Calm Before the Spring?

 A few hours in the field with the kids over the last two days have added a couple of county year ticks in a generally quiet spell with this high pressure perhaps acting to block the majority of migrants rather than accelerate their progress.
Yesterday whilst the kids collected pine cones from the nearby forest floor a male Goshawk slid past languidly a few hundred metres away in the late morning sunshine. Up to four Buzzards thermalled over an hour long watch and just before leaving we heard 'Kronk' nearby and a single Raven flew south just 30m from our vantage.
This morning a short walk to Cresswell Pond produced a single Short-eared Owl hunting the dunes, five Common Snipe behind the hide and a singing male Stonechat from nearby wires though the kids were much more impressed by the pissing capabilities of some of the local cows.

Skandinavisk

Still westerly and a little stronger than I'd hoped this morning but it all helps to blow away the cobwebs.  Migration is on the tip of everyone's tongue and whilst the first so called 'proper' migrants are what most seem to be eagerly awaiting, there are plenty of migrants out and about.
A walk along the favourite beach this morning produced two littoralis Rock Pipits both in a typically tatty state of moulting into summer plumage. Little else of note, the dregs of winter's waders, a few Sanderlings, Bar-tailed Godwits and a single Grey Plover.

Further up the coast two candidate nominate monedula Jackdaws at Lynemouth and Druridge Bay. Druridge Pools held four Pintail amongst a declining number of commoner wildfowl. Back at Woodhorn the drake Scaup was still hanging around the church pool this morning though most of Thursday's Pied Wagtails seemed to have cleared through with only c.10 left.

Down to Earth

Post-work light nights combined with eager grandparents equals birding. A brief visit to Woodhorn for a change of scenery found the hallowed turf ripped asunder as the two fields either side of the railway line have been purchased by a local who is bringing them back into active agriculture.
You won't find me complaining if he carries on in the vein he has started, a huge clean-up exercise costing a five figure sum has removed a dozen years plus of waste from the surrounding hedgerows, new fencing is providing a few hundred additional posts for that special Wheatear to pop up on and a proper footbridge is a welcome addition to the north of the church pool.
With the plough still active yesterday, several hundred Black-headed Gulls were following and with a shout of 'Bony' earlier in the week the only decent thing to do was get amongst them. Whilst earth-encrusted bills produced the occasional raised eyebrow, I had to content myself with four of Newbiggin's most famous, with 1st-winter, 2nd-winter and two adult Mediterranean Gulls spread amongst the throng. Almost as good was a good-sized alba wagtail flock, 47 in all, all Pied, I could say I was disappointed but the males particularly were a joy to behold resplendent in their spring best and it would do them a huge disservice just because there wasn't a foreigner amongst them.

 Scrum

 Med Gull & Friends

Out on the church pool a Grey Wagtail mooched around the rocks holding up the railway line, eight White-fronted Geese and two Barnacle Geese on the muddy (yes mud!) edges along with a small selection of local wildfowl including a couple of Shoveler.
Heading back to the car two Mistle Thrushes were a 'patch year tick'

Review: Petrels, Albatrosses, Storm Petrels of North America

I've spent the odd hour sea-watching. I've sea-watched with some very experienced birders whose ability to identify species almost at the edge of visibility has left me questioning my optics, my eyesight, my ability and quite often my sanity. I've tried to listen and learn and gone back to listen and learn some more. I've made mistakes (still making them!) and resolved to work harder, to read more, to look better to see and watch when sea-watching. I've learned to tune out the banter and fed on the occasional called out field mark or insightful comment on subtle jizz from those that are infinitely more time-served than me.  From this niche of my birding I have taken great enjoyment and whilst I can't claim to be 'addicted' I look forward to hours spent straining at the horizon.

Photographic guides are opinion splitters, some birders love images others are completely turned off by them, yearning for the art and craft of the traditional field guide. There are good photographic guides and a great many bad ones. Being entirely honest ahead of receiving a copy of Petrels, Albatrosses and Storm Petrels of North America: A Photographic Guide I was highly sceptical that a 'photographic guide' could do justice to the 'tubenoses' and I questioned whether as a European birder I would find much value in the guide and was I as a result going to have to find a carefully worded way of retaining my integrity and honesty and advising 84% ( by geographic origin; courtesy of Google Analytics if you must ask) of my readership to continue allowing the Brown House Moths to occupy the Marks & Spencer wallet bought Christmas 1987 by Mum (we've all got one). Thankfully it became apparent very quickly that on the contrary this guide just oozes 'value' if you're interested in seabird identification.

The first 50 pages of this near 500-page volume should be made compulsory reading for anyone planning to go sea-watching, long before they ever raise a pair of bins at a distant passing shearwater. Crammed with detail, from it's introductory 'What are Tubenoses?' section through chapters on Ocean Habitats and Tubenose taxonomy Howell guides us to his superb section on Field Identification of Tubenoses ahead of the main species accounts. This section offers some superb insights on flight manner and how environmental factors can impact on both the bird and the observer's perception of it. The diagrammatic representations of flight manner are simple and prove the maxim that a picture, or in this instance a simple diagram, is worth a thousands words. Their simplicity belies their usefulness as an aid to describing flight style in the field.

The quality of images used in the species accounts is generally very good. The sheer volume of images presented highlighting different plumage characteristics, environmental conditions, moults and populations is incredible. Anyone that has a single mental image of Northern Fulmar should go no further than the 27 images for that species alone.

