Garganey......

It doesn't really feel like spring until you've had a patch garganey !

This evening there were 4 birds present, 2 drakes and 2 females......

Smart

Migrants....

A quick check of Low Newton this evening was worthwhile with the heavy rain dumping a pied flycatcher and 2 male redstarts......

Pied fly

Redstart

Patch Rare !!

A quick visit to the patch after work this evening threw up a very pleasant surprise.....

 

Wood warbler in the willows at Newton Pool

This is only my second ever patch wood warbler, my first was an autumn bird a couple of years ago, it can be seen HERE. 

They are a rare bird on the coast up here so I was delighted with this little beauty !

A Bit Mental......

.....Is how shags look when you see them close up ! They're almost like a cartoon characters....

Another pic from the Farnes

Puffins....

I spent a couple of hours on the Farnes last week and couldn't resist trying to photograph some puffins !

 

Some More Migrants Arriving.......

A short walk around the Tin Church and Low Newton yesterday morning got me my first garden warbler, swift (3) and reed warbler of the year......

More Collared Flycatcher....

Of course early on Thursday morning I returned to the Tin Church to see if the collared flycatcher was still around.......

It was and it remained in the area all day performing admirably for a steady procession of visiting birders, I spoke to people who had travelled from as far afield as Warwickshire, Fife and Cheshire....

Crowd pleaser.... This shot was taken when it flew into the willows and sycamores behind the Tin Church

Also in the area a hunting barn owl, and a noticeable passage of whimbrel going on with birds regularly calling overhead and at least 13 individuals feeding in the arable field by the Tin Church.

Daytime hunting.....

Just passing through.....

During the afternoon the winds remained south-easterly and another front of rain arrived, I couldn't resist heading out again !

The collared fly was still around with a few people still watching it in the rain. I took a quick look then headed down to Newton Pool. Here I found a cracking male pied flycatcher ! Unfortunately it was raining heavily and the bird was flitting around all over the place so the camera was not an option..... Nice bird tho.... 

Extremely Jammy !!

So.... picture the scene....

It's the second day of strong south easterlies, offshore murk/fret is starting to build and a front of rain is forecast for the afternoon....

I've spent a couple of days stuck at my desk working, but the promise of rain combined with persistent south easterlies is getting me fired up for some grounded migrants. I get on the phone to Irish Sean to let him know that I will heading out to the local headlands when the rain arrives, Sean is keen to come so I arrange to collect him en-route to the patch.....

At around 15.30 I collect Sean from Seahouses and we head off towards the Tin Church. The rain is now beating off the windscreen and I get a sense that Sean's (and perhaps my own) enthusiasm might be waning a little ! So on the drive I try to offer a little encouragement, but explain the typical scenario for spring birding in weather like this.....

"It's not like the big falls of the autumn, spring is more difficult, you can flog around all day in good conditions and not see a lot, but the chance of something good keeps you going and it only takes one good bird to make your day. The reality is 99% of the time you won't find that much but there might be a chance of a redstart or a pied flycatcher"

Knowing that pied flycatcher is a good bird for Sean (rare in Ireland apparently) I'm hoping we can find one to brighten the day up, a realistic target in these conditions I figured...  However, I go on to cite a few spring finds here in similar weather to try and keep our spirits and enthusiasm up..... "lesser grey shrike, rosefinch, wryneck" etc...     

We arrive at the Tin Church and being a creature of habit I have a route planned in my head to take in the coastal scrub and headlands, hopefully intercepting anything that has been dumped by the rain.

A couple of minutes are spent getting our waterproofs on then we set off on our walk. Just 10 or 15 paces along the road from the car and Sean spots movement in the scrub behind the church. While he is peering in to thick cover to see what's there, I take a look the other way and glance along the distant fence line of the horse field.

With the naked eye I spot a black and white flash at the furthest corner of the field. Excellent, that male pied flycatcher I was hoping for, and the very first bird I've seen too ! I lift my binoculars to confirm the identification and nearly fall over when I see a large white collar !!! 

