Snow Bunting

winter plumage male Snow Bunting
found 16/03 by GrahamS

Proper Jack Snipe images

I have previously blogged about The day Mickys hair fell out !

That day having had the pleasure of the company of one of County Durham's foremost /& respected birdwatchers / fieldworkers, Michael Heron on a 12 hour, 35,000 step half marathon.

THIS post is simply to add a couple of his photographs.

I think you'll appreciate the colour and detail......

Beauty images cheers marra.
You can follow Mick (the man who leaves no bird un-named) on the Twitter  @houghtonbirder

Post Script:
I am hoping given this winters pilot fieldwork, our County Bird Club, DBC can look favourably on the opportunity it has to be the First English bird club to carry out a Countywide survey for this species.
We did it with Long-eared Owls, why not these too....?

We are OFFh 2

Rambling continued

Some spots go right off the boil every now & then.

One which has had a spell or two in this category, is the grasslands at Houghton Gate. 
Having said that, its been on fire this winter  

Houghton Gate - Approach the gate & the pool empties

X30 cropped view of waders & fowl 

Here we have a large acreage of permanent grazing with a handful of subsidence ponds which have come about over the last 10 year and up to 1,500 birds have recently been using this area. January 2014 has seen 600+Curlew, 300Greylag, 300Lapwing, 100Wigeon, 60Teal with smaller no's of Pintail, Shoveller, Shelduck, waders being  further represented with Redshank, Snipe, Oystercatcher & the Black tailed Godwit. 

Sheldrake & Blackwit

With this many birds acting as a lure, it was only a matter before "other stuff" began to get pulled in & i've given it good coverage. 

A pair of Dunlin dropped in on 25th - after New Years bird at Rainton, one of very few January patch records, what would be next... 

Didnt have to wait long as the following day  I “popped in” in passing . 

No sign of the Dunlin, but a pale breasted bird immediately stood out on the bank… All that could be made out through bins was a decent sized wader, but it was directly head-on, only it was roosting with its head tucked into its back. 

The time was 16:40 & there wasn’t a lot of light, but through the scope I was taken aback to see it was BAR TAiLED GODWiT !  

I quickly pinged off a few texts, but it was exactly the wrong time to find a patch mega… Sunday afternoon, 10 mins before dusk , no time for others to connect.

Pics:-

Screen grab

Its cousin was present, so that meant both Black and Bar tailed Godwit together on an inland water in January, unreal.

A few iPhone shots & a video clip, but the light was terrible & dim & the bird not the closest

Consultation with three wise men confirmed the mega title –  fair enough, not the rarest of birds.....
Not only a site first, but a Houghton/Hetton Patch first too ! 40 years of footslogging & countless hours from the like of Messers Wilson, Heron, McClean & Co, at last I’d found something half decent the others could enjoy… 
If only  it would hang on overnight… It would have to !  I couldn’t chalk it off my Footit list otherwise as that afternoon i was in the motor !

So Monday school run came & went, off into a pleasant bright morning, I toyed with the idea of doing a recce in the motor first… but that would have kinda defeated the object. So a stroll down that way in under an hour & you guessed no sign. 
At 10:30 things began to look up as the Black-wit came in with 200 Curlew. The day was springlike sunny & breezy, Buzzards were getting up over the estate & I tried a long shot scoping across into Gatesheads Red Kite country. It took more than three quarters of an hour, but I eventually saw one, distant but distinctive, low over the horizon way over Kimblesworth Grange area, approx 5.5miles away. 
This was another  good addition as despite their closeness I don’t see Red Kite at home on an annual basis. (early Feb & ive scoped 2-3 closer near Ouston/Urpeth)

I filled 2 further hours between here & Lumley Castle, adding various species & finding those 2 nice Green Sands. I’d just spoken to Derek Ch on the phone to say id given up & was gonna head off, so one last scan over the Estate.

“What on earth…!” – a large dark long billed, funny shaped bird with trailing legs… all manner of strange big bird names came to mind, diver, stork, crane etc all raced through my brain, but in a second the penny dropped.... GLOSSY IBIS !

