Hot on the heals of last month's patch tick (Night Heron), along came another on Saturday evening. Yellow-legged Gull - a spanking adult on the beach at where the Dunbar Burn runs out.  This is a first for me at Druridge and a first for the patch as far as I am aware. Stands out a bit I first got onto the bird from some distance away, it was at the end of the burn and I was in the dunes opposite the path to the hides. It was a 'Herring-type' large gull but the darker shade of the mantle rather than leg colour that alerted me to something different. The birds looked set ..read more

The white-winged black tern found at East Chevington yesterday evening finally made its way down to Druridge Pools this afternoon.  An adult white-winged black tern - what's not to like? Despite the grey and drizzly conditions, the light wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. The tern had a route around the pool, starting in the NW corner, flying south then into the little bays, before flying east past the hide, into the SE corner and flying back up the northern edge to start again. Like clockwork, for half an hour when it went to the Budge fields. Amazingly, for that half hour, Ja ..read more

Midsummer night, the summer solstice, everything must've been aligned and luck was on my side. A beautiful evening, the wind had dropped, the sky, and the sea, were pink  and I just watched a minke whale making its way south and had watched a merlin through hunting through the dunes and I was still birding at nearly 10pm. I headed to my car a happy patch watcher. I was just about to leave when a couple came along the road, headed for the path to the hides - Richard Hopwood and his partner Sharon. They proceeded to tell me they were trying to get hold of Alan Tilmouth as they were sure the ..read more

The forecast didn't look too promising for this weekend and I felt like autumn was slipping away without a final finale. However, on Thursday things started to look better but I missed the seawatching because of work. Friday As there looked to be some chance of a late migrant or two, I took a flyer on Friday afternoon and headed to the patch with Janet. We started with a look on the sea but it was quiet, a bonxie going south, only my second of the year, was the highlight. Not an auk in sight. Janet found a snow bunting on the beach which was a year-tick. Female snow bunting in poor light ..read more

Several strokes of luck led to a full-fat patch tick today  -  Pallas's leaf warbler Firstly  - I decided to take today off work today instead of next Friday Secondly - When news broke of a Radde's Warbler at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea and Wood lark at Newton, I stuck to my plan and birded the patch Thirdly - I bumped into Darren Woodhead and his son Corin. I set out, as planned, to bird the patch, I was there for 7.40 and it was just light but foggy. I followed my usual plan of attack, to work the bushes by the entrance and the plantation before heading north. Not long out of th ..read more

 After a walk up to north end of the patch and back on Friday after work, I did a bit of an evening seawatch , until it was nearly dusk.  It was relatively quiet, but there were a couple of close scoter flocks, numbering around 350 birds combined, so I went through them looking for a velvet or better. Three great-crested grebes and a red-throated diver were I could manage. Interestingly, the scoter flock was made up of over 95% drakes.  Otherwise, a few terns and gannets... that is, until I noticed a couple of Mediterranean gulls flying south and then for some reason, I turned t ..read more

It's that time of year again - birding is quiet and the macro lens comes out instead of the 400mm. I've managed to find three new hoverflies for the patch over the patch over the last couple of weeks. The first was Eristalinus sepulchralis - one of the 'spotty-eyed drone flies'. Not something I was expecting on the patch, although Chris Barlow has seen them here before. A new hoverfly for me. This one was along the track tot he hides, between the bunds. I am disappointed not to get the whole creature in focus - the joys of macro photography. I'll update the hoverfly gallery which can be f ..read more

 Red Kite has been my most anticipated patch tick for about four years and today I finally nailed one.  I was looking west from the dunes this morning after my WeBS count when I spotted a long-winged raptor over the shelterbelt by the haul road. I put the scope straight on it and there it was, a red kite sauntering along the top of the pine trees (what's left of them). I watched it for a while as it went it back and forth. A stunning bird. Record shot - you can just make out the forked tail Red Kite has been on the official Druridge patch list since 2016 but it's taken me a ..read more

Well, I didn't expect to finish my WeBS count this morning by adding FOUR Temminck's Stints to it - but that's what happened! John Day, an RSPB friend from Bedfordshire and his pal Darren joined us at Druridge this morning, they are up here for a weekends birding. When we joined them just after 7am they'd already seen more species than you can see in a month in Bedfordshire! It was WeBS count day, so I counted the ducks whilst they enjoyed watching spoonbill, little stint, avocets, pintail, dunlins, lapwing chicks and other nice species. Little stint was new for the year so I was already happy ..read more

We arrived back from a week away in Cornwall (and a brief visit to the Somerset Levels) yesterday evening, twitching the long-staying belted kingfisher in Lancashire on the way home. It was my first time birding in Cornwall and I really enjoyed it. The Avalon Marshes were pretty spectacular too. We saw some good species including Kumlien's gull, yellow-legged gull, firecrest, ring ouzel, chough (13 from our accommodation was the peak count), black restarts, rosy starling and black-necked grebes. I was back on the patch before work this morning to do the WeBS Count. There was plenty to count on ..read more