Meanwhile, Sean has tracked down his bird..... "Ahh, it's just a blackbird in the scrub here"...

At the same time I scream..... "F*%KING COLLARED FLYCATCHER !!!"

A typical Sean response comes "Feck off !"

"NO SERIOUSLY, LOOK ALONG THE FENCE LINE IT'S A F*%KING COLLARED FLYCATCHER !!"

Sean realises I am not joking and quickly gets on the bird.

Just to confirm I am not completely losing the plot I ask Sean "It is a collared fly isn't it ?"

The response comes "It looks like a collared fly"...

More expletives are uttered and we both run back to the car to grab the cameras....

This is what we saw at the far end of the field ! HOLY SHIT !!

With a few images secured to confirm the record, we decide what to do next.

The place is quite sensitive with private fields and tracks all around, I know that both the local farmer and Linda who lives down the track at Quarry House will certainly not be impressed by crowds of birders walking all over the shop. We're keen to put the news out but nervous that if the flycatcher moves into more difficult private areas then it could degenerate into mayhem. We really needed to speak to the locals.

I head down the track and explain the situation to Linda, she's OK with it but requests that no-one comes down her track towards the house. This is fine with us because the bird is frequenting the scrub around the track so we wouldn't want people going down there anyway.

I can't get hold of the farmer and time is moving on...... The flycatcher seems to be remaining fairly faithful to the gorse bank running along Linda's drive, it's easily viewable from the road so a decision is made, a few calls are made, texts sent, and the news is out.....

The first of the Northumberland lads arrives and is watching the bird with us. Then, just a couple of minutes before a mass arrival of Northumberland's keenest, the flycatcher flew along the bank towards us, nipped over the road and disappeared into the thick cover of willows and sycamores behind the church. Exactly what we didn't want it to do ! 

A few fraught minutes ensued before the bird did the decent thing and re-appeared back along the gorse bank viewable from the roadside, smiles all around and it settled down to spend the rest of the evening feeding along the sheltered field edge....

The evening twitchers enjoying a SPUD !....

The SPUD in question

Check out that collar !! PHOOOAAAR !!

Sean had to go to work at 18.30 so I dropped him back in Seahouses and quickly returned to the Tin Church for more views.

As I watched the flycatcher working its way up and down the fence line I reflected on what is undoubtedly my jammiest birding moment ever !! Initially I felt a little guilty that virtually zero effort had been made to turn up this stunner. Then I reminded myself that I had checked this area thoroughly during the morning (just a lesser whitethroat here then) and on countless previous occasions over the years, many hours in the field and usually turning up nowt....  

Having now spent most the afternoon and evening watching the flycatcher just a few feet from the parked car it was finally time to get walking, so I wandered down to the scrapes.

A Brucie Bonus here was a nice wood sandpiper....

Brucie Bonus

Collared Flycatcher !!!

HOLY FECKIN SHIT !!..... 

The weather looked promising today, so this afternoon when the rain started to fall I decided to get out on the patch and look for some grounded migrants. I was hoping for a pied fly but I really didn't expect this stunner !!

A dream bird on the patch.....

Full story coming soon......

Bank Holiday Madness !!....

This weekend I decided to work right through to avoid all of the bank holiday madness on the coast here.....

I still managed a couple of tactical early morning/late evening visits to the patch (to avoid the tourists). Of note the scrapes had a turnover of birds including....

3 blackwits

1 common sand

4 dunlin

7 ringed plover

1 pale-bellied brent

up to 13 white wags

5 yellow wags  

Pale-bellied Brent

Still plenty of white wags on the beach this weekend too and also a single yellow wag...

White wag

Another female yellow wag showing a bit of a bluish looking head....

The local little owl is still showing well....

Finally, this morning my first little terns of the year were displaying over our house. It's nice to have them back.....