Waxwing are back
So worth stopping by
North east specility
Ship Inn - Fav pub in England
Sea watching - session one
Sanderling
An added bonus
Pinkies
Quality nights out
Holy Island Causeway
Lindisfarne
Long-tailed Ducks
Mrs D showing off
Caught in action
Female Eider
Drake Eider
Sunrise at Chevington
Twite
Determined to get away whenever possible in 2019, an early opportunity came my way by way of a hotel bargain in one of my favourite counties, Northumbria. Whilst being 5 hours away it offers some fantastic habitats and I've got a genuine love of the coast line there.
In the shadows of the Angel of North, we stopped to see our first Waxwings for a couple of years. The birds were typically showy on a residential street just five miles off our route further north.
Our first destination would be Ship Inn at Low Newton-by-the-sea which is our favourite pub ever. We duly tucked into fresh kippers and a local ale before birding the shoreline.
There were birds everywhere. Starting on the flash on the back of the dunes there were large numbers of Wigeon, Teal & Lapwing. A flock of 40 Golden Plover were just about to land before a Peregrine appeared flushing everything. On the sea there were 50+ Eider, Shags, Goldeneye, Guillemeot whilst a Red Throated Diver flew past us as we rounded the headland. Amongst the waders were Sanderling, Dunlin, Turnstone, Purple Sandpiper & Ringed Plover.
We then headed to Newham where there we found a flock of 3000 Pinfoots and 4 Taiga Bean Geese which rounded the day off nicely. We had a fantastic meal at town's Italian restaurant which was showing number 1 on Trip Advisor. I guess travelling at this time of year has it's real advantages.
On our second day we spent the morning on Holy Island. Over 330 species have been recorded on this amazing nature reserve that you need to cross at low tide. Setting my scope up at the highest point it was just amazing how much water you could view. It's thought that over 50,000 birds winter here. Within minutes I had recorded 6 Slavionian Grebe, 40 Longtailed Duck, Common Scoter, dark & pale bellied Brent Geese, Red-breasted Meganser, Red-throated Diver & Little Egret. In the bay there were a small mixed flock of Bar & Black-tailed Godwits, the place is magical. What it did lack was a good coffee shop to tempt us into the warm.
Whilst searching in vein for Snow Buntings at our next stop, I did find a flock of Barnacles Geese feeding with Lapwing & more Golden Plover. After a fish & chip lunch were walked the harbour at Seahouses where we observed the Eiders at close quarters in addition to Turnstone, Great Black-backed Gull, Great Northern Diver & Rock Pipit. We finished the day by walking down Beadnell beach which was quiet bird wise as there were a lot of people walking dogs.
On our final day we spent our morning at East Chevington and got there to see the sunrise. There were a flock of 75 Twite feeding actively whilst 4 Grey Partridges had crept to the edge of beach to feed on same seed that's put down for the Twite. A few locals were looking for Owls without luck. We wrapped up the session seeing 4 Whooper Swans flying past whilst there were another five on the main lake.
A brilliant weekend with great company, fantastic food and plenty of local ale.
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