Catching Up

 

Well a week of pottering around, catching up with jobs, working out finances, renewing policies, opening accounts and paying bills.

Plenty of birding to break up the tedium however.

Geese started arriving from the Arctic. Pink-footed Geese first, then Brent and now Barnacle Geese. Barnacle Geese have to be the smartest of the lot and their barking call as they fly over is the least intrusive. Some Greylag flocks have flown in from high altitudes and I wonder if they are true migrants joining the feral, year-round birds which breed in the bay (they appeared to have a less raucous call).

Jays are on the move. I have seen up to 10 in the bay on one day, some well away from trees.

Divers are building up on the sea, at least 100 Red-throated in Druridge Bay. In addition their must be some good fishing as plenty of Gannets have been diving  close to the shore and a few harbour porpoise were close in.

The successful expansion of Mediterranean Gulls means that they are everywhere I go. Today was a fly-catching day for birds. Lots of Craneflies and others filled the sky and Black-headed gulls, Starlings, Jackdaws and numerous others were feasting. Unsurprisingly two Med Gulls  were joining in.

Most of the warblers have moved on now (only a few Chiffchaffs remain, some of which might overwinter). Bullfinches are moulting into adult plumage but at present they aren’t the prettiest of birds.

Still a couple of Wheatears and a single Whinchat at Newbiggin