• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Northumbrian Birding (1 Viewer)

Old Hartley

Excellent conditions for a bit of sea watching revealed 50+ Common Scoter, gannets galore (all heading south), good movement of auks, plus the two highlights being a red throated diver close inshore plus 13 manx shearwaters. :t:
 
I'll second that

Andy Atkinson said:
It would be great if the argument for preserving habitat at the Druridge Bay reserves could stretch much further than providing stop off points for rare birds. Believe it or not there are many people who go to the Bay to look for more than rare migrants. 'Normal' migrants need space to land and feed - terns, Dunlin, Knot, Lapwing etc etc while breeding birds at Cresswell extend to Tree Sparrow, Sedge Warbler, Water Rail etc.

While I've been an active critic of the Trust I do understand that they cannot spend all their money on hiring diggers. There are rare populations of orchids at Chevvy next to the hides and in the dune slacks, common lizard populations, otters, newts and butterflies (I spotted 13 species on the path to the Druridge Pool hide two years ago) to consider too.

While I'm the last person to defend the Trust over water levels I think the Bay needs to be looked at holistically taking all the wildlife issues/needs into account. The middle name of the NWT is 'Wildlife' not 'Bird Rarities'.

It would be worthwhile if we can all bear this in mind when debating these issues and if we are to make representation to the Trust, then the whole picture needs to be considered, not just the needs of birders. If the NWT is to look for funds to make changes then it's not always birds that will make the case to receive the money.

Andy (there resteth my two penn'orth)
Click to expand...

Andy, what you say makes a lot of sense. I don't live in the area but visit at least once a year, from the West Midlands. We don't come to see rare birds, although it's great if we do, we just love the range of habitats. I must admit we popped in to Cresswell last Thursday and were very disappointed, as the water was so high and there were no waders, but that happens. There was plenty else to see and observe, you just have to make the best of it
 
Northern Experience Pelagic 21/06/2013

We had 39 Common Scoter, 14 Manx Shearwaters, lots of Gannets (north and south)...and this little beauty B :)

cheers
martin

Zappa99 said:
Excellent conditions for a bit of sea watching revealed 50+ Common Scoter, gannets galore (all heading south), good movement of auks, plus the two highlights being a red throated diver close inshore plus 13 manx shearwaters. :t:
Click to expand...
 

Attachments

  • 20130621-_DSC8081-3.jpg
    20130621-_DSC8081-3.jpg
    239.6 KB · Views: 115
Andy Atkinson said:
It would be great if the argument for preserving habitat at the Druridge Bay reserves could stretch much further than providing stop off points for rare birds. Believe it or not there are many people who go to the Bay to look for more than rare migrants. 'Normal' migrants need space to land and feed - terns, Dunlin, Knot, Lapwing etc etc while breeding birds at Cresswell extend to Tree Sparrow, Sedge Warbler, Water Rail etc.

While I've been an active critic of the Trust I do understand that they cannot spend all their money on hiring diggers. There are rare populations of orchids at Chevvy next to the hides and in the dune slacks, common lizard populations, otters, newts and butterflies (I spotted 13 species on the path to the Druridge Pool hide two years ago) to consider too.

While I'm the last person to defend the Trust over water levels I think the Bay needs to be looked at holistically taking all the wildlife issues/needs into account. The middle name of the NWT is 'Wildlife' not 'Bird Rarities'.

It would be worthwhile if we can all bear this in mind when debating these issues and if we are to make representation to the Trust, then the whole picture needs to be considered, not just the needs of birders. If the NWT is to look for funds to make changes then it's not always birds that will make the case to receive the money.

Andy (there resteth my two penn'orth)
Click to expand...

Hi Andy

I agree with all of that too. As you will have seen, my main concern is for passage migrants/breeding birds at large, not rare birds. If suitable habitat could be provided at Cresswell, Chevington or Hauxley, there would be many grateful bird species. If there's a rare one among them, then all the better but I'm hoping to represent the birds as well as those who enjoy watching them.
At the moment, I'm still of the view that many of the birds need a bit of help to refuel in Spring and Autumn. With a little planning and a few resources thrown in, we could improve the situation for them.
 
Zappa99 said:
Browsing "Birds in Northumberland" (NTBC) 2009/10/11 suggests otherwise? I have copies available for purchase if you want one? B :)
Click to expand...

and if you corelate the data x rare birds id bet my hat they appear when the water lvls are low.

bob is correct that you need some where for the volumn of comon species to pass through, so the expereienced birders can pull out the rare stuff.

On a national lvl there is nothin in the bay atmo that is important. Marsh harrier are nice for the locals, but they arent important on the widerscale.

Far as i know bittern dont nest on the reserves, or this far north. Bearded tits are sporadic visitors.(?). The habitat isnt there atmo to pull in a nationally rare species. On a national scale se northumb is not noticeable. imo this is down to the ignorance of those runing the reserves/ lack of ambition to pull their finger out and create star habitat.

