21-02-09 Stag Rocks , rocks !!!!

Saturday 21st, Blyth Valley Birder and I went up the coast via Hulne Park to have a look for Hawfinch , talking to the gatekeeper he had not seen any all winter, I have digiscoped photos of them as they sat around in those tall trees, sitting long enough to find, stick the camera on and get a couple of shots , very few records for last couple of years, they are going to be hard to find for 2009.
Budle Bay next stop the tide well out ,but it does come in very fast , you could see the heads of birds as they fed in the many channels, as these filled on the rising tide the birds became more and more concentrated, with waders wheeling around as they moved to another site, and odd how the geese only appeared later ,I gave Blyth Birder the task of finding an American Wigeon & or Green Winged Teal, and me in my distressed state took the easier option of looking for Greenshank, well we got one new year tick anyway( insert smily here ), oddly no raptors other than a Buzzard on the way up, easy birding from here as usual and surprising the number of cars doing the same, one of those raised hides would be great here.
Stag rocks a little more windy here and getting colder, first thing noted Long Tailed Ducks seemed to be a few here, some looked paired off , are not the males just the most fantastic looking bird ," Oldsquaw" is or was another name and apparantly they are the only member of there genus. Scan after scan revealed only a few Red Throated Divers, Common Scoters and as expected Eiders , given the past reports I thought Slavonian Grebe would be easy but we only had the one so I tried some video as the light was no good , coming into summer plumage with a hint of horns coming in , giving it an odd head shape from the rear, and red extending around the neck. A good flock of Purple Sandpipers on the rocks as usual here at this time of year, a couple Gannets well offshore and the Long Tailed's moving around, but the highlight for me was the pair ,I presume pair of Harbour Porpoise as they swam very close side by side and one came right out the water at one stage, it seemed to brush against the other, the first time I have ever seen one leave the water, but it is all over in the blink of an eye. A good days birding with Bamburgh Castle for a back drop fantastic , Stag Rocks,....... rocks !!!!!!!!



Digiscoped Hulne Park 14-01-2006
14-01-2006

14-01-2006

Slavonian Grebe Stag Rocks Northumberland