Josie Hewitt's North West Australia wader and tern banding expedition

February is not normally the most exciting month to be a birder or ringer - the calls of Siskin are starting to get on your nerves and you're yearning for Spring to hurry up and bring with it all the typical migrants, plus a few bonus species. However, my February this year was rather different and instead of trudging round my local patch, listening to the seeping of Redwings and chakking of Fieldfare, I was dripping with sweat and getting familiar with the shorebirds of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway in one of the wader capitals of the worlds: Roebuck Bay, WA.

Roebuck Bay by Josie Hewitt

Yep, WA as in Western Australia! And the reason for me being 13,800km (8,500miles) away from home? Why, the North West Australia Wader & Tern Banding (that's ringing to us Brits) Expedition of course...3 weeks of cannon netting shorebirds, having a laugh with 30 other birdos (birders) and trying not to get sunburnt/heatstroke...sounds awesome right? Well that's because it was!

The 80 Mile Team

For the first part of the expedition we were based at Anna Plains Station, a cattle station located about 250km south of Broome. Here we were making catches on 80 Mile Beach, a Ramsar Site designated because of the high numbers of migratory shorebirds that it supports. On a typical catching day at 80 Mile Beach we were up early (around 4.30am) for breakfast and ready to go for 5.30/6am. The team would then head to the catching site on the beach, about a 30 minute drive from the station, where we would set 2 cannon nets, a hide and some shade to protect the birds and people from the sun during processing. Once everything was set we'd split into two teams of 3 vehicles, one to head North and one to head South.

The two teams would then drive about 2km or so away from the nets in their respective directions, wait for a while until the birds had come off the plains onto the beach and the tide was up to a suitable height (about maybe 30m from the catching areas of the nets) and then the two teams would begin 'twinkling'. This is where the vehicles move along the beach very slowly in order to push the birds up towards the nets to concentrate them and increase the chances of making a successful catch.

Whilst 'twinkling' the vehicles can communicate with each other via radios and can stop if the birds are looking nervous or flighty. There is, however, nothing you can do about birds of prey! The numerous raptors did flush a lot of birds but this didn't bother us too much, and we got some super views of the raptors themselves, as well as the thousands of shorebirds that they flushed! It wasn't just the raptors that made the shorebirds uneasy though, large birds such as the Lesser Frigatebirds and Australian Pelicans had a similar effect!

White-bellied Sea Eagle by Josie Hewitt

Lesser Frigatebird by Josie Hewitt

For the whole expedition we managed to have a 100% success rate, catching birds every time we fired the nets, which is pretty impressive considering all the variables involved! At 80 Mile Beach we were catching in areas with higher densities of birds rather than targeting specific species (like at Roebuck Bay, but I will get onto that in a minute). One of our biggest catches was actually on our very first catching day with 535 birds of 7 species processed. This included 27 re-traps with 3 from China and 1 from Japan which just shows how important ringing and ring re-sighting data is!

Terek Sandpiper by Josie Hewitt

We spent 11 days at Anna Plains with 9 catching days. My favourite species that I saw at 80 Mile Beach were Terek Sandpiper, Broad-billed Sandpiper and Little Curlew because they all undertake long migrations between their breeding and wintering sites and, as with lots of migratory birds, face numerous threats along the way. Seeing an estimated 300,000 Oriental Pratincoles on the beach at once was certainly an experience I'll never forget. Take a look for yourself (every black spec is a Pratincole...yeah, really!):

Oriental Pratincoles by Josie Hewitt

More Oriental Pratincoles by Josie Hewitt

Broad-billed Sandpiper by Josie Hewitt

On the 18th February we said our farewells to the folks at the station and made the journey back north to Broome. Our base for the remainder of the expedition was the lovely Broome Bird Observatory (BBO). We were made to feel very welcome by the Wardens and Assistant Wardens and after sorting all the gear out after our journey from Anna Plains, we had that afternoon and the next day off to go birding, shopping or whatever. The 20th February was the first of 8 catching days at Broome and for this we were setting our nets on the shores of the stunning Roebuck Bay.

