An Owl of a Surprise, and Dolphins Tern it on Too!; 1st June 2022

It had rained heavily overnight and the damp conditions had lasted into daylight so we made a leisurely start to our day enjoying a breakfast in our comfy but sparsely furnished cottage. We had a date on the Puffin Cruise boat for the afternoon when we would hopefully get to see some of the famous, and fabulous, Roseate Terns of Coquet Island. It had been light for well over three hours when we left the cottage, and we decided to head for the coast to see what we could find. 

The rain had passed and the morning was now bright and sunny. As we drove over a river bridge just past the small village of Chatton, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a familiar pale shape stop in mid air briefly before dropping like a stone into the grassy edge of a cultivated field. I automatically shouted, 'Barn Owl!'.

Fortunately a few metres further on there was a turning into a minor road that led right past the field where the Barn Owl had dropped onto the ground. As we pulled up into a grassy gateway we could see the Owl flying across the field towards a farm at the top of a small hill. We followed the road in the same direction as the Barn Owl but didn't see it anywhere near the buildings. We turned the car around and as I drove slowly back down the road we glimpsed the Barn Owl when it flew out from a dead tree close to the road. It was headed back towards the same field so we drove back to the gateway and waited. The bottom of the field was bordered by a stream which in turn was, thanks to a thoughtful farmer, flanked by a rough strip of long grass. A few minutes later the Barn Owl, a male, rounded a corner and emerged into view. It continued to fly directly towards us before settling to hunt over the same piece of ground that we'd initially seen it. The views we had of the Owl were unrivalled. Importantly the Barn Owl appeared to take no heed of us at all and continued sweeping back and forth over the long grass.

The Barn Owl was successful again but flew straight over the nearby trees denying me a shot of it carrying prey. It didn't reappear for ten minutes so we thought that we may have seen the last of it for the morning, we had been late going out after all. We drove back towards the farm and I was astonished when I noticed, through my rear view mirror, the Owl flying along the road behind us! I stopped, leapt out of the car and took a whole volley of shots as the bird passed by, and it was incredibly close too. There was no need for much cropping on those photos!

The Barnie alighted on a fence post just past another gateway so I pulled us in there and watched it from a respectable distance. After a while the Owl chose to fly into another grassy field but quickly disappeared from view. We returned to the original pull in and were once again treated to a superb bout of action when the Owl flew in once again around ten minutes later. It had been noticeable how wet the Barn Owl had gotten, through dropping into the wet grasses. It was probably because of the overnight rain, which must have made hunting impossible, or at the least very difficult, that the Owl was out so late gathering food for the young that it must have back at the nest. This was a male bird so the female would also be at the nest, tearing the food up for the youngsters. Despite several attempts and stoops into the long grass the Barn Owl wasn't successful while we watched.

The effort was obviously taxing on the Barn Owl and it gave up for a while and rested on top of a fence post again. This time it was facing us and offered great views and even moved to a more open post to allow me to get better shots. After five minutes of repose it was hunting once more and this time it caught some prey quickly and for the fourth time that morning had turned its back on me and sped away before I could capture the moment. I have great skill at missing the best action shots.

It was almost ten o'clock so when the Owl didn't reappear we headed off for a coffee and to the coast. After a second light breakfast we returned to the brilliantly named 'South Facing Hide' at Druridge Pools. There we had the misfortune of encountering one of the grumpiest birders ever. Is there anything that I can ever be top at? There is always someone better, or worse, than me! He was so miserable and unhelpful that after a while he actually made me laugh. So there was nothing forthcoming from him, except the odd grunt or two, and our initial questions remained unanswered. We had come back to see if the Channel Wagtail had been seen at all. Amazingly after just five minutes the Wagtail flew in and fed briefly in front of the hide anyway. The heat shimmer put paid to any good photography and the bird wouldn't count on our year list owing to it being a hybrid between two races of Yellow Wagtail but it was nice to see all the same.

