A great find by Matt Underwood this morning was this fine pair of Black-necked Grebes, sitting quite far out on the Main Lake. I visited after midday, as it has been a few years since I've seen this grebe species and they were winter plumaged birds in Portugal. These two grebes were in breeding plumage and were barely a metre apart throughout the time I watched them. Lovely birds to have on the Reserve, not sure where they will have come from, though they were seen to have short sleeps at intervals.
I walked a good part of the Reserve, noting the resident Black Swan, a Red-crested Pochard asleep on the Reedbed Lake and the regular Cetti's Warbler around Far Lake. Although there was a brisk wind, it was warm and sunny enough to bring out many other little thingys with wings which I spent a while watching on an enjoyable walk. When an interesting bird occurs in one of my favourite UK locations, then it makes it all the more worthwhile to have a couple of days away. On this occasion, an adult American Black Tern (Chlidonias niger surinamensis) was hopefully going to be the 'star' bird species. In a way, I'm extremely late in catching up with this special tern as it has settled into its third consecutive summer, at the Long Nanny tern colony. Long Nanny sits at the southern end of Beadnell bay and comprises an area of sand with some shingle, together with a large dune area for nesting Arctic Terns. Access is by walking the beach from Beadnell or, from a car park to the South. A view of the dune area, showing the wardens' tern hut (managed by the National Trust) and Beadnell village on the distant headland. The beach walk is interesting as terns are already passing you, on their way out to collect sandeels and other food from the sea. Arctic, Sandwich and Little Terns are the most likely species to be seen although a variety of gull species frequent here too. In the bay are Common Eider ducks, Cormorants and Grey Herons pass through. Looking further out to sea, passing seabirds included both Guillemot and Razorbill, some Gannets and, I was lucky to see both Red-breasted Mergansers and a hefty Great Northern Diver all flying South. Before reaching the tern colony you have to cross a small river inlet, the 'Nanny' and this entails cutting inland over fields for a little while. It's by no means a short walk but, in the great company of Chris and Sue once again, we paused often to watch some of the many Meadow Pipits. Large, wet meadows had become a resting area for many Curlews. A little further on we came across this fine male Stonechat. We reached the dunes and the tern colony. The nesting area is fenced off so we were not subjected to the 'bombardment' by the Arctic Terns, as you are on the nearby Farne Islands. Arctic Terns are beautiful sleek creatures. Having recently travelled from as far as the Antarctic and possibly our longest travelled migrant, their appearance looked superb. With their long tail streamers and blood red bill and legs, they looked very fine indeed. Breeding was already underway and cute little chicks were appearing from under the adult birds at several nests. On to the American Black Tern then, which had been flying constantly and seen from quite a distance as we walked the beach. There are several quite subtle differences between this bird and the Black Tern we may see more regularly. Those differences are better described by others who have studied this tern over time, rather than on my all too brief visit. Put simply, the black colouring on the breast seemed to me, more extensive towards the tail and it was a stronger black than the sometimes 'dark grey' appearance of the Black Tern. The upperwing also gave the appearance of a completely dark bird at distance, when seen with other terns in flight. At one time, the Tern stole a sand eel from an Arctic Tern as it was about to feed its young. We didn't see the Tern take a rest, flying continuously around the colony it did give us wonderful views though. I guess this is a first summer Arctic Tern, we looked hard for a Roseate Tern as one had visited the colony earlier. After speaking with the Wardens, we left the colony and made our way back to the Nanny where better views could be had, of the Little Terns nesting on the shingle. Little Tern feeding over the river. Seven Little Gulls were also on the river, then seen flying out to sea. The Arctic Terns took advantage of the outflowing river to drink and bathe. Wherever we went there were always Eider ducks, a very familiar sight along the Northumberland coast.
|
|