Whoa ! – now that’s  a bonus bird if ever I saw one. I rang DC back from the middle of the A1M bridge – obviously he couldnt hear a thing ! It was coming closer & sure to land on The Gate Pool.  Rushing across the motorway only to see 600 mixed Curlew & Lapwing up in the air – Its looked like this gangly stranger with strange trailing legs had spooked the lot !  Some of the Lapwings got behind it & it circled away gaining height, it slowly drifted away rising over Elba Park & Sedgeletch – I rang Mick, maybe he was outside on a teabreak… it was flying over his workplace ! 

Ibis drifts away as the Lapwings settle

Sadly no one else local got onto it, but it did get picked up coming in over Saltholme 2 hours 20 later.

What a great rarity….perhaps not….

Look at this map of sightings since Oct 2013

Give it a decade & they’ll be all over the shop.

Best bird of my Footit…?  Simple, but The BAR-WIT could have so easily won hands down.

The List was well over the ton, so a couple of coastal trips to finish off with a final tally of 124 on foot from home.

Heres a selected Houghton Gate List Jan 2014.

4/1 Greenland White-fronted Geese x2 (PHi)

8/1 Black tailed Godwit / Shoveller

16/1 Shelduck / Pintail

18/1 Oystercatcher

25/1 Dunlin x2

26/1 Bar tailed Godwit

27/1 Red Kite / Glossy Ibis

We're OFFh, No cars needed

Had a good go at the Footit List during January.
The idea being to see as many bird species as possible on foot from home. OFFH, something we've been doing locally for.... decades.
(Think I'll best do this over 2 blog entries)

Lapwings arriving to roost at Chilton Moor

Last year i saw 111 including a single trip to the coast, which added 10 species.
So a realistic target this year would be aim for an inland 100, with as many as possible on usual local-patch stomping grounds  & then head off with perhaps 20 others to be added with coastal visits.

A good start on New Years day in the company of MH saw a solid 70 in the bag - The highlight being 2 Mealy Redpoll perched at close range. The Seventy giving a real insight into the wealth of birds to be found locally.

No two years are the same, and the rapidly changing climate & unpredictable seasons are certainly making our hobby interesting.... if somewhat worrying...  This mild winter has had its pros & cons. On the plus side our first overwintering Black tailed Godwit - a species which has become more familiar over recent years, but overwintering inland in NE.England is ridiculous.

Black wit overwintering at H'Gate pool.

A decent autumn showing converting into a final trio which made it to the years end & this one staying with us into 2014.  A single yes, but by no means alone! its finding company & security in a three figure flock of Curlew which has peaked at over a whopping 630 birds, with frequent trips off down to Chartershaugh.

On the other hand, 2 hard cold winters out of the last 4 have changed the habits of overwintering Chiffchaffs, with none being noted on the patch - c/p 5 or 6 birds at Sedgeletch alone when the Siberian was there.  The result, an easy one missing from the OFFH list. Mild conditions have meant far fewer winter thrushes & finches, eg Fieldfare & Siskin pretty thin on the ground, Water Rail, Snipe & both asio Owls in far fewer no's than usual.
Our local patch holds several special species over winter, Green Sandpipers giving a good showing with perhaps 4 or 5 this year in the Houghton to Chester area.  The unlikely looking modern sewage works at Ch-le-St holding is regular winter bird, while close by these 2 were found on floodwater near Lumley Castle:-

Water Rail have a scattered breeding population here, with several sites producing sightings; eg Joes Pond/Rainton complex, Sedgeletch, Seaton Pond, but as usual The Bogs has been the place for them.

Rail head

Locally we have a number of keen owlers & some owls for them to go at. But, the halcyon days of ALL 5 in 37 minutes now seem a lifetime away. Short-eared hasnt showed up yet... amazing when i think that some years i've counted up to 24 at roost ! Barnies are back down the slippery slope after a rapid recovery & now take a bit of work. The Big Luggs are hiding out there but a disastrous season in 2013 has knocked them back & currently "bad to get" . 

