Sat 16th Dec - Friday 22nd Dec

Saturday 16th

A Lapland Bunting was noted all week at Newburn

Lap Bunting image by Ian Forest

Barn Owl (GS) at ShibdonPond Gateshead reminded us of 3 species of owls seen back in Nov 1988, when Barn, Tawny & Long-eared Owls all roosted on site in adjacent trees. A couple of daylight hunting birds were noted at Houghton & 2 nr Rushyford on 19th (GB)

7 Snow Bunting remained at Shields (DH)

Peregrine over A690 Houghton (NU)

1GND, 1 BTDiver, Merlin & Snow Bunting at Blackhall.

Sunday 17th

Water Rail in Roker Park again (PeteC)

Monday 18th

possible Coues Arctic Redpoll in mixed finch flock at Barlow Fell. 200+ birds mixed finches present.

(Steve Fryer)

Raptor fest at Hurworth Burn (JO)

Merlin, immature Peregrine, Buzzards, Kestrels & Sparrowhawk

young male Merlin in the West of the County (Derek Bilton)

5Woodcock in the East Rainton area & 3 Hetton Bogs which had min of 5 Water Rails (CW)

Scandinavian Rock Pipit at SAFC Academy car park (JC)

Littoralis Rock Pipit (John Chapman)

Glaucous Gull at Shields seemed to have lost its attached hook & line

Winter wildfowl were more evident with Mergansers displaying at Hartlepool (BM)

Still a familiar sight on the N.Tees marshes in winter - the graceful Pintail - a very rare British breeding species, caught here in flight.

Tuesday 19th

Lapland Bunting again coming to a seeded area with 60 Linnet nr Newburn bridge although very flighty (Norman Urwin)

Bittern was spotted at RSPB Saltholme from the wildlife watchpoint (Dougie Holden) - another was on the Long Drag during the week.

3 Chiffchaffs were at Zinc Works (IF) - there has been at least one here since late October - another was retrapped by ringer at Whitburn having been rung there in the Autumn - both seem unlikely places to overwinter, but with with the pattern of an increase in winter birds over the past couple of years.

Other were noted at Sunderland (TM), Rowland Gill (BR), Pittington (SE), Ch-le-Street Swg Wks & Hetton (CW)

Chiffchaff - a warm toned bird, with pale feet & legs - pic by IanF

A drake Pintail & 2 drake Shovellers were amongst 90 other dabbling ducks on a flighting pond in the Durham City District (SE). Wigeon picked up down the valley at Chartershaugh, with 225 noted.

RSPB Saltholme continued to offer good opportunity to observe a Long-eared Owl at its roost whilst the Rainton area produced a handful of sightings one of which was a bird moving north at dusk & spiralling to gain height travelling for over a mile ! on a very mild evening after the recent thaw....

These dusk sightings were considered a good indication that a communal roost had developed & discrete observations of birds leaving a wooded site at dusk confirmed the presence of a roost holding 16 or more birds.

Leo phone-scoped in the twilight from 190 metres range (SE)

Short-eared Owls were still very hard to come by, an observer almost standing on one on 20th - & despite being present for several weeks, it is seldom seen hunting....

Seo - 'phone-binned' from range (SE)

Friday 22nd Dec

5Waxwings were noted flying inland over the well watched Hetton area (CW) with 140Pink feet north down the road at Lambton (MH).

Blackhall continue its excellent series of Black throated Diver records with 3 birds seen on the sea along with a dozen Red throats (Robbie R), noting x3 Jack Snipe on another of his local haunts at Shotton.

The week ended on a high note, only just after the winter solstice, a mild sunny morning encouraged a male Willow Tit into song at New Lambton (MH)

Willow Tit NZ34 (SteveE)

Dec 9th - Friday 15th Dec 2017

This weeks undoubted highlight was the Two barred Crossbill, described in the previous blog entry.

