Pointless!!!, 28th May 2019

On Sunday morning it rained heavily, on Monday morning it rained a bit harder still, and then this morning it really rained! Three successive days of incessant precipitation first thing in the morning was making me more than a bit grumpy to say the least. I'm on holiday for Gawd's Sake! Here we were in the fabulous coastal birding hotspot of Northumberland and we couldn't really get out at all to see anything, visibility in sheet rain doesn't extend far anyway, but at least we had the car to use as a mobile hide so we made the most of it. It was a very windy day by the coast too so I felt that maybe we could use the conditions to our advantage and try a bit of seawatching. I've learned over the years from holidays in Cornwall that bad weather can bring rewards when gazing out to sea even though that pastime is more than a bit alien to inland birders such as ourselves. Normally the closest we get to experiencing a bit of rough weather sea birding is sampling a windy day at Farmoor Reservoir, mind you it can get rough up there!

I opted to drive south to Newbiggin on Sea in the hope that the rain may not be as bad down there and in truth when we arrived at the community centre car park it had almost stopped. So we tentatively made steps out onto the cliffs. Of course as soon as we'd gone far enough away from the car that a hasty retreat would be out of the question, the rain came lashing in again. Our intention was to walk to Beacon Point where Roseate Terns sometimes hang out at high tide but that idea was quickly abandoned in the once again worsening conditions. We did a swift about turn, noting plenty of birds moving northwards out at sea including Sandwich Terns, Gannets and Guillemots (first of the year #220), and sought the sanctuary of our car once more. 

Sandwich Tern

We needed a spot where could park up and using the car as shelter look out to sea. Not knowing the area particularly well I just elected to drive as close to the coast as I could and look for a place that would suit. Hence I stumbled upon Snab Point a bit further northwards where there are a couple of car parks that overlook the sea. Another couple of birders had the same idea and were cocooned inside their cars but scanning the sea. The crew of a fishing boat were emptying lobster creels and I concentrated my efforts on the area around the boat. Lots of Gulls, naturally, were attracted by the tit bits being jettisoned overboard but there were plenty of other more common seabirds. Gannets in decent numbers fished slightly further out and Fulmars used the updrafts of the cliffs to seemingly play in the wind. Many flocks of Auks passed, always going north, mainly Guillemots but a few Razorbills too. Kittiwakes were busy too. The big surprise came when I noticed a dark backed bird flying, actually more gliding than flying, very close to the waves. By its actions it could only be a Shearwater and the dark back with white underparts identified it as a Manx not a bird that I was expecting to see at all. The Manx Shearwater made it #221 on the Old Caley year list. Unfortunately photos would be impossible owing to the inclement weather, although I did try but failed completely to capture the bird. I waited expectedly for more Manx Shearwaters to appear but sadly none did.

Manx Shearwater, Outer Hebrides, June 2017

Another smart bird flew north in the shape of a Great Northern Diver. Divers always look slightly ridiculous when flying with their heads and rear ends hanging below the horizontal and the wings whirring away ten to the dozen. A Lesser Black-backed Gull landed on the cliff edge, #222 for the year, but flew off again before I could grab the camera.

It had been an entertaining morning despite the incessant rain and we'd added 3 new birds to our year list. The wind appeared to be waning a little so we decided to move on, and besides the seabird passage had slowed in the now improving weather. There is good birding further up the coast at Cresswell and Druridge, an area we had visited just last February when we year ticked Green-winged Teal and last May when we scored with Glossy Ibis. Arriving into Cresswell we had the irritation of having to narrowly miss a gaggle of cyclists that were meandering all over the road, they were mostly children so I would have felt bad if I'd mown them down but the accompanying adults should have known better. We needed a coffee so stopped by the busy Drift Cafe to rest a while, all that sitting in the car takes it out of you. We were joined by the cycle gang who included in their midst a well known local but in my eyes "Pointless" celebrity (see what I did there?). I then watched with amusement as a cafe full of people who had stared at us as if we were some type of strange beings because of our bins and camera then all surrounded the chap, who remember was just out for a bike ride with his children, and stood around taking videos and asking for selfies. Now that's weird!

Back to the birding, there was no sign of the local Barn Owl, unsurprising given the rain. Cresswell Pond held the usual Avocets but not much else and there was little to see at Druridge Pools apart from a multitude of Swifts feeding low over the area. Our next stop was to a new destination for us, once we found it which took a few wrong turns. East Chevington Nature Reserve has been constructed from old open cast coal mine workings and consists of a couple of large pools next to dunes and the sea. Around the North Pool where we were headed, many hides made from old shipping containers were placed enabling an overview of the pool and islands. I could see many Terns, mainly Sandwich but also Arctic, flying into the pool to bathe and then rest on a group of rocks while they preened and dried off, so we headed to the nearest hide so that we could view the birds more closely. Unfortunately we discovered that a grassy island actually obscured the view of the rocks so we couldn't see the birds! A bit of landscaping wouldn't go amiss there I thought. We could, however, still watch the Terns fly in and out and I spotted a couple of Little Terns too. I should add that the rain had stopped and had been replaced by some sunshine, great for us since we could dry out a bit but absolutely hopeless for viewing and photographing at distance because of the dreaded heat haze. I just can't win! I then noticed a bird that I've become much more familiar with this year after seeing and studying a few at Farmoor in the spring, an adult Little Gull. Not a year tick but the second big surprise of the day after the Manx Shearwater.

Little Gull, Farmoor, 27/04/2019

The Little Gull had disappeared behind the island and we left too, stopping to admire a Sedge Warbler singing away in one of the many bushes and a Meadow Pipit performing its song flight. I actually took a few photos, almost the first ones I'd taken all day!

Sedge Warbler

Meadow Pipit

We drove back to Holy Island and had another look around the causeway but there was nothing new to note and, of course, it began raining heavily again! I was actually beginning to wonder if we'd see any decent weather on this holiday.