Hawfinch

I couldn't look for the Hawfinch yesterday due to work but a day off today saw me and fellow birders along the footpath towards High Ford. Many birders came and went to see a now county rarity. Twenty years ago not many people would be interested in coming here as we had a resident flock in Alnwick and the Tyne valley. The Hawfinch was magnificent popping up on the tree tops now and then before disappearing to feed on the Beech mast. A little too far for my camera but if you click on the images you should be able to see what it looks like! An excellent bird for the OFFH list.
Hawfinch is probably my first self found scarcity as a young birdwatcher. At Cottingwood in the grounds of King Edward V1 school in October 1974 I saw one feeding on the ground in the Lower school area. I have not seen one in Morpeth since until today.

Pale Birds

Terrible shot of some of the flock

First of all I will have to apologise for the quality of the pics as the birds were too mobile and distant. Excuses out of the way a lot of birds in the tip area again. I was there at first light and from the foot and mouth plantation there was a covey of 6 Grey partridge, a Buzzard and 2 snipe. 2 Peregrines few west together male at the front. The female swooped onto a Woodpigeon but it was too quick for her and she continued flying west. The male flew back over the tip lifting the flock of over 200 finches. Once settled I tried to look through them but they were flighty. I walked through Stobswood to check out the other woods but only saw regular birds like Goldcrests and Coal Tits, 2 Woodcock and Jay were nice to see. I returned to the tip and saw ADMc looking through the Finch flock which were in the smaller Alders to the west of the site. Despite this they were still difficult to look through but in flight we could see a very pale bird but couldn't pick it up when it landed. We did see a bird with a good white rump but didn;t see the rest of the bird properly...frustrating. Trying to count the flock was difficult with possibly a hundred birds being Goldfinches, 50+ Siskin and 20+ Mealy and a similar number of Lesser Redpolls. There were 17 Mealy's in one small Alder. A Buzzard alighted on a pylon carrying a Rabbit and a total of 4 Hares were seen. The female Kestrel appears to have been replaced by a male and a couple of Snipe were flying around. The Weasel was active again as was a Bank Vole. In the field where the Horses are there were 18 Fieldfare.

Twitch at the tip

I arrived at the tip this morning about 0930ish and Alan G and ipin were already watching the Arctic redpoll (see pics on dusty bins, Alan Tilmouth blog). It had moved out of sight but a few minutes later I had a brief view through the Alders on the opposite side with a few Goldfinches. A flock of 30 redpolls flew in...all of them Mealies. There was also some fine looking Lesser Redpolls as well. In the NW corner there was a flock of over 100 Goldfinches. The flocks were more fragmented today but the bright bird remained elusive for the rest of the morning. I've seen a white bird here on a couple of visits (see hints on previous posts) but have not been able to pin it down. Well done to Alan. Other sightings were a Heron feeding on voles, a Buzzard hovering into the wind and a Weasel. On my way in I walked Bennyboy through the Beech wood at the entrance and flushed 3 Woodcock, one of them got stuck in the wire fence but managed to squeeze through. there was also a dead one which had been well plucked.

Quick walk

Today was my last shift for a week. There wasn't much light left when I got back form work so we went for a walk around High house wood and back home via the stanners. The light was fading so no chance of any photos. The river levels are quite high and fast flowing but just upstream from the stepping stones it is flowing slowly and this is where most of the river wildfowl are. There were 7 Mute swans, Mallard, Moorhen and 2 fine drake Goosanders. In the trees were 12 Long tailed tits. Tawny owls have beome vocal in the Abbey woods early mornings and evenings.

Back at the tip

NE corner lagoons..still frozen at the moment

Mobile Finch flock...perhaps there's an Arctic in there!

The only shots I managed

Poorly looking Kestrel

This morning was my first opportunity to visit Widdrington tip since the snowfall. I was down at first light but no 'hoped for' Owl activity but by the time it was light there were plenty of birds about. The best of them were Fieldfare (18), Grey Partridge (6), Woodcock (1) and a flock of over a hundred Finches comprising Siskin, Goldfinch, Lesser Redpoll and at least 8 Mealy Redpoll. A female Kestrel looked unwell sitting in a tree and allowed me to walk straight past it. Three Hares also present.
No ambitious plans for the new year but I'm going to bash the local patch where I grew up for all kinds of wildlife during the year as well as keeping an eye on all things local. I'm sure regular visits could turn up Water Rail and Green Sandpiper at the tip...ambitious eh! Happy new year.

No end in sight

I know we are not the only region to experience snow and sub zero temperatures but after a few weeks it becomes a bit wearing. It may look lovely but the practicalities of work, school and travel becomes a bit of a chore. The most frustrating thing is not getting to my favourtite places but there is a lot more water (or ice) to go under the bridge yet.

Pictured are a few snowy pics of Morpeth.

Arctic Tundra... but some good birds

Widdrington tip was like the Russian tundra with temperatures to match. Usually I see few birds when the 'carr' is frozen but there were plenty today. When I first went into the main Alder plantation I could hear a faint 'toot' of possibly a Northern Bullfinch. I recognise the call as I have seen and heard them before and I thought that it may be closer than it sounds unlike the heavier melancholic peuww of our own species. After five minutes I gave up as it went quiet and another species caught my attention.  Woodcocks began to fly in all directions. I only walked the length of the taller Alders and I counted 16. I took a few blurry shots but for real photos visit Richard Dunn's blog linked from Boulmer birder. There was a flock of 120 Siskin in here with about 15 Goldfinches but the star birds were Mealy Redpolls. 15 Redpolls flew over flying towards Stobswood but they looked like Mealy's in flight but I wasn't sure then I picked up five in the Alder trees and they were soon joined by another two. One of them was so white it looked almost like an albino!
A walk around the foot and mouth plantation produced small flocks of Fieldfare and Yellowhammers as well as 8 Grey Partridges. A Kestrel here was hunting unsuccessfully as time after time it went down it was straight up again with nothing. I can't imagine what any of these birds were feeding on as it was very cold and bleak. Other notables here were 80 Pink footed geese in the distance and 5 Snipe.

I decided to return to the Alder plantation to see if I could see the Redpolls again and try to get a pic but as soon as I walked in I heard the Bullfinch call again and this time I saw the birds responsible. Two male Bullfinches looked a bit disappointing, not by their beauty but they looked and sounded like our usual ones but I could still hear the faint tooting call and they were joined by a female which was a beast compared to the other two. Looking at it from behind the white rump completely merged into the undertail making it very bright and contrasting with dark primaries and a browner back. The views were brief as the birds kept moving and twigs and branches kept getting in the way. In the winter of 1995/6 me, Stewart and John caught a Northern Bully half a mile away in similar habitat, see Stewart's blog 'from the notebook' Nov 22 and Richard Dunn has calls of Northern Bully and our own resident species for comparison. I took notes and even drew them...thank God I don't have a scanner!