At Roebuck Bay the catching was much more a case of quality over quantity compared with 80 Mile Beach and so we targeted some pretty special species, such as Grey Plover, Greenshank, Black-tailed Godwit and Far Eastern Curlew! Despite the more targeted catching, we still managed to keep up our 100% catching rate which was brilliant.

Eastern Curlew by Josie Hewitt

Catching at Roebuck Bay was slightly different to 80 Mile Beach because of the tides and the different geography of the area. We were still up early most mornings to get the net and shade set up, but unlike 80 Mile we didn't usually build a hide, nor did we all stay at the site between setting & catching. Instead we'd finish setting by about 8am and would head back to the Observatory for a second breakfast and early lunch. People often went for a quick bit of birding in this time, or just helped out around the place with the cooking & data entry or they just chilled for a bit before heading back out around 10am (though this depended on the tides).

Arriving back at the catching site, we'd sit in the brush waiting for the birds and tide to come in. After about 2 hours it would be near firing time and everyone would start to get ready (have some water, sweets for a sugar rush, etc) and the adrenaline would start to kick in! The countdown would come over the radio from the guys in the hide and once we'd heard the net fire, everyone would sprint down to the net as fast as they could. One or two people were designated box carriers so there was something to put the birds in once they'd been extracted from the net.

The majority of the team then helped to make sure the net and birds were out of danger from the incoming tide, before extraction began. Once the carrying boxes were full ('full' meaning different numbers depending upon which species were in each box) they were carried to the shade and then put into keeping cages which were nice and cool to prevent the birds from getting heat stressed. Once all the birds were extracted from the net and safely in the keeping cages, the cannon net gear was sorted out and moved to a safe spot on the beach.

The team was then split into smaller processing teams and assigned a species to work on. Different measurements were taken for different species. Once all the birds were processed, we packed all the gear back into the vehicles and trailers ready for the next day. Usually, the rest of the day was spent birding at the Broome Sewage Works (we birders go to all the best places eh!), out on the Plains or around the Observatory itself.

Yellow Chat by Josie Hewitt

Crested Pigeon by Josie Hewitt

While we were at BBO we were also able to put up some mist nets around the water baths where the birds come down to drink and bathe. These proved very successful and we caught quite a variety of species, including Brown Honeyeater, Rufous-throated Honeyeater, Double-barred Finch, Rainbow Bee-eater, Peaceful Dove and Little Friarbird. It was great to be able to get experience of banding some of the bush birds in addition to all the waders we were cannon netting!

Rainbow Bee-eater by Josie Hewitt

Bar-shouldered Dove by Josie Hewitt

Greater Sand Plover by Josie Hewitt

All in all it was a super expedition and one that I would highly recommend. If finances and time allow, I fully intend to return next year for more sun, sea and shorebirds!!

Josie Hewitt, @josiethebirder

http://blog.josiehewittphotography.co.uk/

Elevators, Cannons, Mists and Ringing by Zach Haynes

I’m Zach and I’ve always loved nature but only got really serious about it when I started a blog just over a year ago. Through doing that I got to meet loads of great nature groups and people and especially birders. Everyone has been really friendly, helpful and encouraging and it’s given me the chance to do a lot of things I hadn’t done before including bird ringing which has to be one of my favourite activities. I love it as you can get so close to the birds and see little features you don’t usually see. Birds are even more beautiful close up! Another thing I didn’t know is that there are many different ways to actually catch the different types of birds. I thought I would take you through some of the catching methods that I have experience with.

Mist Netting:

This is a technique that I first saw at High Batts nature reserve. It was kind of simple setting them up, just putting two poles into the ground, fixing them in place with strings and pegs and stretching the net between the poles. It involved us walking around every 20 minutes to check them and retrieve any birds that we caught. There were some really interesting and lovely birds, for example, a Great-Spotted Woodpecker and a Tree Creeper! This was a very good way of ringing a lot of different birds that hadn’t been ringed before, we didn’t actually get any re-captures! It only works for smaller birds though, apparently geese aren’t very good for the nets!

