As anyone who is a regular reader of this blog will know my birding is almost all done around Scotland, mostly Angus and Fife but sometimes a little further afield. I don't often get the opportunity to venture across the border into England and as my Scottish list and life list were finally brought into line with each other late last year courtesy of the Carnoustie Ring Necked Parakeet I was in no particular hurry to throw that symmetry out again. However, Ian suggested a trip to Northumberland to see the Baikal Teal which briefly ventured into Scotland a few weeks ago at Skinflats before relocating back south of the border to Druridge Pools. As the trip also offered the chance of a few other species I've yet to see this year (Avocet, Reed Warbler, Ruff), and a few other lifers (Little Owl and the St Abb's Lesser Scaup) it was a bit of a no-brainer, regardless of the provenance of the headline Baikal Teal.
Avocet
Given the distance involved it was an early start with the 0653 train to Perth to be caught. I headed out at around 0620. Woodpigeon, Blackbird, Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Starling, Carrion Crow, Collared Dove, Lesser Black Backed Gull and Magpie gave a solid enough start to the day's list. Blue Tit, Oystercatcher, Goldfinch and Chaffinch were seen around the City Centre. From the train I was able to add House Sparrow, Buzzard, Jackdaw, Mallard, Common Gull, Black Headed Gull and a Rabbit. A House Martin circled above the railway station car park as I met up with Ian and we set off southwards.
A Long Tailed Tit flew across the road in front of the car near Loch Leven but there was nothing else new seen before we stopped at Aberlady to see if the Ruddy Shelduck which had been seen the previous afternoon was still around. It wasn't. We did however add Lapwing, Curlew, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Shelduck, Mute Swan, Stock Dove, Meadow Pipit, Swallow, a Ringlet butterfly and an unidentified micro-moth. Reed Bunting was the only new addition before we crossed the border into England. The sun had been shining and the sky had been rather blue but it was still warm though a little more overcast as we ventured further south.
From the car we noted Woodpigeon, Buzzard, Jackdaw and Swallow and courtesy of a sat-nav diversion down a road that apparently wasn't suitable for motor vehicles (but wasn't as bad as the Rattray Head 'road'), Mistle Thrush, Blackbird and Sparrowhawk. Our first destination was Amble to look out over to Coquet Island. On the river on the way into town we spotted Canada Goose, Little Egret, Black Headed Gull, Mute Swan, Eider, Cormorant and Shelduck. House Sparrow, Collared Dove and Starling were seen around the houses in the town. Swifts swept overhead.
We stopped at the coast and walked up a little rise where we could see the island. Unfortunately, it was impossible to identify the Terns visible around the island. Meadow Pipit and House Martin were active around where we were standing. A Goosander was down on the water close in to rocks just offshore. A short stint of sea-watching provided a few Sandwich Terns, a pair of Puffins and a distant Gannet. As we were about to leave a Common Tern gave us decent views as it flew by us. A Linnet landed on the nearby wires and a Ringlet butterfly was seen as we walked back to the car. I had posted on Twitter before leaving home asking for info on where best to try to see a few species and had received 3 messages with info (thanks to David Steel, Carolyn Hargest and Andrew Russell). Andrew messaged me as we were parking at Druridge Pools to say the Baikal Teal had just been showing though we were a little confused as to where to go to reach the hide.
The Baikal Teal had just been seen from the northern hide and we attempted to find it. A local birder gave us directions to what turned out to be a different hide at the opposite end of the pool. As things turned out, this worked in our favour anyway as within a few minutes out popped the Baikal Teal, and I had a (prospective - if accepted as a genuine wild bird) lifer. Although views were distant I managed some video and photos. A Spoonbill flew over giving us decent flight views as it headed southwards. Also around the pool were Canada and Greylag Geese, Gadwall, Moorhen, Coot, Black Tailed Godwit, Wood Sandpiper and Mallard. I asked the locals about the best spots for Little Owl and discovered that the local bird was very site faithful and just about visible from where we were. Ian managed to see it from the hide as it flew down into the field but I missed it. Another birder who had overheard me asking about a Ruff spotted the bird venturing out into the open and alerted me to it giving me another year-tick.
