Patch birding and a trip to the toon!
On Monday, Wirral birder Elliot Montieth arrived in Hexham on the train for a couple of days birding in the area and further afield. We headed straight down to my patch on the river Tyne - a stretch between the town and Warden. His sighting of a Mediterranean Gull from the train set my heart rate soaring however our attempts to re-find it were unsuccessful. The first stretch of the river showed only Mallard and Black-headed Gull, as well as a male Kingfisher shooting upstream. However, as we travelled westward, we were treated to 5 singing male Yellowhammers and a cracking Great Black-backed Gull.
From Warden we got a lift home, where we set up the moth trap and sugar mixture. Unfortunately the 'sugaring' resulted in nothing, however the warm, muggy conditions led to a busy moth trap. A check the next morning confirmed this, with over 170 moths! Totals were as follows:
Large Yellow Underwing: 149 Dark Arches: 3 Brimstone: 1
Antler: 3 Straw Dot: 1 Common Footman: 5 Riband Wave: 2 Buff Tip: 1 Burnished Brass: 1 Double Square-spot: 2 Common Rustic agg: 1 Shaded Broad-bar: 1 Treble-bar: 1 Slender Brindle: 1 Marbled Minor agg: 2 Mother of Pearl: 1 Red-barred Tortrix: 1 Bird-cherry Ermine: 2 Blastobasis adustella: 1 Here are some of the highlights:
Slender Brindle
Treble-bar
Buff Tip
After sorting out the moths we took a train into Newcastle, where we planed to visit the Great North Museum. Here we saw the specimens in the museum, including Resplendent Quetzal, Red-billed Tropicbird and Wandering Albatross! Then we walked down the Quayside, where we were treated to the sight of hundreds of Black-legged Kittiwakes wheeling over the river and roads. It is really quite surreal seeing these threatened pelagic seabirds in the city! However, some do not welcome these amazing birds into the urban landscape, and many of the building are cloaked in anti-bird netting. Birds can become trapped in this and die. To help them, please check out this petition. We then walked up to the Baltic art gallery to see them nesting up close. Then we walked back to the station and took the train back to Hexham.
Black-legged Kittiwake (adult)
Once we arrived back in Hexham we headed straight down to the river for another afternoon of patch birding. The first stretch of river was much the same as before, with an additional Common Gull, however further upstream things became more interesting. First up was a juvenile Moorhen, a species I didn't know bred on the river. Then, as we were sat on a shingle beach, two wagtails flew down in front of us. We assumed they were both Grey Wags - a pair had been hanging around in the area for the last few months - however one looked decisively yellow. "Is that a Yellow Wag?!" I exclaimed. Elliot took out his bins - "yep!". An adult male - it spent a few minutes bathing in the river before flying over to the far side. The first patch record of the species! We assumed it must have been a passage bird.
Adult male Yellow Wagtail (ssp flavissima)
In the farmland around the river we again counted 5 singing male Yellowhammers. We then headed back home and set up the moth trap for another night.
The next morning, the moth trap wasn't quite so busy, with a species list as follows: Large Yellow Underwing: 21 Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing: 3 Riband Wave: 2 Common Footman: 5 Willow Beauty: 2 Dotted Clay: 1 Double-striped Pug: 1 Marbled Minor agg: 2 Common Rustic agg: 3
Bird-cherry Ermine: 6 Red-barred Tortrix: 1 Marbled Orchard Tortrix: 1 Scoparia subfusca: 1 Carcina quercana: 1 Blastobasis adustella: 1
Willow Beauty
Carcina quercana
We then headed down to the Tyne for the last birding of Elliot's trip. On the first stretch, we recorded two Common Gulls, two Lesser Back-backed Gulls, two Grey Herons and two Cormorants as well as a single Kingfisher. We were sitting on some rocks further upstream when Elliot spotted a Dipper - one of his target birds for the trip! We watched it for a while, and then I spotted a second Kingfisher, which soon darted away. Then, on the shingle beach, Elliot spotted another Yellow Wagtail, this time a juvenile!! This suggests that they have bred nearby, which is fab news! We then waded across the river to the Sand Martin colony, which we are planning to record next year. On the far side we also found a Salmon jaw and coral fossils older than the dinosaurs! As we walked back to the station for Elliot's train, he spotted a Small Copper, another new record for the site.
Yellow Wagtail (juvenile)
Small Copper
Overall a very productive few days, with several new moths, birds and butterflies for the patch. As Elliot will be studying at the University of Cumbria next year, there should hopefully be many more similar visits in the future!