Elevator Netting:
We did this near Ripon on some ground owned by a military base. It was pretty extreme bird ringing as there were signs warning us to not touch any military debris as ‘it may explode and kill you’. The elevator nets were actually huge! They reached the top of the trees in the little clearing it was in! The net was split into four parts, one net going in each direction, like the points of a compass. The nets on each of the four arms were about 3 mist nets high and you used a pulley to haul them up into place, and lower them again when you checked them to get the birds out.
There were also some mist nets set up in a different area but we didn’t get as much as we did from the elevator nets, but there was a lovely Long Tailed Tit that I did get to see up close. The site was in a good place for Redpolls, Redwings and Fieldfare and to help catch these birds their song was being played through a big speaker. We did well that day and did manage to catch some Redpolls, Redwings and Fieldfare, all of which I’d only ever seen once! There were 429 Redwings ringed at this site this Autumn. I got to release a Redwing too.

Cannon Netting
This was the one that I did most recently at my nearest reserve, Nosterfield. It’s a great place to be. I got there just in time to hear the sound of a cannon firing. It was hard to see what was happening from a distance, though you could see the cannon smoke, but as I got closer I could see the net and the birds.  We caught 70 Coots with only one recapture!
It’s exactly as it’s named, there is a net in a small cannon and it is fired it over a load of target birds, in this case Coots which were feeding on bait. We transferred them all into bags in fours and then again two to a bag. I was lucky enough to be able to hold seven of the seventy to get ringed and weighed, they’re feisty little things though, they have very sharp bills and claws and do their best to wriggle free.

I do all of my ringing adventures with the East Dales ringing group. They’re a really friendly group of people and congratulated me for getting into the BTO Bird camp which I am really looking forward to. I’m looking forward to working with the experts and finding out more about ringing as I hope to be able to train as a bird ringer.

Hope you enjoyed.
Zach Haynes, @nerdboy386
www.yearofnature.blogspot.com

Developing your birdwatching skills by Thomas Banks

Birdwatching is very enjoyable, but it can be even more enjoyable if you have the right set of skills. Here are five skills which I believe have helped me love birding even more:

1. Attention to detail – many beginners will look at a bird and determine its species just by the colour and pattern of its plumage. An example where this does not usually work is the Dunnock (though it does have a unique plumage). Some people will identify it as a sparrow because it’s a "LBJ" (little brown job). But if you take note of other details, you should be able to identify it.
Shape and size is important. Dunnocks have a thin, pointy beak, whilst House Sparrows have a conical beak.

A good way to get to grips with different bird species is to watch videos of them. This will help you understand their behaviour and help you group them into different families. Dunnocks usually feed on the ground, whilst House Sparrows are likely to be in flocks and eat from a bird feeder.
Another way to identify birds (which I have not perfected yet) is by sound. This is very useful if you do not have good views of the bird or the bird looks similar to another species e.g. Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff. Practice by listening to recordings, which you can buy on a CD or on an app or you could go online.

When you are learning all these features about a bird, don’t just look up the more attractive adult males – females and juveniles count too!

Pintail by Thomas Banks

2. Practice using equipment – You might have a pair of binoculars or a scope, both very useful in birding, but you might not be using them to their full potential. Begin in the garden. Make sure you can quickly change the focus and be able to see a bird with your peripheral vision and then get your binoculars onto it. With a scope, practice scanning every bird in a flock, identifying each one. This worked for me. I got a scope for Christmas and practiced using it at Staines Reservoir, Surrey on Boxing Day. I was scanning a flock of ducks, which seemed to just be Pochards. But because I did not just assume that they were all Pochards, I managed to pick out a drake Pintail. So if you stumble across a flock of Chaffinches in the winter, check each individual as there might be a Brambling!

