11 Days in the life of a patcher........

Despite being part of the PWC admin team I am useless when it comes to using Facebook but the last 11 days on patch have been some of the most enjoyable days I’ve had at Hemsby and it had finally given me the kick up the backside I needed to post on Facebook but I soon realised that it is too long for a FB post so here we are: 11 days in the life of a patcher!

It was on the 8^th October when it all really started kicking off here, a pre-work walk round the Kings Loke (a small patch of trees, scrub and long grass near my house) was duly rewarded with some notable patch birds and this is what I wrote in my notebook:

“Great morning, finches constantly moving overhead including 4 Crossbills. 2 Yellow-browed Warbler near east entrance to Kings Loke and a Swift overhead. Another YBW and 2 Firecrest with a large tit/crest flock in the middle of the Loke. Also a Ring Ouzel on the hedgerow. Finally, a Black Redstart on the roof of house two doors down from my house and 4 Snow Buntings south over the dunes.”

A great 2 hours birding but no #PWC2015 ticks....

The 9^th was very similar with good numbers of finches, larks and pipits moving north during a bit of vismigging. Other notable birds were a Great Spotted Woodpecker moving south over the dunes and a Tree Pipit heading south too. The Kings Loke was quite quiet but a Treecreeper was a #PWC2015 tick and only my second ever on patch and 2 Cranes overhead was only the second time I’ve seen them on patch.

The 10^th started with me searching the Kings Loke as usual but there seemed to be a bit of a clear out and the only new bird I noted was a Lesser Whitethroat so I headed off to seawatch. The seawatch was full of birds but nothing rare, 500+ distant auks was a good count and Sooty Shearwater was the highlight. A search round the southern edge of my patch in the afternoon added two #PWC2015 ticks, 2 Egyptian Geese flying overhead and a Green Woodpecker taking a liking to fence posts.

Sunday the 11^th started with a 3 hour seawatch and it soon became clear there was a lot of bird moving out to sea with hundreds of Brent Geese, Red-thoated Divers, Gannets and auks all going south. A Hobby flew south over the surf shortly followed by 6 Snow Bunting over the beach and then a Short-eared Owl came in off the sea.  I then received a text that a Balearic Shearwater was heading my way and after about a half hour wait I was watching it fly south, full fat patch tick #201! A few Sooties followed south not long after and another 3 SEOs all came in off the sea, including one carrying food! A female Velvet Scoter finished off the seawatch with another #PWC2015 tick. I then headed for the Kings Loke hoping that some migrants had been pushed in with the NE winds. It soon became clear that a lot had dropped in. Finches, crests and thrushes were everywhere and a Ring Ouzel, Whinchat and Firecrest were the highlights at the Loke.  In the afternoon I headed to the south end of the patch, flushed my 5^th SEO of the day out of some long grass! Thrushes started to drop in during the afternoon with 77 Song Thrush, 46 Redwings and 14 Fieldfares in one hedgerow. Brambling numbers also increased today.  Day estimates for the patch were 200+ Goldcrests, 175+ Song Thrush and 30+ Brambling.

The 12^th and 13^th saw me seawatching before work, a few interesting birds including 5 Sooties on the 13^th but otherwise quiet. After work on the 13^th I had a quick check of the Loke and flushed a Jack Snipe off the path! Pure patch gold and only my second on the patch.

The 14^th started with another seawatch and although numbers of the common seabirds had dropped off a lone juvenile Pomarine Skua drifting south gave me another #PWC2015 tick. Added to this were a few Sooties, Arctic Skuas, Bonxies, a Manx Shearwater and another SEO in off the sea. I left work early to get an hour or so birding in and was soon rewarded with a Great Grey Shrike sitting on top of a hedgerow near the Kings Loke, a patch tick (#202) and finally some bonus points. The same hedgerow held hundreds of thrushes including 2 Ring Ouzels. It was a very impressive fall with birds still arriving as the light failed with many thrushes and Bramblings sitting on the road exhausted!

Waking up on the 15^th and a quick look round the patch produced lots of common migrants, crests, finches and everywhere, another SEO in off and two pieces of #patchgold, a Rock Pipit (#PWC2015 tick) and Mistle Thrush (only my 2^nd of the year).

It was at this point I was going to write about the great birding autumn brings even if the rarities don’t come, 9 ticks 19 points and a great weeks birding. However, this was just the beginning.....

The 16^th Dawned wet and miserable, a quick seawatch produced very little so I headed off to the Kings Loke. It was soon evident that there lots of birds about, thrushes flying out the hedgerows and trees, crests busily feeding and finches overhead, a Woodcock flushed from under my feet but the rain made it hard to find much else. While sheltering under a tree the warblers started to show, a few Chiffchaffs, a Blackcap and then in amongst a flock of 20+ crests a Pallas’s Warbler flitted past, feeding in the tree in front of me for about a minute and then gone, moving through the trees with the flock. Amazing, the third one in four autumns on the patch!

Saturday the 17^th was relatively quiet, bird numbers were down on the previous days but still a good mix of common migrants, the only new species of note was a Redstart. A glimpse of a interesting bird in the undergrowth in the late evening got me wondering..........