We had been joined by Andrew and his dad and we all chatted with the locals with information flowing back and forth. With more birds to see, we moved on around noon to try and see the Little Owl. A Speckled Wood and a Red Admiral butterfly were noted on the walk back from the hide to the road. Ian went to get the car and I wandered down the access track. The Little Owl was exactly where we'd been told it would be. It was perched on the rone pipe of a nearby house and we were treated to relatively good views of my second lifer of the day though the bird didn't move much and the view was hindered slightly by heat haze. Andrew and his dad joined us and after more chatting Ian and I headed off a mile or so down the road to Cresswell Pond.
A Magpie flew by and a Painted Lady butterfly flitted around as we walked from the car park to the track down to the hide that overlooked the pool. A Red Headed Cardinal beetle landed on a bush in front of us and another Red Admiral and Speckled Wood butterfly were seen. We managed to squeeze in among a less talkative group than before though the birder I was sat beside had been at Druridge earlier. Out in front we noted Little Gull, Black Headed Gull, Avocet (another year-tick), Dunlin, Redshank, and Lapwings. Further round the shore we could also see a sleeping Spoonbill, some Oystercatchers, a pair of drake Teal and some Tufted Ducks.
A Pied Wagtail flew over, as did a few Sand Martins. Reed Buntings showed among the reeds and a bird that appeared to be a Reed Warbler gave brief views before eventually showing well enough to get confirmation of another year-tick and some long-awaited photos of the species. A Sandwich Tern and a Common Tern landed among the gulls and waders. A few Grey Herons and a pair of Little Egrets as well as a Common Gull were also seen before we decided to head back to Scotland to try for the Lesser Scaup near St Abb's Head. A Whitethroat appeared on the wires as we headed out from the car park. A Yellow Shell moth was seen as I waited by the car near a cafe outside Cresswell while Ian discovered it was too busy to be worth waiting in a lengthy slow-moving queue for food.
From the car back north we added a single Herring Gull, a few Carrion Crows and Feral Pigeon before crossing back into Scotland around 1530. We found the track to the small reservoir at St Abb's in a field with cattle and sheep which largely ignored us as we scanned for our target bird. There were plenty of Mallards with ducklings and Tufted Ducks as well as Coots and Herring Gulls on the water. A sleeping bird proved to be the Lesser Scaup and when it woke up we were able to get a slightly better view. As the bird wasn't doing much I chose not to take any video (which I should have). We headed back to the car to head homewards with our third lifer in the bag. As we neared Dunbar I was checking Twitter and discovered that the Ruddy Shelduck had just been seen in Tyninghame Bay with 5 Spoonbills. We were only a few minutes away. Despite Ian having seen probably the same bird last weekend at Vane Farm we decided to give it a go.
The sky didn't look overly promising as we headed for the bay, stopping to see a Yellow Shell moth and a Painted Lady butterfly on the walk out. The birds were all largely rather distant though we were able to add Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Wigeon, Linnet and Cormorant to the Scottish section of the list. The Spoonbills and Ruddy Shelduck were nowhere to be seen. A German(?) family were also looking for the Spoonbills. The sky was growing darker by the minute and a distant rumble signalled that there was a chance we were going to get rained on. We tried a little further along the track towards the south and I managed to pick up the Spoonbills which then flew as I shouted to the Germans who joined us and I pointed out where to scan for the birds which were feeding largely out of sight in a channel.
Despite the threat of rain, Ian and I hurried further along the edge of the bay to look along the channel the Spoonbills were in but we failed to see the Ruddy Shelduck. By now there were a few more rumbles and as we started back towards the car along a hopefully more direct route a fork of lightning flashed against the blackness of the cloud across the bay. The trees gave us some shelter from the rain which caught up with us as the thunder also headed in our direction. We just made it to the car as the rain began to get really heavy and that was the rather sudden end to the day's birding. The journey back to Dundee where Ian had to pick up his wife and drop me off was tracked by a thunderstorm and heavy rain which brought flooding to areas not far from our route home. Ian dropped me off around 1940 and I made it home, relatively dry around 14 hours after leaving in the morning.
A very good day out with plenty of success along the way. 65 species of bird were seen including 6 year-ticks (in bold) of which 3 were lifers taking my life list to a provisional 282 (280 on my Scottish list). In addition 4 species of butterfly and 1 identified (and 2 unidentified) moth species and a single mammal species were seen. The weather mostly behaved and we didn't have to work too hard for any of the birds we actually managed to see. A big "thank you" to those who were forthcoming with information both via Twitter and in person in Northumberland. It was much appreciated and also very helpful.