Great Grey Shrike by Thomas Banks

3. Planning ahead – Before you visit a new site, do a search on the internet. Find out what star species you can find there (are they the ones you hope to see?), what habitats are there (e.g. if it’s a heathland, then you could see a Dartford warbler) and if the café serves cake! Plan what time you make the visit – the time of day (most birds are active early morning) and the time of year (some birds are only summer/winter visitors to the UK). Back in November, I saw a Great Grey Shrike at Frensham Common, Surrey. This was partly because I had read about recent sightings online, I was in the right habitat and it was the right time of year.

4. Patience – You can’t just expect a bird to appear straight away, or see the species you wanted to see in one trip. Sometimes luck is on your side and your target species is right in front of you, but you sometimes have to wait to see something special. In September, there was a Barred Warbler at Staines Moor, Surrey. A rare bird that had been there for some days and so I made the visit. There were other birders there and we had to wait for about hour until it appeared. Now that it is a long time standing around, but I know some birders have waited way longer for a bird than I have.

5. Get in the field – The more you birdwatch, the better you get at it. Reading is helpful in identifying birds, but putting your skills into practice is the best way of developing them.
There are many other skills used in birdwatching, but they are few that have helped me. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect!

Thomas Banks, @MrTomBanks

Birkenhead Docks: The Urban Misconception by Elliot Montieth

In the heart of one of Wirral & Cheshire’s most urbanised districts lays an oasis amongst a concrete jungle, where the misconception that nature can't thrive in an urban environment is no more.

Common Tern by Elliot Montieth

As youngsters we were taken to and from nature reserves witnessing the very best of Mother Nature, believing that it was only there, at nature reserves, that we could continue to witness the greatest wildlife. We were brought up believing that the only places where we could still observe the finest of our British wildlife through these dark times was to visit sites which have some form of protection: Ramsar sites, SSSIs, SPAs and so on. But amongst the ruins of the once almighty Birkenhead Docks, the misconception of nature is revealed to all.

Opened in 1860 Birkenhead Docks had one of the mightiest dock complexes in the UK, but as the docks reached their peak they collapsed into a big black hole of decline. Unwanted and unloved, the dock’s condition deteriorated to the point that during the 1960’s the docks were deemed toxic, a biological hazard, a site never to be reclaimed by nature. But in 1985 the government backed a 25 year plan to clean up the entire Mersey River system. After waiting for over a century, nature was given the chance it had been waiting so long for. Birkenhead Docks was transformed from a toxic wasteland into an oasis teeming with such a diverse array of bird life that it could easily take on any nature reserve.

Grey Phalarope by Elliot Montieth

To date over 120 species have been recorded in and around the dock complex ranging from the expected to the unexpected: Great Crested Grebe, Great Northern Diver, Black Tern, Great Skua, Shag, Kingfisher, Merlin, Rock Pipit, Grey Phalarope, Brambling, Scaup, Common Sandpiper, Leach’s Storm Petrel, Mediterranean Gull and Common Scoter. The dock has quite possibly the most formidable bird list of any urban site.

From what the docks once were, the transformation they've undergone is simply astonishing. From a toxic wasteland to a site which holds Wirral & Cheshire’s largest Tern colony - 15 pairs of Common Tern, and Wirral’s largest inland wintering flock of Great Crested Grebe, which can include as many as 60 individuals. Birkenhead Docks also contains a wide variety of water birds which need very clean water with an endless supply of food; Kingfisher, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Little Grebe, Grey Wagtail, Common Tern and Great crested Grebe are all here because the docks provide such habitat.

