2 day's of great birds

We had a great day on Tuesday and Wednesday, with lots of birds passing. Yesterday we saw a male Peregrine hunting a blackbird near Staple Island. It was fascinating to watch this beautiful bird doing what it does best, but this time  it did something that I have never seen before. It hit the Blackbird with so much power, that it stunned the bird and it fell into the water, but the Blackbird was not going to give up. It tried so hard to get out of the water, but the Peregrine never give it a chance. Next thing we saw, was the Peregrine hitting it again, killing it,and then grabbed it with it's claws and of into the sky. It flew towards Staple Island with the Blackbird tightly gripped in it's claws and then landed on the rock with it's kill. Nature is cruel but it was amazing to watch. The picture is not very good but it shows the Blackbird in it's claws.

We also saw a lovely Merlin watching the Pigeons, but then it spotted us and did not hang around for long. Well just long enough for me to get a picture.

On Wednesday it was windy but we had beautiful blue skies and on Thursday we had no wind but rain in the morning and very overcast. When it gets to this time of the year Keith and myself try to keep a look out for as many things as possible as we don't have the thousands of breeding birds around, and people still ask if the Puffins are still here. When you say NO they are a bit disappointed, but if we can find a Peregrine they seem to be more than happy. Yes it's harder work for us but it can be very rewarding, especially when I get we see people faces and I get some good pictures.

This is just a mixture of pictures I got but we see lots more.

Wednesday

2 Arctic Skua's flying North

1 Great Skua flying North

1 Pomarine Skua flying North

1 Puffling feeding

21 Curlew resting on Longstone Island

22 Common Scoters flying North

1 Peregrine on Staple Island

1 Merlin on Staple Island

6 Guillemots feeding

1 Sandwich Tern feeding

2 Rock Pipits

4 Kittiwakes

1 White Wagtail on The Inner Farne

16 Fieldfare flying West

Lots of Gannets, Turnstones, Oystercatchers and Purple Sandpipers.

Thursday

5 Arctic Skua's flying North

1 Great Skua flying North

2 Adult Puffins

1 Adult Razorbill

17 Guillemots feeding

2 Short Eared Owls flying West from the sea and landed on Longstone Island

6 Red-throated Divers feeding

1 Great Northern Diver feeding

62 Fieldfare flying West

1 Rock Pipits

Lots of Gannets, Turnstones and Purple Sandpipers. 

Arctic Skua verses Redwing

A couple of Saturdays ago I saw a Arctic Skua attacking a Redwing just the east side of the Longstone Lighthouse. You will have to excuse my pictures as I was a bit to far away, overcast and it all happened very quickly, but you can the action as it happens.

The Redwing escaped, but I don't know it survived.

The divers had a wonderful time over the weekend. The seals are very playful at the moment. We also have 4 seals pups now, and I will keep on counting them, but I will have to rely on the Wardens for counts later as there are far to many for me to count.

Here are some pictures of the seals on Friday playing with the divers.

Seals playing with the divers surface marker buoy.

The divers send this surface marker buoy to the top of the water when they are about to come up. It also tells other boat that they are below, but the seals lover to play with them.

A Seal playing with the marker buoy.

A Seal playing with the divers fins when she got to the surface.

Smiling from ear to ear.

SEAL of approval

I had some divers out at The Farne Islands last year and they said it was just fantastic playing with the seals, but it was not until they gave me a DVD of what they filmed last year that I realized what they were talking about. I  here lots of stories about divers with the seals and I just take it for granted until I saw this DVD. After watching it a few times I thought I would let you all enjoy it to. Sorry but I had to make it a bit shorter to be able to upload it

Black Tern

We had a lovely Black Tern on Friday and I missed seeing it during the summer so I was pleased to get a chance to see it. We noticed a group of birds feeding just south of the Inner Farne and it was not until we got there that we seen a tern flying around.

Great end to September

It has been a beautiful week around the Farne Islands and Seahouses this week. The sun has shone all week,the sea's have been calm and the birds have been good.

On Monday we saw our first female Long-tailed Duck on the north side of Big Harcar. We also saw 5 Arctic Skua's flying north throughout the day.

On Tuesday our first Grey Seal Pup was born on the pebble beach at South Whames, and an adult wintering Puffin. 

On Wednesday the day started with a beautiful Sunrise, then after that we saw 3 Harbour Porpoise, 2 Arctic Skua's, 1 Puffling 1 male Peregrine, 1 female Peregrine and lots of Guillemots. 

On Thursday the weather got hotter and hotter as the day went on. On the land it had been really good but it's not very often we can say that it gets that hot out at sea, but the temperature was 21c in my wheelhouse and the wind was really warm to. The bird front was a bit hot to. We had 5 Arctic Skua's flying north, 2 Bonxie's flying north, 2 Great Northern Divers, 1 flying north the other south, 1 Manx Shearwater resting on the water just south of the Inner Farne, 2 pods of Harbour Porpoise, 3 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. When we were heading home I got a phone call to say that there was 2 Ross's Geese at the pond on the way to Bamburgh. You have never seen the boat tied up so quick. I was lucky as they were still there but I was short lived as I was summoned home. I was also told there was a Crane at Budle Bay but I was not so lucky with that one. Oh well you can't win them all.   

On Friday it was hot but not as hot as previous days, but the birds made up for that. We had 3 Arctic Skua's, lots and lots of Guillemots, 16 Razorbills, 7 Manx Shearwaters, 1 Black Tern, 10 Redwings, 1 Long tailed Skua and a male Peregrine.

Ross's Goose

I got a call the yesterday on my way home from sea to tell me about a Ross's Goose on Willy Smiths Pond. A little pond beside the road towards Bamburgh. Quick as Flash Gorden I was in the van and on my way to the pond.  With my scope in one hand and my camera in the other I crossed the road and sat down in the grass beside the fence.
I have heard about the Ross's Goose but never in my wildest dreams did I think we would get one at Seahouses. Well I say one, I mean we were treated to 2.
They are very like a Snow Goose but smaller and both geese are high arctic breeders. All I can think is that it was blown over during the strong winds from Katia, but the origin of most European records of Ross's Geese are uncertain. They are certainly a potential vagrant from North America but the situation is complicated by escapes from captivity, some of which are breeding in the UK. To be honest I'm not bothered that they are escapes are they are little beauties.

A big Thank You to Alan Hornsby for giving me the phone call.