Burn Mouth or Burnmouth

What is this place called? Chibburn Mouth? Oh who cares?

Whatever it is called it is a great place to see Roseate Terns. They are so easy to pick out! Just look at the difference between these birds and the Common Terns. Bill colour is not the best indicator because on the beach yesterday the birds displayed three different colours; all black, red base and black bill then orange red and black tip.

Also found this small moth, think it might be Pyrausta despicata, but waiting for TT, Northumberland Moths to put me right.

Many thanks Tom for quick response and confirmation.

Any day now!

Adult male and juvenile.

(This morning I saw three juveniles out of the nest together. Are there more??)

A very early juvenile  Wheatear back on the coast. At times it looked more like a Spotted Flycatcher ... but the tail was a bit of a give away!

Stavros S Niarchos

British brig-rigged tall ship.

This ship is owned by the Tall Ships Youth Trust a training vessel which  I think will be part of the Tall Ships Race at Blyth this year.

This Snipe was right in front of the hide at Druridge.

Eyes in the back of its head?

Then this Common Sandpiper joined the Snipe. Waders are trickling through; Spotted Sandpiper reported at Cresswell and Greenshank  (seen and photographed by JA) at Druridge. Whimbrel yesterday at Snab and many reports of Black-tailed Godwits.

Away from the Patch

Having been given membership of the National Trust I decided to visit two of Northumberland's biggest attractions.

Wallington Hall

This place impressed because of the large population of Song Thrushes. In addition Redstarts were easy to see. The best lace was the Boating Lake where they were often seen fly-catching over the lillies.

Shame the Redstart was out of focus.

The walk along the river at Rothbury was very pleasant. 

Who said people in Rothbury don't have a sense of humour?

This was a photographic opportunity missed. Sitting by the river we noticed this mouse. I managed a few snaps before it headed towards a seat occupied by two hikers. I was sure it was going to cause alarm but all of a sudden a Black-headed Gull swooped and plucked the mouse from the ground before it could cause a fuss. My passenger was distraught.

Cragside

This NT property also had a fine variety of birdlife. I was very impressed, however all week we saw only two butterflies? Plenty of other insects including lots of Bees.

This parent was very protective.

A well camouflaged Oyc chick.

All the usual suspects along the river.

Do't be alllamma'd

High Tides and Blustery N. Westerlies

An influx of Wheatears always good to see and they keep the hopes of finding something a little different. Pied Wagtails and the reappearance of Rock Pipits were the best I found along the strand line.

Plenty of these sadly none of the short-tailed variety (or the adult spotty form  ... like the one at South Shields).

High tides changed the appearance of the Ponteland pool (Hauxley).

This bird I believe was ringed in Scotland but I'm waiting to find out more details.

Today I received detail of the Sandwich Tern in the background. Photographed 15th July 2015 at East Chevington.

The Sandwich Tern you photographed RED KAN was ringed (DK38951) at Ynyslas National Nature Reserve, Ceredigion, West Wales on 25th August 2013 as an adult. It was one of the first handful of birds ringed as part of a colour-ringing project to study tern passage through the estuary. The previous year we caught nearly 100 but since registering the scheme we have been unable to repeat that initial success. No terns breed anywhere near the site so all birds are passing through and the numbers present, and how long they stay, vary greatly from one year to the next. Catching is also dependent on calm weather, high tides and good tern passage all coinciding! So far this year we have managed to colour-ring another 28 birds but the numbers have been low and the weather unhelpful. Results from the first ten or so birds have been encouraging so hopefully we will get a few more sightings now from these new additions. 

Returning Already?

Colour-ringed Little Egret

Yes 'Autumn' migration s underway. Waders are moving Knot, Whimbrel, Dunlin, Common Sandpipers and Greenshank all in evidence. If only there was some 'quality' mud for them.

Little Egrets are now so common they don't get all the attention they deserve. This one had a few stabs at the sick gull before leaving it alone.

This one has nice yellow legs, however, the grey lores and pale iris mean it is not a Snowy Egret.

Smaller birds are feeding-up before they depart. This one sheltering from the rain under an Umbrella/Umbellifer.

Believe it or not this is a Whitethroat. Obviously a very tired adult and lacking the expected feather condition. A few weeks of good feeding and I'm sure it will look a lot smarter...

... like this fresh Juv..

Looking at the leg colour Chiffchaff methinks.

Yellow Shell

Camptogramma bilineata sp

Vollucella pellucens

The larvae of these scavenge in Bee and Wasp nests (threy're not thought to be parasitic).