NEWBIGGIN-BY-THE-SEA – NEWCASTLE CENTRE – NORTHUMBERLANDIA – BIG WATERS NATURE RESERVE – TRANSFER TO BELFORD
WEATHER: Broken sunshine all day, windy in the afternoon, quite warm top temp 25C
Pauline and I had the morning to ourselves before the rest of the group arrived at midday so we decided to drive to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea which was about 15 minutes from our hotel. At Newbiggin the coastal shoreline and rocky outcrops we alive with birds, the rocks at Beacon Point supported a large, low-tide, gull and tern roost and that is where two Roseate Terns had been seen regularly over last week or so, they were our main target species.
Male eider Ducks on the water at Newbiggin
We parked at church Point and walked to the coastal path instead of following the Bird-Guides instructions which told us to walk to the golf course and follow the path to the coast from there. This decision was to bite us in bum a little later on.
We saw many species and enjoyed the lovely sunshine and sea breeze, the scenery along the coast was beautiful. We saw Eider Ducks on the water, a huge flock of Common Scoter flew past, Gannets, Guillemots, Sandwich Terns and Gulls also flew past.
the cliffs at Newbiggin
Our first Great Black-backed Gull sat on a rock with a Cormorant close by and a Fulmar drifted very close along the cliffs. We watched many Pied Wagtails feeding on kelp flies along the beach then we found a White Wagtail! I don’t mean Motacilla Alba, it was coloured all white, leucistic white, with a pink bill and legs! Amazing, it stood out like a sore thumb.
a White Wagtail
I have never seen a pure-white wagtail before!
Eventually we reached a sign-post stating that the a cliff fall ahead had made the coastal path too dangerous to walk along so it had been closed! Doh! This means that we could not reach Beacon Point where the Roseate Terns should be. We scoped the Point and saw a mass of terns, mostly Sandwich Terns but they were too far out to be able to pick out a Roseate Tern. We turned back and re-parked the vehicle near the golf course and walked towards the Point. We ran out of time before we got there and had to leave, the Terns could wait for another day.
We drove into central Newcastle and collected four more of the group, Mike and Lorna we on time, but Debbie and Brenda were almost an hour late, not their fault of course.
We drove straight to ‘Northumberlandia’ for a late lunch and for a walk in the grass meadows. We saw a few birds and plenty of Orchids as we had done yesterday. Our bird list amounted to: Little Grebe, Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Common Kestrel, Wood Pigeon and we heard Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Chaffinch and Wren.
Little Grebe on the ponds at Northumberlandia
In the open area at Shotten Pools we watched Skylarks, Linnets and Goldfinches. The pools were quite busy with Lapwings with chicks, Avocets with chicks, Ringed Plovers sitting on eggs and also Greylag Geese, Herring Gulls and lesser Black-backed Gulls. Plenty of Mallards were there too.
the view of Shotton Pools from Northumberlandia
Avocet chick
On the way back we watched a large group of Long-tailed Tits and we heard a distant Common Whitethroat but never found it.
We just had enough time to make a short visit to Big Waters Natural Park, as we approached the lake a Hobby flew over us but was quickly lost behind the trees, only a couple of us managed to see it. We had time to sit and scan the main lake and not much else. We added Great Crested Grebe, Gadwall, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Canada Geese, Common Tern, Reed Warbler, Reed Bunting and Debbie found a superb Sedge Warbler that was singing in a nearby bush.
the Lake at Big Waters Reserve
We saw Goldfinches and we heard Chiffchaff, Wren, Blackcap, Blackbird and Chaffinch. We had to leave around 5pm and drive further north for about 40 miles. It was around 6pm when we arrived at our hotel at Belford.
Mute Swans
We met up with Peter and Christine, they had driven up from South Wales yesterday, our group was now complete. During dinner we discussed our planned itinerary and to our great delight a Yellowhammer sat on a wall and started singing right outside the restaurant window! Peter and Christine had told us they had been watching it earlier! They had also seen Great & Little Egrets, Common Shelduck, Curlew, Stonechat, Meadow Pipit and a few other species that we had not seen.
Dinner was lovely, but we retired early, it had been a long day for most of us.