Old Caley's Diary: Northumberland Jaunt, Part 3; 30th May 2022

We had already got our holiday off to flier with trips to Bempton Cliffs and Long Nanny to see, primarily, the Black-browed Albatross and American Black Tern. On a grey and damp looking Monday morning we decided to take things easy and visit a couple of our favourite spots on the Northumberland coast. Our fist stop would be at Low Newton, the sister village to High Newton nearby where we had twitched the American Black Tern the day before.

Thankfully it is still possible to park for free close to Low Newton, it isn't at High Newton unless a very long walk is undertaken, although the National Trust still trap the unsuspecting at Low Newton too, by luring them into paying a king's ransom to park in the designated carpark a little further along the road, admittedly closer to the beach and village. We were early and there was hardly another soul in sight as we walked towards the few buildings that huddle together at the end of the road. My intention was to walk straight to the scrapes that lie behind the pub and cottages, and where we've seen lots of good birds on our previous visits including a Red-necked Phalarope which we twitched in teeming rain and near darkness a few years ago. As we neared the beach though some movement there caught my eye. There were some Sanderling scurrying along the beach so we detoured to the sand. Sanderlings are one of the most beautiful of wading birds that pass through the UK on their way to and from their high arctic breeding grounds. We see some at Farmoor every year but to see them on a sandy beach is a true delight and is much more suited to a bird that takes its name from being on the sand. Initially I thought there were about half a dozen of the small waders running across the sand from the waters edge to the tideline but our approach disturbed around fifty more that we hadn't previously noticed that were right close to the road edge! Sanderlings are superbly camouflaged when amongst the washed up seaweed.

I wanted to capture some of that clockwork toy like action of the Sanderling scuttling back and forth so, while Mrs Caley made herself comfortable at the top of beach, I circumnavigated the feeding birds and ensconced myself against the rocks by the shore where I'd be able to keep a low profile. The birds that we'd inadvertently flushed before, now returned to the strand line and quite happily ran past me just a few metres away. Sitting on a beach with the sound of waves breaking on the shore while watching wading birds such as Sanderling is an absolute pleasure for a landlocked birder like myself. As I often say, 'You can't do that in Bicester!'

Some of the Sanderling took the quick route back and flew back. Sanderling must be one of our nicest looking wading birds, always a treat to see and extremely photogenic.

There were other birds available on the beach. A few Dunlin joined in with the Sanderling and a small group of Turnstones busied themselves with turning the seaweed over. Swallows and House Martins flew rapidly just feet above the sand deftly twisting to snare flying insects.

A few days before a Little Stint had been reported on the scrape so I was slightly taken aback when a scan of the beach revealed one feeding by itself but also loosely associating with Ringed Plovers and Dunlin. Assumedly this was the same bird that had decided to take some time by the sea before returning to the scrape. This was our third visit to Low Newton and we've seen a Little Stint every time.

The Little Stint was flushed by a free running dog so I reverted my attention back to the Sanderling. Three hundred photos later they were in turn disturbed by a marauding pair of Carrion Crows that took a liking to their feeding patch. All of the birds dispersed much further along the beach so we chose to leave and head to the scrape as we'd first intended to.

The scrape has formed on a flooded area of grassland and is viewed from the coast path. The near edge is fairly close but small wading birds can be fairly hard to see in amongst the grassy clumps. Careful scanning with the scope soon revealed more Ringed Plovers, a few Sanderling and presumably the same Little Stint that we'd seen on the beach. After spending so long on the beach we didn't linger long but instead moved on since we wanted to visit a few other sites further up the coast.

We stopped at a spot where we could park next to cliffs and overlook the sea and ate our lunch. The cliffs were home to a colony of Fulmars and a few pairs of Kittiwakes as well. Many more Kittiwakes plus a few other Gulls loafed and bathed in large puddles on the rocks.

We headed to Druridge Pools, a small nature reserve where we've spent quite a bit of time on our previous visits to this part of the world. We looked out from the imaginatively titled, 'South Facing Hide', and spotted a reserve teeming with birds. The only problem was that they were all miles away from the hide. A Channel Wagtail, a hybrid between our native race of Yellow Wagtail and one from the other side of the English Channel had been reported earlier that day but there was no sign of it now. I could see the Spoonbill and a couple of Little Gulls that had also been reported but we would need to move to the 'Budge Field Screen' in order to see them at much closer range.

The Budge screen offers much better views of 'The Budge Field' (well, it would do wouldn't it), and we could now see the birds at much closer quarters. The Spoonbill stood out of course and was spotted instantly. Spoonbills are both odd and yet lovely looking birds, appearing both elegant and clunky at the same time. They have great adeptness at feeding in the shallow water though using a scything action to sweep the submerged mud clean of anything it finds.

I spotted a Wood Sandpiper in the shallows. Of course I knew it was here, its presence was one of the reasons we were here since I'm a sucker for a Wood Sandpiper and even though we'd already seen one, I'm keen to see more. At least this one was photographable, unlike the one near Banbury we'd seen earlier in May.

The Garganey that suddenly appeared from behind the vetch was more of a surprise. I hadn't expected to see the fine drake that was now swimming into the same view as the Wood Sandpiper although we have seen a Garganey here before so maybe it shouldn't have been totally unexpected.

The final bird that we saw earlier from distance but which was now flying over the nearest pool was a fine Little Gull. In fact there were two of them, an adult and a first summer although it was the adult bird that gave the best views as it studiously quartered the pond hunting its insect food.