From all of this information you’re right in thinking that Birkenhead Docks must be a well watched site regularly visited by local birders, but that’s far from the truth. The docks did have their heyday, when birders and twitchers from across the county would visit. They came mainly to see the “white-winged gulls” which would arrive annually along with Yellow legged Gulls to bathe in the dock’s life-giving waters after gorging themselves at a local rubbish dump, which has since been turned into a nature reserve. But all that was 20-30 years ago, since then the docks have only been watched by just one birder, Sam Johnson, but in the early 2000’s Sam left the docks. Even when Sam watched over the docks for 30 years there would rarely be another birder visiting to see what was about.

I’d been doing WeBS at New Ferry and Port Sunlight River Park for a year when in October 2015, I was asked by Mersey WeBS Coordinator Dermot Smith to take up a new WeBS patch at Birkenhead Docks, a decision I’ll always be grateful for as it opened my eyes to the true meaning of urban nature.

Great Northern Diver by Elliot Montieth

After finishing off my first WeBS Count at the docks on a cool October afternoon, where the evening sky was awash with blacks, oranges and purples partnered with the sounds of the wintering Kingfisher, police cars, Black-headed Gulls and chavs filling the air, whilst watching the Great crested Grebes, I just fell totally in love with the docks; it was a life-changing moment. From that moment onwards I took the decision to take up the ruins of Birkenhead Docks as my patch and get more people to see what I saw in the docks that evening and to make it once again a hot spot for birders. The first step in doing so was to set up the Birkenhead Docks Birding Blog, the primary aim of which is to blow away the misconception of urban nature and to get local birders, photographers and twitchers visiting the docks once again and, if possible, for one of them to find a rarity! But for this to happen there had to be something which would grab the attention of the local birding community.

On the bone chilling morning of November 28th at 12:43 whilst out doing one of my regular 4hr circuits round the docks scanning the waters round the “Tern” raft I saw a supposed Cormorant which had an extremely white throat. I missed the bird dive as I could barely stay still due to the howling winds, but the words Great Northern Diver popped into my head. Could it be? A Great Northern Diver on my patch? A Great Northern Diver in Birkenhead Docks? A county rarity! The bird then resurfaced right in front of me and my god there it was, one of the most beautiful encounters of my life, an adult Great Northern Diver in partial summer plumage with a crab between its daggers, what a beast! After getting word out it didn’t take long for local birders, twitchers and photographers to start pouring into the docks to witness this northern wonder. This was the bird I’d been waiting for to give the docks their reputation as a birding hotspot back. But better was yet to come.

Scaup by Allan Conlin

Finding a bird which would get birders re-visiting the docks was one part, the next was getting visiting birders to find a rarity and on the 19th of January it happened. That afternoon I received a text from good mate and Wirral birding legend Allan Conlin saying that he had visited earlier that day and without optics had seen a Scaup species. I was over the moon that not only another birder, but a birder who I look up to had visited my patch and found what later turned out to be the site’s first ever “Greater” Scaup. This was more than I could have ever have dreamed of, a Scaup in Birkenhead Docks! Sounds like the stuff of legend. Then to finally hammer home Birkenhead Docks as a birding hot spot, on the 24th of January whilst paying the Scaup another visit with local birder and photographer Michael Davenport, I found yet another Great Northern Diver! I couldn’t believe it, the dock’s 3rd county rarity this winter! Birding doesn’t get more adrenaline-filled than this.

It was done, with the help of Allan Conlin, we’d manage to wipe the misconception away and get more and more members of the birding community to see the secrets of Birkenhead Docks and the beauty of urban birding.

Elliot Montieth, @Elliot_Montieth
Elliot's Birding Diaries

Get into nest boxes by Noah Walker

Nest box by Noah Walker

Last autumn I started making bird boxes for garden birds and raptors, in the hope that I could encourage more nests that I could record for BTO's Nest Record Scheme. If you’re a young birder like me, I would really recommend taking part in the Nest Record Scheme. It's a brilliant way to interact with nature, to learn more about birds and their nesting behavior and to help the BTO learn more about what is happening during the breeding season. By monitoring things like egg laying date, hatching success, brood size and successful fledglings, we can get really important information about what might be affecting bird populations. Also with temperatures rising causing mismatches between birds nesting and the abundance of food the scheme is crucial and can tell us what affect global warming may be having on birds nesting.

