Northumberland days 1 - 3

For the second year in a row, I travelled to Berwick-upon-Tweed with my dad and stayed with family. The house overlooks the sea, so at times, it is possible to watch Goosanders from the house!

After the five hour-journey, I unpacked my luggage at the house and walked up the pier, which is near the house. The tide was out, so most of the birds were waders, but I still saw a good number of species including Redshanks, Curlews and Oystercatchers. 

On the other side of the pier was a sandy beach, where there was a bigger variety of waders including Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey and Ringed Plovers, Sanderlings and Dunlins. On the sea there was a close in Red-throated Diver, which are always good to see when they are not white dots through a telescope. There were also Eiders and a lot of Shags.

Bar-tailed Godwit

Getting back to the house, I unpacked my luggage and made plans for the next day. Just before dark, hundreds of Gulls gathered on the mud outside the house, and in the huge flock, there were Lesser Black-backed, Common, Black-headed and Great Black-backed Gulls, among the Herrings. 

The next day, I went to Prestwick Carr, near Newcastle. My main reason for planning a visit here was because I knew the site had Willow Tits, a species I'd never seen, but while researching it I realised there was also a Great Grey Shrike in the area, so that became another target.

Thanks to some helpful directions (thanks Samuel Fisher!), I managed to get to the right area. Almost immediately, I heard the strange, harsh call of a Willow Tit, and it didn't take long to find it flying around in a small tree. I tried to teach myself the difference from Marsh Tit, and managed to see the thicker neck and a whiter cheeks. 

Moving on, I walked up the lane looking on all the distant trees for the Shrike, and stopped at all the gaps in the hedge. However, because I was sure it would be distant, I didn't expect the white shape sitting in the hedge ahead of me to be the bird I was looking for! 

 

Great Grey Shrike - Taken Through the Scope

It didn't stay there for long though, and it flew to the top of the nearest tree then in to the field to the left of the path. After a few minutes, I managed to relocate it hunting from a post. I got very good views for a long time through the scope, and enjoyed watching it drop down in to the grass, return to the post, then move to the next post along.

A heavy sleet storm started, so I sheltered in the pub, and had fish and chips for lunch. I ended up missing the bus by a few seconds, despite running for it, but this didn't turn out to be too bad as another came quite soon.

In the evening, I walked along the pier again and saw a very good variety of waders on the beach including Redshanks, Oystercatchers, Curlew, Ringed and Grey Plovers, Sanderlings, Dunlins and Bar-tailed Godwits.

The Waders on the Beach

On the third day, I went to Stag Rocks, near Bamburgh, hoping for Divers and Grebes. However, the weather made watching the sea almost impossible, and I had to do it with the shelter of a building. This was a disadvantage because there was a lot of swell on the sea, and the building I was next to wasn't high up on a cliff - it was almost at sea level. 

On the sea, there were a few Kittiwakes, a Gannet, a flock of more than 100 Common Scoters with a Red-breasted Merganser in it and a VERY brief view of a flock of Grebes that were probably Slavonian, but I couldn't relocate them because of the swell and the fact they were so small and distant. I had to give up though because of the heavy winds. 

I walked in the direction of Budle Bay, but turned back soon as the weather turned even worse as it started to rain heavily. It was so windy that Rock Pipits and Stonechats were sheltering on people's lawns. 

A Sheltering Stonechat

I didn't do much else during the rest of evening, except plan what I was going to do in the following days.