One of the toughest challenges in the field with many groups of species is being able to confidently tell apart similar species. Howell obviously recognises this is no different (and in some cases extremely difficult) in tubenoses, so dedicated sections in every species account discussing similar species and some of the key identification features and the pitfalls go a long way to adding to the usefulness of this guide.
After making his case for the importance of understanding factors such as habitat and flight style it's no surprise than that each species account also has a specific section covering those topics that builds on the earlier introduction offering insight into individual flight styles in different wind conditions.

This is a great work and obviously a labour of love from an author who clearly understands and cares about his subject and knows just how difficult the identification of these species can be but also acknowledges the limitations of current knowledge when he writes ' 'there are many more waves to crest'. Criticism of such a work might seem churlish but to my mind there are two areas that could be improved. First, whilst I appreciate this is a 'photographic guide' the inclusion of a limited range of field sketches from Ian Lewington simply whet my appetite for more and a bigger range of these to supplement the images would have widened the appeal and made for a more 'commercial' offer in my view. Secondly, I was surprised that the opportunity to annotate some of the specific species images wasn't taken in similar vein to the intro section. This may have been deliberate but for those unfamiliar with tubenose topography it might just result in a little back and forth page flicking.

In summary, an outstanding piece of work, worthy of a place on any sea-watcher's bookshelf and offering exceptional value for money in these austere times at a cover price of just £30.95 when compared to say The Puffin monograph recently released and selling for nearly £20 more.

Thanks to Princeton University Press for providing a review copy.

Excubitor

I spent much of today with wet feet. It may not have rained too much lately but out on the mosses and moors there is still plenty of water underfoot in certain areas. I seemed to do a lot of trudging around for not a great deal of reward this morning, a Stonechat here, year tick Red Grouse there, a whole bunch of singing Skylarks seemingly everywhere.
My first stop had produced little more than a few Crossbills and whilst it's always good to be out, the wetness seeping through my boots by mid-morning was mildly irritating. That feeling dissipated the instant I looked west beyond the crest of the hill over which the footpath I was on snaked away across the moors. The white blob atop one of the scattered pines escaping from the tightly packed plantation spread out in front of me 250m-300m away was instantly recognisable as a Great Grey Shrike.

 
 I fixed the scope and wedged myself between two large rocks and spent the next thirty minutes watching as it gradually worked its way northwest. Unfortunately the bird was in an area that I can't make public but I gather the Prestwick Carr individual has returned for anyone that hasn't managed to catch up with a GGS yet this year.
Throughout the morning the dull metallic noise of the nearby exercises meant I never felt far from Mordor and the occasional pass by low-flying jets ensured my bowels were never full.

This afternoon I passed by Caistron on the Tosson road and counted 104 Oystercatchers, 8 Shelduck and 6 Gadwall. The River Coquet produced three Dippers, two just below Hepple and another just opposite the Healey turn south of Rothbury as I devoured a pasty from Rothbury Butchers.

Two in 45

The number of species I managed to spy in the available time between leaving home and collecting the kids, after a conscientious couple of hours catching up on a few odd jobs. A year-tick Little Owl at a new site for me near Hebron was just reward for several hours searching seemingly suitable tree lines recently. Looping back towards school, a short stop on a bridge over the Wansbeck to look for Grey Wags produced a Kingfisher that looped around under the bridge, resplendent in the spring-like sunshine mid-afternoon.

Milvs

Apparently we 'need' a new kitchen. I should explain. We had a leak, one that went unnoticed for some time until it spilled out from the dark depths of the under sink cupboard and began to seep through the cracks of the badly laid laminate floor. These things have a habit of turning nasty and this is no exception. We foolishly decided to purchase a new sink, apparently one that matched the hob was critically important all of a sudden, instead of just replacing the leaking waste pipes. Plumber arranged, cupboard cleared only to discover that current sink was glued in place in rather a permanent fashion and refused to part company with the 14 year old, now obsolete and unobtainable anywhere work surface. Dire cost consequences.

So this morning found me heading for Ikea to collect a kitchen catalogue. Not wishing to pass up an opportunity and with plenty of time to wander I pushed a little further south to Derwent Park, just to the south of Rowlands Gill. A small children's play park, devoid of life on a Monday morning ensured my two could tear about and make as much noise as they liked whilst I set-up nearby and scanned the tree-lines.

The main attraction down that neck of the woods is the Red Kite activity, they didn't disappoint though this morning's action was x rated as a courting couple of milvus were wasting no time (Green 76 and untagged male) and not worried about public sensibilities, getting it on for the world to see just south of the Toddler Park.I think we had 4 in the air at one point though there were possibly different individuals further south appearing periodically so conceivably up to seven in the area. Three Grey Wagtails flew north, a year tick, whilst a Great Spotted Woodpecker put in a brief appearance.

 "Dirty, Dirty Birds" (per Toby Collett who wasn't rubbing his hands on his knees a la Vic Reeves)

Post-coital chit-chat courtesy of a disgracefully ancient Iphone

After Ikea and a quick Pizza Hut lunch we headed west to an area high above the Tyne Valley just before the Northumberland/Durham recording border starts to twist south bearing away from the Tyne. A bit grey and a few spots of drizzle so not the best day for soaring raptors, however, we managed 2 more Red Kites both inside the Durham boundary sadly, a single Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk on the right side of the Tyne. Two more Buzzards soared above a small wood south of Darras Hall as we sped home.