Tried Stag Rocks again. Long Tailed Duck (10+), Common Scoter (200ish), Eider. Too choppy to see divers or grebes. Nipped to Fenham le Moor hide grid ref: 097399. Good Linnet flock containing a few Twite, a pair of Yellowhammers and a pair of Reed buntings plus at last, a very close up view of Slavonian Grebe. Pintail and Pale Bellied Brent Geese by Fenham. Back home for DIY aaarrrgghhh.
25th. Had to pick up dad's cousin for Xmas Lunch. Nipped out to Doddington to look at geese flock i never knew existed! Thanks Michael. Grid ref:993322. This is the bridleway down the bottom of the road to the church. Not suitable for cars really which is why mine is in the garage now with a bust fuel line! From the bridleway look around to locate pink footed geese flock. This was about 2000 strong and contained a couple of hundred greylags and to my delight a couple of white fronted geese and a single bean goose. I didn't get really close views as they upped and went before i could get to a better view point. I think the whitefronts were greenlands with an orangish bill and white face and the bean goose looked like a Taiga from the bill marks. These three tended to hang on the outside of the flock if anyone fancies a go. A quick trip to the Ingram Valley grid ref:018164 netted more greylags in the first valley (about 300 with a few pink feet and i assume feral canadas) and a few dippers on the streams by the roads. No red grouse as i was too cold to go find them. Good views of treecreeper and goldcrests in one of the roving tit flocks. Had lunch, end of day!
26th. Another shopping trip, for the parents this time. Managed to wangle going back via Widdrington flash grid ref: 240965. Saw great flight views of the Whooper and Bewicks swans, highlighting very graphically the size difference between the two straightnecks. A few mute swans were also present. Dipped on Goosander on the River Coquet in Warkworth grid ref: 249058, usually a good site down the road from the bridge. End of trip.
Not bad in all. Missed seeing divers, red necked grebe and doing a trip to Holy Island (picked up hen harrier from the loch hide, merlin at Chares End and 2 short eared owls from the Snook as well as sooty shearwater and red necked grebe from the lime kilns last year, what a day that was!) Still i did well given the limited opportunities. Total count over 70 species without trying too hard. The grid refs are there for guidance only and knowing my map reading skills are probably wrong. Just because i saw a bird doesn't mean you will so don't be disappointed! (you'll probably see more than me anyway).
Hope i didn't bore you too much.
Herring