A number of observers followed up on this over the next few days - but sadly no further sightings yet.... hopefully this bird, & perhaps some Parrot Crossbill will be uncovered over the holiday period...?

Our one-off Little Owl looked to be in his element this week - his odd plumage perfect for this weeks winter weather conditions.

There were a number of unusual species noted this week with Great White Egret just south of Durham at Low Burnhall (SteveAddinall), Sooty Shearwater & x2Slav Grebes at Whitburn (PaulHindess et al) and a Lapland Bunting or 2 (?) (Tom Francis / Ian Forest) with mobile Linnet flock on a seeded strip beside road A178 between Seaton Carew & Newburn, Hartlepool.

Lapland Bunting (Ian Forest) a scarce overwintering species, seldom photographed in the County.

An interesting record from Durham City on 15th concerned an intermedius-type Lesser black Backed Gull (Duncan Fraser)There are 5 sub species of LBB - they are :-

• L. f. graellsii – : Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, British Isles, western Europe. Mantle dark grey.

• L. f. intermedius – : Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, southwest Sweden & western Norway. Mantle sooty black.

• L. f. fuscus – : northern Norway, Sweden & Finland to the White Sea. Mantle jet black.

• L. f. heuglini – : northern Russia to north-central Siberia.

• L. f. barabensis – : central Asia

Long-stayers in the area included x2Black throated Divers at Blackhall (Colin Wilson), Whooper Swan at Low Barns (Gordon Blackett), Grey Phalarope & Long tailed Duck at Shields till 10th (Brian Martin)

A couple more Hawfinch records this week, (Graham Stoker) picking out 2-4 birds at Croxdale Hall on 2 dates, with a very early drumming GSWoodpecker & a Green Sandpiper there on 10th.

A very rare photo of a Durham Hawfinch (GS) with another 2 birds were noted in Yews in private gardens at Cleadon (Pete Collins).

An adult Med Gull was on the ice at Washington WWT - oddly not a common sight at this well watched location.

The hard weather saw a couple of records of Tawny Owls day hunting through at Hamsterley, photographed by x2 members on separate visits:-

Tony Burn managed this superb portrait of a Tawny, with Graham Stoker also finding one out & about in daylight

There was more than usual seen of Peregrines this week, with sightings from Bowburn (BrianClasper), Wheatley Hill hunting corvids (RobbieR), Hetton Lyons Pk (ColinW), & a pair at Quarrington Hill.(RichardC) It wont be long before pairs begin to visit prospective nest sites.

The Coalfields area couldn't produce any star birds this week, but an icy Rainton Meadows produced a site record count of 14 Shoveller

& the area ticked over nicely with several flights of Pink-footed Geese heading south & all the local specialities in place as photographed by "birder with camera" Michael Heron

Water Rail (MH) A familiar species in the Hetton / Houghton areas - keen studies from a network of local patchers has seen the species firmly established as a breeding species in recent years

Willow Tit (MH) - a VERY special bird at a local & County level - The Nations most threatened resident bird ! Watch out for the Club Survey starting in the New Year - this fieldwork is open to all members & is thought will highlight Durham's population as being of National significance.

Green Sandpiper (MH) the Coalfields area has traditionally held

over wintering birds for generations now.

Jack Snipe (MH) - walked up without flushing - a lesson in field craft, patience & affinity for the subject.

NB:

Watch out for our Monthly Themed Photo Competition coming soon..... birders welcome !

DBC County Bird Race 2018

Sunday 7th January 2018

Join us and your friends in the new year for what's set to be a lively day birding around the county.

See how many species of birds each team can see on the day (8am - 4pm) in our recording area, i.e. the old vice county of Durham (basically the Tyne to the Tees)

Contact Sacha at durhambirdclub@gmail.com by 1st January 2018 to enter your team.

Keep up to date with the day's bird news on the DBC Bird News WhatsApp and on Twitter - Tag your sightings  #DBCBirdRace

Whole lot of fun, prizes to be won!

Hope to bump into you on the day.