Having made nearly 100 passerine bird boxes and 5 raptor boxes I started putting them up in January. I started by putting up 20 in the nearest site on the top of Folly hill (a 2 minute cycle ride away). The main target species are Great Tits and Blue Tits, with a chance of Coal Tits and, if I'm really lucky, Nuthatches. For the Blue Tits and Great Tits I put the bird boxes in the normal sites on trees around 4m up with a bit of cover or foliage nearby. For the Coal Tits I tried to put them in denser coniferous areas with slightly more vegetation in front and higher up. There are also several Robin nest boxes that instead of encouraging Robins got a Spotted Flycatcher nesting in one last year, which will hopefully nest again this year.

Great Tit nest by Bob Coyle

The next site is a small area that I've been lightly managing and putting bird feeders up at. I've put 8 boxes there all for Blue Tits and Great Tits. I've also been placing them around my village for House Sparrows, which will be my main interest. There are several flocks of around 50 that move around 5 or 6 main areas of hedgerow that they're going in. To encourage them in, the boxes are in groups of at least 5.

Tawny Owl by John Black

The final site is the largest in Nuneham Courtney near Oxford where I'm putting 40, again for the same target species as the Folly. There are several types of habitat including coppice, arboretum plantation, oak and native woodland, coniferous wood and a Lime wood. I'm also putting up 4 Tawny Owl boxes, a Little Owl box and eventually a Barn Owl box. I really can't wait to see if they are used so I can monitor them for the Nest Record Scheme and maybe ask my ringing trainer to come round and ring.

Through the spring and summer I'll check the ones near me and in my village every weekend along with open nests, and the ones near Oxford every week to a fortnight. Every time I'll note the stage of the nests - whether it is being built, adults are incubating eggs or if there are young how well developed they are. Hopefully I can ask my Ringing trainer to come over to ring the Spotted Flycatchers and any interesting bird box nests like Nuthatches. Along with them there are the raptor boxes for the owls but also open nests of Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Red Kite and Kestrel to monitor and maybe ring.

It's National Nest Box Week this week so why not build or buy a box of your own to put up? The Nest Record Scheme have produced a "quick start guide" so download that and you'll be all set to start nest recording too!  

Noah Walker, @NoahWal01

The Coastal Life by Dan Rouse

Having lived near the coast all my life, I couldn’t imagine living more than a ten minute walk from the nearest estuary or beach. I’ve grown really fond of birds such as auks and seabirds, with my favourite group being waders. Having said that, the decline in certain wader species such as Curlew, Oystercatcher and Redshank means that I see less of them on my stretch of heaven in South Wales.

Oystercatcher ringing
by Dan Rouse

I’ve just entered my second year in the “Patchwork Challenge” on my WWT Llanelli patch and have recently acquired a second patch called Morfa Bacas, on the Burry Inlet. Oystercatcher once thrived on this estuary in the 1950’s but a cull was authorised in the 1970’s and the population was reduced almost to extinction on the estuary. Since then, there has been a growth in the numbers and in the 1990’s a project was set up on the roosting areas to ring these bird and monitor the growth in the population. In October, I helped with a catch of 501 birds which was amazing. What was more amazing was to see how the numbers of Oystercatchers had grown - to a roosting flock of around six thousand birds on one stretch of beach! The data collected and analysed showed amazing results with some birds being ringed back when the scheme first started. I took a shine to one particular bird which was ringed on my birthday (1996) and we were lucky enough to catch another bird which was originally ringed in Sweden.

