Summary : July 2014

Summary : July 2014

Birding Days Out

Birding in general this month has largely been determined for us by weather and visitors. We have had visits from two sets of friends who do not live in Britain and they are not particularly birders so we have been either preparing for them or attending to them for a lot of the month. Anne’s birthday party also took a little chunk of time out of the month but he main reason we did not do a lote of birding this month was the prolonged good weather – so hot, in fact, that we have largely kept in shade where possible. It has been quite like the summers of old ! Be that as it may we managed to do some birding and even got a life tick or two !

We managed to fit in a short break at the very beginning of the month with a visit to the Northumberland coast where, on the first of July, we took a boat trip to Coquet Island where we got views of Puffins and Terns including our target bird, Roseate Tern.

On the 2nd of July we visited some other birding sites along Druridge Bay including Hauxley Nature Reserve where we just missed a Red-breasted Goose !! We were trying again for Roseate Terns but with no luck but it was very interested to reconnoitre the various sites along this coast which are really good and perhaps worth returning to in winter as well. We continued to Druridge Bay and East Chevington Nature Reserve where we got views of Marsh Harrier, Common Scoter and nesting Ringed Plover.

Another very good site was further down the coast at Cresswell Pond where we got a nice Med Gull and came across a cafe that doubled as a birding library. On the last day we just mooched around the old village of Craster where we sat on the balcony of a restaurant looking out at Guillemots in the distance and also watching a family of Eiders as the parents showed their young around the rock pools at the harbour mouth.

The only other birding day we had in July was on the 30th when we went to Burton Mere Wetlands in a very successful attempt to see Spotted Crake. So, not too much birding this month but I’m not complaining having got Roseate Tern and Spotted Crake in the same month.

Birding Group

There were no birding group days out this month

Garden

Apart from Great Tits and Blue Tits and the many Blackbirds it has been a quiet month. There has been the odd two or three Goldfinches and even a male Greenfinch but as the month wore on the numbers seemed to have decreased in general. I assume that many of the birds have gone to find their own territories and some are hiding away whilst they moult.
There have been plenty of bees and moths and butterflies in the garden and this is perhaps something to do with the intensely warm and sunny month.