Feb 24th
This morning at Harwood, 4 Goshawks were on view, in bright, blustery conditions. 2 Obvious, large females and 2 smaller birds, one of which was identified as a male. Buzzards were very much in evidence too, well into double figures. Whilst there, our ears were assaulted with a sonic boom from a Tornado and multiple loud blasts from the army's distant artillary. Not the peaceful scene you might expect!
Moving on, more Buzzards were noted on our way to Bamburgh, where the Black Guillemot eventually came in quite close inshore, a less than annual sighting for most local birders.
8-9 Red Throated Divers, 4-5 Slavonian Grebes, a pair of Long tailed Ducks, and several Gannets, Common Scoters, Razorbils and Guillemots were all seen here too. In the field,s a flock of Twite fed and on the rocks were several Knot and Purple Sandpipers, also an adult Med. Gull.
Heading south via Budle Bay, where we saw a single Bean Goose in flight and a Greenshank. We watched briefly, a ringtail Hen Harrier, then called at East Chevington, which was fairly quiet, other than 7 Whooper Swans and a male Common Scoter, unusually sitting on a grass bank.
Maiden's Hall still holds very good numbers of geese, with 300+Eurasion Whitefronts, 25 Tundra Beans and around 1,500 Pink Feet showing well. Nearby the adult and juvenile Bewick Swans remained, feeding near the road.
ASJ.
