September 'Off to a Flying Start'

August (above) finished well.

Then September provided an early surprise with Easterlies, Rain and Fog.

Brief Seawatches provided Great Skua, Manx and Sooty Shearwaters.

Then the little birds in great variety though small in numbers. The list so far includes: Pied, Spotted and Red-breasted Flycatcher, Willow warbler and Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common and Lesser Whitethroat, Whinchat , Stonechat , Wheatear and Redstart, Icterine , Garden, Grasshopper and Greenish Warbler.

 

This warbler may have been a Booted Warbler but I failed to clinch the ID or to get any decent photos. There are always going to be birds like this but you have to forget them and move on to the next one.

 

August

Great White Egret

My first visit to Rainton Meadows. Nice reserve. DWT are planning an upgrade to the hide and hopefully a couple more will be built in future.

House Sparrows

Good sized flock feeding on the cereal crop at Whitburn. This flock seems to have moved elsewhere and a flock of 600+ Woodpigeons have taken over. Think it is time the farmer did a quick harvest.

 

Selandria serva

Sawfly

It seems that the North East is increasingly being colonised by insect species from further South, or maybe some species have been overlooked. I've seen a few postings about Red-eyed Damselfy recently and wasn't aware they were found in Northumberland (First ever Record  this month per JD) and Durham. I am hoping to see some today, fingers crossed.

An unusual sight for me. The adult fed the youngster on Roker Park Boating lake. It (the young chick) then swam to the nest platform and joined what I assume are two birds from a much earlier brood. One of the joys of wildlife watching is that there is always something new to see.

Ruff

Whitburn Steel

The coastal wardens have done a fair job at providing fencing for Ringed Plovers at Jackies Beach. One chick from a late second brood is still hanging on despite the crows and dogs on this popular beach. I've never met a warden nearby but I guess they work office hours when the dog owners don't.

The dog exclusion zone at Seaburn again is not checked often enough and to make matters worse a lot of dog owners who do follow the signs are now concentrating on the best feeding and roosting area for passage waders.

 

A nice surprise in early August but sadly it got rather a lot of attention from the local crows before having a huge area of the grassy habitat mown for hay.

Southern Hawker

 

July

Returning Waders and Insects

That was July! 

The 'Bus Birding' is going well and I now have a few routes which are my favourites. The little old car is still used for trips further afield but it is more economical on longer journeys.

The only problem with the 'Bus Birding' is the 9:30 start in summer. Fortunately I can use the metro all day in August (however it takes 30 minutes to walk to the nearest metro station).

White-beaked Dolphin

Managed to visit Newbiggin the day after the Greater Sand Plover departed.

Little Ringed Plover

Lovely Marsh Harriers at Chevington.

Gosforth Park

Water Rail enjoying a stretch.

Juv Wheatear on the coast.

Yellow Wagtail

Very hard to catch up with these birds nowadays.

Not had much success finding rarities on my new patch. (Guess that is why they are called rarities.) With August now upon us and September and October to follow its Fingers crossed for something unusual along the South Shields/Whitburn coast.

 

Summer

Avocets seem to have had a good year at Saltholme. Lots of new predator fencing probably helped, so only the avian predators to worry about.

 

This is flower and bug season.

Great to see large areas of the South Shields and Whitburn coast with a wide variety of plants. As always, very disappointing to see some areas decimated by the mower brigade. I wonder how many Pipit and Skylark nests were destroyed by mowing sections of the Leas (S/S) and the Clifftops at Whitburn steel.

Bladder Campion

Young Guillemot

Southern Hawker

Young Razorbill 

The colony of auks at Whitburn is quite sizeable but few chicks are recorded. The Kittiwake colony seems to be expanding around the Souter cliffs this year. However I suspect these are birds displaced from the grotto area. This seems to have more activity  from the fire brigade doing important safety drills and practice rescues.

Roe Deers

Scorpion Fly

Sedge Warbler

 

May

Common Tern

Common Whitethroat

Common Shrike

Well this spring. It was like being in Poland where they are so numerous that they get ignored (mostly) after 3 days.

Red-backed Shrike (female)

Skylark

Breeding season well underway for most species. Young Blackbirds, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Pied Wagtails and Starlings are everywhere.

Spotted Flycatcher

Some birds are still arriving. A nice coastal fall of Spotted Flycatchers was really nice to catch up with.

Stonechat

In Northumberland the coastal Stonechats are very varied in their plumage.

Whinchat

This Whinchat arrived on the coast several weeks ago and seems reluctant to head inland.

Bottlenose Dolphin

Sightings becoming more common. Also inshore fishermen and Gannet flocks close to shore. Must be some good fish about.

Pimpla rufipes

One of the ichneumon wasps.

Common Redsstart

Sand Martin

This colony is doing fine but it is in an area where there have been many landslides hope this area is safe.

Silver Ground Carpet

Small Skipper

May is one of those months where there is so much on offer for the amateur naturalist (me) and plenty still to learn.