The 18^th October 2015 will probably go down as the best day ever on my Hemsby patch. I was joined by a friend and we headed straight for the Kings Loke, plenty of birds about in the gloom, a Ring Ouzel chacking away, Redwings, Fieldfares and finches passing overhead regularly and a Grey Wagtail heading north. A Green Woodpecker started calling followed soon by a Great Spotted Woodpecker, an unusual duet for the patch! And then the heart-stopping moment! As a flock of tits passed us a small bird flitted amongst the undergrowth, bright orange flanks standing out instantly. It started flitting closer to us giving us great views for about 30-40 seconds before darting off to the right. A 1^st winter RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL!! Although a lot more common nowadays still a dream find for us. We tried to relocate it but with no success, although we did rustle up another Treecreeper. We decided to have a break and put news out so climbed out of the undergrowth to the grassy edge of the Loke when we flushed a pipit. It called a bit like a Tripit but not exactly. It had us intrigued. We played a game of hide and seek with it over the next hour or so and then it finally landed in view and it looked good, photos were taken and we were soon realising we were looking at an OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT just 50 yards from the bluetail!! Wow! We hadn’t seen the back properly so slowly waited for it to reappear and after another hour or so we had documented the bird well enough to make the call. It felt strange writing a tweet that contained both RFB and OBP for Hemsby!

Afterwards I decided to have a well deserved rest but no sooner had I sat down when a friend rang to say a Great Grey Shrike was on the dunes no more than 750m from my house. So the best day on my patch end with me watching a GGS eating a Goldcrest all on my own! This is why I do patch birding.

11 days, 114 species, 4 patch ticks, 12 #PWC2015 ticks, 52 points, 1 patch!

Sacha Elliott - Burdon Moor/Causey Arch

Thinking of Gateshead doesn’t immediately invoke images of awe inspiring natural places or breath-taking wildlife encounters. The area’s raw and often tarnishing industrial heritage was cemented in the mind with the installation of the now (in)famous Angel of the North, encapsulating what many folk envisage when Gateshead is mentioned. However, seek and you shall find vast areas of rolling countryside (over half of Gateshead's countryside!), teeming with wildlife just waiting to be discovered. One such wildlife haven is Burdon Moor, my local patch. 

Roughly 4km directly west of the Angel of the North, Burdon Moor is one of the highest points in the area, showcasing panoramic views of both the Gateshead and Co. Durham countryside. Originally lowland heathland, this rare habitat was lost to agricultural “improvements” and opencast mining around 100 years ago. In an attempt to restore this location to its once glorious past, Gateshead Council instigated the ‘Bringing Back Burdon Moor Project’ to regenerate heather where it once grew. While the restoration of the site is proving to be a slow process, this doesn’t seem to be negatively affecting the many wild creature which call this site home and have readily adapted to a site still exhibiting signs of its industrial legacy.

Discovering this site purely by accident, I was immediately captivated by its 'diamond in the rough' qualities.  Here, in the heart of an agricultural landscape - and while a little marred by past industrial workings - was a wildlife Mecca and a jewel in the crown of Gateshead for bird lovers.  So enamoured with Burdon Moor, I paid a second visit that day, this time on an evening, to investigate potential nocturnal activity.  While I would have been happy to just watch passerines singing their evening melodies before heading off to roost, I also encountered Brown Hares and Roe Deer contently grazing the site.  However, what captivated my attention that night and cemented a great fondness for the site was the ‘squeaky-gate’ emanating from a tree a few paces ahead of me.  I lifted my trusty binoculars and there, illuminating through the dusk, was the glowing orange eyes of 4 young Long-eared Owls.  I could not believe it - my first real visit to the site and I encounter such enigmatic creatures.  Magic!

From birds to dragonflies to lizards, Burdon Moor is a tantalising experience for any keen naturalist and offers truly wonderful wildlife encounters with often very little effort.  If you’re lucky, the distinctive ‘wet-my-lips’ call of a Quail can be heard during summer and influxes of Short-eared Owls dazzle and perform over the cold and barren winter months. 

It was a natural evolution that I would choose this site for my Patchwork Challenge location, and while uni and work commitments restricted my time there over the summer period, I was pleasantly surprised with my species list so far.  Being a high point in the area, Burdon Moor is often used as a stopping point for birds, so species such as Wheatear, Whinchat, and Stonechat can be easily picked up before they move on to their breeding grounds. You have to be a bit luckier to catch Cuckoo or Ring Ouzel but put the time in and you’ll be rewarded! The site offers an array of common species and I’m ever hopeful that one day it’ll treat the local birders to a Shrike.  There’s also a scrawny, dead tree on site that is begging for a Red-footed Falcon to be perched atop its gnarly branches.  One can dream! For now I’ll look forward to the splendid spectacle of Golden Plover that will begin to amass over the winter. My PWC site also takes in a small section of the woodland and burn surrounding the Causey Arch.  This allows me to mop up a few other common birds like Dipper and Tawny Owl.  I’ve got four species of owl on my PWC list, however, I’m still sadly lacking Barn Owl for the area.

With the summer survey season winding down at work, I fully intend to hit the patch with enthusiasm and spend many a relaxing day enjoying the site for all that it offers. I’m not sure I’ll improve on my current total of 92 species with 102 points scored, but the time spent outdoors with be worth it nonetheless, and you never know what bird will drop in next! 

- Sacha Elliot (Burdon Moor & Causey Arch)