# Owl Blog - Click Here #

A couple of Greenland White-fronted Geese initially picked up by Man with Stick CW at Leamside were only the second patch record, but they quickly headed north into GyetsHeed, luckily i managed to re-find them down in the R.Wear valley at Chartershaugh Flashes, plus a swimming Pheasant ! both site firsts.

Greenland White-fronted Goose

Great Crested Pheasant

Charterhaugh Flashes

Hope this gives a flavour of some of the birds about.
Part 2 to follow....

Sunderland - Wonderland

The Sunderland area continues to attract the attention of many visiting birders for the Rainton Meadows Redpoll display team - all 3 captured supremely by Ray Scott today;

Mealy(top), Arctic x2 (centre)  & Lesser(bottom)


with additional interest with also rans of Long tailed Duck at Cox Green(CW) & Iceland Gull (AW) again at the river mouth.


I had a wander from home past the edge of Lambtons & followed the river to WWWT

Plenty of fusts for the year, with Sedgeletch providing Treecreeper, Reed Bunting, Stock Dove & Kingfishers.

the beck was discoloured after overnight rain, but this morning saw the ponds still iced over -
several times this bird looked as if it was about to strike, despite there being no open water
(can remember reading in BB about K'fisher crashing through ice to catch prey !!)



This female bird had a gap between mandibles when the bill was closed (another poor imageo on my FlickR page)


Also at S'letch, a Stoat put on a good show & i was pleased to record it with a wobbly phone held to the 'scope !

Where 'the waters meet'- he broke off from hunting Rabbits to check me out, before it noticed the Water Rail i was watching, crouching under overhanging grasses & stalks -  it fluttered across the beck out of harms way.



It was nice to hear Bullfinch singing in 3 locations, a Goldcrest feeding on the ground - i thought he was sickly at first,

4Kingfisher in total- Sedgeletch, Chartershaugh stretch, Victoria Viaduct & Washington Swg outfall,

at least 5 Mealy Redpolls at Fatfield fishing pond, with 1 feeding on the ground for a fair while.

Mealy, Goldfinch & Lesser Redpoll at the back.

I hung around the Cox Green / Washington WWT area for a while.
After a tip-off about tree removal at Wader Lake, i checked out the best Avocet viewpoints... Roll on March ! (thanks NF)

That section produced a great selection today including :-

Nuthatch, Dabchick, Tree Sparrow, Long tailed Duck, Brambling, Goosander, 60Siskin, 5Mealy Redpoll (the fatfield birds were still there when i went back), Barn Owl, Kingfisher, LBBGull, Goldeneye, dead Scaup, high tide roost of 40 Redshank & a real surprise when a pair of Peregrines came by, flying slowly up river......

I was still a good way from home when it began to get dark, but no Shorty nor Barny at Sedgeletch as i made a bee-line over the favoured fields - though i got a shock - firstly a covey of Partridge came up, then 3 female Pheasant (i though they roosted in trees, not the ground ?)

Finished the day with 80 species on my Sunderland List - at the moment all OFFH.... though a couple of old gadgees with padded lumberjack shirts were messing about in a boat.... i wonder . . . .

local patchers boat ? - its called PERSERVERANCE

( Ive been looking at the list of SSSi & SNCi's in the met.boro & noted them on my google map here  - many of these classifications are for flowers & girly bollocks, but there are numerous areas that ive never visited - some of them will surely hold some good birding . . . .  looking forward to checking them out....
The Google map still amazes me - i wasnt sure if i could view Whitburn Steel adequately from the confines of Sunderland, but clicking on that little 'yellow jelly baby icon' gives an amazing 3D view
Obviously keeping tabs on regular Hton patch, but this Metropolitan Borough idea has opened up a whole new patch - i'll have to swot up on seagulls & little dots hurtling over the waves -
I havnt had a close look at what a sum-total could be by 31Dec2011, but im Wondering about a target of #200 while im Wandering !!)