If I ever have an appointment for anything, I am always early. I hate being late so we arrived in Amble ahead of our boat trip way before the sailing time. Amble looks a nice seaside town, a little run down maybe, but quaint. I remembered a superb ice-cream shop from a previous visit so spent a while there, alternating between brain freeze and belly ache from devouring a pint-sized tub of delicious gelato. The sea buckthorn flavour was amazing. We followed that up with a coffee, not that wise in hindsight, before walking out along the pier. Last time we walked on the pier, a pair of crab munching Eider ducks entertained us. This time the only Eiders were loafing on the other side of the River Coquet so not photogenic at all. We stared out at our destination in an hours time, Coquet Island, which was looking resplendent in the sunny conditions.

We did find a couple of Eiders loafing on rocks back at the harbour. The boat runs according to the state of the tides and that was clearly turning since after a while the Eiders had to vacate their temporary rest area and get swimming again.

The boat was boarded and we chugged out of the harbour, along the River Coquet and out into the open sea. The bright sunshine and clear views were completely opposite to our last trip, pre-pandemic, when it had been foggy. That time we had a Great Skua fly over the boat as we headed out towards the island, this time there was very little to entertain us. Until the skipper suddenly, but extremely nonchalantly, announced that, 'We have Dolphins!' I was taken aback and replayed the statement in my head before realising that he'd said, 'We have Dolphins!', and it took me a few seconds to react. Just off the starboard bow, swimming alongside the boat was a pod of Dolphins. I assume they were Bottle-nosed Dolphins but my cetacean ID skills are rudimentary to say the least so they could have been one of the other types that frequent the British coast. The skipper idled the engines and steadied the boat and we enjoyed fine views of the ten or so animals. Every time I see Dolphins up close, which isn't very often, I'm amazed at how big they are, the adults are maybe ten feet long, and how dynamic they are, they power through the water with consummate ease. Breaches, when the Dolphins hurtle completely clear of the water is what everybody wants to capture on the camera but I never quite managed it this time although I did come close a couple of times. It was a great thrill just to see the animals scything through the water. I wouldn't want to be a fish in the path of a hungry Dolphin.

The Dolphins left us alone having satisfied their own curiosity and I was reminded of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, 'so long and thanks for all the fish!'. The boat trips are called Puffin Cruises for good reason since most people are most interested in Puffins. It's easy for seasoned birders like ourselves to become blasé about Puffins but there is no denying that they are distinctive, easily recognisable and fun little birds. Even folk who have never seen a Puffin in the flesh and feathers know what they look like owing to their uniform appeal and exposure in media. As the boat neared the island there were suddenly Puffins everywhere, sat on the sea or flying to and fro, whichever way you looked there were Puffins. And of course the Togger part of me just couldn't resist taking a few more photos of them even though I was hoping to see the much rarer seabird that I knew would be there on a specific part of the island later on.

After not really listening to the narrated history of the island and instead concentrating on the Terns that were now saturating the sky above, it was time to try and pick out some Roseate Terns which after all were the purpose of us being on the trip. There are usually a few loitering on the beach beneath the lighthouse but the small patch of sand had been taken over by a gang of Black-headed Gulls and the only Terns I could see there were Sandwich Terns. The skipper is able to get in fairly close to the rocks on the southern side of the island and that is where I managed to pick out a couple of Rosy's. The Roseate Terns are distinguishable from Common and Arctic Terns by having all black bills as opposed to red and a lovely pinkish hue to their breasts. It's more difficult to determine the identity of Terns in flight and on this occasion I just couldn't lock onto a Roseate at all. Three years ago I had taken some nice flight images of them but not this time. Unfortunately because the skipper had spent so much time indulging the other passengers with the Dolphin extravaganza there wasn't much time to dwell on the Roseate Tern side of the island either so before I knew it my chance had gone for another year. I was pleased to have got the few images that I did and happy to add one of Britains rarest seabirds to the year list.

As we left the island I couldn't resist taking a few more Puffin photos and I found a Guillemot that didn't fly away or dive under at the boats approach. Mainly though I kept searching through the Terns that flew in and out but just couldn't pin any more Rosy's down. Even when I fired the camera blindly at any Tern passing close enough by, I only managed to get Sandwich Terns. However, we'd be back for another try in future years so I wasn't too disappointed, and I had seen plenty before.

Year List addition;

226) Roseate Tern

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.

We took a final look at the best birds on offer, just as rain moved in for the day so we retreated back to the cottage.

Year List addition;

224) Little Stint