View from Morfa Bacas by Dan Rouse

Last November, I was passed the baton and took up the role of WeBS counter for the Morfa Bacas sector of the estuary. I was thrilled to have been given this opportunity since this sector and the estuary itself has a special place in my heart. I will do anything that I possibly can to protect it and WeBS counting is a brilliant way of monitoring the bird species found here. Once a month I venture out to Morfa Bacas, usually at around 8 or 9am to get a consistent count going. Once parked, I walk up the cycle track until I see the estuary. On the site there are three brilliant vantage points through the trees and brambles (which provide excellent birds for my Patchwork Challenge score!). I peer onto the estuary in the hope of getting a decent count and spotting the usual suspects such as Goldeneye, Brent geese and Pintail all of which are featured species on the RAMSAR designation for this site! However, my November 2015 count featured 2 Great White Egrets! Now, these are not uncommon for the estuary but it was the first time I had seen them and the first time they were recorded on the WeBS count date.

Great Norther Diver by Dan Rouse

WeBS is an extremely fun way to get to grips with an area and it does feel like you belong there. There is one main counter for each sector but more can take part in the count. I know that some groups do a group count for the sector and this is a brilliant way of encouraging younger people to one day take up the role of WeBS counter. It really helps you to get to grips with what’s common and uncommon for a site and know whether additional information needs to be given, such as filling out a rarity report for the County recorder.  These mentoring activities will mould young people into brilliant data collectors and improve their ID and knowledge dramatically. I would definitely encourage people to offer opportunities for young people to join them on their birding activities so we can learn how to do these things and one day return the favour by encouraging and helping others.

This year, the NEWS surveys has been running and is a perfect first stepping stone to start on. I took

on five sectors including two priority sectors at Rhossili, a place famous for its tourism and beauty. My counts were rather low as we’ve had some dreadful weather for January and I got blown to bits as well as struggling with a cold! A nice Great Northern Diver is always good to see, but I will definitely be returning again to carry out additional counts on a day where there will be more than a couple of species of birds. These are another brilliant group count and a chance to explore other areas that you don’t visit every month. I can’t say that I will apply for the same NEWS sectors as I had counted this year but I will definitely be continuing my counts on the Swansea and Carmarthenshire coast line. Also, there is an open invitation for anyone visiting Swansea/Carmarthenshire area to come on a count session with me!

Dan Rouse, @DanERouse

Winter on the Blyth Estuary, by James Common

To me, my local patch local is the centrepiece of the birding world, a microcosm of the wider countryside where I can enjoy the thrills, spills, trials and tribulations of birding without straying too far from my front door. Patching is an incredibly rewarding affair, both exhilarating and frustrating in equal measure but wholly enjoyable for this very reason. On patch I can watch the area's fauna change throughout the seasons, follow the breeding attempts of various species and much, much more. My patch in particular holds a special place in my heart as it is in fact the site on which I was raised, so to speak. This is the site on which I first discovered my love of birding and the site on which I cut my teeth as an amateur naturalist. Above all else however it is a site that, despite periods of prolonged absence, welcomes me back time and time again and continues to both surprise and delight year in, year out. On this subject, I am of course referring to the Blyth Estuary in Northumberland. A place I have been lucky enough to call home for many years and one that really comes into its own during the winter season.

True to the nature of the site, during winter most of my wanderings focus on the Blyth estuary itself. Here waders gather in force, putting on a fine show throughout the season with Dunlin and Redshank by far the most numerous. The former whirling and wheeling in a spectacle reminiscent of southern Knot gatherings though often in the absence of any Knot. Indeed, a count of five Knot is actually rather good by my standards here. Alongside these; smaller accumulations of Turnstone, Curlew, Lapwing and Golden Plover never fail to delight, as do some of the site's less abundant leggy offerings. Among these, Black and Bar-Tailed Godwit, Grey Plover and the odd Purple Sandpiper. The large gatherings of waders here clearly have the potential to turn up something altogether more interesting, though to date, the best I have managed comprises a lone Spotted Redshank. Tales of a wintering Terek Sandpiper before my time only fuel my hope of one day unearthing something remarkable here. We shall see.