It REALLY irritates me the lvls of incompetence being demonstrated. :C

which is why we need someone in the area who has got a clue, and can design ......as mentioned above, its been done at newton, by someone who knows what they are doing. Yet we are continued to be fed a diet of cluelessness at this end of the county. WHich proves the incompetence of those doing the `management` ! DOnt even have the ambition to reintroduce a species that died out fromt he area 60 years ago, and is being reintroduced further south.
 
Last edited:
` I must admit we popped in to Cresswell last Thursday and were very disappointed, as the water was so high and there were no waders, but that happens. There was plenty else to see and observe, you just have to make the best of it`

another 10 years of mediocrity? thanks, thats nice bitter medicine to swallow!
 
Pair of pintail seen at the coast this morning, but otherwise fairly quiet in terms of wildfowl and waders.

The only wader of any sort was a single curlew flying north, but plenty of passerines with frequent whitethroat, sedge warbler, linnet, skylark, and reed bunting, with dozens of low flying sand Martin, house Martin and swift.
 
Last edited:
woodhornbirder said:
and if you corelate the data x rare birds id bet my hat they appear when the water lvls are low.

bob is correct that you need some where for the volumn of comon species to pass through, so the expereienced birders can pull out the rare stuff.

On a national lvl there is nothin in the bay atmo that is important. Marsh harrier are nice for the locals, but they arent important on the widerscale.

Far as i know bittern dont nest on the reserves, or this far north. Bearded tits are sporadic visitors.(?). The habitat isnt there atmo to pull in a nationally rare species. On a national scale se northumb is not noticeable. imo this is down to the ignorance of those runing the reserves/ lack of ambition to pull their finger out and create star habitat.

It REALLY irritates me the lvls of incompetence being demonstrated. :C

which is why we need someone in the area who has got a clue, and can design ......as mentioned above, its been done at newton, by someone who knows what they are doing. Yet we are continued to be fed a diet of cluelessness at this end of the county. WHich proves the incompetence of those doing the `management` ! DOnt even have the ambition to reintroduce a species that died out fromt he area 60 years ago, and is being reintroduced further south.
Click to expand...

After recently returning to birding after 20 odd years I can see your frustration. Other than a few hides and the excellent East Chev reed beds, nothing much has changed. The potential for the area is clear from the good birds that do turn up.

Money is obviously tight everywhere, but the Newton scrape is an excellent example of what can be achieved with limited resources. Surely a few hours with a JCB could turn Hauxley into one of the best reserves in the country.

Yes, I am biased in favour of rare birds, but they will only turn up if we create the right environment.

I hope that the recent stinging criticism of the local trusts helps, otherwise we can go begging to the RSPB and stop in bed until 10am.

I am keen to help, but we do need a plan.

Cheers

Rob
 
Ive had an idea for a water extractor for cp. Means we can bypass the sand problem eg constant refilling of the channel.

Problem is the outfall on the beach side. HOw to stop vandals damaging it.

A slanted pipe running from the pond side of the bridge, through a trench on the beach, to the outfall. The water is pulled up from the pond via an archimedes screw, which is powered by a wind turbine.

Richard cansdale at hartburn, runs a water charity, that adapts plastic drain pipes, to pull water up from underground, via the screw method. SO we can probably adapt one of his.

Sure this can be adapted to detect water lvl, and control extraction rates.

Thoughts?

A variation of this device: http://www.swsfilt.co.uk/rower/index.htm
 
Last edited:
First trip out to the coast since the mega arrived, so a cycle out to Cresswell, in lovely, warm, sunny weather in the hope of catching up with the Bridled Tern. Not very optimistic to be honest, as I know it has been quite mobile along the coast (and it's hard to move between locations quickly on a bike!) and sightings have been sporadic...and my record of catching up with rarities in Northumberland is very poor! The presence of only a single car at the Cresswell hide confirmed my expectations.

Nevertheless, a nice hour spent on Cresswell pond and on the headland watching the passage out to sea. At least a couple of dozen Sandwich tern, with a few Common and Arctic tern, occupied the western sand bank on the pond, and was surprised to see a single avocet back on the sand bank in front of the hide (despite still quite high water). Other than that, there were the signs of successful breeding all around the pond, with young broods of shelduck, mallard and coot. And around the pond, a couple of sedge warbler and a reed warbler were very active over the reeds, with a single juvenile yellow wagtail on the track at the north end of the pool.

Later, from the headland by the caravan park, 15 minutes sea-watching was very productive, with quite extensive passage of birds out to sea. Plenty of Sandwich tern and common tern were seen (but no dark ones among them), together with a steady passage of gannet, mostly heading north, but the highlight for me were my first positiviely identified manx shearwater, a group of 4 skimming over the waves heading north. The rocks held roosts of black-headed gull, herring gull and kittiwake. Also, a single razorbill floated with a group of sleeping eider close into shore.
 
Yes Gill, the Bridled was back on Inner Farne yesterday, no sign today as far as I know but am heading up to E Chevington/Cresswell now with everything crossed!!!
 
Warning! This thread is more than 1 year ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top