11 members met at the Headland lighthouse on a sunny day with overcast periods and light breeze.
We started by sea watching. The most numerous birds we could see were groups of 20, 22 and 80 Common Scoters followed by 20 Great Crested Grebes in a loose group. A single Guillemot was on the sea with a single Shag, several Cormorants and two Red-throated Divers. Herring, Great Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls were on the sea and generally flying back and forth. Seven Turnstones were feeding on the grassy area in front of us and a small flock of Starlings were in the mast behind us.
We then walked North along the seafront to check the rocks before high tide. Four Purple Sandpipers, two Ringed Plover were seen with groups of Redshanks and Oystercatchers resting on the rocks before being moved on by the rising tide. Offshore we located seven Velvet Scoters which had been reported. One of them flew in to join a group of Common Scoters which gave us a better view. A Wren was seen looking for food in some drainage pipes in a high wall.
We returned past the Headland and along to the Fish Quay. A Rock Pipit was spotted in one of the front gardens. Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls, Cormorants and a small number of Eider Ducks were on the rocks between the two piers. Six Sanderling, two Purple Sandpipers and more Turnstones were on the shoreline.
At the Fish Quay there were two Great Northern Divers showing well, an adult and an immature. Also here were two Red-throated Divers, three Red-breasted Mergansers, two Guillemots and gulls. The Slavonian Grebe we were looking for flew past us and out of the Fish Quay but we couldn’t relocate it.
On the walk back to the Headland two Mediterranean Gulls flew past and a flock of House Sparrows were in the garden bushes. We then had our lunch at Newburn Bridge for a high tide wader roost. There were seven Sanderlings, 30 Lapwings, 60 Ringed Plover, seven Oystercatchers and 18 Black-headed Gulls with two Mediterranean Gulls. Probably the two we saw earlier. A Red-throated Diver and a Great Crested Grebe were were on the sea with Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls. Away from the sea a Magpie, Blackbird, Starlings and Carrion Crows were seen. A Rock Pipit flew past.
We then drove to Seaton Snook and the Tees estuary, parking on Zinc Works Road. In the bushes here we found 14 Twite coming down to seed on the path that someone is putting down. There were also three Reed Buntings, a Yellowhammer, Dunnock, Robin and Starlings. In the wet fields there was a single Golden Plover, Teal, Mallard, Wigeon and Pheasants. In a nearby flooded field there was also a pair of Shovelers.
On our walk through the dunes we saw a flock of 12 Skylarks feeding in the horse field. On the shoreline at the Snook we could see a large congregation of waders. This consisted of seven Bar-tailed Godwits, Sanderlings, Turnstones and large numbers of Grey Plovers, Knot and Dunlin into the hundreds and a large group of Common Gulls. On the far side of the estuary there were 200+ Oystercatchers and 300 Shelducks. A Great Northern and a Red-throated Diver were on the sea with several Cormorants. Nearer the dunes and the horse field we found the flock of approximately 100 wintering Twite.
It was getting late but four of us stopped off at Greatham Creek on the way past to look for owls. A Short-eared and a Barn Owl were hunting at the far side of the marsh. A Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk were seen perched out on the marsh. To our left a Buzzard was seen which could have been the reason the Starlings all flew out of their roost and flew around in two groups numbering thousands before flying over our heads and back towards their reed bed roost. 120 Curlew were on the creek mud with Redshanks, Dunlin, Mallard, Teal and Wigeon. A Little Egret then flew past.
A good day blessed with some good weather considering the wet and windy we have had lately.
Thanks to all those who attended and made the day.
The Species total was 56 for the day.
Mike Smithson