Great Northern Diver by James Common

The Blyth estuary and adjacent harbour also attract their fair share of wildfowl species. Of course Mallard, Teal, Shelduck and Gadwall are commonplace here and often joined by obliging flocks of Goldeneye, Red-Breasted Merganser and Eider. The characteristic "awoooh" of the latter the soundtrack to many a winter walk. These species are occasionally joined however by some altogether more appealing species, particularly after a good bout of stormy weather. Winter usually finds at least one Great Northern Diver residing on the Blyth, while Red-throated Diver have, to date, proven similarly annual. Another local chap did recently photograph a Black-throated Diver in the harbour too, though commitments elsewhere meant that I failed to catch up with the bird. Blast! I did however manage one on the sea a few weeks later. Velvet Scoter are likewise fairly regular visitors to Blyth. Indeed, the back-end of 2015 proved particularly good for this species with numerous birds on the sea and a particularly showy first-winter drake taking up residence on the estuary itself, much to my delight. These are definitely one of my favourite birds. Elsewhere here Guillemot and Shag regularly crop up in winter, as do Long-Tailed Duck while only the other day I was lucky enough to catch up with a Glaucous Gull cruising over the estuary in typical, Pteranodon-esque style. Truly, you never know what you will find during winter on the Blyth.

While discussing seabirds I owe it to the patch to briefly mention my favoured seawatching position just north of the estuary. Many a cold, winter day has been spent here, often for little or no reward – as is the nature of seawatching I guess. When things go right however winter seawatching here can be thoroughly rewarding. Little Auks are a regular winter feature with 28 recorded this season alone, often very close to shore and thankfully, rarely stranded on the beach as at many other locations. Additionally, seawatching here has allowed me to catch up with my only patch Little Gulls among other winter species such as migrating Whooper Swans and large flotillas of Common Scoter. There is also great potential for a number of species "in off" with notable records to date this winter including Woodcock, Brambling and various thrushes shooting in above the surf. I did say I would keep this bit brief however..

In winter, the hulking industrial estate mentioned previously is often bursting with berries courtesy of innumerable growths of Whitebeam and Spindle. These in turn provide a draw to many species, including good sized flocks of winter thrushes. There is however one winter visitor to the Blyth that warrants a specific mention. Waxwings! Three years on the trot now winter has provided sightings of these spectacular migrants with this year's birds showing particularly well, often down to a matter of feet. A real festive treat if ever there was one and surely one of the most sought after winter spectacles. I do believe my "peak count" for Waxwings at Blyth stands at a rather good 27 birds during the last eruption year. Lovely!

Bypassing talk of Peregrines, Grey Partridge and other patch based goodies (if only to keep the word count down) there is one other area of the patch that warrants a mention. Perhaps more so than others as this is indeed the first nature reserve I remember visiting in my youth. I am of course referring to Ha'Penny Woods Local Nature Reserve, a small piece of remnant woodland that fringes the River Blyth a little upstream of the sites previously mentioned. Here I find it possible to lose myself entirely, immersed in Red Squirrels, Otters and a host of avian treats. This site is great for a number of species from Kingfisher and Grey Wagtail to Tawny Owl though it is the wood's passerines that hold perhaps the most allure. Here Nuthatch, Treecreeper and Great Spotted Woodpecker are commonplace, as are Bullfinch and Goldcrest, alongside of course a smorgasbord of familiar woodland denizens. Ha'Penny truly comes into its own in winter, visibility increased due to fallen leaves and has the potential to surprise year on year, Willow Tit being the latest in the series of grin -inducing moments.

Shore Lark by James Common

In short, winter on my patch is a glorious affair. Continuing on from Amy Robjohn's wonderful post on the subject a few weeks ago, it really is worth grabbing yourself a patch. To me, patch birding is one of the most rewarding and incredibly enjoyable hobbies around and this year, spurred on by the popular Patchwork Challenge I aim to indulge myself further. 

James Common